George Keith's Complaint against the Quakers: or, An answer to the Quakers complaint against George Keith humbly presented to the clergy of the Church of England. Keith, George, 1639?-1716. 1700 Approx. 25 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 6 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2006-06 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A47132 Wing K155 ESTC R216623 99828348 99828348 32775 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A47132) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 32775) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1951:12) George Keith's Complaint against the Quakers: or, An answer to the Quakers complaint against George Keith humbly presented to the clergy of the Church of England. Keith, George, 1639?-1716. 8 p. printed and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, London : 1700. Reproduction of the original in the British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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LONDON Printed , and Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster , , 1700. George Keith 's Complaint Against the QVAKERS , &c. Learned Sirs , IT 's unto you , into whose Orders I am now Admitted , and by whom I am Owned , since the Quakers have denied me , that I make my Complaint of the Quakers ; that cast on me such Aspersions , that its evident and demonstrable out of my Books , what I have said of you , as these following evince , viz. That you Ran , and the Lord never sent you ; and that you were Covetous and Ambitious , seeking how to please Men , for your own Ends ; and it 's true , That I cried against your Philosophy , and your Universities , saying , They are the Stews of Antichrist , out of which comes your ignorant , profane , scandalous Ministry ; and that the Generality of you have not the True Faith ; and that in process of Time , your whole Ministry will consist of ungodly Men ; the Wicked being still preferr'd by the Wicked : And so , they say , I am preferr'd among the rest ; and by contrivance and design , now I am so Old , as to have so much Natural Wit , as to see I must make some shift how to live ; having cast my self out from among the Quakers , and seeing it is the far easiest of many or most Trades , to be a Preacher , to get Money , and become one of the Man-made Ministry , where All is done for Money : Therefore , Learned Brethren , I come among you ; for you know , No Money , No Preaching ; as the Old Proverb is , No Penny , No Pater Noster . And the vile Quakers slander me in these , and other matters of Truth , by saying , You ( and I may now say , We , Brethren ) Preach not Christ ; but say contrary , That is not Christ which convinceth every Man of his sins , and tells him all that ever he did ; it is but a Humane Principle , and not Divine : And to Read Set-Forms of Prayers out of a Book , which to read , whether in private or publick , and call that Reading Prayer , is not ( I affirm ) any part of Gospel-Worship ; neither was it known in the Church , either in Justin Martyr , or Tertullian's Time , who lived above 300 Years after Christ . And , Learned Brethren , these Heathens , as I call the Quakers , in my late Sheet , Reproach me with another thing that I said of them , whilst I was one of them , concerning such as you ( and I ) that now oppugn the Quakers with gross and horrid Lyes , and false Calumnies , and meer Abuses , like unto the ways that ever the worst of the Adversaries of Truth have used against the True Witnesses of it ; and yet said I , It never yet hath been proved , nor never will , that the Religion professed by the sincere and faithful People , called in scorn Quakers , is either Paganism , or any other thing than Real Christianity ; and notwithstanding I have so said , I do Retract , Disown , and Deny whatsoever is to be found in any of my Books , contrary to the Holy Scriptures . Yet these Heathens , Learned Brethren , do not forbear to Reproach me with what I have truly said , concerning the Sacraments Christ hath ordained in his Church , viz. Two only , as generally necessary to Salvation , as we profess ; that is to say , Baptism , and the Supper of the Lord. Viz. As for Infants Baptism , and Sprinkling a Child of Eight Days Old more or less , on the Forehead , and call it Baptism , I said hath no footing in all the Scripture , neither of Precept nor Practice ; neither was it in use for an Hundred Years and more after the Apostles days , among Professors of Christianity ; and that we cannot Prove it , altho' we Practice it , and get Money by it , but do it by a bare Imitation , and a meer pretended Call , which is great Presumption , yea , Superstition ; altho' we call it Christ's Ordinance , and say , It 's Commanded by Christ ; yet he hath given us no Command ; but we set up the Commandments of Men in the Room of God's Commands , like the Pharisees , as they shew in their late Sheet , entituled , The Christianity of the People called Quakers asserted by ( me ) George Keith ; and in their Book , called The Creed-Forgers detected , they shew , that I said , Tertullian was against Infant Baptism , and that we cannot ( as true it is ) give any Evidence in Church-History , that Christ commanded those Words to be used , which we use in Baptism ; and Zuinglius is against us in this Case ; and that 1 Cor. 11.23 , 24. proves no Institution of the Lord's Supper at all ; and that we , Learned Brethren , own ( as you know we do ) and acknowledge , that there is no absolute necessity of using that called the Supper , so as that none can be Saved , but such that partake of it : And that whatever Outward thing God Commands , brings along with them a real Advantage to Men's Souls ; and you know , we hold this to be an Outward thing , and Visible Sign . And for my part , I still adhere , as I said in my Retractations , to my former Advice , that nothing be required by one sort ( i.e. by us , or any others ) from another , as an Article of Faith , or Doctrine , in common to be Believed , but what is expresly delivered in the Scriptures , in plain express Scripture-Terms . And , Learned Brethren , you know , we hold the Lord's Supper as an Article of Faith , or Doctrine , to be believed ; and yet cannot we prove it by what is expresly delivered in the Scripture , in plain and express Scripture-Terms . What , Brethren , shall I do with this Gang of Quakers ? Altho' I charge them not either upon the Generality ( pray mind that ) far less the Universality of all them called Quakers ; yet I must confess , I have positively said in my late Sheet , That I have proved the Quakers ( without Exception ) Heathens ; notwithstanding those that have but a little sound Judgment may easily find , I do not contradict my self in any thing , nor do I continue to hold palpable Contradictions ; for I have declared in Print , Those that continue to hold palpable Contradictions , all Ingenious Persons will conclude great Hypocrites , for none but stark Mad and Crazed in their Understanding , will hold perfect Contradictions , for what I hold is agreeable to Holy Scripture ; therefore these Quakers that I have charged with the Gangreen of their Vile and Gross Errors and Heresie , that is , a Complex of the worse sort of Errors and Heresies , Demand of me to prove by plain Scripture , and in Plain and Express Scripture Terms , that the Baptizing Infants , and Signing them with the Sign of the Cross , and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper , as used by us , and our set Forms of Prayer , and our taking Tythes , and pleading for the Divine Right thereof , and our requiring they should be paid to us ( the Ministers of the Nation ) as Ministers of Christ , and that as such we should receive Tythes and Stipends ; to prove all this , and much more , from plain Scripture , and in plain and express Scripture Terms , they do demand ; because I still say , I adhere to my former Testimony . Again , If I believe these things to be Articles of Faith , or Christian Doctrines to be believed , and many other things that we Hold and Practice ; these Quakers would have plain Scripture for all such things , and in plain and express Scripture Terms they would have it proved ; is not this unreasonable , Brethren ? I have indeed declared , in publick Print , That I have been above 30 Years among the Quakers ; and since I left them , have publish'd to the World , that I Reverence Divine Providence that I became a Quaker : And have Affirmed , That they held the Fundamentals of Christian Doctrines , and that I knew the Quakers and their Principles , having been Conversant with them in their publick Meetings , as well as private Discourses , with the most noted and esteemed amongst them for 30 Years ; yet have said , to Excuse my self since I left them , If I had known they had such Errors among them , I would as soon have put my Head in the Fire , as have owned them : Yet in my Retractations , I declare , I am of the same Faith as I have been above 30 Years . Thus they say , I say and unsay , and pretend Ignorance when I well knew , and vindicated those Doctrines stoutly , and in the Name of the Lord , which I now chargeas Errors upon them , many of which were writ before I was a Quaker ; and therefore as to my pretence , that if I had known the Quakers had such Errors , I would as soon have put my Head in the Fire , as have own'd them ; which the Quakers esteem an idle Story , for they will not believe I was so Ignorant , as not to know them , because I vindicated them ; and besides , they account there is no need for me to put my Head in the Fire , because they think me too hot-headed already ; and that if what I have said be true , That I am of the same Faith still , that I was when a Quaker , and that I have been for above 30 Years past ; then I must be a Quaker still ; and if I never was a Quaker , then they pretend they do not understand what reason I had to publish to the World , That I reverence divine Providence that I became a Quaker ; thus they reflect upon me , and endeavour to render me in palpable Contradiction , and to shew that by my own Saying , I prove I am an Apostate , a great Hypocrite , Crazed in my Understanding , and stark Mad : But , Learned Brethren , seeing I meet with these things , I make my Complaint to you , to whose Service , for my Wages , Stipend , or Reward , I am now Devoted . And I say , and do what I can , by calling the Quakers Heathens , Deists ; their Divinity , mad Divinity ; their Religion , the Religion of Julian the Apostate ; and render them Stoicks , Platonists , and what not ; and assert I have proved them Apostates , telling them in my late Sheet , That I think not at present to take particular Notice of the Pamphlets which charge me with some Passages in my former Books , particularly the Account of a National Church , &c. the Animadversions thereon , the Portraiture of G. K. and the Broad-Sheet , cum multis aliis : But they still call upon me to prove that those Principles which I have formerly vindicated in the Name of the Lord , are contrary to Scripture ; and the Quakers tell the World most truly , I Deny and Retract what 's contrary to the Holy Scriptures , that is to be found in any of my Books ; by which they conclude that I do more Retract what I have lately writ and done , than what I writ or did formerly ; because they suggest , that according to their Opinion , I Writ , Preached and Practised , more agreeable to the Scripture then , than I do now ; and when I had more Charity for them , I was better than now I am , and less envious , and more like a Christian indeed : Therefore in my late Sheet I say , I do Retract , Disown and Deny whatever is to be found in any of my Books contrary to the Holy Scriptures , or the 39 Articles of the Church of England ; which , I say , I sincerely believe are perfectly according to the Doctrine of Holy Scriptures : And now they would have me prove that the Quakers hold any Fundamental Doctrine that is contrary to the Holy Scriptures , and the 39 Articles of the Church of England . And what Fundamental Principles or Doctrines of the Christian Faith to be believed , they , i. e. Quakers hold , that are contrary to the holy Scriptures , and 39 Articles . Seeing that I say , I am of the same Faith , and have not changed in any Fundamental Principle , nor indeed in any one Principle of the Christian Faith , nor varied therefrom to this Day ; for all the while I was a Quaker , I was Orthodox , or Sound in the Christian Faith , although I have , to render the Quakers odious , asserted them to be Erroneous . And although I now say , Those Texts of Scripture , relating to Baptism and the Supper , I was mistaken in ; and when I did particularly Assert , Water was not meant ; and since affirmed that it is meant in Mat 28.19 . yet I have not varied in any one Principle of the Christian Faith , nor contradicted my self ; neither doth this prove , when I held otherwise than now I do , that I was not then found in the Principles of Christianity , or Doctrines of the Christian Faith , or that I held any thing contrary to the 39 Articles , by no means , for then I should be an Apostate , stark Mad , and Crazed in my Understanding , ( if I contradicted my self ; ) according to my own Saying , and was unsound in the Principles of Christianity , or Doctrines of the Christian Faith ; or that I held any thing contrary to the 39 Articles . And , Learned Brethren , you are not Ignorant how we have encouraged some to write against the Quakers , altho' it hath cost some Scores of Pounds : and there hath been a Complaint made , in the Quakers Names , against me , humbly presented to the Clergy of the Church of England ; therefore my Letter-Learned-Brethren , that are as False and Conceited as I am , and think you can split Hairs , strain Sentences , quibble about Words to raise Strife , use Sophisms , draw wrong Conclusions , make undue Inferences , to Wrong the Living , and Desame the Dead , that you may render both Erroneous , the living Ignorant , and your selves Wise and Knowing , when it 's well known ( to them that are truly wise and knowing ) we are otherwise : Therefore such of you that have more Passion than Patience , Pride than Humility , empty Conceit than sound Judgment , Folly than Wisdom ; that are more taken with Lyes and Railery , than Truth and Reason ; to you I do Address my self , as being nearest Related to me , and with whom I am in abundant more Unity , than with the Patient , Humble , Wise , Judicious , and sober honest Men ; for they may think , that I might better Imploy my Time , and my Parts , and Zeal , to much better purposes , in furthering the Reformation of Men's Lives , and of the Manners of the Nation , than by raising or keeping up with an Unchristian Temper , to the manifest Injury of the Christian Religion , which is an Institution of Love , dangerous or unnecessary Controversies or Divisions ; — all Religions being , I think agreed , that bad Men are a Scandal to the best Religion ; and that they cannot , if they continue so , be saved in any , as is said , p. 27. of that Book , said to be published with the Approbation of a considerable number of Lords Spiritual and Temporal : This Advice being contrary to my Practice , I rather chuse to make my Address to you ; and it 's to such that all along I intend my Complaint : And this I may add . Concerning Ordination . Indeed I am ashamed that I should derive either my own , or that any other of the Protestants should derive their Call or Ordination through so unclean a Conduit , as the great Antichrist ; and through confessed Synioniacks , Magicians and Necromancers ; yea , through Papesse John , a Vile Harlot : Sure I am , the most Famous of the Primitive Protestants abhorred such a thing ; and if at any time any of them alledged that outward Ordination , it was but an Argument , Ad hominem [ as we use to say ] by way of Retortion , to stop the Papists Mouths ; otherwise acknowledging their Call to be Extraordinary and Immediate . And because it hath been suggested , that the Quakers are Papists ; look in G. K.'s Looking ▪ Glass , p. 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , I. And you may see , the Papists and G. K. and his Brethren , agree as to their Notions and Distinctions of Trinity and Persons , which the Quakers deny ; who , though they confess Father , Son , and Spirit , and that these Three are One ( according to the Scriptures ) yet deny the School-Men's uncertain Notions and unscriptural Terms of Trinity and Persons . II. They agree in affirming , That Infants are really guilty of Adam's Sin , before they commit ▪ Actually any of their own . III. They agree , in denying there is a Saving , Evangelical , Supernatural Light in all Men , by which they may be saved , without the use of other outward Means , if God necessarily Abstract them from them ; both affirming , That such as have not the Scriptures , or some to Preach to them , or Baptize them , &c. must of necessity Perish , unless the Lord make use of some Extraordinary Means . IV. They agree , That Humane Learning , and Natural Parts , are more Essential Qualifications to Ministers and Preachers , than the Grace of God ; and that Men may be true Ministers without the Grace of God , but not without the other . V. They agree , In deriving the Power of their Ministry by an Outward Succession , which , together with the use of Outward Ordination , they judge sufficient to Constitute a Minister , though he want an Inward Call from God's Spirit , reckoning People are obliged to hear him , and look upon him as a Minister , because of his outward Formality of Ordination , without questioning his Inward Call ▪ VI. They agree , in affirming , That the Clergy ought to be a distinct sort of Persons , distinguished from the rest of the People by their Black Coats ▪ VII . They agree , in affirming , That Preachers are not to wait , to speak as the Spirit gives them utterance ; — but then ▪ when the Bell Ringeth , Repeat over before the People , as the School-Boys do their Lessons . VIII . They agree , That Ministers ought to have a set Limited hire , and ought not to supply their Wants with their Hands , as did the honest Apostle Paul ; but sit at Ease , and feed of the Fat. IX . They agree , in affirming , That all Ministers are not alike , but that there ought to be Diocesian ▪ Bishops over the rest , whom Men must call , My Lord. X. : They agree , in affirming , That Men may , yea , and ought , to Pray , Preach , and do all their other Acts of Worship when they please , whether they be moved and influenced by God's Spirit , or not . XI . They agree , in affirming , That Water-Baptism is the Baptism of Christ , and a Standing Ordinance of the Church of Christ . XII . They agree , in affirming , That Instant Sprinkling is an Ordinance of the Gospel . XIII . They agree , in affirming , That partaking of the Visible Signs of Bread and Wine , is a Sacrament , or Standing Ordinance in the Church of Christ . XIV . ' They agree , That it is lawful for Christians to Swear . XV. They agree , That it is lawful for Christians to Fight , and kill one another in Fighting . XVI . They agree , in the Bloody Antichristian Tenet of Persecution ▪ in affirming , That the Civil Magistrate may Lawfully Kill , Banish , Imprison , and Poyn'd Men , for their Opinions in Matters of Worship and Doctrine . XVII . They agree , in affirming it Lawful for Men to Kneel , Bow , and take off their Hats , one to another ; and in the use of vain Titles , Complements and Cringings , &c. XVIII . They agree , in Asserting the Lawfulness of Gaming , Sporting and Playing ; and all such other things , as Dancings , Singings , Actings of Comedies , using of Lace , Ribbonds , Plaiting the Hair , and such other kind of Superfluities . All which , although the Papists , and G. K. and his Brethren Agree , the Quakers Deny and Disown , with several other Particulars , as may be seen in G. K.'s Looking-Glass for all those called Protestants in the Three Nations . Thus , as that called The Quakers Complaint against George Keith , is made in the Person of the Quakers ; That Liberty is taken to write this in G. K.'s Person : And as that Pamphlet ends with Quotations ; so this , called , George Keith's Complaint against the Quakers , ends with Quotations . For a farther and a more particular Answer to which , you are referr'd to a Book lately Printed , intituled , The Creed-Forgers detected ; sold by T. Sowle , in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-street : Both which are recommended , 1. To G. K. and his Brethren ; and , 2. To the Serious Perusal , and Weighty Consideration of all the Impartial , to whom this shall come ; and to them it 's left . FINIS .