N00442:78
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.
II. Assert, That we have no Warrant in our Days, to look for such Inspirations as were given to the Prophets and Apostles of our Lord, before the Canon of the Scripture was completed.
II. Assert, That we have no Warrant in our Dayes, to look for such Inspirations as were given to the Prophets and Apostles of our Lord, before the Canon of the Scripture was compleated.
Acknowledge, That the Saints in our Days have their special Illuminations from the Holy Spirit of God; and that the Spirit by those Illuminations does help us to understand the Things Revealed in the Scriptures, which otherwise cannot be savingly understood; and does further help us to apply the Scriptures unto our own Instruction, Direction, Consolation. Yea, acknowledge, that the Holy Spirit of God is the Author of all the Good Works, whereof there are many, (and let them be what they will) in the Hearts of his People. But then tell them, These things, do not amount unto such Inspirations as qualified the Writers of the Scriptures for their work. In those Inspirations the Bodily Perceptions, did not use to carry the Objects unto the Rational Faculties, and conclusions were not usually formed in such a way; the Soul was more passive in them; it was not by the Improvements of a sanctified Understanding, ⟨p. 61⟩but it was by the Illapses of rapturous Ecstasies, that these Inspirations were conveyed into the Subjects of them. The Inspirations were not common to all Believers, nor were they Habitual in those few which had them; nor were they Augmented by the Industry and Experience of the Godly. Ask them whether Paul do not evidently make a Difference between the Illuminations of all good men, and the Inspirations of some, in 1 Cor. 7.40. After my judgment, and I think also that I have the Spirit of God. He gives his Advice, as a Saint that had the Spirit of God Enlightening of him as he does other Saints; whereas, if that Advice had been immediately inspired into him, he did not well to make his own Judgment bear a part with the Infallible Authority of God. See likewise 1 Cor. 12.39. Are all Prophets? Challenge the Quakers to do any of those Miracles, or to speak any of those Languages, which many of them that were of old Inspired, could. You need not go to prove, That such Inspirations are so ceased, as that they are not ordinarily to be looked for. Let them, if they can, prove that they be Not Ceas'd. Yet that you may fully silence them, Turn them to