to accuse a man's self let those who are disturb'd blow the Coal first this is a pretty Low not an High Commission Court but like it Certainly it had been more ingenuous if he had not mistaken the Handle for the Gent. to have manifested to the Reader what was justly exceptionable in these two pages but he taketh another Course and seems to hold it for granted the Author meant the Church of England I know not how to judge of an Author's meaning but by his words and they must be these in the 12 page viz. That the greatest Inconveniences meaning Vexatious and troublesome Heats hind'ring Peace every where have been begotten from the strange and uncharitable Pride of those men who having justly vindicated their own Reason from the Tyranny of unnecessary Bonds endeavour nevertheless to impose upon others so that not the use of such Liberty but the appropriating it to our selves only is the sole Fountain of these Disorders That this is true who is so blind but may observe and that it is applicable especially to such who study all imaginable ways to punish men who dissent and cannot comply to their so much extoll'd but alterable external Worship which is at least would be very prejudicial to Trade if the Rigour of Law did run with a fierce Current I say Trade and Commerce and how one Trade dependeth upon another I suppose the Gent. little considers Now as to what the Author saith That some Errors are the inseparable Companions of Humane Nature a Tincture of self Opinion being in most men which Reason ought to correct I think it was no great Crime to say so And to give the Gentleman his due it was none of his least Policies silently to pass by the Author's never to be enough commended words pag. the 14. of his Book which are that all the Miseries which have follow'd the Variety of Opinions since the Reformation have proceeded entirely from these two Mistakes viz. the tying of Infallibility to whatsoever we think Truth and Damnation to whatsoever we think Errour a most uncharitable Method to Judge by I leave the Readers to consider who are guilty But the Gent. will never leave beating upon the old String that the Church punisheth none for Errour unless it be accompany'd with Contumacy and Contempt of Authority He meaneth unless the parties refuse to do as she would have them externally or shall discourse any thing repugnant to her Doctrines but I think this is another Error inseparably accompanying humane Nature if it be an Error for who can be contented to run on in the Course of his Life under the Umbrage of an implicite Faith which the Gent. labours to infuse every where though under other more specious Pretexts whereas 't is apparent cool and rational men do soonest obey and conform every where I wish heartily those men whom our Law intrusteth with the Power of Excommunication were more careful upon what Grounds that now contemned but of old Solemn Exclusion should be issued out for familiar Storms afright little Next as to what the Gent. inserteth that the Author might have spar'd his Discourse about the Causes of so much bloodshed since the Reformation I wish it had not been true and the Gent. must give me Leave for this once to mind him that while he so confidently excuseth the Church of that Crime and all her true Sons thereof he forgot that haughty Bishop which I suppose he will grant was a legitimate Son of the Church who in our late civil Wars having deserted the Royal side defended with Arms a Castle against his Sovereign's Forces and it is yet fresh in Memory how much blood was spilt in the Low Countries in the sixty years War 'twixt Spain and the Dutch and upon what Cause let the Gent. consider it and the direful Effects of the Scottish Covenant but I stop here Heret lateri lethalis arando Then for what is presently objected against the Author's peaceable Doctrine pag. 11. 12. viz. That to permit different Beliefs would take away all Occasions of Quarrels when both he himself is suffered to enjoy his own Opinion and his own Opinion is this that he ought to suffer others to do the same This I say is perverted by the Gentleman for the Author only speaketh of Opinions not of Practises disturbing the publick Peace for that they may be justly punished for breaking the Peace was never deny'd but that the Difference in Opinion must necessarily beget Disturbances against the publick Peace is de facto inconsequent from many years Experience in England of late so that the Peace being unbroken and all Obedience yielded to every Command which is not about Conformity ecclesiastical they that shall unseasonably against the most general Inclination of the People actually disturb the Dissenters in their respective Exercises of their Consciences are more likely to break the Peace than the Dissenters who keep it and I say are oblig'd in point of Interest to keep it that is in Respect of Trade the main thing That the Papists do promote a general Toleration of all Opinions in Religion I believe nor can any man blame them it being their Interest that way to shroud themselves from the Rigor of the Laws But for the Presbyterians who alone it is said are so fierce that they will abate nothing by their good wills of their endless Ambition to get power to prosecute others I suppose their Zeal over-boyling and really they are too blame if they do so I could never think any man very eager for External Ceremonies which is but the shell of Religion wise therefore and I blush to name it far more those of New England were too blame for their barbarous Cruelty in destroying some Dissenters there since the very Original Grant from the Crown did express the Royal condescentions to have been for the ease of their Consciences who at first transplanted themselves thither Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Nor do I think it impertinent to insert that single Argument of Grotius who I named before to prove the irrationability of any other as well as of Sanguinary Punishments for a bare Opinion I say that single Argument but a good one from the Example of the Jews permission of the Sadduces not only to enjoy the liberty of their Opinion so contrary to what was the Natural Religion but also to enjoy Judicial Places amongst them The next thing considerable is the Gentleman's huffing at the Author for his Answer to this Objection presuppos'd by himself viz. That if we guide our selves by our own Reasons we shall differ from our selves as well as others and change our Religion as often as our Habits unto which the Answer is given in the Text That he cannot conceive the fear of this Scandal obligeth us to a blind unalterable obedience to those Laws and Opinions to which either the Fate of our Birth and Education or other Accidents have engaged us and this is called
whose Excellency I defend and endeavour to prove not onely to be the safest but the onely guide with due helps out of Gods revealed Will which also Reason teaches to understand and apply Besides It is the Magistrate's true Interest so to provide by prevention who can never be supported but must fail when either he wants Power de facto which all fiery Zelots of any side would circumscribe to discharge his Duty to God and Man or shall be oblig'd to part with any of his necessary and essential Rights of Sovereignty whereof want of Money is alwayes the Parent and which makes me think that no man can be judg'd a good Subject nor a Lover of that Government under which we have liv'd for so many Ages happily who designs such Limitations to his King as may hinder the discharge of his Trust as a King Nor can any man be accounted a good Counsellor to his Prince who shall advise such wayes tho never so specious as if followed may lessen his Master's Reputation of sincere Care and Study for the Preservation of his Subjects to which Distemper so pernicious and fatal to the best Princes where their Favourites are false or weak 't is impossible a great General Councel whose Safety is involv'd in the Safety of their King can be obnoxious considering the Elements of such a Councel for whose Session and Progression all men not conscious of ill Actions towards the Publick weal of their Native Countrey really pray Yet I will not deny but some others ought to be rather convinc'd by Reason than accus'd for Malignancy against the Publick such are those who take wrong measures and create to themselves unnecessary Fears from our late Abuses in the times of Civil Wars here and of that Usurped Power by a sort of Masterless and ill men to the Reproach and indelible Infamy of our English Nation tho God knows it was against the will of the greatest and most considerable part thereof Such are others and possibly well-meaning men who from the inutility of another now dissolv'd long P. since to say no worse or from the ill Complexion of Affairs now and difficulty of Cure by Parliamentary Methods or from the immoderate Heat of some too many Great but young men who probably have not well consider'd the Late Civil Wars nor the Danger and Incivility of too eagerly pressing the Sovereign Power to unseasonable Concessions not of absolute Necessity or upon other more remote or distantial Fears whose Effects to obviate only lies in the Power of God or from what other Causes I know not that they and other men become opposite to the general desires of all those who are satisfied that no other means can be found out to set us right every way but a true understanding in P. betwixt his Majesty and his People for the securing us from the most unkind unprovok'd indefatigable and industrious Designs of all such who either blinded by furious Zeal moved by Interest or which is worst of all and which I am loth to believe out of mere spite leave no stone unturn'd to introduce a Foreign Jurisdiction tho hitherto thanks be to God such Concussions have rather fix'd and awaken'd us than weaken'd our Foundations both Politick and Religious for whose supportation to speak humanely we are more beholding to his Majesty to the braveness of the Gentry and City than to the Zeal of some others as much oblig'd by their Interest if they could see it But as to that Pretence that our Laws are already so good as there needs no better certain it is there is and always has been and will be from the nature of Laws themselves Causes and Accidents which no Humane Laws nor the Wit or Reason of any Body of Men could â—ore-see to explain alter and enact new Laws unto which ends if there be any better way or method than Humane Reason I would be glad to understand it and then and not till till then I shall stand convinc'd that what the Gent. I oppose has offer'd in disparagement thereof is cogent But if Reason be the onely way to settle Peace I say Reason which is antecedent to all Laws and therefore the Determiner of the Rectitude and Obliquity of every Action a thing confess'd every where let us stick to it unless we desire to be inroll'd amongst the number of those who are delirious in one single point not by defectuous Procreation but from the untamed Carcer of their own Passions For whether some mens adhesion to others of contrary Principles upon general Pretences of Love to mankind or of an exploded Claim to Infallibility or that other vain fears which have disorder'd their Understandings or whether the deplorable and impolitick Expressions of some of our Clergy-men as to their rather enduring the Roman than the Presbyterian Form whereof there is no fear be not a plain evidence that such Persons are beside themselves I leave wise men to determine And now I shall forbear the Gent. a little while fearing to have tired the Reader 's Patience and being very sensible 't is something against the grain to plane with a Tool whose edge is already bazal'd by his taking of it by the wrong handle or not steady holding of it or otherwise possibly by his overweening conceit of having the better Cause but 't is no great matter which way it come nor which of us two are mistaken if some other better workman may chance to be awakend or rowz'd up to correct us both which may be necessary for ought I know for while two strive a third often gets the prize this I am sure of men of general Conversation are the best Judges not mere Book-men the want of which has if not corrupted yet apparently weakn'd the Judgment of a brave Person and worthy the Title of a Learned and very Rational men Sir M. Hale that Vertuous and Equitable Judge whose Law as it is Piacular for me to question yet if I should with his Philosophy unwritten the wisest would conclude me his Friend This was that large capacious Head who wanted the happiness of Conversation which had he used many Notions which he Printed and thought rare because appearing so to him in his Study would have appeared very trite to himself and consequently he had never by their Publication taken off from the general opinion most men had of his Excellent Endowments Natural and acquired Parts but all men have their blind sides The next shall be T. Hobs whose Arguments no man ever condemn'd who read him without Prejudice and could understand them and whose Writings plainly clear the difference betwixt a poring and a thinking man which last he was pious in his Life and dying like a true Christian Philospher yet certainly it had been impossible notwithstanding his great Advantages of Learning Quiet long Life and Health if he had not travell'd and convers'd with the greatest Wits much abroad and at home in his younger time for him to
Majesty more secure at home and more formidable abroad which that it may be effected is so reasonable a Prayer that I am confident all those who but pretend to so Excellent a Ladies Favour as Reason is and love their Native Soil or enjoy the Repose of England must cordially second it and will shew the Obduration of that sort of men whom neither the long and prosperous Reign of that Queen who baffl'd the then greatest Prince and greatest Bishop can yet convince 't was God's special Favour to a very good Cause nor that the Preservation of his Majesties Grandfather and the Body of the State from that black Design was beyond Humane Wit and the mere Blessing of the Divine Power nor that the Counsels of such who in the late unhappy Times produc'd such deplorable Effects were influenc'd by that very Society which is not only troublesome now to us as Protestants but to the rest of the Romanists of milder tempers these I say unconvinc'd of these Truths I must leave to their own Weakness for it can be no other unless it be mere obstinacy or ill Will and they must thank themselves if thereby they at last oblige our Government to a smarter Execution of Laws against them and that deservedly tho I confess 't is the less wonder to me that Persons of inferiour degree among the Romanists should grope in the dark who are the proper Subjects of the Kingdom of Darkness since Day-light from the present Mists interposing at home can hardly appear tho it may be pious to suppose God may be pleas'd even by the Contests and alternate Disputes of our own Clergy to cancel all beggarly Rudiments of indifferent Forms so much too much contended for and perhaps too eagerly oppos'd at this instant Mean time 't is observable what inveterate Enmity there has alwayes been betwixt those who claim their Spiritual Commission to preach from Heaven and those who either do or should know the Laws are their best Commission witness the Violence and very fatal to our Peace of the high Church-men before the Great Parliament against the old Puritan Ministers then the hard usage of these last when they got into the Power towards the Episcopal Party during the Civil Wars the present eagerness of some to punish the Nonconforming Ministers which is not to do as we would be done unto but the Jesuits and Seculars do the same such is the general Disease of Ecclesiasticks every where The truth is here is great clamour in some Pulpits and otherwise against the sin of Separation to prove it so tho 't is by others as briskly defended not to be a Sin but how little is said there against the publick Sins of the Nation Many exclaim against Petitioning but how few stand right as to the Publick Interest as if the Laity were so blind as not to observe these things and that they that are not for truth are against it Further It has been often known in England and in our time that Souldiers of different sides upon Renditions of Garrisons Acts of Grace c. have contracted Friendships and lov'd one another afterwards that Complainants and Defendants after long and exasperated Chancery Suits have agreed lovingly to a high degree of Friendship that Trades-men have lov'd and help'd one another who have been Competitors when there was room for both to live that the greatest Hectors and Huffs after the Vapours of Wine were spent have forgot their Quarrels and hugg'd one another Nay our Women who so seldome agree the fair ones when Preferment has been open'd to each of two have lov'd one another but the Anger and Jealousies of that other sort of men is unappeasable and will be so while one side rubs old sores too much and the other side gives uncivil Language ev'n to those who have best defended the main Posts against the Romanists who also pretend to Reason and take advantage by these interferings But what 's the Reason of this Heat at home Is it not for Power and from Ambition contrary to their Master's Doctrine 't were better if they would let these Disputes alone and according to their Duties teach men Virtue properly consisting in obedience to Laws but these janglings will be endless to the disquiet of the People while both sides violate by their Reflections the Act of Grace so solemnly penn'd which retrospects to 1637 and extends to 1661. For my part I know not why any wise man should concern himself which side speaks most to the purpose for 't is all to me good purpose since in other things about Religion the more we know the worse they like us But 't is well we have at last found out that Ignorance can never in England be the true Parent of either Civil or Theological Devotion and 't is plain that unless the little but notable Weekly Describer of the Roman Devices which out-does all the Theaters how glorious soever since the Fire I had almost said Pulpits if that Pen I say cannot be corrected which is true as to matter of Fact we shall yet infinitely improve our Understandings and if the Coffee-houses those open Enemies and dangerous to the sick Kingdom of Fairies be not suppress'd the solid truth of our Author's Assertion which the Gent. carped at but weakly will shine still brighter viz. That it is impossible any man should have been is or hereafter can be guided by any other thing but his own Reason as in all other things so in matters of Religion I say sayes the Author impossible for in all Belief and in all other Actions the last Appeal is to Reason for I believe this or that Doctrine or do this or that action because I have some Reason for it and that this does justifie the whole Doctrine of his Treatise and my Reply is evident enough Wherefore this Apologetick Review and Appendix is written by me who am one of those very loth to be bestridden by the Gallopers of either side tho I should rejoyce to see our Clergy love another and the Dissenting Ministers also to love the other which can never be whilst the Paper skirmishing grows ranker and ranker and to speak out there can never be any cordial Affection ev'n amongst the Conforming Ministers while Preferments and maintenance Ecclesiastical are so unequally divided while so many worthy men can scarce get Bread or must live too meanly for the Clergy-man of an indifferent Living is pinch't too much and mean time too many others abound with various Preferments 't is high time to reform this Evil and specially now when the Harvest is great the Labourers are too many or might be enough if they were paid for their Work which they are ready to do or have done and ought to be retain'd to do while the Vermin are hov'ring about to devour and spoil the Crop by wide Mouths and sharp Talons But curst Cows have short Horns and we begin neither to admire the Policies of that Party nor