A Schism a Greater Judgment then a Pestilence. The Natural Rhetorique of the Non-Cons. The Danger of them. Several Sorts and Degrees of Danger. Of Coming About, or Coming Over. The Cause Transferr'd from Government to Religion.

Munday, September 28. 1685.

OBSERVATOR. If I were the Master of a Territory, I would as soon Trust so many Spirits in my Pulpits, to Blow a Pestilence thorough my Dominions, as so many of our Non-Conforming Divines; and reckon my People much Safer too, under the Danger of a Plague, then under the Consequences of a Schism: For the One Taints but the Bodies of Men; the Other Destroys their very Souls; the One takes them Promiscuously, the Good, and the Bad, One with Another: But the 'Tother Marks, and Singles-out the Best Men for Ruine, with a Privilege of Exemption, to those that neither fear God, nor Man. The One Sweeps away a Number of Single Persons; the Other Tears to pieces the Sinews of a Community. The One does, in some Degree, Conduce to the Purging of a Wicked Nation, when the Wrath of Heaven is Appeas'd by the Discharge of some Dreadfull Judgment upon't; (as the Air is Clear'd by Thunder) The Other does All that is Possible to the Filling-up of the Measure of a Publique Iniquity; and the making of a Land Ripe for Vengeance.

TRIMMER. Prethee what Danger? Or what needs this Lashing, when they are All Tongue-Ty'd; and Driven into Holes, and Hiding-Places, to keep out of the way of Messengers, and Constables, and out of the Clutches of the Corporation-Act, and Other Penal Laws against their Private Meetings?

Obs. What dost thou Talk of Tongue-Ty'd? Why I will undertake it; (and in Serious Good Earnest too) Gagg the Whole Set of'em; Give Every man his Pulpit, or his Chair, and only a Bare Standing in't; and if they do not Wink, and Nod, and Cuff any Prince in Christendom out of his Dominions, without a Word Speaking, I'le be thy Bond-slave. Why they do not do their Bus'ness, man, by the Force of Logique, Grammar, or by the Dint of Theology: But by Groans, Pangs, Tragical Ululations, Silent Interjections, Whining Apostrophes, Melting Epiphonemas; and in a word; by the Helps of Natural Rhetorick, without Need, of either Sense, or Syllables.

Trim. They Preach, and Pray, without Speaking then.

Obs. No No. They do Talk for Fashion-sake: But Observe it while you will; They move the Passions of their Auditory, in the Belfry, or the Church-Porch, Forty times more then Directly under the Pulpit: For the Emphasis of an Action; a Motion, Tone, or Countenance, makes a much Deeper Impression, than that of a Naked, Empty, Sound: And for My Part, I fancy, it might do as well for 'em to Whistle their Preachments as to Articulate them: For the Masterpiece, or the All in All of it, lies Mainly, in Hitting the Tune.

Trim. D'ye call this Reasoning, or Ridiculing?

Obs. 'Tis Both in One: For it is the Ridiculous Truth, and the Just Reason, Method, and State of the Matter: And when People are once Juggled Out of their Wits, they must be Fool'd Into 'em again. Now there needs no more to the doing of That Work, then the bare Drawing of the Curtain, and letting People into the Tyring-Room. For the Cause, is all over, Theatrical: The Actors are Hypocrites, in their Manners, as well as in the Etymon; and the whole Manage, fitter for a Stage, then a Pulpit. So that the most Certain Way in Nature, for the making of the Practice, Odious; and the Disabusing of the Undiscerning Multitude, is to lay Open their False Colours, Shapes, & Disguises; and Expose Every thing in its Naked Simplicity to the Light.

Trim. And what if a man should Allow This sort of People now, to be the most Uncouth, Hideous Monsters of the Creation? To have the Teeth, the Nails, the Fierceness, the Strength, & the Appetite of the most Ravenous of Wild Beasts? This Discourse, of Caution, and Description, might do well enough in the Countrys of Lyons, and Tygers: But what's All This, to his Majesties Dominions, where there are either None of These Creatures, at all, or No Other, at least, then such as have their Nails Par'd, and their Chops Muzzled: And no more Danger of them, at present, then of our Beeves, and Muttons.

Obs. Dost not thou know that there are Several Sorts, & Degrees of Danger? A man may be Wheedled into a Precipice, as well as Thrown into't: A man may be Hugg'd or Suck'd to Death, without any Biting, or Scratching in the Case: A man may be Poyson'd in his Porridge, as well as Strangl'd in his Bed: A man may have False Opinions Impos'd upon him by a Fallacy, or Fraud in Argument, as well as Extorted from him, by the Force of Menace, and Torment. And his Bus'ness, at last, is done, as Dead, One way as T'other: And so for the Degrees of Danger; There's Danger at Hand; there's Danger at a Distance; Danger in Design, and Danger in Practice; And Danger, in fine, through All the Preparatory, and Mediate Tendencies to Mischief, to the Last Effect that Pushes it self forth to Execution.

Trim. Very Good! And what are All These Sorts, and Degrees of Danger to the Instances we have now Before us?

Obs. 'Tis true; The Faction is not in Condition to Attacque the Government by Force: Their Armies are Scatter'd, and their Squadrons Defeated; the Whole Party put to their Shifts; and the very Best of 'em, has enough to do to save his Own Bacon. Their Teeth are Drawn, I'le Allow ye, All but here and there a Stump; And yet they'l Pinch, Plaguily, though they cannot Worry, and Tear: And with Time, and Good Discipline, they'l come to Grow again. They have the Same Principles to friend, that ever they had: Only they must be Manag'd Another Way: And there can never Want Matter, for Artificial Flattery, Wheedling, Imposture and Hypocrisy, to Work upon. They are not in Condition to Advance, at this time of the Day, in the face of the Sun, and of the Government, with their Petticoats Flying, under the Auspicious Direction of their Tutelary Angel, Ferguson; and [Fear Nothing but God] for their Motto. But they must Supply want of Strength, by Stratagem; and Carry-on their Approches, out of sight. 'Tis only a little more Patience, and the Work will be brought about, as sure at the Long-Run, by a Mine, as by a Battery: And the Certifying of a Hundred and Fifty Perrots into the Service, and Protection Of the Government, will be of Greater Effect, then the Drawing-up of Ten Thousand men in Arms, Against it. Now These Methods lye All Open still, only they are somewhat more About. Now as to Dangers Remote, or Nearer hand; Dangers of Design, or Dangers of Practice: All the Preparatories, & Dispositions to Mischief, in their Secret Impulses, and Causes, are as Vigorous Now, as Ever they were, that is to say, within Two or Three Motions of a Publique Violence: Only This Difference in the Case, that we have Hitherto, been in the Greatest Danger of our Profess'd, & Open Enemies: And Now, God bless us from our Pretending Friends: For all on a Sudden, the Trimmers are come-up to be Stark Church-of-England-men; And the Phanatiques, gotten a Form Higher, into the Seat or Classes of the Trimmers.

Trim. Thou art Well, neither Full nor Fasting. Neither Fanatique, nor Trimmer, nor Church-of-England-man I perceive, will please ye; The Controversy of a New King; or a Common-Wealth, is Out of Doors; The Question of Liberty of Conscience; The Privilege of Private Meetings for Religous Worship; And a Challenge of Dispensation from the Rites, Ceremonies, and Discipline of the Church, are All layd aside. And All This will not serve the Turn yet. Now if Men go to Church; Take Tests, make Declarations; And Do and Perform All that the Law Requires of'em; where's the Danger of These People I beseech ye?

Obs. Not in their coming over with their Bodies, but in Staying behind, in their Good Wills, and Affections: Nay, and in their Communicating with the Church in the Morning, and in the Afternoon, with the Schism: And pray will you Note in them, One Thing More too. 'Tis worth the while, when they Ramble from their Own Parish, to Observe whither they go: For I have known the very Streets Throng'd, out of Distance of Hearing One Word that the Minister says, with the Same Superstition, that the Quakers Flock to the Door, when they are Lock'd-out of the Meeting-House: In which Case, It has yet the Semblance of a Private Meeting; And in Truth, looks liker a Political Muster, then a Religious Exercise: But Heark ye for One Word, before we go any further; Suppose a Man should have sayd about the Beginning of July Last, in a Brisk Reply to a Reflexion made upon the Western-Rebells; (at that time in their Pride and Glory) [The King has as Loyal Subjects in That Army as Any are in T'other.] Wouldst thou have me, in Construction of Common Sense, and Honesty, look upon That Person, to be, Effectually Come over, and in the State of a True Church-of-England-man; only for Keeping the Law, with his Heels, when he Breaks it, with his Tongue, and Doctrine? Now this is more then I Owe ye, upon the Matter in hand: For you have Carry'd the Question quite back again, from the Non-Con-Ministers, to the Generality, and the Multitude of the Dissenters: which is a Point Wholly Excepted, and out of the Limits of Our Debate: For All their Conventicles without a Mouth, are Monsters; Meer Nullities, & Bilks, without a Teacher: So that I have Restrain'd my Applications, Singly, to the Rabbi's of the Faction, as Including, and Implying the Sense, and the Intent of their Disciples: Nay and so far Including it, that they are Barely, the Passive Instruments of their Leaders. Now These Heads of the Divided Parties, are a sort of People, that do not, by any Means, fall within the Charitable Prospect of Your Qualifications: For they Stand-off, in Contempt, and Defyance of the Orders, & Censures of the Church, and of the Law, as much at This Instant, as ever they did. Their Followers Maintain, and Support them in That Stubbornness of Disobedience; And so the Opposition stands yet Firm, in Effect, though with Less Noise of Menace, and Tumult. The Branches, 'tis True, are Lopt; but the Root, not so much as Touch'd; Nay, and in such a Condition of Vegetative Virtue, and Vigour, that it wants nothing but Time, and a Favourable Season to make it Sprout again. And This you may Assure your self of, that Nothing less then an Utter, an Open, a Solemn, and an Irrevocable Divorce, betwixt These Libertine-Seducers, and Those that have been Trepann'd, and Inveigled, out of the Bosom of the Church, into the Arms of the Schism: Nothing I say, less then Some such Unalterable Act, or Decree of Separation, can ever Secure, either the Church, or the State from the Pernicious Consequences of this Intelligence: For betwixt Blind Pity, and Foolish Zeal, on the One hand, and all the Arts, of Moving, and Provoking Those Passions, and Affections, on the Other, there is kept-up, and Cherish'd, a Communication of Reciprocal Kindness, between them, that keeps the Fire alive still in the Embers, 'till by Degrees, it Blows-up All at last into a Common Flame. Now take away These Bellows, and T'other Sparks, and a man may Sleep in his Bed, without Dreaming of Conflagrations, or the Dread of Rising with his Throat Cut.

Trim. I will not Excuse some Hot-Headed Blades, that let their Tongues run before their Wits; And make it a Point of Honour, to Brave All the Terrors of Death, and Dungeons, in defence of the Cause that they have Undertaken. The Less said, the Better; Though a Body cannot, in Generosity, but have some sort of Compassion, for a Man that Suffers Death, with Constancy of Mind, Even in a Mistaken Cause, if it be according to his Conscience.

Obs. If these Impressions were Inbred, and the Errors purely their Own, it would be a Point, not only of Good Nature, but of Common Justice, and Humanity, to have a Tenderness for People under an Invincible Mistake: But you have Started the Strongest Argument in the World, against your self here, by Enforcing the Necessity of Clearing the Stage of the Seditious Oracles, that Inspire These Desperate Resolutions.

Trim. Why All matter of Violence, Heat of Dispute, and Clamour of Argument, is at an End. You hear no more of your Scottish, and Western Declarations; No more Competitors for the Crown; or Confederates for a Republique: And therefore prethee, let us be at Peace while we May be at Peace; and do not stand Puzzling the People with Danger, where No Danger is.

Obs. Soft and Fair, Trimmer; those Declarations, Practices, and Attempts, are not to be Repeated again in the same Age: But there are more ways to the Wood then One: And 'tis All a case, to a man that's Robb'd, whether the Thieves came in at the Door, or at the Window. 'Tis very Right, That, since the Breaking of the Rebellion, the Non-Cons lay their Fingers upon their Mouths; and not One Word of Late, upon the Subject of Liberties, and Properties; or of the Danger of Tyranny, and of Arbitrary Power: But All other Grievances are Now Swallow'd-up in One: They are All in Tears for fear of the Protestant Religion; and That's the Topique that's now Carry'd-on, through All Shapes, Figures, and Disguises.

Trim. We shall have fine Work, Next Bout!

London, Printed for Charles Brome, at the Gun in St. Paul's Church-yard.

Vol. 3.Numb. 202