N00442:66
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.
Is it not Ridiculous, for a man that says, Ministers can require no Maintenance from the people, to prove it from 1 Cor. 9.14. The Lord has ordained, that they who preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel? •s not this a pretty Argument, If God hath positively ordained, that Ministers of the Gospel shall have Maintenance, then the people may choose whether they will maintain them or no. But see whether in p. 55. Keith have it not, if he have any at all. Is not the man Light-headed, when he says, Light being used as a Name of God, is no Figurative or Tropical Expression? And when he says, Light is immediate, though it comes through a Medium? Does not he talk in page 16. about an Efficacy as well as a Sufficiency, or of a Sufficient ⟨p. 48⟩Efficacy, in the Grace which God hath provided for them that are never saved, and never have the Effect of that Grace? Is it not one of his Revelations, That Christ bestows Adoption only on his Brethren? which is as much as to say, None but the Adopted are Adopted! Can any thing be so Ridiculous as this man, in pag. 169. Where he finds fault with us, for calling our Assemblies together, by a Bell, because we should have, A Gospel-Bell to Ring and Sound in our Hearts, and call us together? or have his Friends got the property of the Cynocephalus in the Temple of the Egyptian Serapis? or are they qualified like the man in Germany, who never can speak a word, but just precisely at one a Clock? One of the gravest Writers in the world, cannot forbear a Sarcasm on this occasion; he tells the Quakers, our Bells are not carnal ones, as they call them; for if they were flesh they would never be able to sound so high and far as they do. But if the Quakers don't allow Bells, we shall see they can afford Libels before we have done; which are things that one archly derives, as being Lies, because false, and Bells because Loud. And Keith too carries about a Carnal Clapper in his head. Is it not Ridiculous to make an Invisible Work in mens hearts to be the gathering of a visible Church? Is it not Ridiculous to tell us, That the Baptism with Water, appointed by our Saviour and practised by his Apostles, belonged only to Johns Dispensation?
Is it not Ridiculous, for a man that says, Ministers can require no Maintainance from the people, to prove it from