A View of an Ecclesiastic IN HIS Socks & Buskins: OR, A Just Reprimand given to Mr. ALSOP, for his Foppish, Pedantic, Detractive and Petulant Way of Writing.  
— Sectantem Levia, Nervi  
Deficiunt Animique—  Hor. de Art. Poet. 
Solve Senescentem mature Sanus Equum, ne  
Peccet ad Extrenum ridendus, & Ilia Ducat.  Hor. Epist. Lib. 1. Epist. 1. Quem sua Culpa premet, Deceptus Omitte Tueri. Hor. Epist. lib. 1. Epist. 18. 
LONDON: Printed for John Martial, at the Bible in Grace-Church street, and are to be sold at the Bible in Newgate-street. MDCXCVIII.   

TO THE READER.  
WEre there no Genteeler Language, nor more decent Schemes of Speech to Address thee in, than those used by Mr. Alsop, I should not be so unmannerly and Rude, nor so far both disparage and affront thee, as to bid thee welcome by a Preface, to the Entertainment which thou wilt find here provided. For as no man writes a Book, who would not be Glad to have Guests, that might with a distinguishing Gust, and a digestive Appetite, be both ready and desirous to partake of the Viands, which he hath dressed for them; so it is but a piece of Decency and Good Breeding, to meet them Civilly at the Door, and to introduce them in a Comely and Respectful manner. And whosoever receives them after a Jeering Fashion, cannot be thought to design the making a Treat, but to Gratify his own Splenetic Distemper, in the obtaining an occasion to Laugh. Nor did ever a Person of the most Ordinary Discretion, set a Buffoon, or a Merry Andrew at his Gate, to bestow the Receptive and Welcoming Compliment upon his Friends whom he had invited; whatsoever use he might make of those People afterwards, in order to give Diversion, and raise Mirth. Which nevertheless is the method, that either Mr. Alsop's Education or Malady, have influenced him to take, in the Accosting of his Reader. Seeing besides the downright Buffonery that Glares him in the face, through his telling him, That it may serve for his Mortification in some degree, that he is postponed, from the Preface to the Postscript, from the Van to the Rear, and that he who has commonly pretended to Ride in State on the Fore-Horse, is degraded to come behind with the Portmanteu.  
All the rest of the Courtship which he thinks him worthy of, is perfectly Clownish, Fantastic and Foppish; namely, That it ought not to make him proud, that he is Caressed, Complemented, and Addressed by the Scribbling Tribe, and made the Judge of Life and Death to every Paper that shall dare to look abroad into the public: For, says he, it may serve to humble thee, that what carries the Appearance of Honour, is, if well considered, a Real Burden, to be surcharged with the common Titles of the Judicious and Learned, the Courteous and Candid, the Impartial and Indifferent, and whatever other goodly Epithets a Wretched Cause may need, or a Fruitful Invention produce, either to blind his Judgement, or bribe his Affections, p. 243. of his Vind▪ of the Faithful Reb. The whole whereof, as it is Pedantic and Boarish; so if I know any thing of the Rules of Conversation, and of the Measures of Civility, it is to dress up his Reader in a Yellow Coat, and then to point at him as an Object of Derision and Ridicule. But there being great diversity of Styles, and a wonderful Variety, as well as Copiousness of Words and Terms, no Person that is virtuous and well-bred, can be under a necessity of Accosting an other in Phrases Learned at the Plough and Harrow, or which are borrowed from a Jack-pudding on the Mountebank Stage. However, Reader, thou wilt have the less cause to be offended at Mr. Alsop's Pedantic, Foppish and Buffonery way of application to thee, when thou observest that he not only treateth all others of whatsoever Quality or Character they be, after the same Childish and Ridiculous manner; but in what a Ludicrous way he speaks of the Eternal Counsels of God, and of the Great Articles of the Christian Faith. For it being his Top Accomplishment and his peculiarly distinguishing Talon, to turn every thing he writes of into Droll and Laughter; it were to expect he should cease to be, what through Genius, Manners, and Custom, he Prides himself to have attained unto, to think he should Address his Reader in other Terms, than in such which serve to make a jest of him. It may seem indeed difficult, how to make any words Ministerial to a cleanly, modest, and grave purpose; after he hath thus Transposed, perverted, and Debauched them into Subserviency to Foppishness, Drollery, and Buffonery; but even that is not altogether Impracticable, seeing words taken singly and apart, are neither good nor bad, but the Benefit or Mischief by them lies in their Texture, Use, and Application. For the very same Terms, which through being brought into one kind of Association, Express nothing but Smuttiness, Ribaldry, or very Boarish Thoughts; yet being otherwise Regimented and Marshaled into sentences, they serve to declare the Noblest Conceptions, and in the handsomest and cleanliest manner. In a word it is the Meaness and Impurity; or the Loftiness and Innocency of the Thought; which guides to Language, that is unsullied, grateful, and stately; or unto that which is nasty, distasteful, and Beggarly. Now reader, tho' I do forbear giving thee the Titles of Judicious, Learned, Courteous, Candid, etc. Lest thou shouldst believe that through repeating Mr. Alsop's Terms, I do it upon the design of mocking thee, as he hath done; yet I do assure thee, that the more thou deservest those Appellations, I shall be the Gladde●, and the less Apprehend or Fear thy Censure. If the Spectacle that thou art invited to, be not in all things so agreeably and delightful, as thou couldst wish; nevertheless, I hope thou wilt see cause to confess, that the Fault is not mine, 〈◊〉 all which I undertook, or was under my power, was o●ly to show the Creature in his own Shapes, but not to render that Comely and Beautiful, which is Monstrous and Deformed.  
And indeed my bringing him forth, and exposing of him, was not to raise Laughter in the Spectators, but Loathing and Indignation.  
And as it was upon those Motives, and through an Exercise of those Passions in myself, that I have led him about to be seen and Viewed; so I shall attain a great part of my Desire and Aim by the doing of it, if all People will but fall into my Sentiments, and accordingly declare their Resentments. However it is not the Minister I have Rebuked or had to do with, but the Man, who hath forgot as well as disgraced his Function. His thinking that his Office should protect him in Writing Impiously and with Scurrility, doth but make his Chastisement both the more necessary and just. And what Enhanceth his Crime, is not to be Admitted as a Plea and Excuse for his Escaping Punishment. Nor were any thing more Incongruous, than to favour him upon the Account of his Character, when he himself has Practically Renounced it. Had it been some Lay Droll, or one avowedly Profane, who had Written in the manner that he hath done, he had Acted but answerably to the Badge he wears; and it would at most have only Declared him an Enemy of, and a Rebel against the Laws of our Holy Religion; but for a Preacher of the Gospel to do it, is to Fight against the Crown and Dignity of his Master, under the Authority of a Commission from himself; so that he is not only to be accounted and pursued as an Enemy and a Rebel, but as a Traitor to both. In a Word, all that can be thought severe here upon Mr. Alsop doth only touch his Person, and no ways his Office. It being the Buffoon and Player whom I have only had to do with, and not the Pastor or Parson. And that which would have Justified a greater Severity than I have used towards Mr. Alsop, is not only because of the Style in which he hath Written; but by reason of his having had the Vanity to say to divers of his Friends upon the Publishing of his last Book, that he had Ground Mr. Lob to Powder, and if it proved not so, he would be contented to be Pounded into Dust himself. Which though I will not have the Haughtiness and Folly to Affirm that he is; yet I will venture to give my Opinion, that he not only Sung an Epinikion and Panegyric too soon over his fancied Achievements, and supposed Victory; but that it is by this time apparent, he may be better credited in the Quality of a Presager and Prophet, of the Fate and Destiny which did await him, than he is to be believed as an Historian of the Conquests which he had made.  
Nor do I, Reader, beg thy Favour in Relation to any thing of my own, that thou wilt here meet with; but all that I do crave, is thy Impartiality; which the vouchsafing, is but to do Right and Justice to thyself, if thou shouldst grudge to do them to me. And the less thou hast of Prepossession, Factious Prejudices, intemperate Heats, Ignorance, Immorality and Ill-breeding; and the more thou hast of Learning, Generous Education, and of Social, as well as of Christian Virtues, the more readily do I submit, both myself, and what I have here written, unto thee, as unto a Competent Judg. And though I have not the Vanity to expect from thee Applause or Reward, yet without injury to thyself, thou canst not avoid giving it as thy Sentential Opinion, that it was needful upon many accounts, that this should have been done, and that the only thing to be regretted, is, that it was not undertaken by a Better Hand, and performed with greater Accuracy and Exactness. Whereunto thou shalt always find me as willing to subscribe, as I am to Publish and Approve myself,  
Thy Humble Servant.   

The Errata of the Press are so many, and Divers of them so Gross, that unless Corrected, the Discourse will in several places, be found neither Sense, nor English. Wherefore I desire, that whosoever shall think fit to peruse these sheets, would be so kind both to himself and to me, as to Amend them by this Epitome and Exampl●● before he gins to Read. Which containeth no Mispellings or wrong Pointings, (these being lest to the Care and Candour of others) but doth only mark out such faults as do sensibly affect the matter, and without the Reform whereof, many things cannot be understood.  

ERRATA.  
PAg. 3. l. 3. r. Nobless, Ibid. l. ult. r. Decrees, p. 5. l. 14. r. Fourberie, p. 7. l. 1. 2. for only but. r. but only Ibid. l. 5. did avowedly. Ibid. l. 6. deal doth. Ibid. l. 8. after Speech, r. whereunto. Ibid. l. 12. before been r. hath. Ibid. l. 18. after, etc. deal or, Ibid. l. 19 after Mr. Job r. hath, p. 10. l. 19 r. become, p. 16. l. 5. r. retreat. Ibid. l. 15. f. ever r. Eve. p. 17. l. 13 r. within. Ibid. l. 23. r. Livery. Ibid. l. 26. r. Livery, p. 18. l. 22. f. whom r. who. Ibid. l. 25. r. Naked, p. 20. l. 23. f. time r. true, p. 21. l. 26. deal it, p. 22. l. 3. r. Received, p. 23. l. 26. f. 'tis r. wit, p. 25. l. 16. f. your r. Mr. L. Ibid. l. 17. f. your r. his. Ibid. l. 18. f. your r. his. Ibid. l. 19 r. Fi●cho. Ibid. f. you r. him, p. 26. l. 3. f. your r. his, p. 30. l. 30. f. it r. that. Ibid. l. 34. f. Unity r. Vanity, p. 31. l. 27. r. Mien, p. 32. l. 23. r. Shock, p. 32. l. 22. after laugh, instead of is to r. doth but, p. 34. l. 19 f. the r at, p. 35. l. 28. f. sides r. things. Ibid. l. 29. f. which is r. is the, p. 36. l. 9 after for r. tho. Ibid. l. 25. r. Adversaria, p 39 l. 24. after price r. at, p. 40. l. 19 r. Pormanteu, p. 41. l. 1. r. Sirs, p. 45. l. 23. after vizor r. and. Ibid. l. ult. r. understanding, p. 47. l. 14. r. divers, p. 50. l. 22. r. nor, p 51. l 1. r. Alsop, after which r. find it, will be hereafter his, p. 58. l. ult. r. sustulit, p. 60. l. 14. before with deal and. f. p. 53. r. p. 61. Ibid. l. 4. r. explicable. f. p. 54. r. 62. f. 55. r. 63. f. p. 56. r. 64. Ibid. l. 21. r. verus, p. 67. l. 16. f. rules r. those. Ibid. l. 28. after Bards r. ad, p 68 l. 16. deal tho, p. 71. l. 7. deal it. Ibid. l. 27. r. greatest, p. 84. l. 24. deal who. Ibid l. 25. deal some, p. 85. l. 24. r. consistent, p. 90. l. 3. Pickaroons, p. 91. l. 7. r. whereupon, p. 97. l. 27. r. Tooled, p. 99 l. 19 before the r. into, p. 101. l. 28. before it r. as, p. 107. l. 9 before an r. nor less, p. 109. l. 15. before on r. it.    

There is Newly Published,  
A Confutation of some of the Errors of Mr. Daniel Williams, by the Reverend Mr. Vincent Alsop, in a Letter to the Reverend Mr. Daniel B●rgess. Price 6 d.  
A History of the Union between the Presbyterian and Congregational Ministers, in and about London; and the Causes of the Breach of it. The Second Edition. Price 6 d.  
God All in All: Or, the Kingdom of the Son delivered up to God, even the Father, by the Son himself. Being a Sermon on the Kingdom of God All in All. Leading into an Exacter and Clearer Discovery of the Kingdom of Christ, upon that great Context, 1 Cor. 15. 24, 28, etc. By T. Beverley. Price 6 d.  
All Three Printed for John Martial, at the Bible in Grace Church-street, and are to be sold at the Bible in Newgate-street.   

TO THE Reverend Pastors and Bretbren OF THE Congregational Way.  
THough the Preaching of the Word of God, the Administration of the Holy Sacraments, and whatsoever else properly belongeth to the Pastoral Office, be claimed by, and aught to be Acknowledged to stand vested in, and to be confined, and circumscribed unto those of the Ecclesiastical Order; unless in some cases of Absolute and Indispensable necessity; yet the Care and Defence both of the Credenda and Agenda of our Religion, being made, and constituted the Peculiar of no one Rank of Men, to the Exclusion of the rest, it would therefore be no Invasion upon the Province of such as are Styled Divines, should one, who (besides his being a Christian) pretendeth to no Title or Character save that of a Gentleman, assume the Liberty of Engaging in your Theological Disputes. And seeing those of the Laity so called, are supposed to be less Addicted to Parties, and Factions, and more fortified against Impressions from secular and worldly Interests, than some of the Clergy are Apprehended, or found to be; they may thereupon be thought Qualified to think with more calmness, to write with greater Temperance, and to Determine with less Partiality, than we sometimes see practised in the polemics of the latter. Yea, considering with what Undecency, Rudeness and Scurrility, Controversies about the Doctrinals of our Faith, have been lately managed by a certain Presbyterian Thologue, it is become not only pardonable and lawful, but in a manner necessary, to have them undertaken by Persons of another Tribe; whose Civil Breeding and Social Virtues, will guide them to Discourse and Writ with Modesty and Good manners, though they may not do it with that Sophistry, and in those Terms of Scholastic Squabble, which are Affected by such, who set up for, and do value themselves upon the Legerdemain Knacks and Tricks of killing their Adversaries, and triumphing over their Reputation, when they have neither wounded nor touched them. Nor can any thing be more desirable, or worthy of Greater Commendation, than to have Differences, whether greater, or Lesser about Religious matters, contrasted, and transacted with such a spirit of meekness and humility, and in that Innocent, Temperate and cleanly stile, as may not only Proclaim an Ingenuous Education, but be Ornamental to the Gospel; and not with a virulence, clounishness and ribaldry, savouring of a Bear-Garden, and which would be both Detested and thought Punishable in Carmen, Porters, and in those at Billingsgate, who are Proverbial for all that is unmannerly and Brutal. For to whatsoever degrees of Laziness, or varieties of hurtful as well as Impertinent Diversions, too many of our Gentry have Resigned and Abandoned themselves, and notwithstanding that contempt and Burlesquing of Revealed Religion, which some of them through a Depravedness in their morals have ventured upon in hope thereby to excuse and justify their Practical Conduct; yet there are divers both among the Grand and the Petite Nobles▪ who with respect to their Natural Parts, their Instruction in the Bell's Lettreses, acquaintance with all the kinds of good Literature, and their penetration into the Controversies of Religion, so far as the knowledge of them is Useful and subservient to Faith, and Holiness, do equal and exceed very many of our Theologues. Of which number, though I Can mention several, whose late writings against Atheism, Deism, Popery, Socinianism, and all kinds of Irreligion, and Licentiousness, have obtained them an Honourable and Just esteem among such as are either good Scholars, or serious Christians; yet I shall at this time put Mr. W. and Mr. A. only in remembrance of one, namely of Edward Polhill, Esq That was a Lawyer and a Justice of the Peace, who in a Discourse Published Anno 1673. concerning the Points now under Debate (and which was then Recommended to the world by the Prefatory Epistles of Dr. Owen, and Dr. Seaman, that had the most uncontroverted Character of all those of their respective Persuasions, for Literature and Piety) hath besides his handling of the most Important Doctrines of Revelation, with wonderful modesty and with Singular strength of Argument from Scripture and Reason, given us likewise, by the Terms, in which he Expressed his sentiments about them, a Precedent, that may Authorise and Justify Mr. Lob in the Use of that Phrase, for which those two, whom you call your Brethren, have thought fit to make it both the Design of their Books, and the subject matter of their Conversation with Women, as well as with Men, to Expose, and Lampoon him. The Passage which I do Intent and Refer unto is in the forementioned Author's Book of the Divine Will, considered in its Eternal Degrees, and Holy Execution of them, pag. 226. Christ (says he) in his first coming sustained two Distinct Persons, his own, and ours: as he was in his own Person, he was without Sin; but as he was our Surety, and sustained our Persons, so our Sins were Imputed to him, and Imputed to him according to Truth, because he was such, i. e. that upon his being Sponsor for us, he became substitutively Guilty, though he continued always Personally Innocent.  
Nor could a Gentleman's interposing in those Controversies, be construed for an Intended Reflection on Mr. Lobbs Performances: seeing all who are not more the Partisans of a Faction, than Advocates for Truth, will upon a perusal of what he hath written, find themselves obliged to Confess, that he hath not only handled those matters which have been under debate, with Laudable strength and Remarkable sincerity, in Opposition to the most shameful Trifling, and the Grossest subterfuges, that ever men, pretending to the Lowest measure of Intellectuals and Morals, without Renouncing the Latter, and forfeiting the former, could Prostitute themselves unto; but that he hath also under the highest Provocations, which Insolent, Slanderous, Smutty, and barbarous Treatment could excite and give motives unto, behaved himself with that Temperance, Candor and Brotherly Respect, that his Place and Character, as a Minister of the Gospel, Required of him, and as became the Degree of a Gentleman, and the Education of a Scholar. So that for me, or for any other that is not both better Adapted and more Invited unto it than I am, to offer to come into his Assistance, with those poor Recruits of Rational, or Theological Learning, which I have been with some Industry Labouring to Attain, were both to Rob him of the thanks that are due unto him for having Vindicated and secured those Truths, which his Antagonists have contrived to Undermine and supplant, and to become Guilty of the Little and mean Vanity of Attacking a yielding as well as a Routed Eenemy. For all the victory he contended for, is no more, than that when our open, and Avowed Adversaries the Socinians and Arminians, cannot by force and dint of Arguments beat us off the Doctrinals of our Faith; they may neither be Filched and Trapan'd from us, by the Clandestine Arts, nor clancularly surrendered, if not shamefully Betrayed, thro' either the Ignorance or the Conspiracy of those, who Pitch their Tents in our own Camps, March with us under the same Colours, and who by wearing the Livery of Orthodox Divines, exact and Receive Salaries, and Pay, as Guardians of the Reformed Belief, against both the Remonstrants, and those of the Cracovian Creed. And so if there be not an Unpresidented Measure of Dissimulation, and foolery in the last Replies both of Mr. A. and Mr. W. he hath either gained, and Proselyted them unto, or wrested; and Extorted from them, all that is material in what he hath been Pleading for; namely, that our Lord Jesus Christ upon his undertaking to be a Mediator between God and us, came under the Sanction of the Law, which we had violated▪ and thereupon had the Gild of our Sins Legally transferred upon, and Judicially Imputed to him, so as to be the meritorious Cause of his sufferings, which he thro' undergoing in our room, and stead, did thereby Expiate them and make Atonement for us.  
And as to those Terms and Phrases, about which they Continue to squabble, with an Impertinence▪ Insincerity, and chicane, that would be Reproachful in the Mercenary Scribblers of Baldwin's and Snowdens weekly Mercuries; they have hitherto been able to Assign no Reason, why he should be Ashamed of, and departed from them. Seeing that as without a strange Frontlesness, they can neither deny their having been Used by the most eminent Theological Writers, that ever Asserted, and vindicated the Doctrine of Christ's satisfaction, from and against the Sophisms, Obloquys, Derisions and Blasphemies of the Socinians; nor pretended Ignorance of, or dare to Contradict the meaning, and sense which hath been Affixed unto them, by those that best understood those controversies, and have managed them with the most success, against the Common Enemies of the Principal Fundamentals of our Christian Faith, without being in the Least suspected of verging to Antinemianism; so they cannot without a measure of Assurance, whereof no modest Person would be fond, and without the becoming Liable to the Charge of Apparent Defamation, pretend that he hath otherwise Used and Applied them, than in and according to the stated and settled signification, and Import that they were Designed unto, towards the securing and being a Fence about, as well as for the Conveying these Truths with the greater Perspicuity to the minds of Believers, in which they have had their Place given and Assigned them, in order to the application of them. And though I will neither Censure, nor Condemn any Persons as Hetrodox, for Declining to express their Sentiments in the Forms, Modes, and Schemes of Speech, that are most Legitimated, and made Current by Vulgar Use, when I find them to be at an Agreement with the rest of the Reformed Divines in and about Doctrinal Articles; And will only blame them for their Affected and Fantastic squeamishness, or Apprehend some weak place to be about them, and that their uppermost Rooms are not over-well furnished; yet when I find such a Bias and Turn given to the Principles of our Belief, and such a Gloss, meaning and Paraphrase put upon them, as will both Expose them to the Attacques, and surrender them to be Triumphed over by those that Ridicule as well as Deny them; namely, That our Sins were only an Occasion of the Sufferings of Christ, and not properly the meritorious Cause of them; and that his sufferings were not truly, only, but Analogically Penal. As that Great and Learned Man Mr. Baxter, (whose Memory, notwithstanding his Mistakes in divers very substantial Doctrines of Faith, will be always Precious, and held in honourable Remembrance,) disavowedly, and with an Openess natural to him, doth Express himself. And as to those Notions as well as Phraseologies, and Modes of Speech, Mr. Williams, for the Defence and Vindication of whom, Mr. Alsop hath appeared with so much Dogmatic Pride in himself, and Insolent Rudeness towards others, hath (to suggest no more, nor no worse at present) been heretofore found warping; I do say, that in this Case, it is so far from being a Practice Injurious unto, and a maligning Jealousy of those, that do thus Express themselves, to demand and exact of them an Adhesion to the Terms and Words, which in Conformity to the greatest Authors, that ever entered the Lists against either Socinus, Cr●llius and their Disciples, or Episcopius, and Curcellaeus, etc. or Mr▪ Lob Used, Insisted upon, and Pleaded for; that to supersede, and Dispense with it, would argue a strange supineness in reference unto, and a Criminal Indifference for the most momentous Truths of the Gospel. And the rather, because all that have in any Age of the Church departed from, and risen up in Opposition to the Fundamentals of the Christian Belief, have at first Commenced their Quarrels against them, on Pretensions of merely scrupling, at certain Words and Phrases, which were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Literally, and Syllabically Canonical. And if it would not be Judged the going beyond what falls within the Sphere of a Laic, I would presume to remind these two late Clerical Writers, that the Terms and Expressions, which have been Introduced and Adapted both into the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, and into the Canons of the first General Councils, for the covering, Guarding and Protecting the Christian Faith, against Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians, &c▪ were antecedently thought upon and used by private and Individual Authors, and borrowed and transplanted from thence into the Symbols and Decrees of the Universal Church. Which may serve both to Detect and Answer the often Repeated, and vain Boastings of Mr. A. whereby he seeks to Screen himself, viz. That the Terms Mr. Lob hath been Contending for, are not hitherto allowed a Room in the Confessions of Faith of the Reformed Churches. Whereunto I will here only add, that there is the Equivalent and Equipollent of them in all those Confessions, and that as the having Recourse to some peculiar Words and Phrases, may in Controversal Discourses, where Doctrines are Scholastically managed, be necessary, as well as useful, towards the Explanation and Defence of Confessional Articles, which would not have been so well adapted to the Understanding of all Believers in the Compendious Draught and Summary Declaration of them, which Confessions are chief calculated for, and designed to give. So I dare knowingly, and therefore with Confidence affirm, that there is nothing which he hath said in this matter, that Looks with that severity upon his Antagonists, and against which their unmannerly, and rancorous, but weak Reflections are so directly levelled, as what hath been written by Grotius, Hoornbeck, Cloppenburg, Voetius, Rivet, Essenius, and many others, to whom they are not to be thought comparable either in Theologick Learning in general; or for particular Accomplishments and skill to conflict with the Socinians and Arminians. And as it is both a Commendation, and a Glory to have Learned of, and to follow and Imitate those great, and Excellent men; so it can be no Disgrace to bear a share in the Contumelies, Aspresions, and Contempt, which are thrown upon them by these Pert, and snarling Scribblers, rather than Accurate Disputants.  
But upon observing to whom Mr. Lob hath Addressed his former Book, in the Nature, and way of an Appeal, and the choice he hath made of a Person, worthy of the highest Veneration for Extensiveness of Literature, Solidity of Judgement, Justness of Thought, Clearness and Purity of Style, and for an unbyssed and sincere Regard to Truth, as well as for an Exact Acquaintance with, and a thorough Penetration into these Controversies; and that he hath Referred unto him, all that is, and hath been under Debate between him and his Adversaries, it would proclaim a Haughtiness in me parallel to what anon I am to accuse others guilty of, should I offer farther to interpose in any of the material Parts of these Controversies, whereof the Determination seems to be undertaken by, as well as it is expected from him. Nor can, or will Mr. L. be blamed, for the having Elected him Arbiter between them, in relation to their contested and disputed Questions, by any, of what Persuasion soever, either here or elsewhere, to whom his Character is known, as it is to all the Learned and Ingenuous of the present Age, with, and among whom the Dignity whereunto he is Advanced, and which he bears in the Church, is accounted below his Merit. And the Esteem they have for his Endowments, as a Gentleman, a Scholar, and a Prelate, makes them to judge and reckon, that no Station, or Title is, or can be Proportionable to his worth, save the Highest and most Elevated, that is communicable in these Kingdoms to those of the Sacred Order. And the Specimen he hath already given of his great Judgement, wonderful Moderation, and exact Impartiality, in a Letter to Mr. Williams (which he hath Published) about a Commutation of Persons between the Lord Jesus Christ, and those for whom he Intentionally Dyed, to purchase both-Forgiveness and Eternal Life; may at once both enlighten, and assure Mr. Lob, That the Cause for which he hath been contending, will not suffer Prejudice in his hands; Seeing in the room of Discharging and Disclaiming the Phrase, not to say, of Lampooning, and Ridiculing it, which Mr▪ A. hath Attempted and Endeavoured to do, with an Air of Pride and Profaneness, which must necessarily flow from an Ignorant, if not a Depraved Mind, the Bishop hath Judiciously Assigned, and Established the Import of it, without verging in the least to Antinomianism, on the one hand, or gratifying the Socinians on the other. And though he both Renounceth, and overthroweth the Sense, to which it hath been Ignorantly and Corruptly Perverted by Dr. Crisp, and those who have either unthinkingly, or Heterodoxly Imbibed his Notions, and showeth with what Repugnancy to Common Sense, Inconsistency to Revelation, Prejudice to Practical Godliness, and Danger to the Souls of Men, they have affixed that wild meaning unto it, yet it is with the Gravity, Modesty, and Decency, which becomes his own Character, and are by Sober People expected in all Discourses upon Theological Subjects; and not with that Raillery, and Buffounry, which Mr. Alsop treats of it, even at the very time, and in the very Book, when, and wherein he is forced to acknowledge, That it is both capable of a very good Sense, and hath been frequently used by such as are deservedly esteemed the most Learned, and Orthodox Divines. For not being contented to have represented it as a Phrase, that in all respects carries a mutual and reciprocal Sense; and that if Grammar may have leave to Judge, must sound so to English Ears, let them be of what Bore they will; he endeavoureth to Burlesque, and render it Ridiculous, by Unseemly and Foolish Comparisons, of a Commutation of Prisoners between France and England, the exchanging of Black-acre by A, for White-acre from B; and of Malt by C, for Hops from D. Vindic. of the Faithful Rebuke, p. 55, 56. which, to put the mildest Construction upon, that the words, which I have cited, can possibly bear, is to be Pedantic, and Drollish, on a Serious Subject, and to make Sport and Mirth for the Profane, with what the Wisest, and Best think is their Duty to believe. Nor is there any Truth whatsoever, either in Natural, or Revealed Religion, so sacred, which they, who will allow themselves the like Licentiousness that Mr. Alsop assumeth, may not Prostitute and Expose, by Copying after this Original. For admitting, that they against whom he writes, were not only Indiscreet and Unwary in the expressing of their Sentiments, but even Erroneous, in some of their Opinions; yet they ought to be calmly argued with, and not huffingly Buffooned: and their Understandings should be addressed, by strong Reasons clothed in Temperance and Genteel Language, and not their Resentments and Passions provoked by unmannerly Allusious, and by nauseous offensive Jests. And certainly they are less Criminal before God, who when they Err, do it with Modesty, and Humility, and a Teachableness that will admit their being rectified; than they, who when they plead for Truth, do it with Haughtiness and Scurrility; seeing the first is only a Mistake of the Understanding, to which both the Wisest, and Best, are incident; whereas the Latter is a palpable Faeult of the Will, and has its Source in the Worst, and most Immoral Qualities. Whereunto all that I will add at present upon this Head, is, That they, who Regulate both their Conceptions, and Expressions, about the Satisfaction of Christ, with a Respect and Reverence to the Holiness and Righteousness of God, and his Veracity in the Sanction, which he annexed to the Law, will not be easily prevailed upon to abandon the Terms, and Phrases, which they have found useful towards the Declaring and Illustrating the Glory of those Perfections, and the giving us the most Instructive and Lively Impressions of our Obligation to the Love and Compassion of our Redeemer, in what he became, did, and underwent for us; by reason of their having had false Paraphrases, and Expositions, put upon them, by a few, weak, unthinking, and unstudied People. Seeing, should we upon this single, and alone Motive, comply with the Importunity of Mr. W. and Mr. A. in this matter, there is hardly any Phrase invented by Men, for the better and clearer conveying their minds to one another, in their speaking and writing about the Truths of the Gospel, or Authorized by God in those Revelations he hath vouchsafed us, for the Commanding out Faith, and the Adjusting, and Governing the measures of it, which we shall not upon the like Inducements be obliged to Forsake and Renounce. For, as in the Virtue of that Topick, and according to that Rule of Proceedure, the Terms of Trinity, Hypostatical Union, yea, the word Satisfaction itself, etc. may be wrested from, and aught to be resigned by us; so there are a vast number of plain Scriptural Expressions, which must be relinquished and forsaken, as being Impeachable for having had very absurd senses affixed unto them, and the having been applied to very ill Purposes. As particularly, without mentioning any other, that Expression, This is my Body; which Christ pronounced of the Bread, upon the Consecration of it, in the Sacramental Supper. yea, the very Phrase of Christ's Dying in our Room and Stead, from the owning whereof Mr. A. and Mr. W. do so Justify and Vindicate their Orthodoxness in the Article of Christ's Satisfaction, must by that reason be likewise parted with.  
So that upon a Contemplation of what hath been heretofore, and is now written by Mr. Lob, and of what is both Longed for, and expected from the Reverend Bishop, all that falls within my Circle, and remains for me to do, is Civilly to Reprimand, and Chastise Mr. Alsop, for his Pride and unmannerly treating of Persons of Equal, yea, of Superior Virtue, Learning and Merit to himself, and for his writing of, and concerning such Theological Doctrines, as have always been, and still are accounted important Articles of the Christian Faith, with a Lightness and Ribaldry, not to be paralleled in any that value themselves for Religion, or good manners, and whereof we have no Precedent, save from the Tongues and Pens of the Atheistical and Impious. For instead of Reasoning about matters, upon which the Stamp of Divine Authority is said, and pleaded to be Impressed, with the Gravity, Temperance, and Solidity, which would have been expected from a Gentleman, or a Scholar, and much more from one called a Minister of the Gospel, he hath Discoursed of them in such a Style of wanton Drollery, Clownish Jesting, unmannerly Banter, and Pedantic Repartees, as would be thought a Disgrace unto and Infamous for the Stage, and Judged to be Designed for no other End, but to give a Diversion unto, and make sport for a Mob, and Rabble. Now, for as much as the calling him to an Account, and the Rebuking him for this, is unsuitable to Mr. Lobbs Genius and Temper, and below the Dignity of the Reverend and Learned Bishop, and yet necessary, as well as called for, by those who do maintain a Zeal for supporting the Authority, Majesty and Credit of Divine Revelation, preserve a Pity and Compassion for Mr. Alsop, or who entertain a Tenderness for the Souls of Men, whose Minds and Morals are in Danger of being Infected, and Debauched by this Licentious way of Writing about Divine things, I will attempt it, though it be with a doing Violence to my Inclination. And when others are from a Zeal for the Glory of God, the Honour of our Religion, and the Reputation of the Kingdom, Employing their Pens and Parts, to Correct and Reform the Stage, and for bringing the Poets, whose Labours are chiefly Designed for the Playhouse, to write with Innocency and Decorum, it would be strangely surprising and incongruous, should none be sound to give Check to such of the Clergy, as do not only Imitate them in most of their vices, but do fall infinitely short of them, in their Sermons as well as their polemics in what is Comely, Pleasant and Instructive in Comedies. And whosoever he was that writ the Letter, prefixed to Mr. Lobbs Defence of the Report, he appears to have been Mr. Alsops' Particular Friend, and to have Intended him a Service, in the supposing him to be Delirious: Seeing the believing him Distracted, is the best, if not the only Excuse, that can be made for his Wild and Extravagant Deportments: Madmen being only liable to Pity, but not to blame. Nor are the Freaks and Foppish Gambols, or the Outrageous Transports of those, who are either in Bedlam, or whose condition qualifies them to be there, Judged Meritorious of other Punishment, than of a dark Lodging and of Physical Diet. Neither will the Doctor bring them to that Sobriety in their Paroxisms, as a sturdy and merciless Porter will. They are sooner awed into a sullen Calmness, if not into a Conversible Temper, by a Ropes End, or a Cudgel; than by Rhetorical Haerangues, or Medicinal Recipts. But seeing Mr. Alsop (as is observed of all Madmen) will be Sober in despite of St. Paul, as well as of Galen, and doth not approve of the Apology, that was made for him; he is to be applied unto by means, that will work upon his Mind, more than upon his Corporal Humours; and which, instead of altering the Ferment of his Blood, may open the Intellectual Tympany of his Pride and Haughtiness. Yet, though the Province I have undertaken, and the Task which I am engaged in, will allow me much greater Latitudes, than Disputations about Questions of Divinity will do; I will nevertheless so behave myself in the Reflections I am to make, as not to departed from the Rules of Good Breeding, nor to forfeit my Discretion in Imitating of him. For albeit, it may be very Agreeable to his manners and Conversation, to Slander, Lampoon and Expose an Adversary; when his Business should only be modestly to Confute him; yet it is neither Consonant with, nor Reconcileable to mine. And though some things I may have Occasion to say, may be a Little smart, and thought to have too much Salt in them; yet there shall be nothing Course and Unsavoury, but all Palatable, and well dressed.  
And as I am not one of those weak Principles, or sneaking Temper, that will be menaced, or Discouraged, from the Performance of a Duty, that I conceive to be Lawful, and of Public Advantage to mankind, and therefore necessary, because of the malicious Insinuations, and the Barbarous as well as the Rude, Ungenteel, and Unchristian suggestions both of Mr. Williams and of Mr. Alsop; so I do not believe, that any who with Justice Pretend to sense, Breeding, manners, or Religion, will suffer themselves to be so Imposed upon, bubbled and misled, as to think, that this undertaking, can have the least Tendency towards the Disturbing of the Government. For though they from a Feavorish Heat, and a Brutal Rage, Inflaming them against such as have Attacked them, and from a Towering, but vain Opinion of themselves, would fain have it believed, that the Peace of the Kingdom depends upon their being counted Civil Gentlemen, and Orthodox Divines; and that their Adversaries ought to be enroled among the Conspirators against his Majesty's Person, Crown, and Dignity; yet the generality of People, are not grown so dis-allyed to Reason and Humanity, as to admit the having it obtruded upon their Understandings, that the Contradicting, and modest Examination of some new Theological Notions of Two Presbyterian Ministers, is, or can be any Part of a Jacobite Plot. But that it doth rather bespeak, and confirm their being Guilty of the errors, whereof they are accused; in that to cover themselves from Prosecutions, and from having their Opinions Tried at the Proper Bar, and in the way that is held Legal among Scholars, they repeat and take Sanctuary within the Verge of the Court. And their dealing thus Wrathfully, and withal Impertinently with those Persons, that have had the Integrity and Fortitude to Attack them, being Liable to many Reflections, and not to be passed by and overlooked without the bestowing a few upon it, I shall therefore here transcribe their own Words, that the Reader may the better Judge, with what Meekness and Decency, though with some measure of Picquancy, I treat them▪ The Common Interest (saith Mr. Williams, p 86. of his Answer to the Report) will not be long sacrificed, even (some Imposed on) will find out the justruments and Designs of our Breaches, namely, that Unless a Person be a Non-Juror, a Non-Associator, Plotter, and Director of other Ministers (in Imitation of himself) to Pray so for the King, as if either of the Two Kings may be Intended; if they must at all seem to Pray for King William, he must be held a Hypocrite, for a Rhetorical Expression, in an Address to the Late King James, and because of no other thing, than swearing Allegiance to King William, signing the Association, and carrying it becoming a Loyal Subject, in his Prayers, Sermons, peaceable Behaviour, and Advices, be accounted to act contradictiously to what he said and did under the late Reign. And in the same Strain of Accusation, and Calumny doth Mr. Alsop, p. 34. of his Vindication of the Faithful Rebuke, Insinuate that Mr. Lob had been Criminally acquainted with Friend, Fenwick, and Charnock, there being no other reason Assignable besides the Endeavouring to get that Mark and Character of Gild and Infamy fastened upon him, why he should say that he himself had no Correspondence with them. Now I suppose, none will deny, but that the Assaulting and falling upon their Adversaries with these Weapons, and this sort of Artillery, is both more malicious, and calculated to do much more hurt, than if they had only sliced upon them from their Posteriors, or fired against them with Guns Loaded with Dung instead of Iron and Lead, that I may use some of the Elegancies of Mr. Alsop's Pastoral, as well as Rhetorical Eloquence, pag. 49. ubi Supra. Seeing all the Danger and Damage from the one would be only to be a little Smutted and defiled, which may be Rubbed or washen off without great Labour, or Expense; whereas the tother is the shooting Bombs and Granades, against which it is but a weak and feeble Shelter to be entrenched without the Walls of Innocency, Loyalty, and Peaceable Behaviour: Especially when that Terrible and Destructive Artillery is managed by such skilful Engineers, as those two Preachers appear to be in the Arts of Murdering, had they the Application, and Exertion of the Laws against Treason in their Power, and should they be trusted with the executing of them upon such whom they out of Pique and Spleen should think fit to Impeach, and Pronounce Criminal. Nor was there any need for Mr. Alsop's ask Mr. Alsop, what Post he would allow him under Mr. Williams, that he might Legally demand a Living, and Salary for it? p. 21. ibid. Seeing without waiting until he should Testify his Friendship, and employ all his Skill and Interest in assigning him a Post that would Deserve a Living, though it might not bring him any Considerable Wages, both he and Mr. Williams have advanced themselves unto, and taken Possession of an Office, that may prove very Beneficial unto them, if it were but honourable. For as if neither the Work of the pulpit, whereunto they Pretend to be called, and for the Discharge whereof they have Liberal Allowances Assigned them, nor the having Assumed to themselves the Chair for Reading Scholastical Divinity, were Proportionable to their many and Extraordinary Qualifications, nor come up to the Dimensions of their Universal Talents, they have emitted an Advertisement from Westminister and moorfield's, to save the Charges they must have been at in getting it Published from the Savoy, declaring where two Informers may be found, for those that have occasion for such; and, having a Mind to Use them, will come up to the Price, which persons of their Character and Reputation have a Right to Insist upon and demand. And by the Essay they have given of their Adaptedness for their Employ, they will ease the Government the Expense that it is at, in Maintaining and Recompensing those, who will only swear to what they Perfectly know, the Fertility of their Fancy Qualifying them to Forge and Invent Crimes, and the Complexion of their Consciences giving them a Dispensation to Depose them. For upon no other Topics can either Mr Alsop Arraign Mr. Lob for having been Acquainted with Charnock, or Mr. Williams Impeach the Author of the Letter, Prefixed to the Defence of the Report, as alike obnoxious to him; after he had accused him of a great many things that were Disloyal, and of some that were directly Treasonable; while in the mean time he neither than did, or hitherto can know, whom the Writer of that Letter was, upon any grounds that will support a Legal Evidence, or so much as give a Foundation for Moral Certainty. And to accuse a Person upon a wicked Suspicion, which is the whole upon which he Superstructs what he so boldly allegeth, is to Represent himself in worse Features and in Blacker Colours, than I have taken the Liberty to Limn, and Draw him. And it ought to alarm all Mankind, whose misfortune hath brought them within the Circle of his Acquaintance and Conversation, to find how precariously they hold their Lives, if he through caprice and humour should be Displeased, or but grow Jealous, that they pay him not that Profound Devotion, which he expects should be rendered to his Person and Opinions And as for the Compliment, which he bestows upon that Gentleman whom he knoweth not, if his stretching forth his Claws, and being Roused to execute fiery Threats, ibid. ubi Supra; it doth only show his Conscience, Judgement, and Breeding to be of a piece, and that his Language is of an alliance with his Birth and Manners. However, were that Person either the Beast, or the Bird of Prey, which Mr. Williams in his Boarish and Clownish Rhetoric has Represented him, I do think it would have been discreetly done to have omitted the Rude and Brutish Allusion, and not to have thereby exposed himself to fall under his Fangs and Talons. And, if I did not Judge it a Part both of Civility and Religion, to write with more Reservedness of Persons, than Mr. Williams by Education, Converse, or good Morals, hath arrived unto, it would be no Difficult Province, to give an amazing Abatement, to some people's great Pretensions to Loyalty. Nor do I understand how Republican Principles, wherewith I know many Presbyterians that vouch themselves Partisans for the Present Government, to be deeply Tinctured, are reconcileable to that zeal for Monarchy and Fidelity to his Majesty, which they would fain be Distinguished from others by. Yea I have more Reason to believe, and better Memoirs upon which to Justify it, than Generosity and Good nature will allow me to Discover, that their Loyalty doth not so much respect the King's Title, as the Advantages they have made, and do further hope to make, by serving themselves upon Him. But neither my Temper, my Breeding, or my Morals will suffer me to Retaliate towards them, as they do Deserve, or to make those Reprizals upon them, that I easily might, and which their Provocations would be accounted by most Casuists, to have rendered not only Lawful, but Necessary. And Mr. Williams' advancing these Defamatory Accusations against one Brother, and another Stranger, which he hath done, will appear to have been as Foolish, and Impudent, as it was Unjust and Cruel: because of his having been Obnoxious himself to Suspicions and Charges of the same kind, not only among those of other Churches, but the Members of his own Congregation; for the Removing of whose Jealousies, and the silencing their Clamours, he prostituted and debauched the Pulpit, by Haranguing his Auditors from it with an Invective against King James, and the Jacobites, when his whole Work in that place should have been to Preach the Gospel, and not to have vented a satire, or Read a Lecture of Politics. Nor could any Man whose Understanding were not both darkened and perverted by Passions, and Revenge, that had passed through divers Ordeals himself upon Suspicions much better grounded, than those upon which he hath Traduced and Slandered others, writ with that Licentious and Bloody Rage that he has done, concerning a Brother and a Fellow Subject, in Impeaching him of Disloyalty and Treason. But I will keep myself within the Limits of moderate Resentment, and do hearty wish, that the Biographers, for whose Pens he seems ambitious to create Employment, may treat him with that Gentleness and Decency which I have done; yea, his whole Foregoing Accusation▪ were it time, is yet altogether Impertinent. Seeing the being either Imaginarily, or Really a Jacobite, a Non-Juror and a Non-Associator, which are the Titles he bestows where, and upon whom he pleaseth, do not in the least degrade a Person from being a Christian, or a Scholar; or Vnqualify and Incapacitate him to Assert the Commonly Received Protestant Doctrine, nor subject him to Legal Penalties, because of his Detecting or Refuting the Hetrodoxes of two Dissenting Presbyterian Ministers. And how happy would it be for Mr. Dryden, Durfey, etc. if their calling Mr. Collier Jacobite, and Non Juror, would pass with the thinking and Judicious Part of Mankind, as either a Reasonable, or Wise Answer to the Admirable Discourse, which he hath Published of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage: But as few, or none, even of those that frequent the Theatre, will be carried into so Foppish a Belief; so neither will the very Poets, whom he hath Reprimanded, though Persons of a great Measure of assurance, and who do often take unjustifiable Liberties, in Exposing and Ridiculing such as offend them, so far betray a want of Wit and Sense, as to offer that for any part of a Reply. To reflect upon an Author in that Style, and Manner, may bear Proportion to the Intellectuals, and become the Politics of some Preachers, whose Ends both over rule their Understandings and Influence their Practices, and may be admitted and applauded by little People, who have nothing to commend them but their Ignorance and Bigotry; but it will be Accounted by all others to be Gross and Prodigious Impudence. And while they hope by this Maliciousness towards others, to testify their own Loyalty for the King; they even Lampoon him, and make the Government Ludicrous, seeing the Fealty of His Majesty's Liege People, Is at this Rate of Arguing, no more to be measured by their obedience unto, or Passiveness under the known Laws; but by their humouring of Mr. Alsop, and Mr. Williams, and their Implicitly believing whatever they Preach and Write. Nor is the Kin●s Person, or Crown to be esteemed safe, unless these two Gentlemen be carried towards it with Extraordinary Admiration and Respect. And to Control their Dictatorship, or to question their Orthodoxy, is to be in a Conspiracy to Dethrone, if not to Assassinate His Majesty▪ However, the Reverend Bishop of Worcester is hereby Forewarned, to what Accusations he is to become Obnoxious, in case he depart from supporting Mr. Williams' Notions, in the Discourse he hath undertaken to write concerning this Controversy. For he is no less than bound unto, and put upon his good Behaviour, and to be pronounced a Jacobite, and held for Disloyal, unless Mr. Williams' Judgement in Divinity, be Revived, and Acquiesced in as the great and Universal Standard of Truth.  
The next thing that deserves to be Animadverted upon, and Reprimanded in Mr. Alsop, is his Fantastic Affectation of being thought Witty, and the laying claim to a Talon, which Nature hath Indisposed him for; and which nothing but Pride, Frothiness and Vanity, together with an Ignorance of himself and of what his Faculty is adapted for, would have ever made him pretend unto. For the most, that can be justly allowed him, is, that he is fit to be a Droll, or a Buffoon; but that he is otherwise a Person of Wit, none that understand the Nature and Measures of it will upon any Terms grant him. And if he any where obtain the Character of a Witty man, it is only among little People, that have neither Genius, nor good Relish: With whom it is an Ingenious and Genteel qualification, to be able to Act the Part of a Jack-pudding. But among those whom Excellency of Sense, and Accuracy of gust distinguish from the Insipid and dull Rabble; all that will be allowed him, is that he may set up for a Merry Andrew, or hire himself out to be a Droll at Bartholomew-Fair. Now that the Rebukes, which he deserveth, and which I am to give him upon this account, may be the more Pungent, though appearing founded upon, and Warranted by all those Maxims of Reason, from which wit is Denominated, and by which it is Governed: I shall ere I proceed further on this Head, briefly Intimate both what True wit is, and under what Rules, and within what Limits it hath its esteem; and how Different it is from foolish Drollery, mean Pedantry, and vain Jesting which while they Excite Laughter in the Mob, beget a Contempt & Disgust in the Ingenious. True wit than Consists in Justness of Thought, & in Perspicuity and Neatness of Expression. In taking Every Matter, whereof we speak or write, by its Right and Proper Handle, and the having an Idea of it, comprehensive of all that it imports, and which reacheth both to the utmost Dimensions of it, and the Harmony that is among them, and then in the Clothing our Conceptions concerning it, with that Propriety and Neatness of Language, that may sit decently and adroitly upon them, and give them their due, and agreeable Air. In a word, it is to think Regularly, and to speak Decently; to have our Notions Harmonious to the Subject, and our Speech proportionate them. To say nothing unworthy of, and detractive from the Matters of which we Treat, or unsuitable unto, or beneath the Character of Him that speaks; or that may Displease and Offend the most Sensible and Virtuous part of those that hear. And therefore it is, that to give Check to the Extravagancies of a Wild Fancy, and to prevent the Rudeness of Language, which through a Defectiveness of Breeding, or Morals, some Persons may Licentiously Indulge themselves in, the greatest Proprietors, as well as Masters of Wit, have marked out, and given us the Boundaries of it. So that according to the Rules they have assigned, and the Regulations which they have Established for its Menage; It is always to be Manly, and not Pedantic; Clean, and not Smutty; Fashionable, and not Obsolete; Civil, and not Detractive; Innocent, and not Profane; Modest, and not Rude; Grave and Solid, and not Light and Vain; Grateful to all, and Justly Displeasing to none; 'Tis not only to Humour an Auditory, but to Teach and Instruct them; and adjusted to make others Wiser and Better, as well as to entertain and divert them.  
Now how well Mr. Alsop hath attended to any one of those Characters and Measures of Wit, is what I am to proceed to inquire into, and whereof the Disquisition will be the more Easy, in that his Departure from all of them, is so visible, Gross and Frequent. For from the beginning of the Book to the End of it, his Fancy, Judgement and Language are of an Alliance, and in every one of them he is perfectly ridiculous. And if He ever heretofore had either Understanding, or Wit, Age hath Extinguished, or Pride and Malice perverted them. Nor do I know any Apology can be made for his manner of writing (seeing he will not allow himself to be Lunatic and Delirious) but that God having Created Men Risible, as well as Rational, and having given them no Faculties but what he hath provided Objects to suit and Gratify, he takes himself to have been Form to find Exercise for our Risibility, instead of serving the End of our Intellectual Powers. And it being with great aversion that I expose any person to Laughter and Ridicule, I shall therefore, to render him ridiculous, only show him in the Picture drawn by himself, and which he hath hung forth upon his own Signpost. Nor will I insist upon his Puns and Quibbles, with which almost every Page of his Pamphlet is flourished and adorned: save only transcribe his Introduction to his Book, where, according to all the Rules of Decorum, there should nothing appear but what is Grave, Comely and Inviting. Whereas, instead of this, he courts his Readers to an attendance upon the Entertainment he is to give them, in a Style of Language, and with a Turn of Thought, that are suited unto Guests at a Wake, or to a Rural Crew met together in order to Dance about a Maypole. 'Tis somewhat a hard Case, saith he, that having Just Cause to complain, I must complain to yourself of yourself, and make your own Conscience Chancellor in your Cause, placing you upon the Bench, who in Justice ought to stand and Plead at the Bar. P. 3. Which is the addressing his Readers in such a Scheme of Rhetorical Eloquence, as his Cousin Sancho Pancho for they are nearly allied in their Intellectual Talents and Moral Perfectious, as well as in their Gentlemanly Breeding) would have complained of those that had Bastinadoed Master Don Quixot, either in kindness to Cure his Frenzy, and Discipline him into Sobriety, or in Justice to Chastise him for the wild Extravagancies, he had committed in his Knight Errantry. But omitting his mean and silly Paedantries, to expose the Vanity that he is guilty of in pretending to Wit, and the Disgrace he hath done it through the Impropriety, and Impurity of Thought and Language, wherein he Affects to be accounted an Eloquent and a Witty Man. And seeing the Specimen I am to give of his shameful mis-carriages as well as woeful Defects in both these Particulars, will be somewhat long, I shall therefore Interweave nothing of my own, unless now and then by way of Parenthesis, but reserve till afterwards the Reflections, which I design to make. And for a beginning I refer you to Page 21. of his Vindication, where, upon the mighty Provocation of your having Prefixed to your Defence of the Report, the two Initial Letters of your Name (while himself in the mean time appears without that Fiacho), he Accosts you with the ensuing Testimony of his Wit, and Civility. Can not (says he) some friend of yours have adorned your Chariot, when you are to Ride in Triumph over the Conquered Presbyterians? such a cipher would have given you a great Figure. For he had Read, that these two Letters S. L. which you had Stamped upon your Book, were once Printed with a Red hot Iron upon the Cheeks of a Famous Patriot, who was a Confessor, and hugely Ambitious to be a Martyr for his Country, and that His Enemies did Interpret S. L. to stand for Slanderous Libel, and one of the Wits of that time would needs give the Etymology of the word Libel, that is a Lie with a Bell hung about the neck to Ring the Scandalous story up and down to his Friends in the Country, and that it would have been as decently set upon your Front as his Cheeks. To which I will next subjoin what occurreth, p. 23. where with those measures of Truth, and Cleanlyness that are Peculiar to him, he styles Mr. Lobbs Respectful, and modest Vindication of what he Believes an Important Truth, an Entrenching your cause in Dung, which gives more occasion for the Scavenger than the Scholar; for the Shovel than the Pen to Remove it. Whereunto may be added what he says p. 28. where Designing to Charge Mr. Lob for having calumniated him, in Imputing Opinions unto him which he no ways holds, he Expresseth it as he thinks modestly, and with the height of Genteelness, whereas the Phrase which he there useth doth in the Judgement of all that are Persons of a true Relish and of Good sense, Proclaim him an Ignoramus and a Fop. The words I refer to are, that the Defence hath proved himself hugely versed in the Oriental Tongues, in that the second Language spoken in Paradise by the Grand Enemy of Mankind, was the Lying, and Slandering Tongue. Nowtho the Animadverting upon the Wit of this stands Adjourned till anon, yet I would ask en passant by what Rules of Grammar, or Syntax, or by what Figure, or Trope in Rhetoric, Defence hath got the Faculty of Proving himself, or comes to be Conversant in Languages either Oriental, or other. Surely he who Criticised with so much rigour and severity upon the word Observance instead of Observation, and upon the Term Populacy in the room of Popularity, as he did with an erected Crest and a Spread Train, p. 20. which a little good nature might have inclined him to have taken for errors of the Press; should have been careful not to have betrayed so much either Ignorance or neglect, as are Imported in the Expressions newly mentioned.  
But I will proceed in calling over some more Examples, and Consequently proofs of the Elevation of his Wit, and of the purity of his Style, whereof that which he hath afforded us, pag. 29. shall be the next. All hands aloft! Mr. Lob hath brought from the Neighbourhood of the Lay-st all at Puddle Dock to the Printers all those Ordures, which will Employ all the City-Scavengers, and that he hopes the Reader has therefore his Florentine Balsam, or whatsoever may be more potent, ready to secure him against the Stench. And though the Passage, which I am to mention next be not altogether so Smutty as the foregoing, yet it is vain, frothy, and pedantic in the highest Degree; you will find it in pag. 32. Where upon Mr. Lobb's having alleged, that he had once promised to midwife a certain Book of his into the World, He Replies, that he never knew that Mr. Lob had such hard Labour in Teeming of Books into the World, that he should need a Man-Midwife, and that it is certain he was always Big-bellyed, and more fear he should be Delivered in the open streets, like Pope Joan, than to need his manual operation, which his Printer can do without his help, who never Professed, or was Guilty of the Obstetrical Talon. The Countess of Holland was brought to Bed of an Almanac, as many Children as there are days of the year, and that he doubts not, but that he a being Parturient Author can exclude as many without his holding Mr. Lobbs back, though perhaps he will need to hold his own sides, that he split not with Laughter. Whereunto that which he says p. 85. is of a piece and an Alliance, where comparing Mr. Lob, and himself together, he Challenges the Preference in these Terms, that there is the same Difference between a preaching Sophister, and a well studied Divine, that there is between a Petty Fogger with all his Chicanery, and a profound Lawyer. Nor doth he give better proof either of his Wit▪ or of his Breeding, p. 86. where thinking to Expose Mr. Lob he makes himself Ridiculous by the Foppishness of his thoughts, and coarsness of his Language. As a wisp (saith he) is a Theme copious enough to engage an Harangue for an hour Long to a well studied Scold; so these two Letters D. W. (i e. Daniel Williams) shall serve to Equip a Fleet of Pamphlets. And that had it not been for him hitherto, and now for himself, he knows not what the Club of Retailers would have done for a little scribbling Practice, or where they would have had bread. Surely of all men, Mr. Alsop should lest pretend to Wit, seeing he never endeavours to show it but it is thro' being and acting the Buffoon. For whether he writ metaphorically, and by way of Allusion, or after the natural plain manner, without Tropes, and Figures, he is equally Boorish, and Impure, and all he says is either wholly Impertinent, or else Clownish, or downright Ribaldry, of which it were easy to give many more Instances, were it not that I blush to go on in Repeating, what thro' partly the childishness, and partly the Impurity of the Thought, and thro' the coarsness and Indecency of the Language, must not only offend the consciences of those that are virtuous, but be Counted an Affront to the Understandings of such as are Ingenious. And of such a Complexion do I take the following Passages to be, namely that p. 131, 132. where he says, that Mr. Lob was never costive in his scribbling humours, but that of late he is grown so Laxative, that all the Astringents in the Shops will not Check his scripturiency, but out it flies, without the Preface of saving your Presence. And that other, p. 140. where the most respectful Epithets and Titles, that he is pleased to Describe some of the Presbyterian Ministers by, to dignify them with, is the calling them Reverend Nine Pins.  
As if all that they were either fit for, or worthy of, were to be kept in the Little, and for the most part Scandalous Houses of Entertainment, to be subservient to the sport, and diversion of Tippling Guests. Nor is that passage, which we have p. 137. any signal Demonstration of true Wit, good Manners, or Genteel Language; where intimating the opposition that hath been given, and always will to some of Mr. Williams' Theological Notions, he thus Expresseth it, viz. That he must be placed as a Shrove-Tuesday Bird, five Throws two pence, so long as any man can find a Cudgel to bestow upon him. And such is my dulness of understanding, and my unacquaintedness with propriety and neatness of Speech, that I can neither discern the Wit, nor admire the Eloquence of that Paragraph, p. 104. where Mr. Alsop, being to Instruct Mr. Williams how to avoid the envy of his Neighbours (for writing upon that Motive himself, rather than out of any regard he has to Truth, he fancieth that others must also do it under the like Influence) he advised him to be content to draw in the Thillar's place in the Team, and let another walk gravely before him, with the high Foretop, and the melodious Collar of Bells, and all the gaudy Trappings. To which all that I will subjoin, shall be a passage in pag. 70. wherein although there be as little of bright and Shining Wit as in the former, yet there is a great deal nauseous and glaring Profaneness. For, having taken notice, that there are some Learned and Godly Divines (whom nevertheless he doth not name, that the suspicion of being one of the number, may fall upon Mr. Lob) who have mentioned a Certain Bond, wherein Christ, and the Elect are said to be jointly Bound to God, he thereupon adds in an Impure, as well as a Jocular way, That he could never get sight of that Bond, no more than of our own Original Contract, or the pacta Conventa in a Remoter Kingdom, where Mr. Lob having greater Acquaintance, may possibly have better Intelligence. Now to Omit the Rude and unmannerly Jest and Buffonery in the last Words, and how that it was to do Violence to his own Conscience, as it is to his Pride, to believe Mr. Lob to have a greater Acquaintance in Poland, or any where else, than he thinks his Merit hath obtained for him, or that Mr. Lob can receive better Intelligence from thence, or from any other Place, than is out of admiration of his Worth transmitted and conveyed unto him; all that I will observe is, that it is a Burlesquing things that are held sacred. And were these Divines mistaken, yet they ought to be confuted with respect and modesty, and not exposed and Ridiculed; and the matter, wherein they and others differ, should be Discoursed with Reverence, and not by way of Buffonery. For as the Rules of Decorum, and good Breeding are much larger than those of strict Justice; so, though it may not exactly be a Law of Revelation, yet it is one of Genteel Manners, not to Lampoon what another doth Religiously believe. And were he Guilty of holding what Mr. Alsop by his Innuendoes and tacit Insinuations imputes to him; yet I see no cause why he should be ashamed either of the Doctrine itself, or of being Listed among those Divines who have Believed and Taught it; Seeing no less a Man, than the Learned, Pious, and truly Venerable Dr. Bates has affirmed, that Christ entered into the same Bond that we had forfeited, cap. 13. p. 240. of his Excellent Book of the Harmony of the Divine Attributes, etc. So the whole Import of that Phrase, as it hath been used by him, and also by the most who have written with Care and Exactness on the subject of Christ's satisfaction, is no more than what hath been Delivered by the Apostle, Gal. 4. 4, 5. namely, that Christ becoming Mediator and Surety, was made under the Law, both as to its Preceptive Part and its Sanction, that he might Redeem them that were under the Law: And that as he fulfilled the Directive Part of the Law, by the Innocency and Obedience of his Life, he likewise underwent the Penalty of it in his Sufferings and Death. Now so many Instances of a frothy and vain Mind are scarcely to be met with in any Writing, nay not in it commonly called Grubstreet, as this Theological Author upon a subject relating to Divinity, and Articles of Christian Belief, hath delivered, not only in a few Sheets, but almost in every one of them. For the Ambition and Unity of Acting the Droll, has made him forget that he was either a Gentleman, a Scholar, or a Divine. But though True and Innocent Wit, be both Estimable in itself, and is harkened unto with Respect and Deference, by all that have Genius and good Relish; yet Boorish, ill Natured, and foolish Jests, will recommend no man to such as are distinguished from the Unthinking and Debauched Herd, and much less one that is a Minister of the Gospel, the Grimaces and Mimics of a Baboon, would give better Divertisement, than this Drolling, and Impure way of Writing; Those being agreeable to his species, while the Latter is both a Degrading, and a Disparaging of the Human kind, by acting a Part, which speaks a Metamorphosis of some of the Intellectual Race into those Brutal Creatures, which seem to have been purposely Framed to give Mirth and Sport.  
But to bestow some Reflections upon what I have rehearsed out of our Author, the first thing I would observe is, that the little Wit that appears in any thing he has said, is perfectly Antiquated, and out of Date. Chaucer's obsolete English would sooner be accounted Elegant and Rhetorical among the Politest Masters of our Refined and Modern Language, than these Puns, Quibles and Drollings of an Infantill, unpolished Age will pass, and be admitted for Schemes of Maturated, Adult, and Pregnant Wit. And to Address the World in such a Style is more Ridiculous, than for a Beau to go to Court in Trunk Breeches and a Gorillo; or for a Lady that valueth herself upon Fashionableness of Attire, and the Genteelest mean of Dress, to present herself in the Royal Presence, with a Kercher, or an Old Elizabeth Fardingal. It is likewise mean and Boorish, borrowed from the Plough and Harrow, rather than from either a Palace, or an Academy; And would more become the Rural Clown, than a Gentleman, or a Theologue, Witness besides what I have already repeated that Expression, p. 102. where he calls all the Noise that hath been made about Mr. Williams' Book of Gospel-Truth stated, a shearing of Hogs. And that other Elegancy, p. 94 where to fasten upon Mr. Lob the Slander of having misrepresented him, He phraseth it by his Extracting water out of Flint, and by his being in Possession of an Engine that can find draining works on Salisbury Plain. In a word, all the Perfections of Wit and Eloquence, which he valueth himself upon, and seeketh Reputation from, are rather the Wit and Language of Cobblers and Tinkers; than either of a Freshman in the University; or of a Common Tradesman in the City, and much less of one that would be held a Virtuoso as well as a Divine. And instead of having an Affinity with what is Learned from the Muses, it is such as people come to be Instructed in among Gypsies and Strollers, or which would be held owing to an Education among those whom both the Heathen Theology and Poetry made Inhabitants of the Woods, and which use to be Painted with Curled Horns and Cloven Feet.  
'Tis also nasty and unclean, as if learned at the Tombrall, and not where Persons of Virtue, or Breeding do come, and Frequent. Neither doth his Understanding seem to be of the same Species, nor his sensible Faculties Resolvable into the like Texture of Organs, that the rest of Human kind are, in that Trifles and Stenches, which choke the Intellects, and offend the Senses of every one else, are in him most grateful to the latter, and entertaining to the Former. He would seem to have been either Born, or Bred in a Hogsty, in that Dung and Ordure are more Agreeable, and Odoriferous to his Olfactive Power, than either Musk or Essences. And seeing he inquires of Mr. Lob after, and seems to want a Place, I would case him of the Friendly service, which in that Particular he expects from him, and would recommend him as the fittest and best Qualified Candidate to be a Midnight Gold Gatherer, or an Emptier of Houses of Office. For, if I may speak my Opinion impartially of this man's Judgement and sense, he does reckon it to be more Ornamental to be Drawn in a Dung-Cart, than to Ride in a Triumphant Chariot. And his Flights of Wit, and Flowers of Eloquence, are rather Burlesque, and plain Ribaldry than handsome, and Innocent Raillery. And when he comes forth Strutting in his Greatest Gaiety, it is in the Manufacture of Profaneness, and in the Colours of smut, and Debauchery, and not in the Raiment and Garb of Virtue, and good sense. His best Turns of Thought, would hardly be tolerable in a Farce, but would upon no Terms be allowed in a Comedy. The best that can be said both of his Wit, and skill is, that they are Entirely Scaramuchio, and ●arlaquin. Nor was the Writing about Divine Truths, or the Preaching of the Gospel, ever intended to come within the Circle of his Province; the whole that Nature seems to have fitted, and therefore Designed him unto, being to appear in yellow, and Red (seeing he is Covetous of a Livery) to beget Laughter in the Mob, that stands gaping about the Stage of a Mountebank. Tho in the mean time I'll crave Liberty to tell him, that whosoever he be whose work, and the Top of Ambition, and the height of his Faculty, is to make others Laugh, is to make himself Ridiculous. And as the Epithet of the Bird of Athens was given him by a very Learned Person divers years ago, so he doth now Appear to Deserve it, not only by reason of his being more Feathers than Body, but because he ought never to venture into the Light for fear of being houted at, but to rest contented to live within the Curtains, and under the Shades of the night; In that his coming abroad in the Day is found as Ominous of Disgrace to all that own him, as his Note, and Tune, by which he seeks to be thought melodious, is by all who have an Harmonious soul and a Musical ear, turned into an occasion of Laughter, and of Pleasant contempt. Nor will any Prescriptions be so proper and effectual to cure the Distemper he at present is affected with, and Recover him from his Frenzy, as a Dark Lodging, and Hogsden Discipline.  
But to Advance another Reflection, namely, that this way of Writing is no way Agreeable to the Station, or Character of a Minister of the Gospel, though I will not say (but that abstracted from the Office) it may be very Consonant to his. For, if the Qualifications Required by St. Paul in a Presbyter, had been Attended to in his Admission, or were the Terms of his Continuance in that sacred Order, it would be matter of Enquiring how he came in, and by what neglects he escapes being cast out. For if according to St. Paul, it be an Indispensable Requisite, that such as enter upon the Holy Office should be imbued with meekness to Instruct those who oppose themselves to what the Church entertains and believes, 2. Tim. 2. 25. And that they should not be lifted up with Pride, lest they fall into the Condemnation of the Devil; I do greatly fear, that Mr. Alsop would neither have been the first Admitted; nor so long since continued, if the scrutiny according to these measures had been exact and Impartial. And if a Novice either in Age or in the Profession of Christianity, was not to be Consecrated a Presbyter, lest he should fall into the Temptation of the Devil, either by acting with that Insolency, which may administer occasion to Satan and his Instruments to Reproach Religion, or dispose him to be a Calumniator of the Brethren, as the Devil is Represented to be, or render him incident to Pride, of which the Devil being the first Precedent of Gild, is sentenced, and condemned; surely than one that is not only arrived at a mature Age, but is almost Super annuated, and grown near to be Decripit, if he be found to be a Reviler, and one of Luciferian Haughtiness and Pride, he ought to be accounted liable to severe Censures, and Rebukes, though he may through Indulgence rather than Justice, escape being ejected from the Ministry. And were it another Person than Mr. Alsop, it would be both believed and said, that he must have come in by the Window, and aught to have been dismissed and sent out by the way of the Belfry. For granting, that he may Preach Soberly, and well; yet if he writ Immodestly, and with Petulancy, the Contradiction between the one and the tother, will not only obstruct the success, and hinder the effects of the Former upon the Minds, and Consciences of Men, but will tempt his Hearers and Readers to conclude, that he only Personates, and Acts a part in that, while he is Real, and sincere in the Latter. And they will Form an Idea of the man from what they observe by the Organ of the Eye, rather than from the Sounds Conveyed to them by the Ear. To Assume the dignity, and to put on the Gravity of a Minister in the Pulpit, and to Act the Droll, satire and Buffoon from the Press, will not only be accounted both Moral and Theological Nonsense, and to be Designed to make the Sacred Order Despicable and Ridiculous, but it doth also Justify the Athestical, and Profane in all their Scoffs and Sarcasms upon those of the Holy Office; and Confirms them in their Irreligious Opinion, that Preaching and the work of the Pulpit is only Priest craft, calculated and taken up to Cheat others, to Reconcile Reverence to themselves, and to gain a Livelihood, and no ways upheld and Practised for the making People either better Men, more social Neighbours, or firmer in their Loyalty to their Prince. Of all sides, one in the Pulpit to day, and to morrow upon the Stage, which is most Ludicrous, as well as Uncomely. And to lay aside both the Bible and the long Cloak, and to put on Buskins, can only be diverting to those, who are not only void of Religion, but Destitute of good sense. And it must be much more Disgustful, and Offensive to see one Disrobe himself of the Black Habit, and Narrow Band, and to come forth either in the straight Attire to Vault, upon the High Ropes, or to appear in the Party Coloured Cap, and Coat, to Act the Jack Pudding on a Mountebankstall, or Stage, than it would be to behold a Minister of State going about the Street Crying Mackaral, or Matches. An Ecclesiastical Droll is more Ridiculous than for my Lord Chief Justice of England to turn Bully. And God is more Dishonoured by the Former, than Authority is Degraded and made Contemptible by the Latter. For the highest Flights of Wit, with the best Turns of Thought, and Schemes of Eloquence be not expected from every Preacher; yet there is no man who doth not Indispensably exact from them a few Grains of good Nature and Modesty. And where these are met with, accompanied with Decency, Gravity, and seriousness they do Excuse, and will be Received as Apologies for many other Deficiencies. But while those styled ecclesiastics, do by Bagatel, Ribaldry, and Virulence, Disgrace as well as Departed from the Decorum of their Station, they must not expect, but that they will be treated with a severity that would be thought Unmannerly toward others, if it could be Judged Pardonable. In brief, it is pity that Dr. Echard is Dead, there being more occasion, and matter given in two Pamphlets of Mr. Alsops', for writing Volumns of the Contempt of the Clergy than that Author could furnish his Adversaries with some years ago, towards the Equipping a Book, (that I may make bold with an Elegancy of Mr. Alsops') bearing that Title and with a Cargo of that kind.  
Again, the way of writing, whereof I have given from himself the Copy, and Pattern, is altogether Unsuitable to the subject he was treatning of, Proportion and Harmony are what not only give the Agreeableness, but the Beauty to Things both of Nature and Art. And according to the Grandeur, or the meanness of the subject, should our Thoughts be more Elevated, or Depressed, and our Language stately, or humble. For though there be common Rules for our Conduct in Rhetoric, as well as in Syntax, yet the Application of them is to be wonderfully Diversified in Compliance with the Nature of the subject. And as no man Conversant in this matter will take the Eloquence of the Aula, and the Curia to be the same, in that the Affairs at Kensington and Westminister Hall being vastly Different, do call for Dissonant Turns of Thought and Respective Schemes of Elocution, and Language; so there is an Oratory Peculiar to Theological matters, which hath little Affinity with either of them, and much less any thing meaner. And while these from whom he differs are of Equal Parts and Industry with himself, and from great Integrity do believe themselves in the Right in those Theological Articles, which the Dogmatical and Haughty, and such as are governed by secular Interest are not very likely to be, it is the least deference that can be paid them, to examine their Opinions modestly, and not to Lampoon them. To talk or write jocularly and by way of Travesty of doctrines, and things alleged to have their foundation in divine Revelation, is to despise and vilify the Authority of God, and to detract from the Credit of his Declarations. And if the least Corrupt Communication, i. e. nasty or unclean, as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth import, be forbidden every Christian in his most divertive discourse, Ep. 4. 29. it must then be far from being Innocent or Comely in a Minister of the Gospel, especially when the subject is not Common, and Trivial, but weighty and Religious. To write of Articles of Faith with a wantonness and Impurity of stile that would be thought nasty and indecent in a Ballad, is to Burlesque Religion, and to bring a Contempt upon the doctrines of Revelation. For if we will hearken to the Advice or Imitate the Example of the Apostles, the Language wherein Theological Truths should be conveyed either to the Eye or Ear, should be plain and lowly, though withal neat and pure, and not Terms of swelling Vanity, or the Bombast of Sophisters, or the Cant of Demogogues, and much less in words of Ribaldry and nastiness. 'Tis to expose Religion, and without a great deal of Charity must be thought so designed, to manage the Controversies of it, either in the Billingsgate stile or in that of the Playhouse. What might pass as harmless Raillery on another subject, is Tarlequin and Lewdness on a divine Theme. And the Modestest thing that can be said of it, is, that it is not only the bringing the most awful and august Truths into the same Level with Trifles, but it is the Lessening their Authority over the Consciences of men by clothing them in a Ludicrous Dress. For a King would be more houted at should he appear in the Attire of a Jack Pudding, than the meanest Fellow would be in the same Habit. Nor can it be thought less than a Burlesquing of the Bible, and a Lampooning whatsoever is Sacred, to Compare Christ's entering into the same Bond with us (in the sense before specified) with the pacta Conventa of Poland, and to the Chimerical Original Contract Romantically fancied by some to have been between the Kings of England and the Community upon the first erection of the Monarchy. And of the like excessive Flight of profaneness, as well as of shameful unsuitableness to divine Truths is that other Expression of Mr. Alsop's, p. 140. where having Slandered a Reverend Minister who is a faithful and successful preacher of the Gospel, in reference to a Story maliciously invented of him by the Atheistical and Impious Drolls of the Town, and for which Unbrotherly, Unchristian, Ungentlemanly and Lying Defamation, I do purpose anon to call him to an account; he adds, that he would not for a Groat run the Hazard of Dropping into the Bottomless Pit; which I do think, and would likewise hope that his best Friends will not avoid to call unpardonable Levity in a matter that should never be spoken of but with profound seriousness. The different Fates of an Eternity to come, are the Pillars upon which Wisdom hath erected its House; And to turn Hell into a Jest is to undermine the divine Government, thro' making the judicial Tribunal of God, and the Rectoral sentences of the Supreme and Righteous judge, the subject of sport and Mirth. Yea, it is to treat the Bible in worse Ridicule than a discreet man would do the Alcoran of Mahomet, in that it prostituteth that into matter of diversion and Laughter, which the Scripture hath so fully revealed in order to beget dread and fear. For if it be not worth more than the Expense of a Groat to avoid Damnation, the Torments of the Infernal Pit. must be very 'Slight, if not wholly Romantic: seeing it is Impossible that a state and Condition should be either terrible or dolorous, which a Person whose Character both supposed him to know and maketh it his duty to acquaint others with it, would not part with above a Groat to Escape. And it is but congruous, and therefore not uncharitable to Believe of him, that he would not disburse more to Purchase Heaven, than he hath fixed the Price of avoiding Hell. In a word, if his Heaven be not more desirable than his Hell is Ftightful, the Hades, of the Pagans was less to be dreaded, and the Paradise of the Turks is equally valuable with the Infernal miseries and the Celestial Bliss, which are Revealed, Described, and proposed to our Faith in the Bible, as the great and proper means to work upon our Hopes and Fears, which are the two signal Handles and Machine's graven upon and woven into our Intectual Natures, in order to our being restrained from Vice and Impiety, and quickened to Virtue and Holy Obedience, without the doing violence to our Faculties and Moral Powers, or the Invading that Liberty and Freedom of Choice which distinguishes us from the Brutal Race, gives the moral Specification to our Actions, rendering them denominable, good or bad, and which makes them capable of Punishment and Reward.  
The last Reflection which I will advance under this Head, is, That his Wit and Stile are no ways proportioned to the Quality and Manners of those to whom his Book is addressed, and for whom he would be thought not only to have provided Entertainment, but to have designed their Instruction. For though (that every thing in his Book might be of a piece; and all equally preposterous, uncomely and irregular) the Epistle to the Reader be the Epilogue in his Play, instead of the Prologue: and the Reader postponed from the Preface to the Postscript; and as he further not only fantastically phraseth it, from the Van to the Rear: but as he Boorishly and Buffoonly words it, degraded from riding in State on the Fore-horse, to come behind with the Postman, etc. p. 243. Yet I suppose he thought he had adapted it to the Genius, Humour and Relish of People of Condition, Learning, Ingenuity, and of some Christian Virtue; and not have calculated it for the Meridian of Billing sgate, or to have prepared and dressed it to the palate and Savour of the Atheistical Debanchees, and the Profane Mob. Whereas in this, as in every thing else of the Pamphlet, his Understanding being overruled by his Pride, Passion and Revenge, has misled him into a mistake of the Canailler for the Nobless; of the Illiterate Herd for the Tribe of those of Erudition; and of the Graceless and Impious in the room of such as are strictly Moral and Religious.  
Reverend Sir, I need not tell you, that every one who writes a Book, invites his Readers to a Feast, and that the Entertainment ought to be suited to the Condition of the Guests; and that the Viands should not only be proportionate to the Quality of those that are invited, in the goodness and plenty of them, but in the Cookery also: And that as the meat ought to be the best of the kind which the purse of the Host can rise unto; so that likewise the dishes and Linen should be clean; and the sauce such as may be both grateful to the senses, and whet the Appetite; and not be nauseous to the Latter, and offensive to the former.  
The droppings of a Candle into Cold Water, or the Broth of Fat Bacon may be a delicious pottage, and clean Straw an obliging and well furnished Bed, to a Gypsy or a Common Stroller; but they would not be accounted an Agreeable and a Genteel Diet, nor a decent Accommodation for persons distinguished from the Vulgar as well as above the Indigencies of those who have neither Food nor Harbour, but what are charitably vouchsafed them. And though Coarseness of Diet served up at Table may be pardonable in a person that pleads penury, albeit it be hardly justifiable to have the Vanity to Invite the most Fashionable of his Friends and Acquaintance to it; yet no man will forgive the mixing of Ratsbane to that degree in his food, as will infallibly poison all that partake of it, unless they have powerful Antidotes about them, or by a long accustomed Mithridatical diet be habitually and strongly fortified against all Infection. And to use Coarse and Uncomely Language in a discourse directed to people of degree and Gravity, is not only to affront, but to debase them. 'Tis to despise the worth and detract from the value of people of merit and Breeding, for one that hath good Raiment by him, to make them a solemn and Ceremonious visit in Nastiness and Rags. For though that Garb may be dispensed with in a Beggar that comes for an Alms, and hath no better clothes to put on (albeit even in such it is not so much the Poverty of their Weeds as the stench that digusteth) yet it deserves to be chastised as well as Blamed, when it is found to be worn by any, not out of want, but to show their own Cynical and Clownish Pride, and the Contempt which they have for their Superiors as well as their Equals. But that which upon this occasion I would more especially Remark, is what Idea Mr. Alsop's writing in this Jocular, wanton, and Impure stile, to Ministers and members of dissenting Churches, must be thought to give both of the Intectuals and Morals of those Pastors and people. For seeing the size of Men's Understandings, and the Quality of their manners, are more discerned by their Relish and pleasures, than by any other Diagnosticks whatsoever; it must Consequently proclaim the Presbyterian Teachers, as well as those that sit under their Instruction, to be very ill furnished with good sense, wholly strangers to good Breeding, and vastly removed from Virtuous manners, if the Wit and Language which I am Reflecting upon, can be allowed, or so much as Connived at by them. And whatsoever thoughts they may entertain of themselves, and of one Another; yet I dare say, that upon his alone Test, all they of other persuasions will form a judgement of what, little Genteel learning, refined wit, honourable Education, and practical Religion is among them. For if they do but either justify or Excuse, and much more if they find a pleasing Gust and a Relishing savour in the Wit and Language which I have Rehearsed, it will Authorise others to pronounce of them, that they are not only a dull and Insipid sort of people, but that they have neither Grace nor Modesty: And that their Nonconformity to the Established Worship and Discipline, is not from their being wiser and more Conscientious, than other men, but from their Ignorance Peevishness, and ill humour, if not upon worse Motives. For there is more to affront the minds, shock the Sobriety and Virtue, and to fully and defile the Consciences of men, in this Book of Mr. Alsops' than there is either in the Liturgy, Litany, Ceremonies, the three or four scrupled Articles of the Church of England, or in all the Parts and Branches of their disciplinarian and Ecclesiastical Administration. So that the Pastors who meet at St. Helen's, as likewise their Auditors, must reckon what Character they will undoubtedly lie under, unless by some public Testimony, they declare their Abhorrence of this Buffonery of wit, and lewdness, as well as petulancy and scurrility of stile. Which whether they will do, by driving the Blown Deer out of the Herd, and by putting the Mangy Sheep apart from the rest, lest the Infection reach unto the whole Flock, or by what other means and methods may be Esteemed most Convenient for their own Vindication, from all accesson to Mr. Alsops' profaneness of wit, and Impurity of Language; I do Leave to their Consideration at their next meeting. For the Question is not now (at least so far as at this time I hold myself intercessed in it) what Opinions of an Alliance not only with Armimianism, but with Socinianism, some Presbyterians may entertain, nor to what distance they are removed from the commonly received doctrine of protestants; but whether in order to Mr. Alsop's being thought witty and Eloquent, the smuttiness and Impiety of Billingsgate and of the Mountebank Stage, are to be received into the Catalogue of their Ministerial perfections, and adopted into the Morality and Manners of the Members of Presbyterian societies. And thus have I at length dispatched the foregoing Accusation against Mr. Alsop, though with a tediousness that I will not strictly and punctiliously justify, and for the prolixity whereof I design (if it be practicable) a Compensation in my Brevity in those further Impeachments of him, which remain to be Advanced.  
I shall now therefore proceed to the charging him with great Insincerity, in what he hath alleged, both in reference to Persons and Things. And without envying him or Mr. William's the luscious Compliments and the lofty Paenegyricks, which they bestow upon one another, but leaving them to the enjoyment of those pleasures which are mutually designed by their Reciprocal Flatteries; I will only affirm that much of what both of them have said, is a disguizing of themselves, and a Misrepresenting of Mr. L. and that their way of writing is Disingenuous, and the matters which they suggest palpably False. And as Mr. Alsop knew Mr. Lob to be perfectly innocent of those things which he Criminally accuseth him of, so the whole he intended by those Imputations, was only to furnish himself with an Occasion and pretence of being Rude and Unmannerly. As I hearty wish there may not be many ecclesiastics in Britrain, in whom is verified the Latin Adage of Odium Theologicum, i.e. that the Hatred which one Divine bears to another is both more causeless and Implacable, than what is found among others of any Quality, character and denomination soever; so I hope he and his Brother Williams are the only persons, in whom is justified the Italian Proverb of Conscienza di Theologo, namely, that the Conscience of a Theologue, is less than any Man's, under the Confinement of the Rules of Religion, justice, and good manners: It hath been hitherto accounted the duty of every honest man, to speak and write, as he thinks, and believes: And hath been also esteemed a piece of Morality as well as of good Breeding, for a Person that is virtuous or discreet to avoid every officious lie, by which he may serve himself, or create sport to others, and much more to shun a malicious one, though the Consequence of it be never so Trivial, and that it bring no Considerable Damage upon him that is Slandered. To throw dirt is a Clownish way of Fight, and becomes no man that lays claim to the Ability and Art of Wielding a Pen. For one that calls Himself a Scholar, to fasten Opinions upon an Adversary, without other Ground or Reason, save the seeking an occasion of Combating of Him, is neither the part of the Brave or Learned, but of the Coward, the Knave, or the Madman. And the best that will be said of it by the Wise, Virtuous, and Impartial is, that it is only one's buckling on his Armour to Encounter the Windmills in his own Brains. Now as to the Insincerity of Mr. Williams, either in his Concealing his own Opinions, or the bringing them forth in Masquerade and Disguise; or in his Transforming and Metamorphosing the Opinions of others into Forms and Shapes, Foreign unto, and specifically different from what they are in their Genuine and Natural Features; I shall adjourn the consideration of it at this time, intending, if the occasion of it continue, to give him full satisfaction hereafter, with an Allowance of Interest for the forbearance in point of Payment, which I do now demand. But I am told, that the Learned, Grave, plain hearted and upright, Mr. Humphreys, is about saving me and others that Labour, who as he has had better opportunities of knowing the Man and his Sentiments, than I will Boast of, so none do understand better than that Ancient Person, how to Disrobe him of his Vizor Mask, and the rest of his Theatrical Habit, and to show him in his own Colours. For tho' that Ancient and Learned Divine, be himself Guilty of some Aberrations from the commonly received Doctrine of Protestants, yet because of his dissenting from others with Meekness, Humility and Modesty in himself, and with respect and deference, as well as with Charity towards them; he is therefore Notwithstanding his Errors, had in all due Esteem and Veneration, even by those that do both most oppose and dislike his Opinions; which are only Accounted the Infirmities of his understandings, the mistakes of his Judgement, but no wise the Faults of his will, or the Blemishes of his Conscience. But as to Mr. Alsop's Insincerity; In Relation to what he hath written both of Persons and Things, I do take the Accusing and Reprimanding of Him for it, to fall within the Province which I have undertaken: And which, I shall therefore uncontrollably justify by Quotations out of his own Books. Of this kind is, his Fallely and Maliciously misrepresenting, Mr. Lob, as if he, out of the Account which he gave of the substance of the Gospel, had Expunged Regeneration, Conversion, Repentance, Holiness, Sanctification, a new Heart, new Obedience and Good works; and that he had discarded Faith from any concern in the Justification of a Sinner, and made it unnecessary to our Union with Christ, that so we might have an Interest in his Righteousness, p. 4. And that thereupon he is Metamorphosed from an Hyperaspistes of Truth, into an Hector for the Antinomian Errors, so easy is the Conversion of an Hector into a Ranter, p 5. While in the mean time, he knew the whole of this Accusation to be Altogether Groundless and purely Romantic, and Consequently to be highly defamatory and Slanderous, and not becoming any one that pretendeth either to Conscience or to Moral Honesty. From which Unchristian, as well as Uncivil and rude Misrepresentation, Mr. Lob having fully vindicated Himself beyond the possibility of Mr. Alsops' replying, though (I would say of him were he not called a Minister of the Gospel that) his Forehead is Brass double gilt, and his Understanding, as to one great part of its Function Callous and Dedolent. The whole which remains incumbent upon me, will be in a Reflection or two anon, to provide a chain and Muzzle for this Mastiff, and to give him the Correction that is due to one who hath turned his study (whatsoever he hath done his Pulpit) into a Calumny office. Of the like Complexion and die with the foregoing falsehood, is that barefaced and Impudent calumniation of all those divines, as well as of Mr. Lob, who have called Mr. William's Orthodoxy in some particulars into Question, which the Reader may find on the File of his Book, p. 35. Where, after his Huffing and Oracular manner, and with the assurance of a Knight of the Post, he says, That he is confident that whatever has been the pretence, the real cause of all the Enmity manifested against Mr. Williams ' s Book of Gospel-Truth, was chiefly, that it gave a Mortal wound to Antinomian Opinions: And that, that is a Crime, which shall never be forgiven him, but Prosecuted with Vatinian hatred by the Reporter, and all of the same Kidney. Which is, not only an Accusing a Great Number of very Holy and Orthodox Divines (for they are not a few who have testified their dislike of Divine things in that Book of Mr. Williams') of being tainted with, and Patrons of Antinomianism; But it is the Arraigning them as Guilty of the Vilest Hypocrisy, through their Alleging other Reasons, as the Motives of their dissatisfaction with it, when the real cause was its having given a Mortal wound to Antinomian Opinions. Nor doth he only hereby pretend to have gotten that Window into other Men's Breasts, which neither King James' Prerogative nor Power could give him in reference to Mr. Alsop's, tho' he Complementally, i. e. deceitfully wished it him; but he hath usurped the Tribunal and Seated himself in the Throne of the Omniscient, through assuming to have an Intuitive knowledge of the Hearts of Men, and to have obtained a view of their Intentions and Thoughts, not only without the assistance of the Mediums and Organs of Intellectual sight; but in despite of, and contradiction unto all the means of Intelligence, which God hath furnished us with, and staked us down unto, in our knowing and judging of others. Upon which I will also, en passant, further observe, that it is not one or two of the Congregational Brethren, whom he here accuseth of Antinomianism, but it is the Bulk and Generality of that Party, (tho' he calls Mr. Lob's charging him with it a Nuisance and an Invidious Misrepresentation of Him, p. 23) Seeing in a manner the whole Body of the Congregational Ministers, have signified their dissatisfaction with many Notions in that Book of Mr. Williams'. And as for the Compliment there, which he bestows upon Many of those Brethren, of his knowing them to be sound in the Faith, and wholly remote from all Antinomian Tincture, It is all but Banter and Grimace, or if spoken in earnest, doth only show that the Man was Delirious and Raving, through the Height and Power of Distemper, in that he could neither think nor write Coherently, and that his Quarrelling with and contradicting others, is to be the more dispensed with, in that the Nature of his disease will not allow him to agree with himself. The several Paragraphs in his Book are like my Lord Roscommon's Cocks, which tho' reckoned all of one side, do when taken out of their several and respective Cribs, Encounter and Destroy on another. Nor is he only at Variance and Discord with Himself, by reason, that what he hath written of late in Favour and Vindication of Mr. Williams, is altogether Irreconcilable with what he wrote several years ago in opposition to Dr. Sherlock, and that the two Poles may as soon meet, as what he hath delivered in his Antisozzo then, and now in his Faithful Rebuke and the Vindication of it, be brought to Harmonise and Agree; but in that there are Divers things in each of his late Pamphlets, which are perfectly contradictious and subversive of one another. The Man being of one mind in the Intervals of his Paroxisms, and when under his Lucida; and of another mind, when in his Frenzy and Fits of Distraction. But to proceed to other Instances of his Insincerity, whereof the next shall be his Accusing of Mr. Lob, as if he were not now of the same sentiments in several material Points of Theology, which he was heretofore, and that what he asserted and maintained about Seventeen Years ago, in a Book which he then wrote against Antinomianism, called, The Glory of Free Grace displayed, were both departed from, and overthrown, in what he hath lately published, as well in his Account, styled the Report, as in those Papers, entitled, the Defence of it; and that therefore the Display and the Report could not be indicted from one Head, nor conceived in one Heart, nor written by one Hand and Pen, p. 25. unless Alteration in Interest, may have warped him; change▪ in Dependencies perverted him; new Friends and Alliances begat in him new Counsels, or an implacable Hatred against Mr. Williams, obliged him to alter his Principles in mere spite, and to face about to the other Extreme: And that if they came from the same Mint, the Report has wretchedly clipped what the Display had coined; and the Display is now splayed, p. 26, 27. In which Passages, besides the foppish and ridiculous Puns, the nauseous and undesent Drolling, and Fantastic Pedantry, in his way of expressing himself, there is the height of Insincerity, Detraction, and Calumny. Nor could Mr. Alsop assume this Licentiousness of Traducing him in a matter of such Importance in itself, and whereof the Belief, if admitted, must wonderfully hinder the Success of his ministry, without doing Violence to his own Conscience, as well as transgressing the Laws both of Justice and Charity. Seeing of all the Pastors in and about the Town, there is not one (and that to Mr. Alsop's own knowledge) who hath more endeavoured to put a Discountenance upon all Antinomian Notions, than he hath done. And tho' he can neither apply that Character and Denomination to every one, whom Mr. Williams is pleased so to miscall, (that he may the better thereby disguise and cover his own Vergencies both to Socinianism and Arminianism, and weaken their Credit in reference to Accusations of those kinds, which they advance against him) nor can pronounce every one to be an Antinomian, who ascribes more to Christ in the Work of Satisfaction, and to his Obediential Righteousness in the Justification of Believers, than our new Refiners, upon the Covenant of Works, and of Grace, will allow; yet if a Judgement may be form of him, either by his Books which I have read, or by his Sermons, whereof I have had particular Accounts conveyed to me by those that attend upon them, or by his Oral Discourses, both in the Assemblies of Ministers; and in more private Conversation there is not one, either of the Ecclesiastical Order, or of the number of Laics, Professors of the Christian Religion in this Nation, who is less Tinctured with an Antinomian Dye, or at a farther Distance from approving their foppish, unreasonable, and Anti-Evangelical Tenets, than Mr. Lob, both is, and hath always been known to be: whereof Mr. Alsop was not only fully informed by others, as appears from what he hath recorded in his own Book, p. 37. of a Friend of his, and Mr. L. telling him that the Author of the Report was no more an Antinomian than himself; but he was likewise abundantly convinced of it in his own Conscience, as well thro' an ancient and long Familiarity, which they had together, as by a Perusal of what he had declared in all his public Writings. So that neither his Acknowledgement, P. 43. that Mr. Lob is now become more Orthodox, than when he wrote his Report. Now his having said, P. 37. That his Charity inclined him to think he was no Antinomian, will not in the least extenuate, but does rather greatly aggravate and enhance the Gild of the forementioned Defamatory Slander. And what he there delivers as an Apology, is a proof of his Criminalness. Seeing his Allegation of his preaching one thing, and printing another; of his being one Man in the Pulpit, and another from the Press, etc. is not only gross Calumny towards Mr. Lob, but pure Fiction in Mr. Alsop's Interest, and is at present his Duty, to consider to whom the Character and Denomination doth belong, of being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Accuser of the Brethren; which Title seems to be ascribed unto the Devil in the Place which I have my Eye upon, because of the many false and flanderous Accusations fastened upon the Christians, under the Pagan Persecutions, of which they were altogether innocent; so he ought to dread the Fate to which Backbiters, Liars, and Slanderers, are adjudged both in the Decree, and in the Judicial Sentence of the Righteous God. Nor possibly should I in any measure depart from Moral Truth, if I should both suspect and pronounce Mr. Alsop's Book to have been stuffed with those defamatory Slanders of the Congregational Brethren, and written with that Acrimony and Malice, which appear in every Page of it, in prospect of, and in subserviency to the raising a Persecution against them, which some Men's Counsels, as well as Hearts, are pregnant with, whensoever, through the Favour and Assistance of the Latitudinarian Divines of the Church of England; they can obtain a Comprehension, and be placed on the same Bottom, in relation to Parochial Settlements and Emoluments, with those of the Established way, of which they were then full of Hopes, as well as diligent in their Endeavours to compass. But if the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,, or he, who contrary to his own Knowledge, shall teach or write what is of no other Tendency; but to make a Schism, Division, and misunderstanding in Churches, and among Believers, aught to be rejected, or marked out as a Person, neither fit for Civil Familiarity, nor for Church Communion, much less for a Station in the Ecclesiastical Office, we may thereupon easily conclude how the Presbyterian Ministers that assemble at St. Helen's, aught to behave themselves towards Mr. Alsop, and by what Marks of Censure they should distinguish him from the rest of that Society, that he may be so known, as at the least to be shunned and avoided, unless they will partake of other Men's Sins, and come under the Gild, as well as be involved under the Ignominies of all the Petulancies, Scurrilities, Impurities, Misrepresentations, and Slanders, etc. which he hath vented against Holy, Learned, and Faithful Ministers of the Gospel, without either Ground or Provocation, save what the asserting received Doctrines of Faith, with Pastoral Fidelity, and Christian Zeal, yet at the same time, with the Modesty and good Manners of Scholars and Gentlemen, hath given and administered.  
Now tho' there remain many other very remarkable Instances of his Insincerity, in misrepresenting his Adversaries, without any just Cause given by them, and contrary to the practical Dictamen of his own Understanding, I shall with reference to Matter of Theology, take notice of one more: And that is about Christ's having in his Suffering what the Sanction of the Law made the punishment due to Sin, sustained the Person of those Sinners whom he intentionally died to redeem and save, and in whose room and stead, pursuant to the Covenant of Redemption, he substituted himself, to undergo whatsoever was essentially imported in the threatening, unto the Execution, whereof they were become obnoxious. And tho' I have suggested this in a Line or two already, yet it is of that Importance in itself, and gives such a fair and ample Occasion of detecting the Medisance, and scarcely to be paralleled slanderous Faculty of Mr. Alsop, that I do think it my Indispensible Duty, both to reassume and enlarge upon it. And as it was never pleaded by Mr. Lob, that the forementioned Phrase was Literally and Syllabically Canonical; so it implies either the grossest Ignorance, or the highest Impudence, to suppose it to have been at first invented, or that it hath been peculialy used by the Antinomians: see it owes its Original and its Adoption into these Controversies, to Writers of the best Character for Learning and Piety, that the Reformed Churches could ever boast of. And as the declared Opposition made by the Socinians, to the Satisfaction of Christ (unless taken in a metaphorical Sense) and the Fraudulency of some Arminians, both in enervating the meaning of it; and in the perverting and mis-expounding it to other ends, than those for which it was required of the Father, and undertaken and performed by the Son, gave the first Rise to the Mintage and Currency both of this and other Phrases, as those that are judged extremely subservient to the Vindication of that Glorious Truth, and very useful both to cover it from the Attacques of Adversaries, and to convey the meaning, Relief and Comfort of it, to the minds of Believers; so it is as demonstrable as any Problem in Euclid, that neither Mr. Lob, nor any Person of Eminency among the Congregational Ministers, have otherwise paraphrased, expounded, or applied it, than as its common Signification, Importance, Service and Use, have been stated and derived unto them in the most celebrated Wriings, both Dogmatical and Controversial, of the chief Divines in the Reformed Churches. So that it may give matter of Astonishment, with what Insincerity, or from what prodigious Ignorance Mr. Alsop doth to that degree of Profaneness and Drollery, declaim against, and endeavour to expose the Phrase, as if wholly new, and indebted both for its Coinage, and its Denization in these Controversies, to a few English Writers of the Congregational Persuasion, that are but of Yesterday, whereas it hath been Naturalised, Legitimated, and made Authentic, by the most famous Theologues that ever appeared in the Polemic Field, either against those of the Cracovian Belief, or Arminius and his Disciples. But that I may not be thought to misrepresent him, while I am inditing him of that Crime, in reference to others. I will for the rendering his defamatory Insolence, in what he imputes to Mr. Lob, and to others of the Congregational way, evident beyond all reasonable Opposition and Control. And for the justifying my own Integrity in what I accuse him of, lest he should compare me to the Chaplain of the Coppermines in Sweden, as he hath done Mr. Lob, p. 87. of his Vindication, etc. (whereas of all Men he has himself the best Right to that Title and Character, and in which Office I know none that are desirous to supplant him, or who pretend to Rival him in Qualifications for the Employ) I will, I say, call over some Passages in his own Books; his Face, Features, and the Complexion of his Mind being drawn there in the liveliest Colours, and set in the most advantageous Light, for those to view him, who take Pleasure in monstrous and deformed Sights: whereof the first shall be that, p. 10. of his Faithful Rebuke to a false Report, where he tells us, that as the Phrase is new and uncouth, so it seems to him unintelligible. In reference whereunto, it were no Uncharitableness to suppose that he accounteth it to be so, upon the like Motives which the Socinians and Arminians do, who do not reckon it unintelligible, because of any Abstruseness in the Phrase, but for the sake of the Truth which it Emphatically expresseth. Nor is the calling it new, the worst he thinks fit to say of it, and therefore he adds, p. 11. ibid. That it is a Phrase to puzzle and confound Men's Vnderstanings; and p. 13. an Arbitrary Term, only fit to beget Blunder and Confusion; and p. 53. ubi supra, that to sustain the Person of Sinners is an Anglicism, and that it will not endure to show its Face in some other of the Learned Languages; and to say Christ did sustinere personam Alterius; is to say, That he wore the Mask, the Vizor, the Disguise of Sinners, and that he was Personatus Histrio, like a Stage-Player, that puts on the Person of a King, when indeed he is but some sorry Fellow: To which Expressions concerning it in his Faithful Rebuke, (whereof also I have remitted the Repetition of many) there are divers in his Vindication of the like Stamp with them, as being all Forged in the same Mint. As namely that, p. 54. It never had its Signification fixed and stated by a Competent Authority: The Trumpet gives an uncertain Sound, and that if they must subscribe, it must be with an Implicit Faith in its own good meaning; and that he fears that the Notion of Christ's sustaining our Person in his suffering for our Sins, which Mr. Lob and others do play withal, should in time become the Test of the Faith of sound Protestants, and all shall be damned that cannot subscribe the Antinomian Creed. Whereunto may be added what we met with in p. 93. ubi supra, viz. That it is a Phrase of a dark and dubious meaning, and as the Words seem to sound of dangerous Design and Tendency; by which, nothing else can honestly and truly be meant, but that it is of an evil and fatal Consequence, in reference to the overthrowing the Notions of the Socinians and Arminians, which out of Respect to Mr. Williams, if not to Himself, he is very sorry for. And of Affinity to the foremention'd Expressions, is that which occurs p. 97. of the same Book, where he tells us, that it is inept and improper to convey to our Understanding the Truth of Christ's having died for our Sins: whereas much wiser and far more learned Men than he, i. e. All the great Divines, who have written with Irrefragable Strength, and with exact Accuracy on the Subject of Christ's Satisfaction, have judged it the aptest and properest Phrase, which in order to that end, they could fall upon. And to all the foregoing rude and unmannerly Misrepresentations of it, may be subjoined that Expression, p. 99 ubi supra, that it is a Phrase which carrieth an odd sound, and syncretizeth with the Nestorian Gibberish, there having been a Crew of lewd Heretics, who affirmed that Christ took on him the Person of Sinners, and these from the first Author and Founder of their Sect were called Nestorians, who maintained that Christ was constituted of two Persons; the one the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, who did assume the other an Humane Person that was assumed. Which merely to have cited, is enough to show that the Man is Lunatic and Distracted, as well as childishly, foolish, and grossly ignorant. For without a large measure of the latter, and being very much affected with the former, he could never have written in this Nonsensical and Frantic manner. For to imagine that Christ's sustaining in his Sufferings the Person of the Elect, or of such as either hid or should afterward believe, is coincident with, or of any Alliance to Nestorianism, shows that after all his Pretensions to modern and ancient Learning, he knows not what Nestorianism is, or that he hath both forfeited his Understanding, and bid adieu to Conscience. Seeing whatsoever the Opinion of Nestorius himself was, concerning which I shall not now inquire, and much less reflect upon cyril and others, who are thought by some to have misunderstood or misrepresented him, it is certain that what was condemned as Nestorianism in the General Council of Ephesus, Anno 428. was, that the second Person of the Trinity, the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 took an entire Humane Person, and not merely the Humane Nature into Union with his Divine Person; and that he was constituted not of two Natures, whereof the Humane being taken into Union with the second Person of the Trinity, without any Personal Subsistence of its own Distinct, from that of the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, subsisted by Personality of the Son of God; but that he was constituted of two Essential distinct natural Persons. Now how Christ's standing in the room and stead, and sustaining the Person of the Elect in his suffering for them as their Surety, should come to be compared with, or paralleled unto Nestorianism; and thereupon exposed to Ridicule, and rejected as Heretical, I think no Man, who is not deprived of Reason and common Sense, will presume to understand. Nor would any, save one beyond the Relief of Hellebore, have had the madness to have fancied or said it. For as the Orthodox by believing and declaring that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 took a singular and individual Humane Nature of the same Species with ours, i. e. A true Body and a reasonable Soul into Union with his Divine Person; never meant that he took an Humane Person into that Union; but that the Nature which he assumed, subsisted by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Son of God; so the very Nestorians, who held that the second Person of the Trinity took an Individual Humane Person, i. e. an Humane Nature, with its proper, natural and peculiar Subsistence into Union with his Divine Person, were never so nonsensical and delirious, as to dream, and much less to say that he took the Persons of all the Elect into a natural, Physical, or Hypostatical Union with himself, as he was the Eternal Son of God.  
To which may be added, as that which is further detective of Mr. Alsop's prodigious Ignorance, or his impresidented Insincerity, that the Phrase of Christ's sustaining the Person of the Elect upon the Reasons, and for the Purposes already mentioned, was never intended to denote a Personal Union, whether Physical or Hypostatical between Him and Them; but merely a Moral and Legal. Nor was it ever used to signify and express more than what he did for them in a Juridical Construction; namely, that through being their Surety, he represented and became one with them in Conspectu Fori; and that through standing in their room and stead, he had the Gild of their Sins imputed to Him, and suffered both in their place, and underwent whatsoever was Primarily intended, and Essentially comprehended in the Sanction of the Law; to which, they, through a Violation of the Preceptive part of it, were become Obnoxious. That is, to use the Language and Style of Foreign Divines, lest I should be thought to utter Anglicisms, or to vent what slanderous Persons may call Crispianism. Christum ut sponsorem foederis, peccata nostra sibi a Deo imposita suscepisse, atque sua fecisse, ut pro nobis peccatum i.e. peccator factus sit in Dei Judicio; & quia peccatum factus pro nobis, factus quoque sit Execratio vi Legis, cui se nostro nomine subjecit. nam is vice & loco alterius moritur, quo mortuo alter mortuus Censetur in Judicio. Cloppenb. de Christ. Servat. Thess. 14. 15. i e. That Christ as Surety of the Covenant, having our Sins imputed to, and charged upon him by God, undertook to bear and answer for them, as if they had been his own; and that being made Sin; i. e. a Sinner in the Judicial Estimate of God (viz. by Imputation) he thereupon became a Curse by virtue of the Sanction of the Law, to which he had subjected Himself in our Name and Stead; For he only dies in the place and room of another, in, by, and through whose Death that other is accounted in a Legal and Juridical Sense to have died. And that, Christus quatenus pro nobis sponsor erat, omnium Salvandorum personam sustinebat, ac pro us omnem justitiam Legis implevit, partim in ferendis poenis peccatorum, et subeundo poenas condignas quas lex dei a nobis peccatoribus exigebat, partim implendo pro us omnem justitiam legis, quam lex exigebat, sed quam illi implere non poterant. Voet. Select. par. 2. p. 22. i.e. Christ, as he was our Surety, sustained the Person of all that are to be saved, and did in their Behalf, and for them, fulfil all the Righteousness of the Law, partly through his undergoing the punishment which the Law denounced against, and exacted of them as Sinners; and partly thro' his performing the whole Preceptive part of the Law, which was required of us, but which we could not accomplish and discharge. To which, I will only subjoin one Passage more out of the Dogmatica and Elenctica of the late Pious and Eminent Hornbeek, in his Textuary Discourse on 1 John 2. 2. where showing that Christ is not the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World, either in the Arminian or in the Amyraldian and Baxterian Sense, he useth this Argument; Pro quibus Christus satisfecit, eorum personam sustinuit, at personam Reproborum, aeterntum damnandorum, & pereundorum, Christus non tulet, etc. Miscell. Sacr. Par. 2. p. 396. That all for whom Christ satisfied he sustained their Person; but that the Person of the Reprobate, and of those that were to perish, and to be Eternally damned, he did not sustain, Ergo. So that through what I have cited out of these three Eminent Divines, who were no ways inclined to Antinomianism, and who were certainly of as vast Lection, and as great Theological Litterature, as any this Age hath produced, and its being compared with what hath been also quoted out of Mr. Alsop, it may be very justly questioned whether his Ignorance, his Insincerity, or his Profaneness, be most to be blamed, all three being both so signal and so obvious. And it were well, if the chief thing he were impeachable for, were his Ignorance, tho' that in a matter of this Nature, would not only lessen his Reputation as a Scholar, and degrade him from being a competent Writer of Theological Books, but unqualify him to be a Minister of the Gospel, and from having the Inspection and Instruction of a Church. But it was not so much through Ignorance, as through Insincerity, that he hath belched forth those many rude and unmannerly, as well as false and slanderous Expressions and Things, which I have now called over. For as if he took it for a Diminution of his Worth, and an affront to his Dignity, that any save Himself should have the Privilege of exposing Him, and of showing with what Knavery he writes (pardon the term, by reason the Penury of our Language is such, that it affords not a milder nor a genteeler upon the Occasion and Provocation) for he doth not only in several Places acknowledge that the Phrase is capable of a good Sense; but that it had been used by Divines of the highest Character in the Reformed Churches. Only that his Sophistry and Prevarication may be no less apparent when he is forced to confess a Truth, than when he Invents a Fable, and Coins a Lie, he assumes the Confidence to say, That its being used was before the Antinomian Heresies were broached, and that from thence some of our Protestant Divines might overlash a little in some Phrases, as not dreaming of Saltmarsh or Crisp; and that it was in their polemics they talked thus, and not in Articles of Faith; and that they talk at this rate when they were fight, and not uniting; and that none of them give any Reason for their using the Phrase, but run away with it as a word of course; and that Mr. Lobb' s Lumber of Modern Testimonies, as if the Cause were to be pressed to Death with Number, and not with Weight, doth only prove those Learned Divines to have been of this Faith; that Christ died in our stead, but that Christ in his Death sustained the Person of Sinners (for so he should have worded it, would he have been sincere and ingenious) was necessary to the Explication or Confirmation of that Truth they prove not, p. 104, 105. and 96 of his Vindic. and with respect to all which Exceptions, I do boldly, because knowingly affirm, that he doth not only shamefully mistake in all, and in every one of the foremention'd Matters of Fact, but that contrary to the Light of his Mind, and the Conviction of his Conscience, he falsifieth and prevaricates in them out of Choice and Design. Seeing if ever he had a quarter of that Learning which Himself pretendeth to, and which others have allowed him, it is impossible but he should know, that as the Broaching the Antinomian Heresies was of a far older date, than the using of that Phrase was by most, or any of those Divines, whom Mr. Lob hath quoted, and much more, long before Saltmarsh and Dr. Crisp were heard of; so he cannot without great and reproachable Unacquaintance with Theological and Ecclesiastical Writers, be ignorant that it hath been used by divers learned Persons, who have actually, and upon Design, employed their Pens against Antinomianism: And that though it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Creeds and Confessions (whereof I have assigned the Reason before) yet it hath been employed both in Dogmatical and Controversial Writings against the Socinians and others, towards the Defence and Vindication of the most momentous Articles of the Christian Faith: And that upon no lesser Motives, than that the wisest and best Propugnators of the Orthodox Doctrine, thought them hardly either vindicable or explicate without it. And for justifying the Truth of every particular which I have now alleged, I do pledge and lay my Word to pawn, that I shall be ready to demonstrate all the foregoing Heads, whensoever Mr. Alsop shall judge it his Interest to call for it. But which I think may be very well adjourned at this time, both as being alien from my present Undertaking, and because it would oblige me to enlarge this Letter farther than is comely and convenient in itself, or is any ways necessary in a Matter wherein none that are, or have been conversant in Theological Studies, can want or need Information. I will not add further with what Insincerity, but with what Forehead could Mr. Alsop, with all the petulant and foolish Drollery, first expose and ridicule a Phrase, which not only the greatest Men in the Reformed Churches have used with so much Seriousness, and upon the most Important Service, and for the weightiest Reasons, but for the Lampooning whereof, he himself is forced at last to make an Excuse and Apology, by retreating to those weak and fabulous Pretences, which I have repeated out of his Book. Surely, either his Pride or his Malice have so Tinctured both his Mind and his Conscience, that he can neither write with Truth, Integrity, nor Discretion. For were he not either abandoned to a Reprobate Mind (i.e. an empty, unprofitable, prostituted, and an embased Understanding) or perfectly delirious, he would not instead of furnishing us with reasonable, just, and coherent Thoughts, obtrude upon us what is either Scandalous and Impure, or Chimerical, Fabulous and Romantic. But that which is more to be detested, than even his Insincerity, is that he not only turns every thing, how Sacred soever, into Droll and Banter; but that with a Profaneness, not to be exceeded, and hardly to be paralleled among the most Atheistical Debauchees, or the highest Ranters, he Ridicules and Lampoons one of the most material Doctrines of Faith. For to say, That our Lord Jesus Christ through sustaining the Person of the Elect in his Sufferings, which is but the Equivalent (tho' a little more Emphatically expressed for the Vindication of the Truth and Reality of his Satisfaction against the Socinians, who deny it, and the Arminians, who both supplant and pervert it) of his dying in our room, was Histrio personatus. Like a Stage-player, that puts on the Person of a King, when indeed he is but some sorry Fellow; is a Blasphemy beyond the Chastisement of the Pen, and aught to be punished by the Public Rods. And for the Brethren at St. Helen's, to connive at this Impious Jeer and Sarcasm, will be construed by the Sober and Impartial part of Mankind as an Approving of it. Yea, if they suffer it to escape their Pastoral Censure, it will be fit to bring it under the Animadversion and Discipline of the Law. For Blasphemy is no less uttered and communicated in an Allusion, than if it were expressed in plain and direct Terms. And to be patiented and modest in such a Case, is neither Religion nor good Manners, but Treachery to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the Souls of Men. Can he not be contented to be a Dissembler, an Histrio, a Stage-Player, a Perkin Warbeck himself, in all the Characters he bears, and the Employments which he lays claim unto; but must he in a way of Licentious and Impious Wit, transform our Blessed Lord in the Solemn Work of Redemption into such an one? It will be highly Righteous, and is therefore greatly to be feared, that he who turns, Christ's sustaining the Person of those whom he died to save, into a Jest, will be left in Earnest to bear both the Gild and Punishment of his own Crimes. For our Lord Jesus Christ, being (even as our Mediator and Surety) proposed as the Object of our Adoration; he cannot without the highest Blasphemy, be made the Subject of our wanton Sport. And his having done and suffered all that was Incumbent upon, and demanded of Him as our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, aught to be entertained and relied upon with a firm Belief, and humble Thankfulness; and not to be thus Atheistically Ridculed and Lampooned.  
But that I may not pursue the Accusation of Insincerity, wherewith I have charged him, to that Extent and Prolixity that I might, and for which he hath afforded me plentiful Matter, whereupon to found several other Examples and Instances of it, I will therefore, both to save him the being further exposed, and made infamous, and to spare myself the unsafe, as well as unpleasant Labour of Dissecting a Corrupt, if not an Infectious Body, give only one Example more of it; and that in another kind of Learning▪ wherein his weak and ignorant Admirers will have him to be admirably qualified. For whereas he has the Vanity himself to set up, not only for an excellent Grammarian, but for an exact and wonderful Philologist, and is highly worshipped, and hath a great Veneration paid him upon that Account by Mr. Williams, who can neither speak nor write Syntaxical Latin, if he can so much as understand a common Roman Author, not to put him upon the difficulty of Relishing Cicero, I shall therefore show him to be either a Dunce in that kind of Learning, or that his Conscience and Understanding are not at an Accord. In that he either ignorantly perverts a common Latin Passage from the true Sense of it, or with his Customary Insincerity, doth contrary to his Knowledge misrepresent its meaning. The Passage which I do refer unto is that of Milton's upbraiding Salmasius for his saying, De parricidio in persona Regis admisso; and Milton's adding thereupon, Quid quaeso est parricidium in persona Regis admittere? Quid in persona Regis? Quae unquam Latinitas sic locuta est? Nisi aliquem nobis Pstudo-Philippum narras, etc. From which Expression Mr. Alsop took occasion for the raising and supporting all the Impious Banter, and Atheistical Drollery, for which I have lately called him to an Account; whereas it's most probable that Mr. Milton quarrelled not with Salmasius about the Word Persona, with Respect to its having a Natural and Proper, as well as a Tropical Signification; but that his Satirical Reflection against that great Philologist and Critic, was rather for his having used the Ablative Case, Persona, in the Room of the Accusative, Personam, which Milton seems to have fancied he ought to have used. For, though he could not but know that a Persona in the Nominative, might and usually did admit a Natural Signification, yet it's most likely he imagined that it neither did nor could do so▪ as it is there used by Salmasius in the Ablative. And from thence it was that he Construed, Persona, in the Ablative, not to signify a Rightful and Legal King, but a Tyrant, there upon adding Tyrannus enim qnasi Histrionalis quidam Rex, Lurva tantum & Persona Regis, non versus Rex est. Now whereas Mr. Lob had given this Answer to Mr. Alsop upon his having on this supposed Authority of milton's so profanely Bantered upon the Word Persona, as used in Reference to Christ's Representing and Standing in the Room of the Elect in His Sufferings: The Reply which this Wanton Buffoon and Ignorant Fop makes is, Risum teneatis, was any thing spoken more Ridiculously; in that Mr. Milton had no quarrel with Salmasius about the Case, but Exagitates the Phrase as improper and unbecoming so great a Grammarian as Salmasius had then the Vogue for in the Learned World. Vindicat. etc. p. 111, 112. Whereas notwithstanding both the positiveness and the huffing of this Haughty Man, the Answer that was given to Mr. Alsop by Mr. Lob is the very same with one of the Answers which Salmasius gives in his Reply (Published by his Son) to Mr. Milton. For having proved by many Instances that Persona is often taken by and used in the Best Authors, in a Proper and Natural Sense, and not always in a Figurative and Tropical, as Splendida Persona in Celsus, for one in Eminent Dignity, Persona Imperatoris in Aemylius probus, to signify the Emperor; non qualis cunque Persona Testimonii pondus habet, that every Man's Disposition is not of Credit, in Cicero; parcere Personis, dicere de vitiis, to spare men's Persons when we speak of their Faults, according to the common Gnomon; Mea & Tua Persona pro Ego & Tu, My Person and Yours, for I and You; Persona pupilli & Tutoris, among the Civilians, for the Guardian and the Pupil; Personales Actiones in the Law, Actions which affect the Persons of Men in Contradistinction from Rules which affect only their Goods and Estates, etc. I do say, that after Salmasius had alleged all that I have now mentioned, in Justification of his having used the Word Persona, in a Proper Sense (whereunto it were Easy to Multiply Hundreds of Testimonies more Omitted by him, were it not both Pedantic and needless) he adds, that Milton's Accusing him of Barbarism, because of the Forementioned Expression, was, Fortassean quod non dixerit Salmasius in Personam Regis admissum parricidium, sed in Persona, perhaps because he had used the Term in the Ablative and not in the Accusative. Upon which that Great Philologist proceeds to Expose as well as also Reprimand him, in saying, O Barde, Ludimagistrum veterem redi, ut discas quid sit Latine Loqui, Get thee Fool back to thy Schoolmaster, and under the Ferula, that thou mayst Learn what it is to speak Latin. And to Expose Milton's Ignorance, he subjoins divers Testimonies out of Classic Authors, in which the Ablative is used in the Sense that he had Employed it. As, in Persona errare pro circa Personam; in puella pallere: And that of Virgil speaking of Achilles, non talis in host fuit Priamo. So that the O Barde, thou Fool, whereof Mr. Alsop is so liberal to Mr Lob, p. 112. ubi supra, falls to his own share, and comes in with his many other good Qualities to make a part of his Character. Nor ought I to omit here further to Observe, because it shows the Ignorance or the Insincerity of the Man beyond all possibility of Contradiction, how he either Misunderstands or Perverts the design of Salmasius' saying to Milton, O Barde! Through affirming that the whole which Salmasius intended, was to reject the supposal with Scorn and Indignation, that he should be thought to have mistaken the Ablative for the Accusative. Ibid. Whereas it was no part of his Intention to Excuse himself from a Mistake of that Nature, in that he very well knew that he had Written, as according to Patterns set him in the best Roman Authors, though he both might and aught, but the whole of his Intention was to Ridicule Mr. Milton for quarrelling with it as a Barbarism, when indeed it was rather an Elegancy. However upon the whole Mr. Alsop appears no less Ignorant and Ridiculous, in his affirming the Word Person to signify only a Larva, one under a Mask or Disguise, like the Personae Dramatis, the Comedians upon a Stage, who Sergeant Persons whom they neither really, nor Juridically, or Legally are; and that Persona, & Personam Sustinere, dare not show their Face in any Learned Language, in another Sense; than Salmasius pronounceth Mr. Milton to have taken it, in his Requiring an Accusative when an Ablative was as Rhetorical, but the Impiety of Mr. Alsop is glaring and unpardonable, to have upon no other Occasion, than a Grammatical Scuffle between two Learned Men, who Extremely valued themselves upon their understanding the Proprieties and Elegancies of the Latin Tongue, and who sought all Advantages, for Depressing, and lessening one another's Esteem, with respect to their knowledge in that Language. I say, to have upon no other Occasion run into those Excesses of Ribaldry, Lampoon and Blasphemy, which he hath done in his Assimilating Christ's sustaining the Person of the Elect in his Sufferings, to an Actor on a Theatre, who assumes the personating of another upon Motive of Profit, and for no other end (besides his own Interest) than to give Sport and Diversion. And as for the Character he gives Mr. Milton of having been a Person, whose excellent Latin, Terse and Smooth, has recommended his Style to all that understand the Language; it is that which I am not much concerned, nor at leisure now largely to dispute with him: But with respect to what his Religion was, I have convincing Reasons to induce me to believe he was an Arrian. And as his Principles of Faith (on that Hypothesis, which I shall be ready to justify when lawfully called to it) obliged him both to deny the Deity, and the Satisfaction of Christ; so it is the less to be wondered at, that he took all Opportunities to expose and ridicule (considering withal the Satirical Genius and Temper of the Man) whatsoever he found made use of to explain and vindicate the Doctrine of the Orthodox in either of those Articles. But that Mr. Alsop should borrow and take up his Sarcasms upon the Fundamentals of our Christian Faith, and improve them into Ribaldry, Blasphemy, and Burlesque, (which as those times would not bear in any, so Mr. Milton had more Discretion than to attempt it) would be somewhat surprising, were not the Man distracted; and whosoever is so, may even renounce Christ and the Gospel, as well as slander and revile his Brethren, without the being held or punished as a Criminal. Seeing such as are Lunatic are alike uncapable of Moral, as of Civil Government, and not to be restrained by Laws, but by Fetters and Chains. Tho' it is nevertheless observed of mad Men, that they are much the same in their Paroxisms of Frenzy, what they were in the Moral and Political Complexions of their Minds before, (witness among a thousand others, Oliver's Porter) tho' they had the Art and Hypocrisy to cover and conceal it. But as to Mr. Milton's having been a complete Master in the Latin Tongue, I will not (as I just now said) be so injurious to the Reputation of his Memory, as to endeavour with any Industry or Zeal to detract from his Character in that particular. Tho' it were not difficult to cite several Passages out of his Defensio pro populo Anglicano, (which is the Book upon a Paragraph, whereof Mr. Alsop superstructs his Atheistical Profanations, in reference to our Saviour, and his Redemption of Sinners) that are so far from being Elegant, that they are not true nor proper Latin. Such are his Modo Aures teretes habent & doctas, Provided they have accurate and learned Ears. For modo habeant. Fastigio turgere, to be swelled with, and elevated thro' Pride, pro Fastu. Ne ex lachrimis micam salis posse exprimi; that a Grain of Salt cannot be extracted out of Tears: For guttam or guttulam, a Drop. Exiguissimam the least, which is no Latin word, for Exiguam. Stipe Contentum esse, to be satisfied with an Alms; for Stipendio, a Salary or Reward; and Denarium illud, which is a gross Solloecism; for Illum, that Penny. Besides many more, which I have not Time, nor will be so uncivil as to take notice of. Neither will I say that these Mistakes, whither Barbarisms or Soloecisms, do in the least hinder Mr. Milton from being very justly esteemed an excellent Latinist, seeing the Politest Writers in that Language are sometimes subject to Faults of the like kind. So that even Strada, who was undoubtedly one of the most Elegant Writers in the Latin Tongue, which any of the latter Ages have produced, could not escape being severely exposed, as well as Animadverted upon by Sciopius, in a Book which that ill-natured and snarling Critic entitled, Infamia famiani stradae. And if it should in the Event prove, that it was not for Mr. Miltons' having been an Arrian (tho' that People's Theological System is in all things more Coherent in itself, and in some not so detractive from our Lord Jesus Christ, nor so contradictious to the Scripture in divers Particulars, as that of the Socinians is) why Mr. Alsop doth so esteem and admire him, and gather up the most Ulcerous and Infective part of his Writings, with greater Lusciousness than the Poets are said to have licked Homer's Spittle; yet if Mr. Milton had two other Qualities, that reconcile him to Mr. Alsop's Veneration, and which encourage him both to borrow from, and imitate him. One was, his having been the most Satirical and Sarcastical Writer of this Age; who never cared whether what he said of an Adversary was either true or civil, provided it was but picquant and biting: And who never governed himself towards those that had wrote against him, by the Maxims and Rules either of Religion, or of Moral Decency, but by Principles of Haughtiness, Indignation, and Revenge, whereof both his Defensio pro populo Anglicano, against Salmasius, and his Defensio pro seipso, against Morus, (not to mention other of his Books) are as well shameful as uncontrollable Evidences. The other was his having been the most malicious and virulent Antimonarchical Writer in Britain, and the greater Zealot for Democracy. For which, I suppose he has the more Incense offered to his Memory by Mr. Alsop, and the sweeter Flowers strewed upon his Grave. Which I doubt not but Mr. Alsop, with the same Faecility, and the like Artifices of Sophistry can reconcile, both to his having taken the Oath of Allegiance to his present Majesty, as Rightful Sovereign and King, and to his having subscribed the Association, as he can bring his Antisozzo to harmonise, and to be in Alliance and Confederacy with his Faithful Rebuke, and his Vindication of it. All that I will further add in reference to Mr. Alsop's transferring a Passage out of Milton (and that both wonderfully mistaken, misapplied, and blasphemously improved by him, and in which Mr. Milton also grossly erred) upon a Subject, where, though Raillery was not decent, yet it was not Impious, into a Theological Discourse about an Important Article of Faith, and his perverting it there to the height of Profaneness, is, that the man will be beholding to any Authors whatsoever, and readily borrow from them; yea, be thankful to the Chaplain of the Coppermines in Sweden, for his Aid and Assistance, (with whom, having brought him into an Ecclesiastical Office, I do reckon he purposeth to cultivate a Friendship and Correspondence) in order to his being enabled to be Irreligiously Witty. Nor are his many Puns, Quibbles, Jests, Drolleries and Sarcasms, wherewith his late Books are plentifully enriched, any thing else, save the most immoral and Libertine Scraps of the worst Plays, and the greatliest offensive Recrements of the Mountebank's Stage, which he hath borrowed and transplanted thence, and grafted into his Theological Writings, and his Divinity Lectures to make himself esteemed a Jocular, Divertive, and Witty Author, whereas in reality they do only serve to proclaim him a pitiful Jack-Pudding, and an Insolent Buffoon, who hath neither Grace nor good manners.  
Having dispatched all that I intended upon the Head of Mr. Alsop's Insincerity, in what he writes, both of Persons and Things; and having interwoven some Reflections upon that way, manner, and method of Writing, as I found them agreeable and pertinent to the several and respectful Instances I have alleged in Justification of that Charge, all that now remains in reference to this Branch of my Letter, addressed unto you, Reverend Pastors, and Brethren of the Congregational Persuasion, is by a very few general Reflections, (which I promised as Muzzel to this Molossus) to lay open the Hurt and Mischief, as well as the moral Criminalness of it.  
In the First Place then, It is a high Affront to the Almighty God, who being Himself Essentially Veracious, Imprinted it Originally as a Dictamen Natural upon our Intilectual Faculties, that we should not dissemble, Misrepresent, falsely nor directly Lye. For as it is Contradictious to all the Attributes of God, that he should departed from Truth, and Veracity, in what he says either in Revealing Doctrines to be Implicitly believed, giving forth Promises, to be firmly Relied upon; Denouncing Threaten, to be greatly Dreaded; or Recording Matters of Fact, to be carefully Observed; So it is both our Indispensable Duty to Conform unto and Imitate Him, and will be the highest Improvement and Perfection of our Reasonable Nature, to become as nearly Assimulated unto him in the Properties of Truth and Sincerity, as our Creature and Finite State will admit. For, though there be several things, the Injunction whereof dependeth Entirely upon the Sovereign, and Arbitrarious Will of God; and Abstracting from which, the Performance of them, would be no part of Duty, nor the Omitting of them any Trasgression; yet his requiring us to be Veracious and Sincere in whatsoever we Profess in reference to Him, and what he has Authentically Declared; or speak unto, or concerning Men; hath its Foundation in the Atributes of the Divine Being, Anticedently unto, and Regulative of the Placita of His Will. And as every Man therefore upon the Principles of his being made in the Image of God, and under His Law, aught to be exactly Veracious, and not to Represent Persons and Things otherwise than he knows them to be; so there are Particular Reasons, for which the departure of a Minister of the Gospel from being Morally upright, Sincere and True, comes to be attended with an Aggravated and Inhansed Gild. Because being a Selected, and Peculiar Officer both of God's Rectoral Kingdom over men in General, and of His Dispensations of Grace, for the recovering a lapsed Race to their Duty, and the Re-envesting them in a Forfeited Happiness; he is upon both Accounts Distinctly Bound, not to do or say any thing, that may be Inconsistent with, or unbecoming the Character of an Ambassador of the Great and True God, the High and Universal Sovereign, and our Gracious and Merciful Father. For whereas Tricks, Deceits, Misrepresentations, and Imposing upon the Easy and Credulous part of Mankind, are Observed to have been very usual and Customary Qualities in the Priests of the Heathen Deities, yet it is a thing that can be plainly Accounted for, in that being the Officers and Ministers of the Father of Lies, and who through speaking under his Authority, and in Imitation of his Example, did but in Conformity both to their Master's Copy and his Commission. As he in Terence Justified his Laciviousness from his Acting after the Pattern set him by Jupiter. But that One who Pretends to be Authorised to Declare the Rectoral Will of the Supreme and Sovereign Being; Proclaim the Indemnifying Grace of a Compassionate and Indulgent Father, and Convey to the Knowledge of Men the Truths Revealed by Him, that is the Essential Verity, should not only allow himself in putting False Glosses upon Things, through Paraphrasing what is Heterodox and Unsound, to an Orthodox and Honest Sense, which he knoweth in his Conscience it will not bear; and by perversely Expounding what is Erroneous to a good Meaning, which the Authors neither Intended, nor the Words will Admit; but should set up for a Romancer, a coiner of Fables, a Misrepresenter and Slanderer, would be wonderfully surprising to me in Reference to Mr. Alsop, had he not beforehand vouchsafed to give me some Intelligence of his Acquaintance with the Chaplain of the Coppermines in Sweden. Now though I have a large Field for suspicion before me, upon which to judge what this Man is like to be in the Pulpit, from what I find him to be from the Press; yet upon Recollection of what I have observed him to say of others, namely, That they are not the same when Disputing, as when Teaching, and Preaching; I shall be ready to grant, that the Belief, Doctrine, and Character of the Man, are not to be taken from, and upon his Rave in his Fits of Lunacy and Distraction; but that they are to be judged of by his Antisozzo, which he wrote either before he became Delirious, or under the Decay of the Moon, and in his Lucida. Only it will be necessary for his Auditors, carefully to remark how the Tide flows at London-Bridge and Westminster-stairs, that they may thereby calculate at what Seasons they may give Credit to the Doctrine of their Pastor.  
The second Reflection I would make upon this Insincere and misrepresenting way of writing is, that it undermines and blows up the Foundation and Basis of all Society, whether Civil or Ecclesiastic. Hobb's State of Nature, in which he supposed all Men to be from under the Ties and Obligations of Laws; so that he who had most Legerdemain and Cunning, might overreach, cheat and deceive; and he who had the most Strength, or the greatest Party to support him, might either rob or destroy his Neighbour, without becoming Guilty or Obnoxious to Punishment, was an Eligible Condition; in comparison of this, which Mr. Alsop's way of writing concerning Persons and Things, would reduce the World unto. Seeing upon Mr. Hobb's Hypothesis all People would be upon their Guard, and no one would give Faith or Credit to another, whether in Words or Oaths; whereas all Society among Men being now established upon a Belief, that they might mutually trust and take one another's Word, the Ligature and Cement of all Fellowship is dissolved and broken into Atoms of Dust by the Morals and Practice of Mr. Alsop. And if Mr. Hobb's Scheme of Nature be justly Detestable, because both of the Infamous Aspersions, which it fasteneth both upon the Wisdom and Goodness of God, in making us not only capable of Conversation, and of Incorporating into Communities together; but leaving us under those Individual Deficiencies and Necessities, which render it absolutely necessary, without imbuing us with those Qualities, or the subjecting us to such Laws, as make it practicable and safe; as also the Affront it gives to our reasonable Nature, in debasing it to a Level, with that of Brutes, or below it, through acquitting us from all Obligations, by Virtue of any Internal Dictamina, or Intellectual Reasonings, to Justice, Mercy, and Truth, etc. and that our Engagements thereunto are only owing to Compacts and Bargains one with another. How much more is Mr. Alsop's Divinity in his Praxis (whatsoever other Theology or Philosophy he may have in the Theory) to be abhorred, in that it supersedes all Truth and Sincerity among men, whether resulting from Internal Dictates, External Revelation, or Social Covenants and Agreements. For as the two Pillars of Truth, and Branches of Veracity, upon which all Society is superstructed, are, that one Man shall not lie to another, and that he shall upon no Provocations belie him; neither obtrude that upon the Faith of another, which he that speaks or writes, doth not Himself believe, mean, or intent, nor fasten that Fact, or affix that Opinion unto a nother, which he hath neither by Overtacts, nor any of those Signs, by which the Internal Sentiments of a Man's Mind do become discernible, given Proof and Manifestation of. Of the Reverse of each of which, Mr. Williams, as well as Mr. Alsop, are Guilty in the Highest degree. And that both thro' masking, disguising, and dissembling their own Opipinions; and by misrepresenting, and falsely construing the Opinions of others; and by imputing those Notions to them, for which they have not only the greatest Aversion in their Minds, but have testified it by all the ways and means that would satisfy such as are not resolved out of Picque against a Party, as well as against certain Persons, to have Innocency come under the Ignominy, and to suffer the Punishment of Gild. Nor should I say an undecent, and much less a severe thing, if I should call them the Nuisances of Societies of every kind and that they deserve to be thrust out from having any share in the Privilege and Benefit, either of a Civil Corporation, or of Church Communion. And as no Subjects can be safe under any Form of Government whatsoever, where Defamations are not only practised and encouraged, but accounted Evidences of Zeal for God, and of Loyalty to the King, so no Supreme Rulers, by what names soever dignified, can be secure either as to their Persons, or their Governing Authority, where the measures, by which these Men manage themselves, are allowed to escape without Public Censure. For to speak or write of those whom one dislikes, with a Liberty and Unrestrainedness, as if every thing were lawful to be pronounced of them, which may detract from their Reputation, as Subjects, Scholars and Ministers, is to dissolve the Ligaments of Society, and to turn Churches, Corporations and Kingdoms, into a worse Confusion than that of Babel, where every one spoke what he meant, though thro' the Novelty, as well as the diversity of their Languages, they could not at first understand one another. Whosoever accuseth his Neighbour unjustly, in a Book addressed by him to the World, is as much a Delator, and aught to bear the Disgrace due to such, and to pass for one that is no less Suborned by his Envy, Malice, and Revenge, to be a slanderous Informer; than as if for the Lucre of money he should perjuriously depose at the King's Bench, or Session House. And though such Detractors may not in all Cases be Arraignable before my Lord Chief Justice; yet it is not for the Interest of Mankind, nor for the Peace of Communities, that they should be let go without the Suffering of some sort of Discipline, which is the alone Reason, and not any Personal Quarrel with or against the Men, why I have assumed the Freedom, and Charged myself with the Trouble of giving it them.  
The last Reflection which I will make upon this Insincere and Defamatory way of Writing, is, that it is Extremely prejudicial to Religion, and adapted to do more hurt by the Temptations and Encouragements which it Administers to render people Profane, than, on the supposition that the Writer were in the right in every thing that is Doctrinal, all his Arguments can do good by the making and preserving men Orthodox. Seeing such are the Frame and Complexion of the Minds and Spirits of the Generality, that Practice and Example are more Observed, and have a greater Influence upon them, than bore Teaching and Instructions usually have. In that there is no advantage thought to be gained by Hypocrisy in the former; Whereas it may be Imagined Subservient in the latter to several peculiar Ends. And of all People Ministers of the Gospel are most liable to be Judged by that Criterion, both in reference to the reality of their own Religion, and as to the Opinion which they have of all Religion in general; and to have it concluded from their Manners, what their Inward Belief is. Nor will they be held persuaded of the Being of a God, or World to come; the Tenor of whose Practice is such, as if there were not. Neither will the Preaching up of Sincerity, Meekness and Charity, be otherwise Esteemed than as Grimace and Pageantry; while Falsehood, Malice, Petulancy, and Defamation, are the whole of what is to be seen in the Morals of him that Preacheth. Whence it is Both commonly and reasonably said, that though the Speculative Atheist be a Fool, considering the many Convincing Means he is furnished with, both within and without him, in himself, and whatsoever doth surround him, to ascertain him of a Deity; yet the Practical one is of the two pronounced to be the greatest Knave, in that the latter despiseth and affronts God, while the former doth only deny him. Nor can any thing be more fatally mischievous, both to the Personal and Public Ends of Religion, than for those whose Office it is to inform the Minds and the Consciences, and to govern the Lives of Men, by the Truth and Principles of it; to set them a Pattern in and by their own Practice, importing that the whole which they deliver unto, and press upon others, they do themselves believe to be Fable and Romance. But the damage of this kind done to Religion by Mr. Alsop's way of managing the Doctrinal Controversies of it, being so obvious to all who will give themselves Liberty to think, is therefore neither the only nor the principal Topick, by and upon which I would reprimand him, in reference to this matter. That then, wherewith I would charge, and for which I would rebuke and chastise him, is, that in the whole Frame and Texture of his late Writings, he must either through Malice directly design, or thro' Folly and Distraction occasion and promote Schism and Division among Dissenters, and give Ground not only for alienation, but for Bitterness of Spirit in one Party against the other. The whole Tendency of what he hath published in the two Books which he hath lately emitted, being not only to separate and divide the Dissenters into two distinct Parties (which they already are) but to Marshal and Rendezvous them into opposite Factions, in order either to make both of them a Prey to such as may have a Mind to overthrow the Liberty which is at present granted and indulged them; or at least to crush and subvert the Freedom of those among them that cannot come into the Terms of a Comprehension with the Dignitaries and Pastors of the Diocesan and established Form. And if I durst define and conclude the Inclinations of the whole Presbyterian Body, by the Overtacts of Mr. Alsop and Mr. Williams, I should be tempted to say, that they of the Congregational Way were not only to have the Liberty vouchsafed them by Law withdrawn, and the Act repealed; but that they were to be made obnoxious to some new and penal Statute. Seeing were they guilty of the Antinomian Notions they are charged with, not only of Emasculating and Corrupting the whole Gospel, and of turning it into a Lampoon upon the Righteousness, Wisdom, Holiness and Veracity of God, but of perverting it into a Scandal and Reproach of our Redeemer through the Licentiousness, which Antinomian Tenets give mental Biaz, as well as Doctrinal Countenance unto; they would be so far from deserving the Benefit of a Statute of Indulgence and Liberty, that they ought to fall under the Severest Restraints of Law, as those who travesty the whole Christian Religion, and pervert it into a Scheme that justifieth Immorality and Ungodliness. For tho' I neither will nor dare pronounce of those who through Weakness of Thought, Prepossessions by Education, or the Unhappiness of Acquaintance, have imbibed those Principles, that they are practically wicked; yet I will be bold to say, that their Virtue and Piety are not so much to be resolved into the Light and Efficacy of their Principles, as into the Mechanical Fabric of their Bodies; upon which, both the Grave, Reserved, and Sober Temper of their Minds, and the want of Incitement, Food and Aliment to Scandalous Transgressions in their Lives, do very much depend; or rather into the Efficacious Renewing and Sanctifying Grace of God, which to Souls that are sincere and upright in their Intentions, tho' mistaken in their Opinions, giveth a victorious Prevalency over the Errors of the Understanding, as well as over the Lusts of the Heart; the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus administering a Redemption in both from the Law of Sin and Death. But it is the Happiness of you Reverend Pastors and Elders of the Congregational Way, that you do not only at present live under a King, who hath more Temper as well as Wisdom, than to hearken to two very mean and indifferent Predicants, and who upon all other Accounts, save the overvaluing themselves, are much less Men than they are Preachers, that would upon the Ruins of the Reputation, Learning and Piety of their Brethren, advance themselves into two Dictatorial and Patriarchal Seats over the Body of Dissenters; but that you are under the Care and Protection of a National Senate, who upon preceding Specimens', know by what Rules of Humanity, Equity or Justice (not to say of Christianity) the Bigots of that Faction do govern themselves. I do freely acknowledge that there is no Man of more Latitude as to Principles and Measures of Charity, good Nature, and Civil Manners than I desire to be; yet I can no ways allow that Religion should be made a Cloak to cover Passions and Angry Resentments, or turned into an Engine and Tool, whereby to support, carry on, and justify Passion and Revenge. For when I judge of Persons and Things with the greatest Impartiality and Temperance, I cannot but reckon that all the unjust Accusations and Calumnies, which one Writer fasteneth upon another, must not only serve to afford Diversion and Sport to the Profane, and yield Matter of Contempt for all Religion to the Atheistical, but that they will give Offence and Scandal not only to the Pious and Virtuous, but to the Civil, and the Well-bred part of Mankind. I could readily, both bear with, and esteem any Man, that showeth Zeal for his Theological Belief, whether he be in the right or wrong, provided he doth not express Virulence; and in the room of exercising Charity, doth not exert Wrath and Malice; nor in the place of Arguments, invent and advance Reproaches and Calumnies. But I do both thank God, and take Pleasure in myself, to find that I am by Education, Principles and Temper, carried into the greatest Aversation imaginable of those, who in Discourses on Subjects of Divinity, where only Scriptural Authority, strong Reason, and Modesty of Expression, should be allowed, abandon themselves to the Licentiousness of Drollery, satire, Pasquinade, and Calumny. And who, when they should be sober Disputants, turn Buffoons, Marphorio's, or Revilers. Nor are a Jack-Pudding on a Mountebank Stage, or a Mercenary Droll at a Bartholomew-Fair, or a Knight of the Post at the King's-Bench-Bar, in the Garb and Quality of a credible Evidence, more disagreeable and displeasing Objects to me, than to see an Ecclesiastic metamorphosed into a Comedian; a Divine transformed into a Merry-Andrew; a Minister of the Gospel of Truth and Meekness, changed into a Fabulous Romancer, and a Petulant Reviler; and a Theological Disputant turned a Pasquin, and a Satirist. Whereunto all that I will here subjoin, and with which I will close this Head of Accusation and Reprimand of Mr. Alsop, is, that the Carriage and Behaviour of Him, and of Mr. Williams toward those of the Congregational Persuasion, is no less shapen and moulded (but whether intentionally or not I will not say) to the Abuse & Perversion of the Liberty, which the Dissenters have by Law obtained, first into their Reproach and Dishonour, and then into their Ruin; than the Freedom which Julian the Apostate granted to the Various Sects of Christians under his Reign, was by him designed both to their Destruction, and the Extirpation of the Christian Religion. For as that Cunning and Wise, though Malicious Emperor against Christianity, Tolerated all the Dissentient Parties of that Religion, not out of Favour to it or them, but upon an hope and Prospect of their Qnarrelling with, their Reviling, and their Endeavouring to Destroy one another; so both Mr. Alsop and Mr. William's se●m to make it their Province to abuse the Liberty, which hath been Graciously, and upon Honest, Prudent, and kind Inducements Vouchsafed unto Dissenters, into that Occasion of Envy, Strife and Rancour among themselves, and into a Provocation as well as an opportunity of Maliciously Slandering and defaming a Considerable part of the Body of Dissenters, as Heterodox, and in reality Subverters of the Christian Faith, (the Charge of Antimonianism importing no less) and of some of them as Treacherous and Disloyal Conspirators against His Majesty's Person and the Government, which both must and aught, according to all the Measures of Wisdom and Justice, produce as the Consequent and Event, a Repeal of the Statute by which they are possessed of Freedom with Respect to their Religious Assemblies, and Pastoral Exercises, and do stand Covered from all Obnoxiousness to those Mulcts and Penalties, whereunto they were by former Laws liable upon the single Foot of Conscience and Religion. Or the least thing which this Buffonery, Petulant and Defamatory way of Writing must in Reason effect, will be the Rendering them the Subjects of the Scorn and Derision of those of the National and Established Church. So that I do not wonder, if some of the greatest Statesmen, as well as of the Principal Dignitaries of the Prelatical Way, do think that they who were at the Helm in the Reign of Charles 2d. were wonderfully Mistaken in their Politics of Suppressing Dissenters, and of destroying Nonconformity to Episcopacy, and their Church forms and discipline, by Rigorous Laws and Statutes, which only Served to make them Stifle and Conceal their Passions one against another; and upon the Encouragement of their Numbers to unite and Combine into a Faction Inimicous to the State, as they were before unfriendly to the Church. Whereas if the Way of Indulgence had in that Reign been fallen upon and pursued, some of the Presbyterians, who have Popes as well as Bishops and Arch-Bishops in their Bellies, would long ere this have run into the Road of arriving at Mitres, and of Grasping the Crosier Staff, if for no other Reason than that of using the Butt End of the Latter to knock those of the Congregational Way on the Head; instead of Applying the Crook for drawing them gently and with meekness, either into their own or a Nationall Communion. I will not discover at present, whom I know of Court Pensionartes among the Presbyterian Ministers, nor what their Respective Pensions have been, seeing I am well assured, that they were not Originally granted in order to promote Quarrels among, themselves, nor to be the Salaries of Buffoons, Fabulists, or Revilers; but partly to Relieve men of true Piety and of Singular Worth, whose parts, and merit made them Capable of the most Honourable and Beneficial Stations in the National Church, if their Principles would have allowed their Qualifying themselves to have accepted of them; and partly to purchase and restrain some little, but stirring and peevish ecclesiastics among them, from being Demagogues against the Government, and to gain them to be Panagyrists for it, and render them Partisans, Zealots, and Advocates for its Support, instead of their turning Satirists to disparage it, and of reassuming the Practice of beating their Ancient Tune again upon the Pulpit Drum. And forasmuch, as some Reverend Pastors and Brethren, who have enjoyed Some Advantages of knowing more of the little Arts and Tricks, which have been used, and I am afraid Still are, to render your Principles and Way, and Consequently your Persons and Churches the objects of State Jealousy; I shall therefore in a word or two show the Friendliness of your principles (I might say beyond those of some other Dissenters) to Civil Government; and that if your Tenets were but duly understood, you would be never Suspected (provided you be true unto and act Conformably unto them) as persons who can or will Encroach upon, or supplant the Authority and Jurisdiction of Magistrates. And as I do reckon that Church Frame and Form of Ecclesiastical Regimen and Discipline, to have most of a Divine Impression and Stamp upon it, which is of all others the Friendliest to Politial Authority, and is the furthest from Interfering with true Magistratical Power; so I have not the best Opinion of that Scheme of Church-Government, which erects Dominium in dominio, (which is the Constitution in a Neighbouring Church, and to whose Pattern some People covenanted to conform, as the best in all the Reformed Churches) and against the Natural Effects whereof, in its Genuine Execution, they who bear the Temporal Sword are not secure in their Seats of Power, without being at the Expense of finding now and then a new pair of Shoes, to accommodate such ecclesiastics for Travelling, as do but vigorously exert their Church and Disciplinarian Principles. For the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ not being of this World, it necessarily followeth, that the Institutions, by, and upon which he hath erected his Church, and the Rules which he hath prescribed for its Regulation, can neither be such as may Infringe the Authority, nor weaken the Jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate, whose Establishment and Ruling Power, as he took for granted; so he came not to subvert, but to confirm them. Nor was it inconsistent with the Wisdom and Goodness of our Holy and Blessed Lord, to have made it the Duty of Men and Women, to embrace the Christian Faith, and to aggregate themselves into Church-Societies, in all Nations and Dominions whatsoever, and at the same time to persevere in an Obedience to the Civil Laws of their several and Respective Sovereigns and Rulers, if what he required of them, as so many Corporations of Believers had not been eminently Amicous, as well as reconcileable to the various Forms and Schemes of Political Government. And thence it was that the Apostle St. Paul having once and again put the Divine Sanction upon the Duties owing by Subjects to Rulers, without making the least Abatement in the Obligations of any, by reason of their being Christians, notwithstanding that the Secular Rules and Measures, by which Nations were then governed, favoured more of Despoticalness in some places, than they did in others; he doth also not only adjudge all Disobedience to just Laws to Punishment, by those whose Office it is not to bear the Sword in vain; but doth brand all Usurpation upon the Magistratical Power with a Vergency to Antichristianism, and thereby declares both that all Principles introduced into Church Frames, and Ecclesiastical Schemes of Discipline, of a Tendency to weaken and supplant the Civil Authority, are dissonant from, and opposite to the Institutions of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that all Trespasses of that Hue and Alliance, are departures from the Rules of the Gospel, as well as they are Crimes against the Statutes and Pandects of Nations. So that upon the forementioned Scripture Hypothesis of Church Power, your Principles, (Reverend Pastors and Brethren of the Congregational way) are plainly such, that if conformed unto, you can never become the Objects of the Jealousy of the Civil-Magistrate, nor deserve to have that Liberty withdrawn, which is now vouchsafed you. And which the Dissenters having gotten at first into a Precarious Possession of, through a Dispensing Power, claimed by King James, they are more indebted unto that, than they are ware of, for the being established in it by a Law under this Reign. For, Gentlemen, as your Principles seem no ways disagreeable to the Nature of a Christian Church, (though far be it from me at present to give them the Preference to those of the National Communion) so they are neither exerciseable beyond the Circumference of Ecclesiastical Fellowship, nor do they any ways extend to what is the Subject or Object of the Magistrates Jurisdiction. For as the Essence of a Church, as it is a Society distinct from other Communities, is to be a consenting Association of Men and Women, upon such prescribed Holy and Evangelical Terms, both of Faith and Obedience, in order to the Enjoyment of Spiritual Privileges, and the becoming entitled to special Divine Mercies and Blessings; so the whole Authority challenged by those of the Congregational Persuasion over their Members, is to exact of them a Compliance with those Terms, both in point of Belief and Practice, or otherwise, to seclude and debar them from all share in the Privileges which Christ has settled upon them alone who do observe them. And as all therefore which those styled Independants do make Penal in their Ecclesiastical Discipline, is merely the precluding unqualified Persons, and Members, who walk disorderly from any Portion in those Benefits and Privileges, which Christ hath vested in his Church, as it is a Society chose out of the World, and distinct from Secular Communities, which consequently reacheth to nothing that lies properly within the Sphere of the Magistrate; so they do not even inflict that, save upon those who in their consenting Association with them, submitted to be so treated, if they answered not the Terms which Christ hath made the Qualification for, and the Conditions of a Right to an actual Participation in such and such Blessings and Privileges. 'Tis possible that what I have been now delivering, will by some be accounted a Digression from the Subject that I am upon, (and which, if it so were, I do nevertheless hope, every discreet Reader, as well as you Reverend Pastors and Brethren, will easily pardon) tho' as to myself I can neither think nor own it to be one: Because of the Provocation, as well as the Occasion administered for it; and that not only through Mr. Alsop's and Mr. William's traducing a Congregational Pastor, (who is known to act as uniformly to his Principles, as any Man whatsoever) but by reason of Mr. Williams' slandering all who will not espouse his Heterodoxies in Divinity, who are by much the Majority of those who are of the Congregational Persuasion; and justify his Treacherous, because Surreptitious, Clandestine, and disguised abandoning of the commonly received Doctrines of the Reformed Churches in Momentous Articles of Faith, as being therefore Instruments in the Breaches, (for that is the Term which his Breeding and Modesty have taught him to express a not acquiescing in his Arminian and Socianizing Notions by) upon design of Sacrificing the common Interest, i.e. of the King and Kingdom, through a Subversion of the Government, P. 86. of his Answer to the Report.  
But beginning to grow weary of raking in a Kennel, and being no ways ambitious either of Emulating or Imitating that Hero, among the rest of whose Celebrated Works, the cleansing the Augean Stable was not the least laborious and toilsome, though neither the most honourable in itself, nor grateful to the Senses; I shall only insist upon one Head or Topick more in Mr. Alsop's late Writings; namely, that instead of confining Himself to Points of Doctrine that were to be debated, or to those Matters of Fact, which he might either really believe would be subservient to his Passion and Revenge, or which he might Romantickly imagine were Controvertible between him and Mr. Lob, he hath most impertinently, foolishly, immorally, and irreligiously indulged himself in Detractions and Invectives, that are merely Personal. And which respect, neither Doctrinal Errors, nor Historical Mistakes in his Adversaries; but at the most, either Bodily Defects, shortness in those Mental Perfections, which some may be furnished with. Failures in Punctilios of Courtship; little Oversights, to which, both the best and wisest of Men are incident, or Aspersions founded upon palpable Lies. Nor do his Personal Obloquys and Defamations terminate merely in Laics, and those of the mean Populace, but they are levelled against Ministers of the Gospel, and Persons of deserved Esteem and Reputation in the World. Neither are his Sarcasms and Satirical Invectives restrained only to the Living, but they extend unto, and are designed to smut and blacken the Memory of the Dead; yea, they are calculated not only to affect single Individuals, and particular Persons, but they are framed, and intended to bespatter Fellowships and Communities. For as Men's Credit is both one of the most essential and material Parts of their Property, and accounted by many not only of equal, but of a Transcendent Value to their Lives; it is therefore fit that whosoever doth either openly or clandestinely invade it, should be marked out, and branded as one that is more Criminal, both in the Court of Honour, and at a Moral Tribunal; than he that picks a Pocket in the Crowd, or takes a Purse on the Road. For to be a Maroder and Pillager upon the Street and Field of Humane Credit and Reputation, is worse both in itself, and in the Consequences of it, than to turn common Padders on the King's Highway. Nor do the latter deserve so much to be pursued by the Hue-and-Cry of the Country, as the former do deserve to be hunted and run down by the Social and Virtuous part of Mankind. And tho' our Laws do only entitle the Grand Nobless to the Privilege of pursuing those upon Actions of Scandalum, who are found to have Ignominiously detracted from, or insolently invaded their Reputation; yet both the Rules of Chivalry, and the Maxims adopted among the Learned, as well as among the well-bred, give them not only the Liberty of self-defence, but the Right of Reprisal upon whosoever steps forth as a Draw can bully, to stab and murder Persons in their Credit and Reputation. For though an Enemy acting by a Lawful Commission, and keeping within the Boundaries chalked out and legitimated for the Management of a Lawful War, is to have both Quarter allowed him, and to be treated with Humanity, when subdued and conquered; yet such as are Freebooters and Pickasoons, aught to expect no better, than to be made Galleyslaves, or to be hanged up at the Yards-Arm. Nor is it either less offensive or prejudicial to Persons of all Degrees, to be detracted from, and made contemptible in Reference to their Understandings, than to have their Manners exclaimed against, exposed and reproached. Yea, the Generality would rather submit to be thought and called Knaves, than to be held and represented for Fools. And God having designed our Intellectual Faculties for those, by which we are especially to be distinguished from all sorts of Brutes, whether they be the Wanton and Sportful, or the Voracious and Fierce; he hath in his Providential Wisdom, pursuant thereunto, impressed upon all People an Apprehension of equalling others in Prudence; tho' they may at the same time readily acknowledge others to be Richer, Stronger, more Beautiful and Sublimer in Dignity than themselves. And this is peculiarly remarkable in God's Sapiential Government of the World; that where he hath given the fewer Rational Abilities, he hath bestowed upon those the most Degrees of Self-Conceit, which do as well for the Men's Satisfaction. Nor do we need any other Instances and Examples to verify that of the Poet, Qui velit ingenio cedere rarus— than my two snarling Divines; who tho' in their Bulk upon all Accounts, being not much bigger among Men, than Toads are among the Reptile Race, and in their Nature not very dissimular from them, have the Ambition to swell into the Dimensions of an Ox, albeit liable to the same Misfortune with those loathsome and poisonous Animals in the Fable, of bursting in the Attempt. But that I may not be thought to accuse Mr. Alsop in a Matter of Fact, whereof he is innocent, I shall therefore, both to justify my own Integrity in Charging him, and to make his Criminalness demonstratively appear, call over some passages out of his own Books, as so many Indubitable Testimonies both of the Truth of the Impeachment which I have entered against him, and of the justness of the Rebukes which I design to give him. Whereof the first shall be that, p. 33. of the Vindic. of his Reb. whereupon no other nor higher provocation, than Mr. Lobb's having said, that Mr. Alsop promised in such a Year to write a Preface to a certain Book of his, which he was then Writing against Antinomianism, in order to Midwife it into the World, as Mr. Lob innocently, and without any design of Reflection on Mr. Alsop, or of the least surmise that any could be Incensed by it to throw about Squibbs, and Firebrands of wrath and malice; this Peevish, Unmannerly, and Lunatic Writer, breaks out into all the Rudeness of Personal Aspersion, which his Pride and Wrath could Dictate, and so narrow a Language as ours vent and express. For as the thing was in itself a mere Bagatell, and neither worthy nor intended upon their discoursing about it to be kept secret; So nothing can more discover the Folly, and at the same time the Exorbitant Passion and Rancour of Mr. Alsop, than his Calling Mr. Lobb's Discovering and Publishing of it, One of the most sordid Pieces of Baseness in the World; a betraying of Private Conversation; a Rudely revealing the most Innocent Passages of Friendly Correspondence; a Villainy to be Banished all Conversation and Commerce; With more stuff of the same Nonsensicalness, which for Mr. Alsop's sake I forbear to repeat. Nor can any be guilty of writing with such satirical Wildness, by way of Personal Reflection upon a Minister of the Gospel, and who was once his Friend, but one that had either never Learned, or through being Superannuated, hath forgotten the Rules and Measures prescribed for the Government of Conversation among Men. For according to this method of Censuring, nothing talked of in Conversation, tho' never so trivial, must be discovered, and repeated to others. And thereby an end must be put to all Society, which is Cultivated not only in order to divert and improve ourselves, but that we may Learn how we stand in the favour, esteem, and confidence of those with whom we Converse, and what Offices of Friendship they may be willing to render us, or what they may expect, and need that we should pay unto them. Tho I have been for some time in the World, and have both enjoyed opportunities of Admission into great Variety of Fellowship, and have studied, as much as I thought necessary, the Measures not only of Truth, Justice, and Honour; but of Discretion and Friendship, as to the Concealment of what may be Communicated by one to an other; yet I cowl never hitherto Learn, that a man was to be Accounted a Villain, or a Betrayer of Conversation, unless he was either under an Antecedent promise not to discover what should be said, or that the thing was of that Nature and Consequence, that the Revealing of it would prejudice him in his Person, Interest, or Reputation, that had first spoken it. Nor can any Man without Renouncing Common sense, and the being accounted as Foolish or Distracted, as this Reflection on Mr. Lob doth bespeak Mr. Alsop to be, ever imagine that it should be held enough to subject Mr. Lob to the Character of a Villain, and a Betrayer of Private Conversation, etc. Merely because he had said that Mr. Alsop was once so far from being Antinomian, that he undertook to Recommend a Discourse of his to the World, which he was then about publishing against Antinomianism. But it abundantly shows, that the Man under all his boasted of Attainments, to Wit, Wisdom and Learning, was either all his Days a mere Boy, or that he is become twice a Child; otherwise it were not possible that he should raise such a Noise and Outcry, as if he were stabbed, or at least impeached of High Treason; only because of a Word spoken of him, which can no more hurt or affect him, than the saying he Lives and Preaches somewhere at Westminster, and now and then meets with the Presbyterian Ministers at St. Helen's, could reasonably be Judged to do. Only the Poor Man's understanding is dwindled into that diminutive size (if ever it was of a larger dimension,) That to take his Marvels from him, or to blow upon his Soap Bubbles, is equally Affrontive unto and Resented by him, as if Burglary were Committed upon his House, or a Conspiracy formed against his Life. Had Mr. Lob discovered all his Obligations to King James (which his Friend Mr. Williams intimates to have been very great, by his saying, They were somewhat peculiar, p. 86. Of the Answ. to the Rep.) or had he published the many Promises which he made both to His Late Majesty Himself, and to others in order to have them Communicated unto him, how unchangeably he was in that Prince's Interest, and with what unalterable Fealty, he would adhere unto and serve him; This might have been Construed as a Piece of Ill Nature, because Detective both of the Falsehood of the Man to Him, and how Lubricous a Friend, and Changeable a Partisan he will be to any Sovereign, who has the weakness to give that Credit to his Word or Oath, in Point of Loyalty and Allegiance, as to Rely upon them; tho' even the Revealing of that by Mr. Lob would have been no Treachery, nor have made him Obnoxious for the doing of it to the Character and Title of a Villain. But seeing Mr. Lob hath out of Generosity, and upon the Score of Former Acquaintance and Friendship omitted it, and hath Nevertheless been most Brutally as well as Inhumanly Treated by Mr. Alsop, I will (if occasion be further administered) try by an other method how Favour may be obtained at his hands; through disclosing not only the obligations of Mr. Alsop to King James, which Mr. Williams doth only tell us in General to have been somewhat peculiar; but by Revealing an hundred Assurances given to that Prince of his Firm and Unalterable Loyalty, which Mr. Williams had as little knowledge of, as himself hath observed Integrity in the keeping of them. Whereof, whensoever the World hath a true History, they will understand (which is all I will say at present) to whom the Imputation of Villain, and the Titles of being False and Treacherous, do properly belong.  
But I proceed to an other Example of his weak Malice, and of his Boorish unmannerliness in his Personally Reflecting on Mr. Lob, and that shall be his upbraiding, and endeavouring to expose him, because the Region of his lower Belly is more ample and large, than it is found to be in some other People. 'Tis certain, says he, That Mr. Lob is always Big-bellyed, and more fear he should be brought to Bed in the streets, like Pope Joan, than to need his Manual Operation in Midwifing a Book into the World, or in the facilitating his Labour in Teeming of Pamphlets, p. 32. of his Vind. of the Faithf. Reb. And that he is so Bulky, as if the whole Congregational Party was stowed in his Belly. p. 24. Where omitting the Foppish, Pedantic, and Jack Pudding Wit in these Passages, which the more he valueth Himself upon, the more Ridiculous he is in the esteem of all who have good sense, or true Relish; I shall at this Time only Chastise and Discipline him upon the Topick of his Reproaching Mr. Lob with being always Big-bellyed, and of that Prominence, as if he were to give stowage to the whole Congregational Party. And the first Reprimand I would give him is, that none who pretend to Prudence, Religion, or good manners, will despise or ridicule an other, for that which never fell under his Will or Choice to have had it otherwise, nor is it under his Power to give Remedy to it. And all Objections fastened upon Persons, because of some Anomolousness in their Bodily Structure and Fabric, is an Impeaching of the Divine Wisdom, and the commencing a Quarrel against the Sovereignty of God. For all Defects or Excesses that appear in our Mechanical Form and Frame, provided they be not contracted, but natural; nor the Effects of Intemperance and Luxury, but of the Elemental Juices in our Constitution; as the Prominence of Mr. Lobb's Belly is known to be, are to be looked upon rather with Pity, than with Disdain, and aught to be turned into Matter of Thankfulness to God, that it is not our own Case, and not perverted into a Contempt of those, and the rendering them a Jest, whose Misfortune it is to have them. And very often they who have most about them ungrateful to the Sight and View; have something which doth signally recommend them to those nobler Faculties from which we receive the Denomination of Men. Even Aesop, notwithstanding his having been the most deformed Creature that ever appeared in Humane Shape, yet he will in all Ages be admired for the Admirableness of his Wit, the Profoundness of his Judgement, and the Incomparableness of his Art and Faculty, in teaching Virtue and Prudence by Apologues, and in the way of Mythology. Nor is it unworthy of Remark, that Socrates, among the many other Bodily Imperfections, yea, Deformities, which he is represented to have had, is particularly described and charactered for having been Pot-bellyed; yet that was never thought to detract from his being justly esteemed a very wise and virtuous Man, and as excellently learned and a profound Philosopher, so one of the greatest Sense and Probity, the noblest Moralist, and the justest Person that ever the Pagan World brought forth. To which I will further add, that Aristophanes, who was another kind of Man for Wit than Mr. Alsop is (tho' for Haughtiness and Malice they seem much of an Alliance) and who thro' being both an Heathen, and one of those Poets that wrote for the Stage, to give Sport and Diversion to the Mob, as well as to the vain Immoral People of better Fashion, might have challenged greater Freedoms, and have exercised more Licentiousness in the Characters which he gave of Men, than a Christian or Minister of the Gospel, is by the Laws of our Holy Religion, or the Rules of good Manners among such who have their Understandings enlightened, and Passions restrained by Divine Revelations, are allowed to use; yet even He, when he most designedly applied himself to render Socrates Ridiculous, as he did with all the Art, Malice, Fiction and Falsehood imaginable, in his Play, called the Clouds, showed both better Sense, and did more consult the Credit of his own Wit, than in the least to mention his being Pot-bellyed, (or any of his Corporal Deformities, which were many) and much less to make a Jest of him upon that Account. Which of all things, Mr. Alsop's brutal Rage, unmanly Revenge, and Merry-Andrew Talon would not have omitted against one whom he had singled out for an Adversary. And the Reason is obvious, in that this Holder-Forth, in a Presbyterian Congregation somewhere about Westminster (but where particularly I cannot tell) hath none of those Endowments of Wit, to qualify him for Raillery after a genteel manner, which Aristophanes had; and must therefore be contented to take up with the Billingsgate, Grubstreet, and Mountebankstall, Topics of satire and Defamation. Nor do I think it was ever heretofore believed, (till Mr. Alsop hath of late revealed unto us the Arcanum of it) that we were, upon the Figure and Proportion of a Man's Belly, to form Conjectures with reference either to his Intellectuals or Morals, whereas very many have said that there is another part about us, which carrieth Signatures and Diagnosticks upon it, subservient to the making Inferences of that kind. And as I have known divers myself, who have had the Pictures, both of their Mental Disposition, and of the Destiny that awaits them in their Lives, imprinted pretty legibly upon their Foreheads; so if Mr. Alsop will be but at the trouble to view himself in his Glass, he may possibly see more of Waspishness and Hypocrisy engraven upon that Brass Sign, than I am willing to ascribe to him; yea, it may furnish him with more Oracular Hints of what Fate may overtake him before he leave the World, than the Almanac could afford him, of which he tells us, The Countess of Holland was brought to Bed. At least he might have spelled from the Hieroglyphics and Brachigraphy there, that all the Estimation for Wit, which his whole Ambition hath been by the Scribbling Talon, to attain unto, would come to be exposed in its Shapes and Features of Ridiculousness; and that the gay Fly, with his gilded and noisy Wings, would be showed as Terminating in a mean and despicable Worm.  
There are many more Personal Reflections of Mr. Alsop's upon Mr. Lob, for which he deserves to be arraigned, and severely disciplined, were it not that I do reserve them in Petto against another Re-encounter with this Hector, Bully, and Draw can Sir, of the Presbyterian Party, which I do less fear than I am covetous of. And therefore all that I will further subjoin in reference thereunto, is the Contempt which he every where expresseth both of his natural and acquired Abilities. An Instance whereof we have, P. 15, Vbi supra. Whereupon Mr. Lobb's having said that Mr. Alsop had been fooled by Mr. Williams, this Westminster Parson replies, in the way of his wont Scorn, That the Elegancy of the Term he complains not of, because Witicisms and Elegancies are great Rarities with him. And to the same purpose, P. 21. where he tells us that Mr. Lobb's Cruelty is so severe, as if he would saw off his Head with an old rusty Handsaw; and that whereas it would be some Comfort to be railed at in handsome Language, it is the worst of Deaths to be assassinated with dull and insipid Reflections, destitute of Wit and Truth. And that P. 116. where Mr. Alsop doth assure us, That Rhyme will at any time with Mr. Lob compensate the want of Reason. To which may be subjoined, that P. 29. where he affirms, That Mr. Lob is resolved thro' thick and thin, over Shoes, over Boots, through Truth and Falsehood. Per fas aut nefas, to defame, if he had Wit enough to Ridicule the Writer of the Rebuke. Of an Alliance, whereunto is that P. 12, 13. where he says, Mr. Lobb's Talon is not to intermeddle with Accommodation of Matters, his special Gift being to embarrass, confound, and perplex whatever he meddleth with. Besides, a great deal more which followeth there of Childishness and Pedantry, which I do therefore forbear to repeat, because I am not at present disposed to take Occasion from it, of giving the World further Diversion and Sport, through leading him longer about, and publicly showing of him in his Garb and Habit of Ridiculousness. But as to what I have called over, I will presume to say in way of Return, that it argueth extreme want of Prudence, to despise an Enemy, by whose Defeat and Conquest he was in hopes both to have erected his Trophies, and to have road, if not triumphantly, into the Capitol, and to have there laid down the Garland of his Victory in the Lap of Jupiter, at least to have drawn Mr. Lob after his Chariot to St. Helen's, and to have been there welcomed with the Eulogies and Panegyrics of two or three of that Assembly, if they had but Wit adapted that way, proportionable to their Vanity. Whereas Mr. Alsop's coming forth in his Warlike Accoutrements, with such Contempt of his Adversaries, as we read ascribed to his Cousin Don Quixot, in his Frantic, as well as Romantic Achievements, doth only serve to make his being disarmed, and the having Moombran's Helmet snatched, (as any other would say besides myself) from his Coxcomb; and his being sound buffeted, the more laughed at, and turned into Mirth. And were the Man capable of penetrating into the Diversity of Intellectual Accomplishments; or had he been conversant in Books written on the Subject of L' Examen D' Esprit, he would not despise any one for deficiency in Rational Endowments, because his Faculty lieth not in the being a Droll and a Buffoon. And wheresoever these last Talents are found, or appear to be affected; it is an Infallible Evidence, of a Want of Perfection of Understanding, and of the not being furnished with a sound Judgement: For there being no Specifical Difference (at least so far as I can apprehend) among the Souls that are allotted for the actuating Humane Bodies, it is very probable that all the Diversity, either of the Theorical or Mechanical Parts of one Man from another, is Primarily to be resolved into the various Organizations and Textures of our Bodies; and particularly into the different Temperament of the Brain, Blood, and Animal Spirits, and secondarily into Education, Converse, Assiduity in Study, and most especially in the Art and Mathematicalness of Thinking; and that thereupon, as very few Men are of that Constitution and Frame, or of that Intenseness and Skilfulness of Thought, as to be capable of attaining to many kinds, and much less to sublime Degrees of Intellectual Perfection; so they, whose Bias of Mind lies towards Bagatels and Trifles, and whose noblest Talents are to give Diversion and Sport, are to be ranked among those whom the Sapiential and Governing Wisdom of God hath destined to stand listed among the most Inferior Individuals of the Humane Race. For though true Wit qualifies a Man to be any thing, a Divine, a Statesman, a General, a Lawyer, a Physician, etc. yet the Bristol Colour and Hue, without the Diamond Shinings, Sparkling, and Firmness of it, do serve only to make those Ridiculous, who would appear gay, through a valuing of themselves, and an Imposing on such as are unskilful and incompetent Judges, by their Glass Bugles, French Pearl, and Welsh Stones, instead of being adorned with what is truly Oriental and Genuine. Whereupon I will assume the Liberty further to say, That as true Wit gives an Universal Capacity in proportion to the measures of Application; so the Counterfeit of it produceth inconceiveable Hurt and Damage in every Station and Employment whatsoever. But herein is the Immense Sapience, and the Superlative Goodness of God to be admired, that under all these Diversities of Intellectual Accomplishments, without which there could be no Superiority, nor Subordination, and consequently no Regiment in the World; yet all Men are made sufficiently and equally capable, both for Moral and Political Government, being abundantly furnished with whatsoever Faculties or Powers are indispensably needful, for knowing and loving God; understanding and obeying his Precepts, accepting and relying upon a Mediator, giving unreserved Credit to revealed Truths, embracing and trusting Promises; fearing and dreading Threaten; and for performing all the Relative and Social Duties; which are exacted of us, either towards Superiors, Equals, or those that are beneath us. Only your half-witted People do turn either Heterodoxal, or Bigots in Religion; Dogmatical or Pedants in Learning; Tools of Despoticalness; or Democratical Demagogues in Politics; Empirics in Physic, Chicanes in Law, and Buffoons in Pleasantry of Conversation. Nor did I hardly ever know a Man Oracular in his Opinions, but for want of Extensive Knowledge; Censorious of his Brethren, who walk conscientiously, but through a Deficiency in true Piety; a Refiner in Politics, but through a Narrowness either of Understanding, or of Experience; nor one given to Drollery, but by reason of Indigency in good Sense, or from Excess in Profaneness. Nor are your Men either of the most Elevated and Sublime, or they of the Jocular and Pleasant parts, the usefullest Instruments in glorifying God, or benefiting others: The First, being too Exalted and Refined in their Notions to be generally understood; and the Latter too Wanton and Sportful to mind what is Weighty, Instructive, and Serious, or to be much Credited in what they say. So that they of the middle Size of Understanding, Parts, and Wit, are generally those from whom God receiveth most Service, and the Universality of Men most Advantage. Neither will our Holy Lord accept that Man's Labours, who is full of himself, and that makes his own Applause and Commendation his ultimate End, and terminating Centre. But I do suppose Mr. Alsop is by this time Rectified in his thoughts about Mr. Lobbs Intellectual Abilities; and that he is made sufficiently Sensible by that Authors Two last Books, that the Censure which he bestowed on him in reference to weakness of Understanding, should have been leveled at Home and not Abroad. The occasion of the mistake being no ways in the Object, but in the Optic Nerves and Various Humours of his own Eyes, that could not discern what was plainly visible before him, either in its just Dimensions, or in its true Colours. Nor will it be otherwise, while Pedants assume an Authority of Judging concerning True and Solid Learning; and while Buffoons do claim a Right of deciding what is Just and Accurate Wit: And while one perfectly Lunatic shall Usurp the privilege of Pronouncing who ought to be in or out of Bedlam. But Mr. Lob hath this to Comfort himself under the forementioned Imputation, that it is no disgrace to be called Fool by a Madman, nor to be Represented Weak and Unlearned by a little Pedant, whose greatest Attainment is to Act the Part of Sancho Pancho by Diverting those with his Puns, Quibbles, and Jests, that have no more Sense nor better Relish, than to attend at his Stage; so there are divers Persons who with Respect both to their Natural and Acquired Accomplishments, are Qualified to Teach Mr. Alsop what is Genteel Wit, Rhetorical Elegance, Sound Morality, Orthodox Divinity, and good Breeding. who do think Mr. Lob both an Honest and a Learned Man, as well as a Good and Upright Divine, and that he hath in these Controversies written with Modesty, Pertinence, Strength, and exact Conformity to the Doctrine hitherto received in the Protestant Reform Churches. And that Mr. Alsop ought to receive back all his Sarcasms, Jeers and Satyrs upon this Head, and apply them to the Ignorant and Half-witted Man, Himself.  
But Mr. Alsop's Personal Reflections on Mr. Lob (many of which I do keep in Reserve against the next Conflict, and have therefore omitted the particular mentioning of them at this Time) are the less to be Resented, and aught the more easily to be dispensed with, if not pardoned in course, as Excesses to which both the moral Complexion and Temper of his Mind, and the Power of his Disease and Malady, do hurry and transport him; seeing he knew not how to spare and give Quarter to his Reverend, Dear, and much Valued Friend Mr. John How, but bestows upon him a Cast, and yields him a Proof of his blackening and defaming Faculty, that is much more Satirical, and a sharper pointed Pasquinade, than any which his most Virulent Malice could suck and extract matter for out of Mr. Lobb's Writings wherewith Personally to asperse him. Nor is it unworthy of Observation (towards our attaining unto an Exacter and Distincter Knowledge of the Qualities and Talon of the man) how that immediately after that he had been sprinkling him with Holy Water, adorning his Temples with a Garland of Flowers, and giving him his Pastoral Benediction; he in the very next words, and the same Period, treats him worse than if he had been to have Cursed and Anathematised him with Bell, Book and Candle. And possibly he might think it but Congruous, that having so many of the Old Pagan Qualities in him, though a Christian Priest, he should imitate those of the Pontifical Order among the Heathen, who used first to gild the Horns of the Beast which they were to Sacrifice, and then to cut his Throat, and offer him as a Victim. For Mr. Lob having in his Defence of the Report, p. 86, 87. charged Mr. Alsop For having subscribed his Name to a Preface to Mr. Flavel's Blow at the Root, wherein it was declared, that the Difference between Dr. Crisp and other good men, seems to lie not so much in the things, which the one or the other of them Believe, as about their Order and Reference to one another: and that notwithstanding what is more Controvertible in Dr. Crisp's Writings, yet they do reckon there are much more material things wherein they cannot but agree, and would have come much nearer each other even in these things, if they did take some Words or Terms in the same sense.  
Unto which Charge all that Mr. Alsop has thought fit to reply in his Vindic. of the Faithful Reb. p. 35, 36. is, That the Paper, (viz. the forementioned Preface) was drawn up by a Learned and Able Hand, (i. e. Mr. John How) in whose Judgement he presumed he might acquiesce; and if that Reverend and Learned Person shall think fit to move out of his Retiredness, and appear concerned in this Affair, he will easily justify it: and that he Judged that Paper capable of a fair Vindication, and may be Justified by an Ingenious Interpretation; (all which are but the Oiling of his Hone, in order to the giving the sharper Edge to his Razor, as appears in the following words, namely) That he is not well pleased with Himself, that he had put his Hand to that, or any other Trimming Paper. In which Reply of Mr. Alsop's, as there occur several things not to pass unremarked, because they serve to give a farther Representation both of his Intellectuals and Morals; so the last Passage, which carrieth in it such a severe Personal Reflection against Mr. How, is that whereof I intent to take some what more especial notice.  
And the first thing that offereth itself to every man's View, that will but open his Eyes to observe it, is, That Mr. Alsop is every man's Tool that can but attack him on his vain side, and flatter him with the Glory of having his Name recorded in the End of a Preface, in Conjunction with so Eminent and Learned a Person's as Mr. How's's. Seeing it plainly appears that he had never thought before hand, either distinctly, or thoroughly of what he was doing, but suffered himself to be wheedled by Caress or Importunity, to be a Tool in subscribing what he had either never Read, or not duly Considered. And as nothing can be more Evident, than that he must have Trespassed in what he did, either against the Rules of Prudence, or Laws of Conscience; so it is indifferent to me, into which of them he will resolve it, having had so many uncontrollable Evidences already before me, that he can be at one time Fool, and at another Knave, as he finds the diversity of Personating on the public Stage, to be most agreeable to the Humour he is then in, and most subservient to the venting of his Rage and Wrarh, or to the giving Sport and Diversion. And as to his saying, He is displeased with Himself, for what he did in that matter, I do not judge it any Concernment of mine to determine on what motives he is so, nor to interess myself in the Quarrel, by which of his Humours and Passions he is to be Governed; and therefore all I will say, is, That he never had before him a more proper and demeriting Subject of just displeasure; and that the Levelling the Artillery of his Indignation against an Object so worthy of it, will more commend his Wisdom, Sincerity and Justice, than all the Proofs he hath hitherto given of his Angry and Rancorous Faculty. However, this late Testimony which he hath vouchsafed us, of his not being past the Grace, nor the Bounds of Repentance, may Administer some faint hopes unto us, that he will in his next Lucida, humble himself to come forth in a New Habit and Dress of Penitence, in order to make Atonement for latter Offences, which I am sure do call for larger measures of Contrition and Remorse. And that we shall hear of his Apology, (which, to say the best of it, is the Retreat of the Fool, and the Aftergame of the Wise) that he has been Mr. Williams ' s Tool; (it being not only his Destiny, but the unavoidable Consequence of his little Sense to be some bodies) as we have now had it for the having been Mr. How's's.  
To which I might subjoin, in the Second Place, That with whatsoever Reason or Justice Mr. Lob and others may complain of Dr. Crisp for his Antinomianism; yet Mr. Alsop cannot with any Consistency to Himself, pursue it with the Noise and Clamour, nor prosecute an Impeachment of it with the Malice and Rage that he hath begun. For if it be only, or chief, the taking some Words and Phrases in different Senses, that keeps him and others at a distance in Opinions, as the forementioned Preface affirms, and which Mr. Alsop says is capable of a fair Vindication, and may be justified by an Ingenious Interpretation; I do then challenge all mankind, who have their Senses about them, and continue Masters of their Reason, to give a Wise, Rational, or Pertinent Account of the Satirical and Bitter Invectives of Mr. Alsop, as well as of Mr. Williams against Crispianism, and so many of those of the Congregational way as Favourers of it. As that, Some of the Biggest Name among them, from the Press and Pulpit, had disseminated such horrid Opinions as filled all Intelligent Persons with Astonishment and Indignation. P. 25. of his Faithful Rebuke to a False Rep. And that Mr. Lob, through being n Favourer of Dr. Crisp's Notions, has left out of his Substance of the Gospel, Regeveration, Conversion, Repentance, Holiness, Sanctification, a New Heart, New Obedience, and good Works, etc. P. 29. of the Vindic, of the Faithful Rebuke, compared with p. 4.  
And that they who have used the Phrase of Christ's sustaining the Person of the Elect upon the Cross, never dreamed of Crisp's Substance of the Gospel, where Faith is left out from any Concern in Justification; and that as the Atheist's Heaven has no God in it; the Socinians Hell has no Devil in it; so the Antinomian's Gospel has no Justifying Faith in it; with an Hundred Expressions more of the same Alloy, which I have not leisure at present, and therefore forbear to repeat. Now if any man preserved so far in his Wits, as to know that Four and Three make Seven, and that Six is an Equal Number, and Nine an Unequal, can Reconcile these passages of Mr. Alsop, wherein he accuseth Dr. Crisp with those in the forementioned Preface, and in the now repeated Apology of our Author for it, I will be bold to Affirm that he may with the same Ease both bring the Northern and Southern Poles into Conjunction, and make those propositions Identical and Coincident, which are directly Contradictory. By which it is Apparent that Mr. Alsop neither writes upon Principles of Science or of Faith, but in the Virtue of the Warmth, or of the Chillness of his Blood, and as his pulse beats faster or Slower, and as he is out of his Paroxisms or under them. And that we are to gather and Conclude what his opinions are, from the Seasons of the Moon, and the Estival or Brumal Temper of the Air, and not from any Coherent Schemes, which by means either of Philosophy or Revelation, he hath Form of the Doctrines of Faith, and Precepts of of manners.  
But that which upon this Occasion, I have Reserved to be the last, is the Title and Character, which this Sovereign Bestower of Marks and Badges of Dignity, hath Conferred upon Mr. How, of being a Trimmer. Which, according to the design of those who first Coined and Minted the Term, signifies no more than an Hypocrite and a Dissembler. And one who guides himself by no other Principles either in his Political or Moral Conduct, save by those of Worldly safety and of Secular Interest. For though Sir. William Coventry in his Ingenious Character of a Trimmer, gives a nobler Representation of those that are so Denominated, (of whom I do believe his Account to be very just in reference to very many that have been and are so Styled) yet nothing can be more certain than that the Original Authors and Fabrickers of the Word, designed to Describe, Decipher, and Mark out those by it, who were neither Loyal Subjects, Upright Christians, Just, Veracious and Amicable Neighbours, nor Vigorous Patrons and Partisans of Public Laws and Liberties. And as it is Evident from the manner of Mr. Alsop's applying it, and the end whereunto that he intended it in the worst Sense (because the being a Trimmer, according to Sir William Coventry's Paraphrase of the Term, would be any Man's Glory and not his Reproach, and aught to be coveted and not avoided) so both Mr. How and Mr. Alsop, do own that Respect and Deference to their Whig and Fanatic Friends, who were the first Inventors of the Word, as so acquiesce in the Signification which they Stamped upon it. And according to the Value which those People designed it should be Current at, it is no more nor less than the Euqivalent of Rogue and Rascal; the latter being only of Coarser Metal, but the same in Exchange, and on the Balance of Traffic in the mutual Communication of Thoughts, with the former. Which therefore to bestow upon Mr. How, must be very unmannerly, rude, and injurious in Mr. Alsop; unless he have more Acquaintance with that Gentleman ' s Political and Moral Principles and Practices, than I, who do not pretend to the Honour of Conversing with him, could have imagined that he was embued with. But on supposition, that Mr. Alsop is not altogether mistaken in his Idea of that Presbyterian Divine; yet there were other ways of Penance, which might have been Prescribed unto him, for the having Written the Forementioned Preface, than to be thus brought forth as a Knave in the View of the World, in Castigation and Punishment of that Offence. For, if I be not very much misinformed, Mr. How is no less ready to make Atonement for Crimes of this kind, than he is Inclinable to Commit them. And Mr. Alsop might have found other Kind's and Degrees of Ecclesiastical Discipline to have adjudged him unto, than to Transmit him down to Posterity to stand Registered in the Diptychs of the Church by the Name and Character of a Trimmer; which I Believe, as well as Fear, will give a very odd Figure of a Divine, and especially of one of his Eminency.  
But the next Personal Reflection for which I am to call Mr. Alsop to an Account, is that which he hath ventured, without the least Provocation given, against a Learned and Holy Divine, and one who is a very useful and Successful Preacher of the Gospel, and as well equal both to the former and to himself in whatsoever deserves Esteem and Commendation, as Superior to them in Uprightness and Integrity. The Person I mean, is the Reverend Mr. Daniel Burgess, to whom though I be altogether a Stranger, yet I do so well know his Worth and Merit, that I do hold myself in Duty and Justice obliged to do him Right. Nor has it been without Surprise and Astonishment, that I have found Mr. Alsop's Picquancy and Satyrism to lie chief against those both of his own Order, and of the Rank of Dissenters. As if at the same time, that both all the Reputation he hath attained unto, and the Plentiful, if not Opulent, Condition unto which he is raised, is through his being accounted a Minister of the Gospel, and a Nonconformist Preacher, his Wrath and Malice were Particularly Levesled against those of the Ecclesiastic Tribe, and Pastoral Character, and especially against them of that Quality amongst the Dissenters. And whereas, as great and Excellent a Person as either the Nation, or the Churches of any Denomination in England, can boast of, thought him long ago Worthy of the Title (and accordingly bestowed on him) of Martin Mar-Prelate, he may through the Improvements which he hath made since, in the Perfections which procured him that Honourable Name, have his Style now Enlarged and be called the Marphorio and Pasquin upon the whole Sacerdotal Order, and the Satirical Reviler of them of the Ministerial Function. Nor would it exceed the Bounds and Rules of a reasonable Jealousy, to suspect that his Buffooneries and Invectives against so many of them, is not so much from any Quarrel he has with their Persons, as from a Prejudice he bears against their Office, and from Latent ill will to their Lord and Master, whose Ambassadors they are. And this Apprehension would seem the more Justifiable, in that those of them whom he chief singleth out to Ridicule and Lampoon, are such who do not only appear Adorned more Distinguishingly than others, with those Accomplishments and Virtues required in Bishops and Pastors, but whose Labours God doth most signally Bless in the Conversion of Sinners, and in the Building up of Believers.  
'Tis true, that neither the Sacred Character which they bear, nor the Renewing and Sanctifying Grace of God, do so far Elevate them above the Rank of other men, but that they will have some Humane Weaknesses and Imperfections cleaving unto and accompanying them; which nevertheless ought not only to have some Indulgence showed them on the Foot of the Common and unavoidable Frailties of our Nature, but in deference to their Office, and out of Respect to him whose Servants they peculiarly are. And where their Faults are not Enormous, nor the Effects of Insincerity, their Reputation should be held as Sacred as their Office and Character are. Nor can a Clergyman be Exposed or made Cheap, without both the designing and the doing more consequential Hurt to the Souls of men, who would otherwise attend upon, and might receive benefit by their Ministry; and the affording more Ground to the Profane of Contempt, as well as a Neglect of those Ordinances, which Christ hath appointed them to be the Dispenser's of; than the Injury done immediately to themselves can amount unto, or the Diversion and Pleasure of doing it can any ways Excuse. Yea, in all Cases where the Faults of Ministers are not palpably Notorious as well as Gross, and where the Pastor doth not by his Buffonery both disgrace and renounce his Character, and lay aside the Parson as soon as he comes out of the Pulpit, to put on and act the Droll and Merry Andrew; it is an Indispensible Duty in all that would show themselves either Virtuous or well-bred, to cover and conceal them as much as may be: And the Trespassing on the other hand, by detecting and publishing of them, where there is no need for, or public advantage arising by it, is very Heinously Criminal at the Tribunal above, whatever it be reckoned at your Benches of Judicature here below.  
And to represent a Minister as a Fool, to be made a Jest of (while he doth not abandon and disclaim the Sacred Character through an Affectation of Appearing and being a Jack-Pudding) discovereth both Malice against the Office, and is more calculated to bring Dishonour upon our Lord Jesus Christ, than to tell of Twenty Failures, or Excesses, to which they are Incident with other men; and from which neither their Character, nor the Measures of Grace which God thinks fit to Communicate to any degrees of Men in this Life, can wholly preserve and secure them. And of all things the Sallies of Wit, and sometimes the indiscreet and impertinent Excursions of a Luxuriant Fancy, are not only the most Pardonable, but aught to be least taken notice of. Our Imaginations not being so entirely under the Conduct and Command of our Reasons, as our other Powers and Faculties are. Yea, our very Passions are more in subjection to the Dominion, Restraint and Curb of our Minds, than the sudden and unforeseen Starts, Eruptions and Bounces of an impregnated and warm Fancy, are found to be. Yea, such is sometimes the Misfortune of those who are Endowed with the vastest degrees of Pregnancy of Fancy, that they lose more of their Credit in being thought and held Wise Men, by the venting of One Impertinent and Foppish thing, than a long Course of Reserved and Prudent Conduct will again restore them unto. So far is that Apothegm from being Exactly and Universally true, that he who is wise all day, can never be a Fool at night; that for a person, whom the greatest part of his Life hath showed to be really modest, discreet and wise, to be but Guilty of One signal Impertinence and Blunder, may be such a Blot in his Scutcheon, as nothing can ever raze out or wash off.  
Nor would I in these Sheets have with so much Picquancy taken notice of Mr. Alsop's Claim unto, and pretended Exercise of Wit, but that it is all of that kind which both floweth from a want of true Judgement, and of accurate Sense, and is the Result of the deliberate Choice of a depraved Will. For though not only the hastily overflowing of a Fertile and Rich Fancy, which are for the most part immediately retracted after their precipitant Ebullitions, but the motus primo primi of our Wills, while not afterwards consented to and approved of, aught to be construed for easily pardonable, if not held Venial among men towards one another (though they be Expressive of the Corruption of our Natures, and have the Taint of Pravity as well as of Gild upon them) yet studied and affected Lightnesses, Jeers and Sarcasms, are to be accounted both gross Immoralities and prodigious Follies, and to be accordingly rebuked and reprimanded. However, as to myself I do esteem it an happiness, and do hearty bless God for it, that I am not furnished with a Faculty pregnant with little Airy Conceits, but that I have my Thoughts under the Antecedent Government, as well as under the posterior Examination and Censure of my Reason. But having on the Occasion of a Personal Reflection on Mr. Daniel Burgess, taken the Liberty to offer those few things to the Consideration of mankind, which I have now delivered, in order to their improvement in a Reserved, Discreet, and Modest Conduct; I shall now more particularly consider the Rude, Unmannerly, and Barbarous Reflection itself, and show, that as there was no just Provocation given to Mr. Alsop for the publishing such a thing if it had been true, so there was not the least Ground for raising such a Report, but that it was all malicious Fiction, and a Romantic. Story invented by the Atheistical and Profane. The Occasion of publishing the Story was this, namely, That Mr. Alsop having said, p. 29. of his Faithful Reb. to a False Rep. That the Nine Brethren, who for, and in hopes of Peace, had signed the former Paper, had their Hands, Heads, and Hearts too, in the forming, wording, and assenting to the Third. Whereunto Mr. Lob returned, in way of Answer, p. 70. of his Def▪ of the Rep. That several of the Nine had very lately declared their Approbation of the first Paper, and one of them in particular had told him, That Mr. Alsop was guilty of a Notorious Falsehood, in saying, That the Individual Nine had their Hands, their Heads, and their Hearts, in the forming wording, and assenting to the Third Paper; for he had neither Hand, Head, nor Heart in it.  
Now it was merely upon this, and upon no Offence committed, that Mr. Alsop replies, p. 140. of his Vindic. of the Faithful Reb. That if any one of the Reverend Nine-Pins has been Tipped down, and denied his Agreement to the Third Paper; 'tis more than he had done before his Brethren: Nor is he at all concerned; for as he dare not (says he) Pin his Faith upon his Sleeve, so neither will he hang upon his Cloak, lest he should unbutton the Loop, and let him drop into the bottomless Pit, as 'tis said he threatened some of his Auditors; and that if he has that slippery Trick with him, he would neither be in his clothes, nor hang on his Cloak, for a Groat.  
But having already taken notice of the Impiousness, as well as of the Buffonery of these Passages, all I shall do now, shall be only to Animadvert upon the Fabulousness and Falseness of the Story, upon which Mr, Alsop has had the Insolence to Reflect and Droll on a Minister of the Gospel. For that which makes the Defamation the more barbarous in itself, and the more inhuman towards a Friend, as well as sacrilegious, in reference to one that is a Divine; is its being founded upon a Fiction and a Lie, and of which Mr. alsop could pretend to no Intelligence, save by some vain and Foolish Report. For all that he pretends to superstruct this detractive Reflection upon, is, it's having been said that he threatened some of his Auditors so; which was too slender and sandy a Foundation upon which to make a Reverend Brother, and a Faithful Ambassador of Jesus Christ, the Subject of Impious and wanton Sport. For knowing how prone the Atheistical and Profane are to invent Stories, whereby to render those of the Pastoral Order Ridiculous, he ought neither by the Rules of Religion, nor of good manners, to have given the least Ear to it, and much less to have dared to publish it, without the highest degrees of Moral Certainty, as to the Truth of it. And if all the idle and defamatory Stories, invented by the Graceless Rabble, and Impious Wits, against Ministers of the Gospel, should with the like Licentiousness be spread and divulged by one of their own Order, and the Word and Authority of a Priest laid to Pledge in Justification of them, I will be bold to say, That there are few Divines in and about London, but who would as justly stand Obnoxious to be called Knaves and Villains, as Mr. Burgess, by reason of the forementioned Expression, is Exposed to be made a Jest of. And he that hath been so Liberal in bestowing the Character of Lying and Slandering Tongue again and again upon Mr. Lob (only for representing him modestly and truly) and of Affirming, That the Elegant Figure with which he hath embellished his whole Discourse of the Defence of the Report, is purus, putus, satanismus. Vid. p. 25. ubi supra; should not have been so forward in receiving and publishing Falsehoods of others, unless he takes his own Province to be encroached upon, and is offended that any should believe or disperse Falsehoods besides himself, or that they should presume to rob him of Purus, Putus, Satanismus, being a Rhetoric he is admirably versed in. And upon whose peculiar Right and Title thereunto, as Mr. Lob hath not hitherto broken in, by any thing that he hath written of Him; so I dare say, that he will neither divest Him of that Privilege hereafter (wherein it would seem He claims a Monopoly) nor envy His single and quiet Possession of it. For as he has both Chalked out for Himself an Employment, and given a Proof of his Qualifiedness for the discharge of it, which no man hath been heretofore so impudently Villainous as to venture upon, namely, of being the Publisher as well as the Licenser of all the Lies, which any have the Vanity or Malice to bring unto him; so I doubt not but he would have had the Pride to think he should have Authenticated, and made them Current, by affixing unto them the Name and Seal of Vincent Alsop, Presbyterian Preacher in Westminster; were it not that I have possibly blasted his Credit. And he being both the late Inventor, and admirably skilled in the using this Engine of Slander and Defamation, whereby the most Established Reputation of the Wisest and Best Men, is Blown up, without their having Means left them of preventing, or of countermining it; it is a pity but that either by Patent, or by Statute he should, during his Natural Life, have the whole Benefit that accrueth by it; and that he may with all, have a Badge appointed Him; by the wearing whereof, and by some Engravement over his Door, importing his Office and Character, all people may know where the Divulger of Lies dwells; and who is allotted to be Chief Agent in the Traffic of Falsehood. To which, in manners, I ought to subjoin, That I wish him Joy in his Office, and that all the Success may Attend him which he deserves, namely, that none may hereafter Credit him out of the Pulpit, whatever they may do in it. For certainly that Person knew the Diversity of his lents, who said she never cared to see Him, or to hear Him, but in and from the forementioned Place.  
Nor could I have guessed upon what Motive he has Printed so False, Impudent, and Disgraceful a Story, but that he hath let me into the Reason, Mystery and Secret of it, by a Key of his own Fabricking, p. 103. of the Vindication of his Faithful Reb▪ where pretending to give an Account of the Opposition made to Mr. Williams' Arminian and Socinianizing Notions, he resolves it into this, namely, That if God hath given him an Useful and Profitable way of Preaching the Gospel, he may be maligned on that account. If he hath made too great a Figure in the World, and born too great a port, that might draw on him the Evil Eye, etc. Which by changing the Tables, and inverting the Prospect to the another's End, gives us a True Ground of Mr. Alsop's Wrath against Mr. Burgess, and of his defaming him after the Inhuman, as well as Unchristian manner that he hath done. For finding Himself Eclipsed in the Vain Glory which he Aims at by his Preaching, (instead of his designing and pursuing the Honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Benefit of the Souls of Men) through the great and deserved Esteem which Persons of the first Rank, Qnality, and Sense, as well as others of all Conditions, have of Mr. Burgess' Sound and Edifying Ministry, the Vain, Selfish, and Haughty Man is hereupon exasperated, and from thence cares not of what disservice it may be to our Blessed Lord, nor of what prejudice it may prove to the Souls of Men, provided He may but depress Mr. Burgess in the Veneration, Reverence and Love that are paid him, and by turning Him into a Jest, get others both to despise and abandon Attendance on his Preaching.  
But though this appears to be the Grand Inducement upon which he hath treated him after the foregoing manner, yet I doubt not of his finding Himself by this time wonderfully disappointed in the End which He had proposed, and that the Mine which He had laid for the Blowing up the Reputation of a Reverend Divine, hath reverted, and sprung against Himself, and shattered his own, and that instead of Diminishing Mr. Burgess' Credit, or lessening his Assembly in the least, he hath both strangely disgusted the Soberest of his own Auditors, and sunk his Esteem amongst them, both as an Honest Man, and a Minister of the Gospel, beyond the possibility, as well as the likelihood of his Recovering and Repairing it.  
There remains yet one Personal Reflection more of Mr. Alsop's, for which I ought both in Reason and Conscience to give him Chastisement. But it being so heinously Immoral, as well as Indecent, that it is in a manner beyond the Pen. I am afraid to call him to account, lest I should be Transported to use the Ferula with too much Rigour, and thereupon maim, or wound, when my only design is gently to Correct him. For as if it were not a thing shameful, and Criminal in Mr. Alsop, to have attacked and sullyed the Reputation of the Living, he hath Tygerously fallen upon the Dead, and Endeavoured to Blacken their Memory. And as if that Old Brutal Pagan were Revived in Him, whose Loathsome Character it is in History, to have said, That nothing smelled so sweet as the stench of a Dead Enemy; He seems to have his mind delighted, his Spirits Exhilerated, and all his Senses gratified by his viewing the Corpse, fixing his Eye upon, and holding his Nose over the Ashes of Two Reverend and Holy Divines, lately deceased; and instead of suffering them to rest in their Graves Embalmed in the sweet Odours, that excellent Learning, severe Piety, useful Preaching, and all the Flowers of Exemplary Virtue that grow in, and are to be gathered either out of the Fields of Morality, or from the Enclosed and Cultivated Garden of the Gospel, are adapted to give a sweet and pleasant scent of to such as view their Tombs, and Reflect upon and Examine their Lives; he hath without Licence or Authority, carried them into his Anatomy-Office, and hath there not only dissected them, and defaced their shapes by Tearing them Limb from Limb, and stripped them of all that was Amiable and Odoriferous about them, but hath wrapped them in Filth and Nastiness, and then hung them up in Effigy.  
Now it having been the Wisdom and Care of every Nation, that hath been any ways Civilised, to provide by Laws against all Injuries, which the Brutal part of Mankind might perpetrate towards the Dead; and it having passed into a Proverb universally received, That we should tread softly upon their Graves, yea, it being the Interest of the Living (through a Consulting what may be their own Case) to Revenge the Wrongs done to the Memories of the Deceased; I shall therefore take a little notice of this Inhumanity of Mr. Alsop towards Two lately departed Divines. And but a little, lest through Resentment of the Injury done to them, I should be hurried into Excesses against Mr. Alsop, which I would not willingly be Guilty of. I Rejoice (saith he) hearty, that we have at length heard some Tidings of Faith and Repentance, in order to our discharge from Punishment, which were wholly lost in the Report: so much do we owe to the Seasonable Deaths of Two Antinomians, under whose Influence he then was, and to the Lives of two Sound Divines, under whose Awe he now is, p. 143. of the Vindication of the Faithful Reb.  
In reference to which Passages I shall, with all the Brevity I can, observe Three Things.  
First, That the Expression of, The Seasonable Deaths of Mr. Cole and Mr. Mather, is Brutal and Barbarous, as well as Immoral and Unchristian. And that it argueth a strange Malignancy of Temper, and a Secret Enmity against the Glory of God, and the good of Souls, to be thus in his Exaltations of Mirth, for the Death of Two Faithful Labourers in the Work of the Lord, and in the saving of Souls; while all of true Piety or Good Judgement, who knew them, were afflictedly bewailing their Loss, as a Wonderful Damage to the Church of God; and which nothing could have brought them to a submissive and quiet Acquiescence in, but the Consideration of the Will of the Great Sovereign, who giveth no account of his matters, besides his pleasure, and a steady Faith, that there is with him the Residue of the Spirit, whereby to qualify others to replenish and fill their Posts. And whosoever he be that doth thus Exalt and Triumph over the Deaths of Two Eminently Virtuous, Pious, and Useful Persons, and that Envieth both us and them the Elegies which are made upon them, I will presume to say of him, That as he can never hope to die the Death of the Righteous, nor to deserve the Burial of a Man; so all he can expect, is to departed under the Infamy (if he Escape the Horror) of the Wicked, and to have his Resemblance perpetuated by such an Epitaph as would be written upon a Tiger or a Bear.  
The Second Thing which I would observe in reference to the foregoing Citation, is his styling them Known Antinomians, which is a Falsehood that Thousands can control, and prove the Contradictory of. For though upon more Experience of the Law of the Spirit of Life, and greater inward Sensations of the Power of the Divine Life, than God is pleased to Privilege and Honour People of Mr. Alsop's Wanton Wit, and Hanghty Petulant Humour with, they might think some Terms which others stake themselves down unto, to be too scanty, narrow and flat by which to express their own Feelings, and the Conceptions which they had thereupon; yet they were as far from being Antinomians, as they were from being either Socinians or Arminians.  
Nor is it unworthy of Remark, That men of the best Hearts, and the Closest Communion with God, have not usually the most distinct and perspicuous methods of clothing and delivering their Notions. And the Reason is obvious, in that while others form both their Divinity Schemes, and Hunt for Language wherein to Array them, from the Theologick Chairs, and the Rhetorical Desks; borrowing their Tenets from the Systematick Doctors, and their Phrases from the Masters of Oratory, the former do in Consistency with, and in Subordination to Scriptural Revelation, Form divers of their Theological Notions from, and by their Internal Feelings. And though they may thereupon sometimes differ from such as have only read and meditated, but have never felt; yet when they come to be asked and advised with concerning what they mean, their Opinions are found in Effect to be the same with theirs who accuse and Reproach them, only they have an Air and Mien of Spirituality, which their Adversaries do deride, through want of Enlightened, Elevated, and Qualified Faculties, whereby to discern these Beauties. Nor will I deny them to have been less fond of the Union, than several of their Brethren were, yet it was not from any Picque against Presbyterians in general, and much less from an universal dislike of their Principles, as if they were such as made them unmeet upon any Terms to be Cemented and Sodered with; but it was out of a Jealousy that there were some among them of the Spirit of Diotrephes, and of the Temper of Demas, who would through the Union endeavour to usurp a Jurisdiction over all the Brethren, and who would serve their own Ends, and those of a Faction, upon, and by means of the Common Agreement. And I do wish that their previous Apprehensions and Fears had not been both justified and confirmed by too many Overtacts and sensible Proofs since.  
The Third Thing that I would Animadvert upon, is Mr. Lobb's having been under the Awe of those Two Reverend Persons; whereas I can boldly affirm, That the contrary is fully known to all that are acquainted with him, or who have had Experience of his Uprightness and Integrity. For though he be none of your huffing bouncing people, yet he is of that Manly and Christian Fortitude, as not to suffer his Understanding and Faith to be prescribed unto by any, save by the Supreme Veracious Being. But it is one of Mr. Alsop's Creeping and Sneaking Artifices, to draw other men's Pictures by his own Original, and from his being a little pitiful Tool himself, to conclude that others are also so. And that because he is under the Government of no Principles, unless of Pride, Passion and Vanity, etc. to believe the same of those who have an Uprightness to let nothing sway them, besides the Dictamina of Conscience, founded upon and guided by Revelation and Reason.  
And thus I have at last finished my Examen of Mr. Alsop's way of writing; and though in some places it be done with some measure of Smartness, through a concernedness for the Truths of God, the Reputation of good men, and for preserving the Churches from being infected with Errors, and the being depraved by Vicious and Corrupt Examples; yet it hath been done with the manners of a Gentleman, if not with the Learning of a Scholar: most of the Salt and Pepper, as well as of Vinegar, which it would have born, being reserved till the next Rancounter with Mr. Alsop, if he do think it for his Advantage to throw himself in my way again, armed with Porcupine Quills, Hoggish Bristles, or with Don Quixot's Sword, Lance and Helmet. For I am resolved to put an End to Mr. Alsop's way of writing, and to banish it, as to Ministers, out of the Precincts of the Nation, as well as out of the Purlieus of Churches, or else to finish my Days in the Undertaking and Achievement. And which considering my Years, as well as my Health and Vigour, may not, according to the Course of Nature, fall out before his, whose Dotage, and his being already twice a Child, proclaims him superannuated. Only one Admonition I do here think fit to give, That all concerned may be upon their Guard, namely, That the Gentlemen who writ for the Theatre and Stage, finding themselves attacked upon the Score of their Profaneness, and their turning Religion into Ridicule, are thinking of making Reprizals upon those of the Clergy; which if they should be so ill-natured and revengeful as to do, Mr. Alsop, the Presbyterian Preacher, will be found to have outdone the most Libertine and Licentious among the Poets, in all that is Unmannerly, Rude, Clownish, detractive and Impious. And his having Interloped upon them in their Trade, Faculty and Talon, may so Justly provoke them, that I shall no ways wonder, if they seize upon his Cargo, and expose it to Sale at their Auction-Houses, in Lincolns-Inn-Fields and Covent-Garden, to whosoever will bid most for it.  
For if we may take a measure of the Lightness, Buffonery, Petulancy, and Profaneness of those of the Ecclesiastical Order, by the Presbyterian Preacher at Westminster; the Pulpit is equally, if not more scandalous than the Stage, and they who are Called Preachers of the Gospel, and are dubbed for Theological Authors, do as much need to be reform, as they who do write Comedies and Tragedies for the Theatre. Only the Crime is much more heinous in the Former than in the Latter, both because of their different Characters, and of the Respective Ends which they are severally supposed to design.  
And truly tho' my Talon doth not lie that way, yet if my Morals would have Allowed me, I thought to have made an Essay in reducing Mr. Alsops' Writings into a Farce (that being the whole of what is Rellishingly divertive, which they are capable of being formed into) and to have made him and Mr. William's the Principal Actors, and to have Introduced some of the young unthinking Preachers about the Town, to have Clapped at whatsoever their Wit and Manners would have found an agreableness in, or at least to have danced to an Horn Pipe and a Jews Trump in the Interludes. But I do suspend the prescribing and administering of that Hellebore, till I see how Gentler Physic will work with them: Which tho' a little Bitter, is not only made palatable but dulcified, by means of the vehicle into which it is infused and mixed. So that all which I have to add is to you, Reverend Pastors and Brethren of the Congregational persuasion, In order to beg your Forgiveness, for Intitling you to a Trifle, so much below you merit and worth: It having been my Ambition, to have testified the deference, which I pay you, by something that might have been more valuable, if the Subject, so far as my Concernment lies in it, would have admitted it.  
However, give me leave to say, and withal do me the Justice to receive it as no Compliment, that I am with the profoundest respect and greatest sincerity,  
Reverend Pastors and Brethren, etc. May 23d. 1698. Your most Faithful and Obedient, though Unknown, Servant.  
FINIS.