194 AGAINST UNCHARITABLENESS. VIII. An eighth here, the applause ofaparty, and the advance of self -interest ? Have we never observed what a mightypreva- lence this has over the hearts and tongues of men, and inflames them with malice against their neighbours ? They assault every different opinion with rage and clamour : They rail at the per- sons of all other parties to ingratiate themselves with their own ; and when they find their account in it, their tongues are sharpen- ed as drawn swords, they fight for honour like young volunteers, or like the switzers for pay. When they tear away men from their habitations, cast them into the noisome prisons, andput to death the ministers ofthe gospel, they boast, like Jehu when he slew the priests of Baal, come and see my zealfor the Lord; 2 Kings x. 16. And as he designedliereby to establish the kingdom in his own hands, so they to maintain the preferments and pos- sessions, as well as, the reputation they had acquired among their own sect. But All ! How littledo they think of the wounds that Jesus the Lord receives by every bitter reproach they cast on his followers ! Nor will it be found a sufficient reason for the perse- cution of them one day, that they did not conform to human in- ventions. The Jansenists in France have made some reformation in the doctrines of popery, and they have been sometimes traduc- ed for approaching the tents of Calvin : Theyhave been in dan- ger of being degraded and losing their spiritual dignities, and they are pushed on by this fear and ambition, to write at every turn some severe invectives against the calvinists, to shew that themselves are true sons of that uncharitable church of Rome. Sicco has lately departed from a baptist society, and he hardly thinks himselfsufficiently come out of the water till he is kindled intoa flame against all those that baptize by immersion ; he rails at his former brethren, to make the presbyterian and in- dependent churches believe that he is a true convert : How art thou mistaken poor Sicco, to attempt this methodof caressingthy new acquaintance ? For they had rather receive a baptist into their fellowship, whose faith and holiness are conspicuous in his life, than open their doors to an uncharitable wretch that proves his conversion only by the change of an opinion, and placinghis religion in railing. Acerbionhas left the communion ofhis father, and is become an ecclesiastic of high note in a more powerful and splendid church : He seldom puts a volume into the press without sour- ness and bards words in it, against the society which he has for- saken, his pen is dipped in gall daily, and he grows old in malice and censure : It is pity he should so far expose the church to which henow belongs, as to think that she will esteem him a more dutiful son, by bow much the less charity he has for his dissenting brethren. AndI am sorry also that there should be a church in Great Britain which has devoted christians to the
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