the hands of these Zealots the very same Return which the Prophet made to Ahab 1 King 20. v. 42. Thus saith the Lord Because thou hast let go a Man whom I have appointed to destruction therefore thy life shall go for his life and thy people for his people The next thing which I shall observe in this Article is this That those Persons who covenanted together among other things to maintain the Liberties of the Kingdom have so far forgot themselves as that in that very Covenant they have set up an Arbitrary Government The Rule of condign punishment here set down is not any known Law no not so much as a new one of their own making but as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve or the Supreme Iudicatories of both Kingdoms respectively or others having power from them for that effect shall judge convenient By which words it is plain that they did not look upon it as sufficient to take an arbitary Power into their own hands but likewise did delegate it to as many else besides as they pleased ART 5. Whereas the happiness of a blessed Peace between the Kingdoms denied in former times to our Progenitors is by the good Providence of God granted to us and hath lately been concluded and settled by both Parliaments we shall each one of us according to our Place and Interest endeavour that they may be conjoyned in a firm Peace and Vnion to All Posterity and that Iustice may be done upon all wilful opposers thereof in manner expressed in the precedent Article According to the preceding Article i. e. as shall be judged convenient The Modesty of these men is very admirable in that they would out-face the World that England and Scotland were never at peace in former times or rather their Language is something mysterious that the Two Nations were never at Peace till they had involved them in a War But as in the former Article they were as I have shewed tender of the Liberty of the Subject so in this they have been very careful of the Authority of his Majesty in that they have taken upon them to make peace with another Kingdom without him and withal when that very Peace was nothing else besides their joyning Forces against him ART 6. We shall also according to our Place and Calling in this Common Cause of Religion Liberty and Peace of the Kingdoms assist and defend all those that enter into this League and Covenant in the maintaining and pursuing thereof and shall not suffer our selves directly or indirectly by whatsoever Combination Perswasion or Terrour to be divided and withdrawn from this blessed Vnion and Conjunction whether to make defection to the contrary Part or to give our selves to detestable Indifferency or Neutrality in this Cause which so much concerns the Glory of God the Good of the Kingdom and the Honour of the King But shall all the dayes of our lives zealously and constantly continue therein against all opposition and promote the same according to our power against all Letts and Impediments whatsoever And what we are not able of our selves to suppress or overcome we shall reveal and make known that it may be timely prevented and removed All which we shall do in the sight of God From which Article it it is plainly to be seen That those who do believe themselves to lie under the Obligation of this Covenant are and ought to be looked upon as a Party already formed and combined together against the whole Nation besides having a common Band to unite and tie them fast together And this is such an Union as they look upon as sacred and indissoluble And the Ends in order to which they are thus combined are in their esteem such as that nothing can excuse the least intermission in their pursuance after them besides an absolute Impossibility and even in that case it is lawful for them only to delay so long as to expect a more favourable season For they are according to this Article Never to be wrought over to so much as a detestable Indifferency or Neutrality in this Cause of God but zealously and constantly to continue therein against all opposition all letts and impediments whatsoever And having now laid down the Six Articles of the Covenant I shall only add a few of the last words of the large and solemn Conclusion of it wherein they pray God to bless their proceedings herein with such success as may be an encouragement to other Churches groaning under or in danger of the Yoke of Antichristian Tyranny to joyn in the same or like Association or Covenant to the Glory of God the Enlargement of the Kingdom of Iesus Christ and the Peace and Tranquillity of Christian Kingdoms and Common-wealths It hath been often said in the behalf of the Presbyterians that they did not engage in the late War under a less Authority than that of the Two Houses of Parliament What Authority the Two Houses of Parliament have in raising a War against the King shall be no part of this Enquiry nor whether the Lords and Gentlemen who at that time staid at Westminster were the Two Houses of Parliament Be these two things as they will although it is not unknown what may be said as to both those Cases yet however the Covenant hath informed us of another sort of Authority under which a War may be raised at any time against all the Kings in Europe Because in these words is held forth a publick Invitation to all Subjects whatsoever who do either really groan under or are in any danger of any thing which our folk have pleased to call or themselves shall chance to fancy to be a Yoke of Antichristian Tyranny to enter either into this or the like Association or Covenant Now I suppose that it is no easie task to make out that all Kingdoms have Parliaments endued with so large a share of the Soveraignty as that they have Authority to take up Arms against their respective Princes And if there were such Parliaments every where this Invitation is only made to the Christian Churches without taking the least notice of Parliaments nay with a full assurance that there were no such Parliaments to be taken notice of So that by this Doctrine the Church alone may enter into association against the State upon the score of Religion especially if it can but cry out Antichrist may engage the Subjects of all Europe against their Soveraigns be they Princes or Commomwealths I know very well that those who urge the taking away of the Declaration enjoyned concerning the renouncing of the Covenant have one evasion whereby to avoyd entring into the merits of the Cause and that is this The seeming unreasonableness of that Clause Also I hold that there lieth no Obligation upon me or any other Person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn c. Is it not unjust that one man should be bound to swear to the Obligations of another
it useth in the other Discourses for Toleration When the Evidence of Truth hath forced from them one reasonable Concession that one Concession doth plainly give away from them nothing less than their whole Cause For pray tell me Constantine and the Christian Emperours are here commended for their care and oversight in Religious things and so our own Kings for securing to us the Protestant Religion Now was not all this done by Laws and Penalties and the Civil Sword and was there any possibility of having it done any other way This being premised as to the Exceptions themselves I briefly say this If no force is to be used in matters of Religion because it is an incompetent Method as being able to reach only to the Body and Estate but is by much too weak to reach unto the Mind this is a Difficulty not at all peculiar to the Gospel but common to that with all other Dispensations The Mind of a Man was as much a Spirit under the Law as it can be now and the Sword was made of as meer Matter in those days as it can be in these and therefore thus far the Case is one and the same As to the Second Exception That all Force is now unlawful because Christ hath not commanded it they have been told and have had it proved to them too in many parts of the Puritan Controversie that many things are lawful which there is no particular Command for that a thing becomes unlawful not by being not commanded but by being forbidden And this leads me directly to the Third Exception That all Force is plainly forbidden by St. Paul when he says 2 Cor. 10. v. 4. that The weapons of our warfare are not carnal Now this saying of the Apostle is so far from being a hibition of all Coercion in the Affairs of Religion that it doth plainly refer to a very great Coercion which himself did in these very words threaten for to use viz. the Censures of the Church in such a manner as to carry temporal Penalties along with them in manner miraculous visible and extraordinary And therefore it followeth in the next words that those Weapons which in themselves might be supposed weak yet if they were better looked into would be found to have a strength from God which they had not from themselves for they were not meerly carnal but mighty through God for the bringing down strong holds And to render it clear that these words have a penal meaning in them it follows that these Weapons are able to cast down imaginations and every high thought that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ And to put it out of all doubt that those Weapons had a coercive power in them the Apostle adds in a stile much beyond exhortation and advice nay much beyond a bare reproof that in the strength of them he would revenge all disobedience And as for the last most pressing and convincing Consideration That if Force was to be used in any affair of Religion at all it was of all others the most to be justified in order to the pulling down of Antichrist the greatest of all other Gospel-enemies But even in that Case it ought not to be used and therefore most certainly not in any other The Sword of the Spirit being the only Weapon by which Christ will destroy Antichrist the greatest Gospel-enemy which the World hath produced I shall not here take an advantage which I have already mentioned that the Sword of the Spirit doth in Scripture signifie something which carries Coercion along with it but shall be contented that that word be understood in the common meaning of it And upon that Supposition I believe that this Assertion of this learned Gentleman will scarce pass for true Doctrine in the Separated Congregations I am sure that there was a time when it would not have done so and I never yet heard that in this Point their Minds were altered How unlawful soever it may be for the Magistrate to make use of the Civil Sword in a Cause of Religion I am sure that it hath been often preached as a great Gospel Duty though in a Rebellion to make use of the Military one We have not forgot how often the Zeal of the Common People was inflamed against the King by telling them that the Cause then fought for was the Cause of God that their Persons and Estates were all too little to be sacrificed in this Concern of Religion and the question really was whether Christ or Anti-Christ should be King And so I return to our Author Amongst all the Arguments which are brought to prove the Compulsory Power of the Magistrate under the Gospel the greatest weight is laid upon the practice of the Kings of Israel and Judah and what they did under the Law in compelling men to the Worship of God then established In the due Consideration whereof we shall find the truth in hand no wayes invalidated and that what was then done by the Kings of Israel and Judah cannot reasonably be now made a Rule to Magistrates under the Gospel And that the Analogy will no way hold may be made appear both from the different station and posture those Kings were in from all Magistrates now and also from the different Condition of the Church then and now and many Circumstances peculiarly relating to both First the Worship and Policy of the Jews being in it self Typical and representative of what was to come hereafter their Government was likewise so and in their Kings very eminently Secondly God was pleased in those Times upon all eminent Occasions of Reformation in his Worship and Proceedings of that Nature to send Prophets to declare his positive Mind and to put an end to all Doubts that could be about such things Nay some of the Kings themselves were Prophets immediately inspired and did not only take care of the Worship established by Moses but did themselves by Divine Authority bring in things of a new Institution into the Worship of God Thus David did and Solomon in bringing Musick into the Temple and setling the Courses of the Priests and were divinely inspired to write part of the holy Scriptures No Magistrate now can pretend to any such power in themselves nor have they any such extraordinary direction to guide them but are punctually obliged to whatever Christ hath revealed in the Gospel And therefore in this respect the Analogy holds no way good The sum of all which is that no Argument ought to be drawn from the Examples of the Kings of Israel or Iudah whereby to prove the Power of any present Magistrates over the Affairs of Religion by reason of the great difference between those Magistrates and ours especially in these two respects First that they were Typical Secondly that in such Cases they had either Prophets sent to them or themselves were divinely inspired And in this part of the Argument if
be so in the Opinion of its greatest Adversaries In the next place therefore we are to consider whether any reasonable Plea for Separation can be drawn from any just Exception which may be taken against the Liturgy and here there are two sorts of men to be considered First those who dislike all Forms of Prayer in general Secondly those who are only disgusted at some particular things in ours As to those who are against all Forms of Prayer I believe that the number of them among considering Persons is not so great as that any great regard ought to be had unto them and this must needs be so for a reason which can never fail For it cannot choose but seem strangely absurd and infinitely unbecoming the great distance which is between us and Almighty God and that great awe which we ought to bear unto him that all the Expressions of the Publick Devotion of every Congregation in the whole Nation should be left to the arbitrary and especially the extemporary conception of each single Person who is bold enough to venture upon the taking so much upon him It were very strange if this Kingdom should at this day be ignorant how very frequently Folly Heresie nay and Blasphemy hath been uttered in such kind of Prayers and it is utterly impossible that upon the indulgence of any such Liberty such Extravagancies can with any security be provided against And it is not unlikely that the greatest Pretenders to the highest Attainments in that way would be not a little out of Countenance If so be that their own Prayers were faithfully taken from their Mouths and after some reasonable space of time when they might be supposed to have forgot them presented to their view And that which renders this evil utterly intolerable is this that these Prayers which either really are extemporary else only pretended to be so are under that pretence recommended and regarded by the People as the only way of praying by the Spirit and by that very means the ever blessed Spirit is as far as these mens endeavours can be succesful entituled to all the Follies Vanity and Weaknesses all the Sin and Errour and even those very Blasphemies which are every day committed against him And I think all good Christians are concerned to endeavour that if a Liberty must be given to these Persons to go on and to abuse the People yet however that it may be done some other way and they not permitted to bely the Holy Ghost As for Forms of Prayers the great reasonableness and even necessity of them is very apparent and in Scripture it self there are Examples enough to be produced and if any man pleaseth to enter upon that Argument I no way doubt but there will be those found who will debate it with him It shall suffice at present only to say that our Saviour Christ did compose a Form of Prayer and gave it to his Disciples to use Now if as great numbers of the People are brought to believe that there is no praying by the Spirit besides praying Ex tempore then no man ever did or ever could say Christ's Prayer by the Spirit of Christ. Now as to the other sort of Persons who have some exceptions against some expressions in our Liturgy those things have been so fully examined that of late we have heard very little of them And the matter of it is all along so clearly unexceptionable and so fitted for the common use of all Christians that all controversial Expressions were designedly avoided Insomuch that I do not know of any considerable Sect amongst us which may not joyn with us in every expression in it except the Socinians Now here perhaps some Jealousies may arise in the minds of men that if there were not some real exception against the Liturgy then so many good Teachers would not lay it aside nay and not only so but as far as mens Intentions can be guessed at by their words and actions very much abhor it Now as to the behaviour of our dissenting Brethren in this particular I shall desire their admirers to remember this one thing that His Majesty not long after His Happy Restauration did put â—orth a Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affaires wherein He did very graciously indulge much to the dissatisfied Part of the Clergy in hopes thereby to win upon them and in that Declaration He did propose this unto them as a way whereby they might shew their Gratitude for so great a Condescention That they would read so much of the Liturgy as themselves had no exception against But with many of them He could not prevail for so much as one Syllable not one Collect no nor so much as one Chapter according to the Rubrick So much doth yielding work upon that good-natur'd Generation Now whether this Refractoriness as to the whole Book and every part and parcel of it could possibly proceed solely and altogether from Conscience and not very much if not altogether from Design or Humour let their best Friends speak In the next place now as to the Canons I do not know that there doth or canâ—ly any Objection against them which our present Debate is concerned about because they are no immediate Parts of the Publick Worship and therefore can be no cause of the present Separation especially as to the People As to the Canons made in the year 1640. I must needs confess that the Scotch Commissioners did complain much against them and some English Gentlemen made witty Speeches upon them but they had both of them the ill luck to confess the real cause of the Pique which they had against them viz. The acknowledgement of His Majesties Authority as being Independent and above all Coercion either Papal or Popular A Doctrine which I must needs say was very inconsistent with those Designs which those angry Patriots were at that time carrying on And I am very much mistaken if at this very day a great part of that Quarrel which is taken up against the Church be not founded upon this that it is too faithfully devoted to the Interests of the Crown and that many Persons are Presbyterians Independents Fifth-Monarchy-men c. as so many sanctified disguises under which they act the Part of Common-wealths-men In the next place come we therefore to the Ceremonies and there indeed the noise is very great An Excellent Person who for his pious labours upon a noble Argument and much more worthy of his Pen deserves much honour hath in this part of the Question exprest much more Concern than I hope himself upon a serious review will admit the Cause to bear in a Book entituled Liberty of Conscience upon its true and proper Grounds asserted and vindicated c. hath thus expressed himself p. 49. How may we lament over the present Imposition of the Ceremonies now enjoyn'd among us in England which are no part of divine Truth nor any of Christ's Institutions but things perfectly Humane in their Creation
and yet are enforced by the Civil Power upon the Practice and Consciences of men Now here with all due respect to that Learned Gentleman I shall desire him to take notice whether it be not an Excellency and a Felicity almost peculiar to the Church of England that in all her Constitutions her greatest Adversaries are forced to betake themselves to the scanning of a few Ceremonies to find a cause or to speak more properly a shew of Controversie and that himself in his own great Judgment hath not been able to find out any other flaw in the Matter of all her Laws as much soever as he doth mislike the Imposition of them As for the Cermonies themselves the Exceptions or at least the Clamours are very many That they are uncommanded by God that they are significant that they are Will-worship that they are teaching for Doctrines of God the Commandments of men and lastly that they do give scandal As to the Ceremonies being uncommanded by God I never heard of any man who pretended them to be otherwise and therefore it is most clear and certain that that Church doth not teach for Doctrines of God the Commandments of Men which doth own publickly that these are not the Doctrines of God but only the Commandments of Man And if any man doth mistake in this Case which is a thing incredible that any should do so but if there be such a one I am sure that the mistake is his own and not the fault of the Church For she hath taken care to prevent it in the Chapter of Ceremonies before the Common Prayers wherein she declares that the Ceremonies which are retained are retained for Discipline and Order which upon just Cause may be altered and changed and therefore are not to be esteemed equal with Gods Law But however this is plain in the nature of things that although among the Ceremonies no one in particular is necessary yet in general it is necessary so far as Order and Decency is necessary that some such there should be But in the next place there is an Objection supposed to be of much greater force and that is this That the Ceremonies are significant And here I must needs confess that if they could have alledged that the Ceremonies had been insignificant the Objection had been much more worthy of having some notice taken of it because that the very nature and whole use of Ceremonies doth consist in being significant And in this I appeal to all Mankind whether in any one Action Sacred or Civil any one Ceremony was ever instituted unless it were in order to the signifying denoting or expressing something by it Nor is thisall for the Church hath taken care not only to vindicate the Innocency but withal to declare the usefulness of the significancy of her Ceremonies in the fore-mentioned Preface That they are neither dark nor dumb Ceremonies but are so set forth that every man may understand what they mean and to what use they do serve so that it is not like that in time to come they should be abused And after all this methinks our Brethren of the Presbytery should for their own sakes have had a great care of making use of this Objection as being themselves as liable to it as any other Persons The Authors of the Admonition to the Parliament in Queen Elizabeths days Part 2. have recommended Sitting at the Sacrament upon this very superstitious score of Significancy as in our Case they always call it in these words As in the Old Testament eating the Paschal Lamb standing signified a readiness to pass even so in the receiving it now sitting after the example of Christ we signifie Rest that is a full finishing thorough Christ of all the Ceremonial Law and a perfect Work of Redemption wrought that giveth rest for ever And in our own dayes in that which by them was looked upon as a considerable Act of Divine Worship and Religious Adoration the entring into a Publick Solemn National Covenant with Almighty God as they phrase it The doing of this was prescribed with several Ceremonies uncommanded in Scripture and by themselves intended to be very significant as it to be found by every one who pleaseth to look in the Ordinance of Febr. 2. 1643. In this Case without referring us to any Book Chapter or Verse they thought it sufficient to say That it is ordered and ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament that the said Covenant be solemnly taken in all places and for the better and more orderly taking thereof that these Directions ensuing are appointed and enjoyned to be strictly followed Of which Directions the thirteenth is this the manner of taking it to be thus The Minister to read the whole Covenant distinctly and audibly in the Pulpit and during the time of reading thereof the whole Congregation to be uncovered which by the way is a much greater shew of Reverence than they have taken care for either at the reading of the Ten Commandements or our Saviour's Sermon upon the Mount and at the end of reading thereof all to take it standing lifting up their Right Hand bare Now I think that it is highly requisite for these men to consider with themselves whether every one of all their own Pleas of the Purity and Simplicity of the Gospel way of Worship without the mixture of humane Inventions and their bold surmises of invading the Throne of Christ by determining those things which Christ hath left free have any the least force against the Ceremonies of the Church which they have not against this prescribed Formality of their own in taking the Covenant But after all which is possible to be said in order to the clearing of the mistakes about the Ceremonies there is an Objection which is supposed not to be capable of any answer to be made unto it and that is this That be they what they will in themselves good men are offended at them they grieve thousands of the Godly Brethren and though we should grant such men to be mistaken yet we must not offend our weak Brethren The Case of Scandal hath been so often and so clearly stated that I shall say the less upon it and therefore instead of the Argument I shall rather choose to say something to the Persons who use it In the first place I shall readily grant that if any Persons are really offended at the use of the Ceremonies in their own way of understanding that word they must needs be very weak Brethren and I shall only ask them the old Question How long they will be weak And I shall profess my self to have no very honourable Opinion of the means of Knowledge the Opportunities of choyce Attainments which are to be had in the Conventicles If so be that those who are such weak Brethren as not to be got above such silly Scruples are looked upon to be sufficiently gifted to be Publick Teachers amongst them In the next place I shall ask
who taught the People to be offended at a few harmless Ceremonies Who raised all their causless Scruples infused so many senceless Jealousies and not being content to have at first infused these needless fears do still go on to nurse up and cherish them Who first betrayed great numbers into folly and ever after continued to humour them in it He who can conform himself and yet refuseth to do so for fear lest his Auditory and Acquaintance should abate in their esteem or contributions towards him If he means sincerely to shew himself an honest man he ought to deal faithfully with his Admirers tell them really what himself thinks communicate the Satisfaction which he hath received and perswade them not to be longer needlesly afraid where no fear is It is very plain that the generality of Dissenters do entertain wild suspicions about the Service of the Church upon no other ground than an implicite faith which they have in the skill and honesty of their Teachers Such and such a one is a very precious and knowing man and do you think that he would not conform if he did not know Conformity to be a sin The Pastor and his Flock in this Case do mutually guide and are guided by each other he makes it his business to please and humour them and they look upon it as a great mark of their Judgment and an infallible token of their Election to admire him But if the weakness of these our Brethren hath so great a privilege entailed upon it as that we must do nothing which they have taken a fancy against a thing in it self lawful and imposed by lawful Authority must immediately become unlawful if so be that any scrupulous man can be brought to entertain a foolish jealousie about it Then is this kind of weakness endued with a very strange degree of Omnipotence because that upon this supposition the very mistakes of men are able to alter the Nature of things A thing in it self innocent doth according to this Doctrine immediately become unlawful as soon as ever that any fanciful deluded man doth erroneously conceive it to be so But methinks that those who pretend to be such eager asserters of Christian Liberty as this sort of men have always done should of all other persons the least endure to have it thus trifled with as to have it believed to be openly exposed to lie perpetually at the mercy of all the Humour Melancholy Artifice Cheat and Discontent in the whole Nation But if this be the meaning of those Texts of Scripture where we are commanded to avoid the giving of Scandal as most certainly and evidently it is not That the Actions of all Private Men and the Authority of all Publick Constitutions must be as often over-ruled as any single Person is either by his own Folly or by the Arts of other men imposed upon to believe evil of them then can no man tell in any matter of Action Sacred or Civil except in the Matters of immediate and plain divine Precept what one thing shall be lawful for him to do in the very next moment But if it be thus appointed by the Apostle That the mistakes of other Men though we should suppose them to be well-meaning ones are to have so uncontrollable an influence upon the Actions of all private Persons and the Decrees of all Publick ones If it be thus I say it will thence follow very apparently that there is a great necessity lying upon the Government of taking care what kind of Persons are intrusted with teaching the People For if Conscience though never so erroneous are of right and by Apostolical appointment to have so great a regard had unto them then of all things great circumspection should be used and security taken for the Understanding and Honesty of all those who are intrusted to be Guides of Consciences For if the Errors of Conscience are things of so great Authority as to be an immediate Supersedeas to our whole Christian Liberty to all sorts of Humane Laws then it is the greatest Phrenzy imaginable to grant a promiscuous Liberty to whoever pleaseth to teach and instruct the People Alas the Vulgar are easily imposed upon and it is not impossible but that we may find in our days what St. Paul did in his That there are those who will speak lyes in hypocrisie because of advantage and bring their Auditories to admire those very Doctrines which themselves do heartily despise outwardly court their Hearers and inwardly laugh at them And in the mean time are not Religion and Government like to be at a very fine pass when who so pleaseth shall have the Privilege of making all possible advantages of that very Scruple which himself was Author of and when all other Objections fail shall be allowed to plead his own exemption from all Obedience to the settled Constitutions from the dissatisfaction of other men who if it had not been for him had never entertained the least thought of being dissatisfied But in the next place it is frequently urged That those Terms of Communion are not looked upon as sufficient which were always looked upon as such in former days but there are newer and straiter Bonds added to them a new Declaration of Assent and Consent And besides all this the Consciences of men are provoked which otherwise would have remained silent if not satisfied new Scruples are raised in the Minds of Men which before lay buried and which would otherwise have been quite forgot in that it is not thought sufficient that the Covenant should be laid aside but that it should be formally renounced and not only so but it is required that men must swear not only for themselves but that no man else is obliged by it Now after all this wonder there is not any one Thing which is not very easily accounted for For surely it hath been among men not at all unusual nor in it self strange that where former securities have been found too slight to add others to them As for the Declaration of Assent and Consent the addition which it doth make to the former Subscriptions is not so considerable as to raise a scruple in the mind of any man who was real in them And I suppose that the great Mystery which is pretended to lie in the terribie sound of Assent and Consent which the People are taught to be affrighted at as if some dismal meaning were hid under it is nothing else but an Art to raise their Jealousie that so they might be the better prepared for the finding out some plot or other in the following Renunciation of the Covenant A thing which was ordered not without great cause and it is very suspicious that that Cause doth not only continue but increase as appears but too plainly from this That there is so great a Clamour raised upon it And this Cause did in a great measure proceed from themselves and that great stir which they made about the
same Liberty from their Impositions which they had both of them before joyned in desâ—â—ing from the National Settlement their Pretences were at least equal they had the same natural right to Freedom which any other men had they had the same Pleas of Christian Liberty and besides all this they had another very good title upon which they might expect Indulgence from the Presbyterians in Point of Merit the same Arguments the Sectaries shewed to be in common between them both and withall had this to add farther that their Arms added that assistance without which the Presbyterians could never have been able to have brought themselves into a condition to have enjoyed that Liberty as to themselves which the other Sects by their joynt concurrence did put them into a condition to grant and therefore very well deserved to have received from them But in those dayes their dear Brethren to whom they were much beholding for their joynt concurrence in Prayers and Arms their mutual Contributions of Blood and Treasure and whom at present they smile most sweetly upon did receive the harshest usage which was in their Power to give them and it was no small matter of publick complaint that they were not permitted to handle them with much greater roughness To omit many others there then came out a Book entituled Wholesome Severity reconciled with Christian Liberty Licensed by Ia. Cranford wherein we are told that Liberty of Heresie and Schism is no part of the Liberty of Conscience which Christ hath purchased for us but that under these fair Colours and handsome Pretexts Sectaries infuse their Poyson their Pernicious God-provoking Truth-defacing Church-ruinating and State-shaking Toleration To which Author I shall only add the more Publick Testimony to the Truth of Iesus Christ and to our Solemn League and Covenant as also against the Errours Heresies Blasphemies of these Times and the Toleration of them subscribed by the Ministers of Christ within the Province of London December 14. 1647. Which I have already mentioned but in this part of the Argument shall insist something more largely upon because they were such a Body of men as were looked upon as very considerable and sufficiently qualified to speak the sence of their whole Party to great advantage And besides that some of them are yet living and Preachers at this day to the separated Congregations about the Town Now I would â—ain know of these Gentlemen whether they are of the same Judgment now about Toleration as they were then if they are then methinks they should do very well to declare it and so much the rather because that by their behaviour one would guess that their minds were altered in that they do so far comply as to joyn Counsels and Interests with those whom formerly they bore testimony against Again if they are of the same mind about Toleration now as they were formerly then all the under Sects have great Cause in time to beware of them ought to look upon them as very false brethren who want nothing but opportunity to take away that Liberty which now indeed is common to them with the rest of their Brethren but they never intended it for any but themselves And on the other side if they are not of the same mind about Toleration now as they were formerly then they ought in all Honesty to declare to the World how much they were formerly mistaken in that they raised such fearful Outcries against that Toleration which is an innocent and an useful thing the giving of which is as it is now said the Duty and Interest of all Government is indeed no other than the permitting to us that Liberty with which Christ made us free or rather which is the Right of Nature the Common Birth right of all Mankind In the Preface to the aforesaid Testimony they tell us of the spreading Heresies and cursed Blasphemies of those Times which had born down the Authority of the Scriptures and our Solemn League and Covenant very fitly joynned And then they add But above all our Souls are wounded to think with whaâ— hope and industry a Toleration of all these Evils is endeavoured and with what a wellcomed boldness sundry odious Hereticks which in other places have been banished and branded with infamy do vent their poysonous Opinions amongst us as if they intended to make England a common receptacle of all the sinful Dregs of Foreign Countries as well as former Ages pag. 29. As if all the Errours Heresies Sects Schisms Divisions Looseness Prophaneness and Breach of Covenant among us were small matters what secret and publick Endeavours Projects Methods and Practices are there amongst us to bring in an universal boundless lawless abominable and intolerable Toleration to the filling up of the measure of our Iniquities and the pulling down God's fierce indignation upon this Nation and pag. 30. Instead of Vnity and Vniformity in Matters of Religion we are torn in pieces with destructive Schisms Separations Divisions and Subdivisions c. and instead of Extirpation of Heresie Schism Prophaneness we have such an impudent and general inundation of all these Evils that Multitudes are not ashamed to press and plead for a publick formal Vniversal Toleration And having thus shewed how great their Zeal was in this Case I shall likewise lay down their Reasons for it which with great earnestness they did express in these following Words pag. 32. A publick and a general Toleration will prove an hideous and complexive evil of most dangerous and mischievous Consequence if ever which God forbid it should be consented to by Authority for hereby First the Glory of the most high God will be laid in the very dust Secondly the Truth of Christ yea all the Fundamentals of Faith will be râ—â—ed to the very ground Thirdly all Christ's Ordinances Offices Worship Religion yea and the very Power of Godliness will be utterly overthroâ—â— Fourthly thousands and ten thousands of poor Souls which Christ hath ransomed with his own blood shall be hereby betrayed seduced and endangered to be undone to all eternity Fifthly Magistracy and Ministry and with them all Religious and comely Order in the Church and Commonwealth will be plucked up by the very roots Sixthly Reformation in Religion in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government shall be utterly made voyd Seventhly England shall be swallowed up with Sects Schisms Divisions Disorders and Confusions and become an odious sink and a common recâ—ptacle of all the prodigious Errours Lies Heresies and Blasphemies Libertinism and Profaneness in the World so that Rome it self shall not be a more odious puddle and cage of all abominatioâ—s and uncleannesses Eighthly the Godly shall sit down and lament among us Ninethly the wicked shall rise up and insult over us Tenthly all the Nations about us shall be amazed at us Eleventhly all the Reformed Churches shall be ashamed to own us they shall all cry out against us Is this England that Covenanted and swore to the most High God such
a Reformation and Extirpation of Popery Prelacy Superstition Heresie Schism Prophaneness and whatever shall be found contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godliness and after so long a travel hath she brought forth an hideous Monster of Toleration And again pag. 33. Hath England heretofore had such a large share of Gospel-Enjoyments and doth she now render to the Lord for all his Benefits a detestable Toleration Dost thou thus reward the Lord O foolish England and unwise Twelfthly and to conclude seeing we have just cause to fear that if this Toleration be entertained among us the Righteous God of Heaven and Earth will be provoked to plague us yet seven times more and at last to translate his very Gospel and Kingdom from us unto another Nation Therefore upon all these Considerations we the Ministers of Iesus Christ do hereby testifie to all our Flocks to all the Kingdom to all the Reformed Churches as our great dislike of Prelacy Erastianism Brownism and Independency so our utter abhorrency of Anti-Scripturism Popery Arriâ—nism Socinianism Arminianism Antinomianism Anabaptism Libertinism and Familism with all such like now too rife among us It were endless to transcribe all which hath been said by the Presbyterians against Toleration and therefore it is not a little strange how much for some years they have endeavoured after it But sure their separating Brethren cannot be so forgetful of what hath been but so very lately past as not to cast a very watchful Eye over them to suspect their kindness and be hugely jealous of their present Concurrence with them it being not very credible that their Moderation is greater than formerly and that which makes all the difference is no other thing than this That their Power is not altogether so great It hath been no unusual thing in the World for men to unite in their Endeavours in order to very differing Ends to dissemble for a while their mutual Resentments and to have less kindness for those very Persons they do cabal with than for those whom they do cabal against A Common Interest for a while keeps them close together and out of that they each hope for their particular Advantages and both sides hug and applaud inwardly their own Arts and Dexterity in that they see the way chalked out how they shall be able to supplant their Friends as well as ruine their Enemies Thus the Presbyterians may at present joyn their endeavours in attaining that Liberty which they hope in time to take away not only from those whom they at present desire to grant it but likewise from those who now enjoy it together with them The Independents Anabaptists c. must needs remember how the Presbyterians bore testimony against that Toleration of them which they could not hinder They could no more endure those who fought on their side to dissent from them than they could those who fought against them Remember Gentlemen you all fought for Liberty of Conscience and yet your Fellow-soldiers would not allow you that which you shed your Blood for and for their own obtaining of which they were much more beholding to your Arms than to their own The Pretences of all the differing sorts of Dissenters are so vastly distant as to be utterly inconsistent and whatever Correspondence is between them at present it ought not to be looked upon either by themselves or any one else as any Union or Agreement which is of late made between them but merely as a Combination against that Settlement which they are all weary of and as soon as ever that is again overthrown we shall then see that all their old Quarrels will return as formerly The tender Consciences of divers sizes will immediatly fall as foully upon one another as ever they did Presbytery will be stiled the Yoke of Antichrist and Independency the Mother of Confusion the one will be stiled Egypt and the other Babel If any Particular Sect among them doth desire Indulgence and means nothing else besides a bare Permission to serve God in its own way If there were nothing else but this in the Case its Request then would with all Submission be put up single and by it self that so an account might be taken both of the Principles and of the Persons how innocent the one and how peaceable the other and what Influence either of them are like to have upon the present Settlement either of Church or State And surely it ought not to be looked upon either as unreasonable or assuming if the Government doth look upon it self as concerned to have a great regard to it self both in point of Duty and in point of Safety And in such an Enquiry as this the Quality Numbers and Temper of the Petitioners for such Indulgence are of no small Consideration And this way of Procedure that each single Sect should speak by and for its self and state its own particular Case is methinks the fairest Course which can be taken and such a one as those Dissenters who are conscious to themselves of no ill meaning should look upon as highly advisable for their own sakes It being very obvious to the most ordinary Prudence that it may be frequently advisable upon divers particular and material Considerations to indulge some kinds of Liberty to such and such sorts of Dissenters which is by no means fit to allow to others much less to allow promiscuously to all But to take that course which they have always done since his Majesties Restauration that they should all joyn in a common Cry as if they had one common Cause is very suspicious especially considering that they are divided among themselves in this very point of Liberty of Conscience notwithstanding their Unanimity in calling for it Some Rumours have of late been spread indeed all over the Town concerning such a kind of Comprehension as should leave no room for Toleration how well grounded such Reports have been I will not undertake it is but in vain to make an uncertain guess at what kind of Proposals may possibly be offered by some Persons and to fancy at all adventures who they are or may be who are in any likelihood to be concluded by them But because it is said publickly enough and by no mean Persons That the Presbyterians at least the chief and leading Men among them are ready now to enter into the Church upon some reasonable Abatements to be made unto them And when they are once gained the other Sects will not be considerable enough to expect that any Toleration should be allowed unto them If this be the Case as it is by some of themselves pretended to be then the Case is much altered from what it lately was Reformed Christianity in its Latitude which came out in 1667. and the Defence of it in 1668. are express not 〈…〉 only for Comprehension but likewise for Toleration and besides that for a Connivence also And a later Treatise entituled Indulgence not to be refused Comprehension humbly
occasions they do make use of When they have a mind to Collogue with Authority then the differences between them and the regular Clergy are mere trifles and very inconsiderable but when there is a season offered wherein it is safe to animate and inflame the People theâ— the differences are of that moment that no Treasure no Blood is sufficient to be laid out in a Debate of that Concernment or in the Words of the forementioned Speech If I had as many lives as I have hairs on my head I would be willing to sacrifice all these lives in this Cause Lastly if the Differences between us be so very small sure there can be no great cause for their present obstinate Separation But if these men are really and in good earnest desirous of coming into the Church It is very fit that in order to that they should declare whether they will leave those Principles which have hitherto divided them from it or whether they are resolved to entertain those Principles still or any of them If they will leave their Principles the Churches Arms are open to receive and to embrace them but if they mean â—o retain their Principles or any of them their room may be more desirable than their Company for upon those terms the difference is in no likelihood to amount to any more than this that instead of remaining in a Schism from the Church they will thereby be inabled to make a Schism within it or if they are at length brought to be perswaded to part with any of their Principles will they be so Honest as to declare that they have been so far mistaken and desire their Followers to get out of those Snares which they in former Dayes did lay for them and particularly will they renounce the Covenant It was very good Advice which the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Winchester gave His Majesty in his Epistle before the Coronation Sermon when he reminded Him of that wise Resolution of His Royal Grandfather Henry the Fourth That he was ready at any time to make a Peace with any of the Leaguers but he would never make any Peace with the League Now if they look upon it as any hard measure that they should be called upon to renounce the Covenant Let them not at all wonder if the Regular Sons of the Church have not forgot those rigours with which it was imposed the many mischiefs which have been wrought and are something apprehensive of those mischiefs which may at this day be wrought by it if so be that the Renunciation of it should be laid aside which will certainly be interpreted as at least a tacit Confession that that Injuction was unreasonable and such a one as a man of a tender Conscience could not submit to and that is a fair preparation for the Opinion that the Covenant is really a thing which doth oblige us But because that Moderation is at this time a word much in fashion let us compare the Severities used in behalf of the Covenant with this which is so much complained of as being against it It is indeed by reason of the Clamours by themselves raised about its obligation established by a Law that none shall be admitted to Publick Trusts in Universities Schools or the Church who will not renounce its Obligation but the Covenanters did not think this a sufficient security in their Case Mr. Calamy tells us in his fore-mentioned Speech in the name of himself and the Reverend Ministers with him with great Joy and Triumph That there was not one Person in the Kingdom of Scotland who is not a Covenanter and theâ—e shall not one abide among them who will not take this Covenant Now this Mr. Calamy from the beginning of the Long Parliament till the Day of his Death was a Ringleader of that Party of men who do now plead for Comprehension do earnestly at this time desire that they may be dispensed with for renouncing the Covenant And if the Counsel of these Divines had been of as great Authority in the Army as it was with the Two Houses that which Mr. Calamy doth magnifie in Scotland would have been a pattern for the same course to be taken in England But seeing that the Covenant is more sacred with them than the Oaths of Alleagiance and Supremacy will they if they should be thus far condiscended to be so grateful to His Majesty as to declare their Opinions against the War raised against His Father will they in lieu of renouncing the Covenant take an Oath wherein they will assert that the War raised by some Lords and Gentlemen sitting at Westminster under the Name of the Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament by a Commission granted to Robert Earl of Essex was unlawful as being against the known Laws both of God and of the Nation If they refuse this seeing that we know that many of these very men for whom Comprehension is desired did preach up the War if they will not declare against it it is shrewdly to be suspected that their mind is the same as formerly and the only change which is is in the posture of Affairs But because it is now said in behalf of these men that they allow Episcopacy and approve of a Liturgy nay of ours That we may not be imposed upon by any ambiguous generality of Words it is but requisite that in this they would declare particularly in what sence it is that they allow and approve both these Things for if by things past we may guess at things present by Episcopacy they may mean but Presbytery by the Bishop may be understood a kind of a Prolocutor Every assuming Presbyter may at any time say as one of them lately did that he is as good a Scripture Bishop as he wâ—o sate upon the Bench or perhaps look upon a Bishop only as a Civil Officer in order to some legal purposes and by a Liturgy they may mean only such a â—orm of Prayers which may be either used or leâ— alone or rather a thing which is if ever to be permitted only to those who are Persons of such small sufficiency as not to be able to pray without it and so instead of being a Duty is intended meerly as a disparagement Or it may be the Common Prayer may be allowed as a way of spending the time till the Company is got together and then comes the Prayer which the Spirit is the immediate Author of and which alone hath the promise of any blessing made 〈◊〉 it Unless I say that these Persons be required to express their Minds very particularly in these and all other Matters of Debate between us we shall be alwayâ— aâ— a loss how much of the Good Old Cause they resolve to stick to and without some satisfaction in these things we have reason to be jealous that they have after so many other disappointments pitched upon this Contrivance as a very likely one whereby the Church may
by their admission become divided against it self The Pulpits may quickly be brought to speak in very different Languages and the Hearers strangely distracted between the several abettors of the very distant Measures of the old and new Conformity They who have kept out of the Church thus long rather than they would not have their Wills in such and such Matters in debate between us it is scarce to be hoped that when they are brought into the Church by being yielded to in them that they will not with the same Art and Industry keep up in the Minds of Men a good opinion of that Cause which they have so long contended for At the least they will take what care they can that those of their former Hearers whom they shall be able to bring along with them if they shall be able to bring any store of their Hearers along with them which is no small question shall for ever be kept under bondage to every one of all those scruples by which they have been able to retain dominion over them And they who have all along been observably upon all occasions admirably expert at interpreting all things to the utmost possibilities of all advantage as to themselves and their Cause it is not to be expected from them that they will not interpret this Condescention as a complete Justification And unless the Modesty and Gratitude of these men be strangely increased of late beyond what it hath used to be our Governours are not like to receive any other return than this That God hath at length begun to return again and in some sort to own his People and his Cause He hath now opened the Eyes of the Parliament and let them see their Error in imposing the renouncing the Covenant and who knows what more a gracious God may do for so gracious a People And that Reputation which hath thus long engaged them to pretend their Cause of Separation to be just can do no less than continue to engage them to avow its having been necessary So that the Church will by this means be weakned by having one great Security taken from her those Men will be admitted into her of whose Affections and Designs she hath abundant cause to be highly jealous and who by obtaining their present Demands will according to their old Customs be thereby emboldned with the like restless importunity to make more demands and perhaps in a little time be inabled to take what farther they please without so much as asking it And by this means the People will become extremely divided both amongst themselves and from the Government And when that is done there will be so many left out of this Comprehension that the noise will not be much less than it is already And whatever accession can be supposed to be made to the Church by the coming in of her new Friends will be more than over-ballanced by the loss she will receive in the stability of her Principles and the Unity of her Children She will be the less able to defend her self against the Exceptions of the Romanists and be at no small loss for an answer to the Clamours of other Sectaries who can pretend as great grievances and alledge as plausible Reasons why they should be gratified so that the Work of Coalition as it is called in the newest word as often soever as it is done will be just as often to begin again As to any other Particulars of that Comprehension which is now so much endeavoured seeing they have not thought fit to let us know them I shall not venture to make a guess at them but shall go on to another Contrivance and in the Opinion of many a more promising one and that is Toleration which is frequently said to be an Expedient which will gratifie many more and more Considerable Persons than can be hoped to be brought within the Compass of any one Comprehension Now it is by no means a thing to be wondred at if so be that the proposal of Toleration be in it self at the first view very plausible and in the eyes of very many Persons exceeding acceptable It looks like a Privilege which every man hath an interest in which seing it is enjoyed by all alike no man should take himself to have any cause to envy it to any other Now this Liberty of Conscience however it hath obtained to be the general Darling yet methinks in the very name there is something which offers it self to our Consideration which is at least worth our Enquiry Whether the very demand doth not carry in it an Exception against it self How doth it appear that Conscience hath any such absolute Right to Liberty Hath it no Rule which it ought to walk by hath it no obligation to follow any besides its own Light If this be not the Case then Liberty and Conscience are two words which are very unfit in great variety of Cases to be joyned together I shall readily grant that to act against our Conscience is always a sin but then I shall add this further That it is very frequently a grievous sin to act according to it Conscience may in some cases condemn but there are very many cases wherein it cannot justifie I know nothing by my self saith St. Paul yet am I not hereby justified and farther I may self thought verily that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Iesus c. The Scripture tells us of seared Consciences Reprobate Minds Men whose minds and Consciences are defiled From all which Expressions it is very clear That Conscience is not a safe Rule for any man to act by in his private Capacity And in the next place as Conscience is very far from being a safe Rule for any man to act by in his private Capacity so it is by no means advisable that men should be so far trusted as to teach according to it in any Publick Places St. Paul assures us that by this permission dangerous Contentions shall arise by reason of the perverseness of men when in the nature of the things there was no real Cause for them â— Tim. 2. 14. They will strive about words to no purpose to the subversion of the â—earers And â— Tim. 4. 1. he tells us of seducing spirits who teach the doctrine of devils Tim. 3. for many Verses together he describes a sort of very wicked men of whom in the close he gives this Character That they have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof that they creep into houses and lâ—ad captive silly women laden with divers lusts And again we read of those who bring in damnable Herâ—sies and again which directly cometh up to the point in hand about Toleration whose mouths must be stopped Thus far therefore our way is clear 1. That according to the Doctrine of the New Testament Conscience is not its own Rule is not entirely left to it self in its own way of acting 2. That those who are
Counsels and Body of their own which the Government is not manager of nor privy to but shall quickly find it self highly concerned by all means to provide against Let it once be permitted to crafty active talking lying and designing men to instil into the minds of all sorts of People the necessity usefulness piety or rare excellency of any one thing or Contrivance whatever beyond that which the present Laws and establishment doth provide for and is not here a most readily prepared matter for any bold Boutefeu to work upon who will take upon him to help the Nation immediately to so fine a thing Hath not any such Undertaker a vast and already formed Party in all Parts of the Kingdom Let him but represent to them that the present Government is the only rub in their way between them and their so fancied happiness and is it not very likely that this will be the very next Consequent Resolution let us remove that Obstacle so publick a good is much to be preferred before any particular Form or Family the welfare of the Nation is the great End and Governours themselves were created but in order to that and consequently are to cease as often as that End can be better attained without them Though the pretence be nothing but Conscience yet every discontent will joyn to make the Cry both loud and general Schisms do of themselves naturally grow into Parties and besides are most plausible Occasions for any else to joyn unto them the gathered Churches are most excellent Materials to raise new Troops out of and when they are thus faâ— prepared they are easily perswaded to be at the Service of any one who will attempt to lead them on If all men were wise and honest if every one understood well and would act accordingly upon that Supposition Conscience might have a much greater trust reposed in it than can be now adviseable And if we could flatter our selves so far as to take that to be the Case this would no more supersede the necessity of the coercive power of Laws in Religious matters than it would upon the same grounds supersede it in Civil ones For no Laws which ever were or can be in the World can possibly provide in any Degree for those large measures of Justice Equity Mercy and all kinds of fair dealing which would infallibly every where be met with if all men did take Care to keep a good Conscience Truth Justice Temperance c. are things which every man's Conscience doth and must needs tell him that he is obliged to yet were it not for fear of the Law we should find that Conscience is not alone to be trusted in these which are her Natural and familiar Ojects And this is a thing so known and granted on all hands that it is not usual with men in their dealings among one another to trust purely in matters of any moment to one anothers Conscience And seeing we acknowledge that Conscience may so often prevaricate in these plain and obvious things where she is so easily found out we have no great cause to trust to her fidelity that she will not also dissemble in those things which are more remote and obscure and hidden from the very best of our discovery Let those therefore who plead for Liberty of Conscience consider that there are two sorts of men which ought to be provided against to keep this contrivance of theirs from being absolutely the most senceless and dangerous in the whole World and upon their Grounds it doth not appear to be so much as possible to provide against them First those who are not honest and these may pretend Conscience if they will and in that Case Religion and Government Truth and Peace are like to be most admirably secured when they are authoritatively permitted to the arbitrary Management of every designing Atheist who will but take upon him to be an Enthusiast And in the second place as all men are not honest so all men are not wise and as the former sort may pretend Conscience so the latter are perpetually liable to be imposed upon by the innumerable however absurd pretences unto it Those Laws are not fitted for the Temper of this World which are made upon this supposition that every one who looks demurely is presently in good earnest that men say nothing but what they think let us but consider that it is very possible for men to personate and then we shall not be very eager to desire a general License for every one who hath a mind to become a publick Cheat. And then from these diversities of Judgments and many times when they are only different forms of speaking there will immediately arise great Distances of Affection For these Divisions of Reuben there will be great thoughts of heart surâ—â—zings censures jealousies raylings evil speaking animosities peevishness malice perverse disputings every evil way Each Congregation will have at least some one little Proposition peculiar to its self which all its Proselytes must be known by which all their Thoughts must be perpetually running upon every one else must be called upon to come up to the smallest gathered Church cannot hold its Members together unless it hath some particular thing to engage them upon to have them known by for they cannot with any face separate from all mankind but they must have something to say for it This contrivance however it be absurd and dangerous will notwithstanding that have alwayes many who will be very fond of it for it is a most ready way for every forward Fellow to think himself some body because he hath adopted himself into such a Sect and then the next thing which he is to think upon is to try if he can improve the Notion a little farther for if so he shall be the more taken notice of And if he finds that his addition is but a little taking he will then forsake his Masters to set up for himself divide from that Church of which he hath been long a precious Member to gather a purer of his own And so his New Light will serve most bravely for himself to shine in But if this had been a new and unheard of Invention the Contrivers might then have been allowed to entertain vast hopes of it but alas it hath been often tryed and hath alwayes brought Confusion along with it And is it to be wondred at that in variety of Worships the one doth look upon the other as erroneous and perhaps impious And then how lamentably must that City be divided whose Inhabitants think themselves bound as they love God to hate one another and it hath been often seen that a Common Enemy hath crept in at these intestine Divisions and destroyed both while the one by reason of different Communions did not enough care to help the other Be our apprehensions about divine Matters never so different I grant that we ought not for the sake of them to be wanting
their private Affairs and of joyning Counsels against the Publick And do they not breed up their Children and Relations in the very same Principles with themselves Now the greater Numbers there are of such People so much the greater care there ought to be taken that they be not permitted to meet together The Meeting-place is very well fitted for a Religious Rendevouz and the Spiritual Master of the Camp may not only deliver out his Orders at the same time with but may stamp upon them the Authority of the Oracles of God But in the next Place if the Government would please but to own it self the Numbers of these men would presently appear to be very inconsiderable and this hath no oftner been tryed than it hath been found to have been accompanied with good effect In Queen Elizabeths Dayes these mens Predecessours were very troublesome made grat noise with their great Numbers and the great dangers which would arise by disobliging them and they had some great Favourers in Court upon some accounts which were not very Religious but when by reason of their Insolent Provocation in the Year 1588. When the Queen was in all her Fears from the Spanish Armado and in a condition as they thought to deny them Nothing they so far provoked Her as to alienate Her Mind for ever from them Their boasted of Numbers did immediately abate and the Laws were immediately submitted to as soon as ever they did perceive that it was but in vain to think of longer triffling with them So likewise it hapned in King Iames His Dayes their loud Clamours were presently silenced as soon as ever the King declared Himself resolute at the Conference at Hampton-Court Nor would the Act of Uniformity have had any less effect if it had not been accompanied with a general Discourse at the same time of a Toleration to follow immediately upon it And I appeal to the Consciences of several of the Preachers in the Separated Congregations whether they did not leave their Livings upon this very hope which without it they would have never done Besides the Numbers of the Dissenters ought by no means to be looked upon as an Argument for Toleration by any because it is not looked upon as such by themselves This very Point being a thing about which themselves are highly divided and would by no means if they could help it grant to one another But besides their Numbers they are now to be considered in point of Merit but this is a part of the Argument in which I do delight so very little as that I must gratifie my own temper so far as to say very little in it The Faults of other men are things which I by no means delight to dwell upon even when it is necessary I take it to be very irksome As they are particular Persons I have nothing to say to any one of them and whatever Degrees any of them have attained to in Piety and Virtue in any kind of Intellectual Moral and Religious Accomplishments I pray God that they may every day increase more and more in them and that both here and hereafter they may receive the comfort and reward of whatever is truly good in them But as they are a Party I take it to be very clear that their Merit hath not been very great either to the Crown or Nation and in this it were easie to be very large for one who delights in that which to me is a very ungrateful Employment In the Histories of Queen Elizabeth King Iames King Charles the First there is too much to be found on this Argument and His Majesty which now is when He was in the Hands of these men what Usage He did receive from them though His Royal Clemency hath been graciously pleased to pardon yet His Loyal Subjects have not quite forgot it As to the next Pretence that it is adviseable to grant these men an Indulgence at this time by reason of the great assistance which they are able to afford us against Popery This is such an Objection which the Regular Sons of the Church will scarce be able to refrain themselves from looking upon without some Indignation The Writings of the Bishops and Episcopal Divines have hitherto been had in great Esteem over all the Reformation no men thought to have had a better Cause to defend no men looked upon as better able to defend it Not to mention the many Worthies in Queen Elizabeth and King Iames His Dayes whose Names are both at home and abroad had in great and deserved Honour I shall only mention some few who since the beginning of the present Controversie have wrote against the Puritans as well as Papists and accordingly have fell under the Indignation of both Parties viz. Arch-Bishop Laud Arch-Bishop Bramhal Bishop Taylor Doctor Hammond and Mr. Chillingworth How many Ages will the Nonconformists take to breed up a man equal to any one of these Bishop Sanderson a Person of known Learning and Judgment in a Preface to a Body of Sermons Printed some Years before His Majesties Return takes occasion to declare his Opinion concerning the Controversie between the Church of England and Church of Rome as it useth to be handled by the Non-Conformists his Words are these That they preach against Popery I not at all mislike only I could wish that these two Cautions were better observed served than as far as I can conjecture of the Rest by the proportion of what hath come to my Knowledge I fear they usually are by the more zealous of that Party First that they do not through Ignorance Prejudice or Precipitancy call that Popery which is not and then under that name and notion preach against it and then Secondly that they would do it with less noyse and more weight c. Now it is well known that Bishop Sanderson was a Person of great Learning and Judgment and withall a Person of very great Humility and Modesty and who did very little delight in undervaluing the meanest Person living and yet he expresseth his Thoughts concerning the Writings of the Non-Conformists against the Church of Rome to be liable to these two not inconsiderable Defects First that they did not understand the Question Secondly that they did not know how to pitch upon such Arguments as were fit to be made use of And withall some Pages afterwards he adds this That even in these times of great Distraction and Consequently thereunto of so great advantage for the Factors for Rome none have stept into the Gap more readily nor appeared in the face of the Enemy more openly nor maintained the Fight with more stoutness and gallantry than the Episcopal Divines have done as their late Learned Writings testifie yea and some of them such as beside their other sufferings have layen as deep under the suspicion of being Popishly affected aâ— any other of their Brethren whatsoever That by the Endeavours of these Episcopal Divines some that were bred Papists have