tender am I of the Laws of Good Nature and Civility even towards all that have forfeited their Right in them could I ever have discovered the least appearance of Integrity either in his Writings or Actions or the least tokens of Repentance for his former Crimes or the least ground of hope for his future Reformation but when nothing appears but reprobate Hardness and Impenitence and an obstinate persisting in his old Rancour his case is desperate and when Men are past Grace they are past Mercy too And thus having done him Right and his Pamphlet Reason and prevented the Design of escaping the Disgrace of his Overthrow by sending abroad new Challenges before he had discharged himself of his old Engagements it is high time to return to the Argument upon which I was entring when he came in my way to divert me viz. To consider what likelihood or how much Danger there is of the Return of Popery into this Nation For my own part I know none but the Nonconformists boisterous and unreasonable Opposition to the Church of England for if ever that be Re-erected it must be upon the Ruines of this as long as this stands in Power and Reputation it will easily beat back and baffle all the Attempts of Rome and all its Adherents Our Reformation is Establisht upon such unblameable Grounds and Principles that all the Learning and Wit of our Adversaries was never able to fasten any Reproach or Dishonour upon the Constitution it self and next to the Puritan Cause there was never any so unequally managed as the Controversie between us and the Romanists their most plausible Reasonings are evidently no better than little Tricks and Sophisms and seem intended by themselves rather to abuse the Simple than to satisfie the Wise in so much that it is very hardly credible that those Persons who have lately appeared in the Cause can notwithstanding all their seeming Zeal and Earnestness be really in good earnest in their Pretences but 't is somewhat more wonderful that they should have the Confidence to suppose the World should be so simple as to think them so when they can boast such idle talk for Demonstration as themselves unless their Skulls are stufft with Mud and Saw-Dust cannot but know to be meer Trifling and arrant Sophistry And no wonder for every Cause must be defended as it can their Innovations are so undeniable and the Design of our Reformation so apparently Apostolical that those People must needs argue at a strangely wild rate that will be Demonstrating against Experience and Ocular Inspection and nothing could preserve them from being hiss'd out of the Pit but that they are extreamly confident and most Readers sufficiently ignorant so that the Church of England may safely defie all their Opposition she does not stand upon such trembling Foundations as to be thrust down with Bullrush-spears with sure Footings and Oral Traditions with Labyrinths and Castles in the Air. If there be any danger from them it lies more remote and out of view and if ever they get any Ground or Advantage of us they will be bound to make their Acknowledgments to the Puritans and the strength of their Assistance Not that these are a whit more considerable and dead-doing Enemy than the other they are Triflers beyond contempt and when they have in their mighty Zeal done their poor utmost and spent all their Ammunition a Man must be very splenetick that can refrain from laughing at the folly and the childishness of their Attempts No their strength lies in other Weapons and their danger arises from other Interests their Faction may be made use of as Instruments to dissolve and unravel the establish'd frame of things but they can never be able to set up any of their own Models and crazy Fancies in lieu of it they are too humorous and extravagant ever to be reduced to practice a little Experience quickly brought them all into the scorn and contempt of the common People and it would be a pleasant speciacle to see either the Classical or the Congregational Discipline Establish'd by Authothority But alas they are only excellent at their old Destruction-Work and beside that their Conceits are too freakish to be ever setled upon any lasting bottom they will always be supplanting each other by their mutual Squabbles and Animosities so that though they can never compass their own giddy Designs yet by their perpetual and restless Opposition to the Church they may possibly be the occasion of its utter Ruine and Dissolution and by that Change may probably make way for the Introduction of Popery And this is most likely to be effected by these Means and upon these Accounts I. By creating Disorders and Disturbances in the State For the present Fanaticks are so little Friends to the present Government that their Enmity to that is one of the main Grounds of their Quarrel to the Church They are generally fermented with a Republican Leven and are faln out with Monarchy it self as one of the greatest Instruments and Supports of Antichrist and no Liberty with them either of the Subject oâ— of Conscience but in a Commonwealth and that is a mighty piece of their Zeal and their Project to reform the Government of Church and State to the Platform of the Low-Countries T is the Good Old Cause that is the strongest Band and Endearment of the present Schism and the greatest Agents in and for Conventicles are Officers and Chaplains of the old Army And the warmest and most zealous of them such as have given the World no great ground to suspect either from their profess'd Principles or open Practices that they have the least Concern or Tenderness for Religion But this is the only plausible Device that is left them to rally and randevouz the People of God into a Body by themselves and distinct from the rest of the Nation and so keep up a Party always ready and prepared for their Purposes that if ever they may gain any hopes or advantages of recovering the Kings Power or the Bishops Lands for confident Men despair of nothing they may play the holy Brotherhood upon Demands and Attempts either of the old or some other new thorough-godly Reformation and enrage their Fiery Spirits against the Abominations and Idolatries of the Whore and Antichrist Though the danger here is not very formidable because Fanaticism it self is so much worn into Contempt unless among the meer Rabble that 't is never likely to gather strength enough to grapple with the Royal Power but yet whatsoever Power it has if it have any lies in the Old Army and the Old Cause And if we observe the true Patriots of the Godly Party in every County we shall find them generally such Persons as were never much concerned to give his Majesty any great assurance of their Loyalty and Allegiance and there are very few if any of any considerable Interest or Estate among them that was not raised by Plunder and Sequestration so
that the Chiefs of the Party are only the Remainders of the old Rebellion and the Republican Faction and such as profess no great kindness to Monarchy or Sovereign Princes These that are so stein'd with Guilt and Disloyalty are they that are every where so zealous to make their Cabals of Zeal and their Musters of Reformation or at least to keep up the Cause and themselves above despair by keeping up a factious and discontented Party that if ever opportunity should favour them may have Strength and Interest enough to act over their old Designs of Zeal and Reformation Now at present it is the Way and the Wisdom of these Men to bend all their Forces against the Ecclesiastick State not only to disguise their Intentions but to remove the main hindrance of their Designs For 't is the Church that is the best part of every Commonwealth and when all Projects are tried Religion is the best Security of Peace and Obedience The Power of Princes would be but a very precarious thing without the Assistance of Ecclesiasticks and all Government does and must owe its quiet and continuance to the Churches Patronage 't is the Authority that has over the Consciences of Subjects that chiefly keeps the Crown upon the Princes Head and were it not for the Restraints of Conscience that are tied on by the Hands of the Priest and the Laws of Religion Man would be a monstrously wild and ungovernable Creature For though the World be kept in some tolerable Order notwithstanding there are too many Persons in it of Atheistical and Irreligious Principles yet of all Subjects these are the most dangerous and disloyal because 't is impossible to bring them under any effectual Engagements of Duty and Allegiance and hence it is that all Seditions and Treasons are headed and managed by such Leaders At least though they are not able to do so very much mischief because their Party is not very considerable yet were all Mankind of their Humour and Perswasion nothing could be more insecure and destitute of help than the Condition of Princes because no Man according to their Principles could be so foolish as to think himself any way obliged to venture Life and Fortune for the sake of their Interest and whenever they are attempted Subjects would be determined as to their Loyalty by the chance of Success and not by any antecedent Obligations and whenever the Princes Affairs were brought into any straight or danger they must leave him to shift for himself and revolt to an Usurper for their own Safety and Interest But those only are Loyal Subjects and true Friends and Servants to the Establisht Government that think it their Duty to adhere to their Prince in all Fortunes and to assist and serve him against all Enemies and 't is their Numbers every where that keep the World in that little order and security that it enjoys for beside the useful and advantagious Offices that they do to the Crown by their own immediate Service 't is their known and sworn Fidelity that in a great measure keeps back wicked and seditious Men from attempting it too lightly Every aspiring Mind or neglected Grandee would be presently venturing at the Throne if it stood naked and unguarded of the Assistances of Loyalty but when they are assured that howsoever their Designs may succeed that there is so strong a Party unalterably resolved to make Head against them and all their Attempts 't is that that chiefly makes such Projects and Practices not so very frequent or easie Now 't is nothing but Conscience and Religion that can awe the Minds of Men to any sense of this Duty and they ever are and ever must be Govern'd by Ecclesiasticks other Persons may tamper with them and inveigle some stragling People but still the main Body of a Nation and especially the sober part of it will chuse to submit themselves to their Conduct whose Publick Profession it is to guide Souls and instruct Consciences so that to them and the discharge of their Duty do all Princes plainly owe the main Strength and Seourity of their Government This Obligation of kindness to the Ecclesiastical State is common to all Civil States and so much as they discountenance the Power and Reputation of the Church so much do they disadvantage the Interest of their own Authority But this reason of State is of greater force and more peculiar usefulness in reference to the present Constitution of the Kingdom of England The Nation is manifestly divided into two opposite Parties the Church of England and the Body of the Nonconformists The former whereof is the greatest Example of Loyalty that perhaps ever appeared in the Christian World Its Clergy are the most Zealous Assertours of the Rights of Princes they have all along undauntedly maintain'd their Supremacy against all Assaults and Invasions they have possest the Peoples Conscienecs with a religious Awe and Reverence of Government they have restrained them from all Attempts of Rebellion or of taking up Arms upon any Pretence whatsoever under the greatest and most dreadful Penalties they have secured them from being abused with the Impostures of Zeal and Superstition and have carefully prevented all the Shifts and Excuses of Disobedience and after they have made Subjection a prime and indispensable Duty they do not evacuate the Efficacy of their Doctrine by juggling Reserves and Limitations And thus are the People train'd up in a Conscience of their Loyalty and take it in together with their Religion and are as strongly principled against the hateful sin of Rebellion as against Witchcraft or Idolatry And of this our Princes have had sufficient proof and experience ever since the Reformation They have ever found all their Subjects of the Communion of the Church of England modest and peaceable and were never troubled with Disputes and Remonstrances Plots and Disturbances from any of her Friends And when Rebellion broke forth and the Royal Power was invaded and oppressed with what Zeal and Devotion did they appear in its Defence and for its Recovery and what Numbers sacrificed Lives and Fortunes out of meer sense of Duty and Allegiance For though it is not to be doubted but that some might engage themselves in the Royal Cause for other ends yet 't is manifest from too many sad Circumstances that the true and hearty Sons of the Church were acted by Principles of Conscience and Religion and whilst others might be bought over by the Rebels and Usurpers no Temptation could prevail upon their Minds but they were constant and impregnable in all Conditions They forsake their Prince You must first force them to renounce their Faith their Loyalty stands upon their Religion and they were Martyrs as well as Souldiers for his Cause and in his Service This is the peculiar Genius and these the distinguishing Principles of the Church of England and as far as they are admitted into the Minds of Men so far do they work in them this religious
upon all occasions and without them too to appear in the Head of the Party and is at present not only the chief Ringleader but the only Champion of the Cause I cannot prevail with my self to let him go yet without remarking for the prevention of all their Subterfuges and Tricks of escape one little Artifice whereby his Followers would salve and redeem his Reputation viz. That his Adversary was not so ingenuâ—us as to engage him upon equal terms but took advantage of his old Miscarriages and Engagements in the late Rebellion and prevailed more by personal Reflections than strength of Argument so that though he could with case have Replied to all his pertinent Objections yet he could not in discretion revive so many old and forgotten Stories 1. Be it so And if he stand indicted of such Enormities against his Prince and Countrey as are neither to be exòused nor defended yet however it is not modest for him to defie his Accusation as he has done in publick by charging it with slander and scurrility If he be not guilty he ought to plead his Innocence if he be he might have some reason to complain of want of Candour but none at all of want of Truth And it only becomes his Confidence to defeat the Credibility of a plain and undeniable matter of fact by hussing and giving the lye in plain English and that in defiance to the Convictions of his own Conscience to the Testimony of his own Writings and to the Notoreity of his own Practices This is pretty well for Modesty But if he ever were guilty he is so still for nothing can recover his Innocence but a sincere and an hearty Repentance and till he has cut off all his Ancient Crimes by some publick acknowledgment and satisfaction he cannot be supposed to have forsaken his old Dispensation but still to continue as very a secret one as ever And now had he been proceeded with as they pretend it would not have been in the least impertinent to his Adversary's Cause or Argument whilst he was perswading the Government to beware of that sort of men to represent how those that are most forward to appear in their Defence were never considerable for any thing but Sedition and Disloyalty And that is a very strong Accession to the direct force of his Argument when we find none 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enervate or disparage its Ev◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are known to design nothin◠〈◊〉 â—hief or disturbance And there can scarce be a more effectual Proof of the Dangers and Ill-consequences of Toleration than that J. O. and some others of his Kidney so much bestir themselves to obtain it all Governments have certainly reason enough to be jealous of all such designs as are carried on by professed Enemies of the State The only unanswerable Objection that the Nature of the Argument it self affords is the natural Tendency of fanatick and enthusiastick Principles to wild and seditious Practices but when such right peaceable men as these are observed to come forth in its defiance that farther proves the Event that was but probable in the Nature of things to be really laid and intended in the minds of men and the Result of all is that publick Broils and Tumults is not only the natural Effect but the serious end of all their Pretences And this I presume is competently material to the scope of the Discourse And as this way of Procedure could not have been justly charged with any Impertinence so much less with any Disingenuity for in sober sence what milder Correction could a Person so obnoxious deserve or modestly expect though it were only to take down his malepert Confidence and Presumption but when beside that it was so direct a Consideration to the matter in Debate no Laws of Ingenuity could oblige no nor scarce excuse any man that should baulk such weighty advantages to so honest a cause only out of regard and tenderness to a malefactours Reputation Especially when he shall so often as he has publickly done proclaim open Defiance to all Accusations boast of his own meekness and innocence and with such an intolerable Confidence pish at the vanity and silliness of all such ungrounded reflections What other course can be taken with such a boisterous Huff than to dash back his bold Affronts and Challenges into his own Teeth and beat down such a daring Impudence with the weight of its own Guilt And thereby let the world see how little Conscience or Modesty is to be expected from these demure precious ones that can bare up so bravely under such a sinking load of horrour and vilany And though the Government has been pleased to forgive and forget all their Godly pranks yet it is not to be endured to see them look so big and talk so loud upon Presumption of their own Innocence and who could believe it that People so guilty upon all accounts both before God and Man and so they are and must be till they have disowned their former Practices and renounced their former Principles by some publick Protestations of Repentance should be so irrecoverably faln from all shame and modesty as to spit at the most modest suspicions of their Honesty to stand on tip-toe upon their own Iustification and in stead of being brought to any Remorse or Contrition for all their horrid and publick Crimes to cast off all Reflections upon their Guilt with all the stateliness of Pride and all the assurance of a good Conscience And therefore until they have given us some more satisfactory Symptoms and Indications of their Repentance they have nor can have no reason to complain of our want of Charity for supposing them constant to their good old Principles and their good old Cause If these Men complain of their hard usage till they have given us some hopes of their Reformation so may Wolves and Padders 2. Supposing he had been bespattered with uncivil and unhandsom Reflections yet certainly a Person of his abstracting and Metaphysical Head is able to separate the Argument from the Abuse and though possibly he could not wipe them off to the satisfaction of all Readers yet he might fairly neglect them as of no Concernment to the matter of his Enquiry And he is not so shamefaced as not to Huff and Out-swagger all Affronts Nay he has quit himself like himself of them already not only by holding forth that it is more Christian-like to forbear all such Provocations because they tend to mutual Exasperations of Spirit for that signifies little more than that he Good Man is very angry and I think he has no very great reason to be very well pleased but also by retorting them with all the Keenness of Revenge whilst poor Nothing he protests his unfeigned Resolutions of Meekness and Forgiveness as he has done a thousand times over in his late goodly Discourse of Evangelical Love and Unity particularly pag. 8. he defies all the Revilings of his Adversaries because they are such
the greatest Pest and most dangerous Enemy of the Commonwealth and whoever wishes well to his Country can never do it greater service than by beating down the Interest and Reputation of such Sons of Belial Had he ever given us any Symptoms of Modesty or Remorse for his old Impostures would he have been true to his own Doctrine of wheeling about with Providence would he but deign to give any Engagements of Loyalty and Allegiance only whilst it is in fashion and reputation and acknowledge his good old Principles to have become wicked and abominable because they are now and so long have been disowned by Providential Revolutions Nay did he not give us manifest Tokens of Rage and Indignation at the disappointment of his former Designs did he not employ all his Industry to discompose our present Setlement did he not make it his business in private and as far as he dares in publick to keep up the old Schism and to keep back the People from returning to Peace and Sobriety did he not train up Nurslings of the Cause in Principles of Enthusiasm and Sedition did he not always thrust forward to appear in the Head of the Mutiny did he not set up his Flag of Defiance against the Church of England and bestir himself with all his Zeal and Power against all Endeavours of Peace and Reconciliation did he not enflame and exasperate the Minds of his Disciples against the Establisht way of Worship and Discipline and chuse rather than see it perfectly setled to let loose Antichrist and call in the Turk in a word did he not shew himself past all hopes of Reformation by his incorrigible Boldness and Confidence he might be allowed some Grains of Mercy and Tenderness But if he be a Person of such a gangren'd Temper and malignant Spirit no body that is not concerned and involved in the same guilt himself can ever be concerned to have such a Caitiff spared Especially when by his Zeal and Pragmaticalness he has advanced himself to some considerable Power and Reputation with his Party in so much that great Numbers of silly People run greedily into Schismatical courses for no other reason than because J. O. steers and drives them He is to his great content become the Head of the Faction and the Oracle of the separate Churches and is consulted in all Cases of Conscience and in all Projects of Anarchy and his bare Authority and Nod is to the Disciples a satisfactory Determination of all Enquiries And if it be so it is not only fit but necessary to take down such an aspiring Mind from its heighth and loftiness to take off all his demure and hypocritical Disguises and to shew him to the deluded People in his own Colours and if it be possible to disabuse them by letting them see that the only thing that lies at the bottom of all his Tumultuatingness of Spirit is Pride and Ambition I ever had so good an Opinion of the well-meaning of the Vulgar sort that I am confident great Multitudes would quickly return to themselves and to their Duty did they but see into the Dishonesty of their Leaders and into the Designs of their Practices and I can scarce judge so severely of any Member of his own Rendevouz as to believe he would ever have entrusted his Soul and its Eternal Interest to his Conduct had he but understood the Rankness of his Blasphemies against the Divine Providence And that is one of the chiefest Arts they make use of to keep their People fast to their Communion viz. To bar up their Minds against all ways of being undeceived if they do but light upon a Book that reflects upon their Reputation it is immediately wrested out of their hands and they are frighted from perusing it because as they inform them it is stuff't with nothing but Railing and Wicked and Ungodly Opinions But were they so hardy as notwithstanding their frightful Tales to examine and judge impartially it is not to be doubted but that their Conventicles would quickly moulder away if they did not suddainly vanish and disappear so that at last nothing will be found more serviceable towards the cure of our Schisms and Divisions than to deal plainly and sincerely with the People in acquainting them with the Blasphemous Doctrines and Seditious Practices of these Achitophels And therefore I would advise J. O. for the future to forbear all Publick Attempts against the Church and if he will not he will find all the Rebuke he has hitherto suffered to be but the beginnings of his sorrows and will be brought to the Sledge oftner than he is aware of for if he be not taken down with open and continual Disgraces his Pride will quickly grow raging and insupportable I know he will complain of this as the most intemperate Language that was ever poured upon him by any Adversary but 't is no matter for that as long as I know them and have proved them to be Words of Truth and Sobriety they proceed not from Passion or Revenge but from an upright and composed Mind that upon mature Iudgment chuses this way of procedure as most proper and rational against such an enormous and irreclaimable Offendor I have not skill enough in the Tricks of Hypocrisie to protest my Friendship and Charity to my Enemies in the coarsest Expressions of Rancour and Bitterness as this meek-spirited Man always does with heaping up all the Recriminations that he tells us he might but will not retort and so in one breath vents his Malice and boasts his Charity and were it not for this demure way of darting his Revenge it is manifest from the Genius of his Mind and Writings that Death it self would scarce be more disgustful than an hearty forgiveness otherwise he would not always issue out his Pardons with such spiteful and stabbing Intimations But for my own part I love nothing more than a frank and an open Integrity and endeavour nothing more than to deal clearly and undisguisedly with all Men and therefore having plainly enough told him his own and nothing but his own as to his Principles I need not to protest my unfeigned Love and Charity towards his Person I am too well assâ—red of the Uprightness of my Purposes to condescend to such faint and mis-giving Expressions for it is nothing else but a diffidence of their own Sincerity that puts Men upon such needless Appeals and Protestations And therefore in stead of that I shall only add That I do not in the least tax his private Conversation and for any thing I ever will know for I scorn ever to enquire he may live as becomes a good and an honest Man among his Neighbours and Acquaintance the only thing I lay to his Charge is his insolent and unpardonable Behaviour towards the Publick and 't is purely for the sake and in the behalf of that that I account with him so severely for his old Arrears Which yet I should willingly have spared so