Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	authority_n	church_n	scripture_n	4,231	5	6.1426	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47167	A refutation of three opposers of truth by plain evidence of the holy Scripture, viz. I. Of Pardon Tillinghast, who pleadeth for water-baptism, its being a Gospel-precept, and opposeth Christ within, as a false Christ. To which is added, something concerning the Supper, &c. II. Of B. Keech, in his book called, A tutor for children, where he disputeth against the sufficiency of the light within, in order of salvation; and calleth Christ in the heart, a false Christ in the secret chamber. II. Of Cotton Mather, who in his appendix to his book, called, Memorable providences, relating to witchcrafts, &c. doth so weakly defend his father Increase Mather from being justly chargeable with abusing the honest people called Quakers, that he doth the more lay open his fathers nakedness; and beside the abuses and injuries that his father had cast upon that people, C. Mather, the son, addeth new abuses of his own. And a few words of a letter to John Cotton, called a minister, at Plymouth in New England. By George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1690 (1690)	Wing K199; ESTC W21703	49,228	77

were very civil who were with him but as to any Worldly or Civil Concern either with him or any other or as to any intention or purpose that he or they had to hurt or damage you in any of your Religious or Civil Concerns I had no knowledge nor have from any of them But the ground of my saying what I have affirmed in my Book was simply and wholly as I there in my Book have affirmed That my hope is that in due time many People both in Boston New England shall have their Eyes opened by the Spirit of the Lord which ye blaspheme to see you to be these false Teachers who bring not the Doctrine of Christ and the Houses ye preach in not being your Houses buc the Houses of the People they shall not any more receive you into them c. Hereby it doth most evidently appear that I had not the least ground in my most remote thoughts that these in present Authority or any others by any outward Force would destroy your Churches or extrude you out of your Meeting Houses but that in due time God would open the Eyes of the People to see you to be that sort of false Teachers who bring not Christs Doctrine and that on that account the People would not receive you into these Houses being their Houses and not yours It is therefore most evident this gloss of thine upon my words is a meer Forgery and Calumny as if I did either wish or predict by some conjecture That any in present Authority at that time were e'er long purposed to destroy or overturn your Churches or Meeting-Houses But it is no wonder thou putest such false Interpretations on my words when thou and thy Brethren dare so frequently put false Interpretations on the Scriptures themselves And I never had the least ground to think or conjecture that any at that time in Authority had the least intention to overturn any of your Churches or in the least to straiten you in the Profession of your Religion and I believe they had none And as to my words that I laid In due time my hope was that God would open the Eyes of many People both in Boston and New-England thou also makest a Mock of that Expression In Due Time saying Ay no doubt of it in due time but I pray friend George sayst thou when shall this due time be I Answer thee sooner than thou dost expect or thinkest of but as to the precise time of what Year Moneth or so I leave it wholly to the Lords ordering who hath said He will Overturn Overturn Overturn till He come to reign whose right it is and that is the Lord Jesus Christ spiritually and inwardly revealed to reign and rule in mens hearts whom ye oppose and blaspheme against and all his Enemies will fall before him in Due Time according to Deut. 32.35 To me belongeth Vengeance and Recompence saith the Lord their feet shall slide in DVE TIME for the Day of their Calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make hast So thou mayst see that the true words of Prophecy in Deut. 32.35 are so expressed with a respect to the Due Time As for us and me in particular neither we nor I have any evil will or wish in our hearts towards the Land or People of New-England but we and I in particular can and do say I wish the Well-fare and Happiness of it every way and my Hope is great and my Faith sure and firm That God hath a chosen Seed and People in it to whom he will inwardly reveal himself in great Power and Glory and gather them to the living knowledge of himself and into a living acquaintance with himself and his living Way and Truth and this will make them indeed a blessed and happy People but as for all such who shall be found continuing to oppose and resist the heavenly inward and spiritual Appearance and Revelation of God and Christ in the hearts of People and shall be found saying as these Scoffers of whom Peter prophesied who should come in the last dayes and say Where is the Promise of his coming and as this Cotton Mather in the same scoffing nature and spirit hath said When is that due Time that I have said shall come that God will open the Eyes of People c both thou and all such and all Hypocrites and all false Teachers of all sorts who do all that ye can to uphold your Babylonish buildings shall be greatly disappointed of all your vain and false Hopes and a dreadful Cup of Wrath and Judgment will be given to all such who shall still continue to gainsay and oppose yea to blaspheme this heavenly inward Appearance and Revelation of Christ in his People And therefore I do sincerely and earnestly exhort and request both thee C. Mather and Increase Mather thy Father if this ever come to his hands and all others of you call'd Ministers and Teachers in New-England to Repent of all your hard Speeches Revilings false Accusations and Calumnies that ye have raised against the Truth and Witnesses of it and bow and submit to that divine Light of Christ in your hearts that ye have so long and so much gain-said and blasphemed against heretofore And as for thy Conclusion in thy Appendix it is so dirty and unclean that it is not worth mentioning being an old Latine Rhyme made by some old doting Priest or Clergy-man in the former time of Ignorance and as it hath no good favour to any that understand a little Latine so no more would it have if translated into English But we may well bear it to be called or esteemed by thee in thy ignorance and darkness of understanding as Dung and Filth when the Apostles of the Lord by men of thy dark Spirit were made as the Filth of the World and the Off-scouring of all things 1 Cor. 4.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is another Passage in Cotton Mathers Appendix which though I could easily have passed by altogether without any just Reflection on us yet because it showeth now foolish and inconsiderate he is to accuse others for that which these of his own Society have been sufficiently liable to I shall take some notice of it He saith That the Quakers fall out amont themselves is but a natural Consequence of their Tempers and Errors which cannot be otherwise than incoherent and sometimes their Credit forces them to explode in one another what they wish they could but can't excuse Answ. That we have denyed Thomas Case and all his ungodly Crew and Followers is not the least proof that the Quakers fall out among themselves for tho' they or others may falsly call them Quakers as being of our Religion and Society yet it doth not follow any more than that many of the most Wicked called Christians are of the true Christian Religion or are Christians because falsly so called But in this thou actest more like Celsus

we believe him for he saith in his Book of Witchcraft he and others with him could cheat the Devils when they spoke one thing and meant another pag. 38. And seeing this is Cotton Mathers way with Devils to speak one thing and mean another why may it not be supposed that he thinks to take that way with men or how can he assure us to the contrary But it is a most intolerable Abuse in Cotton Mather to say as he doth There is far more to be said for the Iustification of our antient Severities on two or three Quakers here than the World has yet been acquainted with Is this then the manner of your Justice to hang men for Crimes meerly alledged but not proved no not so much as charged in the face of the World till many years after they are put to Death Is not this highest Injustice with a witness first to hang men and then to publish their supposed Crimes or rather only to accuse them being innocent Is not this worse than that call'd Abbington Law where it is said Men were first hanged and afterwards tryed But what thou Cotton Mather dost alledge in this case is notoriously false and hath not the least shadow or show of probability for surely those who put these men call'd Quakers to death at Boston if they had had any thing further to charge them with than what they openly charged they would have done it for they wanted no will to Charge them after the highest manner But I charge thee Cotton Mather seeing thou art so impudent to charge these worthy men after they have now above twenty eight years been put to Death of things that the World hath not yet been acquainted with to produce these things against them otherwise thou art to be accounted A most Infamous Defamer and False Accuser of Gods faithful Servants who are long since deceased and at rest in the Lord. Thou praisest thy self and others there call'd Ministers I suppose at Boston for their Voluntary Poverty and Transcendent Self-denyal that hath scarce its Parralel in the Christian World saying further If any Maintenance extorted from Quakers hath ever been paid unto them thou art confident it was without their knowledge or consent Answ. This is a very fair Testimony in show but coming from thy bare self is not worthy of credit I question much and so may thousands more whether your so call'd Voluntary Poverty doth near equal that of the thousands of Beging Fryars and Monks pretending as much to Christianity as ye do And if ye have not so large Sallaries as some of your Brethren in other places have it doth not appear that it is your own choice that maketh it so but that ye know not where to get more or where to have a better convenience and the least any of you have is far too much beyond what ye deserve for preaching false Doctrine and mis-leading the People for instead of turning them to Gods Light and divine Revelation in their hearts ye turn them away from it in that acting more the part of the Ministers of Anti-christ and Sathan And tho' little or perhaps nothing hath been extorted from these called Quakers at Boston because very few have had Estates there to extort any thing from yet seeing thou dost not condemn this practice in many or most of thy Brethren but justifiest it in all places in New-England where great extorting of Goods hath been used from the People called Quakers not only at Plymouth but at Hampton and many other places in New-England as well as in Old England Scotland Ireland and else-where thou art equally guilty with them Nor doth it excuse thy saying That the Grants of Lands there made by the Court have still been with an express Condition and Proviso That the allowed Ministry be therewith supported to wit at Plymouth or some other places for supposing this were so which yet in great part may be justly questioned for some of the Quakers Relations and Parents had as good a Right to their Lands in New-England as any others and that before any such Grant of Court it doth not therefore follow That they are obliged to uphold a false Ministry not sent of God for no man is bound to a thing unlawful saith both the Law of God and man The Popish Clergy use to argue at the same rate for all the great Lands and Revenues that were given to them in Old England Scotland and Ireland but this saith nothing that they do justly belong to them no more it doth that our Friends are bound to maintain these in New-England whom they cannot own in Conscience to be true Ministers of Christ and all true Ministers of the Gospel ought only to live by the Gospel and not by the Law of any earthly Court None of the Apostles or Ministers of Christ in the Apostles days had any such way of Maintenance allowed them but as they freely gave so they did freely receive without any extorting what was necessary Thou sayst The Barnstable story is a Romance of the same piece with the rest but of this thou givest no proof but that thou hearest so But is a bare Report or Hear-say sufficient to discredit a Passage that is known to so many living Witnesses in that Town the Persons are yet living that testified these things and if need were their Testimony can be produced under their hands being of good Credit and Report yea not only these called Quakers but some of New England Church can witness to the substance of it Thou Mockest after thy wonted manner not minding how far he who fits in the seat of the Scorner is from the state of the blessed man Psal. 1.1 at my saying My hope is in due time your Meeting-Houses shall no more receive you into them where after thou hast diminished from my words most unfairly and disinguously thou puts thy false and malicious Gloss upon them as if I did guess from either the private Conversation I had with your Persecutors as thou callest them or their Publick Administration there that your Churches were quickly to be overturned All which is notoriously false It is manifest whom thou callest Persecutors viz. some eminent in Authority at that time whom I did not know to have persecuted you for ye had your liberty for your Profession of Religion as much as could be desired or as any others unless ye call that Persecution that ye were restrained from persecuting others And as for worldly concerns and transactions betwixt these in Authority and you I had not the least meddling neither in private nor publick But finding that the Governour was favourable to our Friends in New-England in restraining some Persecuting Priests and Justices to strein our Friends goods for Maintenance to the Priests I judged it my duty to visit him being also thereunto particularly recommended by a Person of good Quality and Report of his former Acquaintance and I must needs say that both He and They

are not gathered from any express words of the People called Quakers but are only the false and absurd Consequences he gathers from our Principle altogether grounded upon his Ignorance and Mistakes and especially his Prejudice against the Truth A Brief ANSWER to Cotton Mather his Appendix to a little Book of his called Memorable Providences relating to Witchcrafts c. THe main design of Cotton Mather in this his Appendix is to vindicate and defend his Father Increase Mather as no wise guilty of these Charges which I laid against him towards the end of my late Book call'd The Presbyterian and Independent Churches in New-England and else-where brought to the Test. Now if Cotton Mather had made any true and just Vindication of his said Father it had been a commendable work in him but he is so far from that that his so weak and impertinent pretended Vindication doth not in the least excuse him and he is so far from any just Vindication of his Father that he doth rather more lay open his Fathers Nakedness in the sight of the world and addeth to his Fathers grosly abusing the honest People called Quakers new Abuses and lying abusive Speeches of his own besides that in the judgment of any impartial understanding Reader he discovers himself to be a very shallow man airy and full of froth but showing nothing of Solidity in his whole discourse As for his scornful and disdainful words and reflections on me calling me One Keith a Quaker not deigning to design me by my full Name and Our little Author This new Apostle This waspishman c. I value them not so as to be any discouragement unto me to bear my Testimony for the blessed Truth of God against his and his Brethrens false Doctrine and Hypocrisy and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ left upon record in Scripture in a measure of the sence of that holy Spirit that gave them forth have been are made comfortable unto me Mat. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you c. I desire to bless the Lord who hath truly made me little in my own eyes and hath let me see not only my littleness but nothingness as of my self and given me also to know that I am one of his little Ones which to me is greater satisfaction than to have the greatest worldly advantages and that he seems to reflect upon the littleness of my stature as is apparent showeth in him little wit or discretion many excellent men were of little bodily stature far exceeding Cotton Mather or me either and Goliah was a man of great bodily stature who defied the host of God and yet fell before little David and tho' I do readily acknowledge my self little every way yet by the Grace of God I doubt not but to be made able to defend the Truth against all that thou and all thy Brethren can do to withstand it for the Truth is the greatest and strongest of all and when he who is the Truth pleaseth to use an Instrument let it be ever so little or mean it is well enabled to do the work it is raised up for And tho' in the close of his Appendix that containeth little else but silly drolling he saith G. K. has given sufficient cause why his own Sect should be ashamed of him if shame were compatible to such a perfect People Which last part is a meer Scoff yet he hath not made it appear and I hope in the Lord he never shall be able to make it appear that my Friends have any cause to be ashamed of me Before he cometh to his Fathers Vindication he thought fit to tell the world of the strange liberty which the Devils gave to some possessed Children to come to the Meetings of the Quakers and to read their writings And if all this be true what saith it against the Quakers in the least to discredit them or their Religion We know many wicked People whose Souls the Devils possess and that is worse than a meer Bodily Possession may read both our Books and the Scriptures also yet as this is no discredit to the Scriptures so no more to our books yea the Devil could and did cite Scripture to Christ and could use the outward names of God and Iesus And thou grantest that that Girle possessed as thou alledgest Bodily with the Devil did read the 59 Psalm And what may be concluded from this according to Cotton Mathers pretended Logick that tho' the Devil would not suffer the Girle to read some Presbyterian Books but gave her liberty to read some of the Common Prayer or other Episcopal Books and Quakers Books and also the 59 Psalm that all these are of the like quality Thou further sayst The Girle so possessed as thou alledgest could hear the Scripture read and called to one to read of Mary Magdalen and I see not what difference the Devil doth make in good earnest betwixt reading and hearing the Scripture read Again That the Devil suffered some of them to come to the Quakers Meetings Supposing it were so is this any more in prejudice of the Quakers Meetings than that Cotton Mather saith The same Girle so possessed came to a study or Closet in his House and entred therein and there read on the Bible and good Books And if he say It was because the Devil had left her how soon she came there Why may not the same be alledged on behalf of the Quakers Meetings Who seeth not how shallow this man is that from so ridiculous an instance would represent the Quakers Meetings and Books such as the Devil had a good liking to But it seems the holiness of his Study drove the Devils away and made the Girle so quiet in his Study as is implied in his words where he saith She added a Reason for it which the Owner of the Study thought more kind than true It seemeth then that Cotton Mather thinketh himself in that respect obliged to the Devils kindness more than to the truth of the Reason That they left the Girle how soon she entred into his Closet But why could not the Devil carry the Girle into his Closet as well as the Devil took Christ into the holy City and set him on a Pinacle of the Temple Mat. 4.5 and as it is in Iob When the Sons of God came together Sathan also came among them and if Sathan can come where the Sons of God are met together why may he not quietly suffer some possessed by him to come either to C. M's Closet or the Quakers Meeting without any just reflection on either of the places But if C. M. think the Devil more kind than true to him he had need beware of his Kindness left it turn to his damage in the end for a kind Devil is the most dangerous Devil In the beginning of the Vindication of his Father he saith One would think that if an Historian did but secure his Veracity from being impeached most of