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
this is to preserve and propagate the Schism is very easy to imagine Again By this device the Dissenters can shift off all the blame of the Divisions from themselves and lay them at others doors which is indeed a great piece of Art and stands them in good stead for if they are charged with the danger and evil consequents of our unchristian Divisions and Separations they presently throw off all the guilt of them from themselves and lay it upon the Impositions they good men are in no fault but they who have made the yoke of Conformity intolerable by laying too much upon the backs of their weak Brethren and making the Burthen too heavy for their tender Consciences to bear by this Artifice they seek cunningly to discharge themselves of all the troubles and commotions in these Kingdoms which they put not upon their own stubbornness and disobedience to good Laws which is the true cause of them but upon their Governors for Imposing upon them and making the yoke of Government too heavy and hard to be born But what are those Laws which they fix this odious brand upon and call by the nick-name of Impositions Why they are the good Orders and Constitutions of the Church appointed only for the external Reverence and Decency of Divine Worship 't is the Liturgy and Discipline of the Church that must go under this infamous Character to keep their Followers from all due Submission and Obedience to them And as the first Enemies of Christianity arrayed the ancient Christians in Bear-Skins and Goat-Skins that they might be the more worried and baited by the Multitude so have the Architects of Schism put this vile Title on wholesome Orders to make them the more hated and abhorred by the People Hence we read That when King Charles the First out of a Pious Zeal for the Unity and Uniformity of all the Churches in his Dominions Ordered a Liturgy to be Composed and Used in the Church of Scotland which was no more than hath been practised in all Christian Churches and well enough became a Christian Prince to do What loud out-cries against Impositions were raised by some Turbulent and Factious Spirits in that Kingdom Who thereupon brake out in an unnatural War and Rebellion against their Lawfull Sovereign yea and had the Impudence too to charge all that Blood upon that Pious Prince which was wickedly shed by those Impious Traytors By which we plainly see the mischief of this Device And though abundantly enough hath been written by our own and Foreign Divines to take off this false Imputation yet the cry must still go on to continue and propagate the Schism But what is it that makes the Burthen of Impositions as they call them so heavy Why First 'T is the giving of Assent and Consent to all that is contain'd in and prescrib'd by the Book of Common-Prayer This they are continually buzzing in the Ears of the People though they are no way concern'd in it and so fright them from the Communion of the Church by their feigned and imaginary Scare-Crows for this is no where required of them and consequently there can be no reason of frighting them with this Bugbear but only to keep them from the publick Worship The Minister indeed who is to offer up the publick Prayers of the Church is required to give his Assent to them And can any thing be more reasonable than that he that is called to this Office should be satisfied in the Soundness of the publick Devotion Is it fit that any should Officiate this way who doubts of the Truth or Usefulness of the publick Service Must not this occasion great Coldness and Hypocrisie in the Worship of God If they think the serving of God by the Common-Prayer be a Service pleasing unto him Why can they not Assent and Consent to it If they do not How can they be fit to Officiate or indeed at any time to join in the Use of it So that this if well considered will be found rather a needless Cavil than a just Exception against the prescribed Worship But 2dly The Imposing This and no Other adds to the weight of the Impositions and makes the Burthen too heavy How so Is not a standing Liturgy containing all the Offices of Religion sufficient to all the ends of Piety and Devotion Are not Peace Unity and Order best preserved by one Uniform Established way of Worship Are Men imposed upon unless they are left free to what way of Worship they please which necessarily breeds Confusion and every Evil work Of this our own sad Experience may abundantly fatisfy us and withall plainly shew the fallacy of this Artifice Now the mischief of this Device is too visible both in Church and State for the crying out upon Impositions and branding good Laws with that odious Name hath kept many from all Obedience to them In short this hath bred a contempt of Authority and involv'd whole Kingdoms in Blood and Confusion But there is another branch of this Artifice and that is The stiling the just Penalties of wholsom Laws by the hareful Name of Persecution This is a plain consequent of the former for when Men think themselves imposed upon by publick Orders and Constitutions they will soon think themselves Persecuted when they are Punished for the breach of them hence we find the Dissenters often setting up the cry of Persecution by which they would have their Governors to be thought Tyrants and themselves the Saints that suffer under them yea they compare their Condition to that of the Primitive Christians and would make the World believe that when they are punished for the breach of Unity Peace and Order they are as much persecuted as those first Christians in all their Sufferings for the Truth of Christianity But this Artifice being already fully detected I shall add no more here but refer you to it I am SIR Yours A. B. LETTER VIII SIR YOU see the Mischief of calling things by wrong Names as stiling publick Laws by the Name of Impositions and the Penalties annex'd to the Breach of them by the Name of Persecution which hath made many too careless of the one and fearless of the other I come now to A Seventh Artifice of Dissenters and that is to keep the People in Ignorance of the Nature and Danger of Schism or else to feed them with wrong Notions and Conceits of it Indeed the Romish Priests are not more studious to conceal the Corruptions of their Church than these Men are to disguise the Errors of the Conventicle This is evident in the Matter of Schism for though it be one of the greatest Sins that can be committed being a tearing in pieces the Body of Christ and as far exceeds any other Vice as rending one Limb from another is worse than a Corrupt Humour yet the People must not know so much the guilt of it must be hid from their Eyes yea it must be look'd on rather as a Duty than a
the Necessity and Usefulness of Human Learning to qualifie for the Ministry and therefore fearing lest their Conventicles might fall through the gross Ignorance of those that must uphold them something must be taken care of this way to fit them for this great Work at least some smattering of Learning must be had or pretended to to give some Countenance to the Cause And indeed a little of it with a great deal of Confidence will go a great way to deceive the Vulgar They know moreover that the present Heads of the Party are all mortal and going off the Stage and therefore lest the Faction should die with them care must be taken to raise up more to preserve the Succession and derive the Imposture to future Ages Besides the breeding up of these Emissaries affords no small Gain to the present Crafts-men and the Leaders are like to get more by their Learning than the People to whom they are sent who are in danger to be mis-led by them and merely beguil'd by their vain Philosophy Thus do they erect private Seminaries against the most renowned Universities merely to qualifie them to keep up private Conventicles against the best establish'd Church in the Christian World Which is a very serviceable Stratagem to uphold the Party and propagate the Schism But for the better understanding of this Device let us enquire into the Masters and Scholars of these separate Academies together with the Learning profess'd and taught in them And First For the Heads and Masters in these Seminaries They are busie not only in sowing Divisions themselves but in planting of Tares and watering of Weeds that may spring up when they are gone to infest the Church and choak the good Seed of sound Doctrine preach'd in it A Noble Employment indeed and worthy the Ambassadors of Christ to be Teachers of Schism and Promoters of Faction and not to be content only to divide the Church and rend the Body of Christ for their own time but to breed up others to succeed them in this great Work and raise a new Race of Disturbers for the Edification of Posterity They are unwilling the Church should be ever settled in Unity and Peace and therefore are hard at work to propagate Dissentions to instill their Sophistry into their Disciples and to lay a foundation for Discord on future times But if any of these grand Teachers of Philosophy in private Schools have been Graduates in the Universities as we are told some of them are How shall we excuse them from Perjury in violating the Oaths taken by them to the contrary And if any of them have been Episcopally Ordain'd according to the Rites and Orders of the Church of England as 't is well known some of them have been What can they say for acting thus contrary to the Declarations and Subscriptions required in it and training up others in Nonconformity and opposition to it I think it will not be a miss for these Men to consider whether that tenderness of Conscience they so much pretend to can consist with the Violation of those Engagements or whether it be not either the Weakness of their Heads or the Falseness of their Hearts that gives them so easy a Dispensation from observing of them As for the Scholars thus train'd up by them they are plainly nurs'd up in a Schism and not only taught to go themselves but lead others in the ways of Separation whereby they are bred up Enemies to the Government both in Church and State mis-led from the ways of truth and Peace and so unhappily directed out of the way that they should go But what are the Arts and Methods of instruction made use of in these Seminaries to this purpose Why First They are taught all the little Scruples and Cavils that have been raised against the Liturgy and Discipline of the Church to beget in them the greater aversion from both Next They are furnished with Seditious Books written against them to heighten and increase this aversion Then they are taught not only to prefer but to learn the Art of Extemporary Effusions in Prayer the great Idol and Support of all separate Meetings to this end they are sometimes put upon the practice and trying their skill in this Excercise with Directions to assist their Invention and help their Fluency After this they are taught to modulate the Tone of the Voice sometimes raising it to such a key or degree of Vehemence at other times falling to such a Cadence as may best take and work upon the fancies of the People These and such like Arts apt to deceive are the great things that are taught in these Seminaries Devices never heard of or learn'd in any well-established Church and utterly destructive of all Order and Sobriety in Religion But what is it that moves the Dissenters thus to draw from the Two Famous Universities of this Land and to set up and encourage these private Nurseries against them Why First They know that the Education and good Literature of those Places breed up Youth in a due Conformity to the Discipline and good Orders of the Church and all that are admitted to them are by Oaths and all manner of Obligation tied to a firm adherence and observance of them the wise Instructions and Examples of those Places train them up in the way that they should go which keeps them ever after from departing from it So that they whose design it is to promote and propagate Divisions must keep as many as they can from those places where they are so well taught and arm'd against them Those Famous Seminaries of Learning and sound Religion have ever brought forth the stoutest Champions to defend the Truth and confute the Errors of all times 't is no wonder if Hereticks and Schismaticks bear no good will to those Places and Persons that so expose and frustrate their evil Designs But the better to countenance these private Schools the upholders of them endeavour to fasten the blackest Calumnies upon our Renowned Seats of Learning and Education though for their Order and Discipline together with all other advantages and encouragements of good Literature they far excel all the Universities in the World and are therefore resorted to and admired by all Strangers yet these Sons of Slander seek not only to lessen but to blacken them too by their foul and Unjust Aspersions they delight to talk of the Vices and Looseness of those Places and call those Schools of the Prophets by no better name than Schools of Lewdness and Debauchery which is done meerly to beget an ill Opinion of them and to exalt their little Nurseries of Schism and Sedition above them Thus do they serve the Universities as they do the Church throwing all the dirt they can upon them the better to serve their own ends on both Now the mischeif of this Device may be easily guess'd from its pernicious influence both in Church and State for if the Happiness of a Nation depends upon