COPY OF A LETTER
James Dodson
Wrote by the late Reverend, Learned, and Eminent
Mr. Robert Macward,
Sometime Minister of the Gospel at Glasgow, in the Year 1679.
CONCERNING
UNWARRANTABLE SEPARATION.
Printed in the Year MDCCXXXVIII.
To the READER
THE Author of this Letter, famous Mr. Robert Macward, sometime Minister of the Gospel in Glasgow, was one of the Lord’s faithful Witnesses, and suffered Banishment in the late persecuting Times, under King Charles II. He, with others of our Scottish Sufferers, found Shelter in Holland, where he spent the rest of his Life, and was usefully employed in his great Master’s Work, and zealously wrestled against the Abominations that abounded in that iniquitous Time. His Papers, of which severals have been Published, are sufficient Proofs of his singular Abilities and great Worth; but Mr. Macward’s Fame and Eminency, for serious Godliness and holy Zeal being so well known, no more need be said about him here.
Though this Letter wants a Date, yet some, still alive, saw the said Letter in this Country, in the Beginning of the Year 1680. which he wrote in the End of the Year 1679, on Occasion of a Division that happened among the Scots Refugees in Holland: Mr. [Robert] Fleming having invited one the indulged Ministers of Scotland to preach at Rotterdam, who was occasionally there, some were so offended, that they withdrew not only from Mr. Fleming, but also from Mr. Macward and others (who zealously witnessed against the indulged Ministers) because they had not Freedom to follow their Example in withdrawing from Mr. Fleming; but resolved to hear him, and converse with him, that they might know what to say to or against him. And one of those, who not only promoted that Principle of unwarrantable Separation in Holland, but also in Scotland, upon his Return, a little before his Suffering, came under a very dark Cloud, and sharp Challenges therefore; and acknowledged in Prison, his great Sin and Offence therein, to some of the Ministers he had so withdrawn from. This shews the Mistake of these who allege Mr. Macward wrote this Letter against the Imposter Gib and his Followers, whose Extravagancies had not taken Place, at least, were not come to Light till the Year 1681.
The Design of Reprinting this Letter, at present, is to shew the great Danger of rash and unwarrantable Separation from Ministers remaining in the Church, who have, through Grace, been kept as free from public Defections, and are as deeply concerned and grieved for the Dishonours done to the LORD by them; and, with the Heart, in the Way they think Duty, according to the present Light the LORD gives, are aiming at, and longing for Reformation, as those that are in another Situation. It is Matter of Lamentation, that so many who profess Religion (and even some who are truly religious) do, at this Day, make so light a Matter of Separation, and rush upon it more in a Way of imitating the Example of others, than upon due Enquiry, whether it is right or wrong. ‘Tis therefore earnestly desired, That the following Letter may be seriously read, and compared with Scripture, and the Practice or Footsteps of the Flock in like Cases, in former Ages, deliberately considered, and take that Way that shall appear to be the LORD’s.
COPY
OF A
LETTER
Wrote by the late reverend, learned and eminent Mr. Robert Mackward, &c.
I do by these Lines salute you all most affectionately; Grace, great Grace, Mercy and Peace be upon you; Let Grace be poured down upon you, and let the Windows of Heaven be wide opened in these Pourings down, that you may not have Room to receive. My endeared Friends, the Bearer can shew you, How that, partly through Indisposition, partly through a Multitude of other Business lying upon my Hand, I have scarce Time to say any Thing to you; and therefore you must pardon me, I cannot answer your Expectation, in saying all you would have me to say, or my Inclination, in saying all that is upon my poor Heart, swelled with Sorrow for what I see in that poor Church; and for what I foresee: But, having this Occasion, I was (out of Affection to your Souls’ eternal Welfare, and that ye might live and die Ornaments to your Profession, walking worthy of that holy Calling wherewith ye are called) constrained to drop these few short Lines; which I desire to do, as if they were my last Words, yea, and as knowing they shall meet me before the Tribunal, and a as content it should be so.
First, Then, I desire to bless his in the Behalf of you all, That ever he made you fall in Love with pure Ordinances, and follow after them; and that there appears among you a Willingness, yea a Readiness to suffer for his Sake, O, when it comes to that, let you find everlasting Arms under you, supporting you, strengthening you with all Might, according to his glorious Power, with all Patience and Longsuffering, with Joyfulness. But,
Secondly, My dear Friends, while you have this in your Eye, and upon your Soul, to follow the Lord fully, and to fill up the Measure of your Testimony, in your Station, Let me beseech you to carry, as not ignorant of the Devices of that wily Wrestler, who, since he cannot carry you aside to the Left-hand Snares, will see by all Means if he can fling you, and throw you to Excesses on the Right-hand; which, however they may be painted over at first, to make them pleasant, yet will in the Issue prove most dangerous unto, yea, destructive of the whole of the old Cause of the Church of Scotland. You have a lamentable Instance of this before your Eyes, I mean the Indulged Men, with whose Way you are so justly grieved; for all of us will grant that many of them are Godly Men: But alas! their Godliness, as it hath been pleaded, hath been of more Prejudice to the Work and Interest of Christ, than the Ungodliness of all the Prelates and Curates: And therefore, you are, with all Fear and Watchfulness, to take Heed, that while you seek to stand at the greatest Distance from one Extreme, you run not to another, whereby the Cause of the whole Frame of Presbyterianism may be more certainly destroyed, than by the Other. I dare not forbear to warn you of this, that ye may be upon your Guard; that so the Enemy may get no Advantage of you, And that ye may be upon your Guard, consider, 1. That it is the Thing Satan mainly drives at, in the Midst of all these Confusions, that the poor Remnant may run down one another with Division, and rush into Courses destructive of that Frame of Government, I mean Presbyterian, which hath been his great Eye-sore. 2. Consider, That a Separation, when not upon clear and just Grounds, is a greater Sin before God, and more wounding to the Heart of Christ, than either Murder, or Adultery, &c. because this is to dissolve the Union of his Church, and to divide Christian Societies; and whosoever shall be found to plead for this, I dare affirm, he blows that Fire with his Breath, which Christ would quench with his Blood. My dear Friends, weigh seriously, as before the Lord, how Jesus Christ will take it at any Man or Woman’s Hand, to tear the Commission of any of his Ambassadors, whom he will still own, as an Ambassador, and as negotiating a Peace between God and Sinners. Sure, I need neither tell you, that withdrawing from hearing such, is a Tearing their Commission; nor need I tell you, that this will be found a Sin, more hateful and heinous in the Sight of Christ, than many others that appear more black. 3. Consider what Advantage the Adversary taketh you at (that so you may be the more wary and watchful) to throw you headlong, with your own Consent, into these Snares; while ye remember our unworthy Baseness, who are Ministers, lying-aside from testifying against the Wickedness of this violent Overturner of the Work of God, and our Master’s Crown, And while ye observe our Faintings, our Flenchings [i.e., promising an improvement that never quite materializes], and our unworthy Declinings, this Day, to play the Men for our God, and to fill up the just Measure of a faithful Testimony: I say, ye are to be wary, while you eye these, and are thereby sorely tempted, That ye be not thereby driven, 1. Into a Contempt of the Ministry itself insensibly. 2. Into that Delusion, to think, that it is the only Way to testify against what ye judge amiss in the Minister, to cast at his Ministry, and to withdraw from him: Whosoever adopts this Principle, and practices it accordingly, hath not the Mind of Christ ; for there are other patent and obvious Ways to witness against all the Evils of our Way besides these: Nay, this Way of witnessing is such as Christ will witness against it, as not the Way. But, my dear Friends, I cannot say what is upon my Heart at present, to you; I intend to write more fully to my dear and worthy Brother, from whom ye may have my Mind, I suppose ye will bear with my Freedom the better, That, 1. I dare say, without the Reproachings of my own Heart, I have it upon my Heart to die and live with you. 2. Because ye well Know, how I stand stated in Opposition to many a Minister in the Church of Scotland; I hope to die in Opposition to their Way, if they hold on. 3. Consider how they take Advantage of now glorified Mr. [John] Brown [of Wamphray], and poor me, because of what we have written, as if we had made a Schism, and were the Authors of a Separation: So that, while I will be under the Necessity of defending what he and I have written, and it was written after long Deliberation, and seeking from the Lord, as we could in the Matter, in the History of the Indulgence, and in other Papers, and I beseech you to consider the Length that we go; and we saw it impossible to go a further Length, retaining the Principles on which we founded a Withdrawing from the Indulged. I will be under a Necessity of Vindicating my worthy Brother and myself, in making appear that we never laid any Ground for Excess on the Right-hand, while we pleaded against Evils on the Left. So I, of all the Men alive, if such Courses be taken, and such Conclusions laid down, as I see some take, will be most obliged, both for the Interest of Truth, for which I desire to live and die witnessing, as I can; and for undeceiving such well meaning Friends, as judge their Excesses patronized, by what we have written, to write against the Courses now taken by many, who, in great and boundless Rashness, withdraw from the Ministry of such, whom, I am sure, for all the Faults that follow them, Jesus Christ will own as his Ambassadors. And, my dear Friends, I must tell you, that the Thoughts of this Necessity is so terrible to me, that I dare say in his Sight, before whom I am now while I write this, I would rather choose, if I durst [dare] make a Choice, to breathe out my last, than to be drawn to write against the Courses of these, who have hitherto been so dear to my Soul. My Friends, lest ye should think this flows from some late Information I have gotten, I will tell you plainly, and it is well known by the best of your Friends long ago at home, when I perceived some here to fall into these Courses, I was so confounded with these Cause-destroying Excesses, that I was thereby, as I suppose you have heard, brought to the Gates of Death, and as I told them then, so it hath proven too true since, and will prove more true every Day, That if the Principle whereby they defend their Practice were owned, it would not only infer the Dissolution of the united visible Church, but also of all Christian Society: And hence they have not only withdrawn from public Ordinances here, and from the eminent Mr. Thomas Hog, and some of them from hearing poor me; nay, they will come to the Town, and go out of it, without seeing of me; but they have broken up with two Societies; one in this City, and another at Utrecht, of whom I have Confidence to say, and am content they know I say so, that there are some of them beyond them all in Knowledge, and they are not inferior to any of them in conscientious Tenderness and Straightness in the Cause of God: And therefore, my dear Friends, see to yourselves in Time; and that so much the more, that Persons once engaged in these Excesses, seldom retreat. I hope ye will not mistake my Freedom, for, if all the World should be against me, I desire to carry my Heart in my Forehead in his Matters, without Respect of Persons, to testify and witness, as I can, against whatever Courses seem to me to be a Declining from, or are opposite to the good old Way, wherein the Lord led and owned the Church of Scotland.
Dear Friends, I make no Apology, for what I have said, having spoken the Words of Truth and Sobriety; and therefore, I shall add, That my Prayer to God for you is, That he may lead you on in all Truth, and give you the Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a sound Mind, that your Zeal may be according to Knowledge; and that, in all Things you contend for, you may be found to approve the Things that are more excellent, as instructed out of his Law. This, I say, is the Desire of his Soul, who is,
Your poor, but loving Brother,
and Companion in Tribulation,
R. MACWARD.
FINIS.