a Prince of no Religion which none that had any Religion durst say of a King who is so great a friend to it by his Patronage and Example Mr. TOLAND was once writing an Answer to this Author but he laid aside his Papers when he understood that such able Men had undertaken him as the Reverend Dr. WAKE and the Ingenious Author of the Letter to a Parliament Man But some People not being satisfy'd it seems with all that past and thinking Mr. TOLAND should never have enough on 't concluded at last to bring his Book before the Parliament And therefore on Saturday the 14 th day of August it was mov'd in the Committee of Religion that the Book entitul'd Christianity not Mysterious should be brought before them and accordingly it was order'd that the said Book should the Saturday following be brought into the Committee That day the Committee sat not but the next Saturday which was the 28 th day of August there met a very full Committee wherein this business was a great while debated Several Persons eminent for their Birth good Qualities or Fortunes oppos'd the whole Proceeding being of opinion it was neither proper nor convenient for them to meddle with a thing of that nature But when this Point was without much Argument carri'd against them they insisted that the Passages which gave Offence in the Book should be read so those wonderful Objections were made which are clear'd in the Letter subjoin'd and then the Committee was adjourn'd till the 4 th of September That day after several Gentlemen had spoke to those Objections they urg'd at last according to Mr. TOLAND'S own desire that he should be call'd to answer in Person to declare the Sense of his Book and his Design in writing it But this favour being peremptorily deny'd an Honourable Member went to the Bar and offer'd a Letter to be read which he had receiv'd that Morning from Mr. TOLAND containing what Satisfaction he intended to give the Committee had they thought fit to let him speak for himself But this was likewise refus'd and the Committee came immediately to those Resolutions to which the House agreed after some Debate on Thursday following being the 9 th of September viz. That the Book entitul'd Christianity not Mysterious containing several Heretical Doctrines contrary to the Christian Religion and the establish'd Church of Ireland be publickly burnt by the hands of the Common Hangman Likewise That the Author thereof JOHN TOLAND be taken into the Custody of the Serjeant at Arms which he took care to prevent and be prosecuted by Mr. Attorney General for writing and publishing the said Book They order'd too that an Address should be made to the Lords Iustices to give Directions that no more Copies of that Book be brought into the Kingdom and to prevent the selling of those already imported Their Sentence was executed on the Book the Saturday following which was the 11 th of September before the Parliament-House Gate and also in the open Street before the Town-house the Sheriffs and all the Constables attending One very singular Passage we must not omit which is that the same day the Book was to be condemn'd there came abroad a printed Sheet wherein to terrify any body from appearing publickly for Mr. TOLAND were contain'd the following words Now let those consider this says the Writer of that Paper whether within doors or without and whether the Vindication or even the excusing this Book or the Author or the ridiculing or otherwise baffling the just Prosecution or Censure of it and him be not truly the denying of our Saviour before Men and whether such may not assuredly expect to be deny'd of him in the presence of his Father and the holy Angels and all the World at the last day This strange Denunciation had no effect upon those who all along appear'd in Mr. TOLAND'S behalf tho much out-number'd by those of the contrary Opinion In the Committee it was mov'd by one that Mr. TOLAND himself should be burnt as by another that he should be made to burn his Book with his own hands and a third desir'd it should be done before the Door of the House that he might have the pleasure of treading the Ashes under his feet I forbear making any Remarks here either upon the design of burning Books in general or this in particular nor will I shew as well I might how fruitless this sort of proceeding has prov'd in all Ages since the Custom was first introduc'd by the Popish Inquisitors who perform'd that Execution on the Book when they could not seize the Author whom they had destin'd to the Flames Neither will I insist upon the great Stop and Discouragement which this Practice brings to all Learning and Discoveries but without further Digression I shall now leave the Reader to peruse Mr. TOLAND'S Letter and to judg for himself whether it would have given him satisfaction had he been a Member of the House of Commons Mr. TOLAND'S Letter to a Member of the House of Commons in IRELAND c. Dublin Septemb. 3. 1697. SIR WHen the Christian Religion is attack'd by Atheists and others they constantly charge it with Contradiction or Obscurity and Mr. TOLAND'S design in the Publication of his Book was to defend Christianity from such unjust Imputations as he more than once declares in his Preface and as he thinks it every Christian's Duty to do according to his Ability or Opportunity If we might judg of his Performance by his profest Intentions we should conclude it to be extraordinary good but we must on the other hand reckon it as bad if without further Examination we regard the strange Out-cries that are made against it both from the Pulpit and the Press That a Man should be run down because it is the fashion or by Interested Persons and such as are influenc'd by 'em is nothing strange for one way or other the like happens every day but that a Book should be condemn'd by wholesale without assigning the particular Faults or Mistakes in it and by many that never read it is visibly unjust What has contributed to make Mr. TOLAND whom neither his Age nor Fortune nor Preferment renders formidable the Object of so much Heat and Noise and after what manner his Enemies of all sorts have treated him under a zealous pretence he 's like very speedily to inform such of the World as will please to concern themselves But not considering the Honourable House of Commons or your self in particular among the number of his Adversaries but as his Iudges he thinks convenient to clear those few Points which are reported to afford matter of Exception to some in the Committee of Religion But before this be done he desires that two or three Particulars may be a little consider'd Mr. TOLAND in the first place is of opinion it portends much Happiness to the Nation that the Commons who have all the right imaginable to it should take
AN APOLOGY FOR Mr. TOLAND In a LETTER from Himself to a Member of the House of Commons in Ireland written the day before his Book was resolv'd to be burnt by the Committee of Religion To which is prefix'd a NARRATIVE containing the Occasion of the said LETTER Diis proximus Ille est Quem RATIO non IRA movet Claudian LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCVII A NARRATIVE Containing the Occasion of the following LETTER I Promise not to give any account at this time of the Controversy occasion'd by Mr. TOLAND's Book nor to enter into the Merits of the Cause on either side His Adversaries seem not yet weary of writing against him and when they have once done it will be early enough then for him to reply if he sees reason so to do For it would be an endless labour to make Answers severally to so many as may concern themselves in this Dispute My design is only to shew what Treatment he receiv'd from some People in Ireland as far as that may serve to set the Letter annex'd to this Narrative in its proper light And I shall take care to insert nothing but such notorious matters of Fact that no observing Person in Dublin or I might say perhaps in the Kingdom can pretend Ignorance concerning them or deny them to be true Mr. TOLAND was scarcely arriv'd in that Country when he found himself warmly attack'd from the Pulpit which at the beginning could not but startle the People who till then were equal Strangers to him and his Book yet they became in a little time so well accustom'd to this Subject that it was as much expected of course as if it had been prescrib'd in the Rubrick This occasion'd a Noble Lord to give it for a reason why he frequented not the Church as formerly that instead of his Saviour JESUS CHRIST one IOHN TOLAND was all the Discourse there But how unworthy a Member soever of the Christian Religion Mr. TOLAND may be he 's still so sensible of the Obedience he justly owes to its most Divine Precepts that he dares not allow himself to make any returns in the same Dialect to what was liberally utter'd against him in that place We read an Archangel was not permitted to rail against the very Devil and if Mr. TOLAND had not innumerable Passages of the Gospel to restrain him yet the Reverence all Men ow to their own Persons join'd to the Rules of common Civility would be powerful enough to keep him from bestowing any indecent Expressions or Reflections upon his Opposers Nor is he such a stranger to the former Ages or the present as not to perceive that passionate or violent Proceedings never yet gain'd Credit to a Cause nor produc'd any other Effects upon the Enemies of it but to make 'em abhor it the more But when this rough handling of him in the Pulpit where he could not have word about prov'd insignificant the Grand Iury was sollicited to present him for a Book that was written and publish'd in England And to gain the readier Compliance the Presentment of the Grand Iury of Middlesex was printed in Dublin with an emphatical Title and cry'd about the Streets So Mr. TOLAND was accordingly presented there the last day of the Term in the Court of King's-Bench the Iurors not grounding their proceeding upon any particular Passages of his Book which most of 'em never read and those that did confess'd not to understand Thus in the Reign of HENRY VI. one JOHN STEPHENS was presented by a Jury in Southwark as a Man say they we know not what to make of him and that hath Books we know not what they are In the mean time those of either Sex who had any intimacy with Mr. TOLAND or that favour'd him with their familiar Conversation were branded as his Proselytes and Lists of their Names industriously given about altho those worthy Persons for he always chose the best Company had never discours'd him of Religion nor had many of 'em then seen his Book And so far was he himself from making his Opinions the Subject of his common Talk that notwithstanding repeated Provocations he purposely declin'd speaking of 'em at all which made his Adversaries who slipt no handle of decrying him insinuate that he was not the real Author of the Piece going under his Name But if they were serious and this was not another Artifice to make him own it I would fain know what made them so angry with a Man whom they ought therefore to despise For if there be any Poison as I hope there is none in that Book the spreading of it in Ireland is wholly owing to the Management of those who would be thought most to oppose it We must not forget that in a few days after the present Lords Iustices of that Kingdom landed the Recorder of Dublin Mr. HANCOCK presented Mr. TOLAND to their Excellencies after a very obliging manner for in his Congratulatory Harangue in the name of his Corporation whereof by the way he spoke not a word he begg'd their Lordships would protect the CHURCH from all its Enemies but particularly from the TOLANDISTS a Sect I 'm sure those Noble Persons ne'er heard of before The late Lords Iustices the Earls of Montrath and Drogheda were more neglected at least in the same Speech tho all Ireland cannot without the blackest Ingratitude but acknowledg that they never liv'd before under a more prudent just and peaceable Administration For as they gave no occasions of Complaint in their Government so were there no Murmurings against them but only of such as through a perpetual desire of Change are always Enemies to their own and the Country's Happiness Mr. TOLAND being thus made a Heresiarch in so publick a place where all the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom then in Town were present occasion'd every body to hunt for his Book which was very scarce and his Enemies also took that Pretext of denominating all his Acquaintance TOLANDISTS how different soever they were from him or one another in their Sentiments From the Pulpit from the Iury and the Court he must take his next turn at the Press from whence there issu'd a Book said to be an Answer to him in particular and to all others who set up Reason and Evidence in opposition to Revelation and Mysteries This imports that Mr. TOLAND made Reason and Revelation contradictory But how well the Author of the said Book Mr. PETER BROWN senior Fellow of Trinity College near Dublin has prov'd this or the rest of his Undertaking is referr'd to the impartial Reader 's Judgment If hard Language would do instead of strong Arguments we might easily determine who had the better end of the Controversy and if you believe Mr. BROWN himself he assures you that if it can be shewn where one Link of his reasoning fails he 'll make it up again so firm that it shall never be undone Indeed I don't believe Mr. TOLAND designs to
of Scripture by the Vnitarians and attacking a few Paragraphs in Mr. TOLAND'S Book Christianity not Mysterious I know not what it was to his Lordship's purpose to fall upon Mr. TOLAND'S Book But if he would needs attack the Book he should have dealt fairly He should have discuss'd the main Argument in it and not carpt only at a few Passages and those too so mangl'd and deform'd by his Representation of them that I dare to affirm Mr. TOLAND does not know his own Book in the Bishop's Representation of it I do not perceive to speak truly but that Book still stands in its full strength if it has not also acquir'd a farther Reputation by occasion of this so unsuccessful nibling at it But suppose the Bishop had disarm'd the Gentleman what is that to us Do we offer this Book against the Trinity of the Realists Was it written with Intention to serve us Does it contain any of our Allegations from Reason against the Trinity of Philoponus Joachim and Gentilis We desire him to answer to the Reasons in our own Books against the Trinity of the Tritheists But to these he says not a word but only falls upon Mr. TOLAND'S Book in which or for which we are not in the least concern'd Nor do I think the Learned and Ingenious Author will hold himself to be interested to defend that Christianity not Mysterious with which his Lordship presents us So far that celebrated Vnitarian A good Temper and sound Iudgment usually go together and if the absence of the former be no Demonstration that the latter is also wanting yet questionless it creates a very reasonable suspicion of it for a bad Cause is generally supported by Violence and ill Arts while TRUTH establishes it self only by Lenity and Perswasion This is so certain that when an undiscerning Person happens to be engag'd on the right side and employs Force or Calumny in its defence we always find he does it infinitely more harm than good That such as receive Gain or Honour by any thing should oppose those who go about to destroy it tho with design to introduce a better in the room of it is no great wonder tho it be manifestly unjust Thus the Silversmiths of Ephesus headed by DEMETRIUS rais'd a mighty Tumult against the Apostle PAUL for ruining their Trade which was solely maintain'd by Lies and Impostures at the expence of the Peoples Credulity The Primitive Christians were represented by the Heathen Priests as Atheistical Rebellious Incestuous and in a word polluted with all manner of Wickedness and Impiety by which nefarious Artifices they procur'd those innocent Persons to be cruelly persecuted with Infamy Confiscation and Death it self in all its shapes The Waldenses Wicclifists Hussites and the first Reformers were treated after the same manner by the Church of Rome and when they could not seize their Persons they never fail'd to load 'em with horrid black and monstrous Aspersions that they might not be wanting to prejudice 'em all manner of ways as if this had been the very Method prescrib'd in the Gospel to reduce the Erroneous Thus we read such accounts of LUTHER and CALVIN'S Lives publish'd by the Monks of those Times as paint 'em worse than Devils and that make their Doctrine as different from what we know it to be as the Historians were from telling Truth I am sorry to observe among us any Remains of that implacable and bitter Spirit tho such as distinguish themselves by their eminent Vertues retain no tincture of so mean and base a Disposition The Character which that most excellent Person the late Archbishop of Canterbury has left on Record of the Socinians when he was strenuously arguing against their Opinions ought to be a Model which no body should be asham'd to imitate He did not think to lessen his own Reputation or to hurt his Cause when he frankly acknowledg'd them to be a Pattern of the fair way of disputing and debating matters of Religion without Heat and unseemly Reflections upon their Adversaries They generally argue matters with that Temper and Gravity says he and with that freedom from Passion and Transport which becomes a serious and weighty Argument and for the most part they reason closely and clearly with extraordinary guard and caution with great dexterity and decency and yet with smartness and subtlety enough with a very gentle heat and few hard words Vertues to be prais'd whereever they are found yea even in an Enemy and very worthy our Imitation Yet this great Man who so candidly represents his Adversaries was himself most scurrilously and unworthily handl'd by his own and the Enemies of the Government And here I must do Justice to Dr. PAYNE lately deceas'd who as he tells the World in his Letter to the Bishop of Rochester was desir'd by his Grace the present Arch-bishop of Canterbury to answer Mr. TOLAND and why should not every body that thinks him in the wrong take the same liberty of writing against him as he did to publish his Thoughts before Now if Mr. TOLAND'S own Judgment ought to be receiv'd in this case the Doctor has in his two Sermons said more against him than the Bishop of Worcester Mr. NORRIS the Anonymous Oxonian the Author of the Occasional Paper Mr. BEVERLY Mr. GAILHARD Mr. BROWNE or any other Answerer and yet instead of treating him like a Dominican Inquisitor he uses with some little warmth such Grave and Christian Language as shews his Metropolitan's Judgment and Moderation in pitching upon him as well as his own Skill and Sincerity in the management of his Trust. We must hold this Mystery of Faith says Dr. PAYNE speaking to his Auditory with a Christian good Temper and not lose that while we are contending for the other nor let our Contentions grow so warm and intemperate so fierce and cruel as to forget and violate the plain Morals of Christianity while we are over earnestly disputing for the Faith of it or perhaps only for some false and mistaken or at least some useless Opinions and over-nice and subtle Controversies about it This has been the fault of those who have contended more for Victory than Truth and more for their own Credit and Vain-glory than the Christian Faith who tho they may be in the right as 't is ten to one that they are not for Truth seldom dwells with such a Spirit of Rage and Pride and Passion but rather with a quite other Temper yet they greatly disserve the Cause they so unduly manage And as they are never like to convince their Adversaries so they give others just ground to suspect that they supply want of better Reason and stronger Arguments with weak and impotent Calumny with undecent and unbecoming Reflections This is as Criminal and as Unchristian as the Error or the Heresy they are so zealous against and 't is to be doubted 't is rather a false Fire and a hypocritical Zeal not for the Cause of God so
much as their own and that this is kindl'd not from the Altar but some other place and blown up by some private PIQUE and sinister Designs that thus blazes out to such an outrageous degree as to consume and destroy not only its Adversaries if it were in its power but even the most vital and substantial Parts of Christianity even Peace Love and Charity and contends for the Christian Faith with such a most Diabolical and Vnchristian Temper This is very far from the Spirit of Christ and Christianity and however precious the Faith be yet the Apostle tells us if we had all Faith and understood all Mysteries and all Knowledg yet without Charity we are nothing however great we may be in our own Thoughts And such a Zeal of Sowrness and Bitterness as it is generally without Knowledg so it is always without Religion and tho it hold the Mystery of Faith and do not rather pervert and corrupt it yet to be sure this is not according to the Apostle's Advice in a pure Conscience There needs no more to be added in this place but a sincere acknowledgment from Mr. TOLAND that notwithstanding any Prejudices he may be suppos'd to entertain against Ireland he met there and had the honour to be acquainted with a great many worthy Gentlemen who by their extraordinary Parts Education and Vertues merit to be distinguish'd in any Country of the World He knows several Men and Women and doubtless there are or should be more who don 't confine all Salvation to the narrow Limits of a Sect nor mistake the affected Phrases of any Party for the only true Christianity who neither hate nor despise others for differing from them in Opinion no more than in Features or Complexion knowing that no body can believe as he pleases and it were the highest Injustice to expect a Man should profess with his Mouth what in his Heart he detests Persons who can live easily with all Men as being of one Race and fellow-Citizens of the same World not denying any body the liberty of improving the Happiness of the Society by his Invention Learning Industry or Example And who in a word are not willing to deprive themselves of real and certain Advantages for the sake of uncertain contested or useless Speculations as if one that wants it should reject the profer'd Service of an honest and able Accountant because he believes not a World in the Moon or not allow an Ingenious Man's Conversation to be agreeable for ridiculing the Fable of St. PATRICK'S Purgatory As for the Publick Peace which is pretended to be endanger'd by a TOLERATION it has been disturb'd or subverted in all Ages and Places of the World not either by Conscientious or Enquiring Men but by those who no less dogmatically than tyrannically impose upon their Understandings and who in spite of all their Disguises appear to be much more concern'd for SOVERAIGNTY than REFORMATION 'T is likewise clear as the Sun they were Mr. TOLAND'S Enemies that made or continue all the needless stir about his Book and not his Friends who only acted defensively for the Common Liberty of Mankind but not upon his private account Nor does he who one would think should know it best believe any Persons in Ireland or elsewhere favour'd him a jot the more for writing that Treatise and if they did he was never yet inform'd of this accessory Kindness either by themselves or others by their Deputation neither does he make returns of Love or Respect to any body living upon this meer Consideration Qui statuit aliquid parte inaudita altera AEQUUM licet statuerit haud AEQUUS est Seneca FINIS Jude 9. * Bacon 's Historical Discourse of the Government of England Part 2. cap. 17. pag. 161. Pag. 81. Pag. 79. Pag. 139. Pag. 144. * Domine Judex rogamus vos cum omni affectu quo possimus ut amore Dei pietaris misericordiae intuitu nostrorum interventu precaminum miserrimo huic nullum mortis vel mutilationis periculum inferatis Pag. 162. Pag. 164. Pag. 166. Pag. 121. Pag. 172. Pag. 123. Pag. 172. Pag. 173. Votes of the H. of C. of Ireland A Letter upon Mr. Toland's Book to I. C. Esq pag. 4. Left out in the Original Copy Left out in the Original Copy Pag. 170. Pres. p. 24. Pag. 33. Pag. 46. Pag. 88. Pref. p. 26. Pag. 27. Pag. 153. Pag. 153. Pag. 162 163. P. 54 55. Four Serm. against the Socin p. 57 58. Dr. Payne's Serm. p. 65 c.