not more generally embraced and admired is because the purity of its Doctrine the sobriety of its Devotion the moderation of its Discipline the largeness of its Charity are not more impartially and calmly examined more generally understood Our Church in its Spiritual State as you are Christians is most conformable to the rules of Christ to the Apostolick practice to the Primitive Institutions In its rational State as you are Men its Doctrines are very agreeable to the reason of Mankind its Precepts most becoming the purest and strictest Laws of Nature Vertue and Morality In its Political State as ye are Englishmen its Interest is inseparable from that of our Nation and Government We are therefore so far from being jealous of your most curious exact search into the Practice and Principles of our Church that we desire it nay we most earnestly beseech it We are in no danger from Mens most subtle inquiry into it we may be from their utter carelesness and indifferency towards it We are not against any Mans seeing Spiritual Truths onely we would not have the blind presume to teach others to see We would not have Men think they see when they do not which is the most certain way for them never to see at all we would have you know as much as you can onely we would have you believe that both you and we may know much more than we do we intreat you to strive to know all in a right way by sober Dr. Sprats Sermon at Whitehall before His Majesty degrees for right purposes uses and ends I will here be bold to subjoin by way of Corollary to the fore-going excellent words It hath puzled my nearest and nicest Inquisition and plunged my closest scrutiny in deep amazement when I have considered that so many of our Countrymen should out of an odd peevish humour and most unaccountable Caprice forsake that sober decent way of Worship which the Established Law presses which their gracious King and Governour himself strictly observes together with the Loyal Nobility and Gentry and the Reverend and Learned Clergy of this Land that they should I say leave these good these great these wise Examples contrary to the obedient humble temper of Christians contrary to the prudence and interest of rational men and contrary to the honest good nature of true Englishmen And all this out of a blind and ignorant complyance to the Insinuating hypocritical perswasions of a few leading prejudiced Presbyters For true scruple of Conscience cannot be said to urge them to this Non-conformity not one of five hundred understanding the intrinsick state of the Question or the true nature of the Controverted point any more than they do Arabick But granting that they could plead Christian Scruple how far would even that fall short of Justification seeing that the Commands to Obedience are so absolute so plain so positive and the reasons for Non-conformity even at best so obscure so weak so dubious In a word the Faith of our Separatists is as blind and implicite as that of the Papists the design of their Doctrines as Subtle Sensual and Secular But to return to the Romanists that the trick should pass upon the common Herd of the Ignorant and Credulous is not at all strange nor that the well-contriv'd Imposture should go down pretty cleverly with the middle sort of Mankind is it much to be wondred at but that so notorious so bold so sawcie a cheat should engage the Wise and Noble nay Kings and Princes to a complyance so mean and servile as heretofore especially this is a perfect Prodigie to me What depth of subtilty is implyed in the Doctrine of the Popes Supremacy and Infallibility the basis of implicite Faith indisputable obedience absolute dependance on the Church and Court of Rome What great and glorious Scenes of pomp pride and splendour are consequential to the necessity of making all deferences and humble appeals to his Holiness The Doctrine of Purgatory is a most excellent bait for a wealthy sinner on his death-bed how eagerly and zealously he exchanges his Bags for Masses that he may not be stopt at that hot stage but be immediately dispatch'd to the more agreeable warmth of Abraham's bosom Thus by a pretty kind of Platonick Chymistry the subtle Priest makes real Gold by an imaginary fictitious fire But above all to dive into and discover the Tempers and Inclinations Designs and Contrivances Actions and Passions nay the most retired Thoughts of Men and Women Auricular Confession is an unparallel'd device 'T is certainly the most impudent Incroachment and unnatural piece of Tyranny that was ever impos'd on Mankind I mean as 't is abused and disfigured by them from its first good designe and Institution I will now end these brief Remarks on the Romish Religion with one Trick more of theirs which appeared in the Death of Mr. Langhorne and the late Jesuits which hath afforded matter of much discourse to all and of no small wonder and amusement to some For my own part I verily believe that if the Depositions of the King's Witnesses as the Law always allows and supposes them to be so were not de facto true and evident if the Proceedings of the Court were not most impartial just and steady and by consequence the Parties brought in guilty by an honest and unbiassed Verdict if all this I say were not so then there is no Truth or Certainty under the Sun And therefore that Learned and Rational Men should at the point of Death fondly conceive that any Dispensation from Rome or their reciprocal Absolutions could possibly expiate the Guilt and Crime of a positive deliberate mortal sin I mean the stedfast Abjuration of true matter of Fact this is a Presumption of that Force and Contradiction to the Genius of Christianity and so contrary to the very Essentials and Fundamentals of Humane Nature that I know not what to resolve it into but a total dereliction of God Almighty or some latent Frenzy in those wretched Delinquents I have indeed heard some Learned Men urge the strong force of Education and Institution as a competent cause to rivet this Principle into the perswasions of the Romish Agents What e're it is it affords matter of mysterious difficulty to me and what Principle soever it owns certainly the resolute Effects it produces must needs belong to a very forcible Cause since we see this firm Obstinacy retains its Vigour in Attempts of the last danger and at the dreadful point of unavoidable Death too 'T is true that the Bishop and Spiritual Senate of Rome exhibit all the Machiavilian Maximes which they without exception call in to establish and advance their Secular and Ecclesiastick Politie under the specious stamp of Divine Authority and crown the most horrid Enterprizes and unnatural Villanies with the additional advantage of Merit this if firmly believed but there lies the difficulty must needs infuse as much Courage and Resolution as the Arabian
very same power of a reasonable Soul for I think not the Faculties distinct first considers and judges then determines it self to action Yet there are some humane Actions where violent surprize or the forcible sway of a constitutional Vice may hurry the Will to sudden choice before the Intellect in that confusion can appear at the Election as in Fits of Cholerick or Lustful Passions But these seem to me actions of the Animal rather than the Man and more properly spontaneous than free And yet we have a few Instances of the Triumph of Grace over sudden provoking Temptations even of this sort as in David's patient Meekness in the business of Shimei 2 Sam. 16. 9 10. when Abishai thô not pointed at was all on fire with bloudy rage and fury as indeed it was his duty And Joseph's resisting the importunate Sollicitations and at last almost Ravishment of his Masters Wife in instanti contrary to Flesh and Bloud Interest and Ambition that with joynt forces assaulted his Honour and Honesty all at once as the case then stood But to return I suppose an humane Soul to be a Simple Thinking Essence that judges and acts with rational deliberation and which hath more and stronger Motives ab intra and ab extra so to do in matters of Christian Duty than in any other occasions of Life whatsoever By all this I mean in a word if there be greater Motives in Religion to incline this free thinking Soul of ours according to her own common natural way of working to good actions than any other Principle can pretend to to declien her to bad and which motives she firmly believes and assents to how can we in Reason Religion or Philosophy solve the general Inclinations of Christians in the gross the other way when the more forcible poize lies here unless we make her freedom like that of Fortune's the most senceless indifferency imaginable and that she hath no regard or dependence on knowledg or perswasion but lets her actions out loose and at rovers which is Non-sence to me But farther still to choose a finite good before an Infinite a temporal before an eternal that is in short a less before a greater nay more to choose in effect willingly her own destruction for the sake of a present Pleasure or Interest this is all to act quite contrary to all her other common Methods of proceeding in any other cases whatsoever To say she could not absolutely be free unless she could do thus i. e. act against the very Principles of her being those of Self-preservation and that such a bare indeterminate Power is the especial Prerogative of her freedome is nothing but what I will grant but yet still for all that 't is natural and rational to presume that this absolutely Free will should rather and most generally in most Cases be directed in Religion especially by the dictates of clear Judgment and convictions of Understanding And since these in the business of Christianity bend confessedly to the side of Vertue and Goodness Why are not the most of men according to this explanation of our Wills motion and operation ballanced rather that way than the other as we see daily If any one urge here the natural impotency in our Wills derived from Adam's corruption I rejoyn as before that the Death of Christ and God's Grace doth abundantly poyze that Infirmity nay more helps our Will to advantage above that But farther still 't is our nature to be rational 't is highly rational to be religious what an excellent consequence doth now naturally follow and yet I fear a thousand to one de facto miscarry Little Flock saith our Saviour Luk. 12. 32. that startles me These Considerations that the generality of Mankinde Christians I mean act according to their Capacities in the true discernment of the Colours of Good and Evil in all or most cases but Religion which nevertheless is their greatest Interest by confest plain Conviction this I say general miscarriage of Free-will together with our Saviour's aforesaid Answer to the Question Luk. 13. 24. inclines me to fear till I am better informed that few men are happy in the absolute use of unrestrain'd Freedome but that in most there is a secret imperceptible clog upon humane Will in its tendencies and operations To sum up all if our Will be free and that freedom not simply blinde but naturally much more spiritually directed by Understanding and that Understanding informed by the confest Truths and strong Convictions of Religion tending to Self-preservation Positive and Negative in the highest degree and these again assisted and inclinable to action by Divine Grace and if there be a present Redress and effectual Remedy by Repentance for all possible Lapses How comes the generality of us to force Nature Reason Religion Conviction Demonstration Interest to act directly against their respective proper Principles How is it that the true Israelites pitch like two little flocks of Kids but the Syrians fill the Countrey 1 Kin. 20. 27. How is it that the number of the Goats so far exceeds that of the Sheep The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us that we may do all the words of the Law Deut. 29. 29. Such Contemplative Perplexities as these do sometimes entertain my private thoughts I confess but I make no farther Consequences than what you have just now read nor do I harbour the least surmise that touches the Justice of the most Just God or deduce any Inference that may have a bad influence on my actions nor do I follow the lewd humour of this Age in urging Necessity and Impossibility as Compurgators for their habitual wicked practices I conclude no Necessity or irreversible Decree absolutely from these and such like Meditations but think when I am most puzzled that then my poor weakness and Ignorance appears most I believe my Will absolutely free in all actions barely Moral and Political and in Divine that there is a concurrence of my freedome with supernatural Grace If I did not credit the former I should make my self a Machine mere Clock-work and if I distrusted the latter the Book of God and Religion seems Imposture and Delusion All my Amusements arise from hence that in all appearance a thousand to one miscarry when if all had a free use of their principles there seems to be a thousand to one that they should not I will now return to what engaged me in this casual digression which yet was so great a block in my way as that I could not well step over it viz. That I would have all things Sacred Wise and Vertuous included in the very name of Christian Priest And since all the true Philosophy Divine and Moral I mean that hath ever been since Adam is sublimated by the refined Doctrines of the great Messiah I would have my Priest a magnifying Mirrour of it all or in our Saviours words Be the light
baggage Then they are forced to express their wants very politely in the universal Language and like Vagabond Polanders here they beg formâ pauperis Scholastici at some Convent or Monastery where as the case now stands the matter a hundred to one comes to a bargain they prove Converts and so having in time imbibed pernicious Principles as well as learned the art of putting them in practice fraught with mischievous Machinations and seditious designs they are delegated hither But I fear the Air of old England doth not reduce one of twenty at their arrival to such an happy reconversion as by especial Influence it did the good Dr. But a Maladie beyond all redress is the near dependance our Clergy have for the most part upon Lay-Patrons and Benefactours The servile awe and confusion that possesses the young Divine whilst he Preaches before them is altogether inconsistent with that modest boldness and temperate Assurance that ought of necessity to attend the Word whether we inform or reprove For if by chance our youth touch never so little upon what thwarts the private opinion or gauls any one irregular practice of his Patron though in never so general and distant a way he shall be sure of such a sowre look and correcting regard from his Worship at Dinner as shall quite dash the Countenance and turn the stomack of our new dignifié maugre the comfortable accession of the late Benefice In this Case I wish all men were as happy as my self in bearing relation to a most Orthodox Loyal and pious honourable good Gentleman c. To conclude all this our own Souldiers for want of due pay and encouragement turn often Renegadoes and by deserting us become so many fresh supplies to our sworn Enemies the Pyrates of Rome and Geneva This advantage superadded to the force of the old Pique enables them not only to fight at distance but makes them so hardy as to board our torn and leaky vessel the poor Church of England and 't is all she can do with invincible courage to clear her decks of these furious Assailants I look upon the Romish Religion as the exactest piece of State-Policie and the best contrived Mysterie of infallible Rule and Dominion that ever yet appeared in the world I always considered it under this notion without any other regard or relation whatever Its subtletenets and deep Maximes speak it such its ways and methods to preserve and continue itself where 't is already planted and of propagating itself where not do plainly shew that the true design of it is merely Secular contrived wholly for Temporal ends and purposes of Dominion Avarice Lust and in a word of Universal Tyranny over the Souls and Bodies of Men and Women I verily believe its greatest and most Learned Ecclesiastick Assertours see and know the trick well enough though they keep the Mysterie as safe in the Conclave as the Trojans did the Palladium in Minerva's Temple No Cabalists of State could e're trepan With such firm subtlety as Rome's Divan saith one And thus the main System of their Religion being wholly relative to Political practicks no wonder that all our Disputes ablest Writings and truest Remonstrances against them do so little good They may indeed debar them from proselyting men so easily as before but the two Poles shall sooner meet than the strongest Truths and Demonstrations shall reduce one of the great Churchmen of Rome Alas the Case is quite of another nature nor do they themselves think it worth while to enter the Lists of publick Disputation or answer the repeated oppositions of our Learned Churchmen unless as our chief Dissenters it be to comply with the Expectations of their own Herd and then too the main design is not to argue impartially and solidly but still more and more to amuse and intangle the poor ignorant Admirers of An Answer to Dr. c. Si Pergama dextrâ defendi possent c. comes always in my mind when I consider that the present posture of affairs is rather worse than better and at the same time think on the Writings of Bishop Jewel Laud and those other Heroe's that did and said all that was possible almost to little purpose alas and pray what can we do more They will not so much as argue to satisfie any scruple of their own Disciples the device of Implicite Faith supersedes their trouble as to that And if by chance among them a gaul'd Conscience offer to kick though never so sorely pinch'd one sharp word or frown of the Inquisition silences the poor Soul better to their purpose than a thousand Syllogisms And thus these men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil How quite contrary to all this is the proceed of our Church how different is her Carriage how frequent earnest and tender are her applications to the Dissenting Brethren With what reluctancie and force to herself after all means fail are restraints and penalties gently apply'd as the Ratio ultima rerum which she is far from making the Inscription of loud and infallible Artillery And yet what Seditious Murmurs do these men return to her soft passionate Invitations What Innovations Changes do they not secretly attempt What evil Representations of Church and Government do they not scatter What shuffling peevish returns do they make to the Writings and Sermons of good and wise Men in vindication of regular Piety and true Loyalty And they are so bold too as to press Gods holy Word for the justification of all this obstinacy but 't is not the first time that Holy Scripture hath been the Argument when the destruction of the Allegatour hath proved the consequence 2 Pet. 3. 16. Our Church by applying the soft and gentle Remedies of Statutable punishments and legal Mulcts never intended to force gross blindness or impose the Tyranny of Implicite Faith on any man but rather the quite contrary she carefully and wisely considered that a little smarting might make the scales peel off from their Eyes by some little bitterness she designed no more harm to them than Tobias did to his Father by throwing Gall in his Eyes to make him see And here I 'll presume to insert the words of a Learned Reverend Gentleman now among us We saith he that are Ministers of the Church of England may be content nay we may really wish that all our Laity had as much true solid understanding in Religion as our Clergy We can get no advantage by your want of knowledge no more than you can do by ours We have no Spiritual Cheat with which to delude you for the representing of which we should stand in need either of darkness or of a false light We have nothing in our publick Profession which the wisest men the most pious Christians may not outwardly practice nothing in our Faith which they ought not inwardly to believe We know and are well assured that the onely reason why our Church is