assist each other and by these mutual offices of endearment and kindness much of the miseries and infelicities of Life would be removed prevented and sweetened and the World be a much more happy place than now it is The holiness of mens hearts and lives would be very much encreased and advanced by Union and Peace Quarrels and Contentions do heat mens spirits and fill them full of rancour spite malice and bitterness It makes them fearful jealous and suspicious of each other and these kind of unhallowed passions do drink up their spirits and possess their souls insomuch that they have no room or leisure for the introducing of pious affections holy habits and a divine frame and temper of mind whereas were men at Union and Peace they would be free of these Diabolical Passions and would be at leisure to trim and adorn their own Souls with the Ornaments and Perfections of Christians They would have time and opportunity to impress the Image of God upon them and their communion in the Publick Worship of God would contribute great assistance to it In fine the Church of God on Earth would be some small figure and resemblance of the Church of God in Heaven were it united and did the Members of it live in Love and Peace together There are no Divisions or Separations There are no Enmities Variances or Strifes All love and serve God with one heart and one consent all have a mutual love and kindness for each other And something like this would be seen upon Earth if Christians and Churches would or could unite and live in Amity and Peace But alas Unity and Peace seem to have forsaken the Earth and some men seem resolved that they shall never return again the conditions they propose for the restauration of it being utterly impracticable as shall be said and proved anon SECT IV. THE Excellency and Advantages of Union and Peace being such as I have mentioned to which many more might be added it will easily be granted that all Christians are obliged to endeavour the obtaining of it Things so worthy and excellent so profitable and advantagious to Kingdoms and Nations to Cities Towns and Villages Families and single persons to the Bodies and Souls of men certainly ought to be prosecuted with utmost might and endeavour it should be sought as Silver and searched after as fine Gold All just and prudent means should be essayed for the attaining of it Our Interest as well as our Duty layeth on us the greatest obligations to seek and pursue Peace and Unity The love of our selves and our own advantages as well as the many Precepts and earnest Exhortations of Jesus Christ and his Apostles should make us earnest and zealous in our labours to obtain it Strife and Contention Divisions and Factions destroy and take away all the comforts and pleasures of life and are great breaches of the Divine Commandments yea they are a mighty reproach and scandal to the Christian Religion and huge pleasure and gratification to the Devil that great Enemy of God and Men. And surely methinks if men would but give themselves the liberty of a little sober consideration they should not with so much earnestness obstinacy and zeal offend God mischief and undo themselves in time and eternity for no other reason than to please the Devil and gratifie some brutish and prophane passions which have him for their Author and Original But men will not consider or if they do consider they advise with their lusts but not with their reason with their passions and prejudices but not with their consciences and thence 't is that the effect of their consideration is many times more pernicious and prejudicial to Peace and Union than if they had totally neglected it For 't is impartial Reason and well inform'd Judgment and Conscience that speak in the favour of Union and Peace but Ambition and Pride Love of Riches Empire Honour and Dominion are for Faction and Division They are for setting the Church and the World too in a flame hoping to make some advantage thereby These things peradventure will be granted by the most of men those that are the greatest Dividers will acknowledge the excellency of Peace and the duty and obligation of labouring after it they will confess that it is the Interest of Mankind to prosecute and obtain it and to advise with their reason and not with their passions when they consider how it be may recalled and restored again to the Church of God and Societies of Men. They will also grant that there is fault somewhere and that some men are to be blamed that there is so little Amity and Peace among Christian People and Churches and that it is become such a mighty difficulty to heal the breaches of Christendom and to compound the Differences that are in some particular Parts and Kingdoms of it But although all men will acknowledge that the fault lies somewhere yet there are none of the Contending Parties that will lay any blame at their own doors The Church of Rome does acknowledge and some of their Writers seem to bewail the Divisions and Factions that are in the Christian World but that they are no cause of them they do avow with all the assurance imaginable The Calvinists and Lutherans do also confess and bewail the Divisions among Protestants but they will both protest that they are not the faulty Cause thereof To come nearer home the Conformists and Nonconformists in the Church of England do sufficiently confess and many of them I believe lament the Differences that are among us but neither of them will acknowledge themselves worthy of any blame They are both Innocent in their Opinions but both Faulty in the Opinion of their Adversaries But peradventure an imprejudiced and unbyassed Spectator if such a one be to be found may think that there are Faults on both sides among the several Factions of Christendom though not equally great The Romanists without doubt are the greatest Make-bates that are upon Earth and the most Faulty Dividers and yet I believe that there are some Protestants that make the Difference greater in some things than really it is betwixt us and them And there is no man that shall calmly read the Late Theses of the Learned Le Blank but will be satisfied of it The Lutherans certainly are much to blame in separating from the Calvinists and speaking and writing so bitterly and spitefully concerning them And yet 't is possible that the Calvinists may not be altogether Innocent for amongst them also are found men of unyielding spirits and such as lay too much weight upon small things As for the Contentions among our selves if I may be pardoned the liberty of saying it I do not doubt but we are all to blame SECT V. NOW the great Cause in my apprehension of all the Divisions Quarrels Schisms and Separations that are in the Christian World is the making and imposing things unnecessary doubtful difficult unintelligible
as the Degrees and varieties of Mens understandings are vastly great and many so are their prejudices and Anticipations Some persons suck in certain Opinions with their Milk they receive them from their Parents and such as give them their Education Thus some are prejudiced for the Doctrine of Calvin and others for the Doctrine of Aaminius thus some persons are prejudiced for Episcopal Government in the Church and others for a Presbyterian Parity Thus some contract a kindness for a pompous and ceremonious Religion and Way of Worshipping God others contract a fondness for a very plain and and simple Way and Method of Worship and Devotion Moreover some men read but one sort of Books and care not to read any thing that is written in opposition to their Anticipations or if they do read any thing of that nature 't is with so great a prejudice that their judgments are rather confirmed than altered thereby They are strongly persuaded of the truth of their own apprehensions what is intended to shake them doth but as the Wind by Trees fix and establish them That this is a fault I do easily grant but 't is easier to observe than cure it and that mens prejudices are strangely fixed and confirmed thereby cannot be denied Besides men are strangely prejudiced against some Opinions by the infamous reports that have been raised concerning those that have defended and maintained them Thus the Papists are prejudiced against the Doctrine of Protestants by impudent and frontless Lyes that have been raised against Luther and Calvin and other great instruments in the Reformation And thus many among us have an Implacable Pique and Displeasure against Dissenters and all their Opinions because some men do report them a company of seditious People that can never be quiet but are always libelling Authority and disturbing all Order and Governments wheresoever they live And others are as much prejudiced against Episcopacy and the peculiar Opinions of that sort of men because they are reported to be a generation of men that are proud and imperious lovers of Empire and Domination that engross the Revenues of the Church and employ them in Luxury and Sensuality but care not for the Souls of men If they will obey the Orders of the Church and submit to its Institutions they may defie all the Laws of God and without restraint or control make what haste they please to Hell they countenance the Ungodly and Prophane and persecute and oppress such as fear God tremble at his word they are impatient of such Meetings and Assemblies where a company of poor Christians meet together to hear Gods Word and call upon his Name but they can very patiently bear the Assemblies of riotous Sensualists and Blasphemers that convene to defie God promote their own Damnation and of as many others as they can Again some Persons receive prejudice against Opinions from the real faults of some single Persons or a few men that have embraced and entertained them Some Dissenters have used some uncomely indecorous and unadvised Expressions in their extemporate Prayers and therefore they reproach and reject all extemporate Effusions some of them have preached Doctrine not agreeable to some mens conceptions or have used homely Language and Similitudes and therefore all their Mouths must be stopped and the Church of God will do better without them than with them Some Conformists read the Liturgy without any seeming seriousness or Devotion they are in such haste to have done with it that they can scarce give themselves time enough to pronounce the words in their full extensions and therefore they infer that all forms of Prayer are inconsistent with and enemies to Devotion and good for nothing but to promote Laziness and introduce Formality and a kind of Lifeless Worship of God Another thing that sixes mens prejudices is their worldly Interest and Advantage this is that which is the strength of the Papacy and the support of the Antichristian Hierarchy and Kingdom The Romanists are by their Education seasoned and imbued with the Opinions of that Church and their Interest confirms them in the belief of them When they come to the use of their Reason and a Capacity of judging concerning them men do seldom embrace Opinions that are inconsistent with their worldly Advantages or forsake those though never so unreasonable that do favour and advance it By believing the Doctrine of that Church they possess Estates and Honours they live in Ease and Peasure and exercise Dominion over the Consciences of men and these things are pleasant to depraved Natures and corrupted Minds and by them men are charmed and bewitched into a Belief of the wildest and most unreasonable persuasions in the World 'T were impossible to hold the Members of the Church of Rome to a belief of its own Doctrine were there no worldly Interest to biass and sway their Judgments thereunto Bishopricks and Abbacies Caps and Miters and the many Preferments and Advantages wherewithal that Church abounds do more to preserve it than all the Power of Princes yea than all the writings of the greatest and most learned Champions of that cause And 't is not only in the Roman Church but in some other Churches of Christendom besides that Interest doth either form mens Opinions or fix their Anticipations and make them steddy and immutable therein The variety of mens Understandings and Prejudices being thus obviously great and many how is it possible that there should be Union and Concord among Christians if Church Communion be suspended upon the belief and acknowledgment of doubtful and unnecessary things May not their concord with as much reason be suspended upon a similitude of faces features and proportions SECT VII BUT I shall argue the improbability of it from Experience as well as from its proper Causes Do we not see great variety of judgments and apprehensions in all parts of Learning and Knowledge Do not Grammarians differ in the sense and meaning of words and in the explication of the Idiotismes and peculiarities of the learned Languages Do not our Mythologists differ in the account they give of the Fables of the Greek and Latine Poets Do not some Learned Men think that they are at least many of them corruptions of the true History of things which we have in the Holy Bible Hath not the Learned Bochartus among others given very probable reasons for it and hath not an English Doctor and Divine of our Church derided and laughed at him for it Have not and do not our Theological Criticks and Translators differ in their Opinions even concerning the Signification of words as about the Original of them Is there any agreement or concord among them or do we need to go far for proofs of it The first verse in the Bible will furnish us with enough ×‘×¨× ×©×™×ª In the beginning is translated by the Jerusalem Targum ×‘×—×•×›×ž× in Wisdom By the Arabick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first and by Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
of it and in the Effects that it produces in the World Union is the effect of good Knowledge sound Understanding for that Union that is seen among the Ignorant is no other than what is found in a heap of Logs or Stones which doth not indeed deserve that name Those that fill the World with Controversies Quarrels and Contentions are for the most part men of small understanding and of raw and undigested notions 'T is half-witted people that set the Churches of Christendom together by the Ears and kindle those flames in the House of God that are like utterly to waste and consume it Men of great understanding are modest and peaceable they will not contend for trifles nor express great Zeal for any thing but the great Essentials of Faith and Godliness They will not suspend the Peace of the Church upon uncertain or unnecessary things In things of that nature they can permit men to their Liberty and where Liberty is permitted there is seldom any Controversie but where there is unnecessary restraint there is everlasting quarrels and will be to all Generations Let me add further Union is an effect of great holiness and sanctity of mind and nature Let mens Knowledge be never so great if they be not born of God and partakers of a Spirit of Holiness and Sanctification they will quarrel and contend everlastingly not in compliance with their Consciences but in favour to their Lusts If enquiry be made 't will be found true that the holiest persons and such as have most of the Image of God impressed upon their Sou's are alwaies the most peaceable quiet and give least disturbance to the World and what I have said of Persons is true of Churches those Churches whose Members are most holy most renewed sanctified and transformed are the most freest from Divisions Quarrels and Separations Again Union is an Effect of great Self-denyal Mortification contempt of the World and all the Pomp and Glory of it This I do confess is comprehended in what I said in the preceding Paragraph but that what I intend may be the more obvious and apparent I have chosen to discourse it separately and by it self Men of unmortified Lusts and Passions men that cannot deny themselves in any thing men that are fond of the World and the Advantages of it will never rest nor permit others to do so They will move all stones and make all tryals that they can imagine will serve or advance their Pride their Ambition their Riches their Honours or whatever are their darling and be oved Lusts Many of the Antient Schisms and Heresies that so plagued the Church of God were occasioned by the Pride and Covetousness of Churchmen The Church continued for many years a Virgin Thebuthis was the first that corrupted it with false Doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he was not made a Bishop as Hegesippus reports Euseb lib. quar cap. 22. Novatianus a Presbyter of the Church of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being puffed up with Pride became the Author of a Sect which called themselves Catharists but by others were called Novatians Paulus Samosatenus broke the Peace of the Church and espoused the Doctrine of Ebion and Artemon and affirmed our Lord Jesus a man of common human Race 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eus lib. 7. cap. 27. And what he was for his Morals those that please may read Eus lib. 7. cap. 30. He was covetous unjust proud effeminate he permitted his Presbyters to partake in the same sins that conscience of their own guilt might hinder and restrain them from opening and exposing his vile abominations Arius was a proud man and affected Domination and because Alexander was preferred before him and made Bishop of Alexandria he mutinyed the Presbyters and raised those Divisions in that Church that from thence were spread into almost all the Christian World Vid. Theod. lib. 1. cap. 3. 4. But it would be endless to mention the Quarrels and Contentions which have been raised in the Church of God by men of unmortified Lusts and Passions and no Union or Peace will be had in the Christian world whilst those Vermine are lodged and nourished in the breasts of men They are humble mortified and self-denying men that live quietly and give no disturbance to the Church or World in which they live and whereof they are Members SECT III. SOmething having been said of the Causes of Union and Peace let me add some few words of the Effects thereof and but a few for I intend no large or elaborate Discourse Union would make the Church strong and impregnable were the Members thereof united in and among themselves Were they of one mind and one heart they would stand firm like a Rock against all the Assaults of their Enemies For besides their own proper strength which would be consequent to their Union God would stand by them and be their Protector and Defender 'T is Faction and Division that weakens the Church and causes God to withdraw his defence and guardianship from it and then it becomes a prey to the Enemies thereof Moreover were the Church of God at Union and Peace within it self it would be beautiful and lovely in the Eyes of the World Did the Members thereof agree together were they of one judgment in the Doctrines of Religion and of one practice in the duties and actions thereof how comely and decorous would the prospect be And how would it ravish those that behold and consider it even the very Enemies thereof would cry out and say How beautiful are thy Tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel Were the Church of God at Peace and Unity with it self it would be a mighty means to Convert the World and bring it over to the Christian Religion Were there a great and mutual Friendship and Amity among the several Parts and Members of it it would be a mighty Evidence of the Truth of Christianity and almost all Mankind would fall under the sorce of it The Authority thereof would be irresistible 't is the Factions the Feuds the Divisions the Strifes Hatreds and Contentions that are in Christendom and among the Churches thereof that makes them a scorn and abhorrence to Turks and Infidels as well as to the Atheistical and prophane that are among them 'T is the everlasting Quarrels and mutual Censures and Condemnations of each other that makes Christianity a poor languid thing and takes off all the convincing power thereof in the apprehension of its Enemies Again were the Church of God united and at Peace in it self the mutual offices of Love and Kindness of Charity and Compassion which would be exercised by the Members thereof would very much sweeten and abate the Miseries and Calamities of the present Life and State The Rich would minister to the wants and necessities of the Poor and the Poor would chearfully serve and minister to the advantages of the Rich. According to their capacities they would mutually help and
unprofitable and numerous the Conditions of Church Communion This hath rent and torn the Church of God in pieces these thirteen hundred years and yet those that are the Guides and Governours of Churches either cannot or will not see it Let the Histories of the Church be consulted and this may be easily observed What is it that divides the Greek and Roman Churches from each other What is it that divides the Greek Churches among themselves What is it that divides the Roman Churches from those of the Protestant Profession What divides the Lutherans and Calvinists What is it that divides the Christian People of this Nation Is it not the Imposing of things doubtful dark uncertain and unnecessary and this with a pertinacious and inflexible rigour and severity one against another Do not all these Churches agree in the great Essentials of the Christian Religion Do they not all believe the common Articles of the Christian Faith Do they not all believe the Lord's Prayer to contain the sum and matter of all the Requests that we are to make to God Do they not believe the Ten Commandments to comprehend the main if not all those Duties that we owe to God and Men And are not these things in which all agree sufficient for the Union of Christians Might they not live together in Love notwithstanding their other Differences Or though they could not communicate together as indeed Protestants cannot communicate with the Romish Churches might they not maintain Love and Peace under distinct Communions Might they not repute each other Christians and Christian Churches though not equally sound and perfect These things methinks might be done were it not that a Spirit of Imposition and Arbitrary Domination over the Judgments and Consciences of Men hath possessed the Guides of Christendom All men must believe and think and speak according to their apprehensions or else they are no Christians Their Judgments yea sometimes their Prejudices and their Dreams must be made the Conditions of Communion and if any refuse to swear to their words and will see with their own Eyes and believe and practise according to the Light of their own understandings they are Hereticks and unworthy the Name and Communion of Christians And hence proceed the various Separations and Divisions and all the direful and tragical Effects of them which have made the Christian World a Bedlam and sometimes a Field of Blood to the reproach of Christians to the scandal of Infidels and to the perverting of many Professors of Christianity to Atheism or Apostacy to some other false Religion SECT VI. TO press this a little Whosoever considers the great variety and difference that is to be observed in Human Minds must find that Imposition of many doubtful and unnecessary things is no proper means of preserving Peace and Union in the Church of God especially among Protestants where a judgment of discretion or a liberty of believing according to the convictions of our own minds is confessed the undoubted right of every Reasonable Man Is it imaginable that Men whose understandings are almost of as various degrees and sizes as are the shapes and figures of their faces should agree in the same sentiments and perceptions concerning things dark doubtful and unnecessary Is it imaginable that all Christians should have the same thoughts and make the same judgment concerning the Determinations of the Council of Trent Is it conceiveable that all the Christians in England or all the Clergy in England should have the same conceptions and entertain the same Opinions concerning the Doctrine Discipline and Liturgy of this Church To me it seems altogether as improbable as that twenty thousand blind Men should from twenty thousand places move and march and at last meet together and put themselves in good order on New-market Heath or the Plains of Sarum And why should Impositions be made where there is no probability or indeed possibility of Assent unto them Or are such Impositions which make Division in our Church a likely means of making Peace in the Churches of Christendom He that can believe it may with as much reason believe that the casting on fewel and combustible matter is a means to extinguish a furious raging flame or the way to preserve a Ship from sinking is to commit it to the Wind and Waves without any Pilot or Person to sit at the Helm and manage the Course of it That the gradual Difference of Mens Understandings is very great and almost infinite cannot reasonably be denied Parents Teachers of Schools Tutors and all kind of Artificers find it so in the Experience of every day It hath been so in all Ages and will be so for all that I can see as long as the World endures Whether there be an inequality among Souls or whether this great variety proceeda from the differing mixtures of the Elements that compound our Bodies and out of which our Organs are made I will not determine though I incline to believe the former for 't is past my imagination to conceive how the various mixtures of sensless Elements or Atoms should produce all that variety that is observable in the Understandings of Men from the greatest Statesman Philosopher or Divine to the meanest Peasant or the most blockish Dolt Parents first find a vast difference in the capacities of their Children some of them are of quick and pregnant Wit and Ingeny they easily receive and apprehend whatever is proposed to them others are dull and heavy and receive with difficulty such things as are offered them for their Learning and Knowledge Some of them are capable of understanding some things whereas of other things they are as uncapable almost as the veriest Idiots The Experience of Schoolmasters next is much the same Some of those Children that are committed to their care do readily learn and receive whatever they reach and inform them Others with difficulty and much labour Some can never be brought to learn any thing that is regardable by all the care and endeavours in the World Tutors at the University find the like variety among their Pupils Some Youths hear their Lectures and understand and remember the Contents of them and if they be examined concerning them will give a good and fair account of them But others hear them but neither understand nor remember almost any thing of them and if the same things be repeated over again with all the clearness that can be expressed by words yet they still remain without Knowledge or Understanding therein You may as well think to draw a Cable through the Eye of a Needle as to impress Learning upon some mens Minds Artificers and Mechanicks speak the same Language and give us the same Informations Some Apprentices easily learn the Arts that they profess others do it with great difficnlty and are but bunglers at the last Non puede ser mas negro el cuerbo que las alas saith the Spanish Proverb The Crow cannot be blacker than her wings And
Episcopacy When it shall please God therefore to send us a Parliament that are able to distinguish wisely betwixt Tolerable and Intolerable Opinions and Persons and so by Law to permit to the One the Liberty of their Assemblies and to restrain the Other and shall then prepare a Bill for Declaring the Constitution of the Church as National making the King to be Head of all the Congregations which shall be Tolerated as well as of those which are Parochial and the Diocesan Bishops to be His Officers or Delegates for keeping good Order amongst them all leaving to the Pastor of every Parish or Congregation that Power which Christ hath committed to him for Feeding and Ruling the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made Him Overseer without confounding this Internal Power of His with the External of the Other derived from the King but preserving the Rights of both so that the One be not swallowed up of the Other Nor forgetting the Concession of a sort of Episcopacy to perform the ordinary Work of the Apostles and Evangelists in that Multiplication of Supervisors over the Parochial-Clergy which I propose also in these Papers then shall the Grounds be laid for a firm and lasting Concord in the Nation about the Matter of Religion There were two Bills in the House of Commons that sate last at Westminster the One for the Vniting those that could come in to the present Church Establishment the Other for Ease to such as cannot These Bills had they passed and become Laws might be a good Interim for making up our Breaches till some more effectual means were also applied but when they would serve for excellent Scaffolds to stand upon while the Work is in hand the Fabrick it self should be formed out of such Materials as these which I now offer and which I find put to the End of that Book I have before mentioned in the last Half Sheet thereof and called Materials for Vnion Should it but please the King then and a Parliament to consider the Contents only of what Mr. H. hath there proposed and pass the Sense of it into a Law it would unite and heal us it would make us a Glorious Church indeed firm and Compacted among our selves and therefore impregnable to the Assaults of all our Enemies Tho there were Differences in Judgment among us and some Difference in Practices yet there would be little or no Difference in Affections All would mind and promote the common Peace and unite in resisting the Common Enemy This would put a Period to the Attempts of Rome for to what purpose should the Factors and Emissaries of the Roman Conclave attempt to subvert an Established Church and Religion where there is no probability of prevailing And what likelihood is there to prevail where all Parties are satisfied The One in the Favour and Encouragement of the Government and Laws the other in their Indulgence and Protection by them SECT XIII ALthough it be plain enough from what I have discoursed that I plead the Cause of none but Tolerable Dissenters and am Advocate for no Persons or Churches that maintain pernicious Errours and are impenitent and incorrigible in them Yet to prevent all Misunderstandings I do again here subjoyn That I plead not the Cause of such as subvert the Christian Faith in the great Essentials of it which the Jews Mahometans Socinians and all other Infidels do I would not have Men permitted to Preach down Jesus Christ and the Gospel and to Preach up meer Theisme or the Religion of the Antique or Modern Heathens nor of such as Preach Immorality and Licentious Prophaness I would not have Men permitted to encourage or justify Violence or Rapine Sensuality or Lust Rebellion or Treason or any thing that is plainly Wicked and condemned by the Light of Nature as well as the Doctrine of Christianity And of this kind are many Popish Doctrines as is evident to all Men that have conversed in the Writings of their Casuists and such as have the Conduct of Conscience among them Particular Instances whereof may be seen in the Mystery of Jesuitism and the Jesuits Morals by any Man that hath a desire to be satisfied concerning them Nor of such whose Doctrines are inconsistent with Civil Government and Publick Peace and such is the Doctrine of the Romanists A Papist if he be true to the Opinions and Decrees of their own Popes and Councils must be a Rebel and a Traytor whensoever his Holiness pleases to command it This hath been sufficiently proved by many Authors and is obvious enough to such as read their Books And if there be any other Sect or Sort of People that maintain such Doctrines as do disturb the Peace of Mankind necessarily and truly and not occasionally and by accident for so the Gospel doth it I have nothing to say on their behalf But if the Toleration that I have proposed and pleaded for should be thought a Means of increasing the Separation from the Publick Congregations I reply Let care be taken as I said that the Clergy who officiate in them be Men of Worth Ability and good Conversation that is such as preach and live Piously and love the Honour of God and the Souls of Men And let some Discipline be restored to particular Churches under the Inspection of the Bishops and difference be made between the Precious and the Vile by the Exercise of it that none be reputed and accounted Christians and admitted to all the Priviledges of Christians that know nothing but the Name of Christianity and live in open Defiance to all the Laws thereof And if these two things were done there would be no great danger of encreasing the Separation by Tolerating some Dissenting Churches but on the contrary I do think that Separate Churches would be drained and emptyed and in a few Years almost quite dissolved thereby For in my Observation 't is the Ignorance and Prophaness of Clergy-Men and the Corruption and Impurity of Churches that began and doth continue the Divisions and Separations that have been and still are among us Let the Cause be removed and taken away and the Effect will cease Nay suppose some single Persons few in number should leave the publick and Allowed Congregations on occasion of this Toleration and joyn themselves to separate Assemblies What great hurt is there in it and why should any Publick Preacher be offended at it What hurt or wrong is it to my Physician if I leave him and go to another if he cannot cure me or I do not like his Methods and Prescriptions Hath he any Reason to be offended if another do that which he cannot do I know the Minister of my own Parish does oftentimes meet some or other of his Parishoners going to their Conventicles when he hath been going to Church and the like in his and their Return and yet I never heard that he grew into any Passion or Displeasure with them about it much less that he prosecuted them