who think their present Sufferings will be rewarded in future Glory will for their temporal losses of Goods c. be converted by a Warrant of a Justice It can never be rationally expected you may ruine them but it is next impossible to bring them over to the Church as long as the matters of Offence remain unremoved or unabated 4. Was ever a Nonconformist before the Year 1670 or 71 brought to Conformity by that Severity You may rather think they will do as then they did be more retired but as much resolved And that which is as you account better seems to me either unattainable or undesirable If they may not have Liberty to meet in publick they will take that course which is left them and that is to meet not exceeding four besides the the Family And then your Proposition will be this It is better to force the Dissenters by severe Penalties to their private Houses and their stinted Numbers than permit them to meet as they do contrary to Law Well then you say it is better to confine them to their Houses and to the Number four over and above than to permit them as they do But for what Reasons observe we are upon this Head as it is better for the Church And that to cure or prevent further Schism I can imagine but these Reasons for it 1. Because their Nonconformity will not carry such a direct and open Opposition to the established Worship 2. Because they cannot corrupt such Numbers 3. This will break and weaken them 4. Because when it will be so difficult for them to meet they may rather being tired come to our Parish-Churches But will you conclude your Argument upon any or upon all these Reasons which is That it will cure the Schism and prevent instilling Schismatical Principles Let us come up to the first First I say that you cannot prove the publick preaching of the Nonconformists to be an Opposition to the Church any more than the French Dutch and Lutheran Churches and Preaching To preach the same Doctrine as to the general matter to the same holy Design Instruction Conversion Edisication and Salvation to pray and praise God by the Spirit in the name of Christ is not a way opposite to the Church of England or contrary to it but onely privative it is as to the Omission of the Form or Liturgy The Agreement and Consent and Cooperation is greater than the Difference or Dissimilitude If they preached contrary Doctrine to a contrary End it were an open Opposition and yet let us remember The Jews the Enemies of Jesus Christ have their publick Synagogue more intolerable we may think than the publick preaching of Orthodox Christians 2. But because they presume upon the Favour of our Governours if it be offensive suppose they 'll forbear doth the supposed Schism cease by their Secrecy not at all But here seems to be a greater Schism or Separation such as it is than the publick 1. Because here 's Private in Opposition to Publick The Church worships God openly in Churches they privately in a Room 2. Because if this meeting in private be schismatical it is the more legal and the more legal the more safe and secure 3. The Scismaticks I 'll call them so for fashion sake are multiplied by this means Break up the publick into twenty or fourty private ones and then for one in publick there will be twenty or fourty Schismatical Meetings It is true they are still obnoxious to other Laws but they are discharged from the Severity of this and thus you count the Multiplication of Schismatical Separate Meetings a Gain to the Church take it see what you get your Will and what more Your second Reason is Because they cannot corrupt such Numbers But 1. I say Orthodox Preaching and Praying is not corrupting I have shewed them to be able and sound Men. 2. Multitudes will grow more corrupt for want of their sound and frequent Preaching Vid. Page 60 of the Plea first Part. 3. If they be heretical and erroneous they will do more Mischief by this keeping within the compass of the Law than by presuming beyond the Law 4. But corrupt or not is not the point the Schism is not healed by it therefore it is not better to restrain c. Thirdly you say This will break and weaken them It may do so indeed But except the Church gets them into Conformity which it is not like to do as was said before how is the Schism cured but indeed sound Christianity will be in danger of losing and our Church past hope of getting To your fourth Reason I answer 1. True it will be difficult and inconvenient for them to meet they will tire and kill their Preachers but what gets our Church by that Is the Schism repaired 2. They will I 'll say as you would have it come to Church but whither and to whom to few some famous Preachers for they will hear but the best till there be no room and what then Those famous Preachers shall bear the Reproach of being popular and Fautors of the Faction and inclining to the Party and will be no better than the Nonconformists and how will the Wound be healed when Emulation and Envy encreaseth and the Dissenter will be a Temporizer and a Church-Schismatick and the Conformist that tolls him in Now you having shewed for now I fancy my self disputing the Good of Execution and have not gained the point give me leave to shew you the Good of Forbearance of the Execution and as bad as things now are they are better than they can be if Rigor be used It is an unspeakable Mercy that things are no worse that things are so well as they are between Protestants this day in England I do not remember when it was ever better especially considering the means that have been used to break us yet there is nothing in this more to be desired than either a Christian Forbearance or a Composition with our Dissenting Brethren in Christ next to Heavenly Communion with Christ But better things should remain as they are than be made worse by drawing the Sword tho in the quarrel of the Church I do not now meddle with the Controversies between the Church and Dissenters to justify the Separation altho in my own Judgment I call it a different way of Worship of Professors of the same Faith and not a Schism or a schismatical sinful Separation The Church of Jerusalem might better call the Gentile Churches Schismaticks than we can call them and the Romanists may with more Reason call us Schismaticks than we call one another for we broke off from that Church established by the Laws then in being and in long Possession we separated from them principally for imposed new corrupt Doctrines and Conditions of Communion and justify our Separation and will not suffer to be called Schismaticks They have a Creed and a Worship which was never in the Word of God our Brethren
and latter Times in their Controversials that surely these Men were an excellent part of the Church inspired by the Spirit of Grace and Truth and deserved better usage and a higher place than a Barn or a Hall to preach in In speaking well of the Nonconformists I have followed the Example of them that I reckon among the Chief of the Church of England and if my Affection to them and in them to Christian and Protestant Name and Religion hath prevailed upon me to an unusual Undertaking if it be not pardonable with some if it be acceptable to Jesus Christ and suitable to the Minds of many good Men in the Church and do some tolerable service to the suffering part I doubt not but I shall be saved without the Pardon of them that cannot pardon the Vertue of Moderation any more than the aggravated offence of Nonconformity I have gone no further than to plead a trampled Cause which they that hold it think too good and precious to be trodden on by the proudest Foot as sit to be taken into Consideration by the Wisdom and Authority of the Nation I have not presumed to make Proposals or Demands that 's left to wise and great Men. But if some of our Eminent * Dr. Stilling Preface to the Vnreasonab of Separation Church-Men have made Proposals of Abatement and have not violated their Subscriptions not to endeavour any alteration of the Government in Church or State I hope I have not forfeited my Sonship or broken Faith by doing far less and keeping within the Bounds of a well-meaning Man And so much and perhaps too much by way of Apology I have opened in the Plea the Hardness of the Case Greatness of the Sufferings Worthiness of the Persons of the Non-Conformists and the Loss to the Church by their Exclusion or Suppression I might infer Conclusions from every of those Head of the Arguments and drive the Plea more home but now because their Sufferings are like to be more and greater and they are to be a Carkass to the Eagles I will take leave to discuss this seasonable and necessary Question Q. Whether it be not better that the Penal Laws against the Non-Conformists to which they are obnoxious by their Preaching and Praying and other Religious Exercises should not be executed but forborn rather than put in Excution until such time as our Gracious King and Parliament in time to come shall maturely take the State of divided Protestants into their wise Consideration and bring us all into a happier Legal Establishment than we are in or can be in while our Divisions and their Causes continue It may be thought high Presumption in a private Person to determine which is the better but I conceive that because the Civil Magistrate is not Omniscient but takes his Information from Inferiours and private Men coming to him through Publick Persons it 's rather a Duty than an Offence to propose such a Question and discuss it when too many determine perhaps without due Examination of the Case that the rigorous Prosecution of Dissenters is best and needful In the handling of this Question it will be necessary to state it and shew 1. Who I mean by the Non-Conformists 2. State the Controversy between them and the Church from which they dissent 3. Open the nature of the Offences for which they are liableto the Laws 4. Explain what I mean by Forbearance of them or the Execution of the Laws 5. Why I limit the time until our Gracious King shall take our divided State into further Consideration After which done I will 6. Produce my Arguments for the Affirmative That it is better the Laws should not be executed than put in Execution And 7. Answer Objections to the contrary 1. By Nonconformists I mean only such Ministers Teachers Pastors and People as are sound in the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith and substantial Worship that are Protestants or reformed from the Corruptions of Popery that peaceably submit to the Civil Government of the Kingdom and the Temporal Laws thereof Secondly The Controversy between the Nonconformists and the Church or the Conformists lies not in Matters Political and of Civil Government for they agree in that according to the Laws and Constitution of the Realm * Vid. Dr. Stilling Misch Separat p. 21. and their own many Books Cum illis quos tu Puritanos vocas non est nobis de fide aut Fidei dogmate lis ulla de Ritibus illis disciplina Ecclesioe nostrae contendunt Crakenthorp Eccles Anglic. Defensio c. 33. p. 203. Nor is the Controversy in the Fundamentals or Articles of Faith or between a Church-Government and Anarchy or no Government but about Matters of Form and Ecclesiastical Discipline and Terms of church-Church-Communion or of Exercise of their Publick Ministry consisting in Subscriptions Oaths and Declarations and some private Doctrines to be assented to But this is too general an Account more particularly it is carefully to be noted 1. That the Controversy berween the Nonconformists and the Church as now Established by Law is not the same it was between the Church and Nonconformists or Puritans from the Reign of Q. Elizabeth to our King's Reign The Nonconformists in those days and following time asserted a Government and Discipline of Divine Right by Presbyterian Classes Synods and Lay-Elders and dissented from the Government by Diocesan Bishops and Ceremoines principally yet these were against the Brownists who separated from the Church of England as no true Church which the meer Nonconformists did not But since his Majesties wonderful Restauration that part of the Controversy which relates to Church-Discipline and Government is altogether new and quite different from the old No single Person nor Combination of Men did ever desire of the King or Parliament the Establishment or the Toleration of the Presbyterian Government or Discipline See Mr. Baxt. Preface to Bp Morley and Bp Gunning before his True and only way of Concord either in the Presbyterian or Independent Way And therefore the pains of those Writers who have revived the Opinions and raked into the Miscarriages of the Presbyterians might have been spared as not at all to the purpose except to that which is unbecoming either peaceble or wise Men They do only kindle Wrath by stirring Fire and cry Fire Fire in the Church and State when there is not so much as any Smoak ascending from the Embers of Presbyterian Principles Those Tragical Stories of Presbyterians whether true or not which some Men bring to remembrance seem to serve another Design than the union or preservation of the Church and apparently to render the Nonconformists suspicious and odious and to hinder a Reconciliation 2. There are especially two sorts of Dissenters from the Legal Church First Those who are called Presbyterians but wrongfully so called and by me only for Distinction sake the other are the Congregational or Independents The Fanaticks and Sectaries fall under this last Division
Friends they live in my Mannor and have trespassed upon me against the orders of it I thought it hard to trouble them or severely to gather my Amerciaments for they were honest Men and of my Religion too for the main they were good Protestants in their way I never heard of any Riots among them or ill Designs that could be prov'd against any of them when others were at their Pastimes they were at their Prayers and were laborious while others that had more of the World took more Pleasure and they know that if I had been severe with them for every Trespass they had not had a Cow or Cows keeping not a Sheep or a Pig and now they have well about them and I am resolved I will make them pay all the Amerciaments of my Court for every Trespass they shall have neither Cow nor Sheep nor House to sleep in in my Mannor I 'll make them pay or ly in Prison or fly the Land for they are a dangerous ungrateful People for when I stand for a Parliament-Man or desire their Votes for my Friend there is not a Man will appear for me but they are all for them that are against a Popish Successor and for uniting of Protestants and such things as these They are cross to me what I abhor they approve when I address they refuse to subscribe Well but Sir I beseech you be merciful to them and if you will have all your Town to be in all things of your Mind give them notice first or else it will be said you forbore them their lesser Fines till they grew to a great Sum. I beseech you do not so by them but be as merciful to them as you are to other kind of Sinners Fifthly The Limitation of the Question is untill such time as our Gracious King and Parliament in time to come shall take the State of the divided Protestants into their Mature Consideration We may rationally hope we shall have a Parliament from our King who hath often declared his Resolution to have frequent Parliaments we hope it will be a free Parliament I do not mean free from force or violence upon Men's Persons but violence upon their Reasons by Drunkenness with its shameful Antecedents and Effects And if ever we have such Elections we shall pitch upon such Men as long as there are any to be found that are Men of Loyalty to the King and Government of Estates and Quality that are freest from Temptation to get by dishonourable Arts and that have too much to give away from themselves and the Freeholders that choose them A Protestant People will elect Protestant Representatives and such as have a respect to Protestant Dissenters in things that may be spared without hurt to Religion or infringement of Government much less a change and that as they are Natives Relatives peaceable and pious good Men. It cannot be thought that they that would exclude Popery will leave a Breach among our selves for it to enter in at our last Parliaments have declared their Inclinations by their Votes and from what they have done we may guess at what they will do if God give them time And there must be a depth in Policy deeper than Men of a short Line can fathom or a great mistake that those Gentlemen and Magistrates that are bent to suppress our Conventicles should act with such a Spirit now when they have declared who and what they are for Is this the way to gain the Body of the Nation to choose them or those they affect into a next Parliament when it is visible what Interest they serve by disobliging the Protestant Nonconformists and giving notice to the Church and Conforming Protestants that they cannot be safe from them that suppress if not cut off as many as they can of the same Faith and Worship for substance for those Differences that need not be if Condescention and Love might but come in Fashion The Controversy between the Church and them is not yet determined The Rev. Dr. Stilling Preface to Vnreasonableness of Separation Mr. Baxter Humphrey Lobb c. but there is this good of late got by the Heat of Writing that both sides have declared their Minds more freely than heretofore and there are Proposals made by both sides which if they cannot be universally admitted yet from the rude Draughts of a Building wise Men may agree upon the Frame by adding taking away and composing As the Parliament made the Laws out of Love to the Church and they will not do Magistrates out of Love to the Church should abstain from Prosecutions for a time and be patient for a while except they saw what no Man can see that lives nearer to them than their Informers any more cause of Suppression by any contrived dangers either to Church or State than when they are fast asleep in their Beds If you have just cause to fear their Principles disarm them of their Knites but those that know them better than their Enemies or your Informers do think no more Danger like to arise from their Principles than there was against the King and most favourable Parliament from their Preparations for Rebellion Are all the Nonconforming Preachers of a sudden turned Jesuits is their Faith turned into Faction have they submitted their Scriptures and their Senses to an Infallible Guide acknowledged in him the power of both Swords and listed themselves under his consecrated Banners Are all their Children Males Are all their Infants in a few Months grown up to be above sixteen Years of Age fit for Arms Are their Wives and Daughters become Amazons How many thousands can they make Where are their Rendezvouz their Musters their Lists their Magazines Where are their Generals Who are their Correspondents and Confederates abroad The distressed persecuted Protestants of France Are they fortifying their Barns and Meeting-Places or ready to march and take the Field Why are we not all in Arms for fear of them if the Danger be so great from their Assemblies Abstain from these Men for a little time and let not their Flight be in Winter or on the Sabbath-Days If you will not forbear till such a time one thing I hope and look for that when you drive their Cattel or offer their Goods to sale you will find no Buyers or if you send them to the Goals their Keepers and Fellow Prisoners may become true Converts and that you that send them thither may fetch them out But I must not forget my Arguments to prove the Affirmative of the Question That it is better the Execution of the Laws should be forborn against Protestant Dissenters than urged or countenanced I have laid the Question in a Comparative and affirm it is better c. The Comparative doth suppose a Positive if I can prove that it is not good to execute the Penal Laws upon Dissenting Protestants then it will follow a fortiore majore that it is better they should be spared than punished
agree in the same avowed publick Creeds and Doctrines and all the parts of Gospel-Worship And it is more brotherly to denominate them from their Agreement with us than from their Dissent and Disagreement from us But I must not digress and this I humbly submit The thing now to be done is to make the best of our Differences and what 's best to be done as the Case stands It is better as more conducing to the ends of the Laws by which you proceed to suppress them Therefore it is better The ends of the Laws have been declared above as respecting the State and the Church 1. With respect to the State When they preach in publick they are known to be the same Men that upon Principles of Loyalty and Conscience prepared the People or concurred with the Loyal Nobles and Gentlemen and Commonalty of England to bring back the King They are known to the Land which once accounted them a Blessing to it their Judgments and Practises are known and while these are in the head of the younger Dissenters they are as Directions and Examples to them to keep them from dangerous Excursions When His Majesty was moved to grant an Indulgence the indulged were to give their Names and their Places which they did and this was cautiously done for the safety of the Kingdom there being less danger from a Person known than one unknown and a great Obligation upon a known Person to keep within tolerable Bounds Our greatest Dangers have been from Persons of many Names many changes of Wiggs and Habits and moving up and down the Land in secret and Disguises 2. It is better for the State For when learned and good Men have their publick Liberty they will by sound Doctrine teach perswade exhort reprove instruct them in their Duties to God to the King c. Charge them to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates And while they preach sound Doctrine one end of the Magistrate's Care to the State is obtained 3. They cannot possibly sow Sedition or move Insurrections in publick Assemblies if they were so wickedly disposed The safety of King and Kingdom and the Confidence of the King and Kingdom may rest undoubted as to any ill Designs of those Preachers while they preach in publick And I do humbly offer it to the Consideration of all Loyal Protestant Magistrates to forbear to drive them into private Houses by their Severities because under colour of private Meetings our destroying perfidious Enemies of Rome may sow Sedition and further plot upon Protestants They may as well proclaim a Rebellion at the Exchange Cheapside or in a Parish-Church as preach it in one of their Meeting-places 4. It is better they should be spared than prosecuted because they will be better enabled and more encouraged to perform other Offices and Duties to the King and State than they can possibly by being ruined in their Estates 5. They have many Friends and Relations in the Church of England which must suffer many ways in their Poverty and undoing It will be a Tenderness and Kindness to them to have them spared and not beggared or forced to leave the Kingdom Lastly It is certain that it conduceth more to the publick Peace 〈◊〉 for when Dissenters are connived at and gratified they are so far obliged and owned and even when their private Dissatisfactions remain their Liberty being so far indulged they have no cause to complain of the Magistrate and while they are not disturbed by him committing nothing that is provoking they even from Interest and love of Quietness if their Conscience of Duty lay dormant in them will not disturb him that permits them The publick Peace is best secured when Men of private Opinions keep them private and have no disturbance given to their Peace I do not speak this as if I feared their Turbulency but granting for Argument sake that they have Touchwood in them keep Fire from incensing it and it will do no harm Secondly Forbearnce will be better for the Church and prevent a greater Schism against which the Laws seem to fortify it 1. By their publick preaching or as they can We have a great considerable number of able Men that influence the People that are agreed with us against the Force and Subtilty of Rome therefore the more we have against them the stronger we are Indulge the Dissenters and you secure them but if not they 'll be afraid of you and you afraid of them and by your mutual Fears and Jealousies the Papists get what they get and not by meer Nonconformity 2. By this publick way they walk with you according to the same Rule as far as they have attained and that this is near enough for Forbearance 3. The Scandal that is given to forreign reformed Churches is abated and a great Example given to them that have long contended under the name of Luther and Calvin and others of Calmness and Forbearance 4. The Schism will come hereby to a greater Closure than otherwise it will for when the Church is satisfied by their profitable Preaching and peaceable Deportment they cannot but conceive better of them and desire a Peace and Union and abate some things which they stand upon and when they do taste the Sweetness of the Bishops Temper they will love and honour them and the Differences that remain will appear to be only such as may be between good Men and Brethren 5. By this publick Preaching Multitudes of poor Souls that know not whither else to go and Multitudes that will go no where else are kept in the way of Salvation and Profession of the Gospel And this is that which some Divines of the Church of England are so sensible of that they treat the Nonconformists as Friends and Fellow-Labourers I could if need were instance in some Great Men and great Places where this is true The second Branch of the Comparison now comes to be handled and then the Argument runs thus It is better that Protestant Dissenters should be spared or freed from the Penalties of the Laws than be prosecuted for the Evils of Execution will be greater than the Evils of Forbearance I am to remember my own Question and therefore I am not concerned in the Question about Separation either the Sinfulness or Excusableness of it which hath been lately largely debated but what is best to be done at this time and in this posture of Affairs The Unhappiness and Evils of our divided State have been considered by Divines and States-men The Divines have opened them in the Pulpit and in Print and have driven different ways to the same end the Union and the Preservation of the Church some representing the Mischief have taken the more moderate way of Perswasion abhorring Persecution and have so managed their Discourse as to take off the People from their Teachers Dr. Stilling fl Mischief of Separation and to bring them to the Church because there is nothing required of
them but what many of their Teachers allow to be lawful This way did tend towards Union of the People Others have urged an Execution of the Laws upon the Brethren withal perswading them to believe that they suffer as Evil-doers Dr. Ashton's Toleration disapproved and this is to bring home stray'd Sheep through Briars and Thorns Our great States-men have taken different Measures also Some have moved for a severe Execution and to force them to an intire Obedience saying it was more reasonable they should submit to the Church than the Church to them Others being sensible of the Mischiefs Decemb. 21 1680. have stated the Case more exactly and argued for an Union and this prevailed in the Debate No Man of Sence or Piety can be insensible of the Sickness of the Family but whether it be better to kill some out-right or to starve them or to suffer them to live may be easily determined In a case of Discord and Contention between Brothers whether it be best to accommodate or to determine some shall have what they would and others shall have nothing left comes near the Case in hand The Dangers of a Forbearance are the same that were foretold would be the Consequences of an Indulgence which was opposed by the Parliament in the Year 1662. That House of Commons did argue against an Indulgence and for keeping up the Act of Uniformity by way of Prophecy and fore-sight of Consequences and their humble Advices presented to the King contain the strongest Reasons against an Indulgence that have been found out and contain the great Inconveniences and Evils of a Forbearance February 15 1662. I will give you the Substance of them 1. An Indulgence will establish Schism by a Law make the Government of the Church precarious and the Censures of it of no moment 2. It will not become the Gravity or Wisdom of a Parliament to pass a Law of Uniformity at one Session and pass another to weaken it the next 3. It will expose your Majesty to the restless importunity of every Sect and every single Dissenter 4. It will cause the Increase of Sectaries whose Numbers will weaken the Protestant Religion their Numbers being troublesome to the Government will as their Numbers increase be more troublesome and from an Indulgence arrive at a Toleration at length contend for an Establishment and end in Popery 5. It will take away all means of convicting Recusants 6. It is more like to occasion greater Disturbances than Peace in the Kingdom But as Events prove Prophecies to be true or false so Events have proved these Arguments to be weak or strong That very Parliament the true Protestant Part of it that did faithfully serve their King and Country with the Additions made to them by a latter Election to fill up vacant Places saw where we were and were sensible of the Necessity of uniting Protestants by Act of Parliament and many of the Episcopal Divines and some Bishops were for it A clear Discovery that the Mischiefs of our Divisions are of that sort that it were better an Abatement were made of some things made necessary to Uniformity without which the Dissenters will not unite than suffer them to hang over our Heads and come upon us We plainly see that many of the Reasons of the Commons 1662 are of no Force I will observe what is of present use to our times which is the first And For the other It became their Wisdom and their Religion to pass a Bill taking from the Act of Uniformity His Majesty hath not been molested with the Importunities of the Dissenters who have not so much as opened their Grievances or Petitioned the King or Parliament in these many Years There is no new Sect appearing nor increase of any by the Nonconformists to weaken the Protestant Religion who have used Endeavours to increase and maintain it it is in no danger from them they are not troublesome to the Government are not for a Toleration of intolerable Sects and Secteries contend not for an Establishment which they would rejoyce in but as becomes learned Men and rational and with as great a Temper at least as theirs that write against them The Peace of the Kingdom is not disturbed by them and if Popery come in it is against their Wills Prayers and Pains to expose and and baffle it It is their Trouble and a considerable part of their Affliction that they are thought troublesome to the Government which may by an ordinary Exercise of Patience and Love overcome the Trouble in their own Breast which is the seat of the Trouble And for the only remaining Evil which is the Evil of Schism it is clear that their Meetings are not established by Law and a Connivance gives no Establishment to it but if they be driven from publick into private Families and keep within their Number the Schism remains as great and greater than otherwise as I said before out of the reach and under protection from the Law What the Evils of a Forbearance are we see but what the Evils of an Execution of the Laws may prove we cannot see but morally and rationally speaking they will be greater than now we suffer I must premise this That if you proceed with rigor you do unspeakable Hurt if not you cannot do the Good you pretend There must be a Concurrence of all Magistrates in all places to take the same Course and as you must concur so you must be sure that the King will shut up his Royal Bowels and Clemency or some particular Men will but become hateful to their Countries and His Majesties Mercy will condemn their Severity This was so well understood by an Honourable Member of Parliament that he moved for ways to compel the Dissenters to an intire Obedience and submit to the Church by severe Penalties This will be the ready way to undo all if any thing do it which as to His Majesties Person and Government I do confidently hope and rationally believe is but a great word of Fancy an Oratorical Scarecrow Mischief of Separation p. 13. p. 22 23 52. The mischiefs of our Separation are laid open to this purpose 1. Great Hazards of unsetling all 2. Alienation of Hearts 3. Advantage of our common Enemies the Papists I borrow the Heads of Mischiefs and argue If the Mischiefs of Separation while there is a cessation of Prosecutions be so great much more when Prosecution cannot heal the Separation but encrease the Causes 1. It will beyond all recovery undo all Men that have been so many Years the more bold to assemble because of the Lenity of His Majesty and the Propensity of our many Parliaments from 1673 to accommodate the Difference and the inferiour Magistrates have found no evil Designs among them to give disturbance to the Government and many of the Judges in their Charges have turned the point of the Sword upon our secret Enemies that would openly do more against us all