Diffenting Gentleman's ANSWER

To the Reverend

Mr. WHITE's

THREE LETTERS;

In which

A SEPARATION from the Eftablishment is fully juftified;

The Charge of SCHISM is refuted and retorted;

AND THE

CHURCH of England and the CHURCH of JESUS CHRIST, are impartially compared, and found to be CONSTITUTIONS of 2 quite DIFFERENT NATURE.

We defire to hear thee-for as concerning THIS SECT, we know that every where it is spoken against. ACTS xxviii, 22.

The FIFTH EDITION.

130. g

BOSTON, N. E. Printed and fold by ROGERS and FowLE in Queen-street. 1748.

************

THE

DISSENTING GENTLEMAN'S

ANSWER

To the REVEREND

Mr. WHITE's Three LETTERS, &C.

SIR,

A

DEBATE of this kind I fhould not have chofe in the present Situation of our publick Affairs: But as you have done me the Honour of publickly addreffing to me three long Letters for my Conviction and Edification, Gratitude and good Manners conftrain me to answer.

As worldly Confiderations are very ftrong on your Side, I affure you, I have an Ear always open to any thing that can fhew Conformity to be my Duty. Diffenters are not Men of fo peculiar a Turn of Mind, as to love Suffering and Reproach, or to despise the Dignities, Preferments, and lucrative Pofts, to the Amount of Millions a Year, which are shared amongst their Fellow-fubjects, could they with a good Confcience partake of them, as shey have a natural Right to do.

But

But, notwithstanding this Prejudice in Favour of you Argument, and all the Ingenuity with which you fe it off, I cannot fay it has wrought in me the Conviction you feemed to hope. So far, Sir, from this, that the more carefully I examine the Grounds of my Separation, the more thoroughly I am convinced of its Lawfulnefs and Expediency; that 'tis a Debt I owe to GOD, to Liberty, to Truth, and an Act of Homage and Allegiance due to CHRIST, the only Law-giver and King in the Church, I fhall not enter upon the Enquiry, on which you largely expatiate, who are the best Livers, Churchmen or Diffenters ? And amongst which the best Means for holy living are found? Let the World judge betwixt us. Would to God that both of us had greater Reason to boast!

The Controverfy betwixt us, Sir, I apprehend may eafily be brought to a plain and fhort Iffue, if you will heartily join in it. It turns upon the fingle Point of the XXth Article of your Church, viz. That THE CHURCH bath Power to decree Rites and Ceremonies, and Authority in Matters of Faith. For if THE CHURCH hath really this Authority and Power, then all Objections of the Dif fenters about Sponfors, the Crofs in Baptifm, kneeling at the Lord's Supper, and every other Thing, are impertinent and vain : The Church having this Authority, ought reverently to be obeyed. And, if instead of two or three Ceremonies, it had enjoined two or three Score; and if to the Thirty-nine Articles it had added an hundred befides, we ought meekly to have bowed down to her fpiritual Jurifdiction, and to have practised and believed as the Church had taught and enjoined.

But, if on the Contrary, Sir, the Church hath really and in Truth, No Power at all, nor Authority of this kind; yea, if CHRIST, the great Law-giver and King of· the Church, bath exprefly commanded that NO POWER of this kind fhall ever be claimed, or ever be yielded, by any of his Followers; then your Church is reprehenfible

and

and highly criminal before God, for ufurping this Power: And then the Diffenters are juftified, and will have Honour before God, for entering their Protest against fuch Ufurpation; for afferting the Rights and Privileges of the Chriftian Church; and standing fast in the Liberty wherewith CHRIST has made them free.

Our Separation from the Establishment you are pleased to reprefent in very terrifying and black Colours, as a Sin of near the first Magnitude Our Ministers, you fay, have Guilt lying heavily upon them on Ac"count of their fchifmatical and uncatholick Proceed"ings. They are notorioufly peccant (i. e. are great "Sinners) in throwing off the Authority of thofe "whom they ought to obey and fubmit themfelves "to. Their Conduct is fuch as you challenge all the "Wit and Ingenuity of the Nation ever to reconcile "with boly Living You represent them as carnal, "evil, and deceitful Workers, diforderly Walkers, "whom God will, undoubtedly, for thefe Things bring "into Judgment; and the Faithful, far from being "permitted to enter into any paftoral Relation to them, are not permitted to have any Chriftian Communion "with them; no, not fo much as any intimate unneceffary Acquaintance and Familiarity with them in common Life;" with much more to the fame Purpose. You fpeak alfo " of the Lay-diffenter, as having "ftained his Soul with Guilt ; and of the Doctrine "on which our Separation is built, as being falfe and "dangerous S. This you with me to lay to Heart, "and seriously to confider."

66

I have, according to your Wish, Sir, lain it to Heart, and feriously confidered. The Refult of my Confideration I fhall now freely give you; and in return heartily wifh, that laying afide all Prejudice and worldly Attach

Letter I. Page 82, 83. # Letter II. Page 26.

† Letter II. Page 8. S Letter III. Page 59.

men