m HS i m jrf ^dtfflfiua* No. Division ^A...... ^ r 10 ^ Received 187^ University of California Berkeley Seasonable Thouhts ON THE State of , Religio In NEW-ENGLAND, A TREATISE in five Parts. I. Faithfully pointing out the Things of a BAD and DANGEROUS TEN- PEN c Y, in the late^ and 'frefent, religious Appear ance ^ in the LAND. 1 II. Reprefenting the OBLIGATIONS which lie upon the PASTORS of THESE CHURCHES in par ticular, and upon ALL in general, to ufe their En deavours to fupprefs pre- *,;;;*,, QtjbrdeKs ; with :~R E AT DANGER of a in ib important a Matter, With a P R E F A c E Giving; an Account of the ANTINOMIANS, FAMIIISTS and LIBERTINES, who infeted thefe Churches, above an hundred Years ago : Very needful for thtje Days ; the LIKE SPIRIT, and ERRORS, prevailing now zs>M then. The whole being intended, and calculated, A to fcrve the Inter eft of CHRIST'S Kingdom. BY CHARLES QHAUNCY. D. D. P aft or of the firil Ch urch of CH R i s T in 3 o s T o j . III. Opening, in ;.^-:v Infianccs.. -wherein theDis- COURAGERS of 1\ rities have been INJURI OUSLY TREATED. IV. Shewing whst ought to be c o R R E CT E 0.5 or AVOIDED, ihkteftifyipg againft the evil Things of the prefent Dav. V, Directing our ThoiVj more pofaivdy^ to what may be judged the BEST EXPEDIENTS, to pf, pure an-ci in tfcefe Times. BOSTON, Printed by ROGERS and FOWLE, for SAMUEL ELIOT in CornbilL 1743. THE PREFACE, \F the following Treatife is, in any tolera ble Meafure, adapted to ferve the Ends of Religion, by guarding People a- gainfl the Errors in Dodlrine, and Diforders in Praftice, which have, of late,obtaind in many Parts of the Land, there can be no need of an Apology for its Publication: If it is not, the ufual Excufes upon fuch an Occafion are well known ; and I may claim the Benefit of them, in common with others. In/lead therefore of fay ing any Thing upon this Head, I /ball look back to the fitft Times of this Country, when there was the Prevalence of an erroneous, en-' thufiaftic Spirit, beyond what has been known from that Day 'till the late Appearance, in fo?ne Places, in NEW-ENGLAND : And I the rather chufe to in- Jert here fome brief Account of the religious State of Affairs in thofeDays, becaufe of its furprifing Agree ment, in many Injlances, with what has happened in thefe Times ,- which, if duly attended to, will not only prepare the Reader for what he may meet with in the lolling Sheets, but powerfully tend to undeceive him, if he has entertained a good Opinion of fuch .fbmgs as have, once already, raifed Dfiurbances in t,K Country, to the Grief of our firft Fathers, who A 2 IV The PREFACE mff*j j u ftfy b e ran ^d> among the mojl pious and valua ble Men, who have yet liv'd in it. Not many Tears after the Settlement of our Pro genitors in this Land, f owe, who, through an,Excefs of Heat in their Imaginations, had been betrayed into various imfound and dangerous Opinions, came over to them from ENGLAND. They had not been here long, before they freely vented their Notions among the Peo~ p j e, Multitudes of whom., both Men and Women y Church-members and others., were foon led afide, to the Hindrance of the Gofpel, and throwing thefe Churches Mto great Cortfufwn. My Purpofe is to flow diftinttly, though briefly , What thefe Opinions were, How they fpread fo -fait, and prevailed fo fud- denly. How they did rage and reign, when they had once gotten Head. How they fell and were rained, when they were at highefLg " As for the Opinions : - They were fuch as thefe, viz. I. He that hath the Seal of the SPIRIT may cer tainly judge cf any P erf on, whether he be elected or no. This is the Method of Mr. T. WELDE (one of the frft Preachers in our ROXBERRY) in his Preface to the Story of the ANTINOMIANS &c. in NEW-ENG LAND ; whofe Language alfo I have thought fit chiffiy to ijfe. The Words dillinguifh'd by inverted Commas are always his 3 unlefs where I give Notice to the contrary. 2. Such The P P. E F A C E. v 2. Such as fee any Grace of GOD in themfehes, before they have the AiTurance of GOD'S Love fealed to them, are not to be received Members of Churches. 3. The due Search '.and Knowledge of the Holy Scripture,, is not a fafe and fure Way of finding CHRIST. 4. There is a Tejllmony of the SPIRIT, and Voice to the Soul, meerly immediate,' without any Reflect to, or Concurrence with the Word,. 5. The Seal of the S*IRIT is limited only to the immediate Witnefs of the SPIRIT ; and doth never witncfs to any Work of Grace, or to any Canclufan by a Syllogifm. 6. No Minifter can teach one that is anointed by the SPIRIT of CHRIST, more than he knows already unkfs it be in fome Cir cum fiances. 7. No Minifter can be an Inftrument to convey more of CHRIST unto another, than he by his own Experience hath come up to. 8. A Man is not effe&ually converted, -'till he hath full Murance. 9. A Man cannot evidence his Juftification by his Sanctification, but he muft. needs build upon his San^ification, and trail to it. 10. The immediate Revelation of my good Eft at e^ without any Refpeffi to the Scriptures, is as dear t& me as the Voice of GOD from Heaven to PAUL. 11. It /.f #' Fundamental and Soul-damning Er ror, to make San&ification an Evidence of Juftifi cation. 12. The SPIRIT givctb fiicb full and clear Evidence of my good Eft ate, that I have w Need to be tried by the Fruits of Sanctirlcation : This were to light a Candle to the Sun. 13. Sanftification is fo far from evidencing a good Eftate, that it darkens it rather ; and a Man may more clearly fee CHRIST when he feet h no Sanc- A 3 tificaticn, vi The P R E F A C E. tification, than when he doth : The darker my Sanc- tification is, the brighter is my Juftification. 14. If a Member of a Church be unfatisfied with any Thing in the Church, if'he exprefs his Offence, whether he hath ufed all Means to convince the Church or no, he may depart. 15. If a Man think he may edify letter in ano ther Congregation, than in his own, that is Ground enough to depart ordinarily from Word, Seals, Fall ings, Feaflings, and all Adminiftrations in his own Church, notwithflanding the Offence of the Church often manifeiled to him for fo doing. 1 6. Where Faith is held forth by the Miniftry, os the Condition of the Covenant of Grace on Man s Party as alfo evidencing Juftification by San6lifi- cation, and the Activity of Faith, in that Church there is not fufficient Bread.* Thefe are a few of the Errors, with which many be gan to be infefted ; / fay a few, becaufe their whole Number amounted' to upwards of fourfcore. 1 fJoould willingly have prefented the Reader, with a * Thefe Opinions, however abfurd, were yet, many of them, ftrongly pleaded for, as of vaft Impor tance : Hence, among the Reafons given for the meeting of the Synod, in 1637, to confider of thefe Matters, this is one, becaufe the Opinionifls " pre- ** tended fuch aNsw-LiGHT as condemned all the ** Churches, as in a Way of Damnation ; and the *' Difference to be in Fundamental Points, even as " wide as between Heaven and Hell : And hence " it was conceived, that all the Churches {hould con- " fider of thisMatter^thatjif it were a Truth, it fhould " be univerfally embraced ; but if it were an Error or " Herefy it might be univerfally fuppreiTed, fo far as " fuch a Meeting could reach. Afanufcript Copy of toe Proceedings of the Synod ^ in 1637, Page 3. Lift The PREFACE. vii Lift of them all ; but, not having Room, choofe to confine my f elf- to thofe only which might be thought to bear a Refemhlance to the unfafe Tenets of the pre- fent Day. The reft may be feen in the Book, entit led, The Story of the Rife, SV, of Antinomian- ifm, &c, in NEW-ENGLAND. And let me add, the Account there given of thefe Errors may be depend ed on ; for having had Opportunity to compare it with an ancient Manufcript Copy of the Proceedings cf the Synod, in 1637, I find it to he a very exact Catalogue of the Opinions condemned by that Aflem- bly of Churches, f It may, at firft, View feem ftrange, how thefe Errors ( many of them being fo grofs ) fhould fpread fo faft, and prevail Jo generally ; but the fr&nder mil ceafe, if we " conjider the Slights they ufed in, fomenting their Opinions : Some of which I /hall fet down ; as, I. They laboured much to acquaint themfetves with as many as pqffibly they could, that fo they might have the better Opportunity to communicate their NEW- LIGHT to them. " 2. Being once acquainted with them, they wouW " Jlrangely labour to infinuate themfelves into their f " All the Churches unanimoufly confented 'to the cc Condemnation of them, except diverfe of BOSTON, " one or two at CHARLESTOWN, one at SALEM, " one at PLYMOUTH, one at DUXBURY, two at * WATERTOWN : And althoagb- Mr. COTTONT Page 6i> 'B * m 2 INTRODUCTION. " in CAPERNAUM, and never ftich exalting a Man : " They boa/led in him : Yet only a few Babes " which the LORD wrought upon. The GALATI- " ANS would loofe their Eyes for PAUL ; yet, af- ff terward they flight him, and join with falfe " Teachers againft him. O therefore pray for '< them, and weep for them, but do not truftthem (f too far ! Neither truft yourfelves too much., " Then are ye my Difciples, (Joh. 8. 31.) If ye con* " time. DEMAS forfakes PAUL : All in A$a for- fake me." Had this obfervable Caution been the Produft of a Spirit of Prophefy, I can fcarce fee, how it could, in a more pointed Manner, have admonifhed us in thefe Days. 1 here never was a Time, in this Land, wherein there was fuch flocking after fomc particular Minifters, and glorying in them, as though they were GODS rather than Men ; never a Time, wherein Men's Profejjlons and Affections rofe high er , never a Time, wherein Converfions, numerous Converfions were fo much boafled of : Would to GOD, there was no Reafon to fufpel the Truth of any one of them / But it ought always to be remembred, there may be a veryfpecious Shew, where there is not theSubftance of Religion: NorarePer- fons without Danger of refling in the former, to the Negleft of the latter : And, it may be feared, whether this Danger han't been greatly increafed, while fo many have been encouraged to look upon themfelves as in a State of Grace, without that Proof of the Reality of their Converfion, which mighc reafonably be expelled. There has certainly been too much Haft e, as well as Pofttivenefs, in declaring thefe and thofe,in this and the other Place, to have paJJedfromD-eath to Life: A Judgment has hieentoo commonly formed of Meu's Jpiritwl Condition more INTRODUCTION. 3 more from their Affettions, than the -permanent Tem per of their Minds difcovered in the habitual Con- duft of their Lives ; not duly confidering, how pre carious that Religion muil be, which has its Rife from the Paffions, and not any thorow Change in the Under/landing and Will Much, I am fenfible, has been faid, in thefe Days, of a Work of GOD going on in the Land : And I truft, this has all along been the Cafe with this People, from the Days of our Fathers : Audi doubt not, 'tis fo now ; nay, I charitably hope, there have been more numerous Inftances of fa ying Converjion y in the Years paft, than ufual : But mufl it not be faid, at the fame Time, that there have been more Dlforders and greater Extravagances, than common : And what is of Hill more dange rous Tendency, han't the great Talk of a Revival of Religion arifen more from the general Appearance offome Extraor dinar les, (which there may be where there is not the Power of Godllnefs} than from fuch Things as arefure Evidences of a real Work of GOD in Men's Hearts ? I am clearly fatisfied, this is the Truth of the Cafe, however unwilling fome may be to own it. Nor have People been fo plainly and faithfully taught, as it were to be wiflit, what a Work of GOD is, or how to diflinguifh between thofe Things which are undoubted Marks of fucb a Work, and thofe which are not. They have often been told of the glorious Work of GOD ; his Work, fo as was never before feen in our own, or Fatber'sDajs. But have they not been too much left to .think, as if the Thing hereby intended was, the late re ligious Appearance^ taken in the Grofs ? This, I B 2 believe. 4 INTRODUCTION. believe, is the Idea Multitudes have of what is called, the Work of GOD going, on in the Land ; which, if it be, they certainly include that in their Notion of GOD's Work^ which is highly difhono- rary to him ; Nor is it any Wonder, ,if, from this miftaken Tho't of what is truly the Work of GOD, they fliould fpeak of thofe as its OPPOSERS, who are its greateil FRIENDS ; and have proved them- felves to be fo, by their Endeavours to difcounte- nance fuch Things as are dangerous to Men's Souls, and may prove a Hindrance to the Progrefs of real Religion. People mull have in their Minds fome diftiricc Conception of the Nature of a Work of GOD, or they will aft in the Dark, while they embrace thefe as the Friends of it, and Hand a- loof from thofe as its Enemies : They will, in this Cafe, neither know what they fay, nor whereof they affirm. What I propofe therefore, by way oflntrodu&i- on, is, to exhibit, in as brief a Manner as I can, a diftinft and clear Idea of a Work of GOD, with the Appearance it will make ; efpecially, when it is remarkable. Now, in a Senfe, every Thing that comes to pafs, may be cali'd the Work of GOD ; for as our SAVIOUR laid to his Difciples, * A Sparrow Jhall not fall to the Ground without your Father : The very Hairs of your Head are all numbered. All great E- %ents in- Providence, whether in a Way of Judg ment or Mercy 9 are more efpecially the Wwk of GOD ; according to that, f / form the Light, and create Darknefs : I make Peace and create Evil: I the LORD do all thefe Things. Creation and Redemption * Matt?). 10. 29^30, f I/a. 45. 7. are tN T R D U C T I N. 5 are ftill more eminently the Works of GOD, and always fo fpoken of in the Oracles of Truth. But the Work of GOD here intended, is the fame with that, concerning which our SAVIOUR fays, * This Is the Work of GO/), that ye believe on him whom GOD hath fent : J Tis the fame with that, of which the jdpoftle fpeak-s, when he affirms, j that he mho hath begun a good Work In you, will perform it until the Day of JESUS CHRIST ,* and which he calls, f The Work of Faith with Power : 'Tis in one Word, That Work of divine Grace, which is fome times, called the 'New-Creation; fometimes the New-Birth; fometimes the Spirit's Renovation ; fometimes Con- verjion, or as 'tis otherwife exprefs'd, a being turn ed from Darknefs to Light , and from the Power of Sm and Satan unto GOD, Let me obferve the following Things concern- Ing this Work of GOD. Firft of all, There is ordinarily fome Preparati on in the Mind of Sinners, previous to it. This is call'd by Divines Conviction; by which is under* flood that Operation of the HOLY SPIRIT, where by, in a Way agreeable to the Nature of Man, he opens to the Sinner a View of himfelf, in his Sin- fulmfs and Guilt: upon which, he is driven out of "his former Eafe, and fiil'd with Anxiety and Dlf- trefs. This inward Diilurbance may, as to its Degree, be various in different Perfons ; but there is the Reality of it in all : In all, I mean, who have come to Years, before they have had awakened in them ferious Thoughts of their Souls, and another World: In re.fpeft of this Kind of Perfons, & thofq among them in fpecial who have not been under 29, | fbil 1.3. f i Tbef. i.ii Reftraints 6 INTRODUCTION. Re drain ts from Sin, but have accuftomed them- felves to do Evil, 'tis rare, if ever, that the Work of GOD is wrought in them, but their Confciences are firil alarmed, and their Hearts fill'd with bitter Remorfe for their pafl Follies. But then, it may be worth a particular Remark, this Preparation of Mind, is not the Work of GOD in the fpecial and diflinguifhing Senfe ; in fuch a Senfe, as that the Subjects of itj may be thought to be in a State of Salvation. Hypocrites in Zion may fay, Who among us can dwell with devouring fire ? And they may be Hypocrites iliil : Nor is the greatefl Difquietude of Soul , a Difquietude expreffing itfelf in Roarings, or Tremblings, or the flrangeft bodily Eff efts, a fufficient Evidence of a fa ying Work of Grace ; yea, it may be nothing more than the Effect of Nature ; or, if it fhould, in the Beginning, arife from a divine Influence, 'tis yet a Mark of a converted State that may not be de pended on. Perfons, notwithftanding all this, may be under Condemnation, and finally doom'd to a Departure from CHRIST with the Workers of Iniquity. It may be nextly faid, This Work of GOD Is a fecret Thing ; a Work within Men ; a Work ef fected in the inward Frame of their Mind. It prin cipally lies in a new Heart, another Soul ; in other Views and Intentions, other Thoughts and Senti ments, other Principles and Springs of A&ion : All which Things are hidden, out of the Sight of the World. From whence it follows, by the Way, that the Work of Cody as an internal Thing, can be judged sf by others, only from the outward Difcoveries of INTRODUCTION. 7 if. One Man can't look into the Heart of ano ther : This is the Prerogative of him who has faid, f / am he that fearcheth the Heart, and trietb the Reins of the Children of Men. If therefore we would judge of the interior State of others, we mud do it from fome external Manifestations of it. Men may open to us the Temper of their Minds, in a Relation of their Experiences : But even here, we are liable to be deceived. They may be miflaken about their own State ; and what is worfe, may reprefent Things different from what they really are : fo that at the heft we only judge in this Cafe upon Suppofition. And as there is fo much Hypocrify in the World, it would be but Prudence to hear Men's Declarati ons, refpefting themfelves with a heedful Caution. It may perhaps be a Truth here, as well as in other Cafes, Actions fpeak much louder than Words. And this therefore is another Way, in which Men may difclofe what is within them ; and 'tis the great Gofpel Rule by which we are to govern our practical Sentiments one of another. Says our SAVIOUR, * By their Fruits ye fball know them? Do Me-n gather Grapes of Thorns? Or Figs of Thiftles? Even, fo every good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit : but a corrupt Tree bringeth forth evil Fruit. A good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit ; neither can a cor rupt Tree bring forth good Fruit. Agreeable whereto are thofe Words, \. Either make the Tree good, and his Fruit good ; or elfe make the Tree corrupt, and the Fruit corrupt : For the Tree is known by his Fruit. f Rev. 3. 23. * Matth. 7. 16, 17, ig, | Mattk. I2 <33>35- B 4 J INTRODUCTION, -~ A good Man, out of the good Treafure of his Heart, Jmngeth forth good Things ; and an evil Man, out of the pull Treafure, bnngeth forth evil Things. 'Tis true, this is not an infallible Rule ; nor did our SAVIOUR ever intend to give us one : This would anticipate the loft Judgment, or render it needlefs ', for Men's Stages would be known beforehand. It may be further noted, this Work of GOD Is fhe fame at all Times, and in all Places. 1 mean not that the Inftruments, Means, or Man ner, of it's Produftion, are always alike. There has commonly been a great Diverjity here, as feem- ed befl to the Wifdom of GOD. Sometimes, he has taken the Work very much into his own Hands, and fometimes he has made ufe of Inftruments : And when this has been the Cafe., the Inftruments he has chofen, have fometimes been more adapted to fuch a Defign, and fometimes lefs fo. i. e. to the Eye Man's of Wifdom ; for in themfelves, they have always been the beft, and were we able to fee clearly into theReafons of Pro vidence, we mould perceive them to be fo : To be fure, they are^never fuch as are in their own Nature Unfit to be made ufe of. There has likewife ordinarily been a Variety as to the Means. Sometimes it has pleafed GOD to make Ufe of one Means, and fometimes of ano ther ; fometimes the Means have been wonderful and extraordinary, as in the Days of MOSES and of" CHRIST ; and fometimes they have been of a more common Nature : And fometimes He may have accompliihed the Work without any Means at all. And INTRODUCTION. 9 And alike various has been the Manner , in which GOD has wrought upon the Minds of Sin ners. Sometimes it has been in a Way pf great Terror, and fometimes in the Methods of Mildnefs and Gentlenefs. Sometimes he has dealt fo with them, that they could not but have a clear and diftmtt Perception of his Operations in them ; and fometimes he has formed them into a new Work man/hip, in a more infenfible, and variouily inter rupted Way. Neither do I mean, that this Work of GOD is the fame in its Strength and Beauty in all ; or that 'tis always wrought in the like Number of Inflances, either in one Place, or another. There has always been an admirable Diverjity in this RefpecT; / Some have been made to partake of the divine Nature in one Degree, others in another ; fometimes a greater Number have appeared living Images of their Father in Heaven, fometimes a lefs. But as to the Work, for Subflance, 'tis the fame in all Places, and among all People under Heaven. There may be a Variety as to the Circumftances, Degrees, and Appendages of it , but for the Thing it felf, as to it's Effence^ 'tis the very fame all over the World,* has beenfo from the Days of CHRIST; yea, from the Days of ADAM, and will be fo to the End of the World. Very obfervable to our Purpofe here, are the Words of the famous Dr. OWEN. Says he, * Regeneration by the HOLY ** SPIRIT is the fame Work for the Kind of it, and " wrought by the fame Power of the SPIRIT, in * all that are regenerate, or ever were, or {hall * Difcourfe of the Holy Spirit,?. 177, 178. ** be jo INTRODUCTION. ( be fo, from the Beginning of the World to the f End thereof. Great Variety there is in the Ap- ** plication of the outward Means ; nor can the " Ways and Manner hereof be reduced unto any C certain Order. For the SPIRIT worketh how, f and when he pleafeth, following the fole Rule * f of his own Will and Wifdom. Moftly, GOD * e makes Ufe of the preaching of the Word ; thence cc called an engrafted Word which is able to fave our " Souls : Sometimes 'tis wrought without it, as in It 14 INTRODUCTION. it will make, we have in Ifa. 32. 15, 16, 17. Un til the SPIRIT be poured out upon us from on high, and the Wildernefs be a fruitful Field, and the fruit ful Field be counted for a For eft. Then Judgment /hall dwell in the Wildernefs, and Right eoufnefe remain in the fruitful Field. And the Work of Right eoufnefs fhall be Peace, and the Effett of Right eoufnefs, Quietnefs and dffurance for ever. We have here an Account, not only of a Work of Grace, but its Appearance, the Effeft that will be produced by it. The Wildernefs /ball become a fruitful Field, i. e. * " Thefe who have " been as a Wildernefs^ barren and unfruitful, f bringing forth no Fruit to GOD, but wild Fruits " of Sin, fliall be changed, tilled, converted, and " made fruitful, to bring forth Fruits of Holinefs " to GOD, And the fruitful Field {hall be counted " for a Forefl. i. e. They that have a Principle of C Fruitfulnefs in them, and did bring forth Fruit " before, yet now, upon the pouring out of the SPI- " KIT upon them, (hall receive fuch Abundance of * f Grace, and be fo eminent in the acting of it, " that what they did before fliall be accounted, as the Fruit of a barren Forefl, in Comparifon cc of what they do now. Or the Meaning may * ( be, Thofe that were before fruitful Fields fliall, " upon the -pouring out of the SPIRIT, fruftify fo " incredibly, that they fliall feem rather to be a Wood, a Forreft, a Thicket, than a Field of Tillage * ( (by an Appropiation of fuch Exprefllons as are " fometimes * I have parapbrafed this Text, in the Words of one of t^ Fathers of this Country, the Rev. Mr. ADAMS of DEDHAM j which I the more readily chofe to do, be- caufelfind, in the Preface, to his Sermon, an excellent Charader given of him, for his Piety as well as Learn ing* by thofe two Lights in our Cburcfos, the famous Mr, TORRY and Mr, FLYNT. INTRODUCTION. 15 e fometimes ufed concerning the incredible Fer- " tility of fome Fields in Grain and Fruits, unto ff the exceeding Fruitfulnefs of Perfons in Grace, " and fpiritual and holy Attions}: And fo the Senfe t( is the fame as before, f Then Judgment /ball ff dwell in the Wildernefs. i. e. Thofe who were as " a Wildernefs before, untilled, untaught, unre- f generate, and unfubdued to the Will of GOD, < being now converted, (hall give Heed to Judg- e ment, Equity, Righteoufnefs, Honefty and Pi* oppofing and devouring one another; But this Change in Men would make them mild and gentle ; difpoflng them to behave towards each other with all Tendernefs > loving one another as themfelves. But the beft Idea of the Appear am e of this Work of GOD is to be fetched from the New-Teftamentj where the Texts defcriptive of it, are fhll more clear and exprefs, Only, before I proceed, I mall make one Re mark : It is this , That there is a two-fold Work of the SPIRIT of GOD fpoken of in Scripture: The one refpe6ls his extraordinary and miraculous Gifts and Powers ; the other^ his common and ordinary In- fluence> that by which a Work of Grace is begun and carried on in the Souls of Men, to their bfeing prepared in this World, for Glory and Honour in the better World that is to come. Some Texts* when they fpeak of the Work of the SPIRIT; may include both his ordinary and extraordinary Work; and fome may more efpecially mean the former * and others the latter. But however this be, a Di- ftinftion otight always to be made between thefe of the SPIRIT, And let it be carefully remembred,when the Work of the SPIRIT, in the extraordinary Senfe, is the G Thing: 18 INTRODUCTION. Thing intended, the Effeft hereof, or its ance, whether in Prophefyings, Vijions, Revelations, Signs, Wonders, or any other Jtrange and .miracu lous Events, is not the Appearance to be looked for, from the ordinary Influence of the SPIRIT, i. e. his faving Work upon the Souls of Men : Nor can ic be collected from all the miraculous Gifts and Pow ers that any were the Subjects of, when the SPI RIT was poured forth in the Days of the Apoftles, that they were among the Sanctified in CHRIST JESUS. Some, who were then the Subjects of a Work of Grace, were, no Doubt, endowed with the extraordinary Gifts of the#OLT GHOST', but their extraordinary Endowments were no Proof of their having wrought in them an effectual Work of Grace. Says the celebrated Dr. OWEN, * ff Thofe " who were miraculoujly converted, as PAUL ; or, (( who upon their Converfion had miraculous Gifts " beftowed upon them, as had Multitudes of the f . primitive Chriftians, were no otherwife regene- (f rate, nor by any other internal Efficiency of the " Holy SPIRIT, then every one is at this Day, " who is really made Partaker of this Grace and '* Privilege : Neither were thofe miraculous O- " perations of the Holy SPIRIT, which were vi- 66 fible unto others, any Pan of the Work of Re- " generation , nor did they belong neceflkrily fc to it : For many were the Subje&s of them, " and received miraculous Gifts by them, who " were never regenerate ; and many were rege- tf nerate, who were never Partakers of them I" It's probable, we fhould generally be difpos'd, at once, to look upon a Man as the Subject of a Difcourfe of the SPIRIT. Page 178. Work ff fi INTRODUCTION. 19 Work of GOD's Grace, if he was endow'd with extraordinary Gifts ; if> to all Appearance, he had the S fir it of Prophecy ) the Gift of Tongues, the Gift of Heal* ing, and had Faith fo that he could do Miracles : But a Thoufand of thefe Gifts, confidered fimply in themfelves, are no Argument of a regenerate State. The lead Spark of true CHRISTIAN CHARITY is a better Evidence of a Work of GOD in the Soul, than the greateft Ability to /hew Signs, and work Wonders. The learned Dr. HICKS has exprefs'd himfelf upon the facing and miraculous Gifts of the SPIRIT, in a Manner well worth tranfcribing *. As for thefe ( the miraculous Gifts ) they nei- ther fuppofed any faving Change in the gifted Perfon, nor neceffarily brought any along with " them, nor drew any after them* But as St. CHRYSOSTOM compares them to Riches, fo " like Riches they tempted Men to Pride, Vani* ({ ty and Contempt of their Governors, as alfo f to envy and hate one another ; Nay, fo in- ef confiderable are thefe Gifts for themfelves, and C fo unprofitable to any Chriftian, as to his main f Concern, that like the Sun and Rain they were " given to good and bad.- The Tongues of Men (f or Angels, to fpeak in the dpoftles Words, " could have faid nothing more plain or empha- " deal [than what he has faid in the i Cor. 13. ( < beg.] to fhew how much more excellent the " faving Graces of the SPIRIT are, than the infufed *' miraculous Gifts, which can neither render us " like GOD, nor qualify us for the Enjoyment * of him , and which Things have no intrinfical worth to the Perfons who formerly had them, * ( nor made them more ufeful for the Church, * See his Entbujiafm exorcifed. from the 54th to the jpth Page. C 2 than 20 INTRODUCTION. r than acquired Gifts, which are the ordinary " Means of Faith and Repentance, make us. sf Suppofe thou knoweft the Gofpel, like the Apo- " flies, by Infpiration ; What then ? Another " Minifter, who knows it by Reading and Study, is " as capable, by the Bleffing of GOD, to ferve " the Church as thou : And befides, if thou art <( like a vain Corinthian, ambitious of Infpiration, " know that it will add nothing to the Reputa- " tion of thy Parts ; for an infpired Man is but cf the Veffel to the Treafure, the very Inftrument " and Machine of the HOLY GHOST, who can or- " dain Strength out of the Mouth of Babes and f Sucklings, and make a Child, or an Idiot, if " cellent and defireable the faving Graces of the conlidering the Re mains of Corruption in good Men, even among thofe in whom a remarkable Work of Grace is car- tying on : Others are in the Opinion, they make a main Part of the Appearance that has been fo much talk'd of* and have arifen unavoidably, in the natural Courfe of Things, from the Means and Injlruments of this Appearance ; and that it could not reafonably be fuppos'd^ it iliould have been otherwife. 1 mall particularly fliow what thefe bad and dan gerous Things are ; making fuch Remarks ( as I go along) as may be thought needful to fet Mat* ters in a jult and true Light* D z Among Thins 0V bad PART Among the bad Things attending this' Work, I fhall firjt mention Itinerant Preaching. This had its Rife ( at left in thefe Parts ) from Mr. WHITEFIELD ; though I could never fee, I own, upon what Warrant, either frorn Scripture or Rea- fon, he went about Preaching from one Province and Parifb to another, where ,the Gofpel was -al ready preach'd, and by Perfons as well qualified for the Work, as he can pretend to be. I cha ritably hope, his Defign herein was good : But might it not be leavened with fome undefirable Mixture ? Might he not, at firft, take up this Practice from a miftaken Thought of fome ex traordinary MiJJion from GOD ? Or, from the undue Influence of . two high an Opinion of his own Gifts and Graces ? And when he. had got into this Way, might he not be too much encou raged to go on in it, from the popular Applaufes, every where, fo liberally heaped on him ? If he had not been uqder too ftrong a Biafs from fomething or other of this Nature, why fo fond of preaching always himfelf, to the Exclufton, not of his Brethren only, but his Fathers, in Grace and Gifts and Learning) as well as. Age ? And why-fo oftentatious and afliirning as to alarm fo many Towns, by proclaiming his Intentions, in the publick Prints, to preach fuch a Day in fuch a Pariflj, the next Day in, fuch a one, and fo .on, as he paft through the' Country ; and all this, without the Knowledge, either of Paftors or Peo ple in moft Places ? What others may think of T fach a Conduct I know not ; but to me, it ne ver appeared the moft indubitable Exprefllon of. that Modefty, Humility, and prefering others in which the Serif tuns highly recommend as what PART I. ani dangerous Tendency. 3^7 - .what will adorn the Minifter's, as well as the Chri- flian's Chara&er, And what became of his little Flock all this while ? This Gentleman (if I don't miftake) ex- prefles a very contemptuous Thought of NON RESIDENTS and PLURALISTS, when he makes that Remark, in one of his Journals f, ff The Towns " through CONNECTICUT, and the Province of the Mr. WHITEFIELD'S Difad vantage, on temporal Ac counts, that he has travelled about the World in Quality of an Itinerant- Preacher. He has certain ly made LARGE COLLECTIONS : 'And if, in the do ing of this> he had a Fellow- feeling with the Or phans, 'tis no more than might be expected. Na one, I believe, -befite himfelf, can t^^\\Q. Amount of the 'Pfefenfs, 'he, received in this . Tcfwn, as well as in other -Places, for his own proper Ufe. The Aext Gentleman that practifed upon this % new Method was. Mr. GILBERT TENNENT, who came Journal of NEW-ENGLAND, Page 94,9-% D 3 8 Things of a b*A PART I f in the Middle of Winter, from NEW-BRUNSWICK (a Journey of more than 300 Miles ) to BOSTON, " to water the Seed fown by Mr, WHITEFIELD ;" the Miniflers in the Town, though a confiderable Body, being thought infufficient for that Purpofe, J mall not think it amifs to infert here Part of an expoftulatory Letter fent to him, after he had been preaching among us for fome Time, *' Pray, Sir, (fays the Writer*) let me put it to (e your Confcience ; was not the Reafon of your " travelling fo many hundred Miles to preach the ff Gofpel, in this Place, founded on the Infuffici-r * c ency of the Minifters here for their Office ? " Why travel fo far, in fuch a rigorous Seafon, * f LO preach the Gofpel, if the Gofpel was really *' preach'd by the Miniflers here ? Did you not *' fear f, **that notwithflanding they pretend to " water what Mr. WHITEFIELD, by the SPIRIT, *' had planted, had fet up a Lefture, and; the like, * ( they would build with untempered Mortar, would " build mod. Hay, Stubble, &c.?" Had you npt " fome Sufpicion, that, either they had not a ft true Knowledge of the Do&rines of Grace, or f c if they had, that it was only a Head Knowledge^ * : that they were not converted, and of Confe- *' quence not likely to be made Inflruments of *' much good ? . Ijf this be the natural Conftruc- f( tion to be put upon your coming hither, can " you think, you are in the Way of your Duty ? " Can you think, the bringing the Jlanding Mini- Jhy of a Place into Contempt, the Way to *' promote the Intereffc of Religion, and the Sal- ?* vation of Souls ? But perhaps, you did not See :the Bofton. Poft-Soy^ Numb. 353, f Journal* PART L and dangerous Tendency. 39 < f think, nor would have any Body elfe think, f quite fo hardly of the Minifters here ? Per- ff haps, you only thought, that if they did a little cc Good, you might do a great Deal more. Is not " this approaching too near to Vanity ? Is it not ff thinking more highly of your felf than you * f ought ? Is it not contrary to the Scripture " Rule of preferring others in Love ?" The An- fiver to this Letter I never look'd upon as fatis- faftory : And I have the more Reafon to think, there was a Propriety in thefe Queilions, as I now know what Opinion Mr. WHITEFIELD entertain'd of the Generality of the Minifters in Town. I mall only fay, I have had perfonal Converfation with one, who join'd in the Prayers previous to this Journey to BOSTON. x / Mr, TENNENT tarried in Town a great Part of the Winter ; in all which Time, he never exprefl a Defire ( fo far as I can learn ) of being affifted by any one of the Minifters : But feem'd as fond, as Mr. WHITEFIELD before him, of preaching e- very Day himfelf ; and did fo, willingly taking from the other Minifters even their own Turns in the Jlated Leftures. : And if, by their Subimffion. to him herein, they fell in the Opinion of the People, who can wonder at it ? It would indeed have been a Wonder, if they had not. For ei ther the Circumflances of the Town were fuch as to require Preaching every Day in the Week, or they were not : If they were not, why did they encourage fuch a Practice ? If they were, I don't fee how they could anfwer it to GOD, their ewn Confciences 9 or their People, to fit flill, and let one Man have [the fole Trouble of that which was the proper Bufinefs of their Office. Such a Conduit as this naturally taught People to,, look D 4 -'upon 40 Things of a bad PART 1. upon them as idle Shepherds : And if this was the Re Heftion, fame caft upon them, it was no other than might be expedted. Mr. TENNENT went from BOSTON to PISCATA.QUA in the Path of Mr. WHITEFIELD ; and, in fome Places,, appeared very forward in tenclring his Ser vice to preach,, though he knew it was not ( as to Time ) agreeable to the Minifters. Upon his Return home, he preach'd in moil, if not all the Towns as he paft along : And if, in all the Pa- ri/heSy he had the Confent of the Paftors, it was, I am ready to think, by Conflraint. They might give into it to prevent Difficulties among their Peo ple ; not that they approved this Manner of Con- dutt, the Conftru6tion of which feemed to be, that upon him lay the Care of all the Churches. From this Time, the Method of Itinerant Preach ing became common. Many, in various Parts of the Land, took upon them to vifit the Churches ; preaching from Place to Place, wherever they went : Sometimes, contrary to the known Judg ment of the fettled Minifters y and in Oppqfttion to them ; and fometimes, where their Confent was only a Matter of Neceffity to keep Peace among their People. Sometimes, they have come into Pa- r iilies of their own Accord ; and fometimes, by Application made to them from a few difaffeft- ecl Perfons. Sometimes, in order to get the Li berty of the Meefmg-Houfe^ they have us'd mean and indirect Arts , , and fometimes, when they could not get into it, they have gone into pri- i*jte Houfes, or gathered Aflemblies in the Fields. Nay, Lay-Exbortcrs, Men of no Capacity, nor Learning ; yea, fome of them of a fufpkious Character for their Virtue, (not to fay any Thing worfej^ PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 41 xvorfe) have travell'd about from Town to Town, calling AJfemblies, and fometimes exciting Prejudi ces in People againft their Minifters, for not Jet ting them into their Pulpits, or not encouraging them in their diforderly Practice. I cannot better defcribe the Manner of thefe Itinerants, than in the Words of a Friend in his Letter to me, " The " Itinerant Minifters that have .been among us, fe have been (as I think) very irregular and dif- " orderly in their Proceedings. It hath been their fc Manner to eflrange themfelves, in a great Mea- < 6 fure, from me, and to aflbciate with a difaffeft- " ed Party. , They appoint and warn Leftures ( * without my Confent or Knowledge, and juil (f before the Time of Exercife they have com- " monly fent for my Approbation : And upoa (f my mamfefting a Diilike .of their Manage- f( ments, they have preach'd fometimes in private (< Houfes ; fometimes in a Barn , fometimes in the'op^w Air. The Inconveniences, which have arifen from this Method of a6ling, more efpecially in CON NECTICUT, have been fo great, that the GOVERN MENT there have taken the Matter into Conflde- ration, and come into an Aft_ 9 whereby they have retrained, both ordained Minifters 9 and licenfed Can didates, from preaching in other Men's Parifloes, without their and their Church's Confent ; and wholly prohibited the Exhortations of illiterate Lay- Men i. It is not my Bufinefs to confider, how far an Irregularity, in this Kind, may properly fall under This 4tt we had printed in one of our News* Fafers, at large. the 42 Things of a b^A PART I. the Cognifance of the civil Maglflrate : What I have to do with, is the Thing it felf ; which I can't but reckon among thzDif orders of theprefent Day. I fee not but thofe, who make it their Praftice to go about gathering Ajjemblies, in other Mens Parifhes, properly come under the Chara6ler of JSufie-Bodies. . Thefe were common, in the firft Days of the Gofpel ; and there feems to have been two Sorts of them. Some were idle, not doing their own Bujinefs ; but wandring about from Houfe to Houfe, talking, and fpeaking the Things they ought not. This is the ve ry Chara&er of fome idle Perfons, who have late ly rifen up among us. And what is the Tho't of the great St. Paul concerning them ? Why, he lays, f They are diforderly Walkers , and commands, that a Mark he fet upon them, that they be with* drawn from, and admonifbed. But befides thefe, there feems to have been an other Sort of Bufie-Bodies ; fuch as went out of their own Line, intermeddling in other Men's Matters, 'Tis obfervable, the Original Word, anfwering to that Scripture Phrafe, $ a Bufte-Body in other Men's Matters, is, allotrio-Epifcopos ; one that plays the Bi/hop in another's Diocefs, takes up on him the Infpeftion of another's Charge. The Perfon defcribed is one, who qfficioufiy employs himfelf about the Bufinefs that does not belong to him ; ailing in the proper Sphere of others, as tho* f 2 Theft. 3, frora the i oth to the ijth, } i Pet. 4* JJ. PART L and dangerous Tendency. 4.3 it was his, not their s. This is the Conduci the dpoflle points out : And he has an ill Opinion of it, or he would not have rank'd it with fome of the greatejt Crimes. It appears indeed to be a Fault of the fame Kind with that, which the Apoflle PAUL blames in the falfe Teachers, who had crept into the Church of CORINTH, to their great DifTervice, Remarkable are his Words upon this Head. I mall fet them down at large. * f We dare not, fays he }, make << ourfelves of the Number, or compare ourfelves * f with fome that commend themfelves ; But they *' meafuring themfelves by themfelves, and com- ff paring themfelves among themfelves are not (C wife. But we will not hoajl of Things without " our Meafure, but according to the Meafure of * f the Rule, which GOD hath diftributed to us, a * f Meafure to reach even unto you, For we C ftretch not ourfelves beyond our Meafure, as tho* " we reached not unto you ; for we are come * f as far as to you alfo, in Preaching the Gofpel " of CHRIST : Not boajting of Things without; *' our Meafure, that is, of other Mens Labours ; f but having Hope, when your Faith is encreafc- * f ed, that we (hall be enlarged by you, according " to our Rule abundantly, to preach the Gofpel (c in the Regions beyond you, and not to hoafl- " in another Mans Line of Things made ready to our < f Hand." Three Things are fuggeiled to us as faulty in tliefe Teachers. The firft is, thefr- commending themfelves fo much. We dare not, fays the Apofile, corn-pare ourfelves with 2 Cdr. io. from the 12 to the 17 Verfe. few* 44 Tffiffge* of. a bad PART L fome, who- cowttnend themfehes. The Language is fatyrical, fetting forth, in the ftrongeft Light,, the - undue Praifes tkefe Teachers heap'd upon them- felves. They were vainly.' puffed up in -their Minds, glorying in themfelves, as though they were extraordinary Perfons, out-doing even the A- poftles. Such was their Pride and Self-Conceit, that they took all Occafions to proclaim their own Goodnefs ; which they, no Doubt, did, with fuch Art and Cunning, as hereby to infinuate themfelves into the good Opinion of the People, to the pre judicing them againft the very Jpjftles. They are therefore called, in the next Chapter, $ deceitful Workers .; and reprefented, f as transforming them fehes into th^Minifters of Right eoufnefs, according to the Example of Satan, who can transform him* ' felf into an Angel of Light. Mr. BURKITT'S Note ' here is very juft, and may be worth tranfcribing.* J " It is very poffible, fays he, for Men to be real- " ly Satan s Inflruments, animated and taught " by him, to do -his Work againfl the Intereft " of CHRIST and his Truth ; ,and yet, at the " fame Time, to pretend to cxcellarid go beyond *' CHRIST'S faithful Miniflers, in preaching Truth ' ff and Holinefs : So that the highell Pi'etence^ 1 ' " to Truth, Orthodoxy, free Grace, Purity apd J and loft the Prize. To this the Apoflle alludes in thefe Words. His Apofllefhip f , his preaching the Gofpel, is his running in a Race ; the Province aflign'd him to gofpelize, is the Meafure diftribu- ted to him, his Stage or Compafs of Ground, which GOD, as it were, by the Line in a Race, had mark'd out for him to exercife himfelf in: And f Vid. Doftor HAMMOND. Not. c. d. in Loc* to PART. L and dangerous Tendency. 47 to this he had kept. He had not, like thefe falfe Teachers, gone beyond Ms Meafure ; he had not ftept out of his own into the Line of another. The obvious Import of all which is, that fuch. are unlike to tbe holy Apoftle PAUL, and fland condem'd by Ms Example, who keep not within their own Bovads, but go over into other Metis Labours : T^ey Jierein intermeddle in what does not belong* to them, and are properly Bujie-bodies ; efbeciallv, when they concern themfelves in the Affairs of others uncalled, and fo as to introduce Diforcter and Confufion into the Church of GOD* And if, in the firfl Days of Chriftianity, when the State of Things was fuch as to require the travelling of the Afoflks and others, from Place to PJace, to preach the Gofpel ; I fay, if, in thefe Times, even an Apoftle thought it disorderly to go out of his own Line, and enter upon other Men's Labours, 'tis much more fo in the prefent fettled State of the Church. The Paftor has now his fpe- cial Charge. He is devoted to the Service of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, in a particular Place, and o* ver a particular People. His Work, as a Minifler, does not lie at. large ; but is reftrain'd within certain Boundaries. I don't mean, that he may'nt ufe his Office, in other Places, within the Rules cf Order, upon fp ecial Occafions, and where there may be a jiift Call : But his flated, conftant Bu- Cnefs is with his own People. Thefe have been committed to his Care ; thefe, he has folemn- ly engagd, before GOD, and the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and holy Angels, to do all the Duties of a Paftor to. And can he be faithful to his Ordina tion VQW> or the Command of GOD, which fays, ' ffc Flock over which the HOLT GHOST hath mi* 4 8 Things of a bad ; PART L 'made thce an Overfeer *, while he leaves his Peo pie one Week and Month after another, beftow- ing his Labours upon thofe, he has no particular Relation to ? Are not. the Souls of his own Peo ple as precious as the Souls of others. Han't he Work enough, among his own People, that he need feek for it elfewhere ? -That Man knows little of the Work of a Minifter, xhat does not know how to employ all his Time, & Strength, and Tho't, for the Good of thofe of his ovn Charge. He may here fpend all his Zeal, and bt as abun dant in Labours, in Seafon and out of Seajov, 9 as he judges proper. And I ihould think, extraordinary Pains are as fuitable among a Minifler's own Peo ple, as Strangers ; and would be as evidential of his Love to Souls, and Defire of their Salvation. It was, in my Opinion, far from being exemplary in Mr. WHITEFIELD, his taking fo little Care of his own Flock. When he went from thefe Parts to GEORGIA, notwithitanding his frequent Prayers for them, and Expreffions of a more than ordinary* Love to them, and longing after their Salvation, he was no longer than Part of two Days at SA VANNAH , nor did he preach there more than two Sermons, if we may believe his own Account, f It appears ftrange, he mould allow his own Charge fo fmall a Share of his Labours, as he was fo to- vifh of them elfewhere ! And 'tis obfervable, as foon as he had left GEORGIA, and arrived at CHARLES-TOWN in CAROLINA, his Journal again ap pears with pompous Accounts of his Preachings. He writes, Sunday, Jan. 4. " Preach'd twice this f See his Journal from his leaving NEW-ENGLAND, Oa. 1740. P. 34. 35. * A8s 20, 28, Day* PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 49 Day, and expounded to large Auditories." And, Saturday, Jan. 10. " Preach'd twice every Day this Week, and expounded frequently in the Even- ing".* If this is watching for Souls, I mean, the Souls, of our particular Charge, as thofe that mull 'give an Account ; it is not a Matter of fo much Difficulty , as- 1 always imagined. And as to others, who are fo forward in going into other Parifhes, to preach there perpetually, I can't learn that they do more among their own People, than thofe who make no fuch Excurfi- ons ? Nay, they have, fome of them, greatly negle6led their own, from a Zeal to take Care of other Minifter's People : And they have been complained of on this Head, and fallen under' fublick Cenfure. One of the Charges exhibited by Mr. D T'S People againfh him, and laid before a Council of Minifters,- O6L 7, 1742, was, Cf His leaving his * ( Congregation, at feveral Times, for a great " while together, at his Will and Pleafure, with- ( out Leave or Confent of the Church, or So- " ciety :" Upon which, the Council gave it as their Judgmen^, "We think that his Congregati- tc on have juil Caufe to complain of his leaving not qualified for their Office, or not faithful in the Execution of it ; They are either unfit to take the Care of Souls, or grqfly negligent in doing their Duty to them : Or, the Language may be, we are Men of greater Gifts, fuperiour Holinefe, more Acceptable- fiefs to GOD ; or have been in an extraordinary Manner fent by him. Some of thefe Itinerants^ **is evident, have travelled about the Country preaching, under the full Perfwafion of an imme* diate Call from GOD ; And as to moft of them, ic ma; PART. 1 and dangerous Tendency. 51 may be feared, the grand Excitement, at t!?e Bo:- torn, has been, an cverfond Opinion of t^ and an unchrijtlan one o!' their BreJiren. therefore been their Praftice, too ceir.u.jnh, :,--,: only to boaft of their oiw fuperior Goodnefs, vwrjie- ever they have gone ; buc to inanaaut ilifpjd* onsagainft the fixed Pajiors y tf not to preach aju.ut them, and pray for them, as p what might be expelled, as the Effeft, but an intire Diflblution of our Church State ? This Itinerant Preaching, it is my firm Perfwafion, na turally tends to it in the Courfe of Things ; yea, and the Principles, upon which it is flip- ported, will disband all the Churches in the World ; and make the Relation, between Paf- tors and People, a meer Nothing, a Sound without It 52 Things of a bad PART I. It will not be thought a needlefs DigreiTion to infert here, the Sentiments of the Fir ft Fathers of this Country, upon this Point of Order in the Churches. This jtiftly lay with great Weight upon their Minds ; For it is indeed the Strength as well as Beauty of the Creation. Next to Faith, they efleemed Order ; a Matter of NecefTity to the Well- Being of thefe Churches. And to this it was owing, that they held a Synod at Cambridge, Anno 1648, confuting of all the Churches of the MAS SACHUSETTS-PROVINCE, by their Elders and* MeJJen- gers ; when they agreed upon that Rule of Church Order, commonly called, our Platform of Church- Difc'ipline. Here it is declared as their uni ted Judgment, f " That Elders are appointed to ff feed, not all Flocks, but the particular Flock f over which the HOLY GHOST hath made them fc Overfeers ; and that Flock they muft attend, " even the whole Flock : And one Congregation " being as much as any ordinary Elder can at- (f tend, therefore there is no greater Church than ff a Congregation, which may ordinarily meet in " one Place." And again,* ff Church Officers are Officers to (f one Church, even that particular over which ea, and with the Concurrence alfo of ILS Eider, if any it had. A Conduct contrary to ti.'j.s, they would have tedified againft, with all Severity \* as being oppoflte to Order, an In-let Co Dijrurfranccfy and tending to Confufion. On the other Hand, they allow that the Bre thren of a particular Church may occafionally, and as th'jre may be real Need of it, communicate with other Churches in any A6h of Church Fel- lowibip ; but then, they particularly give it as their Judgment f, That " Church-Members may '* noc remove or depart from the Church, and fo one from another, as they pleafe, nor with- ** ouc juft and weighty Caufe ; but ought to <* live and dwell together, forafmuch as they are '< comir aided not to forfake the AfTembling of " themfeives together. Such Departure tends *< to the Diflblution and Ruin of the Body, as if not with Contempt and Infult . But notwithflanding all that has been faid a- gainfl this Itinerant preaching, 'tis a Practice migh tily pleaded for ; and many are the Things that are offered in its Vindication. 'Tis faid, much Good has been done by it. And han't there been much Evil likewife ? Han't it been the Occafion, not accidentally^ but in the na tural Courfe of Things, of uncomfortable Heats, Animofities .and Contentions ? Han't Chriflians, hereby, been divided into Parties, One faying, I am of PAUL ; another, I am of APOLLOS ; ano ther, I am of CEPHAS, to the difturbing the Peace of Churches ? Han't People, by this Pra&ice., been led to glory in Men ? And han't they had feme Men's Perfons fo much in Admiration , as to throw unjuft Contempt upon others ? But, if more Good had followed upon this Kind, of Preaching E 4 than 56* Things of a bad PART L than really has, it would not hereby be juftified ; unlefs it can be made to appear, that Evil may not, by the alwife and gracious GOD, be over ruled for Good. The Queftion ought not to be, whether Good has been done in this Way ? feut whether the Way it felf is countenanced in the Bible, or can be vindicated upon the Principles of uncorrupted Reafon ? If not ; 'tis, in it's Nature, bad, and unalterably fo, lee its Effeftsbe what they will. It is further pleaded, they are good Men that go into this Practice : Their Hearts are fir'd with a holy Zeal to ferve the Interefl of Souls ; and 'tis to forward their Salvation, that they thus tra vel about Preaching. And are not the Miniilers, into whofe Labours they enter, good Men alfo ? Have they not a Love to the Souls of Men, and ardent Defires of their Salvation ? Or, mufl they be thought felfifh and carnal, becaufe they are Heady, and keep within the Rules of Order in their Endeavours to do good ? I know, 'tis a fpeci- ous Thing for Minifters to go about from Place to Place, profefling a compaffionate Concern for Sinners, a Readinefs to do, or fuffer any Thing, to. promote their Conversion ; efpecially, if this is accompanied with a bitter Zeal, againfl all who can't come into their Meafures : And they may be flock'd after, on this Account, and held in great Reputation, as more My than their Bre thren, more like to CHRIST, and his Apoflks : .But for my felf, I have liv'd too long in the World, and feen too much of the Wickednefs of it, to be over-pleafed with high ProfeJJlons ; ef pecially,- when they are rewarded with a? high popular* Applanfes. Pride of Heart ; an Itch to come out of Obfcurity, and to be thought fome- body | PART. L and dangerous Tendency. 5 body ; a fecret Pleafure arifing from the Hofan- nas of the Multitude ; an undue Self-Love, in fome Shape or other, may urge on (as it aftually has done in Hundreds of Inftances ) to as zeal ous Pains in preaching the Gofpel, as any in thefe Times, can pretend to ; and from as great a feeming Regard to the Good of Men's Souls. I mean not by what I here fay, to reflect upon ALL thofe, who have gone up and down the Coun try, making a more than ordinary Shew of Zeal for the fpintual Welfare of their Neighbours ; as though they were SOLELY afted, in this Matter, from mean, and bafe Motives. They may, SOME OF THEM, be as good as they,profefs to be, for all that I know : But this Condu6l of theirs, is not, in my Opinion, the flrongefl Evidence of their being fo : Nor can it be collected from, their Zeal to preach in othej- Men's Parifbes, that they are better than their Neighbours ,* or that the Pra6lice they are in, is fuch as it ought to be. They may be good Men, and yet do that which is Evil : They may have a Zeal for GOD , and yet, aft without fufficient Know ledge or Prudence. Meerly their being good Men, or zealous for the Good of Souls, won't war rant this Conduct of theirs : If it can't be ju tified from other Considerations, it muft be con demned. ^ 'Tis again urg'd in Favour of thefe Itinerant fy That "when the Time of Reformation was come *' on y one of the moft effectual Things done to- f wards the Reformation in ENGLAND, about the " Middle of the former Century, was to fend a- ff bout the Kingdom certain Itinerant Preachers, *< with a Licenfe to preach the Fundamentals of Religion, 58 Things of a bzd PART I. " Religion, inftead of the Stuff with which the * c Souls of the People had formerly been famifhed.'* This, which is a Quotation from Dr. MATHER'S Magnal. Chrif. American, we had printed in the BOSTON Weekly News-Paper f, " to give Check ( as is faid in the Letter introducing it to the Publick} to the great Out-cry, and the bitter and harfh Kefle&ions made by many againfl Itinerant Preachers" To which I would anfwer, by giv ing a brief Account of the Times and Itinerants here referred to, together with the prefent Time* and Itinerants. As to the Times and Itinerants here refer'd to, a jufl Account has been given of them, in the Letter to the Author of the above Quotation, in the following Words *, " At the Time when " the Reformation came on, which began with the Reign of King EDWARD the VJ, and was ef carried on by gradual Steps, through the long " Reign of Q. ELIZABETH, the whole Land was fc overfpread with Darknefs and Superftition : The (e common People, almoft every where, were " ilupidly ignorant. This may be fairly gather- *< ed from your Quotation, which fuppofes they t knew little or nothing of the great Doctrines but PFtve s alfo. ' All THINGS are yours. 'JTis a Truth as to particular Chrifti- ans, or Churches, in no Senfe but what will con- fift with every Right, which GOD has given to one Man, in Diftinftion from another : Nor may they lay Claim to any Thing, but in that Way, and according to thofe Rules, which are laid down in Scripture, or pointed out by the Laws of Nature and Reafon. Notwithftanding thefe Words of the Apoftle, all THINGS are yours ; particular Men have their own Wives, and parti" cular Women their own Husbands ; this Man has his own Houfe or Field, and fo has that : Nor can they invade one another's Property with out finning againft GOD. Chriftians can be faid to have a Right in all THINGS, only fo far, and under 64 Things of a bad PART L under fuch Reftri&ions, as GOD has-been pleas'd to give them a Title to them. So when it is faid, PAUL and APOLLOS and CE PHAS, i. e. all Miniflers are your's ; the meaning cannot be, that every particular People have a Right to every particular Minifter, in any Senfe but what mall confift with the Order, GOD has fet tled in his Church. They can have a -Propriety in them, only in Subordination to prior Rights , and -fo as that' there may be an Harmony among them all. Though it be a Truth, when fpoken of par ticular Churches, all Minifters aw yours ; yet each particular Church has its own Paftor, and each Paf- tor his own particular Church : And in Vertue of this Relation that fubfifls between particular Churches and Paflors, each Church has its f pedal Rights with Refpe6l to its particular Paftor, and each Paftor the like Rights with Refpedl to his particular Church : Nor may thefe Rights, either of them, he broke in upon, under the Pre tence that all Churches have a Propriety in all Minifters. Their Propriety is reftrahrd within .certain Limits, beyond which, if they extend their Claim, it interferes with other Rights, which can't, -without Sin, be invaded. The Churches, upon this Principle, For all Things arc yours, whether PAUL, or APOLLOS, or CEPHAS, have been lately exhorted, f" To hear and im- :". prove for their Benefit, not only the Minifter ff that is ordained over them, and fix't among " them, but as they have Occafion and Oppor- ** tunity other Minifters alfo:" And have been told, f " If any mould attempt to deprive them ,-JYMr. EMERSON'S Exhortation. Page 6. i Pag* -ibid, of PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 65 " of this their Chriftian Priviledge, they are " guilty of Robbery : They rob them of a very * f great Priviledge, which the LORD has pur- ** chafed at the dearefl Rate ; and which he " has, in Love to their Souls, confered on thofe who F 2 are <58 Things ofabzd PART I; are for Order in the Church of GOD, and keeping Things from running into. Confuflon, have any great Reafon to envy thofe, who, from among our jelveS) have been molt noted for their travelling up and down the Country to preach. We gene rally knbw who they are, and what Character they bear in the World , and if difpos'd to Envy, thefe are fome of the loft Men who would excite It. And I am clearly of the Mind, that if " the Spirit and Difpofition of the holy and humble Apo- ille PAUL .more univerfally prevail'd among Mini- fters ", they would not fo often imagine them- felves to be Men of fo much more Importance than they really are ; nor would they, from this vain Conceit they have of themfelves, fo often go out of their 0w;z, into the Line of others ; boafting of Things beyond their Meafure, and made ready to their Hand. I had thought here to have left this Head ; but can't do it without firft expreffing my Surprize ac the late Ordination of a Perfon0 go about the Coun try as an Itinerant Preacher. The Account we have in the Bojlon Evening-Poft f, " We have *' lately heard from YORK, that on, or about the c 13 of July laft, one Mr. D - L R -s, a New- " Methodifly fo call'd, fummon'd' together a fo- " lemn (and we think) unlawful AfTembly, con- " ilfling of the Elders, and pretended MeJJengers 9 ff of fome of the neighbouring Churches, to or- " dain the faid R s at large, to be a vagrant " Preacher to the People of GOD in this Land ;- *< in which Tranfatlion we hear, that the Rev'd ^ Meffieurs M Y, W E, J. R- s and G K t Numb. 381. refolutely PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 69 f refolutely proceeded, although fome other of ff the neighbouring Minifters bore their Teflimo- " ny againft fuch an irregular A6tion." That late venerable Man of GOD, whofe Praife is in all our Churches, Dr. INCREASE MATHRR, has given the World his Thoughts at large upon fuch a Tranfaftion as this ; which I Ihall here prefent to the Reader* In his Order of the Churches in NEW-ENGLAND vindicated, he propofes this Queftion *, " May a " Man be ordained a Paftor, except to zpanicu- " lar Church ? " In Anfwer whereto, he af- ferts, that " no Man ought to be ordain' d a Paf- " tor except to a particular Church," And for " thefe Reafons. i. " We have no Inftance in the Scripture of " ordinary Officers ordain'd, except unto a parti- " cular Flock. A6ls 14. 23. They ordained El- " ders by Election (fo does the Geneva Tranflation " read the Words truly enough, as that learned " Knight, Sir Norton KNATCHBULL, has critically ff evinced f-) in every Church. PAUL left it in' " Charge with TITUS, that he (hould ordain El- " ders in every City, Tit. i. 5. He was not to * ( ordain them to be Individua vaga ; but a par- " tlcular Place, a City wherein was fome Church, *& PART L < C It agreeth not with the Scripture, that * c they ufurp the Office of Fifitation of other Kirks, " nor any other Fun6lion befide other Minifters, Cf but fo far as {hall be committed to them by their Kirk." And the like Ecckfiaftical Rules were made in the more primitive Times of the Church, to give Check to the Humour that then prevailed in many, of going beyond their own Bounds. The XlVth, XVth and XXXVth Canons, called Jfpoft&tical ; the XVth and XVIth Canons of the Council of NICE ; the Hd and Hid of the firfl Council of CONSTANTINOPLE , the Xth of the Council of CALCEDON, with others that might be mentioned of thefe, and other Councils, flrongly teflify againft this Practice of Minifters invading the Parifhes of one another* It may, as the Pra6lice with us is new, carry with it a good Face, and be readily encourag ed ; efpecially, for the Sake of fome Men, who may be tho't more holy than their Brethren ; but 'tis the fame Evil now, it always has been, and will be produftive of the like bad Effects ; fome of which we have already feen and felt : And I pray GOD, they may not prepare the Way for ftill greater. The next Thing I {hall take Notice of, as what I can't but think of. dangerous Tendency, is that Terror fo many have been the Subjefts of ; Ex* * Vid. M. L. BAIL. Swnmam conciliomm om nium. Vol. L preffing PART I. *mrf dangerous Tendency.' 77 preffing it felf in ftrangt Effetts upon the Body 9 fuch as fwooning away and falling to the Ground y where Perlbns have lain, for a Time, fpeechlefs and motionlefs ; bitter Shrieking* and Scr earnings ; Convulfion-like Tremblings and Agitations , Strug gling* and Tumblings, which, in fome Inftances, have been attended with Indecencies I fhan't mention : None of which Effects feem to have been accidental, nor yet peculiar to fome particular Places or Conftitutions ; but have been common all over the Land. There are few Places, where there has been any confiderable religious Stir, but it has been accompanied, more or lefs, with, thefe Appearances. Numbers in a Congregati on, 10, 20, 30, would be in this Condition at a Time ; Nay, Hundreds in fome Places, to the opening fuch a horrible Scene as can fcarce be de- fcribed in Words. The Account, thofe, who have been under thefe Circumftances, give of themfelves is vari ous. Some fay, they were furprized and altoniib- ed, and infenfibly wrought upon, they can't tell how : Others, that they had prefented to their View, at the Time, a Sight of their Sins, in all their Number and Defert : Others, that they faw Hell, as it were, naked before them, and Defhru6tion without a Covering ; and that it feemed to them as though they were juft falling into it : Others, that they imagined the Devils were about them, and ready to lay hold on them, and draw them away to Hell. The iriore general Account is, that they were fill'd with great Anx iety and Diftrefs, having upon their Minds an o- ver-powering Senfe of Sin, and Fear of divine But 78 Thing f of a bad PART L But whatever was the Caufe, thefe bodily Agi tations were, at firfr, highly thought of by many ; yea, look'd upon as evident Signs of the extraordi nary Prefence of the HOLY GHOST. Hence, it was common in one Congregation, to tell of thefe wonderful Things, as they had appear'd in ano ther, to pray for the like Teflimony of the divine Power, to give GOD Thanks when they had it, and lament it when religious Exercifes were at tended, and no fuch Effects followed : And too much Encouragement has been given People, to depend on thefe Things as fufficient Tokens of that Senfe of Sin, which is of the Operation of the SPIRIT of GOD. I have now Letters by me^ from different Parts of the Country, all concurring in this Account $ and wrote by Perfons of as good Character as moil among us, and upon their own Knowledge. One, after he had given a Narrative of the ftrange Appearance he had been prefent at, in all the A- gitations and Out-cries above defcrib'd, con cludes in thefe Words, " But what appear'd to f< me mod dangerous and hurtful was, that Mr. ff ( the Miniiler through whofe Manage- " ment thefe Things were effected ) laid very ( much Strefjr on thefe ExtraordinarieSy as though " they were fare Marks, or, at leail, fufficient _E- C vidences of a juft Conviftion of Sin y on the one. ff Hand : or, on the other, of that Joy there is " ' in Believing, and fo of an Interefl in the Fa- f( vour of tjod," Another, after an Account of the Groaning, crying out, falling down and fcream- ing, he had been a Witnefs to, in one of our Places of Worlhip, among other Things, ob- ferves, " That thefe Things were encouraged " by Mr. ( a travelling Preacher ) and the " Minifter PART -I. and dangerous Tendency. 7$ " Minifler of the Town, who efteemed them un- " doubted Evidences of the Operation of the BLESSED " SPIRIT ,* which appeared by all their Difcourfe." A third, having exhibited a Relation of the like Effe&s, adds upon it, " I perceived by the fc Preacher's Difcourfe, that he fuppos'd all thefe tf Things, the Effeft of a ftrong Senfe of Truth im- " prefs'd upon the Minds of the Auditors, by the HOLT GHOST: 1 And thefe Accounts perfectly harmonife with the Pleas, which have been made, both from the Prefs and Pulpit, in Juftification of this Appearance in Religion. We have been told of the falling down of the JAILOUR, and of SAUL, afterwards PAUL ; we have been minded of the Trembling of FELIX, and of the Three Thoufand in the Aft*, who were pricked in the Heart by PETER'S Sermon : And the State of unconverted Sinners has been reprefented to be fuch, that it ought to be wondered at, thefe EfFefts are not univerfal, rather than that fome of them have been feen among us. But thefe Pleas notwithftanding, I could never yet fee Reafon, I confefs, to entertain a good O- pinion of thefe religious Fears, with their Effects vifible on Men's Bodies, confidered by the Lump. I mean not by what I here fay, to exprefs a Dif- like of that Fear, excited from a jufl Senfe of Sin ; which, in Refpeft of adult Perfons, is 0r- dinarily previous to their Converfion. The firft Operation of the blefled SPIRIT upon the Minds of fuch Sinners ufually is, to awaken their Fear from a Perception of Sin, and Confeioufnefs of Guilty as I have largely expreil my felt, upon this Mat ter elfewhere ; But then, it ought to be care fully 8o Things of a \>z& PART L fully remembred, the Paflion of Fear may be excited, not only from a juft Reprefen- tation of Truth to the Mind by the SPIRIT of GOD, but from the natural Influence of awful Words and frightful Geftures. Even where the Torments of another World are the ObjecT: of Fear, the Paffion it felf may be mov'd, and to fuch a Degree too, as to appear in all the vio lent Effects of Horror and Surprize ; and yet, the Origin of it be no other, than a mechanical 1m- prejjlon on animal Nature : And this, I am in- clin'd to think, has been too generally the Cafe, in Refpeft of thofe Fears, and the Effects of them, which have been fo much talk'd of among us. A good Number, I truft, have been wro't upon by the proper Influence of Truth, duly im- preffed upon their Minds by the Divine SPIRIT, but in Regard of a far greater Number, I have no other Thought of their religious Fears, difco- vered in their Cries, and Shrieks, and falling down, than a mere fenfitive Commotion ', fuch a Sort of Surprize and Aftonilhment as is affecled, not by a rational Conviction of Truth, but a fud- den and ftrong Impreffion on the animal econo my. My Reafons are thefe that follow, 'Tis with me, an Objection of fome Weight a~ gainft the Divinity of thefe bodily Effects, that they have been, in all Ages, fo rare among 'fiber and fdid Chriftians ; while among others, of a contrary Character, they have, all along, been common. So it was with the MONTANISTS of old ; with the GERMAN-ENTHUSIASTS, in the beginning of the Reformation ; and with the FRENCH-PRO PHETS, within the Memory of many now living : And fo it was with the QUAKERS'. They had their Name indeed from the treiiibling and /baking PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 8r ordinarily fell into, as though they were all over convulfed ; Nor can there be given more re markable Inftances of Groaning, and Foaming, and Roaring, than from thefe People ; Whereas, if we turn our View to the more fober Pan of Chriftians, we {hall be at a lofs to find Examples in this Kind. A noted Writer on the Times f feems to have been at a pritty Deal of Pains to collect -\lnjian- ces : But how few has he been able to produce, though he had the whole Chnflian World before him, for more than Seventeen Hundred Tears 1 Nor are thofe he has brought to View fo much to the Cafe as might have been expe&ed. ' The firfl Inftance is of a Jingle Perfon, the exellent Mr. BOLTON, * " who being awakened * f by the Preaching of the famous Mr. PERKINS^ " was fubjeft to fuch Terrors as threw him oil. " the Ground, and caufed him to roar with An- ff guifli ; and the Pangs of the New-Birth in " him were fuch^ that he lay pale and without * f Senfe, like one dead ; as we have an Ac* t count, in the Fulfilling of the Scripture, the jth and not literally ; as where the LORD is faid to have run upon him as a Giant ; where he is faid to have been taken by the Neck and fhaken to Pieces : As alfo where his Body is reprefented as feemingly dead, without Senfe, Blood^ cr Heat. The Idea intended to be conveyed is not, fc That the Pangs of the New-Birth in him were fuch, as that he lay pale, and without Senfe^ like one dead." i e. According to the Letter of thefe Words, and as is commonly the Cafe in thefe Times. The Meaning is evidently this^ and only this, that his Diftrefs was fo great, and of fuch Continuance, that it had a vifible Effefil on his Body, to 'make him look pale, and like one in a languid, State. And if any fhould be difpos'd to think, the Spirit of this Author's Words is ra ther to be regarded than the Letter, when he fpeaks of Mr. BOLTON, as beat to the very Ground* and roaring for Grief of Heart, I don't know that they would be to blame ; efpecially, as fuch a Conftruftion of his Words is the only one, that would, perhaps, have been thought of, if it- had not been for what has happened among ourfelves* He, no Doubt, defign'd to exhibit this Gentleman as an Inflance of one, who was in great fpiritual G 2 Diflrefs, 84 Things of a ted PART I; Diftrefs ; but that he mean't any Thing further, is not, to me, fo evident as to be beyond Dil- pute* Nor is this Kind of fpiritual Trouble uncom mon, in Refpe6l of Perfons of a like Character with Mr. BOLTON, before his Concern for his Sins. For 'tis obfervable, and particularly remark'd by the Fulfilling of the Scripture f, that he was " e- " minently prophane ; a horrid Swearer ; and (f much accuflomed to mock at Holinefs, and thofe (f w/jo moft fhined therein ; "particularly , that excel- " lent Man of GOD Mr. PERKINS." The Writer " of his Life adds *, that " he loved Stage-Plays, " Cards and Dice ; was a Sabbath -Breaker, a " Boon-Companion, and one that for the Sake of Mo- f( ney had actually accepted of a Motion to go over (f to the Church of ROME." And has it not been ufual, in all Ages, for fuch great Sinners, when brought to a Senfe of their Sins, to be greatly pained in their Minds ? There is nothing Jingu- lar in the Cafe of Mr. BOLTON, unlefs, accord ing to the Letter of the Words, he roared out, and was thrown down to the Earth ; which, as I faid, can't certainly be collected from the Man ner of fpeaking us'd by the Writer of his Life : Though if it could, it ought to be remembred, his Concern lafted for many Months ; and by this continued Prefllire on his Spirit, his Body was reduced to an ill State, and it might be thus with his Mind alfo. And under thefe Circumftan- ces, though his Trouble was of a divine Origin^ there might be a Mixture in it of human Weak- fiefs. It might be owing to himfelf, and not to f Page 231, 232. * Page 12. 14. thd PART. I. and dangerous Tendency. 85 the SPIRIT of GOD, its arifmg to an undefirableEx- cefs : Which is quite different from what is fuppofed to be the Cafe in thefe Times ; viz. That 'tis by the immediate Power of the HOLY GHOST, that fuch Fears are excited in the Minds of Perfons, as that they are, at once, ftruck to the Earth, or forc'd to f cream out. Mr. GEORGE TROSS ( "who of a notorioufly vi cious, profligate Liver, became an eminent Saint, and Minifter of the Gofpel") is the next Inftance of a Perfon in " Terrors, occafioned by Awa kenings of Confcience ;" and thefe are faid ff to have been fo over-pouring to his Body as to deprive him, for fome Time, of the Ufe of Reafon." I have carefully read over the Life of TROSS, written by himfelf ; and he was not only " for a Time deprived of the Ufe of his Reafon," but to a great Degree ; and it was thrice repeat ed : Nor does it appear, that his Diftraftion was occafioned by Terrors too great for his Brain ; but feems rather to have had iRife from an ill Habit of Body, and this, perhaps, bro't upon him by his own Follies : f Nor do I remember, he was ever in any extraordinary Terrors, unlefs where 'tis evident, from his own Account, that he was not himfelf. And very obfervable are the Words, in which he relates his Deliverance out of his horrid State of Mind.*" But at Length, " through the Goodnefs of GOD, and by his " BleJJlng upon Pbyfick, a low Diet, and hard keep- Page ibid, f I fpeak thus only in general ; becaufe I don't chufe to publifh to the' World what Mr. TROSS has done himfelf, His life, Page 63. G 3 ing, 86 Things of a bad PART L f ing, I began to be fomewhat quiet and com- (f pos'd in my Spirits ; to be orderly and civil " in my Carnage and Converfe, and gradually to " regain the Ufe of my Reafon, and to be a fit ** Companion for my Fellow-Creatures/' I mall add here, though fomewhat out of Place ; this Mr. TROSS, in the Time of his De- liquium, often heard Voices, and was much given to Jlrange Impulfes ; upon which he makes this Remark f, " I am perfuaded, that many of the * f Quakers, formerly, were deluded by fuch Voices e ipeaks of fome only whofe Cafe this was, not many. And he tells us, in general, how long it was they went without a full Supply of thefe Recruits, and does not leave the Matter at large. It was, in that Day, according to him, a fweet eafy Thing for Chriflians to go 30, 40 Miles, to the folemn Communions, and to continue there from the Time they came, till they returned, with but little of thefe Supplies ; and this, in Regard of SOME, without their feeling the Need thereof, their Souls were fo filled with a Senfe of GOD ; which bina Modeftia frangas. Duel, non trahi, volunt Ho mines. Lib. 4. Epift. Pag. 916. And in another Letter, Evangelizatum, non maledi&um, miffus es. Condono, imo lando, Zelum : Modo ne defideretur Manfuetudo. Da Operam, me Prater, ut Spiritum meum exhilares, hoc Nuncio ; quod inTemporefuo Vinum et Oleum infundas : quod Evangeliftam, non tyrannicum Legiflatprem pneftes." Lab, 4. 956. PART I. 0rf dangerous Tendency, 91 which is no incredible Account, unlefs they tar ried longer., or eat, or drank, orjlept, in a lefs Pro portion, than need be fuppofed. The Story of CATHERINE BRETTERGH, I pafs o- ver with this Remark only, that if nothing had appeared in tbefe Times, but what is here record ed of her, I believe no ferioas Perfon would have cried out of Wildnefs and Diftr action ; tho' .perhaps, they might have thought, there had been, in fuch Inftances, fome Mixture of that which is Humane. Thefe are the Inflances brought from the Fulfilling of the Scripture : And I Ihould have had, I own,, a much better Opinion of them, if the Author had not betrayed, by many of the Stories contain'd in his Book, a Turner Mind, too eafily difpofing him to a Belief of Jlic& Extra- ordinaries, as few befides himfe.f would have re lated to the World : Nor can I account for it, that, among all the wonderful Things he has recorded as Examples of a prophetical and apoftolic Spirit, not fo much as one is mentioned ; unlefs it was thought, the mentioning of tbefe might have lefien'd the Credit of the whole. This Gentleman now prefents us with a Letter from his honoured Father, wherein we are told, from a Letter he faw, which carne from SCOT LAND, that at the Preaching of a Sermon in EDIN- BURG, the People were fo affe&ed, that there was a great and loud Cry through the AJfemhly. And if the Faft be allow'd, is it poffible, from fuch a general Account, to form a Judgment, as to its true Origin 1 1 hat there have been Out- fry s in Congregations, in diverfe Parts of the Wo:ld, 92 Things of a bid PART I. World, and at diverfe Times, every Body knows that is acquainted with the Hiftory of the Church. The Author of the wonderful Narrative has mentioned a confiderable Number of fuch ; but an Accouut of thofe Out-crys are here expefted, which may juftly be fuppofed to be of a Divine Rife. And can this be determined, unlefs we know fomething in particular, of the Means, Manner, and afier-Effefts ? "Tis impoffible. And the fame may be faid of what is further related a- bout the famous Mr. ROGERS of DEDHAM in ENG LAND ; tho' he was fuch a Speaker, that if, under his Preaching, People had fometimes cried out, it ought not to be at once concluded, that it was owing to the extraordinary Power of GO/X For this is an Effett, Voice and Action may fome times produce, as we (hall fee by and by. The Account from Mr. FLAVEL, I leave as it ftands, with only faying, that good Men may differ in their Sentiments as to the Caufe of fuch Effefts ; and if any (hould think, they are not to be wholly afcribed to a divine Influence, I would not be too peremptory in faying, their Judgment was not according to Truth. The Perfons " in NORTHAMPTON, and fome of the neighbouring Towns 9 who formerly cried out, and fell down," I never heard of 'till now : Nor of thofe, " whofe Flefh waxed cold and benum- med, whofe Hands were clinch'd, and their Bo dies fet into Convulflons ;" Neither do I think, that fuch Accounts tend much to the Credit of Religion. But PART I* and dangerous Tendency. 93 But thefelnftances notwithstanding, and the wo/2 that can be made of the foregoing ones, it muft be own'd, that fuch bodily Effetts as have prevail ed in the Land, have always been rare among fober Chriilians : Whereas, They are the my Things, by which, thofe of another Complexion have, ever been diflingtiifiied. Whole Volumes have been wrote containing Accounts in this Kind : And whatever Jirange Effetts, upon Men's Bodies, have been common amcng us, the fame have been common alfo among this Sort of Perfons, in all Parts, and Ages, of the World : Nor is there any Fa6t more notorious in the Hiftory of the Church. But this I mention only as a Circumftance worthy of Confederation with fome others, that: are to follow. W 7 herefore to go on, The Way in which thefe Fears have been excit ed, in many Places, is not, in my Opinion, the beft Evidence in Favour of them. People have been too much applied to, as though the Preacher rather aimed at putting their Paffions into a Fer ment, than filling them with fuch a reasonable Sol- licitude, as is the Effect of a juft Exhibition of the Truths of GOD to their Underflandings. I have myfelf been prefent, when an Air of Serioufnefs reigned vifibly through a whole Congregation : They were all Silence and Attention ; having their Eye faflned on the Miniffcer, as though they would catch every Word that came from his Mouth : And yet, becaufe they did not cry out, or fvooon away, they were upbraided with their Hardnefs of Heart and rank'd among thofe who were Sermon-proof, Gofpel- glutted ; and every Topic made Ufe of, with all the Voice and Acti on the Speaker was Mailer of, to bring forward & general Shriek in the Affembly ; Nay, in or der 94 Things of a bad PART L der to give the People a plain Intimation of what he wanted, this fame Preacher fometimes told them of the wonderful Effects wrought by the Sermon, he was then preaching ; how in fuch a Congregation, they were all melted and diflbl- ved, and in another 'fo over-poured, that they could not help f creaming. out $ or falling down, as though they had been ftruck dead. Nay one of the Preachers, in this new PFay, was fo open fome Months ago, as in plain Words, to call upon the People to cry out, and plead with them to do fo : This he did three feveral Times in "one Sermon, and had upon it fo many loud Cries. And 'tis too well known to need much to be faid upon it, that the Gentlemen, whofe preaching has been moft remarkably accompanied with thefe Extraor- dinaries, not only ufe, in their AddrefTes to the People, all the terrible Words they can get toge ther, but in fuch a Manner, as naturally tends to put weaker Minds out of Pofleffioii of themfelves* A Friend in the Country, in a Letter to me, up on thefe Matters, exprefles himfelf in thefe Words, " Under the Preaching and Exhortati- * c ons of thefe Itinerants and Exhort ers, ( the " Manner of which is frequently very boiflerous tt and {hocking, and adapted to the belt of their " Skill to alarm and furprize the Imagination l(t and Paffions ) 'tis no unufual Thing for Per- cc fons to be plunged into the utmoft Anxiety ff and Diftrefs, which is often attended with a ( Trembling of the Body, fainting, falling down, " &c. The Preacher now frequently grows tf more tempeftuouc, and dreadful in his Manner " of Addrefs, and feems to endeavour all he can " to increafe, and fpread the rifing Confternati- " on, and Terror of their Souls ; which, by this " Means, is fometimes fpread over a great Part f PART. I. and dangerous Tendency. 95 of an Affembly, in a Tew Minutes from its ( firfl Appearance. I have feen the ftruck ( as " they are called ) and diftreffed brought toge- in the moft terrible Manner and t( Language ; the poor Creatures fainting, fcreacb- " ing and bitterly crying out under them. You ( < may eaflly think, what Terrors of Imaginati- " on, Diftra6lion of Paffions, and Perplexity of " Thoughts, they endur'd. I was laft Summer " at an Evening Lecture, at a neighbouring Pa- " rim, at which, one of the moft famous Preach- < ( ers in the new Method carried on. He had en- " tered but a little Way in his Sermon, ( which " was delivered in a Manner fufficiently terrible) " when there began to be fome Commotion a- f mong the young Women. This infpir'd him t( with new Life. He lifted up his Voice like a (f Trumpet, plentifully poured down Terrors up- " on them. About half a Score of young Wo- " men were prefently thrown into violent hifteric <( Fits. I carefully obferved them. When he (f grew calm and moderate in his Manner, tho* Things of a bad PART I. by one capable of making Obfervation, and who bears as unblemifh'd a Charafter as moft Mmiftcrs in the Country. Agreable whereto is the Account we have printed in the BOSTON Poft-Boy f; in which the Writer^ fpeaking of the Itinerant Preachers, among other Things, obferves > f( Their main Defign in " preaching, feems not fo much to inform Men's " Judgments, as to terrify and affright their Ima- ff gination ; by awful IVords and frightful Repre- he called for all the Dif- " treft Perfons ( which were near twenty ) into " the foremoft Seats. Then he came out of the " Pulpit, and flripped off his upper Garments, t( and got up into the Seats, and leapt up and < ( down fometime, and clapt his Hands^ and cri- fc ed out in thofe Words, the War goes on^ (C the Fight goes on, the Devil goes down, the < f Devil goes down ; and then betook himfelf s< to ftamping and /creaming moft dreadfully. " And what is it more than might be expefted, to fee People fo affrightned as to fall into Shrieks and fits, under fuch Methods as thefe ? Efpe- cially, when they have firft been potted of the Notion, that the Perfons who make Ufe of them, are Men of GOD in an extraordinary Senfe ; as being fent immediately, as it were, to deliver his MeiTages to them. The Mind is now pre^ I pared to receive almoft any Impreffion from this | Kind of Perfons ,* and 'tis no Wonder^ if^ by i their terrifying Voice and Action, People are thrown | into Agitations and Convulfions. I doubt not, but the divine SPIRIT often ac companies the preached Wordy fo as that, by his Influence, Sinners are awakened to a Senfe of Siri, and filled with deep Diftrefs of Soul : But the lleffed SPIRIT muft not, at Random, be made the Author of all thofe Surprifes, operating iri flrange Effefts upon the Body, which may be feeri among People. They may be produced other' Ways ; yea, I truft, that has been already faid, which makes it evident^ they have actually been produced, even by the wild and extravagant 1 Vondutt of fome over-heated Preachers* H &' M loo Things of a bad PART. L It will, doubtlefs, be here faid, thefe Out-cries have fometimes arifen, when no other than the great 'Truths of the Gofpel have been urg'd up on the Confciences of Sinners ; and this, in a becoming Manner, and by Preachers who have not been noted, either for the Loudnefs of their Voice, or the Boifteroiifnefs of their Action. In Reply whereto, I deny not but this may have been the Cafe : But, at the fame Time, think it worthy of Notice, that thefe bodily Ef fects were, at FIRST, produced, fo far as I can Jearn, ONLY by fuch Preachers as were remarkable for their terrible fpeaking, both as to Matter, and Manner : Nor do I remember an Inftance, in the Country, of Out- cries, by any other Sort of Preachers, 'till the Noife of fuch extraordinary Ef fects, as Arguments of an immediate divine Power, in one Place and another, had alarmed the People, and made many of them think, it was neceflary they alfo mould be in like Circum- ftances. Befides, when thefe Out-cries have been effec ted by your more moderate Preachers, (which, by the Way, comparatively fpeaking, has been a rare Thing ) have they not begun with one or two only, and from them been propagated to o- thers ? Nay, have not thefe, from whom they took Rife, ufually, been fuch as were before ac- cuflomed to the Way of J Ir earning out ? And were they not, at firft, brought to it, under a more terrible Kind of Preaching ? I believe, upon Examination, this will be found to be nearly the Truth of the Cafe. I PART I. and dangerous Tendency, lox I ftiall only add further, ' that however diflin- guiihed the Minifler who has preached has been, for his exemplary Piety, and fowling Gifts ', however agreeable to the Mind of CHRIST he has delivered the Truths of the Gofpel ; and however warmly he may have addreft him- felf to the People's Paffions, if he wan't before known to have been a Favourer of thefe Outcries, j, he has not produced them : Nor do J believe, ! an Inflance can be given in the Country, of their being brought forward by any Minifler, of whom the People had a Sufpicion, that he did npt like them : ' Which to me, is not the belt Argument of their being fo wholly owing to the divine Fo-wer, as fome may be too ready to imagine. But to proceed. Another Thing that very -much leflens my Opi nion of thefe religious Fears, with the ftrange Ef- fecls of them is, that they are produced by the ; Exhorters ', and this, in all Parts of the Land ; and it may be^ in more numerous Inflances, than by the Miniflers themfelves. And if thefe bodily Agitati ons arife from the Influence of the SPIRIT, when produc'd by the Miniflers, they are lo when pro duced by the Exhort ers. . The Appearance is the fame in both Cafes ; the like inward Diflrcfs is effe6led, and difcovers it felf in like Cryings and Swoonings : Nor is there any Reafon to think well, in the general, of the one, and not of the other. And yet, fome of the bed Friends of this Work, both .among the Clergy and Laity, think ill of thefe Things, as brought forward by the Ex- horters : Nay, one of the greateffc Friends to the good Work, among the Miniflers in Town, freely declar'd concerning one of thefe Exh oners, who c^ine into, this Place., and began the Qui ll 3 arics 102 Things of a bad PART I. cries we were before Strangers to, that he feared the Hand of Satan was in his coming here to throw Difgrace on the Work of GOD ; fug- gefting, that the Wonders wrought by the Magi cians in Egypt were, to all Appearance, like the Miracles wrought by MOSES. I fee no Reafon for fuch a Remark. The vifible Effects of this young Man's exhorting here, and in the neighbouring Town of DorchefttFy were jufl the fame that are wrought by the mofl famous Preachers in the new Way : And where there is no difcernable Dif ference, there is no Ground, in Reafon or Scrip ture, to fpeak well of the one, and ill of the o- ther. Such are certainly inconfiftent with them- felves, who attribute thefe Extraordinaries, as bro't forward by the Exhorters, to a Spirit of Delufion, or Enthufiafm, or any other inferior Caufe, ; while they can't bear to hear a Word faid againft them, when they are the Produce of thofe who are call ed Minifters. For my felf, I put them both on the fame Foot, as fuppofing they both arife from the fame Caufe : Only, the Appearance of thefe Things, in the fame Kind and Degree, when the Ex barters are the Carriers on, admin ifters jufl Ground of Fear, whether they are, in general, fo much owing to the extraordinary Influence of the divine SPIRIT, as fome may be too ready to i- rnagine. If they are not owing to the wonderful Operation of the HOLY GHOST, when the Exhorters are the Occaflon of them, they may eafily be ac counted for, when produced by others : And it can't well be fuppofed, there fhould be the ex traordinary Concurrence of the bleffed SPIRIT with thefe Exhorters. For who are they but fuch, concerning whom the infpird dpoftle has faid, Not a Novice left be be lifted up qtitb Pride, and fall into the Condemnation of the Devil ? Who are PART L and dangerous Tendency. 103 are they but fuch, of whom the fame Apoflle fays, they walk diforderly, working not at all, but are Bufie- Bodies ? With Refpedl to whom, he gives Com mandment by the LORD JESUS CHRIST, that with Quietnefs they work and eat their' own Bread. "Who are they but fuch, as fet themfelves up in Cppofition to their Pajlors^ though found in the Faith and of a good Converfation, contrary to the Order of the Gofpel, and to the Difturbance of the Churches ? And can it be thought, that GOD would countenance the Conduct of this Kind of Perfons, by extraordinary Teflimonies of his Pre- fence from Heaven ; and this, while they are in a Method of acting that dire6tly contradicts his own Appointments ? Befides, may it not be faid of thefe Exhortersy in the general, that they are very Babes in Understanding, . needing themfelves to be taught which be the firfl Principles of the O- racles of GOD ? That they are over-forward and conceited , taking that upon them,, they have neither a Call to, nor Qualifications for ? Yea, is it not too true of fome of them, that they have aled under the Influence of an over-heated Ima gination ; -or what is worfe, from low and bafe Views ? This is now fo evident, that there is no Room for Debate upon the Matter. And of all Men, thefe, I fhould think, are the mod un likely to be diftinguim'd with the extraordinary ft\ fence of the HOLY GHOST. \ There is yet another Thing that makes it look as though thefe Terrors might arife from a lower Caufe, than that which is Divine ; and that is, their, happening in the Night. I don't mean, that there han't been Out-cries in the Day Time ; but the Night is more commonly the Seafon, when thefe Things are to be feen 3 and in their greateft H 4 Per- 1 04 Thing of a bad PARTI. Perfeftion, They are more frequent, and more general, and rais'd to a higher Degree, at the Night Meetings, when there are but two or three Candles in the Place of Worfhip, or they are wholly in the dark. I have often, in Converfa- tion, heard this Remark made by thofe, who have been in the Way of thefe Things , and the fame Obfervations I find in the Letters that have been fent me. Says one, fpeaking of thefe Extraordinaries, " They are more in the Night than in the Day :" Another, " They operate mod flrongly in their Night Meetings ; " Ano ther ftill, " They never happen'd [this mufl be underftood of the particular Place, he is giving an Account of] to any confiderable Degree, 'till the Darknefs of the Night came on." And why fhould thefe ftrange Effetts be more frequent, and general, in the Gloominefs of the .Night, if they were produc'd by the Agency of the Divine SPI RIT ? Does he need the Advantage of the dark to fill Men's Hearts with Terror ? This is certainly a fhrew'd Sign, that there is more of the Humane in thefe Things, than fome are will* ing to own. We know every Thing appears more difmal in the Night : Perfons are more apt to be ftruck with Surprife and Conflernati- on : And as this is a good Reafon, it may be the true one, why a doleful Voice, and fright ful Managements may take Effe6l more in the Night than at other Times. Tie Subjects ^\fo of thefe Terrors may lead us to make the like Judgment about them ; and thefe are Children, Women, and youngerly Perfons. Not that others han't been wrought upon. In- flances there have been of Men ; and thefe, both middle-aged, and advanced in Tears^ who have both PART L and dangerous Tendency. 105 both cried out, and fallen down : But 'tis among Children, young People and Women, whofe Paffions are foft and tender, and more eaiily thrown into a Commotion, that thefe Things chiefly pre vail. I know, 'tis thus in thofe Places, where I have had Opportunity to make Inquiry. And from the Accounts tranfmitted to me from Friends, in other Places, it appears to have been fo among them alfo. The Account I have from one Part of the Country is, " The Operation is principally among Women and Girls m " From an other, *' The Perfons wrought upon were gene rally Women and Children ;" From another, " Thefe Effects have been moil frequent in Wo men and young Perfons." And are not thefe the very Perfons, whofe Paffions according to Nature, it might be expected, would be alarmed ? If young People are, in a moral Senfe, more like ly to be wrought upon by Divine Grace, than old, I fee not that this is the Cafe with Refpe6t to Women in Diftinclion from Men. Men may as eaiily be overcome by the Power of the HOLY GHOST, as Women ; and arc as likely, in a mo ral View of the Matter, to be fo : And what ihould then be the Reafon that they fliould be, as it were, overlook'd, and Women generally the Perfons thrown into thefe Agitations and Ter rors ? It certainly looks, as tho' the Weaknefs of their Nerves, and from hence their greater Lia- blenefs to be furpris'd, and overcome with Fear, was the true Account to be given of this Matter, Moreover, the Way in which thefe Terrors fpread themfelves is a Circumflance, that does not much favour their divine Origin. They feem to be fuddenly propagated, from one to an other J0 5 Things of a ted PART I. other, as in a great Fright or Conflernation. Ti.ev often begin with a Tingle Perfon, a Child, cr Woman, or 10 f Appearances in this Kind, I have often had an Account of from thofe who have been prefent at them ; and as begun by one or two Perfons at fir (I : And where this has been the Cafe, there is no great Difficulty in finding out the Caufe * Numb. 391. f- I ihould not have inferted this Account, it looks fo txtravag or uttering extatic Ex- (f preflions of Joy> of the Love of CHRIST, and M of Love to him ; of Concern for the Souls ff of Sinners^ and the like. Many People refort- f ed to lee them, for whom, and efpecially for " thofe they fuppos'd were out of CHRIST, they ff would frequently pray with great Earneftnefs, (( and> to all Appearance, Engagednefs of Mind ; ff to whom they would alfo addrefs themfelves ** in awful Warnings, moving Perfwafions, and f( pathetic Exhortations, in which they would (e life fome Expreflions, from whence it feem'd f( that they fuppos'd themfelves to have a fpecial f Commiflion, or endow'd with fome fpecial Autho- rity; fuch as CHRIST has fent me> CHRIST has f bid me fay , and do,fo andfo. And indeed many " People, efpecially thofe of their Party, feemed ff verily to believe that they were infpir'd, and ff did ever pretend to juftify the Separation from cc the Authority of their Word, as though divine. * c And they not only us'd many unwarrantable ff Expreflions, but made flrange Declarations, as ff that they bad been to Heaven, had feen the Book fc of Life, the Names of many Perfons of their Ac- ff quaint ance wrote in it ; that they had fecn the (f Seats of the Blejfed, and their own Seats empty, ff and the like. Many more Things they laid fe and did of the like kind, which the Time will " not allow me particularly to relate. In the nor whole, confifts in Raptures, fe Exiafies, Vifions, enthufiaflic Infpirations, but in * f the Effeft of the Power of the SPIRIT of GOD " on the Souls of Men, by and according to his ff Word$ both of the Law and the Gofpel : " And thofe who charge thefe Things on them " who have aflerted, declared and preached it ( < according to the Scriptures, do it probably ta * e countenance themfelves in their Hatred of them, and of the Work itfelf." He ffill adds, " Where by Reafon of Diftemper of Mind, Difor- " ders of Fancy, or long Continuance of diflrefT- ff ing Fears and Sorrows, in and under fuch pre- " paratory Works of the SPIRIT, which fometimes f( cut Men to their Hearts in the Senfe of their Sin, and finful loft Condition, any do fall into u Apprehenfions or Imaginations of any Thing (f extraordinary in the Ways before-mentioned, if " it be not quickly and ftrittly brought to Rule, atii *' difcarded thereby, it may be of great Danger to " their Souls, and is never of any folid Ufe or Ad- " vantage. Such Apprehenfions jfor the moft Part " are either Conceptions of diftempered Minds, and (l difcompofed Fancies, or Delufions of Satan tranf- f forming himfelf into an Angel of Light, which the " Doftrine of Regeneration ought not to be ac- * e countable for." Very obfervable alfo are the Words of our famous SHEPARD to the like Pur- pofe. Says he *, " There may be in a falfe " Heart, a ftrange Knowledge of CHRIST without P. 57,. 58, PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 137 " Sin, Moderation of Paffion, holy Guidance of f the Tongue , in Works of Mercy, Juftice, *< and Truth ; in Fidelity, Painfulnefs in ones << Callings, confcionable converfing with Men ; " in Reverence to Superiors, Love of our Ene- mies, an open-hearted, real, fruitful Affection- atenefs, and Bounty to GOD's People ; in ? f Heavenly-Mindednefs, Self-Denial, the Life of ^ Faith ; in Difefleem of earthly Things, Con- tempt of the World, refolute Hatred of Sin ; ** in approving our Hearts in GOD's Prefence, < c a fweet Communion with him, comfortable *< Longing for the Coming of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, &c." And is this the Effett of the Joy that lias been fo common in thefc Days ? I cannot fuppofe, any will venture to fay, it has generally been fo. The contrary hereto is evident to all who have Eyes to fee ; and if they don't fee, 'tis becaufe they Ihut their Eyes againfl the Light. This, in Part, has been made to appear already : And 'twill be more undeniable^ the further we go on in this Difcourfe. I {hall only add, upon the whole, two Paflages, which are well calculated for the Inftruftion and framing of thole, who pretend to high Joy in thefe Times. The one is from the great Mr P HOWE. Says he, * fpeaking of the Joy of the true Chriftian, " It is a modefl humble Exaltation, ** a ferious fevere Joy ; fuitable to his folid, fla-< * f ble Hope. His Spirit is not puffed up, and f His Bookj the Bleffednep of the righteous. P. 444^ J38 Things of a bad PART L " fwollen with Air ; 'tis not big by an Inflation, " or a light and windy Tumor ; but 'tis really " filfd with effectual Pre-Apprehenfions of a " weighty Glory. His Joy exceedingly exerts it < felf with a Jteady lively Vigor, equally remo- fe ved from vain Lightnefs and Stupidity, from " Conceitednefs, and Infenfiblenefs of his blefled (f State. lie forgets not that he is lefs than the * 4 leaft of GOD's Mercies, but difowns not his *' Title to the greateft of them. He abafes him- felf to the Duft, in the Senfe of his own Vile- " nefs ,* but in the Admiration of divine Grace, ec he rifes as high as Heaven. In his Humilia- (f tion, he affects to equal himfelf with W&nns 9 (i in his Joy and Praife with Angels. He is never " unwilling to diminlfti himfelf, but afraid of " detracting any Thing from the Love of GOD, " or the Iflues of that Love." The other is from the celebrated Mr. BAXTER. *' GOD, fays he *, muft give us Joy itfelf, as " well as aiford us Matter for Joy : But yet " withall it muft be remembred, that GOD u doth work upon us as Men y and in a rational u Way doth raife our Comforts. He enableth by a Deportment of themfelves contradictory to the Gofpel, I fhould have found no Fault with any Representations of them as bad Men ; nay, dangerous Enemies to the Kingdom of CHRIST : For I am clearly of the Mind, that a vifibly wick ed Minifter is the greateft Scandal to Religion, and Plague to the Church of GOD : Nor is it a Hurt, but a real Service to the Caufe of CHRIST, to ex- pofe the Characters of fuch, and leflen their Power to do Mifchief. But the Cafe is evidently 4ifferent, where the Profejfion of Minifters, and their Things of a bad PART L their Character, fo far as appears, agree with one another : 'Tis now an Abufe of them, and an Injury to the Church of GOD, to infinuate Suf- picions fagainfl them ; much more, plainly to fpeak Evil of them. And may it not be faid of the Body of the Minifters, in NEW-ENGLAND, that they are a Set of Men, as found in the Faith, and of as good a Life, as any Part of the Chriftian World are favoured with ? Hear the Opinion of that eminent Man of GOD, Dr. COTTON MATHER upon this Head. Says he,* in Anfwer to a Slander of GEORGE KEITH'S, upon the Mini* Jlcrs of NEW-ENGLAND, (f There is not that Spot " of Ground upon the Face of GOD's Earth, f which can proportionably match NEW-ENGLAND u for Minifler s, that not only have, and ufe all ff true Piety, but are alfo moft exemplary for it. * c No Man becomes a Minifler in our Churches, 16 'till he fir ft be -a Communicant ; and no Man " becomes a Communicant, until he hath been fe- " verely examin'd about his Regeneration, as well " as his Conversation. If any Minifler do misbe- " have himfelf, he foon hears of it, and becomes " either a Penitent, or a depofed Man. Let this * wicked SHIMEI find fo much as one ungodly Man, " allow 3 d as a Minifler, in. any one of our Church* " es ! : - Neighbours, you are bleft with Mini" flers that excel in Piety ; and you are very " unjuft, if you do not fupport and honour them, " You have Reafon to be thankful for fuch " holy, humble, able, painful and prayerful Mi- nijlers, as GOD has generally bleft thefe Churchef with : And I exhort you, as you would See his Book entitujed, Quakerism, difflayd, P. " approve PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 143 " approve your felves worthy to wear the Name " that was begun at ANTIOCH, that you do not forget that Command of our LORD, Heb. 13-17. " Obey them that have the Rule over you, andfubmit " yourfelves ; for they watch for your Souls" There are yet other In/lances of uncharitable Judging in this Gentleman. The fame Spirit ap- pears in his Journals, which are gone forth into all Parts of the Land ; but especially, in his Letters, reprefenting ArchBp. TiLLoTsoN,as hav ing no more true Christianity than MAHOMET. It would be going too much out of my Way, or I could | cafily mow, wherein he has greatly abufed thb \ A. Bp ; more efpecially, in ibme Things he has given the World from Dr.EowARDs, without care fully reading ( as I charitably hope ) the Paflages quoted, as they lie in the A.Bfis Writings. But fuppofing the A.Bp. did not in all Things think exactly with Mr. WHITEFIELD, muft he at once be as bad as a TURK ? As ignorant of the Fun damentals of Religion ? As much without GOD and CHRIST, and beyond Hope ? Will Mr. WHITE- FIELD fo far aflume to himfelf the Prerogative of the SON of GOD, as to determine, that the Things contained 'in the A.Bp's Writings are ab- ifolutely inconfiftent with an upright Heart, a fin* \ cere Defire to know and do the Will of GOD ? And that 'tis impoffible, the all-merciful GOD, fliould, according to the Tenor of the Gofpel, ad mit him to Favour ? It appears to me flocking Boldnefs, in any meer Man, thus to place him- I felf, as it were, in the Throne of CHRIST, and denounce the Anathemas of GOD againft his Fel- low-Chriflians : Nor can I conceive how this IhouJd be, where there is, in Exercife, a juft Senfe Things of a\>*& PART 1 Senfe of a Man's own utter Inefficiency to fit ift Judgment upon the State of others. The only Thing I can fay in Excufe for Mr. WHITEFIELD is, that he was young in Tears, and Chriftian Experience, as well as of raw Acquaintance with Divinity, when he wrote thefe Letters : And as it has been common for Perfons, in thefe Cir- eumftances, to fpeak and write with Rafhnefs and Indifcretion, and fo as to do Mifchief to the In- tereft they would ferve ; fo when they have come to riper Years and Judgment, and a better Knowledge of the Difficulties in many Points of Divinity,, they have often feen their Error, and repented of their Condu6l : And to this, I believe, this Gentleman will be brought, as he has been in fcme other Inftances, if he ever thinks upon the Matter as he ought. Let me add here, as a further Reprefentatlott of that monftrous Sprit of cenforious Judging that has been let loofe upon the World, a few of the Words of Mr. SEWARD ; which I the rather chufe to infert,. becaufe they are the Words of one of the deareft and moft intimate Friends Mr. WHITEFIELD had, and relate to the Cafe of the d.Bp. Says he in his Journal f, (C I wrote fe-< " veral Letters.- I told him, fome few of the f Clergy admitted our Brother into their Pulpits, < ( but that moft of them were violent Oppofers,. ** efpecially fince our Brother has fo openly con- *' demned AJ$$. TILLQTSON; that, bleffed b' f SeGtheBofton-Ewnrng-PoftiNttmb. 280. where thefe Paffages are extracted from Mr.SE WARD'S Journal. ?! GOD, PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 145 " GOD, that DECEIVER was at laffc difcovcred, tf and our Age muft have been grofiy wicket., < utrnofl Bitternefs, the doleful Cafe of the poor v Church of GOD upon this Account." But this Gentleman, I would hope, is now become more charitable. His Letters, in the .pub lick Prints, cer tainly avow fuch Principles as are a virtual Retrac tation of a great Part of this Sermon ; though I could wifli he had mentioned the Sermon by Name, and own'd his over-Zeal when he wrote it. This he has done to a private Friend in this Town ; and if he had done it to the World, I am fure, he would hereby have honoured himfelf, and might have given Check to thofe uncomfortable Heats and Animojities, which this Sermon has had fome Influence in fomenting, in one Place and another. After Mr. TENNENT, there arofe a eonfiderable JSTumber of other Itinerants, who weat for:h in the Spirit of Bitternefs, fowing the Seeds of Dif- ' and Uncharitabknefs all over the Land. The La r 150 Things of a bad PART I. Writer of the Letter in the Numb. 365, obferves of them, (e that the Engine " which they artfully manage is that of Detrac- <( tion : Accordingly, in every Place where they " come, in the Courfe of their Perigrination, their " grand Bufmefs is to perfwade the People, that " their Ministers are unconverted, to alienate their " Affe&ions from them, and thereby utterly to " deflroy their Ufefulnefs among their Hearers. *< From which Practice it is very juft to infer, " that there is a Defign carrying on to fubvert e and ejeft the ftanding fettled Minifters." He goes on in the next Paragraph, ce The Minifters " of this Land, I have often faid, and continue (C ftill of the fame Opinion, are a Set of Gentle- cc men, as found in Principle, and exemplary in their C Converfatiun, as any of the like Number, in the " Chriftian World : And I confefs, it has fome- c times rais'd in me the highefl Indignation, ( to hear them revil'd in fo publick and outragi- " ous a Manner, even in the Prefence of fome ff of the mofl grave and eminent Divines among " us." He ftill adds, " It has been no final! c Surprife to me, when I have fometimes feen *< in thefe Aflemblies, a Number of grave and " lerious Men, Members of our Churches, wha *' could hear thefe imjuft and hard. Speeches belch- cc ed out againft their own proper Paftors, not only " with Patience, but with Pleafure. At the fame < c Time, if you were to ask thefe Men, they ff would tell you that they highly efteem aud value " their own Minifters : But can this be poflibly " true ? Will any one believe them, while they " not only carefs, and adore the Itinerants, but ce continually pamper their Bodies, clothe their Sacks, *' and fill their Pockets." PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 151 I have my felf been Part of a crowded Ajjembly, when one of thefe Itinerants has mentioned the prefent Bp of LONDON by Name, and uttered it with a Voice like Thunder, " That if the People of his Diocefs mould come up to all that he pre- fcribes in his paftoral Letters to them, and be the very Perfons he would have them, they would not- withflanding as certainly be damn'd as the Blble^ he then had in his Hand was the Word of the e- ternal GOD" At the fame Time, I heard him fray for the Minifters of BOSTON, fonie of whom he as freely intimated in his -Prayer to be in an unconverted State, as if he had been their author!/- ed Judge. And in a Letter to me, giving an Ac count of the Condu6l of this fame Gentleman, the worthy Writer mentions fome Things, he was an Ear-Witnefs to, which expreft the groj/eft Uncha- ritablenefsy not only towards the Colleges in gene ral, but the Governours of them in particular : And, at the fame Time, he heard him publickly fay of A.Bp TILLOTSON, " That when he wrote "'his printed Sermons, GOD knew he had not a " Spark of faving Grace : And if he was not con- " verted afterwards , he was now weltering under the " fcalding Drops of GOD's Wrath In Hell, there to * f remain a Monument of his Vengeance throughout " Eternity." But the mod remarkable Inftancc, in this Kind, is the Rev. Mr. JAMES DAVENPORT of SOUTHOLD. He travelled, fays the Letter to the BCSTON- Poft-Boy, Number 391, from STONINGTON to NEW-HAVEN, about 80 Miles, and condemn'd almofl all the Miniilers ; particularly, that finning Example of Piety, and Pillar (f our Cbur- ches, the aged and venerable Mr. ADAMS, and commanded his People to withdraw from him : L 4 "'And (( 1 5 2 Things of a bad PART L f c And accordingly a Number of the Communi- " cants withdrew from him, as being 'a carnal, old " Pharifee." This was objected to him by the Minijiers in BOSTON, when ne came to this Town, iome Months ago., as fent by GOD, to preach here. He own'd the Fact ; , as alfo, that he had fad out a few Minutes Converfation with Mr. ADAMS before he publickly expreft his Fears of his le : ig an -unconverted Man ; and that the Ground of his Judgment of him as unconverted was, u his " not finding that he had had Experience of a (f Hatred of GOD, and of extraordinary Comforts and " jy s -' When that- had been obferved to him, by one of the Miniflers, which tended much to the Honour of Mr. ADAMS ; another took Oc- cafion to ask him, whether he had felt no Unea- fineis in his Mind, when he reflected on the un- 1 happy Effects of his condemning Mr. ADAMS, and adviiing the People to feparate from him, in the Contention and Divijion it had brought forward in NEW-LONDON : His Reply was, f 'That he had of ten thought of the Matter with Thankfulnefs to GOD, who had made him faithful," and gave Glory to GOD for this his notorious Uncharitable- r*efs, in the Face of all the Minifters. I have now by me Accounts of the Jlrange Spirit of raft? and uncharitable Judging^ this Gentle- wan has discovered in many Places where he has been. Some of them I ihall think fit to infers here. The firft is dated, SAY- BROOK, Auguft 25. 1741, /nd is in the following Words, " On this. Day, f; che Rev. Mr. JAMES DAVENPORT of SOUTHOLD, " came to che Chamber of WILLIAM HART of SAY- f ? BUOOK, Pallor of the firjl Church there, and " ask'd PART I. and dangerous Tendency 153 ask'd him, whether he was willing that he, the *' faid DAVENPORT, fhould preach in his Pulpit that f( Day r Upon which faid HART told him, that ff there were fome Things in his Conduct, which " he defir'd to inquire and receive Satisfaction " about, firfl of all; to which faid DAVENPORT " confenting, it was inquir'd of him, among o- e had f@ many come out from among " the unconverted Mmiflers." Near an Hundred " prefent. And one of the Grand Jury declared to his FeJ- lows, that he heard Mr. JAMES DAVENPORT fay loft Monday, " That the Minifters of the Toivn of ^ BOSTON knew, nothing of JESUS CHRIST ; and M 4 iba* 1(58 Things of a bad PART' I. " that they ivereferving the Inter eft of Satan" But this wan'c fworn to in Court.'* I may add, that fince the Date of the above Preferment, and the Oaths relative to it, Mr. DAVENPORT has often fpoken of ALL the Miniflers in Town, as in a Combination againfl the LORD and his Anointed, meaning, I fuppofe, himfelf ; And as though this wan't enough, he has, in his public* Prayers and Preachments, mentioned the moft, if not all of them by Name, as unconverted Men, and folemniy warned People to feparate from them, and not dare to attend on their Miniftry : And this he did, after having the Inanity to go. to them all, one by one, to enquire into their fpiritual State : Though I am glad, I am able to declare, that they all, except two or three, were fo far from entring into Converfation with him upon that Head, that they chaftis'd his Infolence, and fe- verely teftified againft fuch an unheard of Con- duel:. 'Tis a Rule with this Gentleman, if a Man won't give him an Account of his Chrifiian Expe riences., to look upon that alone as a dark Sign, if not a fare Evidence, of his being in a carnal State. No Wonder then the Minifters in Town were condemned by him, But enough has been faid, and fome, perhaps, may think, a great Deal too much, upon the Un~ charitablenefs of fome of the chief Ivftruments of the religious Stir there has been in the Land. I go on to obferve, that this fame Spirit has been generally propagated all over the Country, a- mong the common People ; infomuch, that I mall not exceed the literal Truth, when I fay, that there never was a Time, fmce the Settlement of PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 169 NEW-ENGLAND, wherein there was fo much bitter and rafb Judging ; Parents condemning their Children, and Children their Parents f,- Husbands their Wives, and Wives their Husbands , Maf- ters their Servants, and Servants their Mailers ; Minifters f I fndl, as an Illuftration of this Cenforioufnefs^ infert here fome Part of a Letter, Wrote to me by a Friend, upon his own Knowledge. Sa)s he, " 'Tis remar- " "table* thofe, who were faid to be ft ruck with " Convi&ion, immediately feem'd to be filiM with *' a cenfuring and judging Spirit againft almoft all o- " thers ; Children againit their Parents, Servants a- " gainft their Matters ; declaring them to be in 2n " unconverted State. One In ft a net among many " others, I fhall mention. There was a young Wo- * c man about 15 Yeais of Age, who fell under this *' Conviction, and for about four Hours together " fte,in this Manner,exhorted. At firft, fhe began * c with her Father, and told him, fhe could fee the ct Image of the Devil then in his Face, and that he " washing Poft-haile down to Hell ; and that all " the Prayers he had ever made in his Family weie ' nothing but Abomination in the Ears of the Al- 4 mighty, and that all the Counfels he had ever gi- " ven her, had no better aTendency than to inftrucl: *' her,how (lie fhould pleafe the Devil ; and that both *' he, and hfs Wife, were no better than the Devil. 44 Many fuch Inftances there were of Children con- *' demning their Parents. And many old Perfons 44 alfo, though, as well as the Parents above, Per- ** foiis of unblemifh'd Characters, a good Profefli- * on, fober, and Lovers of Religion, were called, and ' by Children too, old Hypocrites, Heirs of eternal ' Damnation, going the Road that would lead them ** to Hell, &c." I have other Letters by me from whence I could tranfcribe like Account^ were it needful. j 70 Thing of a bad PART I. Minifters their People, and People their Minifters. Cenforioufnefsy to a high Degree, is indeed the con- jlant Appendage of this religious Commotion. Where- ever it takes Place, the Subjeftj of it, too gene rally, are uncharitable to Neighbours, to Brethren of the fame Community, to Relatives, to Minijlers in an efpecial Manner ; yea, to all the World that are not in their Way of thinking and fpeaking: And what may be worth a Note, the Places where this Appearance has been mofl remarkable, have common ly been mofl filled with Uncharitablenefs, in all the Expreffions of it. It would take up too much Room to relate the bard Speeches, the monjlrous Sayings which have been uttered among us ; and this, not in a Jin* gle Place only, but in mofl Towns throughout the Provinces, where there has been any Thing con- iiderable of this Commotion : Nay, to fuch an a- bominable Height have fome fuffered their Uncbari- tablenefs to rife, that they have declared, they would as foon have Communion with the Devil, as with many, both Mimjlers and People, againft whom they have yet nothing to fay, but that they don't judge as they do about the prefent Times. Some of the moft valuable Minifters in the Country, meerly on this Account, have been call'd all the bad Names one can eafily think of : Nor have even thofe efcaped, who, for 20, 30, 40 Years, have fo caufed their Light to mine before others, as that they have feen their good Works, and might have learn't from their good Example to glorify our Father in Heaven. And as the Effeft of this Spirit, there is a very great Appearance of Contention and Strife, which, if GOD don't mercifully interpofe, will endanger a Breach PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 171 Breach in all the Churches in the Land : Nay, feparate Meetings are already begun in one Place and another. Two have been fee up in this Town of BOSTON ; another, at NEWBURY ; another, at NEW-LONDON ; another, at NEW-HAVEN $ another ^at MILFORD ; and others flill in fome other Places '; And there are a Number in CHARLES- TOWN, in DORCHESTER, in MILTON, and elfewhere, who han't Charity for their own Pajtors fo much as to hear them preach ; though they have ob tain 'd a univerfal good Character, not only for their minifterial Gifts, but for being Examples to their Flocks, in Word, in Conversation, in Charity, in Spirit, in Faith, in Purity : Nay, I verily believe, there is not so MUCH AS ONE MINISTER IN THE WHOLE LAND, but the Minds of many are fo prejudiced againft them, on one Account, or another, as that their Power to do good is hereby greatly Jeffened. The Things I have here mentioned are no Se~ crets : They are notorious, and mud be evident to all who have Eyes to fee, and Ears to hear : And fo far will the more zealous among our new Converts be from difowning them, that they will ra ther glory in having it faid, that they have come out from unconverted Minijlers and Churches ; imagin ing, they have herein complied with the Com mand of GOD, which fays, Come out from among them, and he ye feparate ; and ye fhall be my People, and I will he your GOD. Some may, if they pleafe, call this Spirit of Cenforioufhefs, operating in Clamour, and Strife, and Schifm, an Accidental Effect only of the Revival of a good Work ,; but from what has been faid, de- fcriptive. of the Temper and Conduct of the mam Ivftruments 172 Things of a bad PART I. Injlruments in beginning,and carrying on this PFork, it appears with a Meridian Luftre, that it is no o- ther than their Spirit, wherein it was bad, propa gated to others. And fuch Effetts may always be expefted from fuch Caufcs ; They are no other than their natural and genuine Produce : And 'tis, to me, one of the flrangeft Things, that any fhould be at a Lo(s to determine otherwife. But let thefe Effects be produced how they will, they are certainly very pernicious ones ; and mud be accounted fo by all, who make an Eilimate of them from the Scripture. Our SA VIOUR is not more exprefs in cautioning againfh. any , Vice whatever, than this of uncharitable Judg ing. JUDGE NOT, is his peremptory Prohibiti on ;f and weighty is the Argument with which he backs it ; viz, That if we judge, we /hall be judged. Men will judge us, who are feldom want ing in this Kind of Retribution, but difpos'd rather to give full Meafure, prefled down and running over. But what is much worfe, GOD will judge us. And don't we need his Pity and Mercy ? Shan't we otherwife be cafh in the Judgment ? And can we expecl any other, while we are hard and fevere in our Treatment of our Brother, and ready, without due Allowances, to condemn him ? And very folemn is that Chal lenge ^ the Apoftk makes to all who are given to raft Cenfure, * Who art thou that judgeft another Mans Servant ? Our Brother, we judge, is GOD'S Servant j not ours. While therefore we call him to the Bar of our Judgment, we invade GOD'S Prerogative, exercife an unjuft Jurifdiftion. over f Mat, 7. j. * Rom. 14. 4. his PART I. and dangerous Tendency , 173 his Servant ; a Power we have no Right, nor Bufmefs to ufe. Who art thou that judgeft another Mans Servant ? What Pretence haft thou to do thus ? Who made thee a Judge ? Who gave thee this Power over another Man's Servant ? He Jlandeth or falleth to his. own Mafter. He only can acquit or condemn him ; the Right of thus judging is his, and belongeth not to another. Thou art therefore inexcusable, Man whoever thou arty that judgeft thy Neighbour ; for herein thou takeft that upon thee, which thou haft no Claim to , herein thou fetteft thy felf up, as it were, in the Room of the Almighty, and art guilty of the Arrogance of afting as tho' thou waft in his Stead' I know, in fome Cafes, it may admit of Dif~ pute, what is uncharitable Judging : And fo it may, what is Intemperance, or Injuftice, or Opprejfion, and the like. But this does not argue, but that in o- ther InftanceSj, the Intemperance or Injuftice may be fo evident, as to leave no Room for Debate upon the Matter. And this is the Cafe with Re- fpe6l to the Judging that now prevails. If there is any fuch Vice, it now takes Place : Nor can it eafily be imagin'd, wherein Men could be more grofly guilty of it. This Prohibition of our SAVIOUR was never, I believe, more outragioufly trampled upon, than it now commonly is by Multitudes of thofe, who call themfelves good Chriftians. In Refpe6l of many, 'tis as plain, they live in the Breach of this Law of GOD, as that any do in the Breach of the Law of Temperance or Right eoufnefs. And it ought to be confidered with all Seriouf- nefs, that uncharitable, cenforious Judging is a Sin as well as Intemperance or Injujlice ; and, per haps, as bad a Shi, if not a worfe : And it ought not 174 Things of a bad PART I. not therefore to be excufed. The fame Law-giver and Judge who has faid, thou (halt not fteal, or get drunk, has alfo faid, thou {halt not judge ; and x the Law is guarded with the like Sanction of Death and Hell. 'Tis' therefore dangerous to Men's Souls, to fpeak of this mifcheivous Vice as a humane Frailty only, a meer Imprudence, that will well enough confift with a Work of GOD in their Hearts. J Tis true, good Men may be betrayed into this Sin ; and fo they may into Drunkennefs, or Injujtice ; but if they allow themfelves in it, if they live in the habitual Pra6tice of it, it will as certainly damn them as if they hVd in the Practice of any other Sin. And they ought to be told the plain Truth. 1 am fure, the great St. PAUL plainly tells the Corinthians j when there appear'd the Want of Cha* rity among them, that nothing elfe, while they were deilitute of this, would avail to their Sal tation. He does not tax them with Imprudence cnly, but folemnly allures them, in the Name of the great GOD of Heaven, that all their other Attainments were nothing, that no Work of GOD could be wrought in their Hearts, if they were without Charity ; that Charity, of which he has given a large and beautiful Defcription, in the J3th Chapter of his firft Epiftle to them. And I leave it with the Conscience of every Man acquaint ed with the State of Things at this Day, whether this Charity, die genuine Effects of which, the Apo- file has here enumerated, is not as notoriously want* ing among us, as it can be fuppos'd to have been among the Corinthians. And is there any one Thing, in all the Reve lations of GOD, that is more particularly and fo* lemnly cautioned againft, than this Uncharitablenefs, difcovering it fell in Strife, Sedition and Schifm ? Arc PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 175 Are not thefe Effels of an uncharitable Spirit reck on 'd up among the Fruits of the Flejh f ? And are not fuch as do thefe Things exprefly, and as it were by Name, excluded the Kingdom of GOD*? Is it not peremptorily declar'd, that if we have bitter Envying and Strife, this Wifilwn defcendeth not from above ; but is earthly, fenfual, deviliflo^l How earned, and frequently repeated are the Calls in Scripture, To put away all Bitternefe, and Wrath, and Clamour, and Evil-speaking f ! How importu nately are Chriflians befought to be kind one to an- other, forgiving one another ; to live in Love, with all Lowlinefs and Meeknefs, with Long-fuffering and Forbearance ; endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace f f ! And are not all the Arguments made Ufe of to enfprce thefe In- treaties, that can be fetch'd either from Earth, or Heaven, or Hell ? And what is worthy of particular Notice, this Law of Charity is the Law of Christianity by Way of Eminence. This is MY COMMANDMENT (fays our SAVIOUR ) * that ye love one another, as I have love A you. And again f, A NEW COMMANDMENT give I unto you, that ye love one another : As I have loved you, that ye aJfo love one another. And 'tis by this, in a diftinguijbing Manner, that Men are to be known to be Chriflians. Says our SAVIOUR g, By this fhall all Men know that ye are my Difeiples, if ye have Love one to another. Nay, if Men do net love one another, neither do they love GOD. The Apo- . file is exprefs in this. \If a Man fay, I love GOD, f Gal. 5. 19, 20. * V. 21. g James 3. j/r [^ * E P h - 4- 31- tt Eph.A.2, 3. 5.32. i 15- 12. f Chapt. 13. 34. g John - 3 John 4. 20. 17ft i John 3, 10. * ^^772. 16. 17, 18. . their PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 177 their own Belly : And by good Word's, and fair Speeches, deceive the Hearts of the Simple : Which are gloifed upon, by the Continuators of Mr, HEN RY'S Expofitions, in a Manner well worth our No tice in thefe Times. " Thofe, fay they, who *' introduce and propagate dividing and offending " Notions, which are mod erroneous, or juftly " fufpe&ed ; who, out of Pride, Ambition, Af- " fe&ation of Novelty, or the like, caufelefly fe- " parate from their Brethren, and by perverfe (f Difputes, Cenfures and evil Surmifings, alienate * c the Affeftions of Chriftians from one another ; < f thefe caufe Divijions and Offences, contrary to, " or different from, the Doftrines which they have " learn' d. Now, Mark thofe that thus caufe Dim- (c Jions ; obferve them, the Method they take, f( the End they drive at. There is Need of a ," piercing, watchful Eye to difcern the Danger " we are in' from fuch People : For commonly tf the Pretences are plaiifible, when the Projects a are very pernicious. Do not look only at the < fomewhat ' like that of our LORD's Difciples, " who were fent forth before him into every *' City, whither he himfelf would come, so he *' fuppos'd himfelf oblig'd to follow the Dire&iont *' given them on that Occafion ; and accord- < c ingly, took, no Money with him, neither Change of * Apparel, nor Shoes, but was ihod with Boots : And " as he paft along through the feveral Pari/hes of * SOUTHOLD, he publickly declared, that he bad *' laid afide all Study and Fore- thought of what he " fhould deliver in his publick Speeches to the " People, (fome who heard him thought fo) and " depended wholly on the IMMEDIATE DIRECTION " OF THE HOLY GHOST, and that 'twas given him " In that Hour, from Time to Time, what he fhould ^ fpeak : Alfo, that he knew nothing where he " was to go next beforehand ,* but was IMMEDI- " ATELY INSTRUCTED as to that by the SPIRIT, " from Day to Day. From this Time likewife, " he took it upon him to judge and determine the *' fpirtiwl 'State of People with great Affurance ; * c in all which Things Mr. DAVENPORT concerted *' with him, and has ever ilnce, in a great Mea- ** fure, profeffed and afted accordingly, << From the Wefi-End of SOUTHOLD, Mr. BAR- cc BER'S Spirit led him to an obfcure Place about ^ twenty Miles forward, call'd the OLDMANS ; " where, at his Coming, he call'd the People to- *' gether, and fpake to them the fame Things he afi along declarU Here he abode fome Months, i88 Things of a \>*& PART I. " Months, refufing for a long Time to preach to " them any more, though often defir'd, as I was " informed about that Time : Neither could he " be perfwaded to remove thence, or return to delivered that very Day by being " received to Heaven. " I was my felf at SOUTHOLD flmdry Days, a- " bout fix Weeks after the firft beginning of tf thefe Things ; and then and there received the " Subftance of this Account, fo far as it relates to " Things trail fafted before my being there, partly " from Mr. D ----- T'S own Mouth, and partly from a " Gentleman of hisParifh of undoubted Credit, who " had the greaceft Advantages to know thefe " Things, perhaps, of any Man in the Place ; Mr. D -i then lodging at his Houfe. And all the " other Parts of it have been fo credibly related < c to me, and fo often confirmed, that I know no before hidden under the Difguife of that " Piece of Scripture Hiftory. " ing, that, at the Sound of his Rams-Horns, the " Watts of JERICHO might fall : And therefore, Cf that the Children might well know, that he had *' ufed thefe Exprejflions, and life them themfelves^ *& PART L e as firmly perfewded GOD would ajjlfl him, as he " was of the Truth of his own Exijhnce. [ This * c Way of fpeaking he generally us'd in fuch Ca- " fes] When he began to preach, he had neither * 6 Words nor Thoughts enough to go on ; but een defcribed to be. And notwithftanding thefe high- Encomiums of is Gentleman, by Mr. W D, T T, C L, and others that might be mentioned, he has been a6tually pronounced non compos mentis by the whole Government of CONNECTICUT.* The fame Opinion 1 2 Men, under Oath, had of him, here at BOSTON.! And the Minifters in this Town and CHARLESTOWN have declared it to the World as their Judgment, " That. he is a Gentleman much a6led by fudden '* Impulj'es, upon fuch Explications of the Holy " Scriptures to himfelf and his particular Friends, " Defigns and Purpofes, as they can by no Means " approve of, or juflify ; but muft needs think " very dangerous and hurtful to the' Inter eft of Re- " ligion ;" For which Reafon, among others, they were united to a Man inrefufmg him their Pulpits. After all, I deny not, but that Mr. D- T may have been the Means -of Good to Souls, i. e. Ac cident ally 9 and as the Tendency of his Temper and Conduft may have been overruled in GOD'S Govern ment of the World , for in the natural Courfe of Things, it led dire ft ly to Confufion and every evil Work ; And this has, in Fa6l, been the Effeft, more or lejs wherever he has gone. I pafs now to fome other Preachers of the fame Spirit I have been defcribing , among whom, if I ftiould again mention Mr, D -T, I hope the See the Account at large, in the BOSTON News- Paper, Numb. 1997. t Evening-Poft, Numb. 370. 5 Their printed Declaration. Reader 202 Things of a bad PART I. Header will forgive me ; efpecially, when he fees it to be a Matter of Neceffity, in order to my carrying his Thoughts up to the true Source of this Quaker i/h Turn of Mind, in all thefe Gentle* men, as well as thofe to whom, by their Means, it has been propagated. The Gentlemen I have in View, befides Mr. D T, are Meflieurs POM- ROY, WHEELOCK, ALLEN, BLISS , all of whom, it is generally known, are of one Soul, and have gone into the fame Method of Conduct : Tho' I believe Mr. D T has outdone them all. Thefe are the Mmifters (excepting Mr. BLISS whofe Re- fidence now is in thefe Pares) who have had the chief Hand in raifing the Commotions in CONNECTI CUT ; where fudden Impulfes and extraordinary Pre tences to the Spirit, have been more general (in Pro portion) and Extravagant, than in any of the other Governments, I have been at no fmall Pains to trace this Spirit in thefe Gentlemen up to its true Origin : And as, I think, it will reflect great Light upon the pre- fent religious State of Things in the Land, and be of publick Service, to communicate the Informations I have received upon this Head, I lliall here do it, without any further Apology. I mall firit tranfcribe a Letter, from NEW- MI LFORD, dated Nov. 16. 1742. This may feem at firft View to be remote from the Bufmefs in Hand ; but the Clofe of the Letter, together with what may follow, will open its Defign, and evidently ihew forth the Rife of the Enthiijiafm of the abovenamed Gentlemen. Jt is as follows, cf Dear Brother, Your's is before me, wherein you defire of me a Narrative of the Rife, Tranf- PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 203 // Miflakes, touching the SPIRIT* Influence. In the firft Days of the Gofpel, the dpoftles and many of the primitive Chriftians were under an ex traordinary Influence from the SPIRIT. They were fupernaturally help'd to fpeak without taking Tho't before-hand what they ihould fay, to utter them- felves- in Languages they did not underftand, to cad out Devils, heal Difeafes, and do many won derful Things. But befides this, there was, even in that Day, another Sort of Influence from the SPIRIT, forming Men to a Refemblance of the di vine Being in moral Holinefs, and fo a Meetnefs for the Glories of the heavenly World. And this is that Influence which is common to all Agcs^ and . . may be expected by Chriftians no-iv, as well as in the firji Times of the Gofpel. And hereby it is, that si 8 Things of a bad PART I. that Faith, Hope, Charity, Meeknefs, Humility, and all thofe other gracious Difpojitions are wrought in Men's Hearts, wherein the Image of GOD, the Power of Godlinefs, and the Life of Chrijtianity do truly corifift. This Influence of the SPIRIT does not confift in' fudden Impulfes and Impreffions, in ^jfeons, Revela tions, extraordinary Miffions, and the like ; but in working in Men the Preparations for Faith and Repentance, by humbling them for Sin, and {hewing them the Necejjlty of a SAVIOUR ; then by effeft- ing fuch a Change in them, as fhall turn them from the Power of Sin and Satan,, and make them new Creatures ; and in fine, by carrying on this good Work -begun, in them, enabling them to grow in Grace, and patiently continue doing well, 'till of the Mercy of GOD, thro' CHRIST, they are crown ed with eternal Life : All which he does in a Way agreable to our Make as reafonable Creatures, by his Blefling on the inflituted Means for the Accomplifliment of thefe Purpofes of Mercy. Accordingly, the Spirituality of Chriftians does not lie in fecret Whiffets, or audible Voices, or vi- fible Appearances ; it does not lie in the Ufe of more fuhlime and fpiritual Phrafes than are com mon among fober and good Chriflians ; it does not lie in immediate Revelations of Men's good Ef- tat'e, without the Teflimony of Conference upon thorow Examination, nor in fuch extraordinary Teachings of the SPIRIT as fetthem above the Scripture 9 or their own Endeavours,' in an Attendance on appointed Means : I fay, the Spirituality of Chriflians does not lie in fuch Things as thefe ; but in their being Partakers of a fpiritual Likenefs to the LORD JESUS CHRIST^ in Faith ; in Purity ; in Lowlinefs, and PART I. and dangerous Tendency. and Humility ; in Love to GOD, and our Neigh bours ; in Patience, Meeknefs and Gentlenefs ; in Contempt of the World, Contentednefs with their Condition, Refignation to God , and in a Word, a Zeal to honour him, and do all the good they can in the World. This is the Way in which Chri- ,flians are to be one Spirit with CHRIST ; and by this Spirit it is we know, that we dwell in him, and he in us : And in this Senfe it is, if any are led by the SPIRIT of GOD, they are the Sons of GOD ; and if any have not the Spirit of CHRIST they are none of his. Such, in whom is found the Fruit of the Spirit, Love, Joy, Peace, Long-buffering^ Gentlenefs, Goodnefs, Faith, Meeknefs, Temperance, are, properly fpeaking, fpiritual Chriftians ; And as this Fruit abounds more or lefs in them, fo are they more or kfs fpiritual. And this ought always to be the Rule of Judgment in this Matter. It may be common in thefe Times, for Chriftians to think themfelves fpiritual, not fo much accord ing to the fpiritual Change of their inner Man, in a Conformity to the Image and Will of CHRIST, as on Account of fome fuppofed extraordinary Mani- fejlations of the SPIR1 T 1 , by open Fifion, or fecret Impulfe, or immediate Perception. But 'tis a dange rous Thing for Men to judge themfelves to be fpiritual from thefe Things, which if they really experience, they may not be at all the better Men. And the Danger is the greater, becaufe when they once come to entertain high-fawn Notions of the SPIRIT'S Influence, and expedl to be immediately and extraordinarily inftrudled by him, 'tis great Odds but, by Degrees, they are led afide into Er ror and Delufion. 'Twould be no Wonder, if their Imaginations foon brought them, into fome Kind of Equality, with the Prophets and dpoftles of old, 220 Things of a bad PART I. old, and they ilionld be carried away with the Conceit of GOD's revealing himfelf to them, in a Manner not altogether unlike that of Infpiration. And if they iliould now look down upon others with Pity and Contempt, as Men in the Dark, not having the SPIRIT,' to whom the Things of GOD have not been inwardly revealed, and as guided by carnal Reafon, and fiefhly Wifdom ; it would be no other than might be expeft- ed. There are indeedjno Absurdities, either in Principle or Practice, but they are capable of falling into them ; Inftances whereof have been common in all Ages of the World.* Pertinent A remarkable Inftance we have lately had at NEW- LONDON, in the horrible Action performed there, under the Influence of Meilieurs DAVENPORT, and ALLEN ; a particular Account whereof was foon fent me by an able faithful Friend, and has fmce been confirmed, and is now generally known and ac knowledged to be the Truth. It is in the following Words. " An Account of the extraordinary Conduct of the " New-Lights at NEW-LONDON ; has doubtlefs be- " fore this Time reach'd you at BOSTON ; but having " been varioufly reprefented, the following Account tc (which may be depended upon) perhaps may not be c Party, came running and diverted them from it for " that Time. " The New- Light Minifters round about are at a " lofs how to conduct themfelves 3 and how to make " a PJaifter for this Sore. ' We are ready to hope, that God, who brings >c Good out of Evil, Light out of DarkneG, and Or- " der out of Confufion, by Means of thefe extraordi- >c nary Things, will open the Eyes of People, and by a folemn Decree, ordei'd 'Mr. PARSONS'S wonderful piece ( preach'd and !C printed at Bojtw ) into the Flames at New- London. 224 Things of a bad PART I, lowing Words, cc The Defign of Satan in thefe " Things is, to gain Credit to thofe Setts, as " People peculiarly favoured and beloved of GOD " above others, as if they were the peculiar Favour- " ites of Heaven, as DANIEL was , and fo to " draw the Multitude to admire their Perfons, and " efpoufe their Errors. The Remedies he has provided again ft ftich En- tlntfiafm are thefe three 9 with which i ihall clofe this Head. " i. Whatever Doftrine or Practice feeks Credit- " to itfelf this Way, falls juftly thereby underSuf. " picion, that it wants a folld Scripture -Foundation. " GOD hath not left his People to feek Satis- " faftion in fuch uncertain Ways as thefe ; but " hath given a furer Word of Prophecy, to which they do well to take Heed.} He hath tied us to the ftanding Rule of the Word, forbidding us to give Heed to any other VOICE, or SPIRIT, lead' " ing us another Way.* Serif lure -Light is a fafe " and fure Light, a pleafant and fufficient Light. " . The Scripture (faith LUTHER) is fo full, that as u for fffions and Revelations, nee euro, ncc dejidero, < I neither regard, nor defire them- And when <( he himfelf had a Fifion of CHRIST, after a Day where you will find the free Confeffion of ANN WELLS, MATTHEW HALL, &c. deluding the People of WHATFIELD, in SUFFOLK, with fuch pretended Voices^ Fifions, Prophecies, and Rgvt- Jations, the like to which have been fcarcely heard of in ENGLAND, fince the Reformation. Multitude were deluded by them. 226 Things of a bad PART I; " us cleave infeparably to the clear Word of Pro-, " phecy, the Rule and Standard of our Faitb and Duty." Another Thing that very much tends, as I ap prehend, to do Hurt to the Intereft of Religion, is the Rife of fo many Exhorters. A Stranger t< this Land, and the prefent Appearance in it, ma; be at a Lofs to know, who are meant by the] Exhorters : And I'm really amam'd to fay, that the Pcrfons pointed out by them, are Men all Occupations, who are vain enough to thin] themfelves fit to be Teachers of others ; Mei who, though they have no Learning, and butfmall Capacities, yet imagine they are able, and without Study too, to fpeak to the fpirituaf Profit of fuel as are willing to hear them : Nay, there are a- mong thefe Exhorters, Babes in Age, as well Underilanding. They are chiefly indeed youni. Perfons, fometimes Lads, or rather Boys : Nay Women and Girls ; yea, Negroes, have taken up on them to do theBuilnefs of Preachers. Nor has this been accidental only, or in a fingle Place, or at a private Houfe ; but there is fcarce a Town in all the Provinces, where this Appearance has been, but there have been alfo thefe Exhorters, in fmaller or greater Numbers : Neither have they contented themfelves to fpeak in the more private Meetings of Chriftians, but have held forth in the pub lick Congregations. This has lately been, and flill is, the State of Things in the Land, upon this Head. And how ever fome may have a good Opinion of the Ex hortations of thefe Perfons, and encourage them in this Bra6tice, 'tis certainly a very bad one,^ and portends Evil to thefe Churches. The PART L and dangerous Tendency. 227 The Apojlollck Canons, forbidding Women to fpeak in the Church, are fo peremptory, that not a Word can be faid in Favour of their Exhortati ons We mult give up all Pretence to the Scrip- jure as our Rule, if we may depart from it in a Cafe, wherein the Mind of CHRIST has been, in fo exprefs a Manner, made known to us. Read i Cor. 14. 34, 35, and i Tim. 2. n, 12 ; and then fay, whether their fpeaking in the Houfe of GOD, can be reconciled with thefe pofitive In- junctions to the contrary. And as to others, who abide not in their own Call ing, but take upon them the Bufmefi that is af- figrid to others, they throw the Body of CHRIST into great Diforder. For as in the 'Body natural there are various Members, adapted to vari ous Ufes ; fo 'tis in the myftical Body of CHRIST. All are not Apoftles, and Prophets ', and Teachers ; And if thofe who fuftain the Place of one Mem ber, will take upon them to aft the Part that is proper to another, what may be expeted but Confufion ? - But having largely -e^preft my Thoughts upon this Head, in fbme late Sermons that have been made public, inflead 'of 'repeating what I have already faid, or offering any Thing further of my own, I mall tranfcribe w*haf fome 0- j thers have delivered to the World, whofe Names, I know, are held, and juftly too, in great Venera tion in thefe Churches. The excellent Mr. GURNALL, in explaining what it is for Chriltians to ftand, among other Particu- ~ws, mentions this,* " To ft and orderly, it is re- quifite that we keep the Bounds of our Place * See his Difcourfes upon Eph. 6. 14. Page 4. <> 2 and 228 Things of a bad PART L " then I ihall think the immediate Calling they " pretend to is authentic. To be fure, we find " in the Word, extraordinary Calling, and extraor- " dinary Teaching, go together. Well, let us fee " what that erratic Spirit is, which carries many " out of their 'Place and Calling. It is not always " the fame ; fometimes its Idlenefs. Firft, Men " negleft what they floould do, and then are eafily " perfwaded to meddle with what they have no- " thing to do. The Apojlle- intimates this plainly, " i Tim. 5. 13. They learn to be idle, wandring " from Houfe to Houfe, and not only idle, but Bujie- " Bodies. An idle Perfon is a Gadder ; he hath " his Foot on the Threfhold, eafily drawn from " his own Place, and as foon into another's Diocefs, " He is at Leifure to hear the Devil's Chat. He " that will not ferve GOD in his own Place, the " Devil, rather than he fliall ftand out, will fend which made his Teeth water fo after " his Father s Crown, though this mufl filver over < his Ambition. Thefe Places of Church and State '* that never learned the Compafs, are rather to " be trufled, among Rocks and Quick-Sands, ' than PART L and dangerous Tendency. 235 u than a proud, ignorant Perfon with the Condu6l of Souls. " 2. What daring Prefumption is it to intrude " ourfelves into fo great and weighty an Employ- " ment, without any Call or Warrant of CHRIST"? " Rom. 10. 14. If every Phaeton, that thinks " himfelf able, fhall undertake to drive the Cha- *' riot of the Sun, no Wonder if the World be fet " on Fire. Gifts, and Abilities of Mind, are not " of themfelves fufficient to make a Preacher. " Some Lawyers at the Ear may be as skilful as " the Judge upon the Bench ; but without a " Commiffion they dare not fit there. " 3. The Honour you affect, to vent your un- " found Notions with Liberty, is, in Scripture- " Account, your greateji Difhonour. The Scripture " reckons falfe Teachers among the bafefl of the " People. The Prophet that teacheth Lies, he is the " Tail. i. e. the bafefl Part of the whole Body " of the People, Ifa. 9. 15. And fo far is due " Gofpel- Liberty from countenancing fuch danger ous Irregularities, that we find in a clear Prophe cy of Gofpel- Times, what Shame GOD will pour upon them. Zech. 13. 4, 5. They /ball be brought 'with Shame enough to confefs, I am no Prophet, I am no Husbandman, or Man taught to keep Cattle from my Touth. " 4. How much more fafe, regular, and advan- ts tageous were it for fuch as you, to fill your own " proper Places, under able and faithful Gofpel- " Mintfters, and to fuck the Breafls of fruitful Or- " dinances, than to confume and pine away by 46 fucking your own Breafls ? I mean, living upon a your a . cc cc cc (C 236 Things of a bad PART L cc your own weak and insufficient Gifts, in the fin* " ful Negleft of CHRIST'S Anointments ?" Worthy alfo of a Place here are the Words of the famous Mr. BOLTON ; and the rather, as they are admirably defcriptive of fome of the Exhorters of the prefent Day.* " Others there are (fays " he ) who may gloriouily pretend, and proteft " with great Bravery and Confidence, their At " fent and Affiflance to the beft and holiefl Cour- cc fes ; put on a temporary counterfeit Profeffi- " on, and fafliionable Conformity to the Commu- " nion of Saints, that thereby they may pafs ' more fairly and plaufibly, out of one Calling in- < - to another ; from a bafer, lower, more neg- " lefted, and toilfome Trade, into fome other of more Liberty, Acceptation and Eafe : Or elfe *< break out of all Callings ; and fo, by the un- " hallowed Myjlery of a f acred Cozening, if I may " fo call it, live upon their Profejfion ; and by a- ^ bufing the tender Consciences of i^eak Chriftjans, " with the controullng and countermanding Tyran- {i nies, as it were, of an affefted, furious Zeal, fuck " out of them no fmall Advantage^ and prey too plen- tif idly upon the People of GOD. Such as thefe " are ready to pretend, and intimate, that fuch c bafe, earthly, and worldly .Employment, and << fpending of their Time, is difgraceful, and de- rogatory to the Providence of GOD, and their Chrijlian Liberty ; that with unworthy Detain- ments, and Avocations, it interrupts them in < c the Purfuit of their general Calling ; difable.s " and hinders them in Difcharge of holy Duties. His general Directions for a comfortabfy with COD, P. 48, 49. . But: PART L and dangerous Tendency. 237 But let them know, that Chnjlianity, if found and " true, doth not nullify, but fahftify our particular " Callings. Thou oughteft to continue with Con- fcionablenefs and Conflancy in that perfona! Call- " ing, where thy Calling to Grace did find thee, if " it be warrantable and lawful." He proceeds in the next Paragraph, " If any Man then, upon giving up his Name " to Religion, (hall grow into Negleft, Diftafte, " or Dereliction of his honed particular Calling ; " we may ever Jlrongly fufpett him of Hollownefs and Hypocrify. It is the confident Conclufton of a very learned and holy Divine, * " Though a Man be endued with excellent Gifts, and be a- ble to fpeak well, conceive Prayer, &c. with fome Reverence to hear the Word, and receive the Sacraments ; yet, if he pra6Hce not the Duties of Godlinefs within his own Calling, all " is but Hypocrify." And a little onwards, " A " true Convert therefore is fo far from calling off " his perfonal Calling, that after his calling to Cbri- (< - ftianity, he is won't to difcharge the Duties ' thereof with far more Care and Conference, tho' " with a better Mind, more moderate Affeftions, and for a bleffeder End. 11 I cannot break off more pertinently than in the Words of Mr. BAXTER, which I can heartily re commend, as containing the very Advice I would give at this Day. f " dffbciation, fays he, breed- u eth Familiarity ; and Familiarity breedeth Love ; " and Familiarity and Love to the Godly doth PERKINS of Callings, P. 734. f His Works, Vol. 3. Page 203. " lead 238 Things of a bad PART I..- (C lead to Familiarity and Love to GOD and God-- " linefs. Ufe therefore often to meet together, be- " fides the more publick Meeting in the Congrega- " tion ; not to vent any unfound Opinions, nor yet " in Dlflajte of the publick Meeting, nor in Oppofi- tf tion to it, nor at the Time of publick Worfhip ; " not yet to make a groundless Schifm, or tofepa- u rate from the Church whereof you are Members ; " nor to deflroy the old, that you may gather a cc new Church out of its Ruins, as long as it hath " the EJJentials, and there is Hope of reforming " it ; nor yet would I have you forward to vent " your own fuppofed Gifts, and Parts, and Teaching ; (z nor to attempt that in the Interpretation of " difficult Scriptures^ or Explication of difficult Con- " troverfies, which is beyond your Ability, though " perhaps Pride may tell you, that you are as a- " ble as any. But the Work I would have you " meet about is this, to repeat together the Word or Method ; fo that iri on tf Meeting of two or three HourSj there: would u be, it may be, 20 br 30 .diftincl; Exercifes car- * ( ried on, by 5 or ID difliii6l Perfons ; fotb& " Handing in the, Pulpit, fome in the Body df * c the Seats, fome in the Pews, and fome up Gal- " lery ; and oftentimes, feveral of them would lf fpeak together : So that fome praying, fome and fo high were the People in their Opinion of it, as a, Sign of i Numb. 391. R 242 Things of a bad PART I. the extraordinaryPrefence of the SPIRIT with them, that if you talk'd with them to ihew them the Inde cency of fuch Carryings on, they would only pity you, and fpeak of you, as poor carnal Sinners, de- flitute of the SPIRIT, and in the broad Way te Hell. To fuch as may ftill be of this Temper of Mind, I have nothing to fay, as not thinking them fit Perfons to be reafoned with , and as to others in the fober Exercife of their Under/landing 9 the bare Relation of fuch Extravagancies is enough to expofe them ; efpecially, when* they are com- par'd with the like Dif orders in the Church of CO RINTH, condemned by the Apoftle PAUL,* and up on this eternal Maxim of Truth, That GOD if not the Author of Confufion, but of Peace, as in all the Churches of the Saint s.$ The laft Thing I {hall mention as of dangerous: Tendency, is that Spirit of Error which is gone forth into the Land. And here it will be neceflary to defcend to Particulars, under each of which I might eafily enlarge, but find my felf obliged to contract, left this Volume fwell beyond its in tended Size. The fiiil Error I would take Notice of, is that which fuppofes MinJjIett, if not converted, unca- pable of being the Inftrumenls of fpiritual Good to Men's Souls. Mr. WHITEFIELD very freely vent ed this Error. I have my felf been prefent, when he delivered that from the Pulpit, upon this Head, which I could not but think very unfafe ,* and, in what he has wrote, his Language is fuch as e- * i Cor. 14. 23, 26. V. 33. evidently PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 243 evidently tends to lead People into wrong. Senti ments about the Preaching of Minifters, if thought to be unconverted. His Words are thefe,:f " The " Reafon why Congregations have been fo dead, " is becaufe they have dead Men preaching to " them. For how can dead Men beget living " Children ? Its true indeed, GOD may convert " People by, the Devil, if he pleafes ; and fo " he may by unconverted Minifters. ., But I be- " lieve, he feldom makes Ufe of either of them " for this Purpofe.* No, the LORD will chufe " Veflels made meet by the Operation of the " BLESSED SPIRIT for his facred Ufe." And a few Pages onwards, g " I infilled much, in my Dif- " courfe upon the Doclrine of the New-Birth, < ' and alfo the Neceffity of a Minifter's being con- " verted, before he could preach CHRIST aright. ~ fto/, than dead Men can in the natural Senfe : Nor are they, any where in the Bible , compared to the Devil, and put upon a Par with him in Refpe6l of Unfitnefs, as Inftruments in the Bufinefs of Converfion, or the Likelihood of GOD's making Ufe of them as Inftfufhents in this Work. Suggeflions of this Nature are the Fruit of Men's own Imaginat ions, and not what they have fecch'd from that unerring Rule, the Scripture of Truth. Neither PART L and dangerous Tendency: 245 Neither does this Gentleman diilinguiili between vijible and real Converjion ; which is a very necef- fary Distinction in this Cafe. 'Tis readily own'a} VISIBLY unconverted Men are unfit to be Minfiers, and ought not to be fo. That is to fay, Men who are vtfibly unfound in the Faith, or of a bad Life, mould, upon no Terms, be admitted into the Mini/try ; or if, after they have been in the Mi- niffcry, this Ihould appear to be their Charafter, they ought to be turn'd out of it. But can this be truly faid of thofe who are vifibly, though not re ally, the Men it is required they fliould be ? By no Means. The LORD JESUS CHRIST has given his Church no Rule by which they can difcover fecret Hypocrify : And notwithffonding the clofeft Adherence to Scripture Diredlions, Hypocrites may be admitted into the Miniftry, and being admitted, can't but on vifible Evidence be excluded ; nay, as the Cafe may be, it would be an open Violation of the Laws of JESUS CHRIST to difplace them from their Office. And would CHRIST have fliffsred it to be thus, if Perfons vifibly holy, tho' not really and inwardly fo, might not be employ'd in the ffork of the Mlnlftry- ? If fuch were as unfit as the Devil for this Employment, and as unlikely to be us'd as Injlruments for Good to Men's Souls, is it poilible the compafflonate JESUS fliould leave his Church without fome certain Criterion, by which they might know, who were inwardly hypocritical when their outward Appearance was good, avid who were not ? And for Want of fuch a Mark, rnuft not the Minds of ferious, weil-ciifpos'd People, be in eternal Perplexities about their Minifters, as not being able to know whether they are. really .converted, and not having fnfficient Means to know ? R 3 The Things of a bad PART I. The Truth of the Matter, in fhort, is this ; VISIBLE ffolinefe is that alone, the Laws of JESUS CHRIST will ailow us to judge by ; and if Mini- flers are holy in this Senfe, they are to be treated as the Mlnlfters of CHRIST ; and People may in Faith attend their Preaching, hoping for a di vine Bleffing : Nor is it reafonable to think a merciful GOD would withhold his Bleffing, meerly becaufe the Preacher is not the Man Inwardly, he profefles to be outwardly. 'Tis indeed a downright popifb Prin* clple to make the Efficacy of Ordinances depend on the unknown fecret Holmefs of the Admlnljlrators of them. Agreable to thefe Sentiments is the following Article, in the WESTMINSTER Confeflton of Faithrf *' The Grace which is exhibited in, or by the Sa- " craments rightly us'd, is not conferred by any *' Power in them : Neither doth the EFFICACY " of a Sacrament depend upon the PIETY^ or Jn- " tent ion of him that doth adminifler it ; but up- " on the Work of the SPIRIT, and the Word of 1 L:jlitutlon, which contains, together with a Pre- * cept authorifing the Ufe thereof, a Promife of ^ Benefit to worthy Receivers." It may be worth a Remark, this Article has a Place, Word for Word, in the NEW-ENGLAND Confeffion of Faith, drawn up, own'd and confented to, by the Elders and Meffengers of thefe Churches, afFembled in Bos-? TON, May 12. 1660 ; being the fecond Seffion of that Synod* And confonant hereto is the 26th Article of the Church of ENGLAND. The Words are, ff Although in the vifible Church, the Evil f Chapter 26. Seft. 3, * Chapter 28. Se&, 3. be PART I. and "dangerous Tendency. 247 " be ever mingled with the Good, and fometime " the Evil have chief Authority in the Mlnljtrat'wn " of the Word and Sacraments : Yet, forafmuch " as they do not the fame in their own Name, but " in CHRIST'S ; and do mimfler by his Commif- " fion and Authority, ' WQ may ufe their Miniftry, " both in hearing the Word of GOD, and in receiv- " ing the Sacraments. Neither is the Effeft of " CHRIST s Ordinance taken away by THEIR WICK- " EDNESS, nor the Grace of GOD's Gifts diminifljecl " from fitch, as by Faith, and rightly, do receive the Sa- " eminent s miniftred to them ; which be EFEECTUAL " becaufe of CHRIST s Inflitution and Promife y al- " though they be minijlred by evil Men." Upon which I would obferve, This is one of the Articles, Mr. W- D fubfcritfd at his Ordinati on ; exprefling both his AJfent and Confent to it as the Truth of GOD : Yea, this is one of thofe Articles, he, fome Time before his Ordination, made Obfervations upon, and prov'd by Scripture, as he him- feif declares.* And as he has fo often publickly chaftis'd others for contradicting with their Lips, and Pens, what they had fubf crib' d with their Hands, I hope he will confider his own Conduct, and, for the Time to come, pay a greater Regard to this Article he has fubfcrib'd to as true, and proved to be Jo from Scripture ; or no more fault that in others^ for which he is to blame himfelf. The Words of Bp BURNET, in his Expqfition of this Article will come in pertinently here. Says he,f "TheOccafion that was given to this Article , See his Life, Page 40. f His Exfofu'wn of the 39 Articles, P. 295, 296* R 4 was Things of a bad PART L f< was the Heat of fome in the Beginnings f* of the Reformation ; who being much offend- ff ed at the public Scandal which was given by f the enormous Flees that were,, without any ff Difguife, praftifed by the Roman Clergy, did & from thence revive the Conceit of the DONA- *< TISTS, who thought that not only Herejy and '< Schifm did invalidate facred Functions, but that ?' perfonal Sins did alfo make them void." Upon which he thus argues., " Sacraments are to be < confidered as public Afts of the Church ; and f though the Effeft of them, as tq him that re- f celves them, depends upon his Temper, his f c Preparation and Application, yet it cannot be < c imagined, that the Virtue of thofe foederal Ats, *f to which Chriftians are admitted in them, the ** Validity of them, or the Blejfings that follow f c them, can depend on the fecret State or Tempe? ff of him that officiates. Even in the Cafe of pub- ^ lie Scandals, we muft diflinguiili between the K Things which the Miniflers of the Church do, $f as they are public Officers, and what they do as ^ they are private Chriflians. Their Prayers and < c every Thing elfe that- they do, as they are pri- *'. vate Chriflians^ have their "Effe6t only according ff to the State and Temper they are in, when they f c offer them up to GOD ; but their public Func- ff tioris are the Appointments of CHRIST in which f ' they officiate : ' They can neither make them " the better, nor the worfe by any Thing that " they join to them." He therefore concludes j f* This Opinion which was taken up, perhaps., " from an inconfiderate Zeal againil the Sins and ^ Scandals of the Clergy, is without all Foundation, " and muft needs caft all Men into endlefs Scru- f pies, which can never be cured." f ART I. and dangerous Tendency. 249 I {hall only add, this Error, which, among us, took Rife from Mr. W D, has been propagated to fo many, that 'tis now the prevailing Opinion among our new Converts, and I wim I could not fay, among fome of their Leaders alfo : And to fuch a Height are they grown in it, that the ivorft Names are not thought too bad to beftow upon many Minifters^ not becaufe of any Thing amifs in A furprifing Inftance of this, we have in Mr. TENNENT, notwithstanding his Character by Mr. WHITEFIELD, as a mighty charitable Man. Per haps, there cannot be produced, out of any Author, a greater Number of moie Jlanderous Names than he has freely beftowed upon the Body of the Clergy of this Generation. I fhall here prefent the Reader with a Lift of them, as they have been collected out of his Sermon at NOTTINGHAM, and publifh'd by the Synod at PHILADELPHIA. They are therein repre- fented as " Hirelings ; Caterpillars ; Letter- learn- ** fd-Pharifees ; Men that have the Craft of Foxes, *' and the Cruelty of Wolves ; plaijlered Hypocrites ; " Varlets -, the Seed of the Serpent ; foolijb Build- JUDAS'S, whofe chief Deftre is to finger " the Penny, and to carry the Bag ; murderous *' Hypocrites, that are to take Care left they feel the " Force of a Halter in this JVorld^ or an aggravated " Damnation in the next ; fubtle felfijh Hypocrite?, J c that ivwld not let one banejl Man come into the Miniflry 250 Things of a bad PART I. in their Doftrine, or Converfation, but becaufe they are pleas'd, in open Violation of the Chriftian Law of Charity, to look upon them as unconverted : And as to all ,fuch, however exemplary they may have been for the Purity of their Doftrine and Manners ; and this, for a Courfe of Years, they are fo far from owning them as true Miriifters, that they freely fpeak of them, as Pharifees, blind Guides, Solves in Sheep's Charting, Minijlers of the Devil, and what not. Which leads me to mention another Error naturally fpringing from this, viz. That which juftifies People in a Withdraw from thofe Minifters they look upon as unconverted, though found in the Faith, and of a vijible good Con- verfation. The many feparate Meetings in the Land are a Proof of the general Spread of this Error : Nor are the Gentlemen unknown, who have gone up and down the Country, preaching this Doctrine, andfpiriting People to Schifm and Faction. 'Tis- pretended, " they ought not to hear un- " converted Minifters" If fo, they ought furely ! to] " Miniflry if they could help it ; Swarms of Lo~ but it is deeply to be lamented, that now, when we are become many, and more able than at our Be ginnings, that Society^ and other inferior Schools, are in fuch a low and languifhing State. Wherefore, as we defire that Reformation and Religion fhould fiourifli, it concerns us to endeavour that both thzCsllege, and all other Schools of Learning, in every Place, be duly in- fpecled and encouraged. See the Refult of the Sy- n^l, afiembled Sept. 10. 1679. under the Anfaer to their fecond u eft ion. This PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 259 This fame Error was common in the Country, in former Times. It was then faid, they needed m Books but the Bible ; and inftead of ufing Learning, they rimft rely on the SPIRIT. Private Men's Prophefying became too much the Practice, to the Negleft and Contempt of the Miniflry. They pleaded, there was no Need of Learning in preach ing, and that one of them could by the SPIRIT do better, than the Minifter by his Learning ; as if the SPIRIT and Learning were Oppoiites : which is fo far from being the Truth, that Learning is a fpecial Injlrument, the SPIRIT ufes in the Bimnefs of Preaching. I have elfewhere iliown at large, the Sentiments of our Fathers upon this Head, and with what Faithfulnefs they teftified againfl: fitch Notions of the SPIRIT, as render 'd Learning z Thing ufelefs. I mall only add here, fome Words from the celebrated Mr. BAXTER, wonderfully adapted to the prefent Cafe. " It is (fays hef) a defperate " and deflru6live Conceit in any Man, to think, " that becaufe he hath the SPIRIT, he is therefore " more able to expound Scripture, or teach it to " the People, or underfland Controverfies, than " learned Men who have not the Spirit of Holinefs, " -And upon this Account, Men cry down bii- " man Learning, and Minlflers for efteeming it, " and cry up the SPIRIT, to a Ufe that GoD doth Cap. 2. And PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 277 And thus it was in this Country above an hun dred Years ago ; and in our Nation at the fame Time, and for many Years after. It was com mon to hear it then faid, " that GOD could not fee Sin in Believers ;" that " they were not o- blig'd to be forry for Sin, or to beg the Pardon of it, becaufe pardoned before committed ;" that " CHRIST by taking their Sins became as finful as they, and they by having his Righteoufnefs as i righteous as he ;" that " CHRIST has repented, and believed, and obeyed for them, and in their Stead, and therefore that they are not under O- bligations to thefe Things."* Bp HOPKINS ob- ferves it of thefe ANTINOMIANS, f " That they " think the Grace of GOD is fo free, as to fu- cc perfede all Neceffity of working for it, or with " it ; aud that it is enough for us to fit (till " and admire it, and fo to be hurried away to " Heaven in a Dream : Nay, fome have, upon " this Principle, arrived to that Height of Blaf- and we may be fure, we miftake their Meaning, if we interpret them fo as to make them daft with one another. Nei ther the Grace of GOD, nor the Merits of CHRIST, take PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 281 take away the Necejfity of a koly Life, in Con formity to the Preempts of the Gofpel : And 'tis fo far from honouring the Grace of GOD, -or the Merits of the REDEEMER, to fuppofe fuch a Thing, that it cafts Reproach upon them both. 'Tis to feparate between thofe Things, which GOD has join'd together, f. Men may, 'tis true, place good Works in the Room of CHRIST, or of divine Grace ; and fo they may, under Pretence of exalting CHRIST, and Grace, entertain the Notion as tho' good Works wereneed- lefs. And in either of thefe Cafes, Diflionour is J Worthy of Notice are the following Words of Mr. BAXTER. Says he, " If you fet up the Duties of " the Gofpel in CHRISTs Stead, you err. CHRIST " hath his Place and Work ; DUTY hath its Place * c and Work too. Set it but in its own Place, and Vol. i. Page 1678. * P. Ibid. V 2 ficatiw Things of a bad PART I. " ficatlon by our San$ification, is a Work that meets " with great and manifold Difficulties ; which " are the Things that mofl Chrifrians complain " of. (3) I alfo grant, that the Evidence of our t( Juftification in this, or any other Method, is " not eflential, and abfolutely neceflary, to the " being of a Chriftian. A Man may live in * c CHRIST, and yet not know his Intereft in him, (f or Relation to him, Ifa. 50. 10. Some Chri- " ftians, like Children in the Cradle, live, but mi- " derfland not that they live ; are born to a " great Inheritance, but have no Knowledge of " ic, or prefent Comfort in it. (4) I will further " grant, that the Eye of a Chriilian may be too " intently fixt upon his own gracious Qualificali- ff ons ; and being wholly taken up in the reflex ff A6ls of Faith, may too much negledl the dire ft " Acls of Faith upon CHRIST, to the great Detri- " ment of his Soul. " But all this notwithftanding, the Examinati- " on of our Jujlification by our Sanffification, is " not only a lawful, and poffible, but a very excel- " lent and necejjhry Work and Duty. 'Tis the 4C Courfe that Chriilians have taken, in all Ages ; " And that which GOD hath abundantly bleft u to the Joy, and Encouragement of their Souls. " He hath furniihed our Souls, to this End, " with x noble felf-reflecling Powers, and Abilities. " He hath anfwerably furniflied bis Word with " Variety of Marks and Signs, for the fame End " and Ufe. Some of thefe Marks are exclufive* " to dete6l and bar bold preftimptuous Pretend- " ers, i Cor. 6. 9. Rev. 21. 8. 27. Some are " inclujive Mark?, to meafure the Strength and : Nor is it any Wonder, if they have unhappily fallen injo Miilakes ; jufti- fying thofe Things, which, if they had feen in their true Light, they would have condemned. Nothing more tends to blind the Mind than Pre judice; and this, fome have been made fenfibleof, who could not be brought to believe, the Dif orders In the Land were fuch as had been reprefented, till Conviction was forced into them, by what they faw with their own Eyes, and heard with, their cwn Ears. I mall only fubjoin, in Confirmation of the a- bove Accounts, two public Testimonies, which I can't but think worthy of particular Notice. The firft is from the Government of CONNECTI CUT, in their Proclamation, this Year, for a general* which runs thus. By the honourable JONATHAN LAW, Efq; Go- .*' vernour and Commander in Chief, in and; " over his MAJESTY'S Colony of CONNEC- rf See Mr. EDWARDS'S Book, on the late Revival of Religion in NEW-ENGLAND. P.i88. TICUT PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 295 ort fome of the precious Fruits of the Earth by " the Drought in the Summer paft ; the ill Sue* " cefs of our Troops in the late Expedition againft tf the Spaniflj Weft-Indies, in which mofl of them " have peri/bed by Sicknefs ; the fearful Profpeft that " our Nation and all Europe may be involved in a " more general and bloody War^ which may prove *' much more fetal and di fluffing to thefe Plantations} t Tbingf of a bad PART I. the Miniftry thereof, and the prevailing of a Spirit of Error, Difurder, Unpeaccablenefs, Pride, Bitter- nefs, Uncharitablenefs, Cenforioufnefs, Difobedience, calumniating and reviling of Authority ; Divijions, Contentions, Separations and Confufions in Churches, Injustice, Idlenefs, Evilfpeaking, LafciviQufnefs 9 " and all other Vices and Impieties which abound a- *' mong us. " And that fervent Supplication be made toAl- u mighty GOD, that he would preferve and blefs " our Sovereign Lord King GEORGE, their " Royal High nefl"es the PRINCE and PRINCESS " of Wales, the DUKE, the PRINCESSES the ISSUE " of the PRINCE and PRINCESS of Wales^ and (i the reft 4 of the ROYAL FAMILY : That all " the public Affairs of our Nation may be under " the Conduct and Smiles of Heaven; that GOD " would direct and blefs his Majefty's Councils, u fucceed his Arms in the War he is engaged in ; " that he would mercifully interpofe to flill the " Jarrs and Confufions of Europe, to prevent the " Effufion of Chriftian Blood and the dreadful u Calamities" of a general War : That GOD " would fmile upon and protect the JSnf //& Planta- cc tions in America, and efpecially that we in " this Colony may have all our juft Rights and " precious Priviledges CIVIL and SACRED continu- " ed unto us inviolate : That GOD would blefs " our civil Rulers, and fucceed all their Admini- " ftrations for the Promotion of Juftice and Pro- " te6lion of Religion : That he would direft the tf Minifters of the Gofpel, heal their Divijions, and re- " jlore Unity and Harmony in their Sentiments and tf Practifes : That Religion might flourifh, and a " Work of Converfion, vital Piety and true Holinefs (6 might be powerfully carried on ; and that all Er~ PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 297 " rors, Cenforioufnefs, Divifions, Separations, Difor- " ders and Confufwns might ceafe and fuhfide in our " Churches ; and that Love, Charity, Peaceablenefs, " Meeknefs, Humhlenefs of Mind and other genuine " Fruits of the Spirit may be manifefl ; that Religion " might appear in its native Excellency and Beauty : " That GOD would blefs the COLLEGE, and preferve in.thefe Times , been apply'd to, as though the mairi Thing in Religion was to throw them into Difturbance? Can it be denied, that the Preachers, who have been the Inftruments of the Commotions in the Land, have endeavoured, by all Man ner of Arts, and in all Manner of Ways, to raife the PaJJions of their Hearers to fuch a Height, as really to unfit 'them, for the prefent, for the Exercife of their reafonabk Powers ? Nay, in or- -der to alarm Men's Fears, has it not been com mon, among fome Sort of Preachers, to fpeak and 'aft after fuch a wild Manner, as is adapted to af fright en People out of their Wits, rather than pof- ,, fefs their Minds of fuch a Conviftion of Truth, as is proper to Men, who- are endow'd with Reafon>. and Underflandmg ? And under the Notion of fpeaking to the Affe^wns^ were the Things of GOD and another World, ever preached with '\ more Confufion of Thought ; with greater In-j coherence ; with the undue Mixture of morel i * Ibid. P. 149. aud onwards. PART I. and dangerous Tendency. 333 rafh, crude, unguarded Expreffions , or with Conceit to a higher Degree, appearing in fulfome Self-Applaufes, as well as unheard of Contempt of others ? Thefe are Things of too publick a Nature to be denied : They have been too often pradlifed, and in Places of too^ great Concourfe, to admit of Debate. So that it's only reducing this Article of addreffing to the Paffions of People, to the Teft^of Faft, and it won't bear a Vindica tion : Nor can thofe who have complained of it be faulted, unlefs by placing their Complaint in a wrong Light. Another Thing that has been complained of is, " The fpeaking Terror to them that are already under great Terror, inftead of comforting " them." But this Complaint alfo is faid to be unjuft,-"* and in Order to {how it to be fo, the Way in which Terror ought to be difpenced to this Kind of Perfons has been opened,f with the Reftri&ions under which it mould be done. I am far from thinking, that what is here faid is unexceptionable ; but fuppofing it to be fo, what is it to the Point ? The Matter in Debate is, whether Terror has not, in Faft 9 been heaped up on Perfons already diftracled almoft with Terror,, in a Manner that juftly deferves to be blamed ? And will any, pretending to be acquainted with the late Managements in the Land, calmly deny this ? Has no Method, but that of a faithful Reprefentation of the Truth of the Cafe of fuch Perfons, been ufed to heighten their Fears ? Has not Voice and Aftion, even to an extravagant Ex- cefs, been too often repaired to ? Have no poor iftrefTed Creatures been praftifed upon, and this ,> Ibid. P. 156. f P. Ibid, and onwards. by .304 Things of a bad PART I.| by Numbers at a Time, and in Ways unfit to be mentioned, whereby their animal Nature has been thrown into the moft horrid Confufion ? I could mention a Plenty of Inflances in this Kind, but : that I rather chufe they Ihould be buried in per petual Oblivion. So that if this Article alfo be brought to the Truth of Faft, it may flill be com plained of with great Juilice. It has {till been mentioned as an Objection a- gainft the Times, " that there has been too great a Frequency of religious Meetings, and too much Time fpent in an Attendance on thefe Externals of Religion." But the Obje&ion, it is faid, is in the general groundlefs. f And why ? Becaufe *' 'tis fit, that, at fuch an extraordinary Time, " when GOD appears uriufually prefent with a madverfion on fome of thefe Excufes. It has been fuggefted concerning the bad Things of the prefent Day, taken colleftively, that they are only accidental Effefts of a good Work f. But how do we diftinguiih between accidental Effefts, and thofe that are natural ? Is it not by the Fre quency , and Uniformity of their Production ? If fuch and fuch Effe6ls are found, in Experience, to be the common and general Attendants of fuch and fuch Caufes, at one Time and another, in this Place and the other, don't we always fpeak of them as natural, and never as accidental only ? Yea, is not the Doftrlne of Caufes and Effects f Vid. Mr. EDWARDS'S Thoughts on the late Revi val of Religion in NEW-ENGLAND, P., 33. W 2 wholly 3o8 Things of a bad PART I. wholly founded on this Kind of Objervation and Experience ? And if, in this Way, we judge of the bad Things prevailing in thefe Times, can it be thought they are nothing more than accidental Effects of a good Caufe ? Will any pretend, that they are rare Produ6lions ? Or, that they have been peculiar to here and there a Per/on, in here and there a particular Place ? Is it not a known, unde niable. Faft, that they have appear'd in all Pans of the Land ; yea, in every Place upon the whole Continent, in a greater or lefs Degree ; and this, a- ipiong Perfons of all Ranks, Ages, Sexes, and Condi tions, who have been wrought upon in thefe Days? And have not thefe Effects been moft remarkably vifible in thofe, who have been fpoken of as the moil: remarkable Subjects of the prefer.t Operation ? Thefe are Truths that can't be difown'd. They are as evident as the Light filming at Noon-day. And is it poffible, if thefe Effects were meerly ac cidental, that they ihould be thus uniform, and al- mofl univerfal? We mufl give up out Underftand- ings^ before we can entertain fuch aTho't of them. It has been faid,* " more has been look'd for " from Perfons under the Operations of the SPIRIT, and hereby expoiing themfelves to. Con- )Sdemnation 9 the Devil's Punifhment. 'And the Apoftle certainly judged right in this Matter. For none |are more apt to be proud and vain-confident, than gthis Kind of Perfons ; as has been abundantly , verified in Fa6l, in thefe Times : And the Dan- is greatly increafed, when, together with the 8 i8 Things of a bad PART I. 'Newnefs of their Acquaintance with fpiritual Things, they are young, very young in Years. It's vaft Odds, whether the encouraging fucb Novices. to a6l as Minifters, won't be the Means of their- falling into fuch Miftakes, both in Judgment and Condutt, as may be deflruftive to themlelves, and the Intereft of CHRIST too. It's natural to expect Confufion, when meer Youths in Age, as well as Chriftian Knowledge and Experience, are invited into the Pulpit, and admir'd for their bold and ig norant fpeaking of Things they little ti n e'er flan d. And (hall the Want-of Years, and Knowledge, and Experience) in thefe Perfons, be pleaded in Ex- cufe for the wretched Miftakes and Follies they run into ? It ought rather to be urg'd as one of the ftrongeft Reafons, againft their "taking upon them the Bufmefs of the Mmiflry ; which would, at once, prevent all this Mifchief. The Plea goes on, and in Subftance is thus,* " That as the Influences of the SPIRIT, upon thofe " who have lately had Experience of them, are " what they were unacquainted with, and had " never felt before, its no Wonder they don't fo " well know how to diftinguifli one extraordinary " new ImpreflLon from another, and fo (tothem- u felves infenfibly ) run into Entbufiafm, taking " every ftrong Impulfe to be divine. As Multi- " tudes of illiterate People ( moft of whom are in " their Youth ) are brought into fuch new, and " before (to them) unheard of Circumftances, its* 45- PART L and dangerous Tendency. 319 '" fore, as the Outpouring of the SPIRIT, or had ," no Notion of it, its nothing ftrange that they " don't know how to behave themfelves in fuch " a new and flrange State of Things : Nor is (f it unaccountable, that they (hould be ready to < hearken to thofe, who have been the Inftru- f* c ments of this Work, in them and others, or " that they fliould receive every Thing they fay, " and drink down Error as well as Truth from >* c them." To which I would return Anfwer, as follows. The Influences of the SPIRIT are always new and unknown to Perfons, in Experience, 'till they are the happy Subjects of them : And why '{hould they, at this Day, be more apt to run ge nerally into Miftakes about them, than at other Times : The Pretence, that they are now more powerful and extraordinary, won't do ; for the more powerful thefe Influences are, when real and from the Divine SPIRIT, the lefs liable Perfons are to Miftakes, and the fewer of them, and of fmaller Moment, they will fall into. The true Account to be given of the many and great Miftakes of the prefentDay, about the SPIRIT 's Influence, is not the Newnejs of the Thing, the not having felt it before ; but a notorious Error generally prevailing, as to the Way and Manner of judging in this Matter. People, in order to know, whether the Influences they are under, are from the SPIRIT, don't carefully examine them by the Word of GOD, and' view the Change they produce in the moral State of their Minds, and of their Lives, but haftily conclude fuch I and fuch internal Motions to be divine Imprejfi- rfc, meerly from the Perception they have ' them. They are ready, at once, if this is wfual, or ftrong, to take it for fome Influence om above, to fpeak of it as fuch, and to act s'c- cordinglr. 320, Things of a bzA PART L cordingly. This is the Error of the prefent Day ; and 'tis indeed the proton Pfeudos, the fiifl and grand Delufion : And where this prevails, we 1 need not be at a lofs ta know die true Spring of other Errors. As to the Multitudes V/ho are bro't into fuch new, and (co them ) unheard of Circum- fiances, 'tis true, they are, Illiterate, and young Peo ple ; but this notwithstanding, if the ftfewnefs of their Circumftances is fuch as is proper to new Creatures, they will, in their general Behaviour, difco- ver the true Spirit and Genius of this Sort of Per- fons. 'Tis a great Miflake^to think, that the new Nature, or thofe Influences that produce it, how ever extraordinary, are apt to put Men upon making wrong and ftrange Judgments, either of Perfons or Things : They have a contrary Ten dency : and 'tis a Reproach to them both, to fuppofe otherwifel A meer paffionate Religion, 'tis true, has always led to this, and always will ; but not that, which enlightens the Underflanding, renews the Will, and makes the Heart good and honeft.- How far 'tis a Truth, that this People have fcarce heard of fuch a Thing as the Out- pouring of the SPIRIT of GOD, or- had no Notion of it, may admit of Difpute ; but that the Out pouring of the SPIRIT (hould introduce fuch a State of Things, as that thofe upon. and Confufion, and other evil Works, won'c change their Nature, be their Origin in Pvopfc themfelves, or their Leaders, It is ffill urged,* " That when Perfons ate 'ex traordinarily affefted with a recent Difcovery " of the Greatnefs and Excellency of the divine Being, the Certainty and infinite Importance of ff .- eternal Things, the Precioufnefs of Souls, and the dreadful Danger and Madnefs of Manldndj together with a great Senfe of GOD's diftin- guifhing Kindnefs and Love to them ; no Wonder that now they think they muft exert themfelves, and do fomething extraordinary,- for the Honour of God, and the Good of SouJs, and knoxv not how to forbear fpeaking and ad- ing with uncommon Earneftnefs and Vigour* And in thefe Circiimflancesy if they ben't Per fons of uncommon Steadiness and Difcretion,- or han't fome Perfons of Wifdoin to direct p. 45. X . them, 322 Things of a bad PART I, " them, 'tis a Wonder, if they don't proceed " without due Caution, and do Things that are ff irregular, and will, in the IfTue, do more Hurt " than Good." 'Tis readily granted, Perfons un der a juft and ftrong Senfe of divine Things, will exert themfelves with an awaken'd A6livity in the Bufinefs of Religion. 'Twould be no Won der, if thofe who had extraordinary Difcoveries of GOD, were, to an extraordinary Degree, filled with Lowlinefs and Humility, and fuch an Awe and Reverence of the divine Majefty, as would make them eminently circumfpeft in their whole Deportment towards him ; if from the uncommon View they had of his PerfeHons, they were, in an uncommon Manner, transformed into his Like- nefs, appearing in the World lively Images of that Goodnefs, Righteoufnefs, Faithfulnefs, Kindnefs, Mercy, Patience and Long-fuffering, which are the moral Glory of the infinitely perfect Being. 'Twould be no Wonder, if thofe, who had up-, on their Minds an extraordinary Senfe of the Pre- cioufnefs of Souls, difcovered extraordinary Care and Pains in working out the Salvation of their cwn Souls ; if they were obfervably diligent in adding to their Faith, Venue ; to Venue, Know ledge ; to Knowledge, Temperance ; to Temperance, Patience ; to Patience, Godlinefe ; to Godlinefs, 'Brotherly -Kindnefs ; .and to Brotherly -Kindnefs, Cha rity : "For they that lack thefe Things are blind to the Worth of their own Souls ; whereas, they that do them make it evident that they regard their Souls : For fo an Entrance /ball he minijlred to them abundantly, into the everlafting Kingdom of our LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. . In like Manner^ 'twould be no Wonder, if thofe who had an tracrdinary View of the Danger and Madnefs thofe' PART I. ant dangerous Tendency. 323 thofe who neglect their Souls, were froportionably aftive, within their proper Sphere, in Endeavours to do them all the Service they could , if they were ready with their Advice, their Counfel, their Prayers, their Intreaties, to beget in them a jufl Concern about Salvation : Nor would they be " worthy of Indignation, and be beyond Com- -pajjion," if, through an indifcreet Zeal they mould, now and then, be betrayed into WeaknefTes and ExcefTes. Thefe are Things, not to be wonder ed at ; they are no other then might reafonably be expe6led. But the Wonder is, how an extra ordinary Difcovery of the Greatnefs and Excellen cy of GOD, the Importance of eternal Things, and the Precioufnefs of Souls, and the Danger of .their perifhing, fhould make Men vain and con ceited, full of themfelves, and apt to throw Con tempt on others ; how it fliould loofen Men's Tongues to utter fuch Language as would not be feemly, even in thofe who profefs no Senfe of GOD, or divine Things ; how it fhould lead them into wrong Sentiments in Religion, blind their Eyes as to fome of the moft plain Points of Doc trine , and in a Word, difpofe them to fuch Things as are called in Scripture, the Works of the 'jtyjb. Thefe don't look like the Fruit of extraordinary Difcoveries of GOD ; but they are the very Things which may be expedled, where Men's Pajjions are rais'd to an extraordinary Height, without a proportionable Degree of Light in their Underftandings* Such high dffeftiom, I know, are freely fpoken of as owing to the Influence of the SPIRIT of GOD; and this, when there is not given " Strength of X 2 Under/landing 324 Things of a bad PART 1, I Under/landing in Proportion ; and by Means here- I of, the Subjects of thefe Affections may be driven, I *' through Error, into an irregular and finful Con- \ ducLf" But it may juftly be queftion'd> whether! extraordinary Warmth in the Paffions, when therefl is not anfwerabie Light in the Mind, is fo much I owing to the SPIRIT of GOD, as fome may be>| ready to imagine. For is it reafonable to think, I that the Divine SPIRIT, in dealing with Men in I a Way of Grace, and in Order to make them I good Chriftians, would give their Paffions the chief I Sway over them ? Would not this be to invert I their Frame ? To place the Dominion in thofe I Powers, which were made to be kept in Subjec- I tion ? And would the alwife GOD introduce fuch a State of Things in the human Mind ?l Can this be the Effect of the Out-pouring of his SPIRIT ? It ought not to be fuppofed. One of I the moft ejjential Things neceflary in the new-form-M ing Men, is the Reduction of their Paffions to a I proper Regimen, i. e. The Government of "a I fanftified Under/landing : And 'till this is effect- 1 ed, they may be called New- Creatures, but they are far from deferving this Charafter. Reafonable^ Beings are not to be guided by Pajfien or Affefti-\ on, though the Objecl of it fliould be GOD, and the Things of another World: They need, even in this Cafe, to be under the Government of a well inftrucked Judgment : Nay, when Men's Paf- Jions are raifed to an extraordinary Height, if they have not, at the fame Time, a due Ballance of Light and Knowledge in tjieir Minds, they are foil far from being in a more defirable State on thi-s Account, that they are in Circumflances of ex treme Hazard. There is no Wildnefs, but theyj f'P. 48. are ! 'FART I. and dangerous Tendency. 325 are liable to be hurried into it ; there is no Temptation, bur they are expos'd to be drawn^a- fide by ic : Nor has the Devil ever greater Ad vantage againfl them, to make a Prey of them, and lead them captive at his Will. And this has -often been verified by fad Experience. Who can boaft of greater Tranfports of Affe&ion, than the wildeil Enthufiafls ? Who have had their Paffions excited to a higher Pitch, than thofe of the ROMISH Communion ? Who have been more artful in their AddreiTes to the Pafliom, than Po- Priefts ? % And who more fuccefsful, by heating J Obfervable to this Purpofe is the following Story, in the Book entitled, The Frauds of the Romijh Monks, and Priefts^ fet forth in eight Letters. The Author fpeaking of a particular Sort of Romifh MifTionaries moftly Capuchins, tells us, that " after they have f manifeft that they chofe rather, and were more forward, to take Notice of what is amift, than is good and glorious/' But the Cafe is widely 334 Th* Obligations to PART II, widely different, when the Diforders, which may juflly be complained of, are generally prevalent, and fuch as tend to the Definition of Peace, with Truth and Holinefs* And as this is the real State of Things in the Land, at this Day, (if any Cre dit is due to the foregoing Pages) 'cis certainly Time, high Time, to appear openly and boldly for GOD, and lay ourfelves out to the utmoft, in all proper Ways, to give Check, if poffible, to the Irregularities, which have fo mingled them- felves with Religion, as to " eclipfe the Glory of ic, and beget Jealoufies and ill Thoughts in the Minds of many, about the whole of it." The Obligations to this are folemn and weigh ty : And they are binding upon the Pajlors of tbefe Churches in particular , and upon all in general. We, who have been made Overfeers of the Fkcks in this Land, are peculiarly obiig'd to ufe our Endeavours, in all futahle Ways, within our proper Sphere, to fupprefs tbefe Dif orders. Faithfulnefs to CHRIST requires this of us. We are his Servants by Office : And our Bufinefs, as fuch, properly lies, in doing all we can to pro mote the Intereil of his Kingdom. This is what we have been called to, and let apart for : And the Vows of GOD are upon us ; and wo be unto us, if we are unfaithful / And is this a Charge we (hall be able wholly to efcape the Guilt of, if we can behold the Rife of Error., in Oppofmon to the Truth as it in JESUS ;' and the general Spread of Diforders, in various Kinds, in Contradiction to the plain Precepts of the Gofpel ; and yet fit flill, and hold our Peace ? Who will ftand up for CHRIST, if we don't ? Who are PART II. dif countenance Irregularities. 335 are called hereto, if not his authorifed Officers ? This Matter belongeth to us. 'Tis the proper Bufi- nefs of our Station , and we {hall negleft our Duty, and be faithlefs to the Charge committed to us, if we are meer Lookers on, and infert not ourfelves in the Caufe of Truth and Virtue, which is the Caufe of CHRIST. 'Tis true, we (hall do well to ceafe from Strife about Words to no Profit : And as for foolifh and unlearned Quejlions, they ought to be avoided, left they increafe to more Ungodlinefs. But when the Order of the Gofpel is openly broke in upon ; the Faith once delivered to the Saints grofly mifinter- preted, to the fubverting of Souls ; and many evil Pra6tices, in Confequence hereof, are generally gone into : I fay, when this is the Cafe, where is our Fidelity to our MASTER and LORD, if we fland by unconcerned ? Or, what is as bad, if we fold our Hands together, and do nothing ? Are we not fet for the Defence of the Gofpel ? And though as Servants of the Lord, we muft not ftrive, but be gentle to all Men ; yet, ought we not in Meeknefs to inftruft thofe that oppofe themfelves, if -per adventure GOD mil give them Repentance, to the acknowledging of the Truth ? And is not this the injlituted Way of recovering fuch out of the Snare of the Devil, <$ho have been taken captive at his Will ? Has not the Bible made it an ejjential In gredient in the Chara6ler of Gofpel Minifters,* that they be able by found Doctrine, both to exhort and convince Gain-fayers ? And what will fignify fuch an Ability, i when there are many unruly and vain Talkers, and Deceivers, who fubvert whole Hoafes, teaching Things which they ought not, we * Tit. i. 9. make 3 s 6 The Obligations to PART II make lio Ufe of it to flop their Mouths ? Is ie not the Command of GOD,t that they be rebuked, fharply, that they may be found in the Faith ; not giving Heed to the Commandments of Men, that turn from the Truth ? And can we fatisfy our Confci- ences, while we live in the Negle6l of fo plain a Duty ? Ant we very Cowards in the Caufe of CHRIST ? Don't we difcover a Want of Faith- fulnefs towards him, who has put us into the Miniftry ? We may preach often, and profefs a great Af* feftion for the Work of GOD, and have it perpe^ tually in our Mouths ; but if, at fuch a Day as this, when Error in Doftrine, and Prattice, covers the Face of the Land, we are illent about the Matter, or mention it only after fuch a Manner* as to make it evident we are not in earneft in what we fay, how can we be any other than cul pably defective in our Duty to CHRIST ? 'Tis for the Honour of his Name, and the Intereil of his Kingdom, that we cry aloud and fpare not. The Errors of the Times are not fpeculative Nice ties, nor Matters of doubtful Difputation, but evi dent Breaches upon the Law of Faith, or the Rule of Duty, and in Inftances of high Importance* The Gofpel feverely teftifies againil them, and Faithfulnefs to the REDEEMER faould put his Mini* fters upon doing fo likewife/ But Faithfulnefs to our People as well as CHRIST obliges to this. The Overfight of them has been ' committed to our Charge ; and we have fo- lemnly engag'd before GOD, and the LORD JESUS CHRIST, who {ball judge the quick, and the Dead, at t V. 13, 14. MS > ART !!. dif countenance Irregularities. Q Q 7 his Appearing, and his Kingdom, not only to preach the Word to them, being inflant 'in Seafon, and out if Seafon ; but to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all Lpng-Juffering and Ddftrine* And how lhall we be able to fulfill this Engagement, if, when the Tims is come that they will not endure found Doftrine, but after their own Lufts heap to themfehes Teachers, having itching Ears, and turn away their Ears from ' the Truth, and are turned unto Fables : I fay, how fiiall we approve ourfelves faithful, if we are now wanting in our Care to warn them of their Dan ger, and put them under the Guard of heedful Caution ? When can we more feafonably, or pertinently 4 apply to our People for their Directi on, Admonition and Rebuke, than at a Time when they are either led into Error and Delufion, or are in Hazard of being fo? We are fet as I-Patchmen to our Churches ; and whofe Bufinefs is it to efpy Danger, and give Warning, if not our's ? Or, if, when we fee Danger, wcT negleft to give Warning, where is our Faithfulnefs ? We are called Shepherds ; and {hall we behave as> % ilich, if, when the Wolf comes to devour the Flock, we don't watch in all Things that we may be then- Defence ? Or, if they mould wander out of the Path of Truth and Holinefs, we don't ufe our Endeavours to reduce and bring them back ? 'Tis one fpecial Part of the Duty which we, - who are Minifters, owe our People, to guard them, as much as may be, againil the bad Influence of all Error, whether in Principle or Prance. And if Error fhould prevail, and begin generally to ap pear in its 9 bad Effects^ we fhould now be upon the Watch more than ever. Now is the Time, when we are particularly called to (land up for the good old Way > and bear faithful Teftiinony againft Y every 338 The Obligations to PART It every Thing, that may tend to caft a Blemifh on true primitive Chriftianity. 'Tis the proper Work of the Day : And if we are filent, I fee not but we are finfully fo. Says the excellent CALVIN, f whofe Words are as well worthy of Regard in this, as in other Articles, " When any " pernicious Seel: begins to arife, but chiefly ff when it grows, 'tis the Duty of thofe whom " GOD hath appointed to build up his Church, *"' to oppofe it ftrongly, and appear againft it, " before it gets Strength to corrupt and deflroy " all. And certainly, when there are Paflors of u the Churches, they ought not only to difpenfe 4t choice good Food to the Flock of CHRIST, but cc they muft alfo watch againfl Wolves and " Thieves, that if they will come in to the Flock,