upon them as idle Shepherds: And if this was the Reflection, fome caft upon them, it was no other than might be expected. Mr. TENNENT went from BosTON to PISCATAQUA in the Path of Mr. WHITEFIELD; and, in fome Places, appear'd very forward in tendring his Service to preach, though he knew it was not (as to Time) agreeable to the Minifters. Upon his Return home, he preach'd in moft, if not all the Towns as he past along : And if, in all the Parifbes, he had the Confent of the Paftors, it was, am ready to think, by Constraint. They might give into it to prevent Difficulties among their People; not that they approved this Manner of Conduct, the Conftruction of which feemed to be, that upon him lay the Care of all the Churches. I From this Time, the Method of Itinerant Preaching became common. Many, in various Parts of the Land, took upon them to vifit the Churches; preaching from Place to Place, wherever they went: Sometimes, contrary to the known Judgment of the fettled Minifters, and in Oppofition to them; and fometimes, where their Confent was only a Matter of Neceffity to keep Peace among their People. Sometimes, they have come into Parifhes of their own Accord; and fometimes, by Application made to them from a few difaffected Perfons, Sometimes, in order to get the Liberty of the Meeting-Houfe, they have us'd mean and indirect Arts; and fometimes, when they could not get into it, they have gone into private Houfes, or gathered Affemblies in the Fields. Nay, Lay-Exhorters, Men of no Capacity, nor Learning; yea, fome of them of a fufpicious Character for their Virtue, (not to fay any Thing worfe) worfe) have travell'd about from Town to Town, calling Affemblies, and fometimes exciting Prejudices in People againft their Minifters, for not letting them into their Pulpits, or not encouraging them in their diforderly Practice. I cannot better defcribe the Manner of these Itinerants, than in the Words of a Friend in his Letter to me. "The "Itinerant Minifters that have been among us, "have been (as I think) very irregular and dif5 orderly in their Proceedings. It hath been their "Manner to eftrange themselves, in a great Mea"fure, from me, and to affociate with a difaffect«ed Party. They appoint and warn Lectures without my Confent or Knowledge, and just before the Time of Exercise they have com"monly fent for my Approbation: And upon my manifefting a Diflike of their Manage"ments, they have preach'd fometimes in private σε Houfes; fometimes in a Barn; fometimes in "the open Air. The Inconveniences, which have arisen from this Method of acting, more especially in CONNECTICUT, haye been fo great, that the GOVERNMENT there have taken the Matter into Confideration, and come into an Act, whereby they have reftrained, both ordained Minifters, and licenfed Candidates, from preaching in other Men's Parishes, without their and their Church's Confent; and wholly prohibited the Exhortations of illiterate LayMen +. It is not my Bufinefs to confider, how far an Irregularity, in this Kind, may properly fall under This Act we had printed in one of our News- the the Cognifance of the civil Magiftrate: What I have to do with, is the Thing it felf; which I can't but reckon among the Disorders of the prefent Day. I fee not but thofe, who make it their Practice to go about gathering Affemblies, in other Men's Parifbes, properly come under the Character of Bufie-Bodies. These were common, in the first Days of the Gofpel; and there feems to have been two Sorts of them. ry Some were idle, not doing their own Business; but wandring about from Houfe to House, talking, and Speaking the Things they ought not. This is the veCharacter of fome idle Perfons, who have lately rifen up among us. And what is the Tho't of the great St. Paul concerning them? Why, he fays, They are diforderly Walkers; and commands, that a Mark be fet upon them, that they be with drawn from, and admonished. But befides thefe, there feems to have been another Sort of Bufie-Bodies; fuch as went out of their own Line, intermeddling in other Men's Matters. 'Tis obfervable, the Original Word, answering to that Scripture Phrafe, a Bufie-Body in other Men's Matters, is, allotrio-Epifcopos; one that plays the Bishop in another's Diocefs, takes upon him the Infpection of another's Charge. The Perfon defcribed is one, who officiously employs himself about the Business that does not belong to him; acting in the proper Sphere of others, as tho † 2 The 3. from the 10th to the 15th. + 1 Pet. 4. 15. - 3 it was his, not their's. This is the Conduct the Apoft le points out : And he has an ill Opinion of it, or he would not have rank'd it with fome of the greatest Crimes. It appears indeed to be a Fault of the fame Kind with that, which the Apostle PAUL blames in the falfe Teachers, who had crept into the Church of CORINTH, to their great Differvice. Remarkable are his Words upon this Head. I fhall fet them down at large. "We dare not, fays he †, make "ourselves of the Number, or compare ourselves with fome that commend themfelves: But they "measuring themselves by themselves, and com"paring themselves among themselves are not "wife. But we will not boast of Things without our Meafure, but according to the Measure of the Rule, which GOD hath diftributed to us, a "Measure to reach even unto you. For we 66 Stretch not ourselves beyond our Measure, as tho' "we reached not unto you; for we are come "as far as to you alfo, in Preaching the Gospel "of CHRIST: Not boafting of Things without "our Meafure, that is, of other Men's Labours ; "but having Hope, when your Faith is encreaf ed, that we fhall be enlarged by you,, according "to our Rule abundantly, to preach the Gofpel "in the Regions beyond you, and not to boast "in another Man's Line of Things made ready to our "Hand." Three Things are fuggefted to us as faulty in thefe Teachers. The firft is, their commending themselves fo much. We dare not, fays the Apoftle, compare ourselves with † 2 Cor. 10. from the 12 to the 17 Verfe. fome, who commend themfelves. The Language is fatyrical, fetting forth, in the strongest Light, the undue Praises thefe Teachers heap'd upon themfelves. They were vainly puffed up in their Minds, glorying in themselves, as though they were extraordinary Perfons, out-doing even the Apoftles, Such was their Pride and Self-Conceit, that they took all Occafions to proclaim their own Goodness; which they, no Doubt, did, with fuch Art and Cunning, as hereby to infinuate themselves into the good Opinion of the People, to the prejudicing them against the very Apoftles. They are therefore called, in the next Chapter, deceitful Workers; and reprefented, † as transforming them felves into the Minifters of Righteousness, according to the Example of Satan, who can transform himSelf into an Angel of Light. Mr. BURKITT's Note here is very juft, and may be worth transcribing.* "It is very poffible, fays he, for Men to be real"ly Satan's Inftruments, animated and taught "by him, to do his Work against the Interest "of CHRIST and his Truth; and yet, at the "fame Time, to pretend to excell and go beyond "CHRIST's faithful Minifters, in preaching Truth "and Holinefs : So that the highest Pretences "to Truth, Orthodoxy, free Grace, Purity and "Unity, are no fufficient Evidences of a true "Miniftry. Satan and his Inftruments, who love <to transform themselves fometimes into an Angel of Light, may pretend to all thefe; and "notwithstanding, be the fworn Enemies of CHRIST and his Kingdom." Another Thing infinuated to be Blame-worthy in thefe Teachers is, their entring into other Men's ‡ V 13. † V: 14, 15. * Vid. in Loc Labours |