THE PORTRAITURE OF Mr. George Keith THE QUAKER, In Opposition to Mr. George Keith THE PARSON. Presented to the Hearers of his late Sermons. By a Protestant Dissenter. G. K 's Serious Appeal, p. 21. Let but the Reader see my own Words, in my printed Books, and well consider them; and if he have but a little Sound Judgement, he will easily find, I have not contradicted myself in any thing. LONDON Printed, and Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster. 1700. THE PORTRAITURE OF Mr. George Keith, etc. THe Exposing this Person, I am now concerned with, in his proper Colours (who yet told the World in his first Narrative, p. 15. I know not any Fundamental Principle, nor indeed any One Principle of the Christian Faith, that I have varied from to this day) hath lain hitherto mostly upon the Quakers, and a Moderate Churchman; and it hath driven him (or Money hath tempted him) after having made a ricketty Retractation, imperfect in almost all the parts of it, to give them the greatest Contradiction, that a Protestant was capable of doing; so obvious is the Disparity between a Teacher among the Quakers, and a Minister of the Church of England. Nor hath he (I Appeal to you, gentlemans, whose Curiosity hath led you to be his Hearers of late) gone off quiet, with the rest of his Dissenting Protestant Brethren, nay not his particular Friends, but as a Man Fight pro aris & focis, and who would Monopolise the Character of Ishmael to himself, viz: His Hand against every Man, and every Man's Hand against him; he spares none, but proclaims War against them all; and I fear not so much to ingratiate himself with his new Masters, or to Reform us, as to blow up the Coals of Persecution against us all, Preached at St. George's Buttolph's, in the Afternoon, the last Leaf but one. not obliquely hinted at in one * of his late printed Sermons. This rendering him a common Enemy and , (for if his Malice prevail, we are like to be Sufferers in common) wonder not, gentle Reader, if by our joint Endeavours, after Examination, and finding him a fickle Proteus, we submit our glean to his Auditors, that they may see him as he is, and beware of him. Can he give proof he were a Sincere Convert, like St Paul, who once had Zeal without Knowledge, not Knowledge without Zeal; God forbidden, we should do other than pity him, and inform him better, wherein we differ from him, and apprehend him misled: But if upon the reading of these, the contrary appear, my endeavours in detecting him, I hope, will not be unacceptable to any good Man. What I have collected of this kind, is much of it New, not offered before (that I have observed) and the method somewhat different. The Reader is left to compare what is here cited, with what he well knows to be the Doctrine of that Church, G. K. is now a Member of, or hath heard or read from his late Sermons, too well known to contradict his Sentiments here given, to need either Comment or Transcribing. And whether the Arguments formerly delivered, when he went against both Wind and Tide, have been (even faintly) attacked, since both have been for him; much more whether invalidated or sufficient to set him straight in the Opinion of the Judicious and Conscientious, is submitted to such. And thus I enter upon my Citations. I. Out of G. K's Book, entitled, Help in time of need, etc. printed Anno 1665. 1. His Charge against the Presbyterians of Scotland, turned upon himself. The Title Page gins thus, Help in time of need, from the God of Help, to the People of the (so called) Church of Scotland, especially the once more Zealous and Professing, who have so shamefully degenerated and declined from that which their Fathers, the Primitive Protestants, attained unto; yea, and from what they have but of late themselves, so zealously asserted and maintained to be the Cause and Work of God, which now they have generally shrunk from— like the Dog returning to the Vomit, and the Sow to the Puddle, after the being once Washed.— Were not set Forms of Prayer cried down also in Scotland, as lifeless, barren things (and the Service Book denied? P. 24, 25. ) And now have ye not again licked up the Vomit?— And have not your Brethren in England taken it up again? And when it's offered to you to read, will you not also do the like? There is no question of it, but most of you will, and worse also, when ye are put to the trial. Now, have ye not Apostatised herein also, P. 26. and mixed yourselves with the profane Rabble of the World, as bad and worse than Papists, Turks, Pagans, which hath provoked the Lord to withdraw from among you, and ye can Pray, and Sing, ☜ and Communicate with such? Is not this Babylon indeed? Which is to say, Confusion. And by the by, I would ask you one Question, P. 28, 29. If the Popish Church be a true Church (tho' Corrupt) why have ye separated from it? And how can ye justify your Separation therefrom? See his Sermon Preached at St. George's Buttolph's, before noted. For its another Principle of yours, That a Church holding the Fundamentals (which make, say ye, a true Church) tho' there be many Corruptions therein, is not to be separated from. And this Principle ye have taken up to justify your Compliance with Prelacy, and this late Church Model and Frame, which ye formerly vomited up, and not only quit it, ☜ but vowed to God against the same: And now it stood somewhat against your Stomaches to receive it among you again— till ye fell upon this Pill, whereby ye got it digested, viz. The Episcopal Party is a true Church, and therefore we ought not to separate from them, because of their Corruptions; and shunning one inconveniency, Have ye not fallen upon another far greater, and quite given away your Cause into the hands of the Papists. Now Judas fell from his Ministry in Selling his Master Christ, ibid. which generally your Ministers have done, and have they not thereby fallen from their Ministry? I know well, P. 37. generally they have kept to their God all along very constantly, amongst all their Changes, being such (the Apostle mentions) generally, whose God is their Belly, and this Master they have served, and do serve very Faithfully, making every Change answer its design. It was discovered unto them by the Light, ibid. and they discerned Prelacy to be a limb of Antichrist, and so called it, and but of late days it was Covenanted to God against, again and again; and did not ye yourselves Vow to God against the same? So that herein ye have not only Apostatised from your Fathers, but from what ye were of late yourselves. I know not amongst the Thousands of you (Ministers or People) that vowed to God against that filthy thing set up in the Land, P. 38, 39 any of you all bear a suitable Testimony by Sufferings— The cause I say is common to you with us, viz. our Testimony against that which is now set up in the Land; and both Ye, and many of Us also, vowed to the most high God, while we were among you, we would never own such a thing, and we have kept to our Vow, and ye have shrunk therefrom. [How doth this hold now?] The whole Protestant Church in Europe hath much degenerated from the Primitive Christians and Protestants, P. 45. both in Principles and Practices, and is become quite another thing; retaining the Name, like an old rotten Ship, that hath been so often Clamped and Clouted, that all the former Timbers are worn ☞ out, and others put in their place, yet keeping the Name, and somewhat of the Form and Shape; and ye have sailed long up and down in this old rotten Ship, which is just upon the Splitting, and suffering Shipwreck. For that ye kept not chaste to his Light in your Consciences, P. 50. nor to the leadings of his Spirit, this was it which discovered to you the Popish and Prelatical Abominations— Oh ye did run well, who did hinder you? But ye are become so foolish, who began in the Spirit, to end in the Flesh; and now when ye had got upon the Walls and Bulwarks of your Enemy's Building, and leveled it to the Ground; when ye had rooted out Prelacy, and the many Corruptions and Superstitions accompanying the same, and digged down a good part of Babylon's upsetting, than ye betook yourselves to Build—. Ye were angry at their Revenues being so great, P. 53. and yet ye stepped in also to many of them, and into their Pride, Covetousness, Lightness, Vanity, Ambition, Carelessness concerning the Work of Jesus Christ, and the Salvation of poor People, whereof ye took up the Charge; and many other Iniquities, they were found in, for which the Lord was provoked against them, ye have taken as it were a Succession of, and ye thought the Lord would have winked at you—. [He closeth thus] The word of Commandment from the Lord (which filled me with heavenly Joy and Comfort) came unto me the 30th Day of the 10th Month (called December) saying, P. 54. Show unto the People of Scotland my true and righteous Judgement, concerning the Particulars . 2. Of the Ordinances. Put not the name of the Ordinances of Jesus Christ upon Babylon's Brats, P. 73. which whoso taketh and dasheth them to pieces against the Stones, Blessed shall they be. 3. His Character of Episcopacy. Ye [the Presbyterians of Scotland] did well in departing from such Men, P. 47, 48. who gave themselves forth to be the Lord's Ministers and Servants, but they ran and he sent them not; and their Covetousness and Ambition, and seeking how to please Men for their own Ends, and not his Honour, not any true Zeal for him, set them on such a work, to Lord it over the People, which he had forbidden, and it is Abomination to him; together with the many things accompanying them, which they gave forth for his Ordinances, good Order, Decency and Comeliness in the Church; but were the mere Inventions of Men, and Babylon's Golden Cup of Fornications—. — Because of the Iniquity of such Men, their Pride, Pomp, ibid. Covetousness, Tyranny and Ambition, his Wrath kindled against them, and he poured Contempt and Desolation upon them, for the cry of their Wickedness. 4. His Character of the Quakers. And now, whether ye will hear or forbear, P. 78, 79. this I do declare unto you, in the Name, and Power, and Authority of the living God, The day of the Lord is of a truth broke up amongst ☜ us, and ye shall look till your Eyes fail you, and rot within your holes, ere ever ye see another Day, or Appearance of Jesus Christ, to your Comfort, than what we, the People of the Lord, called Quakers, do witness come, and yet more abundantly coming—. 5. Of Universities and Humane Learning. Away with the Education of Youth at Universities and Colleges, of Philosophy, P, 75, 76▪ so called; I may say of them, which Luther stuck not to call them in his day, that they are the Stews of Anti-christ; for out of them comes this ignorant, profane, scandalous Ministry, wherein they learn to talk of things they Understand not, and to prate in Man's Wisdom, which is Carnal, Earthly and Devilish. I certainly know the Humane Wisdom or Learning is one of the main Bulwarks of Antichrist against the Revelation and setting up the Kingdom of Christ in the Earth; ibid. and because this is arising, and shall rise, down must the other go, and all who seek to uphold it shall fall therewith. II. Out of G. K 's Book, entitled, The Woman-Preacher of Samaria a better Preacher, and more sufficiently qualified to Preach than any of the Men-Preachers of the Man-made-Ministry, in these three Nations. Printed Anno 1674. 6. Of the National Ministry. — I myself have had sundry Debates, with both Conformists and Non-conformists, P. 3, 4. so called, touching this same thing, both affirming that true Faith and Piety was not needful to a Man's being a Preacher, but that Letter-Learning was needful; so that he could not be a Preacher without Letters, but he could be a Preacher without Faith and Piety. O abominable Doctrine▪ And this same rule both follow, in their trying men's Qualifications unto the Ministry; they try what knowledge they have in Strange Languages, and Arts, and Sciences, Natural, and what they can say upon places of Scripture, but never one Word they question them, concerning the Work of God in their Hearts; or concerning their Faith and Piety. But ☜ alas! How can they try them concerning the work of Grace in their Hearts, seeing they acknowledge they have not a discerning themselves, whereby to know them surely and infallibly? Yea, they affirm, There is no such discerning in these days, as whereby Men can be known to be truly Gracious. And doth not sad Experience show it, that the Generality of those Preachers have not true Faith and Piety, their Lives and Conversations are so Gross and Carnal? Yea, do not many of themselves see it, and have they not complained of it? And yet doth not this Principle of theirs, That wicked Men may be Preachers, and aught to be received, lay a Foundation for a wicked Ministry? And this Foundation being laid with their own Hands, will not wicked Men come in Thick and Throng? ☜ And will not these wicked Men love to have all like themselves? If they can have a wicked Man, will not the wicked prefer him to another, that but seems to be a Godly, and may, or may not be? And thus in process of time, the whole Ministry will consist of ungodly Men, the wicked being still preferred by the wicked, and carrying it by most Votes, as among them called Presbyterians; or by the Authority of the Bishop, as among the Episcopal. Oh! for shame never say, that you are for a godly Ministry, while you both lay such a Foundation for the ungodly. Now which of the two ways of Preaching are the best; P. 6. to Preach only from a Hear-say, by others, or from a Sight and Hearing of Christ himself? Surely this was the best, and therefore this Woman is a better Preacher than all your University-Men, and Doctors, and Bachelors. She learned more of Christ, from himself in that small time (perhaps not one hour's length) than your Doctors and University-Men have yet learned, for all their many Years Studying, Labouring, Reading and Hearing. As Christ upbraided the Jews, that they had neither heard his Father's Voice, nor seen his Shape; so it may be said of them, yea they say it themselves, they have neither heard him, nor seen him. Alas for such Teachers! What should Men hear them for? They can tell us no more of him, but as they have heard it from Men, or read it in the Scripture; and all their Knowledge is from the Scripture, and all have the Scripture as well as they, and so without them, by the Scripture, may know as much of Christ as they, and save both their pains and their Money. 7. Of their Maintenance. A Father hath three Sons, P. 8, 9 one of them he thinks may be fit to be made a Lawyer, another to be a Doctor of Physic, a third (and that commonly the greatest Dunce or Dolt of the three, finding him not so fit for other things) he resolves he will have him a Minister, or Preacher, that it may be a living to him; and so away he sends them all to the Grammar-School, and from that to the University; and thus one becomes a ☞ Preacher, only by that which is Natural and Artificial, as the other two become the Lawyer and Physician; here is nothing of God or Christ seen more in the one than in the other: Is it not so generally among them? They are become Preachers by a Design or Contrivance of their Parents, or themselves. As soon as they become so old, as to have so much natural Wit as to see they must make some shift how to live, and looking about the many Trades, they readily see it is the far easiest of many, or most Trades, to be a Preacher, to get Money; for it is little Labour, in Respect of many other Labours, and much Gain, and also brings Honour; for if he had been of never so mean a Degree, and of the most abject and mean Parents in all the Country, yet to become a Preacher, maketh him to be esteemed a Gentleman, and be called Sir, and perhaps to be advanced to be a Bishop, and then he will be called, My Lord. But how many either of one sort or another of them, whether Episcopal or Presbyterian, are to be found, who have been called from some other Calling or Occupation they were in before, to leave it, and go to Preach Christ, as this Woman was called from her Water Pot, immediately to Preach him, in a City of Samaria, called Sychar? And yet thus were the true Servants of the Lord called, who were Mechanick-men and Tradesmen, etc. She preached Christ freely— She said not unto them, P. 10. What Money or Hire will you give me, and I will Preach Christ unto you? Nay, nay, she was not of such a Mercenary Spirit, she was more noble; far unlike the Preachers of the Man-made-Ministry, in these Days, whether Episcopal, or Presbyterian, as well as Popish, where all is done for Money; No Money, no Preaching; as the ☜ old Proverb is, No Penny, no Pater noster. [G. K. may speak this now feelingly.] 8. Of their Doctrine. — But so do not these Men of the Man-made-Ministry Preach him; Nay, but the contrary: For, say they, P. 13. 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, not Divine; it it is but Natural, not Spiritual; a Natural Light, etc.— and so deny his Divinity, and Divine Power and Godhead. [Is not this an Error in Fundamentals, to deny the Divinity of Christ? For so he charged them then.] I will rather hear this Woman of Samaria, than hear them; P. 14. She bids, Come and see Christ himself; they say there is no seeing of him, nor hearing of himself, so long as we live upon Earth. Oh blind and deaf Men! who, because they have neither heard him, nor seen him, therefore deny this blessed Privilege! Oh that People should follow after them, and not see these blind Men! Whom have these of the Man-made-Ministry brought this length, that they are come unto Christ himself, and heard him, and seen him? Nay, both Teachers and People cry out generally, This is not to be expected in this Life— [Query, Are these Teachers and People now Reform, or G. K. Deformed? The Principles unsound, or Turncoat George become so?] III. Out of his Book, entitled, The Fundamental Truths of Christianity briefly hinted at by way of Question and Answer: To which is added, a Treatise of Prayer in the same Method. Printed Anno 1688. Before I proceed, excuse me, good Reader, if I make two Remarks by the way: The one is, that here we have not a Syllable from him of our blessed Saviour Christ, his Birth, Sufferings, Death, Resurrection, Ascension and Mediation, notwithstanding he pretends to give the Fundamental Truths of Christianity. What, have these no share in his Fundamental Truths? Or were they too trivial be noticed? An unpardonable Omission, believe me, in any but himself; enough to have given him a fresh occasion to have ascended his Stage at Turner's-Hall once more, were he not now better provided for; and I think he ought not to come off cheaper, than (more patrio) standing in a Whitesheet for it. The next is, That Prayer, right Prayer, Praying so as to be acceptable with God, is a Fundamental Principle of Christianity. If he call that good Prayer now, which he once asserted to be otherwise, two things lie upon him (telling us he is otherwise minded now, and that he gets his living by being so, will not serve) viz. First, to enervate the Force of those Arguments then delivered, which lose not their Validity by his being a Weathercock: And 2dly, To manifest himself not to have erred in Fundamentals, a Brag his late Prints have abounded with. 9 Of set Forms of Prayer, and Singing of Psalms. [In his Preface to the Treatise of Prayer, he saith] Wherefore the Apostle prayed to the Lord, that God would establish the true Believers in him, in every good word and work, 2 Thess. 2.17. whence I conclude that good words are as real a Fruit of the Spirit, as good works or desires; and these good words must not be borrowed words from the Mouths or Lines of others, made ready to our hands, but must spring from the inward fruitfulness of our Understandings, as the Spirit of the Lord doth water them, and make them fruitful after an heavenly sort. To read set Forms of Prayer but of a Book, whether in private or public, P. 43. and call that reading Prayer, is not nay part of Gospel-Worship, or true and real Prayer, but rather one of the many Inventions and Traditions of Men since the Apostasy— If it had been the Will of God that such a way of Worship should have been used in the true Church, as a common Liturgy, or set Form of Prayers, it would have been used in the Apostles days— But neither the Apostles, nor their immediate Successors, either made or used any such set Forms of read Prayers. Nothing of ☞ this kind was known in the Church, either in Justin Martyr or Tertullian his time, who lived above 200 Years after Christ. So that it is as clear as the noonday, that when these divine Gists of Praying and Singing by the Spirit were lost, P. 54, 45. and the holy Spirit himself was in great measure departed from, the Invention of reading set Forms of Prayer took place. The first Instance that I find of People's being put to use a composed or set Form of Prayer, made by another, was that Form of Prayer which Constantine the Great composed, and gave his Soldiers, not to read, but get by Heart.— He at this time was but a young Christian, and the Purity of spiritual Worship began to decline apace, even in his days— But neither in Constantine's time, nor a considerable space thereafter, do I find, that any made or composed Prayers beforehand were used in the Church. ☜ This way of Praying [to wit, in words, by the Spirit, P. 56. as he is pleased to give assistance] doth alone and only answer to the Liberty of the Spirit, which is free, even the holy Spirit of Truth, and neither will nor can be limited; and who seek to limit him, he departs from them in so far, and remaineth still in his own freedom, altho' such who seek to limit the Spirit by using set Forms, may and do quench the Spirit, as unto themselves. The words of these set Forms, Whence came they? P. 59 Had the Spirit no influence upon the understanding of those Men, who conceived them, to help and assist them in those Conceptions? If they say, Nay, they will render the set forms of Prayer of small value with the People, in that respect. But if they say, The Spirit did help them to form these Conceptions,— it may as well be in Men now to conceive other words of Prayer. Praying by a set Form, not only tends to limit and stint the Spirit, and quench it, in regard of its Operations, P. 60. but also it tendeth to make the Understanding, etc. altogether barren and unfruitful, in respect of Prayer, which yet ought to exercise the Understanding, as much as any other thing, as Paul said, I will Pray with the Spirit, I will Pray with Understanding also. For if the Understanding be limited to a set Form of Words, than there is no room, nor place, nor liberty left for it, to bring forth Prayer in any other Forms, the which seemeth verily as absurd to me. Indeed a word spoken in season, P. 71, 72. whether it be in Preaching or Praying, how sweet and comfortable it is? Now these set Forms of Prayer being to be used according to the Calendar, such Prayers on such a day, and others on other days, as the Calendar, or order of the Service requireth; Can these Forms be always, or for most part, seasonable to People's States and Conditions, unless it could be supposed, that the inward States and Conditions of men's Souls and Spirits should regularly vary, according to the seasons and days of the Year; which were most absurd to ☜ think or imagine? Or how do these set Forms of Prayer, which tell us daily what to pray for, agree with Paul's words, Rom. 8.26. The Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities, for we know not what we should Pray for as we ought. From their using set Forms of Prayer and Blessing under the Law, P. 77. to argue for the use of them under the Gospel, will not hold good; for not only Sacrifices, and Offerings of Beasts, but many other things, were both commanded and allowed under the Law, which are not under the Gospel. But we do not find, that even under the Law, or at any time before, P. 79. the Lord did limit or confine his People or Servants to such a precise number of set Forms of Prayer— But on the contrary, we find that many prayed ex tempore by the Inspiration of the Spirit, what the Lord did give them, or put into their Mouths of words, both in private and public, as Solomon's Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple; also Esdras' Prayer, chap. 9 and the Levites Prayer, Neh. 9 and Daniel's Prayer, Dan. 9 etc. [To an Objection, That Christ taught his Disciples to Pray in a set Form of words, P. 81, 82. he answers] Though they were endued at that time with a measure of the Spirit, yet it was but small, in respect of what was to follow: And we must remember, that as yet the Dispensation of the Law remained in force.— 2. Christ did not limit them only to this Form of Prayer, nor did he give them a Book of Forms of Prayer, P. 83. or any other Forms that we read of, but this only, which therefore was rather to be a Pattern and Example unto them, according to which they were to Pray, than to tie or confine them to the precise number of the words of it. All true Prayer is a living thing, P. 89. and must have a living Form of its own, and cannot borrow the Form of another; even as a Rose, or Tulip, or Lily, or any other Flower, or Vegetable, or Fruit of the Earth, as it springs up out of the Ground, must have its own proper living Form and Figure. Either these set Forms of Prayer are few or many; if few, they cannot give a large understanding to the People; P. 115, See his Sermon Preached at St. George's Buttolph's before noted. if many, they cannot well be remembered by them: And if they were as many as would fill many Volumes, they cannot give so great occasion to edify and inform the Understanding, as these Prayers which proceed ex tempore, by the Inspiration of the holy Spirit in holy Men, which must needs be many more, and containing much more matter, than the greatest Book of ever so many set Forms of Prayer can. What is here said, P. 127. all along in this Treatise of Praying by the Spirit, helping to conceive the words of Prayer, is also to be understood of Singing and Praising God with a Psalm; and the Reasons and Arguments drawn from Scripture for the one, serve equally for the other; for all Singing and Praising with a Psalm, or Psalms, in Gospel-times, was a spiritual Gift, as is clear in the Church of Corinth, when some had a Psalm to utter or express in words, as some had a Doctrine, and some a Revelation, some an Interpretation, 1 Cor. 14.26. 10. His Deism. My Charity is so large and free in that respect, P. 103. that I believe among all People, Jews and Turks, as well as Christians, and many of those called Heathens, if they do believe in one only God, and are Faithful to what they know; they are at times visited with gentle Breathe of the Spirit of God, which helps them truly to Pray unto him, with Desires, and Affections, and true Breathe ☜ of the Soul after him. Having thus gone through Ten Heads of his Belief formerly, and scarce wedged in an Animadversion, I leave, my Reader, to compare it with what must be his Sentiments now, (if he really believe, as that Church doth, of which he is admitted a Member) and with his weekly Sermons, I only add, his fruere mecum & vale. FINIS.