N00442:124
Little flocks guarded against grievous wolves. An address unto those parts of New-England which…
Little flocks guarded against grievous wolves. An address unto those parts of New-England which are most exposed unto assaults, from the modern teachers of the misled Quakers. : In a letter, which impartially discovers the manifold heresies and blasphemies, and the strong delusions of even the most refined Quakerism; and thereupon demonstrates the truth of those principles and assertions, which are most opposite thereunto. : With just reflections upon the extreme ignorance and wickedness, of George Keith, who is the seducer that now most ravines upon the churches in this wilderness. / Written by Cotton Mather. ; A character of the ring-leaders among the Quakers. ; [Four lines from Timothy]Little flocks guarded against grievous wolves. An address unto those parts of New-England which are most exposed unto assaults, from the modern teachers of the misled Quakers. : In a letter, which impartially discovers the manifold haeresies and blasphemies, and the strong delusions of even the most refined Quakerism; and thereupon demonstrates the truth of those principles and assertions, which are most opposite thereunto. : With just reflections upon the extream ignorance and wickedness, of George Keith, who is the seducer that now most ravines upon the churches in this wilderness. / Written by Cotton Mather. ; A character of the ring-leaders among the Quakers. ; [Four lines from Timothy]
Boston: printed by Benjamin Harris, 1691
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
XVII. Thus have I been helping of you, to Assert many Truths of God; you shall now give me leave to Assert one more before we part. I see cause to Assert, That the Faithful Men, which receive and attend the care of your Souls, with a solemn separation thereunto, are to be treated no otherwise than as the Ministers of God among you. If any of them do prove scandalously and incurably Unfaithful, it should be the Endeavour of their Neighbours, that they may be removed from their Ministry. Yea, blessed be God, the Hunter of Souls never sticks the Dart of any gross miscarriage, into the side of any one poor Hart among us, but the whole Flock soon pushes him out of their company. And yet if a Minister become an Apostate, you must not then have your minds Roiled with an Imagination, That all the Ministerial Acts of that man while he was yet a secret stranger to the Grace of God, were null, & void; that the Sacraments whereof this man was the Dispenser, were all invalid; or that the Conversions, whereof this man was the Instrument, where all Insincere. ⟨p. 92⟩The Souls of Believers must be distressed with Eternal Entanglements, if the Truth of either Sacraments or Conversions depended on true Piety in the Heart of the Minister; and to rescue the Hearts of Christians from such Distresses, is the Design of our Declaring, How far Piety is Essential to a true Minister. It is this Necessary Provision for the Everlasting Peace of Renewed Souls, (which never can be safe, if it must wholly depend upon Grace in the Heart of a Minister, that may afterwards prove to be without Grace) It is this, I say, that makes the most Infamous of Liars even George Keith, to Print this Exclamation, It is no wonder that New-England abounds with such Impious Ministers! But let me freely say it, It is a Wonder of Divine Patience, that the Earth can bear such an Impious Liar on it. If some of our Ministers had none of the cleanest Garments on, yet our Blessed Lord would now say to this Keith, The Lord Rebuke thee, O Satan. But indeed, there is not that spot of Ground upon the face of Gods Earth, which can proportionably match New-England for Min•sters that not only have and use all true P•e•y, but also are most Exemplary for it. No man becomes a Minister in our Churches, till he first be a Communicant;