A new Revolution, or the High-Flyer turn­ed Whig, in a Letter from a Parishoner to his Church-Man.

SIR,

THE Relation you stand in to me as my Parish Minister, has necessarily drawn upon you the present Trouble, for to whom should I apply for Solution of my Religious Scruples, but to him who has the more immediate Care of my Soul? My Manner of Life you very well know has been according to that Sect of our Church call'd Tories or High-Flyers, who have distinguished themselves from their Brethren the Whigs or Low-Churchmen, by Pretences to unlimited Loyalty, and an extravagant Zeal for the Safety of the Church, and this I must say of my self, that bating my having frequented her Assemblies oftner, drank less, and swore seldomer for her; no Man has outstrip'd me in Zeal on all Occasions. I have heard the Sin of Scism discrib'd in such odious Co­lours from your Pulpit, and the Schismatick so often deliver'd over to Satan, that it has created in me an utter Abhorrence of one, and an Opinion that a Man could not consistently with his being a good Churchman, allow the common Priviledges of Humane Nature to the other. You have taught me, that one might, with less Hazard to his Salvation, be guilty of Murder, Adultery, Drunken­ness or Blasphemy, than of Schism; and consequently I should rather have chosen to be found in a House of unlawful Pleasure, than seen in an Assembly of our Schismatical Dissenters, whose Paces of Worship I have with Pleasure seen demolish'd and brunt, and (GOD forgive me for it) so far hath my Zeal for the Church transported me, as to wish their Preachers had perish'd in the Flames: Thus have I all my Life long hug'd my self in the Opinion of my own Or [...]hodoxy, and a Contempt of those you have taught me to call Schismaticks till a little Discovery has dismounted my Confidence; and I am full of doubt whether after all this while that I have accounted my self Something, I am still Nothing, but have miserably deceived my self: In short, Sir, I am stung with that cuting Re­proach, "Thou art inexcuseable O Man, whoever thou art, that judges; for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thy self, for thou that judgest dost the same Thing: Nor can I stand that wounding Interrogatory, and thinkest thou this O Man that judgest them who do such Things and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the Judgment of GOD? You will naturally conclude, its the late Schism charg'd upon us hast given me this Uneasiness, a Charge, which if it cannot be re­mov'd lays us under the most dreadful Circumstances; 'tis a Mine our very Foundation, and if it spring with Success, must ineviteably bury us all in its Ruines; wonder not then at my Concern in this Matter, wherein I take my Eternal Salvation to be in Dispute, I shall never forget such Passag­es in your former Discourses as these, 'Schism is a Sin directly opposite to that Spirit of Love and Union, the peculiar Mark of CHRIST's Disciples, without which Spirit its impossible for any Man to be saved.

'Men may much better disturb the Peace of the State, than that of the Church. Now if Eternal Damnation be the Reward of the one, what Degree of Damnation is due to the Schismatick, who di­sturbs the other? i. e. If I understand your Meaning, a Degree of Damnation beyond Eternal: Oh dreadful! — Again, no Returns of Prayers can be expected by such as join with Schismaticks, nor no Benefit of Sacraments — 'Once more, our Communicating with Scismaticks, makes us Schis­maticks, and by Communicating with Excomunicates (which alas, is the Case) we not only lose all our Labour, but we get a Curse instead of a Blessing, and turn our very Prayers and Sacraments into Sin. Alas! Alas! What have I been doing all my Lifetime! The very Thoughts fill me with Horrour; ever and anon am I frightned out of my Sleep, with these dreadful Words, Shism! Schism! Resistence! Damnation! Like Peals of Thunder ring in my Ears. Sir, if you have any Bowels of Compassion for a poor distressed Creature, lend me your Assistance to refute the Charge, which I can no more of my self, than I can remove a Mountain. I have used all the Arguments I am Master of to no Purpose. Sometimes I please my self that a Majority must needs be Orthodox; but when I consider that we had never reform'd from Popery, and consequently never been a Church, if it were not a possible Case for 99 Parts in 100 to be in the Wrong, and for Truth to rest with the small Remainder, this Argument will not serve me; sometimes I shelter my self under the Protection of an Act of Parliament, but I am presently terretted hence with those memorable Passages of yours, 'Schism is an Offence against the Laws of GGD, and does not depend upon the changeable Will of our Superiors — Schism is a Breach of [Page] [Page]Church Peace and Love, and will always be the Breach of Church Peace and Love, let our Governours say or tollerate what they please.

My last Refuge was to the Validity of the Ordination of these Bishops who join in the Revolution; but I find this Defence is not Canon Proof, for you tell me, Bishops, tho' duly constituted, yet asso­ciating with others who are Intruders, become Schismaticks. Nor is this all, for it seems they are Ex­comunicates to, and Excommunication (say you) certainly includes in it a Deposition from Episcopal Authority, for it metamorphoses us into Heathens, if these Assertions of yours, Sir, are true, Lord have Mercy upon us? What a Condition are we all in, who have sat under the Ministry of a Sett of Men who have no more Power to exercise any of the Sacerdotal Functions, than my Groom has! I have thought my self a married Man these 15 Years, and am the Father of half a Dozon Children; but after all, it seems I have only kept a Mistress so long, and must look on my faucied Wife as the wretched Partner in unlawful Embraces, and those Childred I used to behold with Pleasure, as the dear Pledges of a vittuous Love, I can only regard as the unhappy Issue of a polluted Bed; nor have I the Consolation to think, that Baptism has mended their Condition, and made them Members of CHRIST, Children of GOD, and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven; for alas, they receiv'd it from Schisma­tical Hands, whose Ministrations are meer Nullities, and so the poor Creatures are in a State of Hea­thenism still. I have been a constant Observer of the Feasts and Fasts of the Church, and duly attend­ed her Sacraments; but Woe is me! All this will not so much as afford me the poor Negative Comfort, that I have only been doing Nothing to the Purpose, for it seems I have hereby encreased the Score of my Sins. I conjure you, Sir, to use your best Endeavours to quiet my Mind, under the Apprehensions of this dreadful Guilt; and if you can, without giving up the Independency of the Church, the Ne­cessity of an uninterrupted Episcopal Succession, and the Doctrine of Non Resistance, repal this Charge of Schism, then you will be a happy Instrument of removing those Scruples which perplex ma­ny a good Churchman, and amongst the rest,

SIR,
Your Humble Servant, ZELOTES.

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