Fall Not Out of the Way, Title page – Errata
Fall not out by the Way: OR, A PERSWASION TO A Friendly Correſpondence Between the Conformiſts & Non-Conformiſts. IN A Funeral Diſcourſe On Gen. 45.24.
Occaſioned by the Deſire of Mr. Anthony Dunwell, in his laſt Will.
By TIMOTHY ROGERS, M. A.
LONDON: Printed, for John Dunton, at the Raven in the Poultery, 1692.
To the Gentlemen that Contribute to the Encouragement of the Evening Lecture at Crosby-ſquare.
Gentlemen,
IT is to you that I owe the largest acknowledgment imaginable; for the kindneſſes that you have ſhewed me, have not only been in themſelves very Great, but very Singular. It was a Noble and a Generous Act, ſo liberally as you have done, to encourage Mr. Kentiſh and Me, and it was a Rare and Peculiar Generoſity not to withdraw the Teſtimonies of your Love and Reſpect during my Long and Doleful Sickneſs, which made me for two Years incapable of being any way ſerviceable to you. It is impoſſible for me to forget ſo great a Favor, and equally impoſſible for me to expreſs the ſenſe I have of it.
At the deſire of Mr. Dunwell, one of your number, I Preached on the following Subject, and now at the request of a great many of the ſame number, it comes into the World: And I was the more willing that it ſhould ſee the Light, becauſe, as far as in me lies, I would help to Extinguiſh thoſe Flames, which being encreaſed by diſtance and ſtrangeneſs, have long Troubled and Scorched us. It is in vain, I well know, to think that all Men will have the ſame Thoughts, or the ſame Expreſſions about matters of Religion; foraſmuch as in their different Souls there are different degrees of Light; but I would endeavour however to perſwade perſons of different apprehenſions to be kind and civil and genteel to one another, and this is eaſy to be done, and will be attended with a mighty pleaſure.
Our Lecture, as you will bear us Witneſs, is not a Seminary of Sedition; nothing, we dare appeal to you and our other Hearers, is Preached there, but what is Orthodox and Loyal too; nor do we there take an occaſion to vent our own Paſſions inſtead of the Truths of God; nor at any time endeavour to make our Hearers have an ill Opinion of our Brethren the Conformiſts, for ſo we love to call them, and we hope they will not refuſe to give to us the ſame Friendly Title. We have among us all abundance of common Work to do againſt Atheiſm and Drunkenneſs, and the other Vices of a Corrupt Age, and againſt the World, the Devil and the Fleſh: The neceſſities of the Souls of Men are ſo many, that our United Endeavors will be little enough to ſupply them; and therefore we ſhould Love and Encourage and bear with one another, and ſo the Good of all ſides, I verily perſwade my ſelf, will reſolve to do.
In our Diſcourſes our Auditory do not uſe to find matter either of juſt Scorn or Laughter, nothing, I hope, that is Abſurd or Ridiculous. A late Epitomizer of the Works of the Learned, is ſo complaiſant as to call ſome Practical Diſcourſes of mine, formerly Publiſhed, Canting Sermons, and thinks thoſe Gentlemen, who in a late Account of Books, put an Abridgment of thoſe Diſcourſes after ſome Sermons of Mr. Norris, Acted, as if by ſuch a method they deſigned to expoſe the Diſſenters. I will allow Mr. Norris to be an Ingenious and neat Writer, his Thoughts is Cleanly, and his Language Fine; but I think it will be no diskindneſs either to him, or Mr. De la Croſe, to deſire them not to dip their Pens in Gall, and to forbear Satyr when they would ſpread Truth: A little more good Nature and Civility would do neither of them any great harm. To ſay this or that is Cant is no Proof, 'tis Reviling without a Reaſon, and none of the Learned or Judicious will uſe ſo ſilly and ſo Trite a Word. I am afraid this French Writer is of a very little Soul, and thinks no Senſe can be ſpoken but on his own ſide: Men of more Ʋnderſtanding than he, will allow that the Diſſenters know a little what belongs to Senſe and good Language too. He Ridicules the Lives of Mr. Hieron and Mr. Eliot of New England, thoſe Bleſſed Divines, as he calls them, but I wiſh he may ſit at their Feet in the other World. I would deſire this Abridger of Books not to be ſo Partial; and if he would have his Writings to be uſeful, not to cram them again with ſuch Stuff, for it is nauſeous to all Men of Senſe and good Breeding, to ſee perſons of ſuch a Little Soul talk as if they had Monopolized all the Wit and Senſe of the World in their own Brains. I have longer inſiſted upon this, becauſe I hope it may a little Soften ſome that are of a Moroſe and Waſpiſh Constitution: I wonder in what Air they have lived that are continually ſpitting out Ulcerated Language: I wiſh all the Men of Bitterneſs an Healthful ſtate of Soul, and then I am ſure they will be calm and gentle, they will ceaſe to be Incendiaries and learn to be Peacemakers, which is a much better Office.
To you, Gentlemen, it is that I do now publickly return my ſincere and hearty Thanks for all your Kindneſſes to me both in Health and Sickneſs: At your Service I am, and ſhall upon all occaſions be ready to give you the moſt chearful Marks of my Reſpect; may your Trades and Employments thrive better for what you give to my Brother Kentiſh and to me: What good is done to the Souls of Men by us (as we hope there is ſome) will turn alſo to your Account in that Day: I wiſh you may continue to be promoters of Peace and Union among all good Perſons of all Perſwaſions, and that you would labour in your ſeveral Stations to advance a thing ſo Pleaſant and ſo Profitable: May you have always calm Spirits, and quiet Families, and loving People to Deal withal: May you have Comprehenſive and large Souls: For many long Years may you Thrive and Proſper, and be uſeful in this World, and at laſt be admitted into the World above, which is the bleſſed place, for it is the World of Love.
So Prays, Gentlemen, Your very much Obliged Servant, L. Rogers. London, Decemb. 12th 1691.
The following Books have been lately Publiſhed by the Author of this Diſcourſe.
1. PRactical Diſcourſes on Sickneſs and Recovery, in ſeveral Sermons, as they were lately Preached in a Congregation in London, after his Recovery from a Sickneſs of near two Years continuance.
2. Early Religion: Or, a Diſcourſe of the Duty and Intereſt of Youth, with ſome Advices to Parents and Aged People to Promote it in their ſeveral Capacities.
3. A Diſcourſe concerning Trouble of Mind, and the Diſeaſe of Melancholy.
All three to be Sold by John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey.
ERRATA.
PAge 25. line 20. Read Ages poſeſed, p. 31. l. 21. r. in its ſelf, p. 71. l. 19. for of, r. in.