foible and disgrace, viz. Your retorting upon Dissenters their own pleas and objections; particularly your charge,-That they not only have, but impose ceremonies in divine worship, and that there are various impositions amongst ourselves. 66 You here force me to call you forth, Sir, to undergo the mortification of seeing yourself proved before the world a false accuser of your brethren. Sitting at the Lord's supper you have, at several distinct times, and with great variety of language, most confidently asserted "to be really imposed by us, to be constantly, invariably, and universally practised among us that it is never "allowed to be departed from :-t -that our minis"ters insist upon and refuse to abate it :"*-with much more to the same purpose. This now is a charge not only absolutely false, but (which is a very aggravating circumstance, and must shock greatly your character and credit, before the world) you had seen it to have been false. For, you had actually read in Dr. Calamy's Brief Account, &c. a most express declaration, that no such thing was at all imposed among us, but that our communicants were at liberty to use their own posture. I again put you in mind of this, because you have not yet been so ingenuous as to own the falsehood of this charge, and publicly to retract it. I can assure the public, that there are no less than seven or eight dessenting churches, in my own neighbourhood, in which the posture either of standing or kneeling at the Lord's supper has constantly been practised for many years past, (though in some of them the persons are now deceased,) and this without the least offence to any of the congregations, or dislike of the ministers. Judge, hence, reader, what regard is to be paid to the representations of this Letter III. pages 8, 9, * Letter II. pages 56, 57, 58. zealous censor, and how justly he describes himself" encountering with ghosts, and groping in "the dark!" With equal rashness you affirmed, and still stoutly maintain,-"That_kneeling in family "prayer is always practised by Dissenters: that "it is imposed and commanded by the master of "the family, upon his children and servants, by "his signifying his mind to them, and letting "them know, once for all, he would have them "kneel." Upon a particular inquiry, I assure the public, that I cannot find the least trace of any such imposition, or signification of the master's mind in any family of Dissenters; but that, in their familydevotions, standing is a posture very frequently used, and not avoided, in point of conscience, I believe, by ten Dissenters in the kingdom. The matter is too trifling to merit many words. But, to let you see how utterly unfit you are for the office you assume, I will take you from the darkness, where you miserably grope, and lead you to a light which will a little disconcert your countenance, by acquainting you, that, at three of the principal dissenting academies in England, viz. Northampton, Taunton, and Bridgwater, it hath been the general, if not the constant, unvaried usage both of tutors and students, to stand at family prayer. These are the nurseries where most of the dissenting gentlemen and ministers in England have been informed; whose custom, therefore, must naturally have a wide and strong influence upon multitudes of dissenting families throughout the land. See now with what truth, with what honour and discretion, you bolt your random censures at the religious conduct of your neighbours, and feel the just pain with which they rebound and wound your own head! II. Defence, pages 70, 71. But what heightens our perverseness and inconsistency is this:That, at the same time that we thus always worship kneeling in our families, and the master commands and imposes it upon all its members, "Yet, in our prayers at church, "there, it seems, we always stand; and it is little "less than imposed upon our people: for, so 66 great and general is the discountenance that "kneeling lies under, that it requires some cou rage and resolution for any one to venture upon "it; and if any one does, (you say it again,) he "will be censured for it."* A charge not more bold that it is groundless and false." One con"gregation, (you have said,) you can name, where great offence was given by a person "kneeling at her prayers." But you have publicly been told, by an authority of great weight, which I presume you durst not contradict, that the whole account is a MISREPRESENTATION, of which the most authentic evidence is ready to be produced. Did I not justly say that your informers had served you ill? A man conscious of his own blindness, should be cautious into what hands he delivers himself up. Besides, could you have made good the charge not against one only, but even a hundred of our churches, will this justify the universality and positiveness of your assertion, that, "if any one "kneels among us, he will be censured for it?" This publicly accuses not one only, nor a hundred, but all the dissenting churches of this ridiculous weakness, which you cannot prove upon any single one of them all. The reproach, therefore, comes back with great force upon yourself. I have made no extensive inquiries on this head, but can take upon me to assure you, there are no less than six or seven of our congregations near me (I believe there are many more) where kneel * II. Defence, p. 72. + Chandler's Case of Subscription, p. 14. ing at public prayer, hath been constantly prac tised by one or more members without the least discountenance. And, of the many ministers I have consulted, I find not one who imagines the practice would give offence to any single congregation among us. Equally just and well supported is that other reproach, That it is generally held among us "that the sacrament is for none but perfect and "consummate Christians." After multiplying on this subject many words to little purpose, you are at last forced to retract this injurious imputation as to the Presbyterians, and acknowledge it to be false. You might have done the same by the Independents, whom you still leave under its weight. For, though they are generally more minute, I fear, in inquiring after proofs of the sincerity of a man's Christianity than the scriptures authorise them, yet there is scarcely one, I believe, to be found among the most rigid of them all, who will not declare that every sincere Christian hath a right to the Lord's table. For, do they not all acknowledge that every such person is become, by the gospel covenant, a child of God, and a brother of Jesus Christ? Will the most rigid Independent say then, that such have not a right to eat of the sacramental supper? No, the truth of grace, they will tell you, be it in ever so weak a state, entitles to the sacrament. You wrong them, therefore, much by saying, that they hold it to belong to none but perfect and consummate Christians. Thus groundless and ill-supported, Sir, are the defamations of your dissenting brethren, which your prejudices against them have, I fear, disposed you to receive with too much pleasure, and to have published to the world before you were * Defence, page 36. sufficiently informed whether they were true or false. But suffer, 1-beseech you, the counsel of a friend. Put away far from you that little, ungenerous, unmanly, bigotted spirit, by which " You "advise the faithful to shun the conversation and company of our ministers, as being notorious 66 sinners, and not to have any intimate unneces" sary acquaintance with them, or familiarity in * common life."* Indulge the more Christian and catholic disposition, Dr. Nichols recommends, who informs the world with pleasure" of the "charitable correspondence and strict degree of "friendship which subsists betwixt the establish❝ed clergy and some of the dissenting ministers."+ It is because they know one another no better, that they do not love each other more. The natural consequence of shyness is estrangement; this too often produces aversion. The mind then becomes prepared not only for receiving with pleasure any scandalous and mean suspicions, but also for industriously propagating the grossest misrepresentations, or the falsest accusations. Had you freely conversed with the dissenting ministers around you, as the learned Doctor Nichols advises, you had saved yourself a good deal of public mortification, which your injurious accounts both of their principles and practice have now unhappily drawn upon you. Cultivate at length, Sir, a familiar acquaintance with them. Their acquaintance will do you honour,-will edify and enlarge your mind,-will give you juster notions of men and of things than a mere college education is capable of doing, and prepare you for that happy world where bigotry and party zeal will no more alienate pious spirits, but where all the children of God are gathered together in one. From them you would have learned, that * Letter II. p. 8. |