THE BROKEN CISTERN, AND THE SPRINGING WELL: OR, THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAD NOTIONS, AND HEART RELIGION, VAIN JANGLING, AND SOUND DOCTRINE. ADDRESSED, TO THE REV. JOHN RYLAND, SENIOR, AT ENFIELD. By WILLIAM HUNTINGTON, S. S. MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL AT PROVIDENCE CHAPEL, LITTLE TITCHFIELD-STREET, SECOND EDITION. Forafmuch as ye are manifeftly declared to be the epiftle of Chrift ministered letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. LONDON: PRINTED BY T. BENSLEY, BOLT COURT, FLEET Street. PREFACE. To the Rev. JOHN RYLAND, Sen. REVEREND SIR, " THE reafon of my addreffing this to you, is becaufe, fome time ago, you faid, (as I was informed). in a barber's fhop, that " You had prepared a pill for WILLIAM HUNTINGTON; and, if that did not do, you would give him a bolus." Soon after which your little Body of Divinity" appeared, which I took to be the Pill; and, after that, "Antinomianifm Unmasked" fell into my hands, which I took to be the threatened Bolus. However, I could not help fmiling when I faw your Maid's name affixed to it, for I thought that was done in order to try my fagacity, or the ftrength of my eye-fight. I perceived that there was a woman's name ftanding on the title, and a man's voice fpeaking in it. I faid, "Come near to me, and let me handle thee, and fee whofe child thou art: thou art called the handyworks of Efau, but the voice is the voice of Jacob.” How A 2 However, the Maid affirms that, by a miraculous conception, fhe compaffed this production without the help of man; whereas, if family likeneffes exprefs or mean any thing, the firft nine or ten pages will speak for themfelves. Many of the features of this child are Mr. Ryland's own: he is known, whether he appears in a Magazine or in this piece. I think I may warrantably fay of these pages, as we commonly fay of a log of feather-edge boards, that it is the work of two; or of a pair of fawyers, one on the top, and the other in the pit. The Maid, by name, is the top woman; but Mr. Ryland worked under ground. There was a conjunction of heads in the production of this pamphlet. This difcovers itfelf in the feventh page, where the noun plural appears-"We have taken a short but comprehenfive view of it, but who hath believed the report?" It might have been rendered, our report. Now, though I am no grammarian, yet I know that two are more than one, and that we implies a plurality. But it feems that Mr. Ryland refufes to father this little one, left it fhould be overlaid, or found dead: but the Maid lays claim to the whole of it, having no doubt but it is a living child. But I fay, " Divide it," feeing the Girl has confeffed to Mr. King that it contains Mr. Ryland's fentiments. You You should be a little more private, reverend Sir, in your matters, and not let your fecret things get. abroad, as they do. Your threatening me in the barber's fhop; the former convention and council against me, when the calf's head fell into the afhes; the good works that appeared in your fervant, and another, when the feventeenth fquib of candour went off in a fortnight at Iflington; your refusing to see any body but your maid when this chick was hatching from the egg; the printer's boy bringing a proof to you at a friend's house, where you did not expect him; your acknowledging to Mrs. Terry that you had a hand in the first squib that your Maid discharged at me, befides your own mode of writing appearing in it-serve to confirm me in my opinion of its having been a joint work. i The above hints I have dropped [a hint to the wife is enough] only to let my friends know that I was privy to many of their fecret counfels-Wift ye not that fuch`a man as I can certainly divine? I fuppofe your fervant thinks me not fo competent a judge of phyfiognomy as herself, because the "Anfwer to the Daughter's Defence" was addreffed to the father; but she seems to wonder that the answer to the Maid's Mask should be addreffed to the Maf |