Crime and Separation from the Communion of the Establish'd Church must be a with-drawing from the Synagogue of Satan If any Church-man shall presume to set forth the heinousness of this Sin or make so bold as to charge Dissenters with it they are taught to call it Railing and instead of reforming the Evil in their own Persons must agree together to run down the Preacher this is too well known in experience to need any proof for none ever reproved this Sin in them but they said he Railed and though it be Zeal and Duty in them to inveigh against the Faults of others yet 't is Malignity of Spirit and Hatred of the Power of Godliness to lay open their Miscarriages But are these Men all this while free from the guilt of this Sin which they are so unwilling to hear of No notoriously guilty of it for a causeless Separation from a true Church is by the Confession of their own Teachers acknowledged to be the Sin of Schism as they often declared in their Arguings against the Brownists of old and the Sectaries of later Days Now the Wisest of them generally own the Church of England to be a True Church and none of them with all their skill have ever shew'd any just cause for Separation from it and therefore breaking from the Worship and Communion of it cannot possibly be excused from Schism How then comes it to pass that their Teachers conceal this from them and not only suffer this guilt to lie upon them but lead and encourage them too in that evil which themselves condemn in others Why the plain Reason is to preserve and uphold the Party for should the People once know the nature and danger of Schism and be sensible how guilty they are of it the Dissenting Cause will fall to the ground and the whole business of the Conventicle be soon at an end and therefore to prevent that the People must be kept in ignorance of their Duty lest they should return to it and not be permitted to know the evil of Separation lest they should turn from it So that Ignorance too is the Mother of these Mens Devotion and they who speak so much of their great Light are merely led on and kept in Darkness But by what Arts do these Men thus hoodwink and blind the Eyes of the People Why To hinder them from the knowledge of Schism they keep them as much as possible from hearing any Discourses of it they permit them not to Read those Books that would discover to them the Evil of it If they hear of any Book written to that purpose or find it put into the hands of any of their Followers they caution them against it as a dangerous Piece and tending to subvert the Power of Godliness Thus do they keep their Followers in Ignorance by the same methods the Romish Priests do theirs If any of their Teachers publish any thing though never so mean to hide the Schism and harden their Followers in it they send it about in Triumph Posting in up like Quack Bills in Market-places and other places of resort thereby spreading it among the deluded Vulgar who are apt to magnifie the Performance to lessen the Sin But if notwithstanding their endeavours the Eyes of any begin to open and they come to see the Error of their ways great care is taken to put out that Light and to stifle such Convictions If by any means they smell out the danger of Schism they make them believe it to be only a Theological Scare-Crow whereby Men in Power would enforce their own Dictates But is breaking the Peace and Unity of the Church a mere Scare-Crow Is the dividing of Christ himself and rending in sunder the Communion of Saints which is the nature of Schism only a Bugbear to fright Fools and Children Certainly they can be no living Members of Christ's Body who are so insensible of these Convulsions But they tell them farther That the Papists charge us with the same guilt and brand us as much for Schismaticks as we do them But Is there the same reason Have not the Terms of their Communion been plainly proved to be Sinful and such as we cannot safely join in And hath this been ever proved of ours Nay Do not themselves own the contrary by their Occasional Communion with us And I hope there is some Difference between a voluntary departing from the Church and being driven from it But to keep them in their Schism they add That the Terms of Communion should be only Scriptural and Unexceptionable whereas Ours are Doubtful and such against which many have great Scruples and Exceptions But is there any thing how wisely soever order'd against which weak and wilful Persons may not entertain some Scruples May not cunning and designing Men raise a mist before the Eyes of the People and keep them from discerning the clearest Truths And must such artificial Doubts justle out a plain and necessary Duty I hope the Wisdom of Superiors may direct and over-rule in case of Doubts and their Authority may carry weight enough to weigh down such Scruples When they are beaten out of these Subterfuges they tell the People That Schism is a falling off from the Communion of the Catholick Church not of This or That particular Church so that they may continue Members of Christ's Church in general though they divide from the National or parish-Parish-Church where they live But is there any Communicating with the Catholick Church without being in Communion with some particular Church Can a Member belong to the Body that is not joined to any part of it No more can any be a Member of Christ's Body that is divided from that part of it where he lives So that if the Church of England be a sound Part of the Catholick Church as is generally owned by all sober Dissenters we cannot divide from it without dividing from the Whole and separating from the Catholick Church of Christ But farther to palliate and propagate their Schism they tell them That 't is no unjust Separation till it proceed so far as to deny the Faith and whilst they keep the Christian Faith they cannot justly be charged with Schism But is there no difference beteween Apostacy and Schism Is it not one thing to deny the Faith and another to forsake the Communion of the Church May not some be pretty sound and tenacious too of the Christian Faith and so be neither Hereticks nor Apostates who yet may Separate from the Worship and Communion of the Church and so be justly branded for Schismaticks Do not all the ancient Fathers in their Disputes with the Hereticks carefully distinguish between these Two May we not see some breaking the Unity and Communion of the Church who yet do not renounce there Creed or deny the Articles of the Christian Faith The confounding these Two hath not only confounded their Notions but brought great Confusion into the Church And yet at other times they would
Their pretence to Christian Liberty p. 106 Letter XIII Their pretence to better means of Edification p. 117 Letter XIV Their setting up and encouraging little private Schools of Philosophy p. 126 Postscript Their settling and maintaining a secret Correspondence among themselves with a Copy of one of their late Letters p. 135 The End of the CONTENTS LETTER I. SIR I Remember my Promise of giving you some account of the Artifices of Dissenters to support their Schism And though this Mystery of Iniquity hath some depths and intriegues that are out of the reach of a vulgar eye yet there are other Devices that lie more open and may be easily discern'd by an ordinary Observer And here the First thing that occurs to our view is their great zeal and diligence in making Proselytes in which they imitate if not outdo the zeal of the Pharisees Matt. 23.15 who compass sea and land to make a proselyte This unwearied diligence of the Pharisees is remark'd by our Saviour as an instance of their Hypocrisy And the Jewish Writers tell us how they used their utmost endeavours in hunting after Proselytes not for their good but their own gain that they might some way or other drain their Purses after they had drawn them into their Sect They spared no pains among all sorts of persons but especially among the Richer Widows whom by their subtle attractives they despoil'd of a great part of their Substance The Scripture hath recorded of them That they devoured widows houses Matt. 23.14 by their long Prayers which they made to serve as a long Grace to hallow and sanctify their Oppression In a word they fish'd for Proselytes every where and made a prey of all that they drew into their Net And herein they are equall'd if not exceeded by our Dissenting Brethren the art and industry used by them to this purpose being too well known to need any proof The chief things to be remark'd under this Head are 1st The Persons of whom these Proselytes consist 2dly Whence they are gathered And 3dly What they are Proselyted to For the Parties on whom this Game is plaid They are not any Persons of Education and Parts who can see through the disguise and discover the Imposture but the weak and illiterate Vulgar whose want of Judgment renders them the more easy and liable to seduction And here their great business is to flatter and humour the common People who are the sole Props and Members of the Conventicle being fearful and tender of displeasing them lest they should fly off and Dagon fall with them and therefore we are told by a wise Observer of their ways That the People are most truly the Guides and that the Pastors must follow them whom they pretend to Conduct which shews them to be rather Men-pleasers than the Servants of God But whence are these Proselytes taken Why out of the Parochial Established Churches for they can be taken no where else and we all know that the Conventicle is made up of a few straggling Sheep gathered out of other Flocks and drawn from the true Fold of the Catholick Church Now these Parochial Churches being by the Dissenters themselves acknowledged to be true Churches of Christ this can be no other than gathering Churches out of Churches a thing severely Condemn'd by the Puritans of old in the Brownists and by the Presbyterians of late in the Independents and other Sectaries If you will peruse the Presbyterian Writings and pirticularly the Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici the exactest Book that hath been written by them You will find this practice of gathering Churches out of Churches and setting up separate Meetings against an Established Church bitterly inveigh'd against as the Mother of Confusion the Nurse of Schism and the Step mother of Edification How comes the case then to be thus alter'd That gathering Churches out of Churches which was formerly a heinous Crime should now become not only a harmless thing but a necessary Duty And what was so fiercely disputed against as a grievous Faction should now be so earnestly contended for as if it were the faith once delivered to the saints What is it that hath made this change Is Vice of a sudden turn'd into Virtue Or hath the Mother of Confusion chang'd the Breed and brought forth a purer way of Worship and Devotion No the Mystery of it is That the Presbyterians upon the dissolution of the Government which they had in a great measure occasion'd fed themselves with hopes of being uppermost and laboured hard to bring the other Sects that grew up under them to the lure of their Discipline and then setting up Altar against Altar and gathering Churches out of Churches were vile and abominable things but finding themselves oppos'd and indeed overtop'd by the Independents and by the Re-establishment of the Church upon its ancient Foundation utterly defeated of all their hopes they began then to play the same game and lest they should be left in the lurch fell a gathering Disciples as fast as the other Sectaries And then all their own Arguments taken from Peace and Unity which were very strong whilst they made for Them of a sudden lost all their force when they were turned against them Most rare and well-grounded Divinity But what is it that these Industrious Men seek to make Proselytes to Is it to the embracing of Christianity or the practice of real Piety and Virtue No this were a very charitable and commendable Zeal indeed but 't is to a Party a Faction to a Schism or Separation from a true Church which they themselves have branded for the sink of Error and the inlet of all Confusion So that if the People would but open their Eyes they might easily see their Leaders acting against their own Principles and might condemn them out of their own mouths But what is the end or design of this great diligence in making Proselytes Why the plain design of it is the weakening the established Church by drawing the Members from it the strengthning their own Party by adding Followers to it and by degrees undermining the Government in Church and State to draw the Power and Interest of both into their own hands Great and noble designs indeed not for the publick Good but their own private Interest and Ambition And yet these apparently lie at the bottom of these endeavours Now this will lead us to consider the evil and danger of such Practices and that as well to the Parties Proselyted as those that Proselyte them St. Paul sharply rebuked this way of Proselyting or Party-taking among the Corinthians though they made some of the Apostles yea Christ himselfe to be one of the Heads of the Party While one saith I am of Paul another I am of Apollos another I am of Cephas another I am of Christ are ye not carnal and walk as men Yes as the worst sort of men for ye divide Kingdoms rend Churches and tear in pieces the very
Joshua is commanded to Sanctifie the People because there was an Accursed thing among them which must be taken away before Israel could have Peace or stand before their Enemies Now this Accursed thing was a goodly Babylonish garment two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels which Achan had stole and hid in the earth in the midst of his tent ver 21. which being done contrary to the Covenant and Command of God he troubled Israel who could find no rest till Joshua by God's Command destroy'd this Accursed thing and Burnt Achan who had purloined it But what use do these Expositors make of this Scripture Why a goodly one indeed the accursed thing must be the Common-Prayer the Babylonish garment the Surplice the wedge of gold the Cross and other Ceremonies the shekels of silver the Consecrated Vessels of the Temple and these being set up as so many Idols in the Temple must be all removed before there can be any Peace in Israel Is not this a rare Exposition May not a pregnant Fancy interpret all these in a different sense calling the Covenant the accursed thing which would give Three Nations no Peace till it was removed may not the Babylonish garment be the long Cloak which hath been made a Covering for much Rapine Oppression and Dissimulation May not the wedge of gold be the great Idol of Presbytery And the silver shekels the Silver Trumpets that sounded the Alarm to War and after cried up the great Diana of the Ephesians All which being set up as the abomination of desolation in the holy place must be destroyed before the Nation can be restored to Peace and Tranquillity If they do not like this Exposition let them take heed how they offer at the like since you see an ordinary Wit may wrest such Passages to any purpose I shall mention but one Text more at present that hath been abused by these Interpreters and that is that of St. Paul in the 1 Cor. 10.32 Give no offence neither to the Jews nor to the Greeks nor to the Church of God In which words the Apostle exhorted the first Christians to walk so warily and inoffensively as not to hinder the Conversion of any that neither Jew nor Gentile might be kept off from embracing Christianity or harden'd in their enmity and opposition against it and the plain sense and use we are to make of it is to beware that we do not lay any stumbling-block in the way of Christians or be unto them an occasion of falling But what sense do these Learned Interpreters put upon these words Why they take Offence there mentioned by the Apostle not for an occasion of Sin but for any thing that discontents or displeases and so would have Superiors take heed of enjoining any thing that may grieve or displease the Godly Party meaning themselves and indeed they are so tender that a small matter will grieve them yea if they have not their way like froward Children 't will be hard sometimes to keep them quiet and so would have not the Wisdom of Superiors but their own Fancies and Humours the measure of Government An admirable Exposition to serve their purpose and a singular Device to please and propagate the Party which is too well known to be farther insisted upon by Yours A. B. LETTER X. SIR ANother Artifice of Dissenters to uphold their Schism is to promote the Interest of the Party and to confine the Offices of Kindness and Charity to those of their own Sect. This was likewise the way of the Pharisees of whom our Saviour observ'd Mat. 5.46 47. That they would only salute their own brethren and do good to none but such as did do good to them meaning that they made those of their own Sect the sole Objects of their Courtesie and Beneficence We read of the Samaritans that they would scarce shew the way to a Jew or perform the common Offices of Humanity and Hospitality but to those of their own Party and therefore we find that when our Saviour was passing through a Village of the Samaritans they denied him and his Disciples all Entertainment because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem Luke 9.52 53. A Learned Divine hath observed of the Donatists of Old Dr. Cave That they confin'd all acts of Benevolence and Civility to those of their Sect and upheld their Separation from the Catholick Church by the Artifice of Trade for they would employ none to Till their ground or to be their Stewards but such as espoused their Opinion and so kept up their Party merely by Trading within themselves And hath not this Device been made use of to the same purpose in our Days Hath not Interest and Trade had a great hand in our Divisions Have not some on whom others depend for their Work and Subsistence employed none but those of their own Faction And have not many of the meaner sort been tempted to Separate Meetings merely to find encouragement from them May we not see their great diligence in promoting those of the Party to Places of Trust and Profit yea in making Matches too which they generally do within the Tribe not only to keep up the Old Stock but to breed a new Race of Dissenters These things are too common and notorious to need any proof Now how serviceable this Stratagem is to support and increase the Party is easie to conceive for Interest being the great Wheel that puts the World in motion that which best promotes and sets that a going shall be sure to have many Followers We read of some that follow'd our Saviour for the loaves John 6.26 66. and when they failed walked no more with him and there are many still that espouse a Party to get Bread and enter into a seemingly Religious Company the better to carry on and advance their Trade We are told of some whose gain is their greatest godliness and though no man can serve God and Mammon yet these will be serving of Mammon even when they appear the most Zealous Servants of God Their Teachers too are busie to promote the Interest of their Followers the better to promote their own and labour hard to advance their Trade that they may have the richer Prize and make the better Merchandize of them The Apostle makes mention of some unruly vain talkers and deceivers who subvert whole houses teaching things that they ought not for filthy lucres sake Tit. 1.10 11. and of those he declares that whatever pretences they may make they serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly Rom. 16.17 The love of money saith St. Paul 1 Tim. 6.10 is the root of all evil and especially of the evils of Error and Divisions for while some have coveted it saith he they have erred from the faith This hath made some forward to vent and others as ready to receive and be carried about with strong delusions and you need not doubt but many will