N00442:68
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.
but for the Air & Fr••h, I hope I have not a Neighbour in the world, which will not vindicate the Composedness of my whole Conversation, from the slanders of this R••iler. And indeed the slanders which Keith commits in his Writings, are almost as many as his Follies. Is it not a slander, when he says, We Preach altogether an Absent Christ? None Preach the most Intimate Union & Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, more than we. But he may well slander us, if it be fitting for him to slander the most Eminent Saints, or to say, That Nathanael and Cornelius, were Unbelievers, when the glorious Testimonies in the ⟨p. 51⟩Scriptures were given of them. Yea, he can slander a whole Assembly of Divines at once, by saying, They expressly word what he recites in pag. 155, 156. as it is recited there; which is utterly false; 'tis he that has worded it so; and fathered some things upon them, which they do not speak. Why does he represent us, in pag. 258. as telling people, That if a man Die in his sins, his Faith shall save him, tho• he Live and Die in his sins? if he did not mean himself to Live, in the sin of slandering, or to be a man of no Faith until he Die? Into what a Bears Skin does he Slanderously put us, when he says, That Notoriously scandalous persons Liars, Deceivers, Drunkards, &c. are qualified Members of our Church? I say, He is a scandalous person, Liar, Deceiver, for saying so; and there is not one of our Churches▪ but what would on the account of those Qualifications Excommunicate him, if he had been under their Inspection. Is it no Slander upon thousands of Godly People in the Country, when he says, Our Sacrament has no inward spiritual signification to us? Indeed, he all along is full of opposition; but he can tell rather to whom, than to what: he is resolved the Pastors and Churches of New-England shall be soundly railed at, that so unwary people may be decoyed into a detestation of them; and in order to this, he childishly makes up a man of his own Clouts and Rags, and calling it by a New-English Name, he falls to pelting of it. ⟨p. 52⟩He misrepresents most of our Doctrines, and this very wilfully, to make us odious; and as among the Russians, a Knave will sometimes convey his own Goods, into another mans House, thereupon crying out against him as the Thief; so Keith puts Words and Things upon us, which we never thought of;