A new Revolution, or the Highflyer turned Whig, in a Letter from a Parishoner to his Churchman.  
SIR,  
THE Relation you stand in to me as my Parish Minister, has necessarily drawn upon you the present Trouble, for to whom should I apply for Solution of my Religious Scruples, but to him who has the more immediate Care of my Soul? My Manner of Life you very well know has been according to that Sect of our Church called Tories or Highflyers, who have distinguished themselves from their Brethren the Whigs or Low-Churchmen, by Pretences to unlimited Loyalty, and an extravagant Zeal for the Safety of the Church, and this I must say of myself, that bating my having frequented her Assemblies oftener, drank less, and swore seldomer for her; no Man has outstriped me in Zeal on all Occasions. I have heard the Sin of Scism described in such odious Colours from your Pulpit, and the Schismatic so often delivered over to Satan, that it has created in me an utter Abhorrence of one, and an Opinion that a Man could not consistently with his being a good Churchman, allow the common Privileges of Humane Nature to the other. You have taught me, that one might, with less Hazard to his Salvation, be guilty of Murder, Adultery, Drunkenness or Blasphemy, than of Schism; and consequently I should rather have chosen to be found in a House of unlawful Pleasure, than seen in an Assembly of our Schismatical Dissenters, whose Paces of Worship I have with Pleasure seen demolished and brunt, and (GOD forgive me for it) so far hath my Zeal for the Church transported me, as to wish their Preachers had perished in the Flames: Thus have I all my Life long hug'd myself in the Opinion of my own Orthodoxy, and a Contempt of those you have taught me to call Schismatics till a little Discovery has dismounted my Confidence; and I am full of doubt whether after all this while that I have accounted myself Something, I am still Nothing, but have miserably deceived myself: In short, Sir, I am stung with that cutting Reproach, " Thou art inexcusable O Man, whoever thou art, that judges; for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest dost the same Thing: Nor can I stand that wounding Interrogatory, and thinkest thou this O Man that judgest them who do such Things and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the Judgement of GOD? You will naturally conclude, it's the late Schism charged upon us hast given me this Uneasiness, a Charge, which if it cannot be removed lays us under the most dreadful Circumstances; 'tis a Mine our very Foundation, and if it spring with Success, must ineviteably bury us all in its Ruins; wonder not then at my Concern in this Matter, wherein I take my Eternal Salvation to be in Dispute, I shall never forget such Passages in your former Discourses as these, ' Schism is a Sin directly opposite to that Spirit of Love and Union, the peculiar Mark of CHRIST's Disciples, without which Spirit its impossible for any Man to be saved.  
' Men may much better disturb the Peace of the State, than that of the Church. Now if Eternal Damnation be the Reward of the one, what Degree of Damnation is due to the Schismatic, who disturbs the other? i. e. If I understand your Meaning, a Degree of Damnation beyond Eternal: Oh dreadful!— Again, no Returns of Prayers can be expected by such as join with Schismatics, nor no Benefit of Sacraments— ' Once more, our Communicating with schismatics, makes us Schismatics, and by Communicating with Excomunicates (which alas, is the Case) we not only lose all our Labour, but we get a Curse instead of a Blessing, and turn our very Prayers and Sacraments into Sin. Alas! Alas! What have I been doing all my Life-time! The very Thoughts fill me with Horror; ever and anon am I frighted out of my Sleep, with these dreadful Words, Shism! Schism! Resistance! Damnation! Like Peals of Thunder ring in my Ears. Sir, if you have any Bowels of Compassion for a poor distressed Creature, lend me your Assistance to refute the Charge, which I can no more of myself, than I can remove a Mountain. I have used all the Arguments I am Master of to no Purpose. Sometimes I please myself that a Majority must needs be Orthodox; but when I consider that we had never reformed from Popery, and consequently never been a Church, if it were not a possible Case for 99 Parts in 100 to be in the Wrong, and for Truth to rest with the small Remainder, this Argument will not serve me; sometimes I shelter myself under the Protection of an Act of Parliament, but I am presently terretted hence with those memorable Passages of yours, ' Schism is an Offence against the Laws of GGD, and does not depend upon the changeable Will of our Superiors— Schism is a Breach of Church Peace and Love, and will always be the Breach of Church Peace and Love, let our Governors say or tolerate what they please.  
My last Refuge was to the Validity of the Ordination of these Bishops who join in the Revolution; but I find this Defence is not Canon Proof, for you tell me, Bishops, tho' duly constituted, yet associating with others who are Intruders, become Schismatics. Nor is this all, for it seems they are Excomunicates to, and Excommunication (say you) certainly includes in it a Deposition from Episcopal Authority, for it metamorphoses us into Heathens, if these Assertions of yours, Sir, are true, Lord have Mercy upon us? What a Condition are we all in, who have sat under the Ministry of a Sett of Men who have no more Power to exercise any of the Sacerdotal Functions, than my Groom has! I have thought myself a married Man these 15 Years, and am the Father of half a Dozon Children; but after all, it seems I have only kept a Mistress so long, and must look on my faucied Wife as the wretched Partner in unlawful Embraces, and those Childred I used to behold with Pleasure, as the dear Pledges of a vittuous Love, I can only regard as the unhappy Issue of a polluted Bed; nor have I the Consolation to think, that Baptism has mended their Condition, and made them Members of CHRIST, Children of GOD, and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven; for alas, they received it from Schismatical Hands, whose Ministrations are mere Nullities, and so the poor Creatures are in a State of Heathenism still. I have been a constant Observer of the Feasts and Fasts of the Church, and duly attended her Sacraments; but Woe is me! All this will not so much as afford me the poor Negative Comfort, that I have only been doing Nothing to the Purpose, for it seems I have hereby increased the Score of my Sins. I conjure you, Sir, to use your best Endeavours to quiet my Mind, under the Apprehensions of this dreadful Gild; and if you can, without giving up the Independency of the Church, the Necessity of an uninterrupted Episcopal Succession, and the Doctrine of Non Resistance, repal this Charge of Schism, than you will be a happy Instrument of removing those Scruples which perplex many a good Churchman, and amongst the rest,  
SIR, Your Humble Servant, ZELOTES.