N00442:91
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
Letter › Assertion 6: VI. Assert, That God has foreordained, whatever comes to pass.
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.
VI. Assert, That God has foreordained, whatever comes to pass.
Turn them to Eph. 1.11. Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own Will. Ask them, whether any Creature can work without God? or, whether the Counsel of God, be not from Eternity? Turn them to Acts 4.27, 28. Against thy Holy Child Jesus—they were gathered together, for to do whatever—thy Counsel determined before to be done? Ask them, whether there could be worse things done, than what were against the Holy Child Jesus? and whether even such things as th•se were not fore-determined by the Counsel of God? Make 'em look into Acts▪ 2.23. Him being delivered by the […] Counsel and Fore-knowledge ⟨p. 68⟩of God, ye have taken, and by wicked Hands have Crucified. Let them tell you, whether the Treason of Judas was not one of the Things in the Delivering of our Lord Jesus into the Hands of them that Crucified Him! and whether even This also were not by the Determinate Counsel and Fore-knowledge of the Almighty? And do you tell them, That you do not conceive the Liberty of the Creature to be taken away by the Decree, no, nor by the In••ux neither, of the first cause upon all second causes: but that there may be Necessity, where there is no Coaction or Compulsion; and that we may act most Voluntarily when we act most Necessarily. If they taunt at you, That you render God the Author of Sin; tell them, No; tell them that God may be the Author of an Action done by Man, when Man only is the Author of the Evil in that Action; tell them, That God may Purpose to withhold, & He may withhold, from men the Grace which He never owed them; and no Blame lie upon God, for the Sin which will follow thereupon, and administer innumerable occasions for His Glory. Ask them, whether God Foreknow all that comes to pass? or see