and Spirit than other Mens For that is all the Praying by the Spirit since the ceasing of Inspiration And who will presume to judge of that Yea Is not the Heart more hinder'd and call'd off in their Prayers by the Invention of Matter and Words than in others where both these are prepared to their hands I hope they do not pretend to Pray by the immediate dictates and suggestions of the Holy Ghost as the Apostles did if they do they must work a Miracle that we may believe them and then we shall reckon all their Prayers of as great Authority as the Holy Scripture if they cannot they must excuse us if we condemn their depending upon such divine and sudden Suggestions of great Rashness and Presumption and that theirs is so far from a more Spiritual way of Worship that 't is rather more Carnal and scarce deserves the name of Divine Worship And yet here lies the great mystery of this Artifice for these Men take Praying Extempore or by present Conceptions to be Praying by the Spirit and so call it a Spiritual way of Worship whereas Praying by a Form is stil'd stinting of the Spirit and so that must not be allow'd to be Spiritual but Formal Worship and by this device they set the Ears of the People a itching after the one and turn them away or make them deaf to the other Now this Falacy may be easily apparent to any that considers that some of the vilest Wretches and greatest Monsters of Impiety that ever liv'd have been most famous for this talent of Extempore Prayer We read of one actually in League with the Devil Vid. Raviliac Rodivivu Major Were who had such a Fluency this way that he was admir'd by all but could be imitated by none that came near him And will any ascribe the Prayers of such a Wretch made up of Sorceries and the vilest Abominations to the Spirit of God Are they not rather the Diabolical suggestions of the Evil Spirit and to be ascribed to the true Author the Devil who is the Father of all Lies and Impostures And certainly he that considers what bad things have been vented in such Prayers will plainly see it to be not only a Belying but Blaspheming the Holy Ghost to entitle them to Him But 't is time to shew the evil and danger of this device And First This pretence of Purer Ordinances and purer Worship hath prov'd a principle of great Instability and Giddiness in Religion for when some Men began to refine upon the Established Church and set up Purer Ordinances Have not others risen up who thought them not pure enough and refin'd again upon them yea Does not one Sect continue still refining upon another and God knows when and where it will end Have not these double and treble Refiners almost refin'd away all their Religion and left little more than the Name and pretence of it Is it not dwindled into Air and Speculation and almost lost in a crowd of endless scruples and disputes How little of the life and spirit of Religion appears in Mens lives and how few can shew their Faith by their Works Which are the sad effects of this Reforming and Refining Humour Again This hath made the generality of People despise all Godly Forms though far more conducing to the purity of Faith and Devotion than other newfangled Methods for a Form of sound Words may preserve soundness in the matter of our Prayers and prevent indecencies in the manner of them whereas Extemporary Effusions can do neither for there much unsound Matter and many unseemly Expressions may and do frequently drop from those that use them Moreover many ignorant and wicked Persons who have been eminent for this Spiritual way of Praying have encouraged themselves in their Wickedness upon the account of this Gift and too many still flatter themselves on the same account that they are the Children of God and endow'd with his Spirit notwithstanding all their Wickedness Others again for lack of this Gift have been apt to despond as if they wanted that which should chiefly recommend them unto God And both of them have thereby grievously deceived both themselves and others Besides This pretence of greater Purity naturally leads to Schism and Separation for he that offers a Purer Model shall be sure to draw Disciples after him and many Men being too much given to change are apt to hearken to any higher offers and degrees of Purity there are some who dream of Purity and Perfection here in this life and these will easily listen to any tenders and advances towards it This will cause them to divide and separate from others vainly thinking themselves advanc'd to a higher Form in Christ's School and to have attain'd to greater measures of Perfection which naturally leads not only to Separating but Vilifying one another for they that take themselves to be of a higher Class will scorn to join or converse with those of a lower Form and as others swell in their thoughts and conceits above them so will they make them too the object of their contempt and scorn hence we find the Presbyterians who had declaim'd against the Church for making an Idol of the Common-Prayer were by the Independents and other Sectaries told That they made a greater and worse Idol of their Covenant and they who had stil'd the Liturgy and Episcopacy the Calves of Dan and Bethel found after the Directory and Presbytery branded with the same names and they too accounted the greatest Calves that most admired them Thus you see to what pass declaiming against publick Order and pretending to purer Ordinances may bring matters to which cannot but give great disturbance to any Church or Kingdom whereas the Wisdom that is from above is not only pure but peaceable gentle easy to be intreated free from pride full of good works without partiality and without hypocrisy James 3.17 18. If you will bring the pretences of Dissenters to this Test 't is to be feared Mene Tekel may be written on them they are weigh'd in the balance and found wanting in all these things I am Yours A. B. LETTER V. SIR I Find you sensible in your last of the great mischief of some Mens pretences to greater Purity and a more Spiritual way of Worship and what great advantage they have given to Sectaries to multiply and increase their Parties I shall proceed therefore to a Fourth Artifice made use of to that purpose and that is to cry up Peace and Unity though their Actions tend all the while to destroy and undermine them They know the Holy Scriptures abound every where with Precepts and Exhortations to Peace and Unity and what pressing Arguments and motives are made use of to that end The First things proclaim'd to the World upon our Blessed Saviour's coming into it next to the glory of God were peace on earth and good will towards men The whole course of his Life and Doctrine whilst he continued in it
opinion of their great Wisdom This makes them Heady Confident and Assuming thinking themsetves wiser than their Teachers and taking upon them to instruct their Betters without any regard to their Learning or Office yea this vain conceit of Knowledge hath lifted some of them to that high degree of Arrogance as to set up their Light within them above the Holy Scriptures and to prefer their own Dreams before Divine Revelations Again 2dly This pretence of greater Knowledge occasions great Contempt and Disobedience to Authority for these Opinionative Men soon become Wiser than their Governors they see farther into matters than all that are above them and so can espy the errors in the Administration of Affairs Hence you shall find them taxing the Actions of their Superiors finding fault with their Conduct and quarrelling with all Orders and Constitutions that are not drawn up by their Model and appointed as they in their great wisdom think best They talk much of a Judgment of Discretion which they oppose to the Judgment of their Superiors and by the help of it can lay aside all Laws and Canons made for publick Peace and Order And what a pernicious influence this must have not only the nature of the thing but our daily and doleful Experience may easily inform us Moreover 3dly This overweaning conceit of great Knowledge makes men pragmatical medlers in things that belong not to them invading the Office both of the King and Bishop prying into matters of State as if they were all Privy Councellors and Expounding the most difficult places in Scripture with greater confidence than the most Learned Doctors Hence you shall see them creeping into Mens Parishes as if none were able to Lead and Instruct their Flock without their Assistance and thrusting themselves into other Folks business as if none had any understanding but themselves Again 4thly This vain conceit of greater Light makes men Obstinate and Pertinacious in their private Fancies and Opinions though never so False and Erroneous We know how difficult a thing it is to reclaim a Schismatick the conceit he hath of his own Knowledge makes him think he cannot be mistaken the Infallibility he denies to the Pope he assumes to himself and vainly thinks that if other Men did but see with his Eyes they might soon discern the Truth and this would make them say and do even as he takes himself to be always in the Right and that 't is not possible for so enlighten'd a Person as he to be in the Wrong And what hope can there be of reclaiming such a one who is resolv'd and arm'd against Conviction Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit saith Solomon there is more hope of a fool than of him Prov. 26.12 Lastly This vain opinion of greater Knowledge makes them to despise censure and condemn the Actions of other Men for thinking themselves only in the right they take all others to be out of the way that go not with them and never so much as dreaming that they can be deceiv'd pity and sigh over others as a company of ignorant blind and deiuded Wretches Thus are they by this means brought fondly to applaud and admire themselves and to look down with contempt and scorn on others though much Wiser than themselves These and many other are the sad effects of this Artifice and plainly proceed from Mens flattering themselves and others with an opinion of their greater Light and knowledge Now to shew the Vanity of this pretence we may observe 1st That the greatest pretenders to Knowledge have commonly the least share of it a smatterer in any Art or Science that hath scarce knowledge enough to see his own ignorance usually boasts of higher measures and degrees of it than a Wiser Man that sees much farther into it will pretend to who being sensible of his own defects and how far short he comes of Perfection is commonly more humble and modest A wise man saith Solomon feareth and departeth from evil but the fool rageth and is confident Prov. 14.16 If any man think he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know 1 Cor. 8.2 We read of some that take upon them to be Teachers of others when themselves need to be Taught the first Principles of the Oracles of God and of others that are ever learning but never come to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim. 3.7 'T was well-observ'd by my Lord Bacon That a little Knowledge is apt to puff up and make Men giddy but a greater share of it will set them right and bring them to low and humble thoughts of themselves So that this pretence of greater Light is but a covering for their deeds of Darkness and if the light within them be darkness how great is that darkness Matth. 6.23 Beside 2dly This boast of greater Knowledge is a great bar to all growth and increase in it For what need have they to labour for that of which they think they have so great a share already This will breed not only a neglect but contempt of all the means of Knowledge 't will make them deaf to Instruction and to shut their Eyes against the Light though it flashes in their Faces 'T was wisely observ'd by the Roman Orator Multi ad Sapientiam pervenissent nisi se jam pervenisse put assent Many might have attain'd to Wisdom were it not for a vain conceit that they had attain'd it already And indeed there is no such Ignorant Arrogant and Incurable Fop as a Gifted Brother full of his Visions and Revelations who pretends to be above Ordinances and to be Wise above that which is Written Lastly This vain conceit of greater Knowledge oft times leads to a judicial Blindness and they who are so apt to Reprobate others are themselves given up to a Reprobate sense that in seeing they should see but not perceive and in hearing they should hear but not understand We read of the Gnosticks That when they professed themselves to be wise they became fools and being vain in their imaginations their foolish hearts were darken'd Rom. 1.21 22. God Almighty put out that Light which they vainly pretended to or wilfully abus'd and suffer'd them to grope on in thick darkness And the same Apostle tells us of others who for not receiving the truth in the love of it were given up to believe a lie and carried away with strong delusions 2 Thess 2.11 And this 't is to be feared is the case of too many Sectaries in our Days who withstand the clearest evidence of Truth and harden their hearts against all Conviction nothing can make them sensible of the error of their ways though it never so plainly appear to be so but will obstinately persist in their evil course against all the Commands of their Superiors the Instructions of their Teachers and the Example of Wise and Holy Men in all Ages as if they were lull'd asleep in a fatal Security and seal'd up under final
Worship of God or their not being tied up to any other Rules in these things but such as they in their great Wisdom shall think fit hence they persuade the People that to prescribe any thing in the Worship of God which he himself hath not Commanded is an invasion of his Prerogative and an infringement of Christian Liberty But hath God any where prescribed the particular Times Places Habits Gestures and other Circumstances of Divine Worship Hath he given any other than some general Rules for the more Decent and Orderly performance hereof No 't is certain he hath not why then the particular Determination of these Circumstances wherein this Decency and Order consists must be left to that Power which Christ hath set up in his Church For to leave every one to his own Liberty in these things is a Principle of Confusion and must bring all manner of Indecency and Disorder into the Service of God How then comes this to be called Christian Liberty Hath Christ any where Commanded or Allowed any such Liberty in his Chuch or exempted Christians from Obedience to Authority in such Lawful and Indifferent things No he hath given both his Precept and Example to the contrary for he was not only Obedient to the Roman Power in all Lawful things but paid all due Reverence and Obedience to the Authority of the Jewish Church he strictly observed the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jewish Service as well those of Human as Divine Appointment he kept to the Gesture used in Eating the Passover Matth. 26.20 and punctually Conformed to all the Ceremonies of the Synagogue-Worship So that 't is prevaricating with God as well as deceiving the People to tell them that Christ hath dispensed with all Laws made for the external Order and Decency of Publick Worship and given them a Liberty to behave themselves in it as they please But does not the Apostle tell us of a liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free willing us to stand fast in it and not to be entangled again in the yoke of bondage Gal. 5.1 Yes but that was a Liberty from the numerous and burthensome Rites and Ceremonies of Moses's Law which for the number and uneasiness of them are by St. Peter justly stiled a Yoke and such a one too as neither they nor their forefathers were able to bear Acts 15.10 for their Temples daily flow'd with the Blood of their Flocks and Herds their Altars smoak'd with the most costly Incense and Perfumes in a word they were prescribed to almost in all the Punctilio's of Human Life and few or no things were left indifferent to them Now these things being for the most part Typical and only shadows of good things to come were all to be done away when the Substance came accordingly at Christ's Coming all these Shadows vanished like darkness at the approach of the Sun and the cloudy Types of the Law were dispelled by the Brightness of his Coming Now a freedom from those cumbersom Rites and Ceremonies of the Old Law is the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and to return to the Observance of them is to be entangled again in the yoke of Bondage But what is this to Governors applying the general Rules of Scripture about the Order and Decency of God's Worship to particular Laws about it Here the Ceremonies enjoined are not Typical as the Jewish were nor is the observing of them a virtual denying that Christ is come in the Flesh as the continuance of the Jewish Rites would be but are Appointed only for the more comely Worshipping of God manifest in the flesh and the more solemn Praifing of God the Father for that inestimable Blessing To observe such wholesome Orders made for this end is so far from infringing our Christian Liberty that it would be a great Infringement of it to do otherwise For First This would infringe the Liberty that Christ hath left with Governours of Ordering such Indifferent things this is the main if not the only Branch of their Ecclesiastical Power for the Substantials of Divine Worship are already Appointed by Christ and the Spirit of God hath left some general Rules for the more orderly Performance of it but the particular Rules of Order and Decency being no where Prescribed these are left to the determination of our Governors whom we are required to obey for the Lord's sake and to deny them this is to divest them of all Power in Church-matters yea this will leave a less Liberty to Ecclesiastical Governors under the Gospel than the Governors of the Jewish Church were invested with who yet were bound up and determined in far more particulars than ours now are Again To take off our Obedience in these Indifferent things is to infringe the Liberty of the People who must be thereby deprived of a better way of serving God and likewise subject them to the Punishment and Displeasure of the Magistrate for Disobeying him in things that are within his Power to Command But wherein then lies our Christian Liberty if Governors may Impose what they think fit upon us Why the Governors Liberty consists in this That they are not tied up to any particular Modes or Circumstances of Divine Worship but may establish in Indifferent things what they judge most expedient for Order and Comeliness The Peoples Liberty lies in this That they do not look upon or use the things contained in such Injunctions as Essential Parts of Divine Worship or Matters necessary to Salvation but merely for Discipline and Orders sake they retain still the Liberty of the Judgment about the Nature of the things though the Use of them be for wise and publick Reasons restrain'd Whereas such a Liberty as sets Men free from all Laws and good Orders of this kind is a wild and extravagant Fancy and lets them loose to all Disorder this is to use our Liberty as a Cloak of Maliciousness and to make it a Pretence or Covering for all Licentiousness But what is the Design of this false Pretence to Christian Liberty Why 't is to give the People Liberty to break the Laws at Pleasure and leave them to the Guidance of their own Humours without Controul by this means they teach them to leave the Church and go to Conventicles to assert their Christian Liberty and to encourage them therein they pervert for them two or three Texts of Scripture as that of our Saviour Call no man master upon earth Matth. 23.10 which is a Caution against receiving the corrupt Doctrines and Traditions of the Pharisees is by them Interpreted for rejecting the Lawful Commands of our Superiors That of the Apostle Be not ye the servants of men 1 Cor. 7.23 which forbids the enslaving the Conscience to the Imperious Dictates of False Teachers is so expounded as to take off all the Obligation of good Orders St. Peter's Lording it over God's heritage 1 Pet. 5.3 they interpret of the Tyranny of the Bishops and thereby take off their
they are carried on and kept in Ignorance of a great part of their Duty The great Duties of Unity Peace and Order in the Church of Christ can never be fairly explained or inculcated in those places where their very Meetings are a contradiction to them The heinous nature and guilt of Schism must not be laid open since all their Conventicles are founded upon it The tender point of Divisions so sharply rebuked by the Apostle must not be touch'd upon there where so many love or live by them And now let any impartial Man judge where we are like to find the best means of Edification either in the publick Assemblies of the Church where the whole mind and will of God is truly and faithfully Revealed or in the Separate Meetings of Sectaries where the bare upholding of them tempts them to so much Falsification But where then lies the Fallacy or Mistake in this Matter Why the People are imposed upon by false Notions of Edification For First Some take the fond Opinions and affected Phrases of a Party for the best means of Edification Thus if they hear any discoursing of Election and Reprobation in which they commonly canonize themselves and roprobate others if they saucily pry into and pass their Judgment in those secret things that belong to God and withal misinterpret the reveal'd things that belong to them they think themselves mightily edified though they know nothing aright in those matters Again if they hear them talking of Rolling upon Jesus Christ and Lying flat upon the Promises with other such Mystical and Phrase-Divinity they prick up their Ears and are wonderfully pleas'd with the unintelligible Jargon If they happen to go to the Church and hear the plain Sense of the Gospel laid open and the true Notions of Justification Regeneration Conversion and Salvation explain'd to them they think themselves unedified because they are not amus'd with some fine Conceits about these things The truth is the less they understand the more they are edified which makes them go to the Church with prejudice where they are entertain'd with found Doctrine and the sober Notions of Religion and to delight only in the Mystical and Vain Talk of the Conventicle whereby they mistake the true means of Edification Again 2ly They mistake the false Heats of Fancy for the true Warmth of the Heart and think they have profited by a Sermon merely because they were pleas'd This is a frequent and fatal Delusion for false Teachers commonly work upon the Passions of their Hearers without a right informing their Judgment and so make them think themselves edified when they are all the while merely deluded To this end a melting Tone solemn Looks vehement Actions are made use of and having by these Arts warm'd their Imaginations make them believe they are fired with a true Zeal and so strangely edified as if they felt some extraordinary Impulses of the Holy Ghost stirring within them when all the while 't is no other than the Motion of the Animal Spirits occasioned by the Heats of Fancy and are chiefly owing to their Bodily Temper Now to cry up these for Edification and going on to Perfection is as one hath observ'd to betray the People into the power of every Impostor who hath the knack to raise these Heats and make them pass for Reason and Conviction of Mind These mortify no Sin nor improve any Virtue and so make men neither wiser nor better than they were before but rather more fickle and inconstant and apt to be carried about with every Wind of Doctrine Whereas true Edification helps men to grow in Grace and Knowledge and leaves more firm and lasting Impressions of Virtue upon the Soul Moreover this pretence to better means of Edification sets the common People a judging between better and best of which by reason of their Ignorance and Instability they are incompetent Judges Indeed there is so much of Humour and Fancy in mens Comparisons between Teachers that lays them open to Great Mistakes and Inconveniences about it it fills the best-meaning Persons among them with endless Scruples whom to chuse and where to go and is a Principle of great Giddiness and Instability Yea the mischeif of it is to great to have any Licence or Countenance given to it in any well-constituted Church for it breaks the Order Peace and good Government of it and naturally creates Division and great Distractions it sets people a gadding after new Inventions and necessarily brings on the Guilt of Schism So that this pretence confutes it self and proves a great hindrance to the Edification it pretends to He that constantly attends the Prayers and Instructions of his Parochial Guide shall learn and profit more than he that hunts about for better means of Edification A rolling Stone we say never gets Moss And he that runs after and heaps to himself Teachers may have his itching Ears tickled but seldom hath either his Heart renew'd or his Life reform'd by such means Again by keeping close to a settled Pastor men may have all the Parts and Duties of Religion one time or other explain'd and applied to them and this will tend more to true Edification than the Oratory of loose and general Discourses which for the most part only enters into one Ear and goes out at the other Besides this running after new Teachers is a great Discouragement to a Faithful Pastor to see himself forsaken of his Flock and find them following Wolves in Sheeps cloathing This tends at once to hinder the Preparations of the Minister and the Proficiency of the People who might have better Sermons and profit more by them if they would more frequently attend them In a word This wanton Humour of leaving their own Minister to go where they can profit best hath been severely condemn'd by the Party that now cherish it in their Followers Mr. Edwards in his Gangraena mentions it as one of the great Errors of the Times in which he liv'd And both Presbyterians and Independents have inveigh'd against it as a Principle of great Looseness and Vanity as may be made appear if need be I am SIR Yours A. B. LETTER XIV SIR THE last Artifice of Dissenters that I shall mention is Their setting up and encouraging little private Schools of Philosophy to prepare and qualifie Persons for the holding of Conventicles The Design of this Stratagem is to keep up a Succession of Factious Teachers and to propagate the Schism to future Generations There are some Sects indeed that take no Care about the Education or Commission of their Holders-forth but leave this Office entirely to the Natural Endowments and Volubility of Gifted Brethren But there are others and particularly the Presbyterians who being many of them bred up in the Universities themselves and thereby knowing something of the Method and Benefit of that Education erect private Schools wherein they do something to the like though for the most part to very little purpose They are sensible of