Essay 9: An Apology for the Different Judgments and Practices of Sincere Christians That Are Weak in Knowledge

Give me leave, my dear friend, to make a charitable apology for honest and upright souls, who maintain a strict course of piety and virtue, and yet appear to be unalterably determined for or against the communion of the Church of England, upon very slight and feeble grounds. Perhaps we shall learn compassion to the weaknesses of our fellow Christians, if you and I together meditate on these following considerations.

Let us take a survey how many are the circumstances and various occurrences of human life, which do sometimes powerfully determine the opinions even of good and sober men, to one or the other side of this controversy, whether they shall fix their communion in the Church of England, or amongst those who separate from it.

Here the first thing that naturally occurs, is the Education of different Persons, which has a mighty influence to form their opinions, and to fix their practice; and this, it must be confessed, is not in a man's own choice. The providence of the great and blessed God, the Over-ruler of all things, determines this affair in a wise and holy manner, whatever the final event may be.

Jonathan goes to worship every Lord's Day where his father goes, and as the child was never led to hear a sermon at a public church, so the youth grows up in a groundless aversion to it, and the man stands at a wider distance, and can hardly be persuaded to venture in.

By use and custom from his very childhood, he understands the methods of the Dissenters worship, and the terms that are used in their sermons. And if by any strange occasion he is led to the Church of England, he finds no profit by hearing a clergyman preach, for he does not clearly take in the expressions and the meaning. And it must be acknowledged, many of them have a different way of managing the Word of God in their explications of it, different phrases and modes of expression, and too many of them preach doctrines different from their own articles and our common faith. These things are shocking and offensive to the ear, rather than instructive or edifying to a new hearer.

Besides, Jonathan has imbibed long prejudices against the modes of worship and ceremonies of the church, the forms, the gestures, the vestments, the responses, et cetera, and his soul is thereby mightily unfitted for edification by the prayers of the Church of England, that are mingled and interwoven with them. His palate is so much disgusted with this sort of entertainment beforehand, that he either disrelishes or neglects whatever solid and wholesome food is set before him in the sermon that follows. I will not say, there is nothing of this folly owing to the influences of his education; but it is hard, if not impossible, to amend or prevent all the faults of this kind in the education of children, by the best and wisest of parents.

These things joined together, put a strong bias upon the judgment of the man, and it is exceeding difficult to be removed; and it is evident that his prayers, his practice in religion, his secret acts of devotion, are all regulated by the instructions he has received from his parents or some of his teachers. This makes his spirit grow uneasy under ceremonious forms, and he is quite untuned for devotion by the very sound of the organ. These things must needs have a mighty force on the minds of young sincere creatures beginning their course of religion and Christianity, to establish them in the Nonconformist way.

And I might also add, how rude and indecent a thing the plain and natural worship of the Dissenters appears to one, that has been bred up to ornament and ceremony in the several parts of worship in the established church.

By education and custom, a particular form of religion is so mingled with their nature, and wrought into their constitution, that you might as soon alter their palate, and change their taste of meats, as you can persuade their souls to dislike the ministry under which they have been brought up, and to forsake the mode of worship to which they have been trained. They are so positive they are in the right, that they never had any thought of calling these things to a new examination.

Secondly, the prejudice of the mind in favour of the Dissenters grows yet stronger, if Jonathan has found his soul awakened to a fear of hell, and been effectually convinced of sin by the terrors of the law under the preaching of some Boanerges, some son of thunder in a meeting-house. And has been afterwards led gently into the knowledge of Jesus Christ the Saviour, and has been taught to apply himself unto him for salvation by humble faith.

If the Spirit of God has made the preaching of pardon and grace, by a Dissenting minister, effectual to claim the surges of his troubled conscience, and to lead him the way of peace and holiness towards heaven, perhaps he feels his passions refined, his sinful appetites mortified, his temper changed from earthly and carnal, to spiritual and heavenly, how naturally will his whole soul be carried out to love this ministry? And he would not willingly absent himself one day from the teachings of this Barnabas, this son of consolation; he despises all the finer flourishes of eloquence, he can take no pleasure in the more polite, and perhaps more argumentative discourse of a doctor or a bishop in the Church of England; But where he has found light and food, and rest for his dark and distressed and hungry soul, thither he will go constantly to worship, and he calls that the sanctuary of the Lord, without once inquiring whether a parish church may not be the sanctuary of the Lord too. Nay perhaps his passion for the Dissenters may rise so high as to deny the presence of God in the assemblies of the established church, or to allow very little of it there.

And by the same false method of reasoning may a churchman, whose soul has been brought to repentance and holiness by the ministry of the public church, on which he has attended, almost hate the name of a Nonconformist, and severely inveigh against them all as schismatics and foolish teachers, when perhaps he never ventured into a meeting-house, nor heard one sermon in any of their assemblies.

So far is it possible for piety, ignorance and prejudice to meet in the same mind: but our God, who knows the frame of human nature, looks down and pities and forgives. A hearty tendency towards God, and a pursuit of heaven is well-pleasing in his sight; though perhaps the traveler, through ignorance, takes many a wrong step, and performs many a duty not exactly conformable to the directions of the Word.

Now, though this argument be sufficient to determine him to be a Christian, in opposition to other religions, because other religions have not this power to sanctify him, yet it ought not to be sufficient for ever to determine him to a particular party of Christians, because it was not the particular opinions of that party, but the substantial and great doctrines of Christianity or the Gospel, which are professed and pretended to by both parties, that were so powerful to the turning of his heart towards God.

After all this discourse, I would not be understood as though I encouraged this laziness of men, and neglect of due and just reasoning. No, for reason is the talent that God hath given to be used in the affairs of religion, and he hath given us the rule of his own Word for our determination, by which all our worship ought to be regulated, and not by human inventions; and men are highly guilty in their neglect hereof. But a gracious God will forgive, for he knows our frame and our frailty.

I believe God does accept of such inward, sincere and experimental arguments as vulgar Christians use to make or keep themselves Churchmen or Dissenters, Calvinists or Arminians. If they feel their souls raised to a more heavenly frame, and effectually engaged to the love of God, religion and justice, by attending occasionally on a ministry different from their education, sometimes they will be ready to separate even from a true church to which they belonged, for want of knowing the guilt and terrors and damnation that some men include in that hard word, schism; And I persuade myself that a gracious God will accept of their upright designs and their honest motives, will pardon their separation, though it should prove unwarrantable, and bless their new communion to the advantage of their souls.

Thirdly. But suppose a man should forcibly divest himself of all former aversions and inclinations to the separate or the established churches, and enter into a sober search, and solemn debate with himself about the merits of the cause. How few are there, whose necessary affairs of life allow them time enough to go through the study of these laborious and entangled controversies? How small a part of mankind that are born to secular affairs, can, in their few hours of leisure, find out the depth of some of these difficulties? Who is sharp enough on the sudden to distinguish truth in the midst of the clouds of dust that are cast on it by the litigious wrangle of all parties?

The soul of many a tradesman is but just of a size with his shop and business, and hath not strength of parts or improvement to attain great and accurate knowledge in any thing besides; and those whose ingenuity is greater, may easily waste all the spare hours of their life in treading the mazes of dispute about forms and ceremonies, and at last find themselves bewildered. Now I question whether such a man's head would lie easy upon a dying pillow, who had spent his time among briars and thorns, and neglected the fruit of the tree of life, or tasted but very little of it; he has been dwelling upon the moss and the ivy, and not gathered the product of those eminent branches of our holy religion, whence he might have extracted sweet cordials for a languishing and fainting hour.

Fourthly. Again, how very few are there amongst the giddy race of men that can so far annihilate their old opinions, and refrain so long from embracing new ones, till they have made a thorough scrutiny into the arguments and pretensions on both sides? Who can dwell for months together in the uneasy state of dubitation? Who is there that has power enough over his own thoughts, as to hold his judgment in suspense for a considerable season, till the matter in question be fairly debated, and brought to an issue in the court of reason and scripture? How ready are we to incline our assent one way or another, as the various occurrences of life present shadows of argument for either opinion? A story of a wicked clergyman of the church will warp the inquiring soul of a plebeian towards a meeting-house. And an old song of Charles the martyr will determine another's judgment against the cruel Dissenters, and make him a complete churchman. A flash of rhetoric, a show of reason, a warm sermon, and affections raised by a Tillotson at Westminster, or a Mead at Pinners-Hall, will immediately turn the mind from its equilibrium. And you know when a balance is just turned, though it be but by a grain of weight, it falls effectually on that side, and sometimes almost irrecoverably too.

When we have thrown off all old prejudices, it is not easy to secure oneself from new ones. When we have so far gained the victory over education and custom as to retain none of our ancient opinions, we are apt to fall insensibly under the power of the opposite doctrines, and become captives and slaves to new notions, merely because they are new. Novelty is as great a prejudice to fair reasoning as antiquity; though perhaps not so universally prevailing. And there is many a giddy and headstrong youth that has hastily embraced maxims and practices contrary to those of his parents, to show how bravely he has broke all the fetters of education, and to make it appear that he thinks freely. When we push the boat off from the shore where it has long stuck in the mud, it is hard to prevent its being stranded on the adverse side. It is exceeding difficult to keep the mind in this medium of suspense till right reason determine it; it is very troublesome to maintain the judgment in a poise till some weighty and solid argument sink one of the scales downward, and equitably decide the depending strife of opinions. There is need of continual caution and wary motions of thought: A doubting spirit is in pain, and willing to be released. We are very desirous to believe somewhat, though upon slight grounds, that our souls may be at ease, and fall to practice.

Fifthly. But suppose men should have leisure, and books and other advantages, joined with resolution and patience enough to endure the pain of doubt, and the long fatigue of deep study and thoughtfulness; yet how small is the number of those that are capable to distinguish between real and apparent reason; especially in subjects where the differences are of so nice and intricate a kind? How few understandings are so acute, how few judgments so solid and just, so well formed and well-improved, as to determine controversies so long and so much darkened? Who can see through all the false shows and pretensions of argument, and discern the true gold from that which only glistens?

Turn your eyes inward, my friend, and behold a soul there that has more knowledge and judgment than hundreds of the animals that are round about you, and that you are forced to converse with; and yet after all your unbiased searches and labors, and earnest prayers, how hard a thing you find it to resolve the point, whether you ought to remain in the communion of a dissenting church, or become a separatist from them, and unite yourself to the Church of England. Now, if all your leisure, your advantages, and your application, cannot fix your assent and practice, infer then how vain a thing it is to expect that reason and argument should constantly determine and govern a blind, a rash, a ruined, and a wretched world.

I confess, in things of greater importance, and necessity to salvation, our directions lie so plain, as to lead the most stupid souls that are honest and sincere, to the knowledge of truth and duty, unless it be here and there a man who violently breaks through the very language of Scripture, and runs into great errors or irregularity of practice: But in things of less moment, how impossible is it that the generality of mortals should build every lesser opinion of them upon solid foundations and unshaken grounds? Or how can we expect they should be able to defend every smaller circumstance of their practice by just reasonings?

If I were to recapitulate these things in short, I would draw up my charitable conclusion thus:

Since our first apostasy from God has so perverted and spoiled our rational powers, and enslaved our minds to so many prejudices and passions; since the impressions of education and custom are unavoidable and necessary, deep and strong; since the affairs of the world that is under a divine curse, are so justly and unhappily ill constituted; since capacity, leisure, application, humility, and prayer, are all found together but in very few persons; and since the divine oracles, in matters less necessary, have so much obscurity in themselves, and so much thicker darkness cast upon them by contending parties, why should we be so much amazed or so angry, to see so many different sentiments and practices amongst men of honest piety, and desirous of truth?

Farewell, you dear companion of my studies, and if your light and knowledge should be so far improved by your further inquiries, as to lead you away from that communion, and those methods of worship wherein we have so often and so delightfully joined; yet I hope that upon the review of this letter, you will maintain a very charitable opinion of

Your unenlightened friend, etc.

Finis.