and most exact that can be formed but because it is short and expressed in the words of Scripture and an Evidence of his Judgment that the Communion of Christians and consequently the Peace of Churches yea of Christendom must be suspended only on a few plain necessary things And peradventure our Common Creed with the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments as I have already intimated might be Impositions sufficient for the Union of Christians and Churches 8. Let the Ministers of the Gospel be obliged to declare their Fai h in and Assent unto no more than some such brief Symbol or Confession or rather to those three Summaries of Christianity abovesaid Let them not be obliged to subscribe unto a multifarious number of Articles or to profess a Faith or Consent unto them Let them heartily believe those few great things and reduce their Faith to Practice and persuade others I mean their several Congregations to do so and this will be a more effectual way of producing and preserving Peace and Union than any other way or means whatsoever and with less mischief and inconveniencies 'T is true good large numerous and swinging Impositions ratified by severe Laws and prosecuted by something like an Inquisition would peradventure silence more Disputes and Controversies but then there are two small mischiefs consequent thereunto The one is it would destroy the best part of Mankind from off the face of the Earth The other is it will destroy all serious Religion and leave nothing but an empty name or shadow of it in the World And I am of the mind that some serious Religion though attended with Controversies and Contentions about some smaller things is more eligible than no Religion or an outside Formality and Vizour of it though accompanied with the greatest Agreement Union and Sameness of Judgment and Apprehension imaginable Men are not Masters of their own Persuasions and cannot change their Thoughts as they please He that believes any thing concerning Religion cannot turn as the Prince commands him or accommodate himself to the Law or his present Interests unless he arrive at that pitch of Atheism as to look on Religion only as a matter of Policy or as an Engine for Civil Government Burnet in his Preface to his late Book of the Right of Princes 9. Let Ministerial Qualifications be set as high as prudently they may Let them be required to have good Skill in the Learned Languages and Philosophy Let them be skilled in History especially that of the Church Let them know something in the Controversies of Religion and in the Writers of the Primitive Times And in these things let them undergo a strict Tryal and Examination and if they be not found competently instructed in them let them be rejected Let it not be thought a sufficient Qualification to have seen a University and spent some little time there Let enquiry be made what Advantage they have made what Learning they have obtained by the time they have spent there Persons may come as arrant Fools and Ignorants from thence as they went thither and sometimes much more If no place in the Ministry nor Preferment in the Church were to be obtained without Learning it would oblige young Scholars to follow their Studies and imploy their Time in the prosecution of necessary Qualifications for the Ministerial Office that they might be capable of it But where little else is required in order thereunto but Submission to the Ecclesiastical Yoke and a good wide Throat that can swallow a Pompion 't is no wonder if nothing else be Learnt or Laboured after by a great many 10. Let greater care likewise be taken of the Piety and Sobriety of their Conversations Ad Personarum quidem delectum quod attinet qui ad munus ejusmodi publicum eligi debent tales esse oportet ut duo ista in iis inveniantur Primò Doctrina sana orthodoxa Deinde vita mores convenientes non modo professioni Religionis Christianae verum etiam tam sancto singulari muneri Ad hoc etenim vocantur ut alios tum sermone tum vitae exemplo doceant Theses Salmur De Minist Evangel vocatione Let none be admitted to the Sacred Office that are of Impious Lives and Immoral Conversations such persons give occasion to men of Prophane and Atheistical Tempers and Inclinations to scoff scorn and deride all Religion and burlesque it out of the World and to others that are of pious and devout Inclinations to forsake Publick Assemblies and run after Private Meetings and Conventicles These things are obvious and no man that hath Eyes in his head can very well miss the Observation of them And thus 't will be till greater care be taken of the Lives and Practices of those that are admitted to minister in holy things of which at present I see no great I kelihood seeing those that make the fiercest Declamations against Separation Conventicles do sometimes complain also of the Atheism Prophaneness and Debauchery of the Times take no care of removing away the Causes and Occasions of them For I do not doubt but that very much of the Impiety Irreligion Separation and Division which do abound among us is in a great degree imputable to the Ignorance and Wickedness of Clergy-men Were Clergy-men persons of Wisdom Learning and Gravity and of unblemished Conversation that had nothing to do with any of the unfruitful Works of Darkness themselves they would shame and rebuke the Licentiousness of the Age and more easily draw people from the Private Assemblies to the more Publick Worship of God 11. If the Governours of the Church shall think fit to Commend a Christian Institution or Form of Doctrine to the Clergy for the Direction of their Sermons and Publick Discourses I know no hurt in it it may have its Advantages and Utilities but the Imposing such a thing is to me an Aversion I know not what to compare it to better than a Rack where mens Joynts Limbs are retched and extended to their very great torment and vexation To Impote a large Confession containing many and uncertain Propositions and such as have exercised the Wits of Learned men for many Ages and are like to do so to the Worlds end is to set mens Minds upon the Tenters and to exercise an insupportable Tyranny over their Judgments and Consciences to the breaking of the Peace of Christians and the Ruine of multitudes of good and pious and holy men and this to the great detriment of Religion and the Souls of men and the Joy of the Devil and his Angels And I do protest I cannot but wonder by what fate even some good and excellent men are engaged in favour of Impositions Is it not as evident as that the Sun shines at Noon that they have Rent and Torn and Divided the Churches of God in all Ages for these 1300 years and have engaged them in those Heats and Animosities against each other that by mutual Censures and
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Summatim Nor are they agreed in the origination of the word ×©×ž×™× Some will have it compounded of the words ×ž×™× and ×©× ibi sunt aquae there are waters Others will have it derived from the Arabick word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 altum esse And as great variety may be observed in the Translation of those words The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters but such varieties are endless I will only mention the different opinions of Criticks upon those words Psal 22.17 They pierced The word ×›×רי some think is derived from the Hebrew word כרה and that the Aleph in the middle is Epenthetical and the Jod in the end of the word is put for Vau either by the negligence of Transcribers or the fraud of the Jews out of spight to the Christian Religion Others think the radix of the word is כהר and that Aleph is put for Ajn by a permutation usual in the Eastern Languages Others think that the word is Syriack and that the radix is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that 't is here the infinitive Mood with the affix of the first Person which often admits the signification of the preter perfect Tense among the Hebrews This opinion they think is favoured by the Septuagint who Translate the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is of the same signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ferrarius informs us Other diversities of opinions there are concerning this word those that please may consult De Dieu Glassius Hottinger Amama Pocock in Porta Mosis with many others Are there not great diversity of opinions among Historians and Chronologers do they give the same account of things is there no diversity in their narrations Do the Greek and Roman Historiographers report the same things of the Emperours great Generals and men of War whose lives and actions they transcribe and transmit to future Ages and Generations Do they fix the same Epoches and Periods to the beginning and end of the four famous Empires that have succeeded each other in the world Are they agreed in what year of the Julian period to fix the Creation or how long it hath been existent Longomontanus reckons it existent 3964. Kepplerus 3993 years before the birth of our Lord. Ricciolus says in his Almagest that he hath proved in his Chronology that this duration of the world could not be extended farther than 4076 nor determined shorter than the year 3993 from the Nativity of our Lord And the most probable year of the intermediate space betwixt these two periods he thinks is the year 4063. See And Tacquet Astron lib. 1. p. 46. This is enough to prove the variety and uncertainty of Chronology to which many more might be added if it were to any purpose When will our Learned Commentators agree in their expositions of the dark and obscure parts of the Scripture When will they give the same sense of the Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelations Mr. Mede seems to have given the fairest account of them and yet the Learned Dr. More dissents from him in many of his interpretations as well as from Dr. Hammond and his admired Hugo Grotius And 't is not only among Christian Writers that this diversity is found but even among the Jewish Doctors I shall only give one instance thereof amongst numberless numbers that might be produced and that shall be from their expositions of the 53 Chap. of Isaiah Abravanel in his enquiry concerning the Subject of that Prophecy tells us that many of their Wise Men understand it על פשיח לעחיר ×œ×‘× de Messiah venturo and thus Paehmanides understands it Rabbi Saaidias understands it of Jeremy the Prophet and so doth Aben Esra and Rabbi Menachem with whom Grotius assents though not without some hesitation Jarchi and both the Kimchi's Father and Son understand it of the Jewish Nation which opinion he embraces and defends Vide eum si placet in Commentariis fol 78. The like diversity is found among the Mahumetans as those that please may find in Mr. Pococks specimen Historiae Arabum and his notes upon it as also in Hottingers Historia Orientalis When will the diversity of opinions concerning the Hebrew Points receive a determination Capellus in his Arcanum punctationis asserts the novelty of them so doth our Learned Walton Buxtorfius Junior asserts them in his Anti Critica Capellus defends his opinion with acrimony and scorn enough towards his adversary as may be seen throughout his whole defence Buxtorfius replies again and the Controversy is not yet ended nor I think like to be These things Create no disputes among Carpenters and Masons among Plough-men and Carters and Persons that live in an utter ignorance of them but they are and will be controversies among the Learned till Elias come And are there not as many controversies varieties and uncertainties in natural Philosophy as in what I have already mentioned are not all things variously argued there and are not mens Judgments in those matters as multifarious as their Persons in them Have not DesChartes and some other Philosophers of late overturned the whole Systeme of the Aristotelian Philosophy and may not others do the like by what they have established and are there not as great objections lying against their Novel Systemes as against those that they have rejected Or are the minds of ingenious and inquisitive men any more satisfied in the one than in the other Are Physicians agreed in the nature of Simples Drugs and Minerals have they any fixed Method for the Cure of Diseases are they agreed in the Nature and Causes of them Can they tell what causeth Convulsions and Epilepsies Are they agreed or satisfied in what Dr. Willis hath discoursed concerning them Do they know what causes an Ague or in what part of the body and in what vessels thereof that Fomes lies which at stated times ferments and produces those various Symptomes Are they agreed in their judgments about these things or are they ever like to be Do we not find new methods of Curing Diseases propounded every day which after they have had their turn upon the Stage they go off and others succeed them As the varieties in natural Philosophy are many and the differences among those that converse therein innumerable so are there the like among the Writers and Students in Metaphysicks What is there in that Science that is not variously argued and disputed When will they be agreed about the Principle of Individuals about the nature number of Causes about Quantity Habits Relations and other things past count and number When will they with one consent tell us the difference between the Decrees and Essence of God whether it be real virtual relative or by extrinsick denomination To these varieties and differences in Science add those that are found among Mathematicians in Astronomy and other parts of Mathematical Learning When will they be agreed about the Diameter and Circumference of the Earth when
be cured or prevented by imposing may be healed and provided for by more Christian Methods Neque ad plenam charitatis societatis Christianae concordiam necessaria est plena opinionum de Dogmatibus Ritubus Consensio sedcum aliqua in hisce dissensione iniri jure potest ac honeste foveri inter dissidentes Ecclesiastica Pax fraterna consociatio Forbs Instruc Histor Theol. lib. 14. c. 7. Before I go off I must request the Reader calmly and without heat to consider the Contents of this Discourse before he censure or condemn it and that he will not take some single Sections separate and alone and charge them with Absurdities which he may easily do but consider the Whole and compare the Parts with each other For what in one Place is liable to Objection may in another be freed from it If any Man shall think fit to reply to what I have written and doth write calmely and with a peaceful Spirit I shall not promise a Rejoynder but I shall consider what he says But if he rages and is angry and gives me hard words having no cause for them I know how to imploy my time better than in answering such Folly And now then I will shut up my Book with some words which were in the Mouths of the Protestants at the First Reformation in Italy and may be put in the Mouths of those that Dissent from us now in England God knows how soon we may be made one to our cost Ne vi Lasciate dare a Credere da i Vostri Ecclesiastici che quelli che per la Lettione de la Same Scritture vengono ne la cognoscenz a del Siglivolo di Dio et de sue promesse ne le quali Confidati rejettano tutte le Traditione humane Sciano come pare hoggi a torto ci chiamanno Tumultuosi Perturbatori de la Pace e Quieta publica Autori de Seditione e Pieri d'egni vitio e Licenza Impero che Dio non e Autore di Divisione ma di Pace Ne siamo noi i primi i quali siamo di cio Stati Salsamente imputati Concioscia che a Elia primo su dello che egli disturbaa il popolo d' Israel Christo Anchora su chiamato seditioso da i Judei Egli Apostoli erano accusati che commoverano it Popolo Suffer not your selves to be prevailed upon by your Ecclesiasticks to believe that those who by reading the Scriptures come to the Knowledge of Christ and his promises and trusting on them reject all Humane Traditions are as at this day to their great injury they are called Tumultuous Disturbers of publick Peace Quiet Authors of Sedition Licentiousness for God is not the Author of Division but of Peace We are not the First to whom these things have been imputed It was said of Elias That he was the Troubler of Israel The Jews said of Christ That he was Seditious and Subverted the People And 't was said of the Apostles That they did exceedingly trouble their Cities and turned the World upside down Aprite Aprite gliocchi vosteri e considerate bene voi che permettete che ne vosteri citta stiano Gjudeiet altri non solamente di contraria Religione a quella del figlivolo di Dio ma Distruttori d'essa Anchora et Atheisti et non permetterete chi quelli i quali seguitano la Vera Dottrina e Religione de Giesu Christo stiano ne vostri Citta e Case loro contrae ogni Giustitia e Legge tanto civile quanto Divina Open open your Eyes and consider you that permit Jews in your Cities and others not only of contrary Religion to that of the Son of God but utter Destroyers of it yea arrant Atheists And will ye not suffer those which follow the true Doctrine and Religion of Christ Jesus to dwell in your Cities in their own Houses contrary to all Right both Humane and Divine These are Words in an Address to the Italian Princes and Republicks in the Year 1562. Unto which I will therefore yet affix a Sentence that is Fresh out of the present Bishop of Cork in his late Book call'd The Protestant Peacemaker who hath rendred himself I take it Observable for his several Condescending passages to the Nonconformists and more especially for the mention he makes of one Book of theirs entituled A Peaceable Resolution of Conscience touching our present Impositions and it is a Peaceable Book indeed with so much Integrity and Honour as he does though scarce taken notice of by others as also for this one saying of his which is fit I think to be set on a Beacon and shall be therefore my Conclusion I am and must be of the mind that the strength of the Protestant Cause both at Home and throughout Christendom lies in the Vnion of Protestants and the Glory Purity and Power of Christianity in this World stands or falls with Protestantism SECT Vlt. TO this Discourse before going written by a Learned Hand in the Countrey which does here end the Bookseller who knows him not is advised to annex the Copy of those two Bills for Accommodation that were in the House of Commons when they Sate last at Westminster to this end that they may be here as it were upon Record for the Use of the Parliament when any shall be called It is some Months since this Book which so much concerns that Argument was sent out of the Country and it was retarded in the Press several Weeks in hopes of a Parliament coming that might have made the Subject more seasonable But now the very Talk of one being lodged for this Summer it is fit something be put to it as may make it to be of use in October The Bees and Ants have their Instinct in the Summer to make Provision for their Lives against the Winter There are Two sorts of Nonconformists we know The One who do allow of a Liturgy and our Parochial Churches and these may be all Câ—â—prehended upon very reasonable condescenâ—â—â—â—s The Other who do not allow of either and these must be Indulged or destroyed It is two Bills therefore or these two things in one Bill which are necessary to the designe of Accomodation In that Parliament the One of these Bills for there was Two of them as the Gentleman before hath told us the Bill for Indulgence was carefully attended by some concerned in it and was therefore brought to Perfection The Other Bill that for Comprehension was looked after very sorrily and if it had Passed as it was Drawn up would have brought in no Body For instance The Declaration of Assent and Consent to the Book of Common-Prayer required in the Act of Vniformity was taken away wholly in this Bill but the Subscription required in the same Act was taken away only in the latter part And when in the former part there are these words And I will Conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England