openly avow if not by their Doctrine yet by their Practice and justifie the blackest of all Crimes Rebellion which is as the sin of Witchcraft and that stubbornness which is as Iniquity and Idolatry of which they so vehemently accuse others yet all this is done for Conscience sake and that pretence can by a strange Chymistry turn the greatest Sinners into golden Saints and the most horrid Impieties Sacriledg and Murder as they would make us believe into acceptable services to God Almighty THOUGH in reality after all this they have made no greater advance and it may be are not yet better than the Pharisees of old Acts 26.5 whose Sect was the strictest among the Jews they were as strongly perswaded of their own sanctity they would make as long Prayers Mat. 23.14 15. and devour Widows Houses too They were as industrious to save Souls nay would do more than most of these will adventure at compass Sea as well as Land to make a Proselite and I fear with the same success as these men do I say they are not yet gotten altogether so far nor are quite so innocent For amongst all the Crimes our blessed Saviour accuses them of and condemns them for and for which he denounces so many fearful Woes against them I do not find that ever he charges them with the Guilt or so much as suspicion of Rebellion against Caesar or any of his Prefects or yet with Disobedience to the High-Priest who was then their Ecclesiastical Superior Nay further we may well suppose that as in their Tithing Mint Annise and Cummin so they were exact in their Duty to all these by the design they had to entrap the Holy Jesus with that Question whether it was lawful to give Tribute to Caesar or not they being beforehand satisfied in themselves that it was and resolved if he should deny it to accuse him of a Crime which they were well assured would condemn him NOR in truth are they arrived to any higher Pitch than it is very possible for a Heathen by the meer strength of Nature to perform and some of them went as far in Morality if we may believe the Histories of their Lives as it is possible for Humane Nature to go BUT further to discover how great Masters they are in the Art of Converting every thing to their advantage and by all ways to gain love both to their Persons and Perswasions Even Punishment the original design of which is to make all Crimes odious as they handle the matter it adds a Lustre unto theirs They never fear or feel the deserved Penalties of the Laws but both in publick and private they cry out as men upon the Rack and if for their commiting a spoil in Gods Harvest Justice does but take them by the Ears with their hideous out-cryes they call all the compassionate Herd to condole with their sufferings and this must be call'd a Time of Persecution and the suffering-days of the Saints Now the very Word Persecution sounds so heathenish and unlawful that it is impossible but they should meet with abundance of Pity and that we know is both the Parent and the Child of Love And it is no wonder if they glory in these Tribulations and patiently take the spoiling of their Goods if they can be found which they are sure will be restored by the Bountiful Pity of their Congregations sevenfold in this Life and in the World to come God knows what THAT great constancy of Mind with which they appear to suffer they may well shew when one hair of their Heads is not toucht Their frequent talking of resisting unto Blood which I much question whether they would in Suffering as for Doing we may from former Experience take their Word and their many and vehement Exhortations to Constancy begets in their followers an opinion that they are not at all inferior to the Martyrs of the Primitive Times or those of later Days and that therefore they are in the right Way because they are persecuted by the Wicked for such are all those who are not new-cast in their Mould And this makes the People redouble their Love and their Bounty knowing that if he that gives but a Cup of cold Water shall not lose his Reward theirs shall be exceeding great and full of Glory Hereby they are sure they are not of the World because the World hates them for they make what they call Persecution an infallible sign of the true Church which is so great an Error and Mistake that if it be admitted there can be none False for undoubtedly Philosophy has not been without its Martyrs and there is no Religion of Pagan Jew Turk as well as Christian but has in their sense suffered Persecution that is have been opposed condemned and punished by the Laws of some Times and Places BUT they have another Design and the Project does but too commonly succeed according to their Wishes and Intentions for they do not only hereby purchase to themselves Love Riches Pity and Reputation but they likewise inspire a secret Hatred into the People against all Magistrates from the Commissary and Official to his most Reverend Grace from the Countrey-Justice of the Peace to Sacred Majesty it self AND I am the apter to believe this because in common Discourse from the Highest to the Lowest of them I could never yet hear any one of them speak kindly either of the late Blessed King CHARLES the Martyr or of His present Majesty excepting for the Act of Indemnity or the last Indulgence and Toleration Whatever Reason they had for the one I am sure they had sufficient cause for the other and had they any Remainders of good Nature Ingenuity or Generosity they would think all their Duty and Service too little to express their sensibleness and gratitude for that one Gracious Act whereby they enjoy their Lives Liberties and Estates all which they had so absolutely forfeited And though they dare not call the Master of the House Beelzebub yet for certain his Domestiques shall meet with far coarser treatment if they are not such as are visibly inclined to be favourable unto them but discharge their Duty by putting the Law in execution against them presently they are Persecutors Blood-Suckers Neros Enemies to God and all Good Men which all must be restrained to those of their Party who only are Good and Godly FROM hence the People come to a dislike of their Governors and Government from thence they proceed to wish it were otherways and by degrees grow at last familiarly to entertain those dreadful and desperate Resolutions if they have Opportunity and Ability to make what Alterations they think good not only in Religious but Civil Affairs not only to depose but murther Kings and extirpate Episcopacy Root and Branch and indeed to commit all Villanies and Disorders Nor will they stick at any thing which they are pleased to varnish over with the pretence and only the name of Reformation THAT
all of them in their Application do generally confute yet does most unavoidably follow the other of absolute and unconditional Decrees which all Dissenters in reality hold whilst they affirm themselves the only People of God and all others Reprobates And therefore in this assurance of their being the Chosen and Elect of God they possess the greatest inward Peace and Tranquillity imaginable The Consideration of that Infinite Love of God and his free and distinguishing Grace to call them and pass by the rest of Mankind this particular and undeserved favour which they wholly monopolize and appropriate to themselves begets in them a Reciprocal Love to God for if God so loved them when they were Enemies as to send his only begotten Son out of his bosom purposely to save and redeem only a few out of the whole Mass of Mankind in the World of which few they are a part when in the mean time he passes by Millions more Wise Mighty and Learned without taking notice of them or doing any thing for them more than to harden their hearts that so he may take occasion to condemn them for refusing that Grace and Mercy which by reason of his Previous Decree they could not possibly accept How much then are these obliged to God for making such a difference How ought they to love God This Love still increases their confidence and security they are therefore sure that this is the Hope which maketh not ashamed which is the Anchor of the Soul because the Love of God is shed abroad in their Hearts and at last they arrive at such a certainty as will not permit them to have the least doubt but that they are the Vessels who are chosen to Honour who by this Grace are fitted for future Glory This fills their Earthen Vessels brim-full of Satisfaction and a Joy which upon all occasions runs over at their Mouths and to which they will tell you could you but once come to experience it all other Comforts are far inferiour Now they have sweet Communion and Fellowship with God their Conversion is in Heaven nay Heaven and all that is good and great stoops down to dwell with them And thus these things which are nothing but the pure Effects of this strong Imagination that they are the Elect are to them infallible Signs of their Election and they think the Spirit bears witness with their Spirits that they are the Sons of God by giving them this Joy in the Holy Ghost and in believing and so the Mother begets the Daughter and the Daughter begets the Mother like the Riddle of Ice and Water in infinitum a Simile not at all unfit for such a slippery and unstable Principle as is the Foundation of this their Perswasion But the mischief is that all that ever you can say or do to represent unto them the danger they are in signifies little or nothing for they look upon you to be carnal and not able to discern such spiritual affairs as this is BUT if you chance to tax them with Hypocrisie which is but too common you cannot do them a greater kindness for that convinces them beyond all other Arguments and confirms them in the opinion of their own truth and sincerity and that you are mistaken since they know and do sensibly feel those real Effects of Joy and Pleasure which you would perswade your self and them they do but counterfeit NAY further they are so far from believing any body but themselves that they will not believe the Scripture if that would perswade them that they do not walk in the Spirit or are not led by the Spirit or that they have not yet put off the Old Man and the former vain Conversion and crucified the Flesh and the lusts or desires and affections thereof CARRY them to that place of Saint Paul where he tells us what are the lusts of the Flesh and what are the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.19 Now saith he the works of the flesh are manifest Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witcheraft Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such like all these they will tell you they have put off and are become new men and all this we must believe because in the outside of their lives they have quitted some scandalous and notorious sins which before they were guilty of and have got an affected way of hard words and talking about Religion some austerities of life in which they think all sanctity consists all which may be nothing but a Form or Fashion of Godliness and in which they have not yet out-done many Heathens who were strangers to Grace and I am sure in their opinion shall be so to Heaven But though they still live and it may be more than ever in the most notorious allowance and daily practice of Hatreds or Enmities Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions or Factions and Divisions Heresies Envyings Murthers if not of mens Persons yet of their Fame and Reputation which is as dear and tender as life all this is nothing Tell them as oft as you please as the Apostle there says 1 Cor. 3.3 Of which things I have told you before as also in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God they will neither believe him nor you Tell them as he does the Corinthians that whilst they are full of strife envyings and divisions one of Paul another of Apollos one of this mans Congregation another of that mans Church they are yet carnal they will laugh at you but neither credit him nor you Tell them that they who resist the Supreme Magistrate his Power and Authority his Laws and subordinate Ministers of Justice shall receive to themselves damnation they will answer they shall not if they do it for Conscience sake He says Rom. 13.2 5. they must be subject for Conscience sake they say they must not be subject but ought to do as they do and be disobedient He tells them there is a necessity for it wherefore ye must needs be subject from a necessity founded upon Nature Law Reason Policy self-Interest and Religion they will reply there is no necessity nay that it is a burthen and oppression to Good Men Christian Liberty and tender Consciences How true they are may be a question but it is none whether they are not a sort of unmannerly Believers thus to contradict an Apostle nay all the twelve and Christ too if they say not what pleases them TELL them they despise Governments 2 S. Pet. 2.5 and therefore are presumptuous self-will'd such who are not afraid to speak Evil of Dignities of the things they understand not sporting or pleasing themselves with their own deceivings or with deceiving themselves and that for these things they shall utterly perish they will not believe it concerns them but though they are manifestly guilty of the Crimes they will be ready to throw the punishment there or elsewhere mentioned upon your back IF St. Jude
THE Countermine Or A short but true DISCOVERY OF THE Dangerous Principles and secret Practices of the Dissenting PARTY ESPECIALLY THE PRESBYTERIANS SHEWING That Religion is pretended but Rebellion is intended And in order thereto The Foundation of MONARCHY in the STATE and EPISCOPACY in the CHURCH are Undermined The Second Edition 2 Tim 3.6 9. For of this sort are they that creep into Houses But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all men By one who does passionately wish the Prosperity of the Church his King and Country LONDON Printed for Jonathan Edwin at the Three Roseâ— in Ludgate-street MDCLXXVII THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. The Reasons and Occasion of the following Discourse The imminent Danger of the Church and State by reason of the restless Endeavours industrious Malice and secret Contrivances of Dissenting Separatists CHAP. II. Of the Policy of the Enemies of the Church and State to amuse us with the old Stratagem of Fears and Jealousies of the Danger of Popery Hereby they ingratiate themselves with the Common People The improbability that the Romish Perswasion and Government should ever be established again in these Nations If it has of late increased amongst us we are obliged for it to these Dissenters who have made those Breaches by which these Enemies enter By these Fears and Jealousies which they sow in the Minds of People they indeavour to make them hate the present Government and Governours both in Church and State perswading them they are Popishly inclined and Antichristian And thus secretly undermine the Foundation of Monarchy and Episcopacy CHAP. III. An Account of the Heads of the Factions amongst us from whence we may conjecture what their Intentions are Of their way of Education in the Times of the late Rebellion in the Vniversities or in the Army Of their Lay-Teachers and Shop-Doctors how they came by their Gifts and Talent in Preaching the Advantages they made of Religion in their Trades the Employments they had under the Vsurping Governments the Incouragement they had to invade the Pulpit The desire they have of an alteration in the present Government to recover their former Power and Profit The great unfitness of these men to Officiate in the Church who are guilty of Sacriledg Murder and Perjury CHAP. IV. Of the Ways whereby they decoy others to be of their Perswasion Of the great pretentions they make to Zeal and Holiness Of the great Veneration they seem to have for the Scriptures when yet they are directly against them Instanced in two Positive Commands to obey Magistrates in the State and those that have the Rule over them in the Church The unreasonableness of the Pleas they make for their disobedience which if allowed must take away all the Power of Superiours and cancel all the Duty of Inferiours The Impotency of that Plea of expecting express Scripture as the only Warrant for all our Actions The unpracticableness of it shewn in a familiar and very possible Instance CHAP. V. Of the several Arts they use to gain Love Credit Esteem and Veneration Of their Pretences to Exemplary Piety in their Actions Words Looks Gestures Habits Of the way of their maintenance by Free-will Offerings the Advantages they have thereby over the Clergie of the Church it eases them of a great trouble and preserves the love of their Auditors who lâ—ke this Gospel way where they may at their plâ—â—sure withdraw their Bounty it secures them fâ—om the Penal Laws Of the Advantages they mâ—ke of Punishment by calling it Persecution of their seeming Constancy in suffering for wâ—at they call Conscience hereby they gain love pity and money They make this Persecution in infallible Mark of the true Church the use the make of it to render the Government odious to the People and to dispose them by degrees to endeavour the alteration of the present which they call Reformation The same Arts made use of to promote the late Rebellion 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 Popular 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 setling 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 CHAP. VII After they are setled in such Place of the Manner of their behaviour in the Meeting House Of their Extempore Prayer Examined and â—â—posed to open view Of the Pretence they make to gain Veneration that they Pray by the â—pirit The ill use they employ it in to make the set and appointed Forms of Publick Prayers Nauseous and Odious to the People Proved from Scripture and the Express Commands of our Saviour that it is not of Gods appointment nor a fruit of the Spirit By Example of the most infamous and abominable Sinners guilty of Rebellion and Witchcraft who had this faculty even to admiration Extempore Prayer shewn to be a meer Art the way how they or any Person indued with a tolerable measure of Confidence may attain to it A probable Philosophical Reason why they fancy themselves inspired in these Enthusiastick Effusions 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 be 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 perswaded to 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 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
answers the scrupulous and conscientious Servant there is to be a Godly Meeting at such a place and I must go to hear such a Precious Man who teaches the most feeling soul-saving heart-breaking sin-destroying Truths But besides I know not whether the Horse be worth so much or whether he is sound Wind and Limb and I am afraid lest I should cheat or over-reach my Neighbour and indeed I dare not do it for I would not wrong my Conscience to gain the whole world and lose my own precious Soul So that as far as I see if what he calls his Conscience does but suggest it the Man will be the Master And this Liberty of Conscience is a most excellent thing to cancel all such Contracts as Indentures and if it were but as generally received and put in practice as it is preacht in London the Chamberlain of the City would be eased of a great trouble and Conscience would make more Free-men in an Hour than he can do in seven Years It were endlese to recount all the Instances of this Nature which might be brought to shew the unreasonableness ridiculousness and dangerous folly of maintaining this Doctrine AS for that subtle piece of Non-sense of satisfying that Duty which they owe to Authority by Suffering which they call Passive Obedience I think it is out of countenance already or if it be not I think it may very well blush when they rank themselves amongst Thieves Murderers the damned in Hell and the Devils themselves all which are passively obedient to the Laws of God and Men that is they suffer the just Punishments of their Disobedience to both THIS may appear a large Digression and not much to the purpose of the Intention of these Papers But I thought I could not do these men justice if after the Character of their Persons I did not endeavour to take away from them this Feather with which they play so frequently and tickle both their own Mouths and the Ears of others CHAP. V. Of the several Arts they use to gain Love Credit Esteem and Veneration Of their pretences to Exemplary Piety in their Actions Words Looks Gestures Habits Of the way of their maintenance by Free-will Offerings the Advantages they have thereby over the Clergie of the Church it eases them of a great trouble and preserves the love of their Auditors who liket his Gospel-way where they may at their pleasure withdraw their Bounty it secures them from the Penal Laws Of the Advantage they make of Punishment by calling it Persecution of their seeming Constancy in suffering for what they call Conscience hereby they gain love pity and money They make this Persecution an infallible Mark of the trite Church the use they make of it to render the Government odious to the People and to dispose them by degrees to endeavour the alteration of the present which they call Reformation The same Arts made use of to promote the late Rebellion LET us now examine by what Arts and Arguments they proceed with so much success in the Returns they make of their Traffick for Reputation Money and Disciples and to pass for such precious godly men and the only Soul-savers both in their Opinion and the Thoughts of others who follow them in Multitudes WE must therefore understand that what by the In-comes of the late Times when the Spoils of the Wicked and the Riches of the Nation ran through their Chanels and what by the present liberal Contributions of the Brotherhood they have as little Necessity as Opportunity to enrich themselves by impoverishing others What they did before is both by Time and the surpassing Generasity of their most gracious Prince buried in Oblivion So that now they have nothing to do but to promote the Good Cause and God's Glory for I dare engage that Restitution of any thing formerly obtained by unlawful Means is no part of their Religion nor ever raised the least scruple in the tenderest of their Consciences THEY know well enough that Example is more prevalent and convincing than all the Precepts and Arguments in the world and that he that would draw another to be of his Perswasion must first perswade him to believe that he is good and has a great love and tenderness for his concerns and eternal Welfare And herein lies their Excellency It is their greatest care and constant endeavour to manage their Lives and Actions with so much cunning and artifice that Detraction and Envy shall have much to do with all their curiosity to find out any thing in the outside and visible part of their Lives whereof to accuse them excepting for their disobedience to Government which though it be unfledg'd Rebellion in the shell yet they are so far from esteeming it criminal or sinful that therein consists the only differencing part of their Religion from other Men. And for my part I will in displaying this their Master-piece and what-ever else concerns them do them all the justice and reason they can deserve THAT they may therefore appear to be the most upright Men in their generation they are not only violent in decrying Sin in others especially great and scandalous common and customary sins Intemperance and that Debauchery under which the Nation groans but they are all extreamly vigilant over themselves most prudent and dexterous not only in avoiding the sins but even the occasions which may lead them into any disorders And therefore though they appear wonderful courteous and full of obliging smiles yet they will rarely converse much or long with any Company and always chuse to leave behind them the great desire of their further conversation rather than to importune and nauseate with a tedious visit coming to see you as a Physician for your Soul and staying as if they had more Patients in their Round and it may be only for the Fee Nor will they so much as come in any place where there may be occasion or suspicion of Scandal or expence unless in case of necessity or in their travels upon the road they are as scrupulous of a Tavern or publick House as a Mahometan who by his great Prophet is forbidden the use of Wine If at any time they fall in accidentally with idle or extravagant Persons they will either by their silence or morose severity escape their persecutions and by a discreet Incomplaisance avoid those dangers and inconveniences which hot Discourses and hard Drinking precipitate so many Men into I do not charge them with these things as matters of guilt and if these were their only crimes they were the most excellent Persons of the World And possibly the want of this necessary Circumspection and cautelous Prudence in some of those who call themselves Sons of the Church have done her the greatest unkindnesses and have given such advantages to her enemies as they could not have hoped for from all their own industrious malice and subtilest contrivance I wish they would seriously consider of it and in time reform
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
I promise you in some Company where he thought he might be bold lamenting the looseness and vitiousness of the Times and the blame being laid at the Door of the Inferiour Magistrates who were so remiss in putting the Laws in Execution Pray says he how can it be otherwise when there are none in Authority but the God-damm'ees and though no former Prince has so highly obliged them as his present Majesty by the Act of Oblivion and a General Pardon since though possibly a better Temper and milder Inclinations are not to be found amongst all Mankind yet for all that I believe the Guards about White-hall at which they grumble so oft calling them a standing Army are a greater Security for him than their Love or Allegiance And I make no dispute but if they had Power proportionable to their Desires if he would not consent to their unreasonable Demands and in Effect depose himself they would make bold in plain English to un-King him and it may be something more as well as his Glorious Father whose Caution I think therefore ought never to be forgotten * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lady Elizabeth's Relation of what the King said to her immediately before his Death To Forgive them but never Trust them For what is a King to them if he be not one of the Elect and that he can never be unless he be of their Church and resolve to Establish their true and Evangelical Ways from which he must therefore be very far so long as he suffers the Laws and his subordinate Ministers of Justice to persecute these People who are the Elect the undoubted Children of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sect. 16. upon the Ordinance against the Common-Prayer-Book And as his late Majesty of blessed memory does in the forementioned Book not improbably Conjecture Possibly that aversion they all have for the Publique Litturgy of the Church is because it does so frequently pray for the King and the Royal Family to which in their Hearts they cannot say Amen and that the Conjecture is not wide of the Mark this following Instance will in some measure make apparent One of this Gang being amongst other Company entertain'd as a neighbour at a friends house immediately as soon as Dinner was done he steps out of the Room into a by Entry and a Clergy-man who was present returning thanks and as is customary and commendable closing his Grace with a short Prayer for the Kings Majesty the Queen and Royal Family this impudent Fellow was by those who stood next the Door heard scornfully and maliciously to say when he came to that Passage Oh! by all Means if it were not for that all were worth nothing and indeed it makes me apt to think that this is one if not the only Reason why they account all the Prayers of the Church worth nothing for they are not yet arrived to that Perfection in Christian Religion to love or pray for their Enemies in which number they never fail to put all Crowned and Mitred Heads How directly contrary this Doctrine is to the Divine Philanthropy the infinite Love of God to all Mankind and indeed to the whole Current and Consent of the Sacred Scriptures how dishonourable to God and disadvantageous to Christian Religion are Subjects already largely and learnedly treated of by other Pens And if as they fell in my Way I have lightly touched upon any of them it is only so far as they were necessary to shew how pernicious this Doctrine of theirs is to themselves and the salvation of their Souls how troublesome unquiet uncharitable and unchristian it is amongst their Neighbours How destructive it is to the Church and Ecclesiastical Government Places Persons and Performances and how irreconcileable and desperately dangerous it is to the State of the present Royal Dignity and Government CHAP. XIII Of their Doctrine of the necessity of Separation from the Wicked which they teach in Private and by their Example in Publick These uses they make of it to know their strength and numbers which they always boast of if possible to bring Authority to comply with their Desires hereby they engross a Trade amongst themselves Of their undermining Authority by making it contemptible by their daily affronting it Of the unlawfulness of Separation from the example of our Saviour and from Scripture Separation by St. Jude made a mark of Reprobation Jeroboams Policy the End of their Separation LET us now proceed to a second Doctrine which is he Spawn of the first and the Daughter of such a beautiful Mother cannot chuse but must be most admirable fair Being the Elect People of God those whom from all Eternity he has out of his infinite Love predestinated to Holiness and Happiness though they are in the World yet they are not of the World and therefore they must Separate from Sinners and be a peculiar People without which they think they are not sufficiently zealous of Good Works which in plain English is That whosoever will be of the Number of the Elect People of God must have no religious commerce with the rest of the World for all other he may and that a true Title to Heaven is only to be hoped for and had in their Church and Communion and by this means they advance the so necessary Point of Separation or Distinction of a Party without which Instruments their Spiritual Carnes and Engines to draw up the Stones after they have hew'd and fitted them by the former Doctrine they cannot go on with or ever hope to finish the New Model of their Church so as to set up the Corner-Stone and with joy and shouting cry Grace Grace unto it for they would only change his Grace of Canterbury into his Grace of Presbytery And this they manage with as little noise as possible and with the same Secrecy and Subtilty as the rest though some people say they can plainly hear the Axes and Hammers go perpetually Psal 77.6 which they lift up to break down the Carved Work of all the Houses of God in the Land in order to their setting up the Synagogues of Satan in the room of them If you discourse with them and put the Question Whether the Church of England is a true Church and whether Salvation may not be obtained in Communion with it They will do all they can to decline the Question and will certainly dissemble their Opinion by telling you They dare not judge every man must stand or fall to his own Master That they forbid or hinder none from coming to our Church whose Consciences will give them leave All which is only to avoid the Pinch of the Controversie and is neither better nor worse but what the Apostle S. Paul calls Speaking Lyes in Hypocrisie 1 Tim. 4.2 For it is evident that they think it unlawful because they abstain from our Church and refuse Communion with us themselves and should they speak never a Word to their
his Glory was sent into the World out of the pure Love of God to all Mankind St. Joh. 3.16 For God so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting Life and that therefore he sent him to be a propitiation for our sins 1. St. Jo. 2.2 and not only for ours but for the sins of the whole World That is in his good Intention he is unwilling that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance and by this preaching of the Gospel to come to the knowledge of these Truths that so they might be saved Let those men therefore preach as Christ commanded and as the Apostles Evangelized and then if the Church forbids them they may say it is against Prèaching Let them obtain a Lawful Deputation and not run before they are sent saying The Lord sayes when the Lord hath not sent them Let them Teach and warn all men every where to Repent because he that is baptized Repents Believes and continues stedfast in that Faith shall be saved but he who does not though he has formerly escaped the Pollutions that are in the World through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ yet shall be damned if he fall away from Grace and return with the Dog to his Vomit which it is not impossible for him to do even after he has been enlightened and tasted of the Powers of the Life to come so long as he has Within him a treacherous evil Heart of unbelief Without him the powerful Temptations of the World and the Devil and therefore let him that thinketh he stands take heed lest he fall lest he perish from the Right Way Let them exhort that first of all Supplications Prayers c. be made for Kings and all that are in Authority that so People may lead a peaceable and quiet Life in all Godliness and Honesty in Subjection and Obedience to the Powers that are appointed and ordained of God to be over them because they that will not live so shall receive Damnation Let them press the People to Peace and Vnity and tell them that they who live in Envyings Strife Sedition and Divisions live after the Flesh and not after the Spirit and therefore shall not inherit the Kingdom of God That they who speak Evil of Dignities and despise Dominion the things they understand not shall bring upon themselves swift Destruction and then let them Preach in Gods Name and certainly all Preaching that is not to this Effect and for these Designs is far from it till the Church or any Bishop in it finds fault with them and that will be never as long as they live nor after their death All these are Evangelical Commands Doctrines and Truths But if Satan be divided against himself how shall his Kingdom stand and if ever you find them harping upon any of these strings I am much mistaken I know they have a Thunder-clap ready but God be thanked it is but a Brutum fulmen it may make a great Crack but it will do no hurt What say you to that place of St. Paul Necessity is laid upon me and woe is me if I preach not the Gospel I say that place is nothing to their Purpose Let us first see the same Commissiom from them which St. Paul had 1 Cor 1.1 Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and then let them undertake the same Work to Evangelize as the Word is to preach the Gospel to those who never heard of it before Let us see them so Zealous as to go and convert the Savage Indians and then we shall begin to believe they are afraid of the Woe and preach the Gospel out of pure Conscience of the Necessity that is laid upon them But to go about to make all the World believe that We are Idolators and Heathens such as know not Christ that so they may have the glory of our Conversion and be thought Apostles is just as if they should first pick our Pockets and by giving us Brass again instead of our Gold perswade us to believe they are our best Friends and Benefactors wonderful kind and bountiful to us which indeed would make Us look like Fools and Children but would certainly prove those who did it to be Cheats and Knaves If in one thing they will act like Saint Paul let them in another and not boast as they do of their Great Labours in the Gospel in other mens Lines 2 Cor. 10.16 of things made ready to their hand of which Saint Paul would by no means be guilty But they are not so scrupulous in that particular as he was and for all the Necessity and the Woe will rather act the Bishop in another mans Diocess than go to Mexico to preach the Gospel and get one of their own And for that preaching which does not preach these things but a Gospel of their own that is it which the Church by Authority of Scripture protests against and if they or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel in whole or in part than what the Holy Apostles preached let him not only be silenced but accursed And so long as the Pulpit is made the Shop of Schisme not to say Heresie in the Church and the Forge of Sedition and Rebellion in the State so long as Preaching is exalted above devout Prayers and Praises which are the only Tribute we can pay our Almighty Soveraign and shall be one part of the happy Employment in Heaven so long as it shall stand in Competition with the Sacraments those holy Seals whereby we are sealed to the Day of Redemption Not only our Church sayes it but all the true Saints and Servants of God have said the same and will say so to the end of the World that not onely twice in one Day but once in a Mans Life is too much for any man to preach or any Christian people to hear And of all these miscarriages in Religious as well as Civil concerns this their Preaching is and has been most notoriously guilty I would not have them take their Measures of us by their own Standard for though they know not how to distinguish betwixt the Vse and the Abuses of things let them not say therefore that We do not neither The time was when they pretended there were great abuses crept into the Ecclesiastical Government therefore away with it Root and Branch of Episcopacy the Office it self as well as the Offence if any were besides their Loyalty Honours and Estates Crimes great enough for Pride Envy and Ambition our Church is for no such unreasonable Methods nor because they have and do greatly abuse Preaching therefore nothing less will serve than an utter Abolition of the thing I hope were there nothing else yet common Prudence will allow any Government that Liberty which is for its own Preservation and to endeavour to correct those abuses