REligion and a Holy Life is so ne­cessary for the making all Humane Societies Happy, that thereupon it has constantly been recommend­ed by the wisest Men, and greatest Philoso­phers: The very Poet could observe this to his Country-men the Romans,

that they owed their Success to their Piety, and were made Commanders of the World for their Obedience to their Gods.

'Tis of such concern for the establishing Government, that all Law-givers have thought it necessary to prohibit the Violation there­of; and it carries so much of the Image of God in it, that all his Revelations to the Pa­triarchs and Prophets, especially that by the Blessed Jesus to the Christian Church, do mainly insist upon it.

When the Heathen World went greatly astray, by their abominable Idolatries, even in their pretended Religious Rites, the Do­ctrine of the Gospel appear'd to turn them from the power of Satan unto God: And when the Jews (but chiefly the Pharisees) had so strangely degenerated in their Prin­ciples and Practises, from the great Design of the Law, our Lord protests against them, and gives his Disciples this caution, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypo­crisie.

From which words I shall observe,

• First, Who these Pharisees were.
• Secondly, What this Leaven of theirs was, which our Saviour cautions his Disciples against.
• And then, thirdly, Consider how much of [Page 3]this sour Leaven is spread abroad a­mongst us, and give some Cautions against it.

First, Who these Pharisees were:

They were a particular Sect, proudly af­fecting singular Opinions and Practises dif­ferent from the other Jews, and such as were not enjoyn'd in the Law of Moses: The Name Pharisee is to seperate and di­vide; and themselves were distinguish'd in­to several sorts, as the Jewish Writers tell us.

Some were called the Sechemitical Pha­risees; these made a Trade of Religion, and all their pretended Sanctity, was one­ly to vail their inward Villanies, that so they might the more demurely Cheat. O­thers were styl'd the Stumbling Pharisees, who for an appearance of Humility, would scarce lift up their feet in the Streets. O­thers they called the Winking Pharisees, because they shut their eyes as they past along, least they should (as they gave out) behold a Temptation. And others they styl'd the Boasting Pharisees, because they pretended not only to do whatsoever the [Page 4]Law required, but even to Works of Super­errogation, to perform a great deal more; and upon this account, boasted that God himself rejoyced in them, and that they were infinitely dear to him.

Yet if we may credit Josephus, they did not withdraw themselves from the Syna­gogue, or Temple publick Worship. Tho' concerning the Synagogue-Worship, there is probable Evidence, that the chief Sects among the Jews, and therefore the Phari­sees, as one of them, had their distinct As­semblies: And 'tis certain, the Pharisees did reject the best of Men from their Syna­gogue-Communion, meerly for confessing that Jesus was the Christ, and becoming his Disciples. And in the Temple-Wor­ship they were guilty of a kind of Separa­tion, under an appearance of Communi­on; for whereas the Daily Sacrifice in the Temple was a Burnt Offering, and there­fore appointed for Expiation and Attone­ment, the Devotions of those who attend­ed at the Hours of Prayer and Sacrifice, ought to be conformable thereunto; but the Pharisees Prayer there, as our Saviour describes it, had nothing in it of Humble [Page 5]Supplication for Mercy and Favour, but he thanks GOD that he was not as other men. And this Spirit of Division was so much worse in them, because 'twas founded in a high conceit, and great con­fidence in their own Piety, when all the while there was nothing in it but Hypo­crisie.

Which brings me to the second Con­siderable, what this Leaven of the Pha­risees was, which our Lord and Master cautionizes his Disciples against: And this Leaven (as he Expounds himself) was of two sorts; the Leaven of Corrupt and Superstitious Doctrine, Mat. 12. ver. 16. and here the Leaven of Hypocrisie: Now 'tis the nature of Leaven not onely to spread and diffuse itself, but also to swell the Lump 'tis mixt with: so this Leaven of the Pharisees did sour and imbitter their Minds, puff and fill them with Hy­pocrisie, Cruelty, and Pride. Hypocrisie is an affectation of seeming to be what a Man is not, in point of Piety towards God, or Love and Charity towards Men; and at this Art, the Pharisees were subtile Masters: Whenever they design'd to de­vour [Page 6]Orphans or Widdows Houses, long Prayers, and Fasting twice a Week, must usher in the Inhumane Villany. If any Covetousness, or Cruelty of more than ordinary Size was to be committed, they presently covered it with Corban, and were Deceivers of Men in the Name of God. Their Study was to be circumspect and wa­ry in their Wickedness, Noctem peccatis & fraudibus addere nubem; They sinned out of sight as much as might be, and made it their business only to appear unto Men to be Righteous: And therefore well might our Saviour give it in charge to his Dis­ciples, to beware of their Leaven or Hy­pocrisie. And because he did so, I shall give some Instances wherein this their Pha­risaical Hypocrisie did consist:

First, They placed much Righteousness in their being a peculiar Party, and main­taining a kind of Separation, and pretend­ed to a greater Holiness and Devotion, an exacter Knowledge of the Law, and a more perfect Obedience to it, than any of the rest of the People; and by these Pretences gain'd strangely in the Opinion [Page 7]of the unthinking Rabble. Our Lord himself brings in the Pharisees openly boast­ing a greater Piety, a stricter Life, a high­er Righteousness than any other sort of Men. In the 18th of St. Luke, verse 8. Two Men (says he) went up into the Temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a Pub­lican: The Pharisee stood, and prayed thus with himself; God, I thank thee, that I am not as other Men are, Extortioners, Ʋnjust, Adulterers, or even as this Publican. Where we find him making a Distinction, between himself and other Men, in the very first words he speaks to God. Yet for all this, if we observe the Character our Saviour gives of them, we shall find them so far from being better, that they were worse than other Men; that thô they profest they were no Extortioners, yet they de­vour'd Widows Houses, and that for all their pretended outward Sanctity, they were within full of Extortion and Ex­cess.

Secondly, Their Righteousness did much consist in such a Zeal as was disorderly, fierce, and censorious. They declar'd a [Page 8]great Respect to the Memory of the Pro­phets, but this was only to gain Credit to their own Dictates. Their Zeal was a vio­lent espousing the Interest of their own Errours, and was not so much for God and his Law, as for themselves and their own Party. They were far more nice, far more scrupulous in lesser things, than they were in those of greatest Moment, far more punctual in the Observance of their own Precepts and Institutions, than those that were of God's appointment. They were strict in washing those hands which remain'd polluted by Evil Works; and were careful to tythe Mint, Anise, and Cummin, but omitted the weightier Mat­ters of the Law. For what Law more Sa­cred and Indispensable, what more Natu­ral and Agreeable to Humanity, than that which requires us to Honour our Parents, to Relieve and Assist them in their Neces­sities and Wants? Yet such was the Blind­ness of the Pharisees, that with respect to their unlawful Vow of Corban, they could without Regret dispence with the Law of God, in not honouring their Parents.

Another Instance of their Hypocrisie was, That they prescrib'd to others what themselves would not practise. They were forward in binding heavy Burdens on other Mens shoulders, but were not willing themselves to stoop to the Duties of Sub­jection and Obedience. They were so lit­tle Friends to Caesar, that by them the Question was propounded, Whether it was lawful to give Tribute to him, or no? And were (as Josephus relates) constantly disaffected to their Governours, and fre­quently Turbulent and Seditious; for they were of a haughty and proud Spirit, and scorn'd to pay Respect to any Rule or Or­der, without it carried the Impress of their own Invention, looking upon themselves as the only Pious, and Favourites of Heaven, and therefore fit to manage all Affairs, both in Church and State. And when they had the Power in their Hands (notwithstanding their pretended Humility and Mortification) none were more violent and bloody than they, as appears from their barbarous Cru­elties under the Government of Alexandria, and especially in their being concern'd in prosecuting our Lord to death, and his Apo­stles [Page 10]after him with various methods of Cruelty, and particularly murdering James the Just, the first Bishop of Jerusalem.

The last instance I shall give of their Hy­pocrisie, lay in their flaming Zeal to pro­selyte to their Party, to make Disciples to their Sect, whilst they made them worse and not better, greatly more worse than they were before: This our Saviour ob­jected to them in the 23 of St. Matth. v. 13. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypo­crites; for ye compass sea and land to make one Proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell then your selves. And so indeed they did, for the Proselites made by these Pharisees, became much worse than themselves, the Scholars far out-did their Masters in their wicked lives. This was observ'd by Justin Martyr, [...]. The Prose­lites (says he) that are made by you, do not only not believe, but do blaspeme the Name of Christ twice as much as you your selves; the Gentile exceeds the Jew in his Unbelief.

Thus having given some instances of the Hypocrisie of the Pharisees, I shall now pro­ceed to consider how much of this sower Leaven is spread abroad amongst us, and give some Cautions against it: yet I shall not strain Resemblances to make the Cases parallel, but only take notice of things as they really are, to observe how far there is a likeness to, or compliance with the Spirit of Pharisaism. And by the way give me leave to declare, that I cordially wish well to all Men of what Party or Perswasion so­ever; and therefore whatever I shall say, that speaks the Error or Danger of any of them, is not out of design to blacken or cast reproach, but out of this true charitable end, to warn others to beware thereof: And for my part, I look upon it as my Du­ty, to speak out; for whilst the Sons of the Church of England were in pursuit of the Jesuit, an unexpected Party came be­hind, and I am afraid, still lies lurking to reward them with Joab's Complement un­der the fifth Rib. Do we not daily hear them bespatter the purest Church in the Christian World, revile her whole Govern­ment, Discipline, and Service, traduce her [Page 12]Clergy of every Rank and Order, and en­deavour by all Arts and Slanders, to poison the World again with their old Pharisaical Lea­ven of Sedition and Faction. Now shall we, whilst the Papists on one hand call us Here­ticks, and charge us with Schism? and the Seperatists on the other hand (notwith­standing our late opposing the Romish De­signs, when we know who they were that readily joyn'd) charge us with Popery, and give our Worship the title of Antichri­stian; be silent, bear the Charge, and not plead for ourselves? God forbid; I shall therefore in as few words as I can, lay open the Leaven of both these Parties, and give some Cautions against it.

And first for the Papists:

Our Case with respect to that of the Church of Rome, is much like that of the Apostles, with regard to the Scribes and Pharisees, for when they professed the Chri­stian Religion, and Worshipped God after the way which they unjustly called Heresie, the Pharisees sentenced them to be put out of the Synagogue: And Jesus himself (as the Talmud of the Venice Edition, has been observ'd to affirm,) was excommunicated [Page 13]with the Shammatha, or Great Excommu­nication: And because we (as we ought) reject the Evil and Corrupt Romish Do­ctrines and Practises, which are all laid ( Pharisee like) in Hypocrisie, to maintain their own Grandeur, and make good their Regalia Papae, they let flie their Anathema's in the various Canons of the Conventicle of Trent, and Annually (with all the Solemni­ties of a proud and malicious Zeal) Curse us in the Bull in Caenâ Domini. And tho' they at Rome keep to their publick Worship, as the Pharisees did, yet are they grosly guilty of Schism, by unjustly rejecting all o­ther Christian Churches. And herein they pass Sentance, as the Pharisee did against the Publican, upon those who are much better than themselves.

And as 'twas one quality of the Leaven of the Pharisees to be fierce and cruel, for where they could not prevail by their Hy­pocrisie, when they had any Credit or Au­thority in the State, they made use of that (tho' after the most barbarous and inhumane manner) to proselite to their Party. And do not the Romanists take the same Me­thods? Are not their chiefest Arguments [Page 14]drawn (where they have power) out of Bonner's Logick, Fire and Faggot? Is it not by Bloody Inquisitions, Massacres, and Re­bellions; by horrid Treasons and cruel Con­spiracies, that they propagate that their Romish Religion?

In short, as the Pharisees of old, so the Romanists of late, put themselves into all Garbs, and sute themselves to all Disposi­tions, the better to proselite to their Party; if to day they are full of Processions, Fast­ings, and Whippings, to morrow shall gra­tifie them with Masqueradings, Plays, and Jollity; if upon one Door there be an Ex­communication, casting down to Hell all Transgressors, upon another you'll-see a Ju­bilee, or Pardon for all Transgressions; if on one side of the Street a House of Vail'd Nuns, on the other, a House of open Cur­tesans: Their promising of Pardon of Sin, upon condition of Performances unnecessa­ry and insufficient, such as undertaking Pil­grimages to the Shrines of Saints, Visiting Churches, making War upon Infidels and Hereticks, contributing Money, repeating so many Ave Marie's and Pater Nosters, what are they but Religious Cheats? And thô [Page 15]they spare no pains, but compass Sea and Land to make one Proselite; yet when he is made, (as our Saviour told the Pharisees) they make him twofold more the child of hell.

The next that falls under my considerati­on, are our Dissenting Parties at home; and 'tis strange we should have any such at this time of day amongst us; I know that the sour Leaven of Division was once deeply moulded into our Peoples breasts, and they were envenom'd with an Opinion, That the Bishops and Clergy, nay, all the Members of the Church of England, were Popishly affect­ed; and this Calumny how weak soever, was yet so unhappily strong, as to carry off many well-meaning, but weaker Brethren from our Communion. But now that the Fathers and Sons of this Church, have given (especially under the late Tryal) such good assurance to the contrary, we hoped, (as just­ly we might) that these Mis-representations would easily have been seen through, and abhorr'd by all our Dissenting Brethren; and that they would readily have come in, and joyn'd with us in one Publick Worship, and lent a helping hand to preserve that Church which the common Enemy thrust at with so [Page 16]much Malice and Envy: For if there were any such Tincture of Popery, or Papistical Inclination in the Sons of the Church of England, as the Romanists have taught our Pretenders to a further Reformation to say and publish, why should the Emissaries of Rome be more industriously intent upon our Destruction, than upon the Extirpation of all other Protestants in the World?

Indeed the reason is, That the Church of England has for her Faith resisted to Blood; that this Church has sent into Hea­ven whole Colonies of Confessors and Mar­tyrs for the Truth; that this Church has constantly (and of late as much as ever) maintain'd her own Cause, and the common Cause of all the Reformed Churches; that this Church is still (thanks be to God, and their Sacred Majesties) the Ornament and the Apology, the Support and the Protecti­on of all the Protestant Churches through­out the World: Our Brethren beyond the Seas cannot be rooted out with ease, or but persecuted with safety, whilst there is a Church of England to stand as a Rampire in the way between them and Ruine: but destroy or extinguish this Church, and all [Page 17]the Reformed Churches abroad, will soon be shatter'd and made a Prey: O that our Separatists were wise! that they understood this! that they would but consider who they are actuated by: They little think that they are but Journy-men to their and our worst Enemies the Jesuites, who drive a Trade of Divisions in Church and State, in hopes one day to sacrifice them both to their Revenge and Avarice.

Now there's nothing more dishonourable to the nature of Man, or more to the shame of his understanding, than to be made ano­ther Man's Property, or Tool; yet such is the sottishness of too many amongst us, that notwithstanding all the Arguments that have been us'd, they are still resolv'd to be over­reacht and abus'd by Men ingenuously wick­ed, are still as industrious Agents to spread abroad their Leaven of Separation, as ever. And therefore my Reverend Brethren, (with submission I speak it) I think 'tis the Duty of every one of us, in our several Places and Cures, to Cautionize our People to be ware of them: And good reason we have for it, if we cast but an eye about us, and see how zealous they are to proselite to their several [Page 18]Parties, and how maliciously they Mis-figure us to the more weak and unwary, to draw them from our Communion. They cannot but acknowledge, (and some of the Ring­leaders of them have done it in print) that we have all the Fundamentals of the true Religion, both in respect of Faith and Pra­ctise: We agree in all Essentials with all the Protestant Churches of Christendom, as the Harmony of Confessions will satisfie every Man, who will be but at the pains to read them.

We add no Articles of our own making to the Apostles Creed, (as we know who do) nor do we snip one of the Ten Command­ments, and then slit another to make up the number: We do not equal the Apocrypha with the Canonical Scriptures, neither do we prohibit the Laity the consulting those Sa­dred Records, but as much as in us lies, en­deavour to perswade them to read and me­ditate on them: We have but two Sacra­ments, according to our Saviour's Instituti­on; and our Publick Service is perform'd in our own Language: We do not buy or sell Pardons, nor do we trust in any Merits save those of our most Blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ: We pray for noue who are depart­ed [Page 19]this Life, much less do we Invocate any of the Saints: We renounce the strange Do­ctrine of Transubstamiation, as we do all pre­tentions to Infallibility upon Earth. What pretence can they then have, not to joyn Communion with us? If some things indiffe­rent and uncommanded in Holy Writ, do make them divide from us of the Church of England, they must (for the very same rea­son) not only separate from all the Reform­ed Churches of Europe, but from themselves too, wherein some things must be indifferent.

Yet notwithstanding all this, how pievish­ly are they bent against us? And out-run the Pharisees in the way of Separation; for those, though they were for Prayers of their own, yet joyn'd in the Publick Prayers of the Jewish Church; but these are so far from joyning with us in Prayer, that they cry out against our Publick Service, and condemn the Form, only because 'tis Uniform: Yet were they not as Ignorant as they are Envious, and as stubbornly resolved not to be Inform'd, as they are both, they might soon be satisfied, that set Forms of Prayer have been the con­stant Practise of the Church of GOD in her Publick Worship, in all Ages, both Jew [Page 20]and Christian. For as no Form of Prayer is the Mother of Confusion, so several Forms by Persons of the same Church, are the Means and Inlets of Division: and therefore to prevent all Divisions in the Church, and to avoid all ignorant, insignificant, and extra­vagant ways of expressing our Minds unto God in Prayer; as also that we might Communicate in each others Prayers, and reap the benefit of each others Fervency and Devotion, these were the great and weighty Reasons wherefore a set and standing Form of publick Prayer, has ever been prescribed and used in the Church.

Again, as the Pharisees of old were con­stantly backbiting and speaking Evil of the High-Priest, so our Modern Phnrisees make it a piece of their Religion, to bespatter and slander, despise and contemn the Persons and Commands of our Reverend Bishops, whom they ought to serve and obey in the Lord; Episcopacy being an Apostolical Institution, as appears from the Bishops which they Or­dained in several Churches: And St. Jerom assures us, that 'twas the Judgment of the whole Christian World in his time, (that for avoiding of Schism and Heresies) it was ne­cessary [Page 21]there should be one Bishop in every Diocess.

But to come nearer home, the Learned Doctor Du Moulin wrote a Book to Vindi­cate the French Reformed Churches from be­ing a Pattern to any Scottish or English Pres­byterians to reject their Bishops, where he gives us also the severe Censures of Zanchy and Calvin against those who deny Obedi­ence to their Lawful Bishops a Tester me Deo, says Zanchy, I protest before GOD and in my Conscience, that I hold them no better than Schismaticks, who account it a part of Refor­mation, to have no Bishops in the Church. And says Calvin, They are worthy of any Execrati­on, who will not submit themselves to that Hie­rarehy, which submitteth itself unto the LORD. And Calvin for his own part, though he had not the Title, had as much Authority as ever Bishop of Geneva had; and Presbytery itself is little else than a Multiplied Episcopacy, setting up a Diocesan in every Parish, only with the Addition of an Unparallelld Pride, and Insolency into the Bargain. Beza the great Patron of Presbyterian Eldership, yet onfesses it to be necessary, Ʋt Presbyterio [...] essit, & permaneret; That one be Pre­late [Page 22]over the Presbytery; and this not pre tem­pore, but to continue; and allows St. Jerom's Reason why it should be so, In Remedium Schismatis; For the avoiding of Schism. And I hope this Age will not yet forget, that when the Reverend Bishops were laid aside, when the influences of those Lights were re­strained, what a Night of Darkness over­spread the Face of the English Church; not unlike unto that which now threatens our Northern Brethren: for the same Arguments which the Presbyterians had fiercely used a­gainst the Bishops, were by the Independants unanswerably manag'd against themselves: and then there succeeded more Sub-divisions, the Anabaptist got up and bore Sway; the Fifth Monarchy Men made bussle for the Rule; and at last, up starts the Quaker, and he'll hold forth to them all.

Thus (though they could all but too well agree to Ruine the poor Church of England) yet no sooner had they done that, which was, and still is their Design, but you see how they fell out among themselves about their particular Ends; and when they had pull'd down that which they maliciously call'd Babylon, the English Jerusalem, their Language [Page 23]was so divided, that they could none of them build a Babel of their own.

Thus Religion, whose main business and design is to perswade Men to Unity, was generally made the occasion of Quarrel; for no sooner had they gone off from the peaceable and pious Ways of the Church, but into how many By-paths of Error did they run? and fled as fast from one ano­ther, as they did at first from us. And God knows this Leaven of Separation be­gins now to spread again as much as ever, and there are not wanting those, who as boldly as impiously give out, that the Uni­ty of the Spirit cannot be better kept than by Dis-uniting; that is, (though they dif­fer amongst themselves) by uniting against the Established Religion, and make that blessed Spirit whose Fruit is Peace, and Love, and Gentleness, the Author and Fo­menter of Discord and Strife, as if the fie­ry Tongues, he appeared in, had been de­sign'd for Incendiaries, and the Zeal, signi­fied by those sacred Flames, could not be better exprest, than in unkind Heats, and uncharitable Animosities; and the rushing of the Wind, which filled the Room where [Page 24]the Disciples were met, portended onely Storms and Tempests to the Christian Church, and those to be bred within her own Bowels.

But to proceed; another piece of the Hypocrisie of the Pharisees was; in that their making long Prayers, and pretending to greater Mortification, Self-denial, and Contempt of the World, was only that they might the more easily and readily De­fraud the Widdows and Orphans; and at the same time that they pretended to scorn all Secular Interests, they were the most covetous Persons living. And our home­bred Pharisees do not only imitate, but have out-done the Copy: for though they cry themselves up to be the great Lovers of the Life Eternal, yet if you mark them in their several Employs, and observe how they'll Equivocate and Lye to gain their Ends, and advance their Interests, you'll see that they prefer the Temporal, and that Gain is their Godliness; and that though they give out, they are all upon the spur to the New Jerusalem, are yet for all their hast, (if they had the power in their hands) as ready to make a Halt again in Church Lands as ever.

Again, as the Pharisees of old boasted a greater Tenderness of Conscience than o­ther Men, when all the while 'twas but Hypocrisie; for though they strein'd at a Gnat, they had a Conscience so wide as to swallow a Camel: So our Modern Zea­lots, though they are so tender as to scruple at a Ceremony, yet they have a Conscience so tough as to bear a Schisin. They are no Sabbath-Breakers or Swearers, (for those are Sins of no Profit) nor are they ordinarily drunk with Wine, without it be at another Man's charge, for that's both a disgraceful and a costly Sin; but they are serious demure in all their Projects, and seek the Ruine of a Church in as great Sobriety, as Julius Caesar did that of a Commonwealth.

Another part of the Religion of the Pharisees lay in deriding the Persons, and cenfuring the Faults of other Men: And does it not pass (with several of our Se­paratists) for a very confiderable piece of Religion, to speak contemptuously of o­thers, to scorn a Priest, deride a Bishop, and mock a whole Profession. This is the Piety of too many of them, this is their [Page 26]Religion, and this is the thing for which they so highly prize themselves; and if they should be denied this, if they should be stript (as 'tis fit they should) of their Zeal in scorning those they ought to value, if all that Heat which appears in them a­gainst the Persons of other Men were quencht, all that sour Leaven of theirs cast out, they would have very little to say for their being of any Religion: For if their Faith be observ'd by their Works, such as Patience, Humility, and Righteous­ness, those Graces wherein the Kingdom of GOD consists, you'll find them (with­out breach of Charity) far from being what they imagine themselves to be, name­ly, truly Pious. Nay, 'tis now become (such is the Age we live in) a main part of the Religion of some, first to invent and forge Lyes concerning the Persons and Lives of those who will not joyn with them in their Separation, and then with the greatest Pharisaical Demureness, spread and report them for Truths. And they are so far from accusing themselves for this, that they applaud themselves in it, and in­stead of looking upon themselves to be [Page 27]worse, (which I am sure every good Chri­stian ought to do) they believe themselves to be better Men for so doing.

Again, as the Pharisees when ever they had the Power in their hands, were con­stantly cruel and bloody, so we have not forgot, how when our Saints in Buff had the Sword in hand, and their Blasphemous Teachers such Texts as this in their mouths, To bind their Kings in chains, and their Nobles with links of iron, how many Loyal Heads they brought to the Block; and to fill up their Inhumane Cruelty (true Pha­risee like) they murdered the best of Prin­ces; and the Thirtieth of January will for ever blush in our English Kalender, as well as the Fifth of November.

Lastly, The Pharisees were a proud and self-conceited Sect: And for our home­bred Separatists, notwithstanding their out­ward show of Humility, they are inward­ly full of Pride; and of this take one In­stance for all: Can there be a greater piece of Pride, than for a Person of very low Parts, and little Learning, of contempt­able Education, and small Improvements, to separate from a Great and Admired Church, [Page 28]the Church of England, and from the De­votions of the same in her Publick Litur­gies, all contrived by the Wisdom, direct­ed by the Learning, embraced by the Pie­ty, Established by the Authority of such a Nation, Confirmed by many Acts of Parlia­ment, and by as many Convocations, or Representatives of the Clergy, Sign'd and Seal'd by the Sufferings of many Confes­sors and Martyrs, I say, for an Audacious Schismatick full of nothing but Ignorance, to scorn or pitty all his Teachers, as Fools and Blind, is such an Arrogance, Self-con­ceitedness, and Pride, as no Rhetorick can express, no Charity excuse, no Humility not censure.

Thus do our Modern Separatists run pa­rallel with the old Pharisees; And give me leave to tell you, (my Reverend Brethren) that 'tis the Duty of every one of us, to Caution the People committed to our Care and Charge, to beware of their Leaven: I know Prudence is to be consulted how to reprove Dissenting Brethren, but Courage and Resolution is never to be laid aside, and the more prevalent and resolute any [Page 29]Party is, the more need of Courage to op­pose it. Let them but once shew some true signs of their Repentance for what is past, by joyning Communion with us, and no Men living shall rejoyce more than we. But if instead of this, they study to raise their old Devil of Sedition again in the likeness of a Prophet, are still as active to spread abroad their sour Leaven, and are still as industrious to proselite easie natur'd Men to their Faction as ever: shall we be so cowardly and treacherous to that Church of which we have the honour and happi­ness, not only to be Members but Mini­sters too, as not to tell our People (for all their coming in Nomine Domini) that Reli­gion is but Hypocrisie, and endeavour (as much as in us lies) to lay open their De­lusions, that they may not be twice poi­son'd (by these Mountebanks in Divinity) in less than one Age.

And for you my worthy Brethren of the other Cloth, I hope a few Motives will perswade you to beware, especially if you please to remember, into what a sad Condi­tion this Leaven of Hypocrisie once mould­ed this flourishing Church and Nation: For [Page 30]what things are there in Holy Writ (how Essential soever to Christianity) which have not been question'd and disputed, if not denied and rejected, since this sour Leaven has been spread abroad amongst us? 'Tis to this alone we owe the raging of the Sea, and the roaring of the Waves, whereby the Madness of the People is oft exprest: 'Twas this Leaven of Schism, made Sacri­ledge and a Sale of the Crown-Lands, and Murdered GOD's Anointed in order to it; but for this we had never heard either of Plunder or Sequestration, the sound of those Names had not reacht our English Ears: In short, to this alone we owe the Legion not only of Creeds of Dogmatizings here amongst us, (since the Year 41. in especial manner) but even of Skepticism, Apostasie, and Atheism.

And now to conclude, (for I fear I have been too tedious) with a word or two to our Separating Brethren, and I heartily wish that I were but as able, as from the bottom of my Soul I am willing, to per­swade them to joyn with us in the Publick Worship of God: One would think our [Page 31]common Enemies ought to make them our Friends, and 'twould certainly do it, if they would but permit themselves either in Piety or Prudence to be provoked by them to Emulation: For if all sorts of Pa­pists, even the Sorbonists, and the Jesuites, the Dominicans, and the Franciscans, how­ever differing in Opinions, and burning in Heats one against another, do yet agree a­gainst the Protestants, what should hinder all sorts of Protestants, the English especial­ly (however divided in Opinions) from meeting together, and agreeing in the same Church of England, whose Reformation is made Authentick by the highest Authori­ty under Heaven? But if they will not come in, if they will not cast out this Lea­ven of theirs, but are still resolved (let what Arguments as will be used) to be peevishly bent against us; yet we'll Treat them with Candor and Charity, and not cease to Pray to GOD for them, and humbly beseech him (for the sake of his Dearest Son, and our and their Blessed Saviour) in his due time, to heal all our Divisions, and make up all our Breaches, that so we may Serve him with one Mind [Page 32]and one Mouth, to the Glory of his Holy Name, the Good of his Church, the Ho­nour of Their Sacred Majesties, and the Peace and Prosperity of the Nation, which He of his Infinite Goodness grant.

Now to God the Father, to God the Son, and to God the Holy Ghost, be ascrib'd, as is most due, all Glory, Honour, and Praise, both now and for ever. Amen.