QUAKER RARE BOOKS Class Fc K25, no. 2221 FRIENDS ' LIBRARY, No. 142 NORTH SIXTEENTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA Received, 11 Mo. 28, 189 4 BY PURCHASE. QUAKER RARE BOOKS CLASS BX7715 BOOK K2A5 THE LIBRARY OF HAVERFORD COLLEGE THE GIFT OF Friends Library, Phila. 4 MO. 23 19 29 ACCESSION NO. 106815 Wing A11A Smith TWO: 46 ANIMADVERSIONS ON George Keith's ACCOUNT OF A National Church, etc. Humbly Presented to the Bishop of LONDON, AND ON George Keith's Advertisement Concerning the same. LONDON, Printed in the Year, 1700. ANIMADVERSIONS ON George Keith's Account Of a National Church, etc. IN his Advertisement at the end of his Third Sermon, after Ordination, Preached at St. Helen's, May 19 1700. he complains, That in a Printed Sheet, called, Mr. George Keith's Account, etc. (as aforesaid) is some Quotations long since Retracted and Disowned by him, in a Book published, called, George Keith 's Retractations; and calls it, The Quakers Cheat and Abuse, that are (he saith) still Charging him with Errors he hath Retracted; and then cries out against the Blindness, Hardness of Heart, and Obstinacy, that hath befallen them; and complains, they seek to Defame and Abuse him, for his Retracting his Errors. Animad. I have therefore Examined the Quotations, and find them right; and have also reviewed his Retractations, and do not find he hath been plain and particular therein. But seeing he now grants they are Errors, may I not conclude then the contrary is Truth? And then let them, if he please, be read contrary, and see how he likes them. Example. Concerning a National Church. He doth (now he's turned Churchman) acknowledge, That a National Church can be a true Church of Christ, and that Men should make Preposterous haste to make Nations Churches, by mere humane Law and Power; and that bare humane Laws, Edicts and Decrees, will do it; and indeed this hath not been the Ground and Rise of all Persecution that hath been in Chistendom; and those that will have a National Church, would not have others bow to, and join with them, and never was a Persecuting Church, it is not in her very Nature: So it cannot be always exceeding Hypocritical, seeing it begetteth Thousands to be its Children and Members, by mere Will and Power of Man, which doth not at all make Hypocrites. Concerning the Teachers. Now he is become one, and pretends to Disown what he formerly writ: Read that the contrary way thus, The Teachers have not been generally, and for the most part, Selfseeking, Worldly-minded Covetous Men, who loved Pleasures and Riches more than God. And this the Magistrate did not well know, and saw not that the best way to prevent them, was to Bribe them with Augmentations and Benefices.β€” The Preachers of the Waldenses were not most of them Laymen, and wrought not with their Hands; as the Teachers of the Primitive Church did not, but had Stipends or Salaries, and Preached not Freely again. If People once were Persuaded and Convinced, That God did not Teach, nor would not Teach them; and then up should all the Proud, Lording, Lofty Clergy, with their many Degrees of Doctorships, Lordships and Mastership's go. Animad. And now he is willing to go with them, altho' he declared, It lay upon him from the Lord to departed from them, being generally Men void of all Sense and Feeling of God, that had Framed and Invented perverse Doctrine, for their own Gains and Ends, as he now doth. But not to proceed to farther Examples of this kind, let us consider, whether G. K. did ever, or doth, judge Baptism with Water, as used in the Church, of which he is now ordained a Preacher, and the Sacrament, Articles of Faith, or are any of the Fundamental and Essential Doctrines of Christianity; because he hath declared in his Preface to his Retractations thus, viz. I have not here, or elsewhere, Retracted nor Renounced any one Assertion contained in any of my former Books, that ever was by me Judged an Article of Faith. And in p. 4, 5. of his Retractations, he saith, I have an Infallible Faith and Persuasion, touching the Fundamental and Essential Doctrines of Christianity. Therefore he having said, Truth's Defence, etc. p. 135. That Baptism with Water is not meant, because not expressed, nor by any true and just Consequence is proved to be meant, in Mat. 28.19. Neither this Assertion, nor any other in any of his former Books, is (that ever was by him Judged an Article of Faith) Retracted. Again, Retract. p. 34. I still adhere to my former Advice, That nothing be required by one sort from another, as an Article of Faith or Doctrine, in common to be believed, but what is expressly declared in the Scriptures, in plain and express Scripture-Terms. Animad. To try his Sincerity, or show his Deceit, let him that would Say and Unsay, prove from what is expressly delivered in the Scripture, and in plain and express Scripture-Terms, 1. That Baptism with Water is meant in Mat. 28.19. 2. That Infants are the Subjects intended. And let him bring plain and express Scripture for the use of the Sign of the Cross in Baptism, and requiring Godfathers and Godmothers, if he can, and obliging them to promise and vow Three things in the children's Name, That they shall forsake the Devil and all his Works, etc. And let him, by Scripture, and from what is expressly delivered therein, in plain and express Scripture-Terms, answer the Queries he put, and printed, concerning the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, so called, or for shame forbear his Prating and Printing against those that, by the Rule he lays down, he is no more able to prove them guilty of any Fundamental Error in the Christian Religion, or of any of the Errors he hath falsely and loudly Charged them with, than to move the Monument; although he may use his Meanings, Interpretations and Glosses; in which he hath been too Guilty to be credited by them that well know him. And for all his Preferment and Ordination, his Black Coat, and White Surplice, and Empty Noise about Outward Things, in his late Sermon, and pleading for Set Forms of Prayers, he doth but show his Contradictions and Confusion. For he saith, Retract. p. 12. I would not have any to think, I Relinquish my Testimony to Christ's inward Appearance in the Souls of Men, and God's Inward Revelation and Teaching by his Spirit in Men; for I remain in the same Testimony, as to the Main, and I hope so to do. So that all may consider, that before he was Received into the Church, and Ordained a Preacher, he had an Infallible Faith and Persuasion, touching the Fundamental and Essential Doctrines of Christianity, and he would not be thought to Relinquish it. He saith, Retract. p. 13. I remain Constant to my former Principles, with respect to the great Doctrines of the Christian Faith.β€” With my present Faith they agree. So that he was not Erroneous when a Quaker, as to the great Doctrines of the Christian Faith, nor in his Vindicating the Quakers Doctrines; and yet he would have the Quakers guilty of gross and vile Errors, Heresies, Denying the Lord that Bought them, etc. which makes me fear, he hath sold himself to do Wickedly. For it is evident to those that knows them, and are rightly acquainted with their Doctrines, and that have observed their Conversations, and are not Prejudiced and filled with Illwill against them, (which never speaks well) that they do truly and sincerely Own, and firmly Believe the Holy Scriptures, and all Doctrines therein contained, both with respect to God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, or Word of God: And by Believing in the Light, Spirit, and Word within, (as G. K. saith, p. 22. of his Retractations) we are brought naturally to own the Scriptures, and the things therein declared; to own Moses and the Prophets, to own the Dispensation of God to the Jews in that day, and to own Christ in the Flesh, his Miraculous Birth, his Doctrine and Miracles, Sufferings, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension; together with the Wonderful End and Design of God therein, etc. And this Method I very well approve of still. And so do the Quakers; and therefore are many among them so Laborious and Earnest, to turn People to this Light, Spirit, and Word within, and are willing not only to spend and be spent, but do spend and are spent, to bring People to Believe therein, and only for the Good and Benefit of their Souls, and not for filthy Lucre sake. And altho' he saith, He very well approves this Method yet through Conceitedness his strong Will, great Passion, abominable Pride, impatiency under Contradiction, and being filled with Rage and Prejudice, he is attained to that degree, that he can now not only confidently Contradict what he once called Truth, (and what he also affirmed in the Name of the Lord) but himself also. And although he pretended with a free and willing Mind, to make a general Retraction of all the hard Names, and uncharitable Censures, Retract. p. 44. he hath at any time, either by word or writ past, on anyβ€” humbly desiring their forgiveness. He hath in his Advertisement on a Hearsay Story, cried out of a Quaker-Cheat; this is their Cheat and Abuse; and charges them by wholesale, with seeking to Defame and Abuse him, and cries out Abuse and Shame, and all by Hearsay, and on Presumption. But it's to be feared, he's now so used to Confessing, that he don't mind to Forsake: But it's He that Confesseth and forsaketh, that shall find Mercy. But his Building the things which he once Destroyed, hath made himself a Transgressor. So Requiring him, by plain and express Scripture, and in express Scripture-Terms, to answer what he hath writ against Waterbaptism and the Supper, and particularly the Ten Queries, that he delivered to him and his Brethren, that call that Eating of Bread, and Drinking of Wine, once or twice in a Year, in the Public Assembly, the Sacrament, as G. K. and his Brethren now do; For, according to the Proverb, what's Sauce for the Goose, is Sauce for the Gander. And there are many other things, which he now practiseth, he ought to bring plain and express Scripture for. So I shall now conclude; beware that thou be not deceived, and brought down in thy Jollity, Eccles. 1●. 8. For an envious Man hath a wicked Eye; he turneth away his Face, and despiseth Men. Let him, and those concerned with him, therefore Read and Apply Isai. 3.9. Jer. 2.19. and Hos. 5.5, 6, 7. FINIS.