THE Shame and Humiliation OF THE QUAKERS, IN A Remarkable Judgement of ●●●●ituation, already begun upon some of 〈…〉 Ministers of their Second Days Meeting.  
With a fair Warning and kind Admonition to the rest, who are sincere, and desire to escape the Snare of Deceit, to beware of them.  

1. A Brief Account of the Beginning and Progress of the Difference between George Keith and the other Quakers, and of their Meeting at Turners-Hall, April 29, 1697.  
GEORGE KEITH, who had been bred a Scholar, had taken his degree of M. A. at Aberdeen in Scotland, and was one of the most Learned of all the Quakers, coming into Pensilvania, and observing the Quakers there to Preach up the Light within, but nothing of Christ without, contrary to what he had asserted in behalf of the Quakers, against some who had charged them to be no Christians; and being moved thereat, began to Preach up the true Doctrine concerning Christ; whereupon he was charged with Preaching up two Christ's, and for asserting, that the Light within was not sufficient without something else. And several Hear there were there about it: but it was carried there against him: so that he was forced to write about it to the Friends here; and, at last, to come over himself: but before he came over, this gave him occasion to consider better of some other of their Principles, and he discovered in them divers other Errors, which he had never held, and that he himself had been carried away and deceived in some things, and particularly concerning the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's-Supper; so that he is now become one of the most moderate of the Dissenters, but engaging in no Party; only some of the Quakers are come off to him. When he came over, instead of Redress, he met with the like usage here; only because it would have been too gross to have censured him expressly for that Cause, they made the most plausible Pretences they could for it, and passed a Sentence of Excommunication against him. Whereupon he charged them with divers gross Errors and Heresies, and appointed the 11th of June last to make good his Charge, at Turners-Hall in Filpot-Lane; but none of the Persons concerned appearing then to answer the Charge, he Printed a Narrative of that Meeting: and again this Year, by a Printed Advertisement, dated April 9 1697. gave notice of another intended Meeting by him and his Friends at Turners-Hall, upon the 29th of the same Month. At which Meeting he was further to detect the vile and gross Errors and Heresies of certain Quakers of their Second Days Meeting at Lombardstreet, (that is, of their Ministers) wherewith they had been formerly charged by him in relation to Four Fundamentals of the Christian Religion, to which those Errors and Heresies are directly repugnant: And the said Persons were desired to be present. The Errors charged were these: 

1. That Faith in Christ, as he outwardly suffered at Jerusalem, is not necessary to our Salvation.  
2. That Justification and Sanctification is not by the Blood of Christ outwardly shed.  
3. That there is no Resurrection of the Body that dieth.  
4. That Christ is not to come without us in his glorified Body, even the same that formerly suffered Death for our Sins, to judge the Quick and the Dead.    
At the day appointed none of the Persons desired to be present appeared; so that he had nothing to do, but to produce the Proofs of his Charge against them, which he read out of the Books themselves which were brought thither on purpose, and discoursed upon them: Of which a full Narrative is preparing for the Press. But two Persons placed themselves at the Entrance of the Gate of Turners-Hall, and gave each of them a Paper to such as were going in; the one, Entitled, A Letter on George Keith 's Advertisement, a Counterfeit, written as by one of the Church of England, but a very silly thing, and without any Name to it, and not worthy to be regarded? but the other, Entitled, A Solemn Protestation against George Keith 's Advertisement, etc. Though as weak, yet appearing in that Form of a Protestation, and dated the very day of their Second Days Meeting, and written by some of them concerned; a Person of the Church of England, who had had divers Conferences with them, out of good will to do them good, and received one of them as he was going in, made some brief Observations upon it, which he put in Writing, and at the end of the Meeting read to the People there: Which being desired by many, were permitted to be Printed with some Enlargements, as followeth:   

2. Observations upon the Quakers Solemn Protestation against George Keith's Advertisement.  
THIS Protestation being delivered at Turners-Hall-Gate at the time appointed by G. K. by Persons known (I suppose) to be Quakers, and being written by and in the Name of the Persons concerned, for so they style themselves, we therefore, who are concerned, etc. p. 1. and in the Conclusion, Written, etc. by some of them concerned; for these Reasons it may deserve some Consideration. And these things are observable in it.  
1. Their Tergiversation, refusing to vindicate themselves and their Doctrines, when they had fair Notice of Time and Place, when and where divers vile and gross Errors and Heresies were to be objected and proved against them, before any who would be present to hear it.  
[Haddit this been only at this time, there might have been some special Cause for it: but this is not the first time; nor is George Keith the only person whom they have refused to answer. I must be a Witness against them; and many of their own People, if they be sincere, and not more affected to a Party, than to the Truth, must bear me Witness against them; that I have divers times offered, at their own Headquarters, as I might call it, their Meeting-place between Grace-Church-Street and Lombardstreet, where they have their Conclave, and hold their Principal Assemblies, in a friendly and amicable manner to have discoursed some Matters wherein I know they are out of the way, or short, and to have done my Endeavour to help them out, that they might be complete in all things; and offered, if they thought it not convenient at the time, to do it at some other time, which they should appoint: but they never would be persuaded to it. This their own People can many of them witness. But I must say more: I had before this had divers very friendly Meetings with 7 or 8 of the Principal of them at a time; and had sent them several very kind Letters; had acquainted them with the special Reasons and Motives of my Kindness to them; and given such Evidence of my Sincerity that no reasonable Man could question: so that there can be no reasonable Cause imagined why they should refuse to hear me, but only Obstinacy and Consciousness of the Truth of what they knew I had to say, and of their own Errors; which, if they were indeed acted by the Spirit of God, and not by a Seducing Spirit, they would in all Humility acknowledge, admit the Conviction, and give Glory to God. Nor is this all: They had not so much confidence in the truth of their Cause, as to return so much as a Civil Answer in writing to any one of my Letters; nor to more than eight (as I remember) of twenty Questions, which I sent to them; which being only preliminary, and not proceeding immediately to the Matters in question between us, they answered plainly; but at the next two, which came nearer to the purpose, they began to boggle: and to any of the rest they would not be prevailed with, by any means, to return any Answer, not so much as in private. And though some of these things have been in Print ever since the beginning of this Year, in January last, and before, and in their own hands, yet have they never offered at any Answer to them. And the reason will be apparent to those who peruse them. But to proceed to the next Observation, which is,]  
2. The Weakness and Emptiness of their Pretence to cover and excuse that their Tergiversation, That he assumed to himself a Power and Authority to erect several Meetings, etc. which, had it been so, had been no more than what they themselves have done, who have assumed such Authority, not only to hear, but also to determine, censure, and pass Sentence.  
[Such another weak Pretence is that, That this Meeting tends to gratify and strengthen the Popish Interest: forgetting how much their Faction and Errors do that, and how wisely they do to immind us of it, and of what hath been objected against them in that respect.]  
3. That their Pretence is not only weak, but manifestly and notoriously false; for he hath not taken upon him any thing of the part of a Judge; but only of a Witness, or an Informer, and that not in any appearance of a Judicature, but only in a Common Auditory, for the better Information of the People, that such as have been seduced into such vile and gross Errors and Heresies might be reduced to the Truth, which is a good and commendable Undertaking and worthy of the Encouragement of both, the Governors of the Church, and of the Civil Magistrate.  
4. That their Pretence is not only false in itself, but contrary to their Conscience: for they know, and own in their Paper, that he alleged the Permission of the Civil Authority: [The Letter also takes notice of that] And it is well known, that at the former Meeting an Officer of the Lord-Mayor did attend. And there was no reason to question the Readiness of the present Lord-Mayor to take the like Care upon the like Occasion, being allowed by the Bishop of London.  
[But it appears since, that they had certain knowledge of this: for they made application to the Lord-Mayor not to permit the Meeting, and solicited the Intercessions of others to him, but could not prevail.]  
5. Their Presumption to censure the Civil Authority, and all concerned therein, (as the Lord Bishop of London was, without whose Approbation neither of the Lord mayor's would have given any Countenance to it,) to censure them for permitting a Usurped Authority, or Pernicious Precedent, for so they call the Fact, which was permitted by them; and these Men could not be ignorant of it. [Of this more afterwards.]  
6. The rest of the Paper is very silly and impertinent, being principally against a Usurped Authority, which is not in the Case, and such little stuff as deserves not to be noted.  
And from all this we may further observe, 1. The Weakness of these Men. [Of which more hereafter.]  
2. Their little regard to Honesty and Conscience. [This appears in the third and fourth Observation.  
3. Their Consciousness of the Weakness of their Cause.  
4. That their Spirit is a false seducing Spirit, which hath deceived them, and can no more stand before the true Spirit of Christ, where it is present, than the Spirit of the Heathen Gods could heretofore before true Christians. [This appears in all .]  
5. That they are Deceivers, though deceived themselves.  
6. That the Judgements of God are coming upon them, to their Shame and Confusion, who rejected the kind Offers of a Friend for their Good: and if they persist Obstinate in their Heresies, all People ought to avoid them, have nothing to do with them, but fly from them, as the People in the Wilderness did from Korah and his Companions, Numb. 16.34.   

3. Admonition to the Sincere.  
THis I do not say of all that are called Quakers, nor of all those whom they call Ministers: for I am in hopes there are many sincere People amongst them, who are misled, and go on in great Simplicity; for whom, I hope and pray daily, that God will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken Captive by him at his Will: and to that purpose I have been endeavouring, for many Months, in Meekness, both by Conferences and by Letters, to instruct them better, who now oppose themselves, and assist them to make a decent Retreat in what they have overshot themselves; and to be themselves the Instruments of reducing the People they had misled into the Truth, without ever appearing myself in public: But there are some of the principal busy and active Managers at the Conclave in White-hart-Court, who are filled with a Spirit of Pride and Obstinacy, and impose upon the rest, oppose and cease not to pervert the right Ways of the Lord, and the true Gospel of Christ. And these are the Men I speak of, who have had Offers of Grace and Truth, and stop their Ears, and harden their Hearts, and would blind and hoodwink all their People, lest the true Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them. And upon these, I do believe, the Judgements of God are coming, and that they shall proceed no further; for their Folly shall be manifest to all Men, as that of James and Jambres was. v. Hos. 13.3, 15.  
Nay, The judgement of Infatuation is already begun upon them, in that they should not only betray their Consciousness of the Weakness of their own Cause, by thus refusing, both in public and even in private, to give an Answer of the Reason of their Belief; but expose their own Weakness, Disingenuity, and little regard to Honesty and Conscience, by such a little despicable shuffling devise for their Excuse, as these two Papers; and one of them a false Counterfeit, pretending to be written by one of the Church of England, who lived at a distance, and knew not who George Keith was: whereas it is very easy to perceive that both came out of the same Forge, and that the Letter was hammered out by one of the same Workmen. It had certainly been better for their Cause to have been quiet, and done nothing at all. But it wants a ground of Truth, and cannot stand; and this little shuffling contrivance may justly make all, who have any care of their Souls, or even regard to their Reputation, to suspect them to be Deceivers, and be ashamed to continue of a Sect, which is headed by such silly, shuffling, dishonest Men, who make merchandise of them, and cheat them of their Souls, to enrich themselves by the trade of their Hearers.  
But especially is their Folly manifest in their Presumption to reflect upon the Civil Authority, and all concerned, as the Bishop of London is, for countenancing or permitting such a Usurped Authority, or Pernicious Precedent, as they say George Keith hath Assumed and Attempted, and thereby provoke them to inquire into a Matter, which is not at all practised by George Keith, but notoriously by themselves, in such manner as neither the Civil nor Ecclesiastical Authority can be excused to connive at, after such an awakening Alarm; their Second Days Meetings, their Monthly Meetings, their Quarterly Meetings, and their Yearly Meetings, being all of them out of the Act of Toleration, plainly Seditious and Factious Meetings, punishable by other Laws, and not justifiable or excusable by any: This is a manifest Infatuation upon them: For it is very apparent, that they must be Men of more Subtlety and Ability, who have ordered these things, form such a Body, and trained the People to such an entire Subjection, than such silly Fellows who drew up these Papers: and therefore that the Civil Authority is obliged, according to the Judgement which these Men have passed in the Case, which is their own, and not George Keith's, not longer to connive at or permit such a Usurped Authority, or Pernicious Precedent.  
As for the rest, who are sincere, and not willing to be imposed upon and deceived in a matter of such moment, but desire to see their way plain before them, I have done two things already, which may be of no little use to them in this Business. 1. I have given as great Evidence and Demonstration of my Sincerity and Good Will to them, as can reasonably be desired; not only from the whole Course of my Life, which is well known to have been all along very plain, open and downright: but more particularly in my deal, both in Conferences and Letters, with the Chief of their Party. 2. I have so fully and plainly set out the Case of the Difference between us in certain Letters, and so prepared and led the way to a clear Resolution in certain Questions, as is sufficient for any serious, considerate, and thinking Person, of a competent Capacity, by the Grace of God, to satisfy themselves of the Truth in this matter. And both these are sufficiently manifest in my Apology for, and Invitation to, the People called Quakers; and other Tracts Bound up with them. And this I shall be ready further to do for them: If any serious conscientious Persons, who having read and well considered what I have written in the Letter and Questions printed in that Book, and what besides is there relating to them, remain unsatisfied, upon any reasonable grounds; and shall in writing under their Hand give me a reasonable account of their Dissatisfaction, and the Grounds thereof, I shall faithfully endeavour, by the Grace of God, to give them full Satisfaction, either in public or private, as I shall have Opportunity, and see there is Occasion; and demonstrate, That, in divers of their peculiar Tenants and Doctrines, they are Deceivers, either knowingly Deceiving, or grossly deceived themselves; and if by any Spirit, by a Wicked, False, Lying, Seducing, Antichristian Spirit, disguised under the Appearance of the Spirit of Truth, such as have been foretold should come, that all might beware of them.  
More particularly; both from their Principles, and from their Practices, or from matter of Fact: 1. That it is a Spirit of Error, a Lying, Seducing Spirit. 2. That it is a Spirit of Iniquity, acting contrary to Civil and Moral Justice in matters of their Faction. 3. That it is a Spirit of Opposition, a fallacious undermining Antichristian Spirit, and that not only in their other Principles and Practices, but in the principal of all their Principles, even that great and holy Principle, The Guidance of the Spirit of God, which this wicked Spirit hath taken upon him to personate, and doth deceive them by a most subtle Tentation of Misapplication of that great Truth: and that it doth act now in that kind of Injustice, Fraud and Deceit; but would if it had Humane Strength enough, and certainly will, if ever it hath, act also the other, of Force and Violence, like the Mahometans: and that it is justly permitted by God for Correction of what is amiss in the Church, as an Instrument of his Vengeance, to make them sensible of their Unfaithfulness, and reform. All this I intent, by the Grace of God, to demonstrate in due time: and desire all serious People to consider of it in the mean time.    

ADVERTISEMENT.  
TRacts Theological. 1. Asceticks, or the Heroic Piety and Virtue of the Ancient Christian Anchorets and Coenobites. 2. The Life of St. Antony out of the Greek of St. Athanasius. 3. The Antiquity and Tradition of Mystical Divinity among the Gentiles. 4. Of the Guidance of the Spirit of God, upon a Discourse of Sir Matthew Hale's concerning it. 5. An Invitation to the Quakers, to rectify some Errors, which through the Scandals given they have fallen into.  
Sold by D. Brown, at the Black Swan and Bible without Temple-Bar And R. Smith, at the Angel without Linco●ns-Inn-Gate, near the Fields.  
FINIS.