AN ANSWER TO THE White Minister's DECLARATION.  
THE Wiseman hath told us long since; That Judgements are prepared for Scorners, and Stripes for the Back of Fools. elsewhere: That a Whip is for a Horse, a Bridle for an Ass, and a Rod for the Fool's Back. I confess it were fit to treat this Man according to that Direction of Solomon and make him sensible of his public folly at a Whipping-Post, where it not that the same Solomon advises; To answer a Fool according to his Folly, lest he be wise in his own Conceit. I need not Comment upon the Words, his White Scarf and Girdle hath exposed him more than any Man can; and his profession followed by a Rabble and Boys about the Streets, proclaims him what he is. He deserves to be distinguished from the right and approved Ministers of God's Word. Authority is wont to Brand Scandalous Livers by some open and known Mark; but what Justice should have done: he hath performed of his own accord and asumed a white Scarf and Girdle upon a black Coat. But this Coxcomb is mistaken in the Colour; for White signifies not always Sincerity, Joy and innocenc●; but signifies sometimes the worst of all Hypocrisy and Deceit, namely, That of the Devil, who takes upon him the Garb of an Angel of Light. And we know some Nations always paints the Devil White. It appears by his Scandalous Libel and Behaviour that this black Spirit hath a great Influence upon him, for it matters not whether the Garb be white or black, whilst the swarthy Spirit of Malice and Harred, of Revenge and Animosity against Christ's Servants and the Stewards of the Mysteries of God, amongst us appears so visibly in this Reseal. Had he any Respect for God or Religion, he had not so impudently cast dirt upon the whole Sacred Function. bespattered the Learning and Integrity of our Church and Clergy. But it is supposed by some, that this Tool is employed by a Dissenting Party, to see how his Humour and Proceed will relish amongst the Mobb; and by this means to discredit God's Word. To accuse them of being Hirelings, when they subsist and are enabled to discharge their Offices by that Maintenance that the Law allows them, is Nonsense. It hath been always the Endeavour of the subtle Spirit of Hell to impoverish and rob the Church, and to subtract what belongs to it by Law an● Reason. Poverty in God's Ministers is a Scandal to Religion. Authority and a wise Government is concerned for i●● own Honour, as well as for God's Glory, to appoint a Competency for his Service; That such as attend upon the Altar may not beg their Bread and be pinched with Penny and Want. A necessitous Clergy is Scandalous and to demand our Just Allowances▪ is but Equity, and no sign of a Hireling. The Fool is mistasten in all his Notions. But the black Spirit of Envy appears in his Declaration, because he hath not the Preferment of other Men, and hath not been advanced hither then a Curate. It is supposed that he is excluded from Teaching and Preaching publicly for an ill Life. Such are not to be suffered, who are irregular and base, and have no Regard to themselves nor the Credit of their Profession. To put up such in our Pulpits. is a dishovour to God and Region. Had he been a Sober and Judicious Person; there had been Respect shown to him; but the inconsistency of his Libel the Malice and Hatred that he discover, the Nonsense that he declares, shows him to be a Mad Man, rather than a Divine, or such a one as is mentioned by Hosea 9.7. The Prophet is a Fool, the spiritual Man is mad, for the multitude of thine Iniqutity and the geat Hatred. Providence knows how to punish and resent the Wickedness of Men by an Exclusion from their Offices. Whether this Fellow was ever called to it, I cannot understand, but his Scandalous Paper discovers him to have an empty Brain, as well as a malicious Heart, and to be more fit for a Bedlam or a Bridewell, than for a Pulpit; for a Pulp it; for who but a madman would have rid about the Streets as he has done, and proclaim every where his Folly. He fancies himself to be a Poet▪ a very simple one indeed; Such a o●e as the Fables tell of Marsyas, who challenged Apollo, and the Muses in Poetry and Music. I would not have such a Fool pretend to an Art he understands not. All his Latin Verses are Nonsense and false Latin. They are Ridiculous, and bespeak this Fellow to be a great Ignoramus. There are other means of getting an honest. Livelihood, than t●y pretending above our Ability. I would have this Jos. Perkins, as he calls himself, to undertake some other Employment than that of a Minister, of which he is altogether unworthy and uncapable. Ministers must not be Envious Slanderers. He neither understands the Duty, not practices the Rules of Christianity, but by his Scurrilous base and abusive Libel, deserves to be Stigmatised and ma●k'd for one of the Basest of Men I will apply to him the following Verses.  
THe Devil with White his Black Nature vails  
His Cloven Feet his ugly Face and Nails.  
He now's become an Apostate wicked Fiend,  
Blasphemer of the Good, to none a Friend  
But such as with his base Designs partake,  
And strive with him the Church's Peace to shake.  
Saints, Angels, and God himself doth slander,  
With black Paint their brightness doth bespatter.  
O thou Fool! Thou worst of Fools, I will name,  
Who strive to keep us form the Stygian Lake.  
Depart, Depart, thou Hypocrite in Grain;  
Cease the Sacred Order in Maliceed, stain,  
And on thy Head let the same curse alight,  
Which nows the Lot of Satan, and one ' an Angel bright.  
FINIS.   

LONDON, Printed in the Year 1699.