to make good all Horses stolen out of their Stables or Pastures An Imposition on all Stage-Coaches Carts Waggons and Carriers set aside for the wel ordering the Roads woud be of general Advantage as woud a Tax upon Periwigs forving in part as a sumptuary Law A year or half a years Rent charg'd upon all the new Buildings since 1656 woud not only much oblige the City of London enabling them by the Difference of Rents to Let those many wast Houses which now to the Ruin of Trade remains un-tenanted also gratify the Kingdom by easing them from the common thredbare Land-Tax I do not question but in this Conjuncture the Wit of Men wil be contriving new Ways to supply the present occasions of a War for that a Land-Tax is slow and unequal and I am apt to fancy that of the Poll-Mony wil be pitcht upon as the most speedy Levy but must not be too great As to my self I am not sollicitous what Course they take but wish it such as may be equal and so wil be pleasing to most But be it great or smal the King as formerly wil be agen defrauded unless there be special care taken The way I apprehend is That for twenty-one Years to com neither Plaintif nor Defendant be allow'd the Benefit of the Law without producing an authentic Acquittance or Discharge that they have paid this Pol-Mony and averring the same in their Actions or Pleas. That the Ministers be forbid to Marry within that space any who do not Women as wel as Men produce such Certificats That none be admitted to any Office or Command Civil or Military Administration or Executorship Freedom or Privilege in Town City or Corporation or receiv'd into any of the Public Schools Inns or Universities if of the Age limited by the Act except they make out the said Payment which in three months after ought to be Registred with the persons Names and Qualities Now in regard that England is already very much under-peopled and wil be more so if there be a War To provide against those Evils and to obviat in som measure the Loosness and Debauchery of the present Age I have thought of a sort of Tax which I believe is perfectly new to all the World and under which 't is probable if it takes I have made Provision for my own Paying the Crown no inconsiderable Sum during my Life 'T is a Tax upon Caelibat or upon unmarryed People viz. That the Eldest Sons of Gentlemen and other Degrees of Nobility upwards shoud Marry by twenty-two compleat all their Daughters by Eighteen and Yonger Sons by Twenty-five All Citizen's Eldest Sons not Gentlemen by Twenty-three all other Men by Twenty-five All the Daughters not Servants of all Men under the Degree of Gentlemen to marry by Nineteen all Maid-Servants by Twenty That all Widdowers under Fifty Marry within Twelve Months after the Death of their Wives all Widdows under Thirty-five within two Years after their Husband's Decease unless the Widdowers or Widdows have Children alive I allow the Women as the softer and better natur'd more time to lament their Loss That no Man marry after Seventy nor Widdow after Forty-five That all Men cohabit with their Wives That the Eldest Sons of Gentlemen and all other Degrees of Nobility upward and all other Persons not Married by the times limited as afore-said shal pay per annum a peece these following Rates viz. Dukes Marquesses and their Eldest Sons Forty pound other Lords and their Eldest Sons twenty Pound Knights Barronets ten Pound Esquires eight Pound Gentlemen five Pound Citizens three Pound all other Retailing Trades-men two Pound The Yonger Brothers or Sons of all the fore-going Persons respectively half so much and likewise the Maiden Daughters or rather their Fathers or Gardians for them All Servants Laborers and others six Shillings eight Pence All the above-said Widdowers or Widdows not marrying again under the Age afore-said half but marrying again after the Ages above limited double according to their Qualities respectively and all marryed Men not cohabiting with their Wives to pay quadruple You may perceive I do not forget in this Scheme to practice som of the Courtesy of England towards the Women That in regard it is not fashionable for them to Court an hardship Custom and their own Pride has foolishly brought upon them they are Tax'd but at half what their Elder Brothers are These things I do not set down with a Design of giving People a Liberty of playing the Fool as now in Matters of Fornication under those Penalties For all single Persons that do so I woud have oblig'd under an indispensible Necessity to Marry one another And coud wish a further severity of Punishment were inflicted upon Adultery by the State since 't is so much neglected by the Church It woud also be of great and public Advantage that all Marriages were Celebrated openly in the Church according to the Canon or Rubric and the Banes three several Sundays or Holy-days first published But if this must be stil dispensed with that then all Dukes and Marquesses and their Eldest Sons shoud pay twenty Pound all Noblemen and their Eldest Sons fifteen Pound every Knight and his Eldest Son seven Pound ten Shillings every Gentleman or others five Pound to the King as a Public Tax for such License over and above the present establisht Fee in the Consistory Court That if all Children may not be Baptized openly in the Church the Births of all even of the Non-conformists may be duly Registred the knowing the exact Numbers of the People woud be of great Advantage to the Public-Weal and conduce to many good and noble Purposes which for Brevity sake I omit to mention This Course may perhaps prevent many Inconveniences that young Men and Women bring upon themselves and the Public And since the Concubitus Vagus is acknowledged to hinder Procreation the Restraint thereof wil be one Means of advancing Trade by adding more People to the Common-wealth which perhaps in the following Particulars you wil find to be the greatest occasion of its Decay An Inconvenience by all possible means to be removed For that Trade is the Support of any Kingdom especially an Island enabling the Subjects to bear the Taxes and shewing them wayes of living more agreeable than those of the Savage Indians in America whose condition is but few Degrees distant from that of Brutes Since then it is so necessary it deserves the Parliaments best Care to restore it to what it has been or make it what it shoud be The first thing to be don is The Erecting a Council or Committee of Trade whose Work shoud be to observe all manner of things relating thereunto to receive Informations of all Trades-men Artificers and others and thereupon make their Observations To consider all the Statutes already made and out of them form such Bil or Bils as shal be more convenient and present them to the Parliament to be enacted There are
Name than that of Christians for indeed as such they al agree that is in the Fundamentals of Religion as for the disputed things they are already shewn not certain therfore not necessary consequently to us impertinent which of the assertions be true and only differ by the considerations of Pride or interest as they are Trinitarians or Antitrinitarians Arians Socinians Papists or Protestants Remonstrants or Antiremonstrants Iansenists or Molinists Franciscans or Dominicans Lutherans or Calvinists Presbyterians or Independants c. But for my own part I am of opinion That we shal never arrive at the tru state of Christianity either by Disputing without Toleration or by Toleration with Disputing i. e. we shal not come to live Righteously Soberly and Godly in this present World For disputing destroys al and Toleration alone wil not take away those wrong Notions with which the present Age is prepossess'd tho some of the prejudices may be lessen'd by softness and gentleness by Love and Perswasions this Iconfess wil not do in al because al have not understanding and such as want it must inevitably run into Error For whatever the Philsophers Dispute whether the Wil and the Understanding be distinct Faculties or distinct Operations of the same Soul it plainly appears in al our actions that we wil or nil things according to our Understandings which as wel or il inform'd make us do things good or evil so that til our Notions are rectifi'd we are to be pityed and instructed not hated or condemned When by an excellent Education and a good Example we are taught not only to know but to practise our Duty it wil then be almost morally impossible for us to offend wheras on the contrary while both are now neglected 't is a wonder we are not worse Pursuant to this Salomon gives a wise Direction Train up a Child in the way thou woud'st have him to go and when he is old he wil not depart from it The great Business then not only to asswage the pain which in the present Circumstances cannot be don without Toleration but wholly to remove the Distemper is to introduce such a fixt Method of Education as may imprint on our Minds tru and early Notions of Virtu and Religion The Parliament have lately begun to look into the Practice of Piety and to prevent or lessen Prophanation and Debaucheries have enacted That Hackney-Coaches it had bin more equal if al had bin under the Penalty shal after the Iewish manner of Sabbath rest from Labor I wish they woud now be pleased to take care the People keep the Christian-Sabbath as they ought Not so much in a Rest from bodily Labor as from Sin the greater toyl of the Soul to which they are oblig'd by every days Duty The use of the Seventh above the rest seeming to be set apart for returning Thanks for Blessings and for Exhortations effective of Holiness and a good Life The Duty of that day is not fulfilâ—d by hearing a quaint-Man preach himself not Christ Policy not Morality confute the Pope the Calvinist or the Arminian the Presbyterian or the Episcopal Such Discourses engender nothing but Strife and tend not to Edification they are the vain Traditions of Men in which we shoud quicly find did we but seriously consider that there was nothing of that Faith without which we cannot please nor of that Holyness without which no man shal see God And since the Parliament by that last mention'd Act have begun to tythe Mint and Commin t is to be hoped they wil go on and not leave the weightier things of the Law undon that their Wisdoms and their Zeal wil be more imploy'd about the Power than the form of Godliness which may for ever be establisht by the following Method or such other as they shal think more agreeable viz. To make new Divisions of Parishes which may with more convenience to the People be don than as at present they stand by limiting every Parish to the compass of about three Miles Square and building a Church in the central place to hold about a thousand and to apportion the Parishes in Cities at least to the like number of People This wil reduce the Parishes from about ten to a little more than four Thousand To erect Schools in every Parish where al the Children shal be instructed in Reading Writing and the first Elements of Arithmetic and Geometry without charge to the Parents Whence to the greater Schools to be erected in the Dioceses Counties or Hundreds after the manner of Westminster Eaton or Winchester so many of the ripest and best Capacitated as shal suffice for the supply of al Callings that make Learning a Trade as Divinity Physic and Law may be yearly elected to be train'd up in the further necessary Parts of Learning and from thence yearly sent to the Universities from the Universities upon al vacancies Schoolmasters and Ministers to be chosen the first not under five and twenty years the later not under Thirty the age allow'd among the Iews for Doctors or Teachers and at which our Savior began to Preach and both to be Masters of Art before the one be Licensed or the other Ordain'd by the Bishop and none to be Ordain'd before they are secur'd of being Noble Mens Chaplains or elected to Parishes That the Bishoprics be also divided according to Convenience and the number of Parishes That the Ministers and School-masters be Celibats not under a vow as in the Church of Rome but on condition of quitting their Benefices upon Marriage and returning to a Lay-life For that of the priests being jure Divino being disputed is therefore to say no more to our Salvation not necessary to be believed For unless they demonstrat the contrary by Scripture the sufficient Rule of Faith or by Miracles men wil be apt to believe the Story of an indelible Character to be a Relic of Popery invented to aggrandize the Honor and Power of the Church turn'd into a Court of Rome But be it what it wil 't is plain they can't be greater than St Paul who did not only for Convenience of the Church avoid leading about a Wife or a Sister but wrought at his Trade after he had Received the Holy-Ghost of which it were to be wisht al Divines shew'd themselves possest by a Life conformable to that of the Holy Iesus But without doubt there wil be enuff found to undertake this calling on these terms tho seemingly difficult By this course there is a provision made for the Incontinency of such of the Priests as find themselves Flesh and Blood which if don in the Church of Rome woud free it from great Scandal That a book of Homilies be compil'd for varietie four for every Sunday and two for each festival or holy day That nothing be inserted but Dehortations from Vice and Exhortations to Virtu neither Controversies nor State Affairs so much as oblicly glanc'd upon That a Catechism adapted to the meanest Capacity be
prodest alterius Religio Sed nec Religionis est cogere religionem quae sponte suscipi debeat non vi Cum hostiae ab animo libenti expostulentur Ita etsi nos compuleritis ad sacrificandum nihil praestabitis Diis vestris ab invitis enim sacrificia non desiderabantur nisi contentiosi sint contentiosus autem Deus non est It is the right of Mankind and a Natural privilege to worship according to what he believes One man's Religion doth neither good nor harm to another 't is no part of any one's Religion to compel another man to be of the same with him which ought to be undertaken freely not by compulsion even as the Sacrifices are required to be offered with a willing mind and therefore tho you compel us to sacrifice you will do no service to your own Gods for they desire no offerings from the unwilling unless they be quarrelsome but God is not contentious Lactantius has spent a whole Chapter to shew the unreasonableness of persecuting men for Religion and that violence is an incompetent argument to propagate truth St. Chrysostome makes it a mark of Heresie and argues thus Doth the Sheep persecute the Wolf no but the Wolf does the Sheep So Cain persecuted Abel not Abel Cain Ismael persecuted Isaac not Isaac Ismael So the Iews persecuted Christ not Christ the Iews So the Heretics do to the Orthodox not the Orthodox to the Heretics therefore by their fruits you shall know them The truth is The persecuting practice was first introduc'd among the Christians by the fiery and turbulent spirits of the Arrian Heretics who had corrupted the Emperor Constantius and brought him to their party and then made use of this power to confute the Catholic Bishops and their Adherents by banishment imprisonment and confiscation of goods Against which unworthy proceeding Athanasius inveighs with great reason and vehemence as a preparation for the coming of Antichrist But when this poison was once cast into the Church 't was but a short time before the sounder and sincerer part of Christians was infected with it and as their Interest grew at Court so they made use of it to basfle their Adversaries and retort their own Arguments upon them obtaining Lawes to be made against several Heretics with very severe penalties the loss of goods of liberty the power of making a Will and in some Cases the loss of life Which Law 's are yet upon Record in both the Codes of Iustinian and Theodosius But tho by this means they prevail'd at last to suppress the Heresies which troubled the Church yet the best and wisest men amongst them disapprov'd the Expedient and thought it unreasonable to purchase the establishment of truth by â—uch rigours and by the shedding of blood The first instance which I remember of any Capital Sentence formally pronounc'd against any Dissenters was against Priscillian and some of his Followers But then St. Martin the Bishop of Tours interceded with all his might to hinder the proceeding and Sulpitius Severus gives an ill Character of the fact when he sayes Homines luce indignissimi pessimo exemplo necati aut exiliis necati 'T was of ill example and a scandal to Christianity that they were banish'd or put to death tho they did not deserve to live And when a Band of Soldiers was sent to suppress a Conventicle of the Donatists who were very numerous and extremely trouble some in Africa and bring them to Church Parmenian objected the Armatum Militem and the Operarios Unitatis to the Catholics as an unseemly and an unworthy practice And it cost Optatus a great deal of pains to write almost a whole Book to wipe off the Imputation which he could not do but by denying the fact as a Calumny whereof the Catholics were not guilty and disagreeable to the Doctrines of their meek and peaceable Master St. Austin has declared his Opinion how the Manichees were to be treated in such favourable and gentle words as shew he was not pleased with the Law in force against them Cod. Iust. l. Tit. 5. de Haereticis leg Manichaeos Illi in vos saeviant qui nesciunt quo cum labore verum inveniatur c. Let them be rigorous against you that do not understand what pains is requir'd in the discovery of truth and with what difficulty errors are avoided Let them be severe against you that know not how rare and hard a thing it is to conquer carnal representations by the serenity of a devout mind Let them rage against you that are ignorant with what labor the eye of the Inward man is cur'd that it may be able to behold its own Sun Let them be cruel towards you that know not what sighs and groans are necessary to the understanding of God in any degree In fine let them be angry with you that are free from all such mistakes as they see you deceiv'd with But for my self I can in no wise be severe against you for I ought to bear with you as with my self who was once one of you and treat you with that patience and meekness as was shewn to me by my Neighbours when I was furiously and blindly engag'd in your erronious doctrines Salvian a Priest and as some think a Bishop of Marselles has manifested the like candor and meekness towards the Arrians Haeretici sunt sed non scientes denique apud nos sunt haeretici apud se non sunt c. They are Heretics but they are ignorantly so they are Heretics in our esteem but they do not think themselves so nay they so firmly believe themselves Catholics that they defame us with the title of Heresy What they are to us the same we are to them we are certain they injure the divine Generation by saying the Son is inferior to the Father they think us injurious to the Father because we believe them equal the honor of God is on our side but they believe it on theirs They are undutiful but they think this the great office of Religion They are ungodly but this they believe is true Godliness they err therefore but they err with an honest good mind not out of hatred but affection to God beleeving that they both love and honor the Lord. Altho they want a right Faith yet they are of opinion That this is the perfect Love of God and none but the Iudge can tell how they are to be punish'd for the mistake of their false doctrine in the day of Iudgment This was the soft and charitable spirit which breath'd in those eminent Defenders of Christianity who were so zealous for their Religion as to suffer for it themselvs but not so furious as to make others suffer to promote it They had another method of propagating the truth in meekness instructing those that oppose themselvs For indeed the only proper punishment of the erronious is to be taught Having discours'd thus far
Master who am now ascending thither injoyn you to obey viz. To love one another hearken not to him for he is a Murderer and a Lyar a Cheat and an Impostor Neglecting this and having the Persons of Men in Honor they readily imbraced their Opinions and changing the name of Christians took up that of the Fathers of their Sects as of Arians c. These Divisions and Factions and the consequent Bloody Wars woud perswade us that Christ came not indeed to send peace on Earth but a Sword for these Ring-leaders imposed upon the credulous Multitude that al those superinduced new Fangles Diabolical Inventions unreasonable Whimsies and childish Fopperies were the great Pillars and Truths of Religion and therefore to be contended for unto Death While in the mean time they themselves were conscious that they disputed not for Truth but Victory for the sensual Gratifications of Ambition and vain glory of pride and Interest and if you wil but give your self leisure to look into the Controversies of former Heretics or into those of later date between the Reformed and the Church of Rome c. you wil find them al on one and the same bottom The Church of Rome has good Reason as to this World not to yield to any Truth in the point of Transsubstantiation of which certainly 't is enuff to believe simply Christ's own words This is my Body because no more is warranted and therefore not necessary and that indeed none of the Expositions are free from unanswerable Objections tho none appear so opposit to sense and absur'd as that of the Romanists and Lutherans For if this Power of working Miracles be taken from the Priest it may be thought he has nothing left to make him Iure Divino which if allowed he is quick enuff to foresee that other Princes may follow the Example of Henry the Eight Those mistaken on wilful Apprehensions have involved the several Kingdoms of Europe in blood and confusion intestine Commotions and Wars and wil imbroil them yet further if the Causes be not remov'd This has long been the wishes of some and the endeavors of others but by the success seeing the Disease is not cur'd but that its venom does daily spred more and more we may safely conclude Thaâ— Disputing is as incompetent a way to resettle the Truth of Religion as the Sword is to propagate it Every Man naturally hates to be accounted a Fool or a Lyar and therefore when worsted by the force of Arguments which may be to him unanswerable tho not convincing he fals into Heat and Passion which the other returning with equal warmth at length both lose the Question and fal from Words to Blows from Disputing to Fighting and not satisfy'd pedanticly for most commonly the Contention is only about Words to lash one another they further make Parties and Factions These hurried on with the Fury of a perverse Zeal the effect of Ignorance espouse the Quarrel and pursu the Folly and the Malice to the fatal Destruction of thousands of Millions as if there was no getting to the Heavenly Canaan the New Ierusalem but by wading or rather by swimming thro the Red-Sea of Christian Blood while in the meantime the first Disputants stand looking on or like sneaking Cowards steal away from the Rencounter as soon as they have ingag'd others more genrous but withal more foolish than themselves This England has to its Cost experimented and 't is to be fear'd if not timely prevented wil agen Others finding the way of Dispute insufficient believed that the Allowance of a Toleration to the several contending Sects woud do the work and that in truth the denyal of it so far as it might consist with the Peace of the Common-wealth seem'd to be a kind of Persecution not unequal to that of the Heathen Emperors in the beginning of Christianity This Opinion being by the Ring Leaders infused into the Peoples Minds who being apt to pitty al in distress from Pitty are induced to Liking and from liking to Love they at length espouse the Party and with so much the more Violence by how much the more it is oppos'd nothing being more natural than to resist Force and covet earnestly those things we are forbid The Consideration of this and his own observation that the more the Christians were put to Death the more they increased made the wise Pliny write to the Emperor Trajan to forbear Persecution telling him That sheading Christians Blood was sowing the Seed of the Church every Man's Death giving to the Multitude a sufficient proof of the Truth of his Profession and gaining more Proselites than Preaching coud By the Emperor's following this good advice the Christians gain'd their Liberty and he an Accession to his Army and the great increase of Converts was thereby much restrained The sense of this great Prudence joyn'd with his Majesties great natural Clemency has with good reason prevail'd upon his Ministers rarely to execute the Severity of the Sanguinary and penal Laws upon Dissenters and I am wel assur'd that did they not believe by those Statutes remaining stil in force That they are under Persecution or the dread of it instead of increasing much within these few years they woud certainly have decreased I am therefore perswaded that Toleration with convenient Restrictions woud lessen the Evil and remove most of its inconveniencies tho al can never be taken away without another sort of Education And if the Parliament that give it find it hereafter inconvenient they may alter or annul it how they please In this Toleration al Opinions are to be provided against that are destructive of good Life together with the consequences rather than occasions Atheism and Irreligion As the Venetians once excluded so must we for ever prohibit the Iesuits and other Regulars The number of secular Priests and Non-conforming Ministers or Teachers are to be limited They with their Flocks Registred and to be incapable of any Office in the Commonwealth and the Teacher to be maintain'd by themselves The richest of the Congregations to be security for their Preachers That they shal preach no Sedition nor have privat Conventicles That besides the State may send two to hear al taught That the use of al Controversial Catechismes and Polemical Discourses as wel out as in the Pulpit under strict Penalties be forbid Such things no less in their natures than their names signifying and begetting Distractions Rebellions and Wars Tho it be as impossible by Laws or Penalties to alter mens Opinions from what either their Temper or their Education has occasion'd as it is to change their Complections Yet if men pursu'd nothing but Godliness and Honesty they woud find their Differences in Opinion are no more hurtful than restrainable And to make them less so all names of hatred and division are to be taken away and the Parable of Christs seamless Coat to be really fulfil'd again That al whatever their single Opinions be be call'd by no other
composed shewing the Duty of Christians according to the express Words of the Text of Scripture without straining or misapplying any one as is don in two many of those now extant and without touching upon any one disputed point That al the Books of Controversial Divinity as wel those in privat hands as in Booksellers be bought up by the State and plac'd in the Kings-Library or burnt That al the Commentaries on the Bible be reviewed by sober moderate and learned Men and as many of them as contain more than what directly tends to the Illustration of the Text by recounting the Language Customs and Ceremonies of the Times and places it was writ in follow the fate of the others And because it is reasonable to believe There is no such intire Work extant in imitation of the Septuagint Translation there may be seventy appointed for this to be in Latin and for the Homilies and Catechism in English which being don let al the present Expositions be sent to the Library or the Fire That the same Persons or others be ordered to pick out of the Scripture al such Passages as tend to the encouragement of a Holy Life and to put them into one piece in English for common use I have heard som sober Men wish that English Bibles were not so common that the ignorant and unwary might not wrest the hard texts to their own destruction nor to that of the Public Peace But you know I have often told you I look'd upon the variety of Translations out of the Original into the vulgar Languages as the best Comment These things being don To take the Printing of Books into the state it is as necessary as the Mint false Coynage of Books has don England more mischief than ever that of Mony did or wil do The Licensing of Printing or importing from beyond-Sea wil not otherwise prevent great Evil to Church and State That there be but a convenient number of book sellers permitted Those to be under obligation to vend no other books then such as are Printed in this allow'd Printing-House where forrein books with advantage to the Public may be reprinted The hindering forrein Coyn from being current is not so useful and advantageous as the care in this wil prove to the Kingdom When Things are thus far settled the Bishops who are not to be chosen under forty are to see that al Ministers School-masters and Church-wardens do their respective Duties going about and visiting Parish by Parish as was the Antient Practice Confirming after Examination and exhorting al to continu obedient to the Laws of God and Man reprehending and suspending such as they find faulty without favor or affection the Ministers and School-Masters from Office and benifice the people from the Sacraments which is every where monthly at least to be Administred til after Repentance express'd in the reformation of their Lives As for the Iurisdiction of Ecclesiastical Courts because it is a kind of imperium in imperio and that thro the greatness of the Bishops other Charge they cannot officiat in this to take away and prevent abuses it is to be laid aside and other or the same Punishments for the crimes there usually tryable inflicted in the ordinary Courts upon the Bishops or the Minister and Church-Wardens Certificate of the Matter of Fact in whom alone the Power of Examination shoud reside And because the office of Bishops Ministers and School-masters wil be of great Labor none shoud continu in them beyond Sixty nor so long unless they are found fitting After that Age al of 'um to have a handsom decent Retreat in Colleges purposely built where the superannuated of each province the emeriti in the Christian warfare may spend the Remnant of their days without Care in quiet and Devotion To assist and ease the Bishop there shou'd be as formerly Rural Deans over every ten or twenty Parishes Part of the Ministers Business shou'd be to instruct the Boys every Saturday in the Schools in al the Duties of Religion To Catechize and read the Prayers and Homilies on Sundays in public The rest of the Week between the times of Prayer to be celebrated twice a-day to go from House to House exhorting and dehorting as occasion requires visiting the Sick and examining the Needs of the Poor reconciling Differences between the Neighbors and taking care that in every Family the Children such as are found fit by the Electors appointed not by the Parents blind Fondness be constantly sent to School After the continued Practice of this course Christianity wil again flourish The years of the Minister wil make him sober and grave fit to give Counsel which from young Men is now despis'd There wil then be no need of spending time in writing Controversies or studying Sermons which as now Preach'd are rarely understandable or useful to the People of whom it may be said the one is always teaching to no purpose and the other ever learning and never coming to the Knowledg of the Truth The School-masters are not only to be learned but sober and discreet Men to be oblig'd never to whip or beat the Boys whose Faults are to be punished by Exercises by standing mute or kneeling for certain spaces or by fasting from their Victuals c. Those that are good to be incouraged by Priority of Places by commendatory Verses made by the higher Forms c. The Boyes that need beating are as unfit to be taught as the Man is to teach who uses that tyrannical way which too much debases the Meek-spirited and makes the Sullen more stubborn and il-natur'd That whatever any Persons bestow on the Masters be converted to publick Charitable Uses The Method of Teaching to be drawn up by som of the Members who 't is presum'd wil mix Things with Words and approv'd by the whole Royal Society that confirm'd and al others prohibited by Law That in the Universities none be suffer'd to continu beyond the Age of forty-five nor above two in any one House or Colledg after thirty-five That a new Method be likewise fram'd by the same Persons for al the Liberal Arts and Sciences and that new Academies be built for training up young Noblemen and Gentlemen in those Exercises which to the shame and loss of England are now learnt in France That handsom and sufficient Salaries be fixt and paid out of the public Revenu according to every Mans Quality Bishops equal to one another Deans to Deans Ministers and School-masters to each other and these to be chosen gradually as the pure Consideration of Merit shall invite the Electors And to inable the Public as wel in paying these Salaries as in building of Schools Churches Colledges and Hospitals the whole Revenues of the Church Free-Schools Universities and Hospitals shoud at the highest valu be annex'd to the Crown or sould to others that wil give more The Overplus sav'd by this new Model and the Mony they woud yield beyond any other Land of England
Labor and Thrist are increas'd and that the making Idlers work is in effect an increasing the People And that all such shoud be forc'd into several Work-houses which tho the Parliament has taken into consideration yet for want of Stock is not hitherto put in any forwardness I wil now give you my Thoughts how this may probably be brought about with little or no Charge but to such only as upon prospect of Advantage do change the Scenes of their Lives as by Marriage Imployments Callings c. or by assuming new Titles and Degrees of Honor and consequently as their respective Proportions or Payments are here propos'd they cannot account them burdensom or grievous To perfect this I think it necessary That all Hospitals Alms-houses and Lands for charitable uses be sold more stately and convenient Ones erected into which none but diseased Persons or others perfectly unable to Earn their Living shoud be receiv'd And to the end they might the sooner be Restor'd to Health a convenient number of Physitians Nurses and Tenders ought to be appointed and sufficient Salaries establish'd England to Her great shame is in this Instance much behind Her Neighbors of France and Holland in the Practice of which I know not whether there be more of Charity or of Policy of Heavenly or of Earthly Interest That the several Directions of the Act for raising a Stock be strictly put in Execution That all Fines for Swearing Drunkenness Breaches of the Peace Felons Goods Deodands c. for a certain number of Years be converted to this Use This woud bring in twenty times more than is now receiv'd on these Accounts and may perhaps prevent the late much practis'd trick of finding all Felo's de se mad That all Contributions for maintenance of the Poor which are so considerable that I have bin told in som single Parishes in London they amount communibus annis to Five thousand Pound a Year be added to this Stock And that it be further enacted That every Man at his Admission to Freedom pay one Shilling upon Marriage what he thinks fit above one Shilling Every Clergy-man at Ordination ten Shillings at Instalment into any Dignity twenty Shillings Arch-Deacons three Pound Deans five Pound Bishops ten Pound Arch-Bishops twenty Pound Gentlemen upon Admittance into the Inns of Court ten Shillings upon their being call'd to the Bar forty Shillings when made Serjeants or King's Council five Pound Every Man upon Admission into the Inns of Chancery three Shillings four Pence when Sworn Attorney ten Shillings Lord High Chancellor Keeper Lord High Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal twenty Pound Chief Iustice Chief Baron Chancellor of the Exchequer Master of the Rolls and Atturney General twelve Pound a piece Every of the other Iudges and Barons the Sollicitor-General and the Six Clerks ten Pound a piece The Masters of Chancery and other Officers not nam'd in that or other Courts any Sum not exceeding six Pound a Man as shal be thought convenient by the respective Iudges All Knights five Pound Baronets ten Pound Barons Vice Counts Earls twenty Pound Dukes and Marquesses fifty Pound All Aldermen of London twenty Pound of other Cities and Corporations three Pound Mayors ten Pound All Masters of Arts in Universities twenty Shillings Doctors of Law and Physic forty Shillings of Divinity four Pound Heads and Masters of Colleges five Pound All Executors and Administrators that undertake the Charge two Shillings All Persons entring into Estates either by Descent or Purchase one Shilling over and above one Shilling for every hundred Pounds per annum of such Estate That every Sunday there be Collections in all Churches of the Kingdom which with what shal be receiv'd at the Communion are to be thus appropriated And that all Street Door and other Charitable Doles in broken Meat or Mony as the great Encouragements and chief occasions of Idleness and Vice be forbid under severe Penalties That Briefs be issued thro the Kingdom for voluntary Contributions That the Names of such as shal be eminently Bountiful be convey'd to Posterity by placeing their Coats of Arms and registring their Munificence in the respective Work-houses of the City Corporation or County where they live I do not doubt but in a very short time a Stock woud be thus rais'd sufficient to imploy all the idle Hands in England And tho I believe that after a little while there woud be no need of using Art or Severity in bringing People into these Nurseries of Labor and Industry The Sweets of gain and trouble of Idleness which certainly is not the least of toyls to such as have bin inur'd to Labor or Business being of themselves strong Allurements yet to lay the first Foundation with success I conceive it necessary That both Men and Women who have no visible ways of Maintenance Criminals of what Quality soever punish'd as before in the Discourse of Laws the Children taken out of the Foundlings Hospital as soon as able to do any thing be all sent to these Work-houses That the great numbers of People going out of this Kingdom Scotland and Ireland to other Parts of Europe be restrain'd and none be spirited into the West-Indies or suffer'd to go abroad unless to trade That such as by Infirmity or Age are absolutely disabled among which neither the Lame nor the Blind are to be reckon'd be maintain'd and confin'd within the public Hospitals That every Constable in whose ward or Precinct any Beggar is found forfeit twenty Pound and the Person or Persons entertaining or lodging any five Pound to the Use of the Work House That those who are commonly sent to the House of Correction or Bridewel and those found Guilty of Petty Larceny be sent to the Work-House For that indeed Whipping the Punishment intended for their Amendment does but take away the sense of Shame and Honor rendring them Impudent and Incorrigible in their Iniquities But granting its operation so forcible as to be able to reclaim them yet certain it is that its best effect is but to hinder them from doing further Mischief whereas by this Course not only that will be avoided but a considerable profit redound to the Public To these also shoud be added all Prisoners for Criminal matters tho acquitted if by Circumstances they appear suspicious it being reasonable to conclude som Rogues and Vagabonds tho the evidence required by strictness of Law be not strong enuf to Convict them Hither likewise are all to be sent who for trivial inconsiderable causes and somtimes out of pure Malice are thrown into Prisons and there forc'd to spend the remainder of their miserable Lives the exorbitant extortion of Fees and the merciless rage of their Enemies swelling their Debts beyond the power or hopes of Satisfaction whereby they becom not only useless but a burden to the Common-wealth And because the Benefit of Clergy was introduc'd for the advancement of Learning in the ruder dayes of our Ancestors and that there is now no such