designedly written by a Romanist to strike our Author dead I read it over and found it fill'd up with Arguments of Universality Tradition and Infallibility of that Church Peter's Authority c. and all these larded with Zeal to persuade me into a Dependance and Reliance upon the Roman Church as the true one in which Treatise that Author boldly said my Reason ought to Acquiesce 't is well that side also makes Reason the Judge I was pleas'd with the sound of the Word more than with his reasons for they did not satisfie my Understanding yet had I known that Authors Genius inclin'd to Poetry I would have recommended him for Instruction to my old Friend the Parson of Pentlow And now I begin to think my self fortunate having hitherto sided with a noble Captain for so I account Humane Reason which 't is confest every side pretends to and which may possibly be beaten from it's Posts by the clatter of some Coffee-house but it will always recover and baffle its greatest Antagonists at the long run for Truth is strongest but Reason does assure it without whose gentle Mediation and Midwifry we had still remain'd in the State of War and consequently had been miserable THE END A RE-VIEW AND APPENDIX OUR Reply having been written now above two years I have re-consider'd it and from the past Circumstances of Affairs and present do think it necessary to add this Re-view and other Amplifications as either subservient to the Design or otherwise material insisting upon the Prospect of Reason and the ill consequence of neglecting its guidance viz. That from the Petulancy Heat and unseasonable Eagerness of some not very Discreet nor Learned and of others Learned Honest and generally Prudent but not infallible occasion is taken by the other side to answer upon such Provocations as they can alledging that their Sufferings are and have been all along for Conscience-sake and for well-doing though the Letters of the Laws are against them a Plea ever favour'd in all Ages That these Disputes about Externals onely for both Parties agree in Substance of Doctrine are mischievous to us at home and scandalous to the Protestant Churches abroad beyond the Seas That the Roman Church if it gets no Proselytes from these unseasonable Heats yet it has great reason to be pleas'd therewith for she thrives by our Divisions and can thrive by no other means here now That that Church was more Politick while she had as fair hopes as ever to prevail after the Queens death by complying outwardly with our Laws for till the 12th of Q. Eliz. all or most Romanists in England did and were permitted by the Pope to go to our Protestant Churches to hear the Service receive the Sacrament and take the Oath of Allegeance though since the Jesuits procur'd a Bull of Inhibition for their own profit yet 't was never accounted any Crime for a Romanist at that time not to go or to go to the Protestant Church whence our want of Charity to the Dissenters appears less than that of the Roman Church our Policy less and our uneasiness too visible thereby Neither are the Dissenters altogether excusable in their too stiff Separation and boggling at small things but I will be sparing in judging tender Consciences nevertheless it is obvious That from our pernicious Divisions so dangerous to our Religion and because tho the first Reformers went a good step yet no great progress has lately been made towards the Reason of our departure from Rome and reforming things amiss moderate men on both sides here do wish for some new Laws to consolidate the Conformists and Non-conformists in some measure or at least that some Ceremonies might be left and for the Explanation of some Laws now in force or limiting the force of others and particularly of that for imposing twenty pounds per Month for not coming to Church which Law I suppose no Lawyer doubts was originally intended against the Romanists and not against Protestant Dissenters who were few then and 't was the Roman Party at that time which confronted the Laws and begot the Statute The next Observation relates to Excommunications which how familiarly decreed and for what slight Causes and upon what gainful Designs and consequently how prejudicial to many of his Majestie 's good Subjects and how contrary to its Primitive and Grave Institution all Wise and Honest men of this Nation are and have been long very sensible of and of the ruine of some Families and the inriching of ill Officers by such Methods But may some say the Statute of Q. Mary against disturbers of Preachers is partly in force and of Use which was principally intended against Protestants for they were the Persons likely to disturb the Romanish Preachers then wherefore they say Why is not that of Eliz. also to be put in constant practise it being a general Law and provides for Peace Our Answer is The Case is alter'd for though equal Principles do lead to equal Ends 't is but when the matter about which we are conversant is equal And now the Papists are the most dangerous to our Peace and do plot to that end if we may credit King and Parliament or our own Eyes therefore that Law of Elizabeth against Recusancy stands in force yet it seems to want some Discrimination and that of Mary being in part repeal'd is continu'd as to the disturbing of Preachers the true Definition of Law being the Will of the Legislator There are many other antiquated and as things are inconvenient Laws Civil and Ecclesiastical which I have not room to remark here and as to the brangling practick part of both Courts the Judges may at least they ought to correct it tho one said wittily yet truly that no body but themselves meaning the Civil Practisers understands their Practise I had almost said Laws nor themselves neither The like may be said of the Practise at Common Law depending upon great Officers as some say if so 't is all dark This however since we are upon Discourse of Reason I 'll venture to say 't is evident that too often the Clients are tortur'd betwixt Prohibitions and Consultations so dangerous and troublesome it is where Courts do strive for Jurisdiction so also where the Judge's Power increases and the Jury's decreases or is over-aw'd for where Judges as has been our Case in Richard the Second's time presume to determine or delay by discretion or border upon the thing call'd perversion upon misapply'd Maxims which I hope will not be our Case Those Nations are more at ease where their Laws are unwritten supposing the Eternity of the Laws of Reason and which minds me of the familiar and exorbitant Practise of some as a wise Lord lately call'd them Trading Justices by their granting Warrants upon easie or unprov'd Suggestions above 10000 having been made out in one year by one of them lately which I can prove insomuch as few honest modest men can be free from their discretional
that it directly leadeth us to the Scripture and leaveth us to be directed by it by which it confesseth it self ought to be guided It is very well the Gent. hath confest that Reason must direct us to the Rule but stay the Bells Sir when I come thither how shall I understand to take my Measures by that Rule that is how shall I use it if Reason do not still direct me For the Question is not amongst Christians whether the Scripture be true or no but this what the meaning is of particular Texts therein or if any man can shew me any other way to understand it but Reason I shall be very thankful if then there be no other way but the Mediation of Reason Reason and bare Reason is to be followed Which Demonstrative Method lately generally embrac'd by the most Learned Divines in London and elsewhere hath certain I am brought more Fixation upon men's Spirits to Truth than all the Canting of many years before if I should say many Ages it were no Hyperbole This may serve for Explication of the Author and to exempt him from the Aspersion which the Gentleman endeavoureth to cast upon him as if his Design had been to deter any man from conforming to the Church of England because if it be rational to comply he that doth not being convinc'd it is so is brutish and he that doth it unconvinc'd is an Hypocrite but if any Dissenter whatsoever from the Church have collected other things than the Book will bear it is not the Fault of the Author but the Ignorance of the Collector Here I might add the inestimable Benefit accruing to all rational men in those vast Tracts of Land where the Scripture was never publisht and where probably the very Name of Christ is unknown from their natural and instinctive Adorations of a Deity whereunto and consequently to Morality very Reason doth invite And I could wish the Gent. who pretendeth so much to civil Education and to be so dutiful a Son of the Church would be a little more charitable to men of tender Consciences who cannot conform without offering Violence to their Reasons for that it was not long since a very great Politician and rational man said There is nothing which is not made necessary by Divine Precept but is eligible But saith the Gent. I would have the Author when he writeth next shew us more of his honesty though less of his Ingenuity how that Confession of the Authors Ingenuity doth consist with the Gentleman 's often future Endeavour to expose him to the Censure of Folly though weakly enough God knoweth will appear afterwards in this Reply for like the good Cow that spills her Milk with her Heels he immediately repenteth of the Character so giv'n to the Author of Ingenuity by telling of us he is resolved Step by Step to lead us out of those Errors which the Treatise of Humane Reason hath lead us into by shewing us the way back again by the same Steps we were first led into them And I am resolv'd to follow the Gent. till he looseth himself or meets with some Ignis fatuus and there it will be fit for me in all our March ever to retire to my Center which is Reason whose Guide if I follow I am sure to be very near the Road unto Happiness this being I think taking of things by the right Handle And now the Author answering the Objection supposible viz. That many of the greatest Wits by following their own Opinions have encreased the Catalogue of Heresies thus that those men either followed not their own Reason but their Wills or first hudwinckt their Reason by Interest Prejudice or Passion escapes the Gentleman's Censure it is very well how then What shall we think of that frightful Word Heresie Which the Scripture hath not defin'd that one Church calleth Piety another Impiety which must be in the World and which hath occasion'd the Effusion of so much Christian blood but this that the Tares must grow up with the Wheat till the time of Harvest and that Experience hath more than once made it evident that men of fiery and blind Zeal have for haste pluckt up the Wheat also But the Gent. groweth angry with the Author for saying it is no great matter for falling into Heresies so called by the Weakness of their understandings for they are neither hurtful to themselves nor others and I cannot choose but add Coals to his Wrath being of the Author's Mind as understanding nothing else by the Term Heresie but Opinion for how can it hurt others what I think Nor my self for I do nothing which I can avoid while I think so as the last Dictate of my Understanding and when I am convinc'd by Reason I must think and believe otherwise Ay! But saith the Gent. is it not the best way for the Magistrate since the Number of Fools exceedeth the Wise in Number by Penalties to restrain these Fools within the Pale of the Church thereby to prevent Heresyes Irreligion and Atheism Grotius was of another Opinion and I believe ten parts of twelve in London are of Opinion that to punish for a bare Opinion is something against the Hair and abhorrent to the English Nation indeed it is not practicable now here nor consistent with Trade which is preferrible much to the Humour of a few violent men Nor do I believe Irreligion getteth any Ground by the Peoples not conforming nor Immorality neither for they that do but pretend to Religion are for the most part careful at least outwardly to appear honest men Probably it were better in several considerable respects if the People would conform but it will not do nor is it some think as of absolute necessity for the Peace of England nor for any individual Mans Salvation unless he doth believe himself oblig'd in Conscience to conform But the Gent. is displeas'd highly with the Author for saying That every man's Soul hath so much Light in it self as is requisite for it's Travel towards Heaven apprehending it to be down-right Pelagianism I am perswaded Pelagius is not very well understood but what if it be Pelagius his Opinion If it be Truth it is not the worse for being his Opinion Certainly every man is capable to consider God as in the course of Nature which is the way he is pleas'd to govern the World by in the Scripture which is the History of the divine Providence and his Duty and the Consequence of Sin Why is it not then proper to say every man hath so much Light in his Soul as will lead him to Happiness for I take Light Reason and Conscience to be the same thing so that notwithstanding the Gentleman's Objection the Text standeth impregnably firm And seriously methinks the Gentleman trifles in excepting at the Author who saith That we must search for Truth in the Center of our selves it being an Assertion worthily memorable from so judicious a man Where should we search for
presume to add or of none at all for I know nothing hath more augmented the unreasonable Folly of Atheists than that very gross Doctrine which diverted the great Arabian Philosopher from Christianity not to mention their Claim to Infallibility and our own Persecution of one another who pretend not to it yet endeavour to lock up the only way left us to vanquish Atheists Heathens Papists or any other in the magisterial positive and implicite Breasts of that sort of Men who give the greatest Blow to Religion it self by such Preclusion of Enquiry when the Scripture biddeth us search and we cry out upon the Church of Rome for her imposing implicite Obedience The next thing the Gent. falleth upon after his having abounded in his Repetition of Rules to interpret the Scripture by having also before agreed Reason to be useful in leading us to the Truth of Scripture which Rules are ordinarily in Books laid down is that the Author useth too great a Latitude in setting the Gates of Heaven too wide open calling it Charity with a Witness inferring as if the Author had designed to prove we ought to believe Turks Jews Heathens and Atheists themselves to be in an equal Possibility of Salvation with the unerring Christian which must be true so far as it is possible these or any of these are in a Possibility of being convinc'd of their Turkism Judaism Heathenism and Atheism to Christianity and may be true as to the Heathens from the Plea allowable to them of invincible Ignorance not so as to Turks because Christianity is amongst them nor to Jews from their Obduration against immediate Miracles done for their Conversion nor to Atheists because they are convincible from the course of all natural Agents though the Author only ask'd the Question Whether we ought to believe these be forenamed were in an equal possibility of Salvation with Christians and to shew he did not believe it he confesseth there is no other name to be saved by that is to speak strictly but that of Christ and then subjoyneth that he may very well believe there are other secret and wonderful ways by which God may be pleas'd to apply his Merits that is Christ's Merits to mankind besides those direct open and ordinary ones of Baptism and Confession which I suppose is no Crime to say nor hard to prove if the time would give Leave so that for all these Scratches of the Gent. the Author's Charity is safe enough Let us see how charitable the Gent. is to his own Countrymen for I must make Leaps as he doth else I cannot overtake him To evidence it pag. 75. of his Answer he saith that when he seeth others when they should worship God sit on their Tails like Dogs or wallow and loll and grunt and groan like Swine or stand up and wriggle and make ugly Faces and grin and make Mouths like Apes or Baboons he must confess he cannot for his Soul but think their way of Worship ridiculous and contrary to the due Expressions of the Reverence they owe to the infinite God of Heaven and Earth which is the Witness of his Charity Now pray observe if I have not Reason enough to think that the Gentleman's way of Worship may seem as ridiculous to the others I am sure his Censure is very uncharitable for though men worshipping according to their Consciences may miss in legal Circumstance yet it is rational to suppose there 's much of Devotion in their manner of worship and Saint Paul was of another mind than this Gent. is for he would not eat rather than offend his weak Brother and there is no one thing more press'd by Christ than Charity which I leave to the Gent's Consideration at his Leisure But he objecteth against the Author for saying That as well different Thoughts may represent the Worship of God and his Son Jesus Christ as different Words can represent the same Thoughts which the Gent. termeth an extravagant Assertion in the literal Sense of it to which I answer It is possible I may have Thoughts of God's several Representation of himself as by Moses by the Man Christ by his Apostles which is to worship him for his gradual Exertion of himself and in the Wisdom and Method of his Operation and otherwise I may reflect upon the Creation of the World beyond that upon the first Race of Intellectuals and then again of the fall of man his being thereby subjected to God's Wrath and finally of Christ's Passion which put us again into a potentiality of being saved by all which to instance in no more I do render him no different but one Worship though every part of my Worship be not at all times subtiliz'd in my Imagination and Memory Therefore though I should admit to the Gentleman that the Worship of God is essentially plac'd in the Thoughts it doth not thence follow as he would have it though illogically that different Thoughts must make different Worships for there is allways an Identity of Worship both natural and grounded upon revealed Truths and if internal Worship be no more than conceiving of all ways according to the best of my Reason so govern'd to honour God by from and under the Satisfaction to me of his incomprehensible Existence and Power I shall have much Peace by it Again How disingeniously the Gent. endeavoureth to possess his Readers that the Author goeth about to prove a man may be excusable though he followeth humane Reason to the denyal of Christianity when the Author expresly saith pag. 57. and 58. That the best and truest humane Reason could not have found out of it self the Wisdom of God in a Mystery ev'n that hidden Wisdom which God ordain'd before the World which is the Mystery of Christ Jesus Christ for saith the Author it was necessary it should be first revealed by the Spirit of God which can only discover the deep things of God but as soon as God had revealed it by Miracles fulfilling of Prophesies humane Reason was able to behold it and confess it not that Grace had alter'd the Eye-sight of humane Reason but that it had drawn the Object nearer to it So far is the Learned Author from alledging that a man may be excusable by following of Reason to the Denyal of Christianity that he hath made it primarily subservient to the Divine Spirit and yet capable to embrace the rationability of Scripture-evidence which is one of the main but not the sole Foundations of Christianity And for Answer to the Gentleman 's confident Challenge to the Author that he would prove that ever the heathen Greeks had amongst them any Question which they defended more directly contrary to the Christian Religion than the Author 's I suppose he meaneth our Relyance upon Reason I will Instance in one only though I might produce more and that is the Epicureans Doctrine which acknowleding God deny'd nevertheless his Providence by pretending it below and inconsistent with his Majesty Divine to
Gent. has offer'd against Humane Reason Upon Review of his Answer I am oblig'd to say once more that one part of three in it swells with illogical Consequences and is against constant Experience for he undertakes to shew what mischiefs must come to pass if Liberty of Conscience were permitted as to that 't is plainly otherwise for since Liberty has been generally assum'd the Nation has been very peaceable and obedient every way otherwise this I say is another experimental confutation of the main part of his Answer Therefore I would not have the Gent. spoil the Tone of his Stomach by Choler if I do discomply with him in not granting the not so horrible consequences of such a Liberty as he presumes contrary to Reason and Experience For if the Gent's desire had been seconded with Execution rigorously against the Dissenters it might have hazarded the putting of the English Nation into great Disorder by this time his words being Pag. 152 of Plain Dealing That if the Nobility and Gentry will not suppress the Sectaries by the Execution of the Laws they will soon arrive at that height that the Sword must do it or else there will be no Government at all in our Nation but what if it be impracticable to suppress them because the People will not accuse one another 'T is true Reason of State has been forc'd to strike smartly that other sort of men who by their barbarous and impolitick Actions have dared to confront the Government but I hope they will be made wiser hereafter by the late Examples of publick and infamous Inflictions for it seems the Common Law is in many Cases in the breasts of the Judges de Modo Poenae And let the Event be what it will to use the Gent's own words in the close of his Answer I must also with him profess that I have fully satisfi'd not only my Conscience but my Reason also which is the surer way and from better motives in this Reply by shewing my self according to my Duty a sincere Lover of Peace of Religion in general and of that particular Religion the support whereof I have asserted to be the true Interest of England and was alwayes so esteem'd since the Reformation And I will add my promise to the Gent. and that upon the word of a Gentleman which ought to be as sacred as that of a Priest that if he shall please to give me a Rejoynder without departure from his first Plea I will not demurr for want of Form but leave the Dispute to the Censure of indifferent Judges upon the whole Argument viz. Whether Humane Reason be not the best and safest Guide with its due helps beyond Popes Councils Fathers Canons and all Books whatsoever the Scripture excepted which yet if any man will ask me how I think to understand I can give him no other Answer but this that I must do it by Reason which is the only Talent God has indu'd me with for my preservation here and hereafter and by which and no other mediation it 's possible for a man of good Vnderstanding and not clogg'd with false Principles to be satisfy'd that the natural Dictates of God Reason carry no repugnancy to the Law and Will of God revealed in the Scripture the study of which Learning is the foundation of all true Ratiocination and the most generous and most useful Science for all men to aspire unto who would know their respective Duties as Christians and Subjects and upon the Presumtion of which Axiome it is that our Law of England if it were well digested into Method certainly the best in the World does say that if any Law shall be enacted contrary to Reason it is void eo instante because contrary to God's undoubted Eternal Law the Law of Reason my Province to maintain wherein if any thing have slipt from my Pen not consistent with the Duty of a good Subject or true Christian I do submissively and heartily beg pardon for it And to compleat my candid and at present sole Design of supporting Reason's Energy and for the justification of H. the Eighth's forsaking the Roman Church and thereby to justifie the Reformed Protestant Religion let the Reader consult the Decretory Council held under and by the Command of Pope Paul the Third 1538 Printed 1609 at London and taken out of Mr. Crashaw's Library then Preacher of the Temple wherein the Abuses of the Roman Ecclesiasticks are manifested under the Certificate of Nine of the most Eminent Cardinals then living whereof Pool was one and Sadolete another to whose Inspection the Inquiry was then referr'd by the said Pope which Abuses the Court of Rome would not then correct nor are they yet corrected the Book being suppress'd by Order of that Church and coming to my hands something late from a worthy Bencher of Grayes Inn which otherwise had sooner been made Use of to prove Reason a safer Guide than that Church which pretends to Infallibility and may serve for Answer to that Romanist who published some weak Reflections upon our Author's Discourse of Humane Reason who if he fail'd in any thing handled in his Book 't was in his a little too slightly referring the Cause of H. the Eighth's deserting of the Roman See to his Wantonness c. For that there were many other concurring motives to his Desertion is very probable from some Speeches I have seen of his in Parliament and from Histories about him who was tho a severe yet withal a very stout and inquisitive Prince and fitted thereby for the Work he so worthily began and whereof the Advantage accrues to us at this time Such are the unsearchable depths of Providence which tho few observe and fewer are willing to resign their Wills unto will do what is best for good men Lastly Because some men are most guided by Book Authorities I think fit to add that Montaigne Erasmus Raymond Sebond Charone Cassauder Chillingworth Cartesius Milton Gell Baxter and Hobbs also with others of Fame as D. Stillingfleet not to forget Bishop Tayler have unanimously approv'd of Reason as the best Guide and favour'd or cooly advis'd a circumscrib'd Toleration I having named Grotius before but I refer the ingenuous Reader once for all to that excellent Discourse of the Rise and Power of Parliaments Laws Courts c. and of Religion printed 1677. by way of Letter to a Parliament-man wherein a Toleration in Religion here for all but the Jesuits and Seculars is argued to be not onely Political but highly Rational and consonant to the Doctrine of the Holy Jesus of which Opinion till I am convinc'd otherwise by Reason I am resolv'd to be and no longer for I cannot Mean time as a Corollary to this Reply I subjoyn with submission that it appears plainly by his Majesties Royal Father 's Golden Book he was not much averrse to it and that ev'n Charles the Fifth during the Interim see Sleydan did allow a kind of Toleration in Germany where I leave the Cause but really unwillingly for further Proofs crowd so fast into me that to forbear venting them is a kind of Disease upon me tho I hope not Mortal Neither do I stand in awe of any Censure upon my Conclusions already publish'd by the future Impressions of any Bigotical Opponent whatsoever Epitaphium Cliffordianum HIC jacet insignis Cliffordi capsula terrae Reddita sed melior pars resoluta Polo Carmine non opus est famam celebrare polite Ni fallor Libro gloria certa micat Humanae Rationis opus munivit ultro Esse ducem vitae subsidiumque viae Si quae praeterea superaddere vota Poēsis Auderet nitida sacrificanda manu Englished HEre snatcht by Death Clifford interr'd does lye Whose Nobler Part is vehicl'd on high There needs no Muse to celebrate his Fame Whose Book eterniz'd has his gen'rous Name He proved Humane Reason's worth so well From other Arts it bears away the Bell. If any Poet superadds to this With impure hands his Holocaust's amiss His Character AS to his Person 't was little his Face rather flat than oval his Eye serious Countenance Leonine his Constitution Cholerick Sanguine tinctur'd with Melancholy of a facetious Conversation yet a great Humorist of quick Parts so of quick Passions and Venereal thence Lazy he was learned very critical positive and proud charitable enough and scorn'd to be rich he had a will to be just would drink to excess sometimes His Religion was that of his Countrey he was always Loyal to his King and a very good Poet. He died 'twixt 50 and 60 at Sutton's Hospital whose Master he then was not much lamented by the Pensioners few knew him well He was a man strangely compos'd 't is question'd whether his Virtues or Vices were most I incline to the last yet he departed peaceably and piously FINIS
Ends. Yet the Gent. is pleas'd to term the Author's Argument proving invincibly the necessity of our Appeal to Humane Reason a foolish Argument But some are too hasty to wear Swords I might add that Obedience is more chearfully and rationally given to Princes from their Subjects from their being protected by their Princes Self-preservation being an essential part of the Law of Nature and involves the Summary of the Laws of Reason to do as a man would be done unto for if I abuse my Power there are Arms stronger than mine And as things are in my poor Opinion at this Juncture it comports best with the Interest of England and consequently with the King's Interest whose Greatness and Safety is involv'd in the Riches and Strength of his Subjects that all Dissenting Parties about the External Worship of God for Opinions may be and will be internally free should be kept as near as can be in a Balance the Romanists excepted so far as they are inconsistent with the Government because 't is said they would bring in a Foreign Head all which W. Penn has substantially proved in a little Treatise lately published and dispers'd into most Parliament mens hands by himself which to speak truly is accurately candidly and juicioussy compos'd and with a good Masculine Style free from Canting which without offering violence to Reason can never be answered for it is proved from the Laws of Reason from Scripture from the Laws of Nations generally and from those of England and relates to Eternal Happiness after this Life as well as to Temporals Besides I am very well satisfied the Scale of Trade would never have held as it has here since the King came in if the Dissenters had been rigorously punished in London the Center of Commerce 'T is true now that the Dissenting Parties are fix'd under their respective Ministers into a kind of Corporate Societies and their Ministers live by it it may be suppos'd it will be more difficult every day than other to make such a Comprehensive Law as is desir'd by the most Prudent men to bear well at this time As to that the Parliament can cure it well enough with the Permission of the King and by apt Qualifications and Restrictions if it pleases And I am inform'd Judge Hale did draw an Act for that end which Sir Orlando Bridgman put him upon but there is a Time for every thing and God's Time is the best time And now to return to our Province that the Gent. may not think I have forgot him I must presume to tell him his Answer does contain many other frivolous Objections impertinent Stories wild and illogical Conclusions deduc'd from precarious Principles or totally Foreign to our Author's Treatise and Design which I cannot hold my self oblig'd to reply Neither did I ever promise or undertake to obey the Gent. in such invitations nor to follow him in such extravagant Processions for I hold it loss of time and a kind of sawing off the Reader 's Ears We are indeed too much pester'd with Books every day creeping abroad scribled Pro and Con by passionate men which signifie nothing But the Design of our Author was in Appearance at least pious and honourable to pacifie all parties in Religion I mean all Protestants of what Species soever here in England with a Lenitive both charitable and rational which may seem now seasonable since it 's found by Experience such Corrosives as have been applyed prove altogether ineffectual And let us consider maturely the Wish of Moses I would that all God's people were Prophets the Example of our blessed Saviour in chiding of his Disciples Who ask'd Fire from Heaven c. of St. Paul's being all things to all men that of following Paul Cephas or Apollo and the Patterns of the Primitive Times of the Church when preaching was as it ought to be now catechetical not theatrical I say let us consider if all the Causes and Reasons before sparsedly given in this Reply and the Complexion of things do not seem to conspire for a legal Plaster to cure that incancerating Humor of vexing one another about Trifles at least Indifferencies compar'd to the Elements of Christianity or to the Essence thereof Good Laws and well executed to suppress Vice will keep all steady let the old Gentleman at Rome be as angry as he pleases he has got nothing by us of late and had he seen the throng in our Streets of stout Fellows when his Effigies was burnt last 't would have made him despair of being able to riggle in here The Nation is well rouz'd up and we have a Wise Prince able to judge of Exigencies all the little Shams and pretended Plots I say pretended Plots of ill-affected men of all sorts to the Government begin to dwindle and look as they indeed are ridiculous How far the main Design of our Adversaries does still advance and by what Artifices Authority must judge and does I doubt not take Care to prevent the Mischief Now as to our Design in this Reply I hope enough hath been said to satisfie all ingenious men and unprejudic'd that Reason is the safest Guide and consequently that the Author of that most ingenious much admired and fortunate Treatise entitled Humane Reason well deserves the Gratulation of every judicious person for his Pains in composing it As to the Reader of this Paper I shall not as the Author of Plain dealing does implore his reasonable and impartial Censure though I know 't is a very critical Age because if he that reads be rational I am sure I shall have it if he be otherwise I cannot have it therefore I will not ask it Nor will I counterbuff the Gent. with Grub-street Poetry in Opposition to his Comical Ralpho though I can do it with as nimble a Sarcasme it being at best only a gentile kind of Buffoon'ry something like the Rymes which the Parson of Pentlow in Essex when he was seventy at least told me he tyed in Paper about a Buzards Neck taken a little before in Lime-twigs which had snatcht away one of his Gosslings and which follows here The Parson of Pentlow that now is For stealing of one poor Gosling of his Has seal'd up mine Eyes and stich'd up my Bum And bid me go fly to the day of Doom What became of the Buzard so used after she had spent her Wings I never heard but if it were plain it was not fair dealing from a man of his Coat to be so cruel to the hungry Bird. Neither was it Charity in the Gent. we oppose to design the switching out of our Author's Light because he saw farther into a Mill-stone than other men and taught the Geese how to avoid the Fox by perching upon the tree of Life Reason whose Fruit when taken into a Stomach not overcharg'd with Choler always purifies the Brain I have done with the Gent. and having a small Book just now sent me by a very ingenious Lady