His 5th and 6th queries, page the 10th, are like unto them. They run thus, “Whether those exalted strains in religion, and an imagination of being already in a _state of perfection_, are not apt to lead men to spiritual pride, and to a contempt of their fellow-christians; while they consider them as only going on in what they account the low and imperfect way,” (_i. e._ as growing in grace and goodness only by degrees)? And again, “whether the same exalted strains and notions do not tend to weaken the natural and civil relations among men, by leading the inferiors, into whose heads those notions are infused, to a disesteem of their superiors; while they consider them as in a much _lower dispensation_ than themselves; though those superiors are otherwise sober and good men, and regular attendants on the ordinances of religion?”
Here again it is supposed, that these itinerant preachers either imagine themselves to be in a state of perfection, or at least teach others to imagine that they are; and that the consequence of this is a weakning the natural and civil relations among men, by leading them to a disesteem of their fellow-christians, and superiors, who are supposed to be in a lower dispensation than themselves.
Heavy charges, my Lords, these are indeed! But what evidence does our author produce to prove them? Why really none at all. For here is no quotation at the bottom of either of these queries from any of their writings; so that we cannot tell whether they are levelled against these itinerant preachers in general, or any one of them in particular. And therefore the Prebendary of _St. Paul_’s, who has been pleased to reply to my first letter, in vindication of this author, has done wrong in affirming, “That under each query there is some quotation either from my journals or other writings, whereon it is founded.” But there is no such thing under these four, wherein such heavy charges are included. And therefore may I not argue, as the author does upon another occasion in his first part, page 8th, that ’till some proof does appear, the presumption must be that he has none?
In the mean while, I dare challenge this author, and the whole world, to produce any passage out of my writings, wherein I have taught any other christianity, than what, through the aids of the Blessed Spirit, is practicable by all persons in all conditions; or that I ever preached otherwise than “That the performance even of the lowest offices of life as unto GOD, whose providence has placed people in their several stations, is truly a serving of CHRIST, and will not fail of its reward (though not of debt, yet of grace) in the next world.” Neither did I ever imagine that I had attained, or was already perfect, or taught persons to imagine that they were so: no, I expect to carry a body of sin and death about with me as long as I live, and confess from my inmost soul, that I am the chief of sinners, and less than the least of all saints: I am so far from thinking that an imagination that we are already in a state of perfection, is only apt to lead men into spiritual pride, that I condemn it as the very quintessence and highest degree of it. And the more we are conformed to the divine image, the more exact I believe we shall be in keeping up our natural and civil relations among men, in giving all honour to whom honour is due, and in lowliness of mind esteeming each other better than ourselves. And if so, my Lords, may not the author, for thus charging these itinerants in general without distinction, be justly stiled a _libeller_? And how will he undertake to prove, that any one of these itinerant preachers in particular, carries christianity to any greater heighth than he himself does, query 13th, page 16, where in speaking of the Holy Spirit, he has these words, “Whose peculiar office it is, to season the heart with humility, and to root out of it the seeds (what is that but the very inbeing?) of pride and vain-glory.”
Is he not very irregular in writing thus at random; nay, does he not hereby himself openly violate the laws both of church and state?