the Mouth and that the Ingrafted Word is able to save the Soul He did not preach a Visible Christ with Flesh and Bones as some others do So he taught them to pray Our Father not to look at his Person and to pray to him as a Person without them but within them Where we may observe that if they were not to pray to him as a Person without them by the same Reason they are not to believe in him as a Person without them but Christ not only consider'd as the Word who is Omnipresent and in all Men and Things but as made Flesh and having taken the true Nature of Man into a Personal Union therewith and replenishing the same with the fullness of the Godhead and with all fullness of Grace and Truth is the Object of the Christian Worship together with the Father and the holy Spirit dwelling and residing in him But of all this Antichristian Quaking Crew none have discovered more Indignity and Hatred to the Blessed Jesus Christ than William Shewen in a Book call'd A small Treatise concerning evil Thoughts p. 37. being about to conclude a Paragraph he saith Not to Jesus the Son of Abraham David and Mary Saint or Angel but to God the Father all Worship Honour and Glory is to be given A Mahometan would have expressed greater Reverence to Christ than this Quaker has done but what can be expected from such People as deny the Lord that bought them and count the Blood of Jesus as unprofitable to Mankind And whether these are not sufficient Reasons for leaving People of such Principles I leave the World to judge William Smith a great Man among them when he was alive in his Primmer Printed at London 1668 Asks this Question p. 8. Child but how may I know which are the True and which are the False Teachers seeing Words may be the same and makes Childs the Father thus instruct the Child Why they that are false Preach Christ without and bid People believe in him as he is in Heaven above but they that are true Ministers they Preach Christ within and direct People to wait to feel him in themselves and so to believe in him as he makes himself manifest in them And having given this as an infallible Sign of a Quaker he makes the Child ask but must I not try all things by the Scriptures and the Father answers Nay for the Scriptures were given forth by the Spirit and it is the Spirit that tries whether the things be true or false good or evil Here is another piece of the Old Serpents Subtilty for since the Spirit must try all things they laying a claim to the Spirit have invested themselves with a pretence to make their own Sentiments of greater Authority than the Sacred Scriptures Which is another good Reason for leaving them that deny the Word of God to be the Test of Christian Doctrines and though we are commanded to Search the Scriptures discharge us from doing it Through the Pride of their Hearts the Quakers pretend to Infallibility and a sinless Perfection in this Life * Nar. 4. p. 1 2. vilifying all those that deny them this Prerogative as under the Curse in another Spirit than Christ the Prophets and Apostles were in that gave forth the Scripture And George Whitehead affirms Those that Ministers that want Infallibity have not the Spirit of Christ but are out of the Truth and their Ministry is deceiful And this they as confidently and proudly affirm as the Pope himself But it is denied by all Oxthodox Christians as repugnant to the Doctrine of the New Testament who yet grant that all the Faithful are infallibly led into all Truths necessary to Salvation by the infallible Spirit in the use of the Holy Scriptures which contain the infallible Truths of the Gospel But as this Doctrine of the Quakers is contradictory to Scripture which brands all with the Infamous Character of Lyars that pretend to it so it is seldom claim'd but by those that are farthest from it as is manifest among the Quakers who though they pretend to be guided by an infallible Spirit 't is apparent that many of them are under great Delusions and Errors concerning the great Truths of the Evangelical Dispensation as has been proved by the foregoing Instances Again as to their pretence to Sinless perfection he that makes a Scrutiny into their Morals will scarce find them such a Church as is without Spot or Wrinkle but are as far from that Perfection which they boast to have attained to as any other sort of People that pretend to any exactitude in their Conversation and as to their Principles 't is certain that George Fox their Quondam Metropolitan Edward Burroughs Francis Hougil Richard Hubberthorn and some of their greatest Saints lived in great Ignorance Error and Unbelief in divers great Fundamentals of the Christian Faith and in great uncharitableness toward such as differ'd from them The same humour of Self-conceit that began with this People still continues among them and G.W. laughs at the Church of England who are always from Seven Years of Age to Seventy Praying Lord have mercy upon us miserable Sinners Is not this a plain Evidence of the intollerable Pride that reigns among the Quakers concerning their Sinless perfection who despise not only the Church of England but all other Christian Churches throughout the World who pray for Forgiveness of Sins tho' when Christ taught his Disciples to pray for their Daily-bread he enjoined them also to pray for the Forgiveness of their Sins Must not the Diseased come to the Physician till they are cured and those that feel the Burden of Sin pray to be Eas'd How arrogantly does George Whitehead charge the Church of England for Confessing and not Forsaking their Sins How can he more prove his Charge against them than against his own Society or himself Many in the Church of England and among other Protestants may compare with the best of Quakers for Holiness of Life and far exceed them in many Vertues especially in Sobriety and Humility But pray tell me you Self-conceited Quakers are not they better employ'd who confess their Sins and yet through humane Frailty find they Relapse into some Sins than such proud Pharisees as you are that neither Confess nor forsake your Sins but employ your Selves in Railing against them that do They that Confess their Sins shew a Desire and pray for ability to forsake them whilst those that say they have no Sin deceive themselves into such a Security as is the ready Road to Damnation The next great Article of Faith which they deny and Fight against is the Resurrection of the Body but because the denying this in plain terms they think would make them be despised among all the various Professors of Christianity William Penn being urged to Answer the Proofs that were brought from the 1 Cor. 15. says in his Rejoinder That let the whole Chapter be considered and we shall find
Mr. George Keith's REASONS FOR Renouncing Quakerism And Entring into COMMUNION WITH THE Church of England WITH Other Remarkable Occurrences that will be Acceptable to all Orthodox Christians of every Persuasion LONDON Printed and are to be sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1700. Mr. George Keith 's REASONS FOR Renouncing Quakerism c. BY vertue of an Evangelical Precept it is an incumbent Duty on every Convert to endeavour the strengthening of his Brethren in the Faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and to Reduce all those that by any indirect Offices or for want of regular Instructions have wandered out of the strait ways of Peace Truth and Holiness into the crooked Mazes of Sin Schism and Heresie to the hazard of their eternal Interests How much I have concerned my self in the Discharge of this Duty is legible to all that have either had the Justice or Curiosity to inform themselves about it for as soon as it pleased God to open the Eyes of my Understanding and shew me the Error of my own ways I industriously set my self upon the good Work of Reclaiming others and have cause to bless his holy Name that I have not altogether laboured in vain but have been an Instrument in the Hand of God to convince some of the necessity they were under of â—enouncing their Errors and Delusions and returnâ—â—g to the Lord their God in Truth and Sincerity In this attempt it is notoriously known also what Injuries Contempts Slanders and ill Usages I have encountred both beyond Sea and in England from the Quakers with whom I have inoffensively associated above Thirty Years And that for no other Reason but that I endeavoured by all the fair candid and honest ways imaginable to convince them that they lived in many gross Errors and Heresies and that they ought to make some compensation for the Evils and Errors they were guilty of by a speedy return to the Truth as it is in Jesus and by an unfeigned Repentance for all the Evils they had been guilty of in seducing so many well-meaning Souls into Principles and Practices that border upon Death and Destruction It would be altogether needless in this Discourse to enumerate the several steps I made in order to the Conviction and Conversion of the Quakers and to shew all the Arts their Chiefs employ'd to frustrate my good Intentions and to keep up their own Reputations with their Party since I have already published the whole Proceedings â—n Four Narratives to which they have as yet made no satisfactory Answer and therefore shall only now having totally renounced all their Errors deserted their Meetings and by Imposition of Holy Hands entred upon the Ministery in the Church of England answer some Objections and Calumnies that the Quakers have made upon my Change and shew the Reasons for which I left them In both which I hope to acquit my self with so much Justice though I have no hope to stop the Mouths of those clamorous Persons that are become my Enemies for telling them the Truth yet to satisfie all that are honestly and soberly inquisitive into the Motives and Reasons that caused me to leave the Society of the Quakers and embrace the Doctrine and Discipline of thâ— Church of Englaâ—d The first quarrel that of late they seemed to have against me was that in exposing their Principles in publick Audiences and in my Printed Narratives I had dealt unjustly and this false Report they have been exceedingly industrious to divulge not only to possess them of their own Way but any others they could influence into an ill Opinion of me for falsly quoting their Authors and thereupon without any kind of Proof call me Lyar False and Treacherous Man Deceitful and Malicious all which Names return upon themselves since I have printed a Certificate in my third Narrative under the Hands of some eminent and judicious Ministers of the Church of England whom I procured to hear and examine all my Quotations that fully vindicates my Innocency in that particular which being well considered I have reason to expect a more favourable Censure in relation to their other Calumny viz. That the ground of my Contests with the Quakers was out of meer Prejudice and Revenge arising from their ill treatment of me and not out of Zeal and Love to the Truth of Christianity whereas nothing could be suggested more False and Scandalous for the only motive that I had to oppose the spreading Gangrene of their vile Errors which have already leavened many Thousands in these Nations and if not prevented will corrupt many more was purely out of Zeal for the Cause of God and his true Religion and not out of any private Pique I had with any of them of which as I have given no Evidence so my Conscience bears witness to my Innocency Seeing then my Charges are just against them as is proved in all my Narratives and their Clamours and Accusations against me are wholly false and scandalous the Crime will be laid at their own Door in calling Names and I shall bear their Revilings with greater Patience since 't is universally known that this is the way they commonly treat all Persons how Innocent and well-deserving so ever that touch them in the tender part and oppose their Errors so that the Proverb may be fitly applied to them That their Tongue is no Slander But the great Argument that they make of my Insincerity is my having been formerly so long among them and yet never till of late pretended to know that they held such gross Errors as I now accuse them of That I have been a Quaker long I acknowledge and am of Opinion that none are sorry that I was so once but they that are angry that I did not continue so always let them make what Reflexions they please upon my Weakness and want of Consideration in continuing among a Society of People whose Principles I was so much a stranger to I confess my Weakness and am ashamed to think that I have been so long deceived by them but yet this is no impeachment of my Sincerity unless knowing them Guilty I had connived at it flattered them in it or dâ—fended their Errors contrary to my Conviction or against the Light of my own Conscience had encouraged them to Perseverance But in this I am no way culpable for though I know some of them were Ignorant and Vnsound I did not dissemble with them or cloak the matter but upon all occasions check'd and reprov'd them as will ere long be shewn in several Instances Yet I was wholly unsensible that either George Whitehead William Penn and many other of their chiefâ—st Teachers had been guilty of these Errors having read but few of their Books and them but slightly too and when I found any thing that I disliked a blind Affection swayed me to an over-charitable Judgment and I imputed lesser Faults rather to their Inadvertency than their deliberate Judgment until they sided with my
Labour I commit to Almighty God with whom I leave my Righteous Cause and in whose Mercy I trust through Jesus Christ that he will preserve me in Soul and Body from being a Sacrifice to their Fury and Rage I know their way of Extolling themselves as the only People of God discoverers of Truth vilifying all others as unfound and mistaken that have no such high Pretences whilst it 's a crying Sin that so many false Teachers should be suffer'd that speak Lyes in the name of the Lord pretending the same immediate Message and Authority that the true Prophets had when they can give no Proof of it but many undeniable Proofs can be given to the contrary as particularly their Antichristian Errors publish'd in their Books wherein they Lye for Conscience sake and Entitle their Errors and Blasphemies to the holy Spirit of God The last Objection that they raise against â—e is assign'd as a Reason for refusing to dispute with me at Turners's-Hall is That none of the Quakers that are at Unity with them do acknowledge or regard me Now to confute their Allegation and to prove it all of a Piece with the rest of their Suggestions I am obliged to acquaint the Reader That as an Evidence of my owning the Ch. of England to be a Branch of the True Catholick Church of Christ I did with great Inward Peace and Satisfaction I bless God Receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by the Ministry of Dr. Bedford at his Church in Buttolph-Lane London with others of that Congregation the first Lords Day in the Month of February 1699 and since again at the same place by the same Person the first Lords Day in March 1699 and to let the Quakers know that my Example has influenced others the same day Robert Bridgman and Margaret Everard and some other of my Friends which formerly were Quakers and in great Repute among that People whom God in Mercy has lately enlightened to see their former Error and Renounce it did receive the Lord's Supper in Huntington and have declared That they received it with great inward Peace and Satisfaction In a Letter since of a later date I am imform'd That Ten of my Friends in Huntington Godmanchester and thereabouts who were formerly Quakers of good Reputation do all now go to Church there and that Margaret Everard has had her youngest Son and three Daughters baptized lately By Letters from Bedford I have an Account that some that had been Quakers both in that Town and Country are gone off from the Quakers and go to Church particularly W. Maâ—her and his Wife Also at Reading divers who were formerly Quakers and were so Educated have gone to Church and were Baptized and that others have brought their Children to be Baptized Here in London divers of both Sexes who were Educated under the Profession of Quakers have been lately Baptized and go to Church one of whom is my youngest Daughter my Elder having been Baptized above a year ago So that to my certain Knowledge above forty Persons within a few Months past are come off from Quakerism and brought to the Church which gives a good ground to hope that many more will follow Which God in his great Mercy grant and prosper my Sincere tho' mean Indeavours and Labours and other his Servants whom he has made Instrumental in this Work and for the Success he has been pleas'd to give us therein All Glory Honour and Praise be given to his most Holy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen And whereas my Adversaries George Whitehead and other Quaking Preachers have given it as a Reason why they would not meet me at Turner's-Hall was because they know none who had been in Unity with them since I came into England who did own me or were in danger to be brought off from them that Objection to their own Knowledge and full Conviction is now quite removed for both Robert Bridgman and M. Everard besides divers others that might be named were not only in Vnity with them since my Arrival in England but in great Repute among them Robert Bridgman having not only been a Member of their Mens Meeting in London but one that was enâ—rusted with receiving and distributing the Money Collected for their Poor in the City of London Margaret Everard has for many years till very lately been received and well owned as a Speaker among them both in City and Country And it is most certain That the Quakers refusing to meet and dispute with me in Defence of their own Principles at Turner's-Hall has been a great Means to let many of those formerly in Unity with them see their Sandy Foundation and the badness of their Cause and will yet be a further Means to give many others the like Discovery who are dissatisfied with their not appearing either to vindicate their Books and Authors or to acknowledge the great Errors contained in them and to Retract them They are indeed brought to a very Pinching Dilemma for if they dare not appear to answer the change of Error Heresie and even Blasphemy that is brought against them but invent frivolous Discourses to excuse themselves the People will soon perceive their Cause is bad that stands in need of such weak Props to support it One Pretence for their non-appearance was That they might not offend that Authority that had indulged them with Liberty of Conscience and in the mean time make little other use of it than to Rail against that Religion and Church whereof the King himself and the best of his Subjects are Members and to call me and my Friends for owning that Church and coming into Communion with it and Relinquishing the Errors condemned by it Apostates and Runagado's For his Insinuating that 't is Envy increasing in me that has led me into a disturbance of Mind which in its Course resembles the returns of a delirious Affliction and that has caus'd me to give them so much Disquiet I think it not worth an Answer and therefore shall leave it as an Instance of their Scornful Proud and Haughty as well Vncharitable and Vnchristian Tempers They reckon me their Enemy because I tell them the Truth and labour to Rescue them out of the Snares of Satan But since God has been pleas'd to prosper this Work in my Hand both in America and England none of their malicious Insinuations shall be able to stop my Progress in this Duty to contend earnestly for the Faith of Christ which was once delivered to the Saints and which the Quakers labour to Destroy Having thus answered their Objections and being now by Imposition of Holy Hands Ordain'd a Minister of the Church of England that I may not be thought to desert the Quakers out of any Personal Disgust or for Worldly Interest but purely out of the Dissatisfaction of my Conscience because they had forsaken God and Renounced the Principles of Christian Religion And that I durst not on the Peril of my Eternal Salvation