HAD I the spirit of an adversary, or were inclined to find entertainment for the satirical reader, it would not be easy for me to overlook the opportunity which Dr. [♦]Trapp’s Reply has put into my hands; but as I don’t want to lessen any appearance of ability which the Doctor has shewn on this occasion; so whatever personally concerns him, either as a writer, a scholar, a disputant, a divine, or a Christian, shall have no reflection from me; and tho’ by this means, some sort of readers may be less pleased, yet, the more Christian reader will be glad to find, that thus I must leave two thirds of his reply untouched; and as I neither have, nor (by the grace of God) ever will have any personal contention with any man whatever, so all the triumph which the Doctor has gained over me by that flow of wrath and contempt which he has let loose upon me, I shall leave him quietly to enjoy.
[♦] “Trap” replaced with “Trapp”
It would be no pleasure to me, nor benefit to the world, to discover that malignity of spirit, that undistinguishing head, that diabolical calumny, that shameful ignorance, that indecent sufficiency, that unbecoming presumption, that nauseous dulness, that ignorance of logic, that insensibility of argument, that want of grammar, which he has so heartily laid to my charge; and if he has any readers that thank him for this, I shall make no attempt to lessen their number.
As I desire nothing for myself, or the reader, but good eyes, and a good heart, seriously attentive to things useful, and always open to the light and influence of the Holy Spirit of God, so I shall endeavour to say nothing but what is suitable to such a state of mind, both in myself and the reader.
* The thing of importance which I shall speak to, shall be with regard to what I have said to the clergy. The miserable state of religion, and the great corruption of manners, so incontestably apparent in this island, gave me a just occasion to desire all the clergy, from the highest to the lowest in the order, to consider their conduct, and see how free they were from the common corruption, and how justly every one could clear himself from having any share in this general depravity of manners. I was not insensible that this was a dangerous attempt, that would expose me to the resentment of not a few of my brethren: but as I wrote for no other end but to do as much good as I could to those who were capable of it, so I had no care but how to speak disagreeable truths, in as inoffensive a manner as I could; how I have succeeded in this, is left to the world to judge. And as it is but too apparent, that the root of all the evil, which but too much spreads itself through the whole body of the clergy, is owing to a worldly, trading spirit, too visible from the top to the bottom of the order, so I pointed at it in the softest manner that I could, in the following words, grounded on a plain apostolical doctrine and practice.
St. Paul, I had observed, had said, it was lawful for those that preach the gospel to live by the gospel, and yet makes it matter of the greatest comfort to himself that he had wholly abstained from this lawful thing; and declares it were better for him to die than that this rejoicing should be taken from him. He appeals to his daily and nightly working with his own hands, that so he might preach the gospel freely, and not be chargeable to those that heard him. And this he said he did, not for want of authority to do otherwise, but that he might make himself an example unto them to follow him. Here, I say, “What awakening instructions are here given to us of the clergy, in a practical matter of the greatest moment? How ought every one to be frighted at the thoughts of desiring or seeking a second living, or of rejoicing at great pay where there is but little duty, when the apostle’s rejoicing consisted in this, that he had passed thro’ all the fatigues and perils of preaching the gospel without any pay at all? How cautious, nay, how fearful ought we to be, of going so far as the secular laws permit, when the apostle thought it more desirable to lose his life, than to go so far as the very law of the gospel would have suffered him?
“It is looked upon as lawful to get several preferments, and to make a gain of the gospel, by hiring others to do duty for us at a lower rate. It is looked upon as lawful to quit a cure of souls of a small income, for no other reason, but because we can get another of a greater. It is looked upon as lawful for a clergyman to take the revenues of the church, which he serves, to his own use, tho’ he has more than a competency of his own, and much more than the apostle could get by his labour. It is looked upon as lawful for the clergy to live in state and equipage, to buy purple and fine linen out of the revenues of the church. It is looked upon as lawful for clergymen to enrich their families, to bring up their children in the fashionable vanities, and corrupting methods of a worldly and expensive life, by money got by preaching the gospel of Christ. But supposing all this lawful, what comfort might we treasure up to ourselves, what honour might we bring to religion, what force might we give to the gospel, what benefit should we do to our neighbour, if we wholly abstained from all these lawful things? Not by working day and night with our own hands, as the great apostle did, but by limiting our wants and desires to the plain demands of nature, and a religious self-denial.”
Now, there are but two possible ways of justly replying to this; first, either by shewing that these observations are falsely drawn from the apostle’s doctrine and practice, that I have mistaken the spirit of St. Paul, and the genius of the gospel, that I am doing what the apostle would not do, was he here in person, and representing such things as corruptions, which the apostle would be glad to see flourishing in the church of Christ: Or, secondly, that though these things are condemnable from the apostle’s doctrine and practice, yet they are not chargeable upon the temper and practice of the clergy of this land. But, though not a word to the purpose could possibly be said, unless by one of these two ways, yet the Doctor shuts his eyes to both of them, and then pronounces sentence upon me, “That a Quaker or Infidel could not well have reflected with more virulency upon the clergy of our church, than I have done in these expressions.”
Must I then suppose, that the Doctor in his sermons never mentions any failings that concern his auditors? If he does, I desire to know, how he clears himself from virulently reflecting upon them? The Quakers and Infidels are ready enough, and able enough to shew, that most congregations of Christians are sadly fallen from the religion of the gospel. But does the Doctor forbear this charge, is he ashamed to call his flock to a more Christian life, or afraid to remind them of their departure from the gospel, lest he should seem to join with Quakers and Infidels? Or, how can the Doctor be thought to have any true love, or just esteem for those Christians, whom he is so often reminding of the corruption of their manners, so contrary to the religion of Jesus Christ? Now, if the Doctor knows how to untie this knot, and to extricate himself from the charge of virulent reflecting upon his parishoners, as Quakers and Infidels do, then he has dissolved his charge against me into a mere nothing.
* If it was a thing required of me, I know no more how to raise in myself the least spark of ill-will towards the clergy, as such, than I know how to work myself up into a hatred of the light of the sun. It is as natural to me, to wish them all their perfection, as to wish peace and happiness to myself here and hereafter; and when I point at any failings in their conduct, it is only with such a spirit as I would pluck a brother out of the fire.