left us and yet will be one that shall mourn for the reproach of the solemn assemblies 26. Moreover it is one of Satans plots upon you to prepare for the reproach of the Non conformists when greater necessity shall drive them to the Parish assemblies and Communion Do not you make any doubt of it but that if the wrath or rigour of superiours should bring them to the same condition as the old Non-conformists were the most of the present Non-conformists would come to the Parish Churches even in Common Prayer and Sacraments as they did And you are preparing reproach for them that they may then be called Changelings who forsake their former principles and cause 27. And verily you will keep up the Papists hope that by an universal Toleration they may at last come in on equal terms with you or by connivance be endured as much as you And if they be equal in England with you their transmarine advantages will make them more than equal notwithstanding their disadvantages in their Cause and in their contrariety to Kingly interest which Henry Fowlis hath in folio most fully and unanswerably laid open 28. And though God in mercy hath at present given us a King that owneth the Protestant Cause so resolvedly as to make a Law against any that shall report him inclined to Popery England hath no promise that it shall be so for ever And if we should ever have a King more indifferent in his Religion do you know what a temptation it would be to him to pull down the Protestant Religion if he found it but in corners under a connivance and found it under the reproach of such crimes as Bâ—gshaw's books contain It were the next way to procure the fatal word Down with them even to the ground Though I know we have the greater security against this because Popery is so much against Princes interest and is the delâ—vering up the Kingdome in part to a foreign power 29. In a word Satan is playing by Mr. Bagshaw no lower a game than by turning all the people from the Parish assemblies while there are not in England had they liberty 〈◊〉 Ministers enow to supply the tenth part of the Churchâ—â— to 〈◊〉 the generality of them to live like open Atheists that give God no publick worship at all and so to extinguish knowledge Christianity and all Religion in most of the Land These things I see and because I see them I do as I have done 30. There is another reason that sticks much with me as knowing what silly peevish souls are employed in against themselves but I will add no more Brethren I have discharged my conscience Some will hear I will bear the censures and obloquy of the rest Your sins are no more lovely to me than the sins of other men nor no more merciful to England We all suffer by and for such sins as I have reproved I am one of the sufferers and therefore should have leave to speak I am long ago engaged in the cause of Concord Love and Peace and will not betray it for the shadow of Purity nor for the pleasing of any party whatsoever Though no duty when such is to be omitted nor any sin committed for Peace And to prevent the Calumny of Papists and the mis-information of Posterity I add that besides one hot-headed honest young man Mr. Brown I hear of no Non-conformable Minister in England that openly owneth Mr. Bagshaw's 〈◊〉 or secondeth him in his defence of the Love killing Principles of unlawful Separation Which with the other evidences of quietness and patience in the private assemblies of these times I take to be a marvellous thing considering mens great and manifold temptations which in time I hope God will abate FINIS
mischievous advantage will he make of it 12. For then next he will hope to bring all the Non-conformists or the greater part while a few only are excepted under the same Character for your sakes That they may be all thought to be men of irrational uncharitable and unpeaceable principles and spirits whose Religion consisteth but in Fanaticisme and self-conceit and foolish condemning the things which they understand not because their party hath done so before them And if Satan can thus far obtain his ends he hath laid the eggs of a world of farther sin and sufferings 13. Then all that are against them will be exceedingly confirmed in all those things and wayes which I need not name unto you and for which it is that you separate from them And will think that your condemnation of them is but a commendation 14. Yea Ministers of loose and vicious lives will be hardened by you against repentance and will think that they are better than you and that though they sometimes are drunk or idle yet they are pardoned because you that own such greater sins do pass for godly and because chiefly such as you condemn them 15. Yea which will be a doleful mischief you will afford matter for every carnal Preacher to make a Sermon of against those that go for strict and godly and to perswade the people that all that profess much strictness are but such as you and that hypocrisie is the cover for their sins which are worse than other mens Thus while the word Puritan as Fanatick now was first taken up to signifie an errour a conceit of self-perfection c. at last it grew that which Mr. Robert Bolton hath so often told the world a word of scorn in wicked mens mouths against all that truly feared God And thus while you fly from all the Parish Assemblies as desiled you will be the men that will make them far worse when some Pulpits will be made Stages on which the Actors may set forth all those Religious men that in any thing dissent from them in a ridiculous and odious dress to the derision and loathing of the auditors 16. By which means thousands of ignorant people will be tempted into a contempt of piety it self and their conversion wonderfully hindered And prejudice will make them turn from that way with scorn and obloquy which should save them O how many thousands have in England fâ—â—merly been hindred from true repentance by hearing strict Religious people both talk'd and preached against as hypocrites and a sort of proud self-opinioned men 17. And the common people will learn quickly to overgo the Preachers and will make the Godly in streets and Ale-house their common scorn And Satan will have almost as many Preachers to make Piety odious and hinder mens repentance as there be wicked men As when the Preacher by a Puritan heretofore meant a Non-conformist the ignorant rabble expounded and applied it of all that were not such as they 18. And by this means the Devil hopeth to disaffect and exasperate many Learned men that differ from you to turn the strength and reputation of their parts and learning to make you contemptible and vile Bishop Overall Whitgift Mountague c. were very learned men but exasperation set their parts and pens in that military strain as was not pleasing to their Antagonists As it did Mr. Hooker's and many more who by Love and meekness and a peaceable familiarity without sin might have been disarmed I need not go beyond Sea to tell you how the Learned Ios. Scaliger was exasperated to revile the Puritans by Mr. Lidiates opposition vid. Praef. ad Cam. Isagog nor to mention Salmatius Grotius or any others there nor to look back as far as Erasmus much less to many too many of the ancient Bishops and Doctors of the Church 19. Yea while you fear Persecution you will take the readiest way in the world to bring it on your selves and others for your sakes For the consciences of Rulers will perhaps little scruple the hurting of such men as are taken to be so bad They being Gods Ministers to use the sword for a terrour to evil doers and if you once pass for notorious evil doers you will hardly scape And it will be but a foolish fruitless course to do the evil your selves and then lay the blame of all your sufferings on them that tell you of it and that take it to be evil and will not commend your sins as so many acts of piety As if the assumed name of Virtue would hide the odiousness of Vice For nature and Scripture will help men to see your nakedness through so thin a vail and God himself will not suffer sin to keep up its credit by usurped names It is not silencing the Reprovers that will do the work of any sinners It must be the avoiding of the sin it self 20. And if you take this sinful dividing course you will make more Papists and such others as you your selves most fly from and disclaim than almost any other way could do Nothing that I know of in the world doth so strongly tempt some sober consciencious men to think Poperty necessary for the Concord of the Churches and a violent Church Government necessary to our Peace as the woful experience of the errours and schisms the mad and manifold Sects that arise among those that are most against them Thousands have been made Papists in England Scotland and Ireland within these twenty years that have been driven from us by our shameful Sects yea many of the Sectaries themselves when they have run themselves through as many Sects as they could try I am perswaded that Mr. Bagshaws Libels are as powerful writings to cross his own desires and turn many from Non-conformity and others unto Popery as most that have been published in this age Multitudes that read them will say Here you see the spirit of Non conformity though I have proved it a calumny Others will say You see how mad men grow when they unite not with the Cathalick Church and live not under a strict Church Government 21. And by all this Satan hopeth to turn the Non-conformists Sufferings to their shame And to make the world believe that as this man suffereth for refusing the Oath of Allegiance so do the rest for some self-conceits and unwarrantable fancies of their own 22. And he will put hard to bring Church diseipline it self into disgrace and scorn by you that most desire and plead for it For men will say These are they that cry out for Discipline and separate from our Church because it wanteth or corrupteth it When in their own Churches and Leaders such crimes as Bagshaws Books contain are tolerable as consistent with religious zeal and perhaps is all ascribed unto godliness what more effectual way could be devised to make Church-discipline contemptible to the world 23. And all this will tend to disable the Ministers of Christ both conformable and non-conformable from doing
any good and winning any souls to true repentance When the Conformable Preachers should do good the people will be taught by you to shun them or despise them as Idolaters When the Non-conformists should do any good they will be taught by your practice and other mens calumny to turn away from them as such as afore described And then how much hath Satan gained I know another sort of men are at least as deeply guilty of all these consequents as you But that is no excuse of yours And though it must be that offence come yet wo to them by whom it cometh 24. And indeed it would be a heinous aggravation of your sin if you should defie Gods Providence and the large and lamentable experience of the mischiefs of Love-killing dividing-principles and wayes This spirit and way was of old blasted in England and Holland It troubled new-New-England It injured the Non conformists and put them to write many books against it more than the Conformists did The books of Mr. Perry Martin Mar-Prelate full of jears and scorn were unsavoury to all sober men and his death the more dishonourable Scotland kept them out thence by Discipline In our late Wars Martin-Mar-priest Overton as was thought with Prince Lilburn c. quite exceeded Martin-Mar-Prelate and the Ministers were more scorned than ever were the Bishops Seekers Quakers and Ranters have all been generated for the most part by the foresaid Separating Principles and Spirit I will tell you no more now what effects it then had on the Churches and Kingdom nor what it hath brought on themselves and us But reason should tell it you and I will tell you that now even now to run violently further into the same fire which first burnt up so much of our Concord peace and glory and turned us into ashes and then burnt up the men that kindled it and is not quenched to this day nor like to be in haste I say to blow this fire still and run into it and back-bite even Non-conformable Ministers themselves that would but disswade you and desire you to quench it will be an obdurateness so like to Pharaoh's as may be a doleful prognostick to the guilty if not to all the Land 25. You little know what a pernicious design the Devil hath upon you in perswading you to desire and endeavour to pull down the Interest of Christ and Religion which is upheld in the Parish Churches of the Land and to think that it is best to bring them as low in reality or reputation as you can and to contract the Religious Interest all into private meetings By which means 1. The privacy shall keep it under obloquy suspicion and contempt 2. And shall level the sound with all the rotten Sects in their reputation 3. And shall leave them no security in Law for their continuance an hour 4. And shall keep them still under the censures discountenance and dangers of the Law 5. And young rash intemperate spirits among your selves will be continual endangerers of your liberties 6. Or a malicious enemy may at any time put on the vizor of a friend and come among you and act a furious part to make you odious and overthrow you 7. And few of the young the ignorant or licentious sorts will be your Auditors And how will the work of Repentance then be carried on by you The most will go to the publick Churches when you have done the most against it you can 8. And when the present generation of Non-conformists are dead do you think it likely that so many will survive them of their mind as are sufficient without the publick assemblies to keep up the Christian and Protestant Religion in the Land You are ignorant if you think it probable I know that God can do what he will But his Promise is the measuring object of our faith And I think he hath promised no such thing And I have long feared lest twenty years wilful contentions wantonness c. will not be punished with a short rebuke If you know how great a number was silenced in King Iames his time and yet that in 1640 there were not found near half so many Non conformable Ministers as are Counties in England you may think it is possible it may be so again And would you have but one Minister in a County or two to keep up all the Interest of Religion I am not without hope that God will make men so wise as to unite us before such a day But of that we have no certainty 9. Yea could you wish at this day that the Christian and Protestant Religion were kept up by none but the unconformable Ministers in private No honest man can wish it who considereth how many of the 1800 are dead already and how few are left in most Counties of the Land in comparison of the Congregations that need instruction I know that it is commonly said that God blesseth not their Ministry to the conversion of any souls and therefore it is as good be without the Conformists But this is foolishly spoken For 1. Many of them are as wise and as good men as you 2. You have no satisfactory account what hearts are secretly wrought on by their Ministry They come not all to you to be confessed 3. And the worser sort of them are not worse than Iudas whom Christ sent forth 4. And there is much done to keep up the Christian and Protestant Doctrine in soundness against Infidelity and Popery where few are brought to sound Conversion And so Gods publick worship and the hopes of our Posterity are kept up If any of you had rather that all turned open Infidels or Mahâ—metans my soul shall not enter into your Counsels 10. And the publick Churches will be kept up some or other If you would have the Protestant Interest in them fall the Popery will find them as a house ready swept and garnished and will make our latter end worse than our beginning 11. And I am perswaded few can be so sottish as to be ignorant that it greatly pleaseth the Papists that you are forced into corners and hold your exercises of Religion by connivance against Law and much more you will gratifie and rejoyce them if you could help them to get down all the Protestant interest in the Parish Churches And do your Leaders yet think that the Papists are pleased with that which will promote the Protestant cause 12. Many a man as wise and good as you whose Judgment is Non-conformable who liveth where there are no other Churches would take it for an unspeakable loss to be deprived of the benefit of the Parish Churches For all these reasons though I desire Reformation and will never swear not to endeavour it in my place and Calling yet I will do the best I can to get the best Pastors into the Parish Churches and to promote their reputation and the labours of the Ministers there and bless God for what is yet there