pointed, and not in any way of his own. We shall be judged at last according to God's word, not according to any persuasions we may have taken up, through the prejudices of education, or the perverseness of our own hearts; all of which are indeed no better than dreams, having no foundation but on that loose bottom of human imagination, on which are built all the visions of the night, and all the heresies in the world.

If these doctrines of absolute election, immediate inspiration, the sufficiency of moral virtue, and justification from sincerity, were true; it would follow, that God is unwise, inconsistent, and improvident. For if he appoints a visible Church and its ordinances, as necessary to make us members of the kingdom of Heaven; and if he began the way of salvation by adding to the Church such as were to be saved; and yet, with all this, has another private way of saving men, by a secret decree which has no regard to any outward means; he is inconsistent in ordaining them. And also, as the doctrine of immediate Inspiration, or new Revelation, without any signs or credentials from Heaven, opens a way to every possible delusion of the mind, either from its own vain conceits, or the suggestions of evil spirits; God must be improvident, in not securing us against such dangerous impositions, which may introduce all kinds of wickedness into the world, under the sanction of a divine authority: an impostor having nothing to do, but to persuade himself, as any madman may do, that he acts by immediate inspiration. With this persuasion, men have butchered one another to make bloody baptisms; have set `themselves up as kings and rulers of the new Jerusalem; have taken plurality of wives, and blasphemously personated God himself *. All the disorders of

* See Ross's View of all Religions: particularly the account of the Anabaptists of Germany.

the last century were committed by fanatics, who assumed a privilege of seeking the Lord, and consulting, and receiving answers from him; while their minds were bent upon the most horrible crimes of rebellion, robbery, sacrilege, persecution, and murder.

Then as to moral virtue, if that can save those who are not added to the Church, it must follow, that man never was lost, and that Christ need not have come into the world. If sincerity in any persuasion, good or bad, will recommend us to the favour of God; then will lies, if we do but believe them, answer all the purposes of truth: then there is no difference between good and evil; and it cannot be worth while to convert Jews, Turks, or Heathens, to the Gospel, because they are as safe in their own way. Such are the pleas by which some men of necessity, and some of malignity, seek to justify themselves, when they leave the Church, or despise or neglect its ordinances. But the foundation of God standeth sure.

After what hath been said, few words will be wanting to convince any thinking person of the dangers and evil consequences which must attend the sin of causeless separation.

If men for salvation are brought out of the world into the Church, they cannot possibly forsake it, without hazard to their salvation.-If the promises of God, and the means of grace, are committed to the Church, we loose them when we leave the Church; at least it will be very hard to prove that we carry them away with us: and who would choose to be under any uncertainty in a case of such importance?

Another evil is that of breaking the great rule of charity in our worship. We are commanded to glorify God with one mind and one mouth, and all to speak the same thing. How contrary to this is the practice

of following different ways of worship, some totally disagreeing with others; and some not deserving the name of any worship at all; for in some of our assemblies people meet for no purpose but to hear one another talk. There is no praying, no confession of sins, no absolution, no thanksgiving, no Litany, no Sacraments! We read, that the Apostles, when the Holy Ghost descended, were all with one accord in one place; and so ought Christians to be, if they would preserve the presence of the Spirit amongst them, who is the spirit of unity. And as the spirit of unity in worship disposes men to a more peaceable and charitable temper; so the spirit of division and fanaticism is attended with violence and bitterness of language, and an intolerant persecuting humour toward all who are not fanatics; especially toward the members of the Church of England, which is deservedly placed at the head of the Protestant Reformation *.

* An author who put out a Syllabus of Lectures, in the year 1778, on the Principles of Non-conformity, speaks in the person of Jesus Christ, upon the tribunal of judgment at the last day, and supposes him presenting to the world, on that tremendous occasion, his faithful servants, the non-conformist ministers, as the great objects of his favour; and at the same time sending off those holy tyrants, the bishops of the Church of England, into everlasting fire, with that dreadful sentence-DEPART! And what are they to be damned for? Because they could not approve of Nonconformity! a religion of negatives! They saw enough of its fruits to dislike it in former times, from its first appearance in this kingdom; but they did not see, as we do now, that its end is infidelity; to which it hath been tending for many years past, and hath now attained it in the writings of Dr. Priestley, and the Unitarian Association. These Lectures, with this dreadful sentence of damnation to the bishops, by Brother Robinson, were approved by the Easter Association of Essex, at Harlow, and recommended to the Sister Churches by order of all. June 18, 1778. Of what character must these Sister Churches be, if they are of the same

There is also great hazard of losing the doctrines when we leave the worship of the Church. When the ten tribes revolted from the worship at Jerusalem,

spirit with Brother Robinson? Surely they are not chaste virgins, presentable to a meek and merciful Saviour, who prayed for his murderers; but unmerciful harlots, cursing and damning the established Church for retaining episcopacy. Had there been no nonconformity, the poor bishops might have escaped like other men, and have been entitled to their chance of mercy, through the merits of their Redeemer, who died for them, and for all men, and sent forth the first bishops by his own immediate authority. What would such Non-conformists do, if they had it in their power, who are provoked to such uncharitable ravings under the present most mild and moderate state of the Church of England?

But the most superlative instance of fanatic malignity I ever yet saw, is to be found in the works of Milton, whose malignity was rendered more malignant by the depressed and afflicted condition to which the Church was then reduced. He was a man of a bright and perfect imagination, and gifted with a wonderful choice of beautiful and descriptive expression. But the weapon is the worse for its sharpness, when malice hath the handling of it: and imagination is a mirror which can reflect the fires of hell as well as the lights of heaven; of which, I think, we have an example in the following invective against the bishops of the Church of England: "But they that by the impairing and diminution of the true faith, the distresses and servitude of their country, aspire to high dignity, rule, and promotion here, after a shameful end in this life (which God grant them!) shall be thrown down eternally into the darkest and deepest gulf of hell; where under the despiteful control, the trample and spurn of all the other damned, who, in the anguish of their torture, shall have no other ease than to exercise a raving and beastial tyranny over them, as their slaves and negroes, they shall remain in that plight for ever, the basest, the lowermost, the most dejected, most underfoot, and down-trodden vassals of perdition." Conclusion of Milton's Treatise on Reformation, vol. i. p. 274. If it were put to my option, whether I would be an idiot, without a single faculty of mind, or a single sense of the body; or whether I would have Milton's imagination, attended with this fiery spirit of fanaticism; I should not hesitate one moment to determine.

they soon lost the truth of their law, and fell into an idolatrous worshipping of the calves they had set up in Dan and Bethel. Their government was troubled with great disorders, and their confusion ended in their utter dispersion. When men leave the worship of the Church, it is very natural for them to become disaffected to its doctrines; and they, who hate the Christian Faith, will take part with those who are against the Church; because they foresee, that if the Church be destroyed, the faith will be lost; as the light goes out when the lamp is broken. One of the most blasphemous books that ever was written in this country against the Christian Faith, was all of it apparently directed against the Church: on which consideration, many, who then believed the Christian doctrines, were drawn in by a disaffection to the Church, to take part with an infidel.

2. I am to remark farther, that with those who are ignorant and ill-instructed in the nature and use of the Church, there is a perverse prejudice in favour of preaching; and consequently a shocking neglect of those duties which belong to the people. It is a fine easy way for people with itching ears, to hear a preacher talk them into Heaven; while they neglect all the more essential parts of divine worship. Many hear a sermon with the same vain curiosity as people hear a speech upon a stage, and consult nothing but their own amusement. And while the whole of the ministerial duty is supposed to consist in preaching, a man who can bawl and rant is tempted to take himself for a minister of Jesus Christ, without any regular mission; of which sort we have multitudes in this kingdom at this time and it is to be feared they are increasing. It is no uncommon thing for persons of all persuasions to meet in the same Church to hear the same preacher;