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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47167	A refutation of three opposers of truth by plain evidence of the holy Scripture, viz. I. Of Pardon Tillinghast, who pleadeth for water-baptism, its being a Gospel-precept, and opposeth Christ within, as a false Christ. To which is added, something concerning the Supper, &c. II. Of B. Keech, in his book called, A tutor for children, where he disputeth against the sufficiency of the light within, in order of salvation; and calleth Christ in the heart, a false Christ in the secret chamber. II. Of Cotton Mather, who in his appendix to his book, called, Memorable providences, relating to witchcrafts, &c. doth so weakly defend his father Increase Mather from being justly chargeable with abusing the honest people called Quakers, that he doth the more lay open his fathers nakedness; and beside the abuses and injuries that his father had cast upon that people, C. Mather, the son, addeth new abuses of his own. And a few words of a letter to John Cotton, called a minister, at Plymouth in New England. By George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1690 (1690)	Wing K199; ESTC W21703	49,228	77

A REFUTATION OF Three Opposers of Truth By plain Evidence of the holy Scripture VIZ. I. Of Pardon Tillinghast who pleadeth for Water-Baptism its being a Gospel-Precept and opposeth Christ within as a false Christ. To which is added something concerning the Supper c. II. Of B. Keech in his Book called A Tutor for Children where he disputeth against the Sufficiency of the Light within in order to Salvation and calleth Christ in the heart A false Christ in the secret Chamber III. Of Cotton Mather who in his Appendix to his Book called Memorable Providences relating to Witchcrafts c. doth so weakly defend his Father Increase Mather from being justly chargeable with abusing the honest People called Quakers that he doth the more lay open his Fathers Nakedness and beside the Abuses and Injuries that his Father had cast upon that People C. Mather the Son addeth new Abuses of his own And a few Words of a Letter to Iohn Cotton called a Minister at Plymouth in New-England By GEORGE KEITH Zephaniah 3.4 Her Prophets are Light and Treacherous Persons her Priests have polluted the Sanctuary they have done Violence to the Law Philadelphia Printed and Sold by William Bradford Anno 1690. Water-Baptism No Gospel-Precept c. Pardon Tillinghast AFter I had read thy small Treatise in print wherein thou undertakest to prove Water-Baptism to be a Gospel Precept by plain Scripture I was sorry on thy account to find thee with such confidence to publish thy Ignorance and Folly as well as thy great bitterness of Spirit and Prejudice against the Truth and the Witnesses of it so openly in the face of the World But when I call to mind how that God in his infinite Wisdom permits men to rise up to oppose the Truth that the Truth it self may be the more clearly discovered by the breakings forth of Gods Light still more and more the more that the Truth is opposed I am truly comforted and encouraged And for thy Reviling and Reproachful words against me I regard them not further than to pity thee and heartily to desire that God may open thy Eyes and give thee true Repentance Forgiveness for I have that Charity that what thou dost in this thy work of opposition it is through thy ignorance and therefore upon thy Repentance is pardonable But as for me and my Brethren it is a small thing for us to be reproached and falsly accused by thee seeing thou art so ignorantly bold and fool-hardy to reproach the Lord Iesus Christ in his inward appearance and Light in the hearts of men calling him a false Christ as if these who preach Christ in the hearts of Gods Saints were those of whom Christ foretold that should come in the latter days and preach a false Christ saying he is in the secret Chamber which thou understandest as if Christ had meant the secret Chamber of the heart following herein thy Brother in Iniquity Darkness Benjamin Keech who in his Book called The Childs Instructor hath these express words in that Section concerning the Light within Therefore believe not him that saith behold he is here in the secret Chamber viz. the heart The which expression thou seemest to have borrowed from the said Book But if thou hadst any true knowledg in the Mystery of Christ thou wouldst sooner have chosen that thy right hand that pen'd these words had been cut off than to have used them But by this and other the like expressions in thy Treatise thou plainly discovers thy self to be a man altogether ignorant of the true knowledge of Christ yea thou seemest ignorant of the very Letter of the Scripture which in plain and express words doth mention Christ dwelling in the heart and Christ within the hope of Glory the Mystery hid from Ages and Generations And said Paul to the Corinthians Know ye not that Iesus Christ is in you unless ye be Reprobates And said Christ in his Prayer unto his Father Thou in me and I in them And when he told the Pharisees who looked that the Kingdom of God should come with Observations as to say lo here or lo there he said for behold the Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17.21 and surely where the Kingdom of God is there are God and Christ● So that the plain letter of the Scripture is against thy most absurd and Anti-christian Doctrine That the Christ in the hearts of men yea even of the Saints as thou wouldst have it for thou makest no distinction is a false Christ for the plain tendency of this thy Work of Darkness is to make People believe that Christ is not a Light within the Saints because as thou alledgest the Light within was not crucified for us but Iesus Christ of Nazareth And in this absurd distinction and dividing of Christ thou acts the part of Socinus and his followers who are called Socinians that affirm most absurdly That Christ is only a meer man and that he had no being nor existance before Mary But if thou say thou believest that Christ is both God and Man and that he was from the beginning to wit that Word by whom all things were made then why dost thou deny that Christ as he is that Word is in the Saints for though Christ only suffered in the flesh and as Man upon the Tree of the Cross yet he who suffered was not meer Man but God and Man and yet still one Christ. And thus also Christ within spiritually and inwardly revealed in the Saints is not another Christ from him that came in the flesh and was crucified for us even Jesus of Nazareth And hadst thou taken a little pains to read my book and consider it impartially and fairly thou shouldst have seen what a plain and single account I give of mine and my Friends Faith concerning the Man Christ Iesus as he came in the flesh and dyed for our sins and rose again and ascended c. even Jesus of Nazareth and that true faith in Christ Jesus is not only a believing in him as he is the Word c. but as the same Word did take flesh and was God manifest in the flesh c. to wit Christ crucified and risen again made of a Woman made under the Law c. and that the true faith of a Christian doth not divide Christ c. as false Christians do who say they believe in Christ without them but do not believe and receive Christ within them as God the Father doth inwardly reveal him or as Ranters and other high Notionists who pretend to believe in Christ as the Word and Light in them but slight and blaspheme against Christ that was crucified without them as is plainly to be seen in my late book pag. 131 132 133 and pag. 103 104 108. and p. 229. and hereby it doth plainly appear how safely I guard against both extreams of false Teachers some preaching Christ without but denying him within as thou Pardon Tillinghast and most of thy

are not gathered from any express words of the People called Quakers but are only the false and absurd Consequences he gathers from our Principle altogether grounded upon his Ignorance and Mistakes and especially his Prejudice against the Truth A Brief ANSWER to Cotton Mather his Appendix to a little Book of his called Memorable Providences relating to Witchcrafts c. THe main design of Cotton Mather in this his Appendix is to vindicate and defend his Father Increase Mather as no wise guilty of these Charges which I laid against him towards the end of my late Book call'd The Presbyterian and Independent Churches in New-England and else-where brought to the Test. Now if Cotton Mather had made any true and just Vindication of his said Father it had been a commendable work in him but he is so far from that that his so weak and impertinent pretended Vindication doth not in the least excuse him and he is so far from any just Vindication of his Father that he doth rather more lay open his Fathers Nakedness in the sight of the world and addeth to his Fathers grosly abusing the honest People called Quakers new Abuses and lying abusive Speeches of his own besides that in the judgment of any impartial understanding Reader he discovers himself to be a very shallow man airy and full of froth but showing nothing of Solidity in his whole discourse As for his scornful and disdainful words and reflections on me calling me One Keith a Quaker not deigning to design me by my full Name and Our little Author This new Apostle This waspishman c. I value them not so as to be any discouragement unto me to bear my Testimony for the blessed Truth of God against his and his Brethrens false Doctrine and Hypocrisy and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ left upon record in Scripture in a measure of the sence of that holy Spirit that gave them forth have been are made comfortable unto me Mat. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you c. I desire to bless the Lord who hath truly made me little in my own eyes and hath let me see not only my littleness but nothingness as of my self and given me also to know that I am one of his little Ones which to me is greater satisfaction than to have the greatest worldly advantages and that he seems to reflect upon the littleness of my stature as is apparent showeth in him little wit or discretion many excellent men were of little bodily stature far exceeding Cotton Mather or me either and Goliah was a man of great bodily stature who defied the host of God and yet fell before little David and tho' I do readily acknowledge my self little every way yet by the Grace of God I doubt not but to be made able to defend the Truth against all that thou and all thy Brethren can do to withstand it for the Truth is the greatest and strongest of all and when he who is the Truth pleaseth to use an Instrument let it be ever so little or mean it is well enabled to do the work it is raised up for And tho' in the close of his Appendix that containeth little else but silly drolling he saith G. K. has given sufficient cause why his own Sect should be ashamed of him if shame were compatible to such a perfect People Which last part is a meer Scoff yet he hath not made it appear and I hope in the Lord he never shall be able to make it appear that my Friends have any cause to be ashamed of me Before he cometh to his Fathers Vindication he thought fit to tell the world of the strange liberty which the Devils gave to some possessed Children to come to the Meetings of the Quakers and to read their writings And if all this be true what saith it against the Quakers in the least to discredit them or their Religion We know many wicked People whose Souls the Devils possess and that is worse than a meer Bodily Possession may read both our Books and the Scriptures also yet as this is no discredit to the Scriptures so no more to our books yea the Devil could and did cite Scripture to Christ and could use the outward names of God and Iesus And thou grantest that that Girle possessed as thou alledgest Bodily with the Devil did read the 59 Psalm And what may be concluded from this according to Cotton Mathers pretended Logick that tho' the Devil would not suffer the Girle to read some Presbyterian Books but gave her liberty to read some of the Common Prayer or other Episcopal Books and Quakers Books and also the 59 Psalm that all these are of the like quality Thou further sayst The Girle so possessed as thou alledgest could hear the Scripture read and called to one to read of Mary Magdalen and I see not what difference the Devil doth make in good earnest betwixt reading and hearing the Scripture read Again That the Devil suffered some of them to come to the Quakers Meetings Supposing it were so is this any more in prejudice of the Quakers Meetings than that Cotton Mather saith The same Girle so possessed came to a study or Closet in his House and entred therein and there read on the Bible and good Books And if he say It was because the Devil had left her how soon she came there Why may not the same be alledged on behalf of the Quakers Meetings Who seeth not how shallow this man is that from so ridiculous an instance would represent the Quakers Meetings and Books such as the Devil had a good liking to But it seems the holiness of his Study drove the Devils away and made the Girle so quiet in his Study as is implied in his words where he saith She added a Reason for it which the Owner of the Study thought more kind than true It seemeth then that Cotton Mather thinketh himself in that respect obliged to the Devils kindness more than to the truth of the Reason That they left the Girle how soon she entred into his Closet But why could not the Devil carry the Girle into his Closet as well as the Devil took Christ into the holy City and set him on a Pinacle of the Temple Mat. 4.5 and as it is in Iob When the Sons of God came together Sathan also came among them and if Sathan can come where the Sons of God are met together why may he not quietly suffer some possessed by him to come either to C. M's Closet or the Quakers Meeting without any just reflection on either of the places But if C. M. think the Devil more kind than true to him he had need beware of his Kindness left it turn to his damage in the end for a kind Devil is the most dangerous Devil In the beginning of the Vindication of his Father he saith One would think that if an Historian did but secure his Veracity from being impeached most of

and others in antient times who upbraided the sincere Christians yea and the Christian Religion it self with all the vile and gross Heresies wicked Practices of some Apostates and other vile and lewd Persons who called themselves Christians and were not We have better learn'd Christ and Christianity than to judge any to be of our Religion or Society because of any outward Name whatsoever But if thou hadst any common discretion thou wouldst have spared these words to upbraid the People call'd Quakers with falling out among themselves and that their so falling out is but a natural consequence of their Tempers and Errors for through the great love and mercy of God the honest and sincere People call'd Quakers the which Name of Quakers is but a Nick-name raised upon them by Scoffers like Cotton Mather even as the Name Round-head and Puritan were Nick names raised upon sober People fifty years ago and upwards have been preserved as to the main in great Unity both of Perswasion and Love beyond any People that have appeared pretending to a Reformation in these latter Ages But for any Presbyterian or Independent who reckon themselves one in matters of Religion to upbraid any other People with falling out when they have had so great Contentions and Fallings out among themselves not only with one another but with these call'd the Episcopal and Church of England whom they deny not to be their Protestant Brethren and one with them in the main doth evidence not only great Partiality but Hypocrisie and Indiscretion For who have had greater Quarrels and Fa●ings out one with another than them who have professed one and the same Protestant Religion not only to hard Speeches one against another but great Persecution one of another and all this on the pretence of Religion And even in New-England it self Cotton Mather cannot be ignorant what Quarrels Disputes and Fallings out have been among these call'd Ministers and Teachers in New-England There are divers yet alive who were both eye and ear Witnesses to the hot Contentions and Fallings out among some call'd Preachers and Ministers in New-England of the Congregational way and particularly that great Opposition and Falling out that was betwixt old Iohn Cotton of New England of whom this Cotton Mather is descended and some of his Brethren the said old Iohn Cotton being accused severely by his pretended Brethren of the Ministry for false Doctrine though that Doctrine for which he was accused was not false but true and agreeable both to the Scriptures Testimony and to what the honest People call'd Quakers are raised up to witness unto as namely That not only the Graces and Operations of God of Christ and of the holy Spirit are in all true Saints and Believers but that God and Christ and the holy Spirit together with these Graces and Operations are really present and in-dwelling in the hearts of all true Saints and Believers And Iohn Owen hath asserted in some of his Books printed in Old England to wit That the holy Ghost doth really dwell in Believers together with his Graces and Virtues The which Doctrine both of old Iohn Cotton and Iohn Owen an Independent Preacher in Old England hath been judged by others of their Brethren not only Heresie but Blasphemy and is the main Article of Blasphemy that the Presbyterian and Independent Priests and Professors charge upon the People call'd Quakers And thus it doth appear what little Wit Discretion or common Prudence this Cotton Mather hath to charge the Quakers with falling out among themselves which in the case mentioned by him is altogether false when they themselves and his Brethren have been so deeply chargeable in that matter besides that of late there have been very unhappy Differences among these of your Church in New-England the which how agreeable to true Christian Religion or Civil Authority Truth in due time will discover Nor is he any more pertinent to say of a Woman that God moved as she declared to come with her face made black for a sign of some Iudgment ready to come upon many People of New-England That she dressed her self like a Devil and frighted some of her Sex almost out of their Lives in one of their biggest Assemblies for the Judgment she was moved to come as a sign to warn you of did soon after come to pass by a very sore and dreadful Visitation of that called by some The Black Pock that cut off many both Young and Old among you as I noticed in my late Book But if Cotton Mather were not full of a scornful light and airy spirit he would not make so light of a matter of so great weight so to sport and make merry with these whom God moved to warn of his approaching Judgments that come to pass accordingly thereby it was made apparent her Message was true But why should the colour of black be judged by Cotton Mather so much to resemble the Devil How many Negro's are there in New-England whom People daily see and converse with some of which may come to your Assemblies and none are affrighted thereby But if the colour of Black so much resemble the Devil as C. M. alledgeth then what saith he to his Brethren the men call'd Ministers in New-England who generally are Black in Habit from the Crown of the head to the foot like the Black-coats or C●●marims of old must they also by Cotton Mathers Authority be like unto the Devil So that in all his discourse C. M. showeth himself a meer silly Triffler but no sollid Disputer nor Defender either of his Father or himself Another thing I think fit to acquaint the Reader with That he need not think strange to find Cotton Mather so falsifying and wresting my words and abusing the honest People called Quakers when down-right and in plain words he falsifieth the holy Scripture and alledgeth a down-right falshood upon Christ himself who is the Truth for in his thing call'd a Sermon upon 1 Pet. 5.8 pag. 9. he saith We are told in Mat. 12.26 Sathan is NOT divided against himself Now let the Reader view the place and he shall find no such words nor indeed any where in all the Scripture for the words are Mat. 12.26 And if Sathan cast out Sathan he is divided against himself how shall then his Kingdom stand And here every one that hath a right though ordinary understanding of things and who see even but a very little may see that Christ doth not so much as imply That Sathan is not divided against Sathan but only argueth the case with them against themselves by an Argument that is commonly called Argumentum ad hominem as doth plainly appear by the following Verse v. 27. And if I by Belzebub cast out Devils by whom do your Children cast them out therefore they shall be your judges for Christ had this manifest advantage against them that they could no more alledge that he did cast out Devils by the Prince of Devils

than that it might be alledged that any of their Children did cast them out for their Children did believe they did cast out Devils by the Power of God and Christ had far greater cause to say the same to wit that he did cast out Devils by the Power of God Nor doth the manner of Expression If Sathan cast out Sathan argue or imply in the least that Sathan is not divided against himself or that his Kingdom is not divided for the Particle if is not always to be understood to imply a negative but frequently an affirmative as in v. 28. said Christ But If I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God c. the sense is not Negative And hereby it doth plainly appear that Cotton Mather is a Falsifier and Wrester of Christs words who would bring Christs Authority to prove That Sathan is is not divided against Sathan which is utterly false for Sathan is divided manifestly oft times against Sathan and his Kingdom is divided also and therefore it cannot stand but must needs fall and great will be the Fall thereof for there is no true nor real Unity betwixt the Devils nor can there be because they are not in unity with God nor Truth which is the alone foundation ground of all true Unity and tho' Devils may seem to agree and the parts of his Kingdom to be in Union yet that is no real unity and therefore they oft fall at variance as their wicked Actions and Work in wicked men plainly demonstrate that are most commonly divided and discordant And as for thy Book of Witchcraft though I believe there is such a thing that is too frequent as real Witchcraft and too many that are real Witches yet I find little or indeed nothing in all thy book th●t doth effectually prove th●t any of these Children were really bewitched the most it proveth is that some Whimsies and Fancies together with some sits of Madness or Melancholy Distractions did seize upon them or suppose a Diabolical Possession all this doth not prove they were bewitched nor do I find any effectual proof that it was a Bodily Possession of the Devil But whether it was so or not I am little concerned to enquire further than to take notice that C. Mather will needs have it to be so not only to bespatter and abuse the People called Quakers because a whimsical Boy became well when his going to the Quakers Meeting was but mentioned which might be used rather for than against them but really is of no force either for or against but to make simple and too credulous People believe That some of his Brethrens or his own Prayers did conjure the Devil and cast him out And all this to prove the great worth and excellency of the Presbyterian or Independent Religion But I have both read heard as great or rather greater instances of evil Spirits and Devils being cast out of some by Popish Priests which doth no more prove either the truth or worth of Pope or Papacy than this pretended or supposed Ejection and casting out or perhaps the going out of the Devil without any force but on his crafty design to make Cotton Mather imagin it to be so and others of the like silly credulity doth prove the truth or worth of your Religion for C. Mather should remember his own words in that thing call'd his Sermon on Witchcraft p. 36. Sometimes saith he the Devil will use a digression he will seem to give over his intent in one thing but make sure of his intent in another such a Stratagem he ●seth as what Joshua took Ai withal he retires and so he con●uors I say then what doth Cotton Mather know or how can he prove to the contrary but that the Devil used this Stratagem in retiring or going out without being conjured by the force of his and his Brethrens Prayers And though the great worth and power of true Prayer I most willingly acknowledge which is only performed by the Inspiration and Revelation of the holy Spirit yet seeing Cotton Mather and his Brethren generally mock at any at this day laying claim to divine Inspiration and Revelation I cannot own their Prayers to be true they are liker to Charms and Spells of superstitious Persons all such Prayers that are performed without divine Inspiration and true internal divine Revelation Nor doth it content or satisfie Cotton Mather to accuse and speak evil of the honest People called Quakers and to belye CHRIST himself and the Scripture as I have above sufficiently proved but he also falleth foul upon his own Native Country and the People in it saying expresly of the Country of New-England A COUNTRY FULL OF LYES pag. 28. in his discourse of Witchcraft How may the People of New-England relish this a People generally all over few excepted your Church Members and yet by Cotton Mathers Authority full of Lyes Also he doth plainly accuse not a few of them for using and practising manifold Sorceries and Charms Had the People called Quakers so accused them of New-England it would have been judged great impiety But what saith the People of New-England now to Cotton Mather who doth so accuse them let them see to it and if they be not guilty of his Charge whether is he not severely to be reprehended And what say his Brethren the men called Ministers in Boston who have so highly praised his Book have they no Garment to cast over their Naked Brother Here follow a few words of a Letter to Iohn Cotton called a Minister at Plymouth in New-England John Cotton HAving seeen a few Lines from thy hand attested by thee and other two Witnesses wherein thou and they declare That in the Town of Plymouth in New-England last Summer save one ye heard me affirm That the Scriptures are the Word of God My Answer to thee and them is That ye have not dealt fairly nor as becoming true Witnesses in this case for every Witness should declare all the Truth and conceal nothing of the Truth which they heard Now this ye have not done but diminished from my words as your Consciences may bear witness if your Memory be not bad for I very well remember my words at that time which were these That I did acknowledge the true Sense of the Scripture to be the Word of God and that in the same I was not singular in my Perswasion from the People called Quakers for Samuell Fisher in his Book called Rusticus ad Academicos that hath been in print upwards of twenty five Years hath affirmed the same to wit That the true Sense of the Scripture is the Word of God And at that time I further said That not every one who had the Letter of the Scripture had the Word of God to speak properly because they had not the true sense of Scripture which none have but such to whom it is given by the Spirit of God I also did further affirm That the Letter or words of Scripture may be called the Word in a figurative sense as the Map or Card of England is called England and that the Greek word is used in Scripture in divers acceptations All this and more to the same purpose I spoke to thee at that time G. K. The substance of this I have more largely asserted in my late Book printed called The Presbyterian and Independent visible Churches c. cap. 1. THE END