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truth_n	church_n	invisible_a	visible_a	2,160	5	9.2231	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23636	The principles of the Protestant religion maintained, and churches of New-England, in the profession and exercise thereof defended against all the calumnies of one George Keith, a Quaker, in a book lately published at Pensilvania, to undermine them both / by the ministers of the Gospel in Boston.	Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.; Allen, James, 1632-1710.	1690 (1690)	Wing A1029; ESTC W19401	72,664	176

consideration of their being Members of the Church visible thus Paul delivered Hymeneus c. to satan 2. Profession as it is understood by the Assembly is not a meer verbal thing but practical too it containes in it an Orthodoxy in the principles professed and a Conversation framed thereto a professing in words a not-denying in works else men are not visible Christians but to be turned from 2. Tim. 3.5 and yet we believe that men may do all this and be close Hypocrites and that they may afterwards fall away G. K. himself confesseth and now let us trace him He infers that Notoriously-scandalous persons liars deceivers drunkards c. are qualified members of our Church but without reason if he should essay he would find is to reject him for some of the qualifications he mentions We acknowledge not such for professors and if any in our Churches afterward prove so we censure them And it is grosly untrue that Independents require no more than such a profession as he talks of to make them members of their church for they whom he calls Independents distinguish between the Church visible or Christianity at large Membership or Fellowship in a congregational Church and have not been won● to be charged for their Laxness but rather Strictness in Admission Nor doth it argu● them of Hypocrisy or contradiction becaus● they separated from another Church viz the Episcopal it being well known that they did it mainly because their terms of Communion were such as they could not in Conscience comply with tho' also their promiscuous Admission of all sorts of ignorant scandalous persons to the Lords Table added to the incitement as for the Presbiterian Churches we did not separate from them but have held Communion with them and have admitted their members to Communion with us although by reason of some points of Church Administration which they differ from them in in principle they thought they might without any just offence do so in practice too Sect. 2. How daringly doth he here assert that we find no such Church in all the Scripture owned to be the church of Christ that the outward form or profession of religion makes such when the whole New Testament acquaints us with no other if he keep to his subject viz. a visible Church For indeed it is nothing else but such a profession as we have described that can make them so nothing else can give them the visibility of a Church and how strangely do's he talk when he saies We nowhere find in scripture any society called ●he church of Christ that had nothing but the professon of the true religion who ever said ●hat they had nothing but so We say if ●he profession be right it s a making sincerity visible as far as may be but yet let us tell him there are such owned for Churches in which the major part were such as he mentions Sardis was so had a name to live was dead had but a few names Rev. 3.2 and La●dicea was so vers 15. But the truth is he aequivocates about the word True If by a true Church he intends such as are united to Christ in truth sincerity we plead it not but the word also signifies that there is really such a thing and that there is really such a thing is visible there may be a true visible Church tho many in it are not of the true invisible Church Sect. 3. Men that talk of two things may thwart one another strangely but we thought he had been discoursing of the visible Church and if so then he is deceived when he saith that every member of Christ is a living member Christ hath said otherwise see Joh. 15.2 how in Christ but by profession their being fruitless proves them dead and they might be taken away which they could not be if they were not first in him and he did well to instance in the Church of Corinth 1. Cor. 3.6 there was the old Leaven in this Church which was to be purged out there were fearful divisions there were that would eat in the Idols Temples that horridly profaned the Lord's Table that denied the resurrection of the body c. Such a mixture there was in this Church yet see what a glorious Encomium Paul gives them on the account o● their being a visible Church cap. 1. begin His finding fault with us for using an Hour-glass to know how the time spends and a Bell to gather our Assemblies together orderly is worse than ridiculous That God's people should have their Meetings to worship GOD is undeniable to neglect it is a sin Heb. 10.25 as for his inward spiritual Bell which he calls the Gospel-bell ringing in their hearts serving for such a use it is a Fancy more fabulous than any thing in Aesop as if the Light-within were a Clock to tell the hour of the day Besides it is certain that God's people in all ages have had a known time of meeting and some civil sign to give notice that they might meet together as in one place so at one Time and he knows that we place no holiness in Bells yea the very Scripture which he abuseth to prove a Gospel bell is directly against him Psal 89.15 which intends the Silver Trumpets which God appointed for such an end as ancient modern interpreters agree yea the Quakers themselves give notice of their meetings Sect. 4. He makes The work of conversion wrought by the Spirit in the hearts of God's Elect to be the true gathering of a visible Church for of that he must speak or he is distracted and let any man of sense judge whether this be any gathering of a visible Church at all or whether this makes a man so much as a visible Christian it being a thing secret and that which no man knows but he in whom it is wrought As for his Banter here about new-made things it is but a second Disgorging of the vomit which he hath licked up after he had once before spewed it in p. 36. where he is animadverted upon once is too much Sect. 5. Here he agen confounds the mystical invisible Church which the visible and gives the encomiums proper to the one unadvisedly to the other which mistake led him to draw that blasphemous Inference p. 172. that the Religion which we profess is not the Religion of Jesus Christ and that in the foundation it self which is Jesus Christ hence we do without any breach of charity infer that G. K. bids the world to take notice that he utterly renounceth the religion we profess even in the very foundation of it which is JESUS CHRIST and of which he himself if we are not misinform'd once made no mean profession in the University of Aberdeen and say if Julian the Apostate did worse Sect. 6. He contradicts himself here in the same Paragraph at the beginning he saith that Christ is but one both in heaven and in us and before the end

The PRINCIPLES of the PROTESTANT RELIGION MAINTAINED And Churches of New-England in the PROFESSION and EXERCISE thereof DEFENDED Against all the Calumnies of one George Keith a Quaker in a Book lately Published at Pensilvania to undermine them both By the Ministers of the Gospel in Boston Prov. 18.17 He that is first in his own cause seemeth just but his neighbour comes and searches him Phil. 2.3 Beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the Concision 2. Thes 2.10 11. They received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lye BOSTON in New-England Printed by Richard Pierce and sold by the Booksellers MDCXC The Praeface ALtho' the Church of God which is a Soc●●●● of men professing the Truths practising the Wayes of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Sacred Sriptures have Recommended them unto ●he world has in all ages undergone the Batteries of a various assault yet it has out-liv'd them all As one while there arise Persecutors with C●in's Club in their Hands endeavouring by Force to banish out of the world that Godliness which their sore eyes feel an Ey-sore in so another while the grand Enemy of our Salvation brings Hereticks upon the stage who with Fraud would perswade the people of the Saints of the Most High to unchurch themselves by parting with all ●he meanes of Communion between them and their God But hitherto an Abortion has attended all their attempts against that Mount Sion which cannot be removed but remaineth for ever ●he impotent Assailants find themselves but push●●g hard against the great stone and perish by 〈◊〉 Rolling over them This is among the Glo●ious things which are spoken of thee O thou City of God! Indeed the Craft of the old Serpent hath not ●hown it self in any one thing more marvellous ●angerous than in his Fitting of Seducers to the ●everal Designs Peoples Tempers which he ●as had to manage He knowes that as the first ●reation so the new Creation begins with Light he has used a thousand Blinds to keep a saving Light from entring into the souls of men that being a people of a wrong understanding He that made them might not have mercy on them Hence the Deceivers of the former days having been baffled conquer'd by the Spirit of the Lord lifting up a standard against them in the Labours of His faithful Servants the Hydra of Error has had new sprouts proceeding from it among which that of Quakerism seems to be one of the vilest as well as one of the Latest and we see therein fulfill'd what was long since fore-told That Seducers will wax worse and worse In Quakerism we see the Vomit cast forth in the by-past ages by whole kennels of those creatures for whom the Apostle to the Philippians has found a name licked up again for a new Digestion and once more expos'd for the poisoning of mankind and it is especially the more ignorant unwary envious part of mankind which it is adapted unto few swallow it but the more silly feeble sort of souls those in whom the Light which they so much adore affords little better Directions than those of an Ignis fatuus Indeed Quakerism is the peculiar plague of this Age. One that was a pillar-of it wrote in the year 1659. such a passage as that It is now about seven years since the Lord raised us up And as the Novity of the sect proves their Falsity so t is beyond all measure admirable that in so clear a day-light of ●he Gospel so many should espouse it It is thro' ●he wrath of the Lord of hosts that any part of the English Nation should be so darkned as ●o follow this new light and it is the particu●ar disgrace of the English with but one or two Nations more to have these people in it who tho' ●hey tremble yet beleeve not but oppose and muddy the whole of that Religion by which we draw near to God We cannot but have our sad Apprehensions when ●e behold this great Choak-weed of the Christian Protestant Religion taking root in the Borders ●f N. England and whereas unto our own In●linations to be doing so their have been added ●he Provocations of one George Keith in a late Book addressed both to them for their Establishment to us for our Conviction we have count●d ourselves concerned to appear in the defence of ●hose glorious Truths which all Quakerism George Keith's particularly does oppugn We ●ave answered the Cavils and Sophisms of the Champion whom the American Quakers do so ●uch admire not feeling in any of his arguments ●he weight of a Weaver's beam and if in a●y passages we have done it cuttingly we knew ●hat some are so to be rebuked But the Reader ●ust oblige himself to peruse the Whole of our Treatise before he pronounce upon the sufficienc● and validity of our Answer we found it so du●● a thing to follow the confused methods of our Antagonist and to renew our Discourses as often as his tedious and nauseous Repetitions came in our way that we resolved as we met ●he several Haeresies we would Answer once for all and therefore we do pass over with a dry Foot many unsound Assertions in diverse parts of his Book because by the very same in other parts of it we are forc'd to wade over shoes in the mire after him And we take no notice at all of the calumnies which in the close of his little Volumn he loads the Reverend Increase Mather with because the Son of that worthy person has elsewhere already vindicated him We wish that we could with any hopes propound the Conversion Reduction of George Keith as the end of our present undertaking But we fear lest his Apostacy after he had been enlightened had tasted of the good word of God hath rendred him incurable If it should he so we must expect that tho' the Arrows here fetch'd from the Scriptures of the Lord Jesus may force from him a Thou hast overcome yet we shall have no Returns from him except those of rage wrath which we shall not count it worth the while to publish any reply unto but what the Archangel gave to a ●ailing Accusation We do likewise wish that we had more hopes ●f turning others that have been proselyted tho' ●carce any have been so by him among ourselves ●nto his Perswasion from the Error of their way which we do sincerely declare to be the ●orst that we wish to them tho' it be also the ●est that we can do for them They are much ●istaken if they think that we shall ever pursue ●hem with any thing but Pitty and Prayer and ●eason which they want above most in the world ●e desire no Revenge on them for all the Ra●l●g and Hatred which they so commonly follow 〈◊〉 withal save only to pluck them as brands ●ut of the

Possibility of Holiness Holiness is scarce sense and to acknowledge a capacity of Holiness but in some and yet but one page before to plead a possibility of Conversion in all would have been a Contradicting himself if it had not been G. K. Sect. 7. We have G. K. here speaking the Scripture fair The Scripture is a rich treasure and he is for Scripture Words and it is not safe to leave them and what is all this for why the Scripture indeed acknowledgeth all to be born in sin but what then Why the seed or principle of sin and Corruption is but it is not imputed till men join their Consent to it and actually obey it and it s as clear as midnight from Rom. 5.13 and thus he interprets it The time of Infancy is the time wherein there is no Law and therefore tho children are dead in law there is no imputation Excellently well expounded Paul is there proving that there was a law antecedent to the edition of the law of Moses and his argument is because there was sin in the world before and that it is imputed he might have found if he had read the following verse for there we find the sentence executed which necessarily presupposeth imputation nay the very calling it Sin is a charge or imputation and a supposition of a Law condeming men for it nor do his many Citations at all prove that none dye and finally perish for the first sin but for actual sins of their own which was now to be proved for they only intimate that all mens actions are liable to the Judgement and shall be tried and sentenced but deny not that man's state in Adam shall be so too Because the Scripture saith that men shall perish for actual sin doth it thence follow that men shall not so for original sin But the knack is they died in Adam and Christ by His death for all that died in Adam hath dischared all of that Imputation which is a perfectly Arminian principle and hath bin enough confuted by all that have written against them That therefore he concludes that none do suffer final Destruction but for Rejecting the Physitian makes the condition of Pagans better than that of Christians for these are certain to escape destruction being incapable of rejecting the Physitian who is never offered to them whereas Millions of those do reject Him and perish for it The Gospel then opens a door to man's Undoing which else he had been out of the danger of if Christ had but died for us and never told us of it His wild Assertion p. 91. That all the children of Adam and Noah have a foederal Holiness i. e. a seed of holiness in them i. e. a capacity of being made holy not to call the Coherence of it in question seems to contradict the Apostle who 1. Cor 7.14 assures us that Unbeleevers children are unclean i. e. not holy and he there treats directly about foederal holiness He concludes this Paragraph and Chapter with two Insinuations how true let any judge 1. That Grace is propagated by our natural parents how this is it may be he will tell us next time 2. That there is habitual Sanctification in all men by nature As to the first David was of another mind Psal 51.5 For the latter Paul was not acquainted with this principle Rom. 7.18 But he speaks as yet but in the clouds we shall have him a little more open in the next Chapter Reflections on Cap. 6. of Christ's dying for all c. In this Chapter he proceeds more particularly to urge and maintain the Doctrine of Vniversal Redemption and we might dismiss him for his Answer to the writitings of the Anti-Remonstrants but because many may not be advantaged with those discourses we shall make a few brief Remarks upon his Absurdities Sect. 1. His first and main plea is from the words of Scripture which express it in Universal terms viz All all men every man the world the whole world as for that of the Body Eph. 5.23 Paul himself there interprets it of the Church and its strange that the World and the Church should be of equal extent some of ours whom he calls the Adversaries of Truth have answered though it is not our whole Answer that by All is not meant all particulars i. e. Individuals but some of all sorts all the Elect. His Reply is that the word All must needs be as full and universal with respect to Christ's death and the benefit of it as it is with respect to Adam 's Fall and who denies it But it is not so in his sense except he will plead for universal Salvation as well as Redemption else the benefit is not parallel to the damage and so he indeed seems to plead by Citing 1. Tim. 4.10 for the proof of his Assertion but yet this he afterwards denies We are here to consider that Adam Christ are in Scripture made parallel in many Respects as Adam is a common Head so is Christ hence as Adam hath a natural seed so hath Christ a spiritual seed as Adam ruined all his seed so Christ Redeemed all His as Adam's seed are called the world because they comprize all the men and women coming into the world by natural Generation so Christ's Seed are called the world because they comprize all the men and women that belong to the world to come But then we must remember that Christ's Seed are a number selected out of the other and therefore though they are all because He loseth none of His Elect yet not all the Individuals of Adam's posterity for there are they of whom Christ saith They are none of my sheep Nor doth he interpret but pervert that in 2. Cor. 5.14 If one died for all then were all dead for the Apostles intention there is to prove that all God's Elect were dead because Christ died for them all The word All therefore doth not signifie some but all that come under that denomination Sect. 2. Whereas Christ Joh. 17.9 makes a Difference between His Redeemed and the world and saith I pray not for the world he would perswade us that world is there meant of final Impenitents or such as have finally rejected the meanes of Grace and with whom the Spirit hath ceased to strive But not to call over what hath been already offered Viz. That all have not the meanes of Grace and therefore cannot resist them it is plain that he excludes only the damned from Christ's prayer and hence he inferrs that Christ died only for their sins past Well then He died for those sins and prayed for those men he then owns His death and prayer to be lost and His Redemption void Did Christ dye to condemn men or to save ' em see Joh. 3.17 why then are they not saved for whom He came to dye Was He not able to draw them to Him or to save them that come to the uttermost That he saith Many are guilty of final