can prove there is a flaw and crack in the supposed Title And it may be the task will be so far from impossible as not to prove difficult SHOULD we grant them their first Position that there is but a small and determinate Number who are Elected yet if we shew that their Touch-stone is false and will not distinguish Gold from Brass all the Virtue and Consolation and that vain Joy in believing will immediately vanish in all those who are not resolved with the strength of fancy and prepossessed Imagination to supply the want of Reason and for such we must commit them to Time and Hellebore the Physick of mad-men for a Cure NOW their great and infallible sign of Election being a knowledg of the time of their Conversion accompanied with Compunction and Contrition a sense of Sin and sorrow for it It is almost impossible for any Person at one time or another not to have experienc'd all this especially if they have ever met or been acquainted with Sickness Danger or any remarkable afflictive Accidents Or if they have formerly been gross and notorious sinners as 't is observed many amongst their Converts especially of the frail Sex have been for sin will at one time or other throw off his gay Habit and masquerading Jollity and appear not only with its proper ugliness and deformity but with the frightful attendants of Death Judgment and Eternity Tortures and Punishments of the most dreadful shapes that Imagination grounded upon Reason and a just Fear or a present expectation is able to invent And there are few Spirits so flinty but such black and fearful Apparitions will make a very strong impression upon such as may easily produce all the fore-mentioned effects and many more and greater BUT we will go further with them and suppose all this conviction has been occasion'd by the Means by hearing a sin-destroying a heart-convincing Sermon which has imprest guilt upon their Consciences with the highest Aggravations and greatest terrors After all these sorrows and Agonies of Spirit which they make the certain Indications of the new Birth or Regeneration nay after open Confession publick Repentance and something beyond all that the Person may still be in a state of Reprobation Judas he repented S. Mat. 27.3 4. nay his contrition and conviction his sense sight and sorrow for his sin was so great and strong that he publickly confest he had sinned in betraying the Innocent Blood Nay he went yet further than any of these Men ever did that I have heard of for he made restitution of what he had unlawfully gotten he cast down the dear-bought thirty pieces of Silver in the Temple before them all and by his clearing the Innocent did endeavour to make what reparation for his Crime he was capable of and yet thought not that enough for he went away and hanged himself I would not have any of them follow him so far though it is affirmed some driven by these desperate Doctrines have and 't is a Miracle that many more do not follow his Example But for all their Marks I believe they have not many of them read Origen because he is one of the Fathers who amongst them pass for a Company of scandalous Popishly affected old Gentlemen nor will they easily be perswaded with him to allow Judas the benefit of his Clergy or take him to be one of their number who shall be saved and yet his Title to it by all their symptoms is as fair as any they can make and for all his being a Felo de se being able to give so punctual an account of the time of his Call and Conversion and there being an impossibility of final falling away from Graceâ— I cannot tell what way by their own Doctrine they will be able to exclude even this Son of Perdition from a certain share and Interest in Heaven BUT besides him I doubt not but there are thousands who if they would ingenuously confess have had great sorrows strong Convictions and horrible Agonies of Mind from the frightful apprehensions of Hell and Damnation which are always terrible to the thoughts of Men. Nay I do not question but they may have seriously repented and made great resolutions and some vigorous attempts towards amendment and reformation in their Lives who nevertheless as S. Peter says 2 Pet. 2.20 21 22. after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ after they have known the Way of Righteousness and tasted of the Powers of the World to come have returned with the Dog to his Vomit again and with the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the Mire which place if it be true as I make no question but it is and I hope they dare not deny will in a moment blow up this curious train of Imaginations That Repentance Contrition or a far greater progress towards Heaven are infallible Marks of Election or that there is an impossibility of final falling away from the Happy State of Grace CHAP. IX Of the great danger of this Doctrine as they apply it First to themselves It fills them with a groundless and false confidence of the goodness of their Spiritual Condition makes it almost impossible to convince them by Reason or Scripture though they live after the Flesh in Hatred Envy Malice Disobedience c. but that they have the Spirit and live after the Spirit and are new Creatures It fills them with Pride and Pharisaical contempt of others puts them into Security the most dangerous Condition a man can be in NOW could I make a Sermon like one of theirs and run on to nineteenthly Beloved in shewing the Dangers of this Doctrine but I have no Design to wire-draw my Application as they usually have in theirs I will therefore content my self to recount the Chief from which the rest do almost naturally flow and may be most easily conjectur'd FIRST We will consider the Desperate Influences this Doctrine has upon themselves SECONDLY The Ill Consequences it has upon them as they are Members of any Private Community Hamlet Village Town or Corporation THIRDLY The Dangerous Effects it has upon the Church LASTLY The fatal and portentous aspect it has upon the State and Civil Government WE will begin with the desperate Influences this Doctrine has upon themselves Hereby poor Souls to use their own word they are in the greatest Danger of destroying themselves and missing Eternal Salvation to which certainly nothing can contribute more than an unwarranted Confidence and groundless security When they cry Peace Peace to themselves then are men in the greatest danger of sudden Destruction They make not the least question but that they are of the Number of the precious Ones the Elect of God and are sure that these Elect can never fall away from Grace or be totally and finally divested of an undoubted Title to Heaven and Happiness which Doctrine however some of them in words may deny and
are driven about with every new Wind of Doctrine and truly let them but alone and they want neither Skill nor Will to accomplish these and far more difficult Enterprises In General therefore they perswade all Men every where that the present visible Church is Antichristian and Popish a thing strangely made up of outward Pomp and Splendor Formality Ceremonies and Will-worship the Inventions Traditions and Commandments of Men not at all agreeable to the Word of God or the naked and Primitive Purity and simplicity of the Gospel and the Truth as it is in Jesus These Controversies have been so learnedly debated and they have been so often baffled in all they could say for themselves that I know no Plea that has been left them except Conscience which they will not part with though most people from their Actions Judge if they have any it is an Evil conscience and of the largest size in the World Though the plain truth is the thing which they call Conscience is commonly known and called by the name of Wilfulness in Opinion And is just like the Mother Viper which when her young Brood are hunted and in Danger opens her mouth and there secures them and it may be mortally stings the pursuers I will not therefore repeat the Combate since they can never be so often thrown to the ground but like the Gyant Antaens they rise again and gather strength by their frequent foils And though I would not have any one think I have an intention by what I say to put my self into the number of those Worthies I am perswaded by the repeated victories which the Champions of Truth have so often gained over them these vanquished become victors and the great Condescensions of so many Famous and Learned Cheiftians as have undertaken to confute them and have really done it has rendred them more considerable amongst the Vulgar than all their own Abilities put together could have done For Ignorant and credulous People must of necessity believe that they are some body and that there is something more than Ordinary of truth in their Opinions which emboldens them to affront Authority and to have the Courage to measure their Weapons with the most Famous and Learned Persons of the Age. And by these Comabtes these Triflers purchase a real Victory Honour and Reputation and triumph in their being defeated by such glorious Armes And here it will not be amiss to inform all people of one of their Stratagems which never fails them Vide their Reports of the Conferences at Hampton Court before King James nor they to make use of it amongst the credulous Company of their fiends Followers and Disciples they alwayes boast themselves Invincible and tell them that such and such with whom they disputed were not able to resist the Wisdome and Spirit by which they spake and though they will own their Weaknesses yet will they glory in the pretended Victory of the Truth And by disclaiming their own Interest in these great Atchievements and ascribing it all to God who hath chosen the Weak and contemptible things to confound the Great and Wise they still advance their Reputation as being the particular Favourites of Heaven and the only Instruments which God is pleased to make use of to carry on his Work his great Work which appears so much the more his own wonderful doing by how much the Means he imployes in it are despicable and unlikely to Effect it And hereby they insinuate and wind themselves into the esteem and admiration of their Party though others who observe them thus cunningly crawling upon their bellies with a seeming humility think it discovers in them more of the subtile Serpent than of the innocent Dove But to go on they will not be contented with Generals but their attempts descend to particulars and therefore as if they meant to fulfill the prediction of our Saviour against the Jewish Temple upon the present Church there is not one stone from the Foundation to the highest Pinacle which they would leave upon another or do not endeavour to throw down Not the Porch that is called Beautiful nor the Altar sacred in all places Ages and amongst all Nations and Religions except the Turks can escape their Zealous Rage and Holy fury Their secret practices and aims are levell'd at All Root and Branch is the Word of Ecclesiastical Places Persons and Performances As to their dislike of Places that is not so General and I question not but if they and their Appennages were converted to their use and sanctified by the Word and Prayer for they must not be Consecrated because that is a Popish word and Ceremony they could dispense with any of them except the Cathedrals which so long as they stand will put the World in mind of Bishops their true and Ancient Possessors But yet some Dissenters who are no Steeple-house Quakers will speak most contemptuously of the Church of God which is the House of God 1 Tim. 3.15 Nor indeed do any of them believe there is any such thing in them as a Relative Holiness though God tells them there is when he commanded Moses to put off his Shoes from off his Feet Ex. 3 5. for the Place whereon he stood was Holy Ground And many Ornaments and Vestments dedicated to his service are called Holy Ex. 29.6 As the Holy Crown or Mitre for the High-Priest Lev 16.4 Ezech. 4.14 the holy Linnen Coat and holy Chambers where they laid these Holy things But these Men are not under Law but under Grace As if the great Obligations of the Gospel were intended to set us free from that respect we owe unto Almighty God Whereas common reason will tell us they ought rather to increase and augment it And I know not what is if this be not as St. Peter sayes an abusing of Christian freedom 1 St. Pet. 2. Chap. 13.14 15 16. and using it for a Cloak of Maliciousness As all those persons do who will not submit themselves to Government and by Obedience Honour the King which is the way to shew that they fear God How little fear or respect they have for either is but too plain What will they say to you of the houses of God are they any more than other Places Heaps of Wood and Stones they are sorry that they are not heaps of Rubbish too Were they not all built by Papists in the times of Superstition Blindness and Ignorance But some of them will yet go further and can afford them no better Title they are the High Places the * A pretty witty new name for a Church it is to be thought from the Publicans and Sinners that resort to it Oh the happy Inventions of some Men Publick and the Places of Idolatry One of these Venerable Men riding not long ago near a Cathedral of this Nation took occasion at the next Meeting whither he was going to hold forth to speak to this Effect if not these Words
the Pasture and not permitted to make all Common or range into the Corn-Fields Though after all these brags I have not met with any person whose observation has found Money more plentiful or Trading a Farthing better even in the time of the Toleration But lastly By this Separation they are sure to undermine the foundation of all Government which is the principal thing they always aim at both in Church and State for by their departing from one and Disobedience to both they bring their Power into question and contempt and whilest they endeavour to render them odious tyrannical heathenish and persecuting superstitious and unlawful and yet escape unpunished by the hopes of the like impunity they encourage others to follow their example and insult over the Laws and to esteem of all Power as the Frogs in the Fable did of their Wooden King And this is all in order to the accomplishment of their ultimate Design which is the subversion of the present Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical in order to the setting up a new one according to their own Phancies and Humours Now to demonstrate the unlawfulness of this Doctrine it were enough to shew that in Publick they will rarely own it themselves and will never charge the reason of their Separation upon any of these ends but upon the Ceremonies of the Church to which they pretend their Consciences will not give them leave to submit I think we shall cut the Sinews of this pretence and shew how feeble and lame an Excuse it is If we consider That these Ceremonies by their own confession are acknowledged to be indifferent in their own Natures and the reason they give why they are unlawful is because they are Imposed the Liberty of Conscience being thereby taken away Now this is a most certain truth that an indifferent thing when commanded by a Lawful Authority ceases to be indifferent and becomes necessary for all the Authority of the Church to command or impose is only exercised upon indifferent things What is absolutely necessary is commanded by God whatever is unlawful is forbidden by him so that they must of necessity either take away all Liberty from the Church to impose indifferent things that so they may have their Liberty which is unreasonable to desire and if granted them would destroy that Liberty which they would have or they must deny the lawfulness of the Authority that commands and determines indifferent things otherwise let them confess that they seek for a knot in a Rush to maintain the Quarrel But the plain Truth is the Vse they have for this Engine of Separation is to shew by their Example that they believe the Authority which commands these things is no Lawful Authority that therefore the impositions are not necessary or Obedience to them a Duty for rtherwise I cannot think them so sottish but they know it is and I am satisfied if they were in Power they would use the same Arguments to persuade to Obedience which now we do though they have stronger in their Budget upon occasion than have been yet employed to make them obey But for a further manifestation of this Error we will bring it to the Doctrine of our Blessed Lord S. Mat 13.29 in the Parable of the Tares The zealous Servants were for a present Separation and Extirpation of the Tares from among the Wheat But the Wise Master was of another judgment Not so lest they should root up the Wheat also and certainly as before was shewn this Separation of theirs has not fail'd of that effect but has already rooted up much of the good fruits of Charity Peace and Vnity out of the Church and has left us the Tares of Dissention in their room of which we may well say an Enemy hath done this And whether this Doctrine is pursued to the uttermost would not lead them to Extripation of the Tares let their Holy League witness For they all hold that Dominium fundatur in gratiâ and the Wicked have only a borrowed Right to whatever they have of Life and Fortune And how easie it is for religious Covetousness to perswade them when in Power to invade the Rights of Sinners and spoil the Egyptians will appear if we call to mind former things which though the Gracious Act of Oblivion has pardon'd them for they will never pardon the forced Restitution of the Kings Bishops Dean and Chapter-Lands But this being only a Parable may not be sufficiently convictive Let us look therefore for Example St. Joh 13.15 Now the Blessed Jesus who tells us he was to be our Example was so far from Separation or making Communion with Sinners a Crime that it was one of the greatest Objections against him S. Matt. 2.10 11 12 13. that he familiarly converst eat and drank with them and was a Friend to Publicans and Sinners S. Matt. 11 19 which accusation he did not excuse himself of but justifie from the good designs of thereby calling Sinners to repentance Nor do we find that ever he separated Himself or his Disciples from the Communion of the Jewish Church though full of such Types and Ceremonies as he came by fulfilling to abrogate but as his custom was he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath-Days went up to Jerusalem to celebrate all the commanded Festivals even to the last Passeover at which he was betray'd And further to shew us that we ought not to break Vnity or Communion with those who continue in the Visible Church he was as conversant with Judas as with the rest of the Apostles and yet he knew from the beginning who it was that should betray him knew Judas to be a covetous Hypocrite and worse than that a Devil and it is more than probable that he himself at the first Institution gave the Holy Communion to Judas as will appear to any that reads that place of St. Luke Chap. 22. from the thirteenth Verse to the two and twentieth And for the lawfulness of Separation let us hear St. Jude who having given us such a Character as I shall hereafter shew exactly fits these men lest their fair pretences should still endanger our mistake he concludes it with this distinctive Note of Separation These are they if you know them by nothing else you shall be sure to discover them by this These are they that Separate themselves S. Jude 19 Sensual or Animal having not the Spirit for all their great pretences to it unless Sedition Faction and Rebellion be Fruits and Effects of it as before has fully been made appear Could they prove us guilty of Idolatry or that we erre in any Substantial Fundamental point of Religion then their Separation would not only be lawful but necessary but till they can do this and convince us that we are not a true Church their Separation from us is unchristian and unlawful condemned by Christ and his holy Apostles But all this is nothing Their Religion must be such as
such of their Actions as make their Persons infamous render their Profession contemptible their way of Worship suspected and their good endeavours in other things fruitless and ineffectual BUT to proceed their very looks are modell'd and composed to a setled gravity and almost affected austerity Their eyes and hands are in company often lifted up to Heaven as if they were taken up with holy meditations or devout Ejaculations They are usually sparing of their Language and when they speak it is with such a particular way of a treatable and sententious deliberation as affords them liberty to weigh every word and strictly examine it before it passes the sally-port of their lips which likewise adds to the belief that it is the Spirit that gives them utterance in their Extempore Prayer when contrary to that custom which most think is nature in them they pour out their words which like Jacob and Esau struggle for the right of being the first-born as we shall take notice hereafter The greatest part of their Discourse is about Religious affairs the great concern of Souls for which they express an infinite care and tenderness Sometimes they will with passionate sighs and expressions bewail the wickedness and abominations of the present Age and that not without some poysonous hints against the miscarriages which they will intimate are to be found amongst Persons of the greatest Rank and Eminency as influencing the rest of their Inferiors by Example and whilst it may be they only pretend to pity them they really endeavour to make them odious Their very Habits lest they should seem inclined to Pride or Vanity are usually mean enough and for certain so remote from the present à la mode especially the Canonical as to appear rather approaching to Antick if it will but keep them warm as they tell such as happen to take any notice of it that was the original intention of Apparel and therefore all that they expect from it THEY rarely concern themselves with secular affaires their Revenues being the Free-will Offerings of the People which they quicken now and then with a gracious Exhortation To do good and communicate to distribute to the necessity of the Saints with which Sacrifices they tell them God is well pleased and no doubt then but they are and hereby they receive a treble advantage FIRST They have a great conveniency for privacy and retirement which they are not sparing to publish they do wholly spend or the greatest part of it in Prayer Meditation and taking pains to provide Spiritual food for the Souls of Men. SECONDLY Hereby they gain and preserve the kindness of their Auditors who are so far from grumbling at their way of Maintenance that they look upon it as the only Gospel-way and seem never better pleased with themselves than when they have done an Action so meritorious as they pretend to believe the supplying of their wants and necessities is Though possibly which these Men are not aware of it is because they are not obliged by Law to the payment of those voluntary stipends but are at liberty to stop their hands when they please and lessen or enlarge their Bounty and Liberality accordingly as the Teacher edifies them that is as either he flatters their Humors and Fancies in publick or private Or if there happens any dislike or disagreement betwixt them they may wholly withdraw their Purses and Persons from him and his Congregation and betake themselves to another as I have seen it my self and do not doubt but it very frâ—quently happens And there is no way so effectual as this to make the Clergy most mercenary base servile and mean-spirited so as not to dare to say or do any thing which may displease a good Benefactor for fear of losing both himself his money and their own Reputation which of necessity follows their being forsaken of any of their Hearers who will be sure to lay the blame of their Change upon the want of ability and unedifyingness of the Teacher whom they have for those Reasons left and made choice of a better THIRDLY Hereby they many times avoid and escape the severities of the Penal Laws in their Pecuniary Punishments having no visible Estate to levy an Estreat upon and as they will not by any Authority be suspended ab Officio so they are sure they cannot a Beneficio One of these Teachers meeting the Constable who came with a Warrant to levy twenty pounds for his holding a Conventicle of which he was in due form of Law convicted pleasantly told him he might take his Distress if he could find any thing but yet says he I would have you understand I do not complain of Poverty WERE they to receive their Maintenance as the Clergy of England do by the ancient and establisht way of Tythes as their Revenues would be nothing so large so they would have less time to spend in their Studies and more hatred and ill-will amongst their Parishionees for it has been observed that some men of great eminency for Piety Parts and Learning have not yet been able by all those Accomplishments to purchase the love of their Parishes For which there could be no other Reason given besides their honest Care to take their own just Right and Maintenance according to the direction and appointment of the Laws AND possibly we need not seek any further for the Reason of the common disrespect or contempt of the Clergy for they lie almost under an unavoidable necessity of being either poor or hated If they will permit either over-powerful Greatness or the universal Covetousness of the ordinary rank of People to defraud them of the greatest part of their little Revenues they may pass for good quiet and peaceable men but must certainly be poor and necessitous which will infallibly render them contemptible in the esteem of the greatest part of the world which will never leave the humour of paying their Respects proportionably to the Quantum quisque nummorum habet in Arca to the greatness of Riches and not of Vertue And if the Clergy endeavours to redress this by having recourse to the Laws for the recovery of their just Rights they shall assuredly gain the Character of troublesome litigious and covetous persons and shall not fail to be for these false imputations really hated For all which troubles and inconveniences they are obliged to the Doctrine and Practice of these Dissenters in unsetling the minds of the Multitude in the late Times of Libertinism All which they avoid likewise themselves and are considerable gainers by the bargain AND now what Person that looks no further than these fair Appearances but must judg most advantageously of these men And there are not many of their Followers that will give themselves the trouble of a further Enquiry or more narnow Search and Examination Nay I am perswaded that hereby a great many of them do commonly deceive themselves into a strong belief of their own sanctity And though they do
this is no false Accusation or Fiction of my own Fears or Fancy any Person may be easily convinced and it is no more but looking backward to the Times preceding the Fatal Year 1641 and those that followed till the Happy 1660 and it cannot be denied but that these are Real Truths and that these are the certain Trains and Trenches in which the Undermining Spirit of Phanaticism then did and now does most dangerously work CHAP. VI. Of their Endeavours to insinuate themselves into the Favour of Persons of Quality And that notwithstanding their Flatteries they are the greatest Enemies to Gentry Nobility and Royal Dignity Of the manner how they creep into Populous Places and the Arts they use to endear themselves to the People by putting them out of a good Opinion of their Lawful Minister The Reason of their settling in Market-Towns or Populous Villages where there is not already some prevailing Sect. Tradesmen lovers of Reading and have time to peruse their poysonous Writings Hereby they propagate their way the Shop-keeper mingling and retailing their Doctrines amongst his other Wares With their design upon Corporations in future Elections of Parliaments HAVING by the fore-mentioned Artifices and the fair Appearance of Holiness they carry in their Lives insinuated themselves into the good Opinion of the Many who it may be have never considered what is the end to which these ways of Dissension and Separation must at last lead them and for all their searching the Scriptures have either not found or not understood that place of the wisest of Mortals My Son Prov. 2â— 21 22. fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change for their Calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruin of them both Notwithstanding which and many like commands notwithstanding all former experience having assured themselves of the People who believe them equally with if not above the Scriptures their next endeavours are to obtain the Bon-Graces of some of more Eminent degree and this they do by the most servile of all Vices and most dangerous of all flatteries telling them That this will render them truely honourable in the sight of God and that the Kindness and Countenance they shew to his People his poor despised persecuted Saints and suffering-servants will hereafter purchase for them an exceeding and eternal weight and Crown of Glory Were there no Temptation in that Word yet the Ambition of being Popular has had great and dangerous Influences upon some Mens Spirits And if once these Men find that Inclination predominant they will be sure to touch that String which makes the Musick And this they do not out of any real kindness which they have for Nobility or Gentry but to gain Credit Reputation and Strength to their Persons and Party For you must know it adds not a little as they think to their Esteem to have the Coroneted-Coach stand waiting at the door of the Meeting-House though it may be all that State is only to attend upon my Ladyes Zealous Woman BUT however they know these goodly Elms are a safe shelter against a Storm and strong Supporters for these Ivy's to creep upon Which may be no unfit Emblem for these men who for all their pretended Humility will at the last overtop the tallest Tree and having liv'd upon its juice and moisture by their over-kind Embraces will infallibly impoverish and insensibly decay it And were the Government of Presbytery or any other Model of Faction established in the room of the present Episcopacy not only the Dwarf-Elders but even the very Jews-Ear Mushrooms which spring from them would have a greater Power in the Government than the noblest Trees of the Forest or it may be than the Royal Oak And the High and Mighty Ministers every one be more absolute and infallible in his own Parish than his Holiness of Rome in his Oraculous Chair And to shew you that they have as little kindness for Coronets as for Crowns it is but stepping into a Countrey-Conventicle and there you shall hear them loud enough cajolling those Common People with 1 Cor. c. 1. v. 26. Not many wise Men after the Elesh not many Mighty not many Noble are called But God hath chosen the Poor St. Jam. c. 2. v. 5 6 7. I say God hath chosen Mark that Whom hath he chosen Beloved Why God hath chosen the Poor Ah Friends do not Creat Men * By Taxes Subsidies Royal Aides Polls Hearth-money Fines 12. d. 5s 20. l. 100.l c. Oppress you do they not draw you before the Judgment-seats do they not blaspheme that Worthy Name by which you are called in derision naming you the Saints and the Godly do they not call you Fanaticks and Rebels Nay do they not say you are Hypocrites and Deceivers And after this Rate the Speaker goes on till he is almost out of all breath and sense in this cunning Way of Railing against all Nobility and Gentry and putting the Common People into a good Opinion of themselves thereby teaching them to despise their Betters an Humour to which the English Nation are but too generally and naturally addicted and inclined without any such Encouragements or perswasive Arguments AND now there is but one thing to be done before we bring them to the Pulpit where we shall fee them fit their Doctrines to their Designs and accommodate their Principles to their Practice YOU shall usually have them first Itinerant to gain the greater acquaintance and discover their Booty and the most advantageous Place for a Station having therefore in some Corporation Market-Town or Populous Village made an Acquaintance or got a Recommendation to some Olivarian Tradesman or forty-one Common-wealths-man thither they make their Visits The first thing they enquire after is concerning the Minister of the Place what he is and how the People stand affected to him Amongst other Discourse they will wonderfully pity the great want of faithful and painful Labourers in the Lord's Vineyard at Night some of the Neighbourhood who are judged worthy and to make Disciples of are called in the good man is desired to go to Duty with them which he does after having first put out the Candle either for good husbandry or for fear it should go out with a snuff before he has done or it may be lest it should quench the Light of the Spirit and in Charity I would think did I not know them better and that they have little acquaintance with Modesty to cover those blushes which justly may discover themselves when he is at a loss or run aground upon a little Non-sense He keeps them it may be an hour or two in attention to his zealous Tautologies and these Bastards of his own Brain he fathers upon the Spirit of God The hearty thanks of the House is returned him which is one return of his Prayers he always aims at and the Gifts are admired for his own and he for them which but
just before were the extraordinary Emanations and Gifts of the Spirit Some gracious discourse passes which with much kindness and promises of mutual endearings begins the acquaintance and concludes the interview for this time IF the Parson of the place be a mild well-temper'd man and favourable in his judgment to their Way and Opinions or one who has been brought to a partial Conformity rather out of fear to lose his Living than to keep his Conscience he is drawn into the Conspiracy against himself and by entertaining them kindly shall certainly advance his own Ruine in the loss of the love good opinion or interest he before had amongst his Parishioners But if he be a good brisk or learned man one who both preaches and practises Conformity sober and pious in his Life and Conversation then all their Cunning is set on work to find out something that may alienate the hearts of his People from him For without this due preparation there is nothing to be done no coming there And many times this proves no difficult Task for there being so much of Meum and Tuum between the Parson and his Parishioners they there find a Breach ready made by which they may boldly enter But if that Correspondence be good yet something must be done something must be found out against him If he Preach but once a day and Catechize in the Afternoons he is Lazy Idle a meer Drone and has not that care for precious and Immortal Souls as he ought to have if he Pray as the Canon directs or in any set-form near unto it he is a Formalist and has not the Spirit of God A meer Moral Man But if he be a great opposer of them and their pernicious dangerous seditious ways and Doctrines he is a Man of a Persecuting Spirit which is utterly contrary to the Gospel and that they are sure will do BUT if it hrppens either that the Minister be not a Man of Parts or that he be vicious in his Life then they have little to do and their Conquest is like Caesar''s with a Veni vidi vici They come they see and overcome in an instant and no sooner can they display their Victorious Ensigns but the People fall unto them Psal 73. v. 10. Transla Eccles and thereout suck they no small Advantage and their own Minister having before been justly despised for his Ignorance and scandalousness there will need little trouble or pains to render him truly contemptible and hated amongst them AND here our Boanerges is it may be courted to fix which after having made some difficulty to do only to secure to himself the Contributions and some other conveniences he will not fail to do unless he have a call to some more advantageous Place Provided always it be a place Rich and Populous and not already taken up with fame other prevailing Sect and Faction which plainly shews their Design is to supplant the present Church more than to propagate that which they call Truth otherwise they might as well endeavour to convert them from their Errors as the Church-men from their Loyalty and Obedience which is all they do or aim to do And observe it where you will you shall never see them settle in a small or poor Village It may be those People have no Souls to save or they are not worth the saying or they must travail and take pains for it and since they cannot pay must not have Salvation brought home to their Houses I have known one who for several Years has liv'd in a Place well-stockt with a prevailing Sect and where the Parson gave him advantage enough who yet never had any Congregation gathered there but ply'd every Lord's Day and sometimes in the Week-days at a Market-Town some Miles distant and by his pious endeavours and painful preaching brought the People of that Place who before he came amongst them possest great Unity and Loyalty to lose both and to be of four or five subdivided and dissenting Churches and some of the Mechanicks became such Eminent Teachers as to contemn despise forsake and vilifie him who first taught them the Trade I cannot forbear shooting my Bolt let them shoot the Proverb at me if they please Is it possible to judg otherways of these Men but that they are his Seedsmen who sowed the Tares amongst the Wheat who therefore will not suffer them to trifle or spend their time to no purpose no more than he does who walks to and fro the Earth like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour or to sow that Ground over again where he has already so promising a Crop sprung up and so plentiful a Harvest towards BUT they have further Policies in setting up in Market-Towns Populous Places or Corporations of which 17 Car. 2. c. 1. apud Oxon. with very good Reason they are disabled to be free unless they will first swear to renounce that Traiterous Position of taking up Arms against the King c. which is against their Conscience because against their design FOR first this sort of People I mean Tradesmen have more spare-hours than they desire they can write and read and therefore like the Divertisement of Books because it does not call them from the Compter Industry and the Repute of Honesty are many times their best Stock and therefore they cannot chuse but love and like such a Profession of Religion as is like to intitle them to Credit and Customers and so by bringing Grist to the Mill in all probability will inrich them which is the general Temptation that induces this sort of People to affect the Sanctimony of some Sect or Faction which is most prevalent near about them And to make it clear that this is true If ever you find any one of these Mercenary Saints Sailing against the Wind and Tide of a probable gain I will be content to be thought a Fool for my conjecture Whereas the Countrey-Swain whilst he runs the Yearly-Circle of his hard Labour has rarely either Time Learning or Money to spare to gratifie his own Curiosity or their expectancies and unless he be a Free-holder can do them no Service and little then if the Lord of the Mannor where he lives be an honest Loyal Gentleman and therefore they are too wise to Angle where the Fish is not worth the Bait. BUT secondly Hereby likewise they come infinitely to propagate their Way for the Zealous Plum-Smith will not weigh you an Ounce of Pepper but unless his Shop be full and then Religion must give the Wall to Interest into your Bargain you shall have a Pound of Edification which is the Pack-thread and Paper he binds us his Commodities with and if he have time he will give you the Repetition it may be out of his Pocket-Book of what the precious godly Man taught at the last Lecture or Sabbath-day or if you be so well-bred as the Phrase is he will Treat you with a Pipe of Tobacco only to
S. John 16.13 and I hope they dare not say but this Command of our Saviours was one of those things he had head and was one of those Truths into which he was to lead them FURTHER if we examine what are the Fruits of the Spirit they are love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness Gal. 5.22 23 24. Eph 5.5 faith meekness temperance righteousness and truth but not the least mention of Extempore Prayer If we search what are the Gifts of the Spirit or the Gifts of God we shall find the Gift of Continency 1 Cor. 7.7 1 Cor. 3.5 Rom. 12.6 1 Cor. 12.1 the Gifts of Prophecie of working Miracles c. but no Gift of Prayer And where the particular Gifts are enumerated there is not one syllable of the Gift of Prayer Certainly if it had been a spiritual Gift or a fruit of the Spirit it would not have been omitted BUT secondly let us appeal to Example For if this be a fruit of the Spirit then all they who can or could thus pray Extempore have the Spirit of God and are the Sons of God This is as much a Demonstration as any in Euclid Now will I bring you such an Army of Saints with Old Noll in the head of them as shall fight and pray with all Nations Either these Saints S. Oliver S. Ireton S. Bradshaw c. pray'd by the Spirit and so were real Saints or what they pray'd was not by the Spirit and so they were no Saints nor Extempore Prayer any Evidence of the Spirit of God Now let them take which of these they will I dare say they had rather Canonize Oliver and his praying Legions than not only as Affairs now stand it is not altogether safe And if they shall refuse both the Hornes of the Dilemma as being sure to be in their sides and too sharp to be handled they must teach us to distinguish and know that they are not just such Saints as the others who had the knack exactly prayed the same Language almost Verbatim made the same boasts of and pretensions to the Spirit and I am afraid had the same Spirit the same Uses to make of it and the self-same Ends and Designs I might bring many instances but I will only add one which is so remarkable that it will be sufficient to convince all those who are not resolved against Conviction and whereby it will appear that this way of Extempore Prayer is so far from being a Gift of God or proceeding from the Spirit of God that it may be a Gift of the Devil and that such who are almost under an irreversible Necessity of Damnation may have it even in Perfection The story is thus At St. Ives in the County of Huntington within the Memory of many Persons yet alive there was a Woman whose name I do not very well remember though many in that place very well do She was one of those who for distinction were then by themselves called Professors by other Puritans she was a great follower of the upholders of the Presbyterian-Tenents a constant frequenter of Godly Meetings and Religious Exercises This Woman came to be so eminent especially in this Gift of Prayer that she was generally admired and look't upon as a Saint of the first Magnitude the noise of her Fame and the boasts of her Party brought many Neighbouring-Ministers in the adjacent Counties of Cambridge and Huntington to hear her pray which she did in that ravishing manner that they never parted from her without an Excess of Admiration and astonishment After some time for what reason I am not able to determine this Holy Sister went over into New-England as about the same time many others did for Liberty of Conscience for a while she was there in the greatest Esteem and height of Reputation but the Devil ow'd her a shame and she him a Soul she was at last suspected and accused to be a Witch was brought to a tryal confeâ—â— her guilt and that her contract with the Devil was That in lieu of her Soul which she did consign unto him he should assist her with the Gift of Extempore Prayer after which confession sentence past upon her and she was accordingly executed as a most abominable Witch Either now we must believe that this Extempore Way is not an infallible sign of the Spirit of God or that the Devil has the Power of disposing of the Gifts of the Spirit BUT thirdly I will appeal to these very men let them speak the Truth and shame the Devil Is not this Way of Praying an acquisition did not the fore-mentioned Book or some Collections of their own of that nature out of Scripture often hearing of others and many secret Trials and Exercises therein bring them by degrees to these perfections or could they from the first Moment of their Conversion pray thus and they do as punctually remember that time as what they did Yesterday and then if ever they had the Spirit of God and it was then as well able to help their infirmities as now and they stood more in need of it and it would have been more visible and apparent that it was not they but the Spirit that taught them how and what to pray Did they not with much pains and industry attain this which they call a Gift let them deny it if they dare for if they will say they never used any of the aforesaid means to help their Weaknesses I will undertake to prove them the most impudent affirmers of a Notorious Untruth for many of their expressions are sentence pickt out of the Bible which they read often over with as much respect to the getting praying Phrases out of it and a great deal more than to be informed of their Duty towards God and Men and it were well if it were no worse but there is such a blend of phantastical particular and uncommon words of their own Mintage and such a medley of singularity of Incomes and Outgoings and In-dwellings and I know not what which like the Wild Gourds spoil all the Pottage and I doubt they will find there is Death too in the Pot. I AM the most deceived if for this purpose they do not stuff their Heads and Memories with Notions how to express themselves upon any sudden Occasion or Emergency and as I am informed by those who have tried both and therefore have reason to know it is a far greater Ease if a Man has the general Notions of what he intends to speak not to be tied to Numerical or Identical Words but to have a Liberty to express those thoughts and Notions according to his present Pleasure and Fancy Which if his Tongue be naturally smooth and voluble will make it less difficult for him to do it even to admiration the charge of Generals being less burdensome to the Memory than that of Particulars and besides it leaves the conceptions an unlimited freedome for choice and variation and affords many sudden
hints which by being followed and improved with advantage do many times infinitely surprize both the Speakers and Hearers with a pleasing Novelty and agreeableness that Pleasure begets a secret Joy and that Joy dilates and expands the Animal Spirits which are the true Spirit of Extempore Prayer and these having a strange Mechanism and unexpressible Influence upon the Soul do sometimes put it into such strange and vigorous heats and raptures as even makes a Man out-do himself and his own expectations I am perswaded that the want of understanding this piece of Philosophy which is none of that which the Apostle calls vain and bids beware of lest it spoil us though it might and I hope will spoil some of their ill Designes is the true Reason why they believe themselves to be acted in these Heats and Transports by the immediate Influence and Inspiration of the Spirit of God AND this is the very Art of Prayer and a meer Art it is and no Gift nor Fruit of the Spirit an Art which with a common Industry provided a Man have a competent stock of Confidence any Person may arrive at and grow prodigious in and the sooner the more ignorant he is because he will be proportionably more impudent and conceited of himself his abilities and performances which is the true Reason why so many silly Mechanicks who can hardly speak sense in common Discourse by hearing others pray at this rate will steal their Expressions and with some small Instructions and Directions with Time and many private Tryals grow such strange proficients in the Trade Nay and I will engage he shall have the Pride or it may be it is the Arcanum of the Craft which they are bound not to divulge not to confess how he came by it or to undeceive those who shall wonder to hear so unlearned a Fellow pray so fluently and fervently And this adds not a little amongst those who understand not the Intrigue to the common received Opinion that it is a Fruit of the actings of the Spirit of God And the pulling of this Spiritual Inkle out of their Throats which they would perswade us came thither by a Miracle is one of the greatest and neatest as well as dangerous pieces of Legerdemain with which these Juglers Hocus the vulgar and incautelous of the present Age. CHAP. VIII Of the Doctrines they chiefly insist upon and in which they first instruct their Hearers And first of the Doctrine of absolute and irrespective Decrees of Election and Reprobation Of their Way of trial of their Followers whether they he the Elect by knowing the punctual time of their Call Repentance sorrow for sin c. The agreeableness of this Doctrine to their Followers whom for being such they perswade that they are certainly the Elect and that they cannot fall totally and finally from Grace Their signs of Election proved false from Judas the Son of Perdition who had all they make the infallible Marks of Election and something more viz. Restitution which they will not be be perswaded to HAVING now done with the Prayer let us proceed to the Sermon and see what their Doctrines are for I do not intend to dwell upon their Texts or trouble them more than they usually do As for the Reasons though they pretend to raise many yet we shall see they have very little The Use is what they most generally insist upon and it is the ill Use and Application of these Doctrines that we come now to examine This is their Form so that I find they are for a Form of Preaching though against a Form of Prayer THE first Doctrine upon which they build their Foundation and by which they establish a perpetual Empire over all those who come to be of their Perswasion and which is of the most universal use unto them is the Doctrine of absolute and irrespective Decrees of Predestination about Election and Reprobation A piece of Divinity so hard and knotty that the sharpest Wits and soundest Judgments have not hitherto been able in any tolerable measure to hew smooth or polish And to me it appears that Almighty God did design no great encouragement to our curiosity having afforded us so little light either from Nature Reason or Scripture to make a full and perfect discovery of it COULD they be contented with it as the Scriptures leave it and as the Church of England in her 17 Article has most prudently and modestly left it in general terms S. Mark 1.15 Acts 2. â—5 Acts 3. â— That all those Persons who by Faith true Repentance and an Universal Obedience at least in Intention Will and Endeavour to Christ and the Commands of the Gospel do perform their part of the Condition of the New Covenant of Grace shall through the Merits and Mediation of the Son of God the Saviour of the world receive Eternal Salvation But that all those who wilfully 2 Thess 1. â— â— obstinately and to the last refuse to know God and to obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord S. Mark â— 44 46 â—â— Mat. â—â— 41 〈…〉 and from the glory of his Power and shall suffer those endless and intolerable Torments where the Worm dyeth not and the Fire is not quenched which were originally prepared for the Devil and his Angels Then we should agree with them in the Common Faith of the Holy Catholick or Universal Church in all Ages BUT this would not serve their turn nor at all answer those Necessary Ends which they have to employ this Doctrine about 2 Tim. 2.4 5 6 7. 〈…〉 God himself says he would have all men to be saved by coming to the knowledg of these Truths That there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransome for All the Apostle tells us he was ordained a Preacher of this Doctrine and that he spake the truth in Christ and did not lye but was a Teacher of the Gentiles in this Faith and Verity But say these new Doctors no such matter By his revealed Will it may be God says so but for all that by his secret Will he intended otherwise and that it should never be so I cannot but wonder how they came to be so well acquainted with it Besides this is a plain contradiction in Adjecto for how is it secret if it be revealed to them and if it be a secret which he has reserved as his own purpose from Eternity how dare they so openly proclaim it Were it never so great an Arcanum Imperii I am sure it ceases to be so after they once come to make a discovery of it or but to surmise that they have and they are but too prodigal in divulging of it far and wide Known to God are all his Works from the foundation of the World Acts 15.18 But as the Apostle says Rom. 11.34 Who hath known the
or even as this superstitious Idolatrous Church of England Man who for all that with his devout Litany and humble Lord have mercy upon me miserable Sinner is in the judgment of him who shall be Judg of the quick and the dead like to go up to his House justified sooner than the boasting Pharisaical Presbyterian Separatist notwithstanding the large self-justifying Inventory of his own Perfections and Performances There are few but would be of my judgment in this particular that these men are strangely puft up with this wind-Tympany of Pride if they had but convers'd with them and seen how big and swell'd they look with self-conceit or if they had but heard them vilifie lessen and despise all others upon whom the best their Charily can bestow is a little scornful Pity Alas poor Souls they are in blindness Errour and Ignorance and do not see those saving Truths which concern their precious and immortal Souls or their everlasting Peace and Welfare CHAP. X. Of the ill Consequences this Doctrine has upon the private Communities where it comes From hence proceeds a certain breach of Vnity No People so addicted to Debates Envyings Strife Backbitings Whisperings Slanders condemning censuring all who are not of their Way to be Reprobate as are the Separatists Vncharitableness and Atheism hereby extremely propagated they separate the dearest Eriends and by creeping into Houses and beguiling silly Women divide those whom God had joined together they are curious busie-bodies in espying out the faults of all others which they publish to make themselves appear the Elect and all others Reprobates All this is done to fit them to act upon the publick Theatre of the World which they practise in private Villages or where ever they dwell FROM Themselves let us pass to their Neighbours and there we shall see the ill consequences this Doctrine has upon them as they are Members of any Community or private Society of Men. Hereby the Unity of the Spirit Eph. 4.3 which is the Bond of Peace and Perfection is utterly destroyed and wheresoever this Doctrine once enters there does immediately follow as St. Paul says to his Corinthians Debates Envyings Wrath 2 Cor. 12 20. Strifes Back-bitings Whisperings Swellings Tumults innumerable Disputes great heats in discourse and coolings in Charity strong arguings though weak Arguments from these men of perverse minds condemning censuring judging reproving and reproaching all their Neighbours who will not join with them and by running into the same Excess of Spiritual Riots unlawful Meetings Conventicles or Assemblies under pretence of serving God become new Men as they believe and speak themselves to be all those who look not through their Opticks are blind the Wicked and Reprobates If for this talkative and troublesome humours any of their Neighbours reprove or rebuke them presently it is because they know nothing of God or of goodness If hereby they purchase the aversion of the Sober or more Judicious the Prudent and Ancient who will tell them it was not so in their time but there was more true love faith and honesty when there was less disputing about Religion when men went all one way to the Church and Heaven and that it was never a good world since they came into it Oh! these are your formal Moral men who are setled upon the Lees and hereby they fortifie themselves in their Errors because they know the world must hate them which Hatred they make another infallible Sign of the true Church and which is just such another as the former Mark of Persecution and if one or both of these are true all manner of Thieves Robbers Murderers and combined Villains must undoubtedly be of their true Church because they are hated of all men except their Confederates and justly persecuted for their contempt and breaking of the Laws as these men are who for all their fine pretences are no less Malefactors nor less dangerous to the publick welfare of the State than the other and I am sure far more in one sense because they are more numerous and of worse design And whatever they may say it is for that danger which the natural Principle of Self-preservation teaches all men it is for their doing so many ill Offices setting Families and whole Towns together by the ears disturbing the peace and quiet of all their Neighbours it is for these and such like uncharitable practices that they deservedly pull those aversions upon themselves and not as they vainly please themselves for their being Religious which those that see through them and their Form of Godliness to their wicked Intentions say they cannot see any true Religion in them at all and cannot hate them for what they are not guilty of NOR does this a little advance the encrease of Atheism amongst us and it may be we need not seek much further for the true Reason of the great and sensible Decay of Christian Piety in the present Age. I have known in some places those who were of no particular Faction nor had listed themselves under the Standards of any Party who yet forsook the assembling of themselves together at the Church the Prayers and Sacraments for which I could never hear them give any other account but that it was impossible to know which was the right Way to Heaven or the true Religion whilst so many different Opinions pretend with an equal Confidence that they are in the Right and all others wrong and this sort of People wanting both Will and Abilities to judg are easily perswaded to dispence with all Religious Performances their natural inclinations having never very strongly bent them that Way and should the succeeding Age make but as considerable a step towards Heathenism as the present has done we should stand in need of a Second Joseph of Arimathea to convert our Posterity to the Christian Faith as 't is said the first did our Ancestors NEITHER has this Infection seized only upon the vulgar but even those persons who have been able to fly from other Plagues have been surprized by this Contagion and possibly Leviathan who is so much accused for debauching green heads has not made so many Proselytes to Atheistical Principles amongst the tender and unsettled Minds of young Gentlemen as the many Disputes and Uncertainties which of late have by our Dissenters been occasioned about which is the true Religion where whilest every one boldly challenges the sole acquaintance with Truth they come all at last to be suspected of Falshood and amongst so many glistering and well-set Counterfeits and Pebles the true and inestimable Diamond by the difficulty of discovery is in danger to be mistaken if not absolutely lost And the young Gallant whilest he makes it his Pastime as much as Cock-fighting to set the Doctor of his Parish as he calls him and a Quaker Anabaptist or Presbyterian into a dispute about Religion though he fancies the Rencounter very pleasant and thereby gets a fine Scene of Divertisement yet he certainly loses
Disciples Example is a Tutor sufficiently able to instruct them in this part of their Duty And that Man or Woman either must have so little natural Logick as to be meer Naturals who cannot thus argue from Induction Such a man or Mr. is a pious good and conscientious man for he prayes by the Spirit is painful and powerful in preaching Soul-saving Gospel-Truths Now surely if it were not unlawful to go to the Church and hear those Prayers or receive the Sacrament he would not refuse to do it and abstain from them himself But he does abstain Nay might have kept or had a good Living if he would have conform'd which Good Man he relinquish'd or refus'd for Conscience-sake Therefore it is unlawful and I cannot fear to erre or be mistaken if I follow so good a pattern such a godly mans Example But though in publique they are always tender mouth'd of what may either discover their Wicked Designs or bring them under the unavoidable penalty of the Laws and are not a little cautious and circumspect where they are not assured that all the Ears and Tongues of the Assembly are at their Devotion and therefore will not speak plainly or positively yet they will deliver their Sence so as to be well enough understood That there ought to be no Communion with the Wicked and we know who they mean by that for what fellowship hath Light with Darkness Rev. 18.4 or God with Belial and therefore come out of her my People come out of Spiritual Babylon and Egypt and be not partakers of their Sins lest ye be likewise of their Plagues which latter part of the verse explains the former and informs us how far our Separation is lawful viz. from the Sins of the wicked World not from an outward Communion with the Visible Church And though there is no place suffers more frequently by their abuse of it I know none that favours them less if they would put the right Construction upon it And though they may be thus squeamish in Public yet in private discourse and where they are under the Rose or dare be confident that they shall not be betray'd they will explain their meaning and declare that the Church of England is Babylon her Worship Antichristian nay impious and blasphemous And this the Disciples propagate from one to another and are not so wary as their Teachers but having more zeal than prudence stick not to tell every body so with whom they fall into common converse and discourse and this Doctrine is usually left to the care of the Old Disciples to whose charge the new Proselyte is always committed and they never fail in the ample discharge of this Duty Should they propose it bare-fac't the uncharitableness of it would at first sight affright many and discourage more but this is Meat for strong Men not Milk fit for Babes and therefore it is worth our observation to see how artificially and by degrees they take their Novices from the Breast and with the common stratagem of Nurses they rub the beautiful Breasts of Consolation of the Mother-Church with the bitter Wormwood of their false aspersions or smear them over with the sooty black of their own Calumnies and so fright these Younglings from that sincere Milk of the Word which is able to save their Souls It is always some considerable time before any Young Disciple does absolutely forsake our Church and Communion nor do they usually feed them with this solid food of Separation till by their unnatural biting of their Mother they manifest that they have Teeth first he comes at the latter end of Prayers which by their tempering with him he now begins to dislike after a while having linger'd about the Church-yard for the Watch-word he drops in just as he hears the Psalm beginning to be sung before the Minister goes into the Pulpit then it may be he will miss a day or two and in time as he grows to a clearer Vnderstanding of this Doctrine that he is to have no fellowship with the Wicked and who those are he totally leaves the Church to which he rarely returns till he comes upon mens shoulders with his Heels forward to his own Funeral except to hear a Funeral Sermon for a deceased Friend or Relation Sometimes the temptation of saying Twenty pounds may persuade him to come once in a Month but then only to the Sermon which being ended he tumbles out of the Doors for fear he should be thought one of the Catholick Church by praying for it or have any share in the Peace of God which hating in his Life and Actions he will not suffer to enter into his Ears Though for all his haste this will not excuse the forfeiture which by the express words of the Statute is to be imposed upon all such as do not resort to their Parish-Church to hear Divine Service Now the advantages they receive by this Separation are principally these First hereby they come to know their Strength and Numbers and this adds not a little to their confidence and as they believe to their present Security from Punishment and future hopes of Tolleration if not Establishment And whosoever does but take notice of the frequent boasts they make how Considerable a part of the Nation they are must conclude that the knowledge of their Number is one great and main end of their Separation and that hereby they seem secretly to threaten their Superiours into a suspension of the execution of the Penal Laws against so great a Party whilst they sliely intimate how unsafe it is to meddle with a Multitude and disturb a Populace Secondly hereby they come to know and be known one to another which begets as much Love amongst them as they are capable of who are all Slaves to Vngenerous Interest Nor does this knowledge of one another a little advance the affairs of the Trading part of them of which sort of people their greatest numbers consist and who it may be became Proselytes only in hope of the Custome of the Brotherhood of which they assure themselves if they be ready Money Customers presently and if not such as soon as they can get clear of the Debt-Book of the Wicked with whom at present they are forced to deal and though some from experience are of another Opinion yet they question not but they shall have honest dealing and good pennyworths and possibly this ingrossing and forcing a Trade amongst themselves together with their avoiding all troublesome Offices in the lower Sphere of the State are not the least encouragements to their Separation nor the smallest steps to those Riches which they so much boast are amongst their Party for I remember it was their common discourse that the great want of Money and the sensible decay of Trade for these last Years before the Toleration was occasioned by their keeping up their Money or not giving down their Milk being it seems in a sullen Humour because they were kept within