N00442:36
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.
The First Argument.
A Person that pretends, An Assurance from the Spirit of God, for a thing that is a Direct LYE in matter of Fact, is one from whom all that are concerned for their Souls, are to Turn away.
But such a person is George Keith.
All men will and should beware, how they deal with a convicted Liar; honest men usually can as little endure the sight of a person that makes no Bones of a Lye in matter of Fact, as Erasmus professes in his Colloquies. But when a man that comes with a LYE shall Father that Brat of the Devil (for such is every Lye!) upon the Holy Spirit of God, that sacred Spirit of Truth; surely the Impiety is risen to a monstrous Elevation. And now […] think, that George Keith is chargeable with no less a wickedness. He has not only forfeited all Reputation for Inspiration, as much, as the Quaker, that a while since pretended, That he came with a Message from the Lord, unto a person who was it seems then out of the Way by ⟨p. 25⟩being out of the Town; but he has Lied like Ananias himself. I do not mean, in his Account of Ralph Jones and his Cows at Barnstable, which is affirmed to be a Lye: but I mean in his Printed Letter to the Ministers of Boston. In that Letter he says, He is well assured by the Spirit of God, That the Doctrine, which we preach to the people is False; and says he, The particular Things I charge on you are these, The last of them is That the Scriptures ought to be believed only for their own outward Evidence, and Testimony, and not for the inward Evidence and Testimony of the Holy Spirit in mens Hearts. Now this is a Doctrine directly contrary to what we have preached a thousand times over. For, tho we do say, That the extraordinary ways by which Gd Revealed Himself to his People, before & for the writing of all the Scripture, are so Ceased, that we have no warrant now to look for them, yet we grant, that all Believers do still enjoy the special Illuminations and Assistances of Gods Holy Spirit; and we hold that without a special Influence of the Holy Spirit in the Hearts of men, the Scriptures cannot be duly and aright Believed. But that which makes the LYE of this Keith more inexcusably impudent and notorious is this. In that Letter he says, That he has diligently examined our Confession of Faith, and thereby Learnt what we Preach.