And your Law will reach no body till you have convinced him he is in the wrong Way and then there will be no need of Punishment to make him consider unless you will affirm again what you have denied and have Men punished for imbracing the Religion they believe to be true when it differs from yours or the Publick Besides being in the wrong Way those who you would have punished must be such as are deaf to all Perswasions But any such I suppose you will hardly sind who hearken to no body not to those of their own Way If you mean by deaf to all Perswasions all Perswasions of a contrary Party or of a different Church such I suppose you may abundantly find in your own Church as well as else-where and I presume to them you are so charitable that you would not have them punished for not lending an Ear to Seducers For Constancy in the Truth and Perseverance in the Faith is I hope rather to be incouraged than by any Penalties check'd in the Orthodox And your Church doubtless as well as all others is Orthodox to it self in all its Tenets If you mean by all Perswasion all your Perswasion or all Perswasion of those of your Communion you do but beg the Question and suppose you have a right to punish those who differ from and will not comply with you Your next Words are When Men fly from the means of a right Information and will not so much as consider how reasonable it is throughly and impartially to examine a Religion which they embraced upon such Inducements as ought to have no sway at all in the matter and therefore with little or no Examination of the proper Grounds of it What humane Method can be used to bring them to act like Men in an Affair of such consequence and to make a wiser and more rational Choice but that of laying such Penalties upon them as may ballance the weight of those Prejudices which inclined them to prefer a false Way before the true and recover them to so much Sobriety and Refâ—…ction as seriously to put the question to themselves Whether it be really worth the while to undergo such Inconveniences for adhering to a Religion which for any thing they know may be false or for rejecting another if that be the case which for any thing they know may be true till they have brought it to the Bar of Reason and given it a fair trial there Here you again bring in such as prefer a false Way before a true to which having answered already I shall here say no more but That since our Church will not allow those to be in a false Way who are out of the Church of Rome because the Church of Rome which pretends Infallibility declares hers to be the only true Way certainly no one of our Church nor any other which claims not Infallibility can require any one to take the Testimony of any Church as a sufficient Proof of the Truth of her own Doctrine So that true and false as it commonly happens when we suppose them for our selves or our Party in effect signify just nothing or nothing to the purpose unless we can think that true or false in England which will not be so at Rome or Geneva and Vice versâ As for the rest of the description of those on whom you are here laying Penalties I beseech you consider whether it will not belong to any of your Church let it be what it will Consider I say if there be none in your Church who have imbraced her Religion upon such Inducements as ought to have no sway at all in the matter and therefore with little or no Examination of the proper Grounds of it who have not been inclined by Prejudices who do not adhere to a Religion which for any thing they know may be false and who have rejected another which for any thing they know may be true If you have any such in your Communion and 't will be an admirable though I fear but a little Flock that has none such in it consider well what you have done You have prepared Rods for them for which I imagine they will con you no thanks For to make any tolerable Sense of what you here propose it must be understood that you would have Men of all Religions punished to make them consider whether it be really worth the while to undergo such Inconveniences for adhering to a Religion which for any thing they know may be false If you hope to avoid that by what you have said of true and false and pretend that the supposed Preference of the true Way in your Church ought to preserve its Members from your Punishment you manifestly trifle For every Church's Testimony that it has chosen the true Way must be taken for it self and then none will be liable and your new Invention of Punishment is come to nothing Or else the differing Churches Testimonies must be taken one for another and then they will be all out of the true Way and your Church need Penalties as well as the rest So that upon your Principles they must all or none be punished Chuse which you please one of them I think you cannot escape What you say in the next Words Where Instruction is stifly refused and all Admonitions and Perswasions prove vain and ineffectual differs nothing but in the way of expressing from Deaf to all Perswasions And so that is answered already In another place you give us another description of those you think ought to be punished in these Words Those who refuse to embrace the Doctrine and submit to the Spiritual Government of the proper Ministers of Religion who by special Designation are appointed to Exhort Admonish Reprove c. Here then those to be punished are such who refuse to imbrace the Doctrine and submit to the Government of the proper Ministers of Religion Whereby we are as much still at uncertainty as we were before who those are who by your Scheme and Laws sutable to it are to be punished since every Church has as it thinks its proper Ministers of Religion And if you mean those that refuse to imbrace the Doctrine and submit to the Government of the Ministers of another Church then all Men will be guilty and must be punished even those of your own Church as well as others If you mean those who refuse c. the Ministers of their own Church very few will incur your Penalties But if by these proper Ministers of Religion the Ministers of some particular Church are intended why do you not name it Why are you so reserved in a Matter wherein if you speak not out all the rest that you say will be to no purpose Are Men to be punished for refusing to imbrace the Doctrine and submit to the Government of the proper Ministers of the Church of Geneva For this time since you have declared nothing to the contrary let me suppose you of
will give you a Reason why I say so and that is Because no body can believe that upon your Principles you can allow any National Religion differing from that of the Church of England to be true and where the National Reliâ—…ion is not true we have already your Consent as in Spain and Italy c. for Toleration Now that you cannot without renouncing your own Principles allow any National Religion differing from that establish'd here by Law to be true is evident For why do you punish Nonconformists here To bring them say you to the True Religion But what if they hold nothing but what that other differing National Church does shall they be nevertheless punished if they conform not You will certainly say Yes and if so then you must either say they are not of the True Religion or else you must own you punish those to bring them to the True Religion whom you allow to be of the True Religion already You tell me If I own with our Author that there is but one True Religion and I owning my self to be of the Church of England you cannot see how I can avoid supposing that the National Religion now in England back'd by the publick Authority of the Law is the only True Religion If I own as I do all that you here expect from me yet it will not serve to draw that Conclusion from it which you do viz. That the National Religion now in England is the only True Religion taking the True Religion in the Sense that I do and you ought to take it I grant that there is but one True Religion in the World which is that whose Doctrine and Worship are necessary to Salvation I grant too that the True Religion necessary to Salvation is taught and professed in the Church of England and yet it will not follow from hence that the Religion of the Church of England as established by Law is the only True Religion if there be any thing established in the Church of England by Law and made part of its Religion which is not necessary to Salvation and which any other Church teaching and professing all that is necessary to Salvation does not receive If the National Religion now in England back'd by the Authority of the Law be as you would have it the only true Religion so the only true Religion that a Man cannot be saved without being of it Pray reconcile this with what you say in the immediately preceding Paragraph viz. That there are many other Countries in the World where my Toleration would be as little useful as in England For if there be other National Religions differing from that of England which you allow to be true and wherein Men may be saved the National Religion of England as now established by Law is not the only true Religion and Men may be saved without being of it And then the Magistrate can upon your Principles have no Authority to use Force to bring Men to be of it For you tell us Force is not lawful unless it be necessary and therefore the Magistrate can never lawfully use it but to bring Men to believe and practise what is necessary to Salvation You must therefore either hold that there is nothing in the Doctrine Discipline and Ceremonies of the Church of England as it is established by Law but what is necessary to Salvation Or else you must reform your Terms of Communion before the Magistrate upon your Principles can use Penalties to make Men consider till they conform or you can say that the National Religion of England is the only true Religion though it contain the only true Religion in it as possibly most if not all the differing Christian Churches now in the World do You tell us farther in the next Paragraph That where-ever this only true Religion i. e. the National Religion now in England is received all other Religions ought to be discouraged Why I beseech you discourag'd if they be true any of them For if they be true what Pretence is there for Force to bring Men who are of them to the true Religion If you say all other Religions varying at all from that of the Church of England are false we know then your measure of the one only true Religion But that your Care is only of Conformity to the Church of England and that by the true Religion you mean nothing else appears too from your way of expressing your self in thiâ—… Passage where you own that you suppose that as this only true Religion to wit the National Religion now in England back'd with the publick Authority of Law ought to be received where-ever it is preached so where-ever it is received all other Religions ought to be discouraged in some measure by the Civil Powers If the Religion establish'd by Law in England be the only true Religion ought it not be preached and received every where and all other Religions discouraged throughout the World and ought not the Magistrates of all Countries to take Care that it should be so But you only say where-ever it is preach'd it ought to be received and where-ever it is received other Religions ought to be discouraged which is well suted to your Scheme for inforcing Conformity in England but could scarce drop from a Man whose Thoughts were on the true Religion and the promoting of it in other Parts ' of the World Force then must be used in England and Penalties laid on Dissenters there For what to bring them to the true Religion whereby it is plain you mean not only the Doctrine but Discipline and Ceremonies of the Church of England and make them a part of the only true Religion Why else do you punish all Dissenters for rejecting the true Religion and use Force to bring them to it When yet a great if not the greatest part of Dissenters in England own and profess the Doctrine of the Church of England as firmly as those in the Communion of the Church of England They therefore though they believe the same Religion with you are excluded from the true Church of God that you would have Men brought to and are amongst those who reject the true Religion I ask whether they are not in your Opinion out of the way of Salvation who are not joined in Communion with the true Church and whether there can be any true Church without Bishops If so all but Conformists in England that are of any Church in Europe besides the Lutherans and Papists are out of the way of Salvation and so according to your System have need of Force to be brought into it and these too one for their Doctrine of Transubstantiation the other for that of Consubstantiation to omit other things vastly differing from the Church of England you will not I suppose allow to be of the true Religion And who then are left of the true Religion but the Church of England For the Abyssines have too wide a
promoting his own Honour in the World and the Good of Souls What I beseech you now is the sum of this Argument but this Force is of great and 〈◊〉 use therefore the wise and benign Disposer of all things who will not leave Mankind unfurnish'd which it would be Impiety to say of competent Means for the promoting his Honour in the World and the Good of Souls has given somewhere a right to use it Let us try it now whether it will not do as well for Miracles Miracles are of great and necessary use as great and necessary at least as Force therefore the wise and benign Disposer of all things who will not leave Mankind unfurnish'd which it would be Impiety to say of competent Means for the promoting his Honour in the World and the Good of soâ—…ls has given somewhere a Power of Miracles I ask you when I in the Second Letter used your own Words apply'd to Miracles instead of Force would they not conclude then as well for Miracles as for Force For you must remember there was not then in all your Scheme one word of Miracles to supply the place of Force Force alone was mention'd Force alone was necessary all was laid on Force Nor was it easy to divine that Miracles should be taken in to mend the Defects of your Hypothesis which in your Answer to me you now have done and I easily allow it without holding you to any thing you have said and shall always do so For seeking Truth and not Triumph as you frequently suggest I shall always take your Hypothesis as you please to reform it and either imbrace it or shew you why I do not Let us see therefore whether this Argument will do any better now your Scheme is mended and you make Force or Miracles necessary If Force or Miracles are of great and necessary use for the promoting True Religion and the Salvation of Souls then it must be acknowledged that there is somewhere a Right to use the one or a Power to do the other for the advancing those Ends unless we will say what without Impiety cannot be said that the wise and beâ—…ign Disposer and Governor of all things has not furnish'd Mankind with competent Mean for the promoting his own Honour and the Good of Souls From whence it will follow if your Argument be good that where Men have not a Right to use Force there still we are to expect Miracles unless we will say c. Now where the Magistrates are not of the True Religion there by this part of your Scheme there is a Right in no body to use Force for if there were what need of Miracles as you tell us there was in the first Ages of Christianity to supply that Want Since the Magistrates who were of False Religions then were furnish'd with as much Right if that were enough as they are now So that where the Magistrates are of False Religions there you must upon your Principles affirm Miracles are still to supply the want of Force unless you will say what without Impiety cannot be said that the wise and benign Disposer and Governor of all things hath not furnish'd Mankind with competent Means for the promoting his own Honour in the World and the good of Soâ—…ls Now how far this will favour the Pretences of the Church of Rome to Miracles in the East and West-Indies and other Parts not under Popish Governments you were best consider This is evident that in all Countries where the True Religion is not received for the Religion of the State and supported and encouraged by the Laws of it you must allow Miracles to be as necessary now as ever they were any where in the World for the supply of the want of Force before the Magistrates were Christians And then what advantage your Doctrine gives to the Church of Rome is very visible For they like you supposing theirs the one only True Religion are supply'd by you with this Argument for it viz. That the True Religion will not prevail by its own Light and Strength without the assistance of Miracles or Authority Which are the competent Means which without Impiety it cannot be said that the wise and benign Disposer and Governor of all things has not furnish'd Mankind with From whence they will not think it hard to draw this Consequence that therefore the wise and benign Governor of all things has continued in their Church the Power of Miracles which yours does not so much as pretend to to supply the want of the Magistrate's Assistance where that cannot be had to make the True Religion prevail And if a Papist should press you with this Argument I would gladly know what you would reply to him Though thiâ—… be enough to make good what I said yet since I seek Truth more than my own Justification let us examine a little what 't is you here say of competent Means Competent Means you say are necessary but you think no Man will say all useful Means are so If you think you speak plain clear determin'd Sense when you used this good English Word Competent I pity you if you did it with Skill I send you to my Pagans and 〈◊〉 But this safe way of Talking though it be not altogether so clear yet it so often occurs in you that 't is hard to judg whether it be Art or Nature Now pray what do you mean by Mankind's being furnish'd with competent Means If it be such Means as any are prevail'd on by to imbrace the Truth that must save them Preaching is a competent Means for by Preaching alone without Force many are prevail'd on and become truly Christians and then your Force by your own Confession is not necessary If by competent you understand such Means by which all Men are prevail'd on or the majority to become truly Christians I fear your Force is no competent Means Which way ever you put 〈◊〉 you must acknowledg Mankind to be destitute of competent Means or your moderate Force not to be that necessary competent Means Since whatever Right the Magistrates may have had any where to use it where-ever it has not been used let the cause be what it will that kept thiâ—… Means from being used there the People have been destitute of that Means But you will think there is little reason to complain of Obscurity you having abundantly explain'd what you mean by competent in saying competent i. e. sufficient Means So that we have nothing to do but to find out what you mean by sufficient and the Meaning of that Word in your use of it you happily give us in these following What does any Man mean by sufficient Evidence but such as will certainly win Assent where-ever it is duly consider'd Apply this to your Means and then tell me whether your Force be such competent i. e. sufficient Means that it certainly produced imbracing the Trâ—… where-ever it was duly i. e. your way apply'd if it
external Communion In this lording it over the Heritage of God and thus overseeing by Imposition on the unwilling and not consenting which seems to be the meaning of St. Peter most of the lasting Sects which so mangle Christianity had their Original and continue to have their Support and were it not for these establish'd Sects under the specious Names of National Churches which by their contracted and arbitrary Limits of Communion justify against themselves the Separation and like Narrowness of others the Difference of Opinions which do not so much begin to be as to appear and be owned under Toleration would either make no Sect nor Division or else if they were so extravagant as to be opposite to what is necessary to Salvation and so necessitate a Separation the clear Light of the Gospel joined with a strict Discipline of Manners would quickly chase them out of the World But whilst needless Impositions and moot Points in Divinity are established by the Penal Laws of Kingdoms and the specious Pretences of Authority what Hopes is there that there should be such an Union amongst Christians any where as might invite a rational Turk or Infidel to imbrace a Religion whereof he is told they have a Revelation from God which yet in some Places he is not suffered to read and in no Place shall he be permitted to understand for himself or to follow according to the best of his Understanding when it shall at all thwart though in things confessed not necessary to Salvation any of those select Points of Doctrine Discipline or outward Worship whereof the National Church has been pleased to make up its Articles Polity and Ceremonies And I ask what a sober sensible Heathen must think of the Divisions amongst Christians not owing to Toleration if he should find in an Island where Christianity seems to be in its greatest Purity the South and North Parts establishing Churches upon the Differences of only whether fewer or more thus and thus chosen should govern tho the Revelation they both pretend be their Rule say nothing directly one way or â—…other each contending with so much Eagerness that they deny each other to be Churches of Christ that is in effect to be true Christians To which if one should add Transubstantiation Consubstantiation Real Presence Articles and Distinctions set up by Men without Authority from Scripture and other less Differences which good Christians may dissent about without endangering their Salvations established by Law in the several Parts of Christendom I ask Whether the Magistrates interposing in Matters of Religion and establishing National Churches by the Force and Penalties of Civil Laws with their distinct and at home reputed necessary Confessions and Ceremonies do not by Law and Power authorize and perpetuate Sects among Christians to the great Prejudice of Christianity and Scandal to Insidels more than any thing that can arise from a mutual Toleration with Charity and a good Life Those who have so much in their Mouths the Authors of Sects and Divisions with so little advantage to their Cause I shall desire to consider whether National Churches established as now they are are not as much Sects and Divisions in Christianity as smaller Collections under the name of distinct Churches are in respect of the National only with this difference that these Subdivisions and discountenanced Sects wanting Power to enforce their peculiar Doctrines and Discipline usually live more friendly like Christians and seem only to demand Christian Liberty whereby there is less appearance of Unchristian Division among them Whereas those National Sects being back'd by the Civil Power which they never fail to make use of at least as a pretence of Authority over their Brethren usually breath out nothing but Force and Persecution to the great Reproach Shame and Dishonour of the Christian Religion I said That if the Magistrates would severely and impartially set themselves against Vice in whomsoever it is found and leave Men to their own Consciences in their Articles of Faith and Ways of Worship true Religion would spread wider and be more fruitful in the Lives of its Professors than ever hitherto it has done by the imposing of Creeds and Ceremonies Here I call only Immorality of Manners Vice you on the contrary in your Answer give the Name of Vice to Errors in Opinion and Difference in Ways of Worship from the National Church for this is the Matter in question between us express it as you please This being a Contest only about the signification of a short Syllable in the English Tongue we must leave to the Masters of that Language to judg which of these two is the proper use of it But yet from my using the word Vice you conclude presently taking it in your Sense not mine that the Magistrate has a Power in England for England we are speaking of to punish Dissenters from the National Religion because it is a Vice I will if you please in what I said change the word Vice into that I meant by it and say thus If the Magistrates will severely and impartially set themselves against the Dishonesty and Debauchery of Mens Lives and such Immoralities as I contra-distinguish from Errors in speculative Opinions of Religion and Ways of Worship and then pray see how your Answer will look for thus it runs It seems then with you the rejecting the true Religion and refusing to worship God in decent Ways prescribed by those to whom God has left the ordering of those Matters are not comprehended in the name Vice But you tell me If I except these things and will not allow them to be called by the name of Vice perhaps other Men may think it as reasonable to except some other things i. e. from being called Vices which they have a kindness for For instance some may perhaps except arbitrary Divorce Polygamy Concubinage simple Fornication or Marrying within Degrees thought forbidden Let them except these and if you will Drunkenness Theft and Murder too from the name of Vice nay call them Vertues Will they by their calling them so be exempt from the Magistrate's Power of punishing them Or can they claim an Impunity by what I have said Will these Immoralities by the Names any one shall give or forbear to give to them become Articles of Faith or Ways of Worship Which is all as I expresly say in the Words you here cite of mine that I would have the Magistrates leave Men to their own Consciences in But Sir you have for me Liberty of Conscience to use Words in what sense you please only I think where another is concerned it favours more of Ingenuity and love of Truth rather to mind the Sense of him that speaks than to make a dust and noise with a mistaken Word if any such Advantage were given you You say That some Men would through Carelesness never acquaint themselves with the Truth which must save them without being forced to do it which you suppose may
Force And your Method of using this Force is to punish all the Dissenters from the National Religion and none of those who outwardly conform to it Make this practicable now in any Country in the World without allowing the Magistrate to be Judg what is the Truth that must save them and without supposing also that whoever do imbrace the outward Profession of the National Religion do in their Hearts imbrace i. e. believe and obey the Truth that must save them and then I think nothing in Government can be too hard for your undertaking You conclude this Paragraph in telling me You do not know of any thing I say against any part of this which is not already answered Pray tell me where 't is you have answered those Objections I made to those several Ends which you assigned in your Argument considered and for which you would have Force used and which I have here reprinted again because I do not find you so much as take notice of them and therefore the Reader must judg whether they needed any Answer or no. But to shew that you have not here where you promise and pretend to do it clearly and directly told us for what Force and Penalties are to be used I shall in the next Chapter examine what you mean by bringing Men to imbrace the True Religion CHAP. VII Of your bringing Men to the True Religion TRue Religion is on all hands acknowledged to be so much the Concern and Interest of all Mankind that nothing can be named which so much effectually bespeakâ—… the Approbation and Favour of the Publick The very intitling one's self to that sets a Man on the right side Who dares question such a Cause or oppose what is offered for the promoting the True Religion This Advantage you have secured to your self from unattentive Readers as much as by the often-repeated mention of the True Religion is possible there being scarce a Page wherein the True Religion does not appear as if you had nothing else in your Thoughts but the bringing Men to it for the Salvation of their Souls Whether it be so in earnest we will now see You tell us Whatever Hardships some false Religions may impose it will however always be easier to carnal and worldly minded Men to give even the first-born for their Transgressions than to mortify the Lusts from which they spring which no Religion but the True requires of them Upon this you ground the Neâ—…essity of Force to bring Men to the True Religion and charge it on the Magistrate as his Duty to use it to that End What now in appearance can express greater Care to bring Men to the True Religion But let us see what you say in p. 64. and we shall sind that in your Scheme nothing less is meant there you tell us The Magistrate inflicts the Penalties only upon them that break the Lawâ—… And that Law requiring nothing but Conformity to the National Religion noâ—… but Nonconformists are punished So that unless an outward Profession of the National Religion be by the Mortification of Mens Lusts harder than their giving their First-born for their Transgression all the Penalties you contend sor concern not â—…nor can be intended to bring Men effectually to the True Religion since they leave them before they come to the Difficulty which is to mortify their Lusts as the True Religion requires So that your bringing Men to the True Religion being to bring them to Conformity to the National for then you have done with Force how far that outward Consormity is from being heartily of the True Religion may be known by the distance there is between the easiest and the hardest thing in the World For there is nothing easier than to profess in Words nothing harder than to subdue the Heart and bring Thoughts and Deeds into Obedience of the Truth The latter is what is required to be of the True Religion the other all that is required by Penalties your way applied If you say Conformists to the National Religion are required by the Law Civil and Ecclesiastical to lead good Lives which is the difficult part of the True Religion I answer These are not the Laws we are here speaking of nor those which the Defenders of Toleration complain of but the Laws that put a distinction between outward Conformists and Nonconformists and those they say whatever may be talked of the True Religion can never be meant to bring Men really to the True Religion as long as the True Religion is and is confessed to be a thing of so much greater difficulty than outward Conformity Miracles say you supplied the want of Force in the beginning of Christianity and therefore so far as they supplied that Want they must be subservient to the same End The End then was to bring Men into the Christian Church into which they were admitted and received as Brethren when they acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ the Son of God Will that serve the turn No Force must be used to make Men imbrace Creeds and Ceremonies i. e. outwardly conform to the Doctrine and Worship of your Church Nothing more than that is required by your Penalties nothing less than that will excuse from Punishment that and nothing but that will serve the turn that therefore and only that is what you mean by the True Religion you would have Force used to bring Men to When I tell you You have a very ill Opinion of the Religion on of the Church of England and must own it can only be propagated and supported by Force if you do not think it would be a Gainer by a general Toleration all the World over You ask Why you may not have as good an Opinion of the Church of England's as you have of Noah's Religion notwithstanding you think it cannot now be propagated or supported without using some kinds or degrees of Force When you have proved that Noah's Religion that from eight Persons spread and continued in the World till the Apostles Times as I have proved in another place was propagated and supported all that while by your kinds or degrees of Force you may have some reason to think as well of the Religion of the Church of England as you have of Noah's Religion though you think it cannot be propagated and supported without some kinds or degrees of Force But till you can prove that you cannot upon that ground say you have reason to have so good an Opinion of it You tell me If I will take your Word for it you assure me you think there are many other Countries in the World besides England where my Toleration would be as little useful to Truth as in England If you will name those Countries which will be no great pains I will take your word for it that you believe Toleration there would be prejudicial to Truth but if you will not do that neither I nor any body else can believe you I
should quit their Lusts and heartily imbrace the true Religion which iâ—… incompatible with them or else that they should avoid the Force and retain their Lusts To say the former of these is to say that it is presumable that they will quit their Lusts and heartily imbrace the true Religion for its own sake for he that heartily imbraces the true Religion because of a Force which he knows he can avoid at Pleasure without quitting his Lusts cannot be said so to imbrace it because of that Force Since a Force he can avoid without quitting his Lusts cannot be said to assist Truth in making him quit them For in this Truth has no Assistance from it at all So that this iâ—… to say there is no need of Force at all in the Case Take a coâ—…tous Wretch whose Heart is so set upon Money that he would give his First-born to save his Bags who is pursued by the Force of the Magistrate to an Arrest and compelled to hear what is alledg'd against him and the Prosecution of the Law threatning Imprisonment or other Punishment if he do not pay the just Debt which is demanded of him If he enters himself in â—…he Kiâ—…g's Bench where he can enjoy his Freedom without paying the Debt and parting with his Money will you say that it is presumable he did it to pay the Dâ—…bt and not to avoid the Force of the Law The Lust of the Flesh and Pride of Life are as strong and prevalent as the Lust of the Eye And if you will deliberately say again that it is presumable that Men are driven by Force to consider so as to part with their Lusts when no more is known of them but that they do what discharges them from the Force without any Necessity of parting with their Lusts I think I shall have occasion to send you to my Pagans and Mahometans but shall have no need to say any thing more to you of this matter my self I agree with you that there is but one only true Religion I agree too that that one only true Religion is professed and held in the Church of England and yet I deny if Force may be used to bring Men to that true Religion that upon your Principles it can lawfully be used to bring Men to the National Religion in England as established by Law because Force according to your own Rule being only lawful because it is necessary and therefore unfit to be used where not necessary i. e. necessary to bring Men to Salvation it can never be lawful to be used to bring a Man to any thing that is not necessary to Salvation as I have more fully shewn in another Place If therefore in the National Religion of England there be any thing put in as necessary to Communion that is though true yet not necessary to Salvation Force cannot be lawfully used to bring Men to that Communion though the thing so required in it self may perhaps be true There be a great many Truths contained in Scripture which a Man may be ignorant of and consequently not believe without any Danger to his Salvation or else very few would be capable of Salvation for I think I may truly say there was never any one but he that was the Wisdom of the Father who was not ignorant of some and mistaken in others of them To bring Men therefore to imbrace such Truths the Use of Force by your own Rule cannot be lawful because the Belief or Knowledg of those Truths themselves not being necessary to Salvation there can be no Necessity Men should be brought to imbrace them and so no Necessity to use Force to bring Men to imbrace them The only true Religion which is necessary to Salvation may in one National Church have that joined with it which in it self is manifestly false and repugnant to Salvation in such a Communion no Man can join without quitting the way of Salvation In another National Church with this only true Religion may be joined what is neither repugnant nor necessary to Salvation and of such there may be several Churches differing one from another in Confessions Ceremonies and Discipline which are usually call'd different Religions with either or each of which a good Man if satisfied in his own Mind may communicate without Danger whilst another not satisfied in Conscience concerning something in the Doctrine Discipline or Worship cannot safely nor without Sin communicate with this or that of them Nor can Force be lawfully used on your Principles to bring any Man to either of them because such things are required to their Communion which not being requisite to Salvation Men may seriously and conscientiously differ and be in doubt about without indangering their Souls That which here raises a Noise and gives a Credit to it whereby many are misled into an unwarrantable Zeal is that these are called different Religions and every one thinking his own the true the only true condemns all the rest as false Religions Whereas those who hold all things necessary to Salvation and add not thereto any thing in Doctrine Discipline or Worship inconsistent with Salvation are of one and the same Religion though divided into different Societies or Churches under different Forms which whether the Passion and Polity of designing or the sober and pious Intention of well-meaning Men set up they are no other than the Contrivances of Men and such they ought to be esteemed in whatsoever is required in them which God has not made necessary to Salvation however in its own Nature it may be indifferent lawful or true For none of the Articles or Confessions of any Church that I know containing in them all the Truths of Religion though they contain some that are not necessary to Salvation to garble thus the Truths of Religion and by their own Authority take some not necessary to Salvation and make them the terms of Communion and leave out others as necessary to be known and believed is purely the Contrivance of Men God never having appointed any such distinguishing System nor as I have shew'd can Force upon your Principles lawfully be used to bring Men to imbrace it Concerning Ceremonies I shall here only ask you whether you think Kneeling at the Lord's Supper or the Cross in Baptism are necessary to Salvation I mention these as having been matter of great Scrâ—…ple if you will not say they are how can you say that Force can be lawfully used to bring Men into a Communion to which these are made necessary If you say Kneeling is necessary to a decent Uniformity for of the Cross in Baptism I have spoken elsewhere though that should be true yet 't is an Argument you cannot use for it if you are of the Church of England for if a decent Uniformity may be well enough preserved without kneeling at Prayer where Decency requires it at least as much as at receiving the Sacrament why may it not well enough be preserved without kneeling
at the Sacrament Now that Uniformity is thought sufficiently preserved without kneeling at Prayer is evident by the various Postures Men are at liberty to use and may be generally observed in all our Congregations during the Minister's Prayer in the Pulpit before and after his Sermon which it seems can consist well enough with Decency and Uniformity tho it be at Prayer addressed to the great God of Heaven and Earth to whose Majesty it is that the Reverence to be expressed in our Gestures is due when we put up Petitions to him who is invariably the same in what or whose Words soever we address our selves to him The Preface to the Book of Common-Prayer tells us That the Riâ—…es and Ceremonies appointed to be used in Divine Worship are things in their own Nature indifferent and alterable Here I ask you whether any humane Power can make any thing in its own nature indifferent necessary to Salvation If it cannot then neither can any Humane Power be justified in the use of Force to bring Men to Conformity in the use of such things If you think Men have Authority to make any thing in it self indifferent a necessary part of God's Worship I shall desire you to consider what our Author says of this Matter which has not yet deserved your notice The misapplying his Power you say is a Sin in the Magistrate and lays him open to Divine Vengeance And is it not a misapplying of his Power and a Sin in him to use Force to bring Men to such a Compliance in an indifferent thing which in Religious Worship may be a Sin to them Force you say may be used to punish those who dissent from the Communion of the Church of England Let us suppose now all its Doctrines not only true but necessary to Salvation but that there is put into the Terms of its Communion some indifferent Action which God has not enjoin'd nor made a part of his Worship which any Man is perswaded in his Conscience not to be lawful suppose kneeling at the Sacrament which having been superstitiously used in Adoration of the Bread as the real Body of Christ may give occasion of scruple to some now as well as eating of Flesh offered to Idols did to others in the Apostles time which though lawful in it self yet the Apostle said he would eat no Flesh while the World standeth rather than make his weak Brother offend And if to lead by Example the Scrupulous into any Action in it self indifferent which they thought unlawful be a Sin as appears at large Rom. XIV how much more is it to add Force to our Example and to compel Men by Punishments to that which though indifferent in it self they cannot join in without sinning I desire you to shew me how Force can be necessary in such a Case without which you acknowledg it not to be lawful Not to kneel at the Lord's Supper God not having ordained it is not a Sin and the Apostles receiving it in the Posture of sitting or lying which was then used at Meat is an Evidence it may be received not kneeling But to him that thinks Kneeling is unlawful it is certainly a Sin And for this you may take the Authority of a very Judicious and Reverend Prelate of our Church in these Words Where a Man is mistaken in his Judgment even in that Case it is always a Sin to act against it by so doing he wilfully acts against the best Light which at present he has for the direction of his Actions I need not here repeat his Reasons having already quoted him above more at large though the whole Passage writ as he uses with great Strength and Clearness deserves to be read and considered If therefore the Magistrate enjoins such an unnecessary Ceremony and uses Force to bring any Man to a sinful Communion with our Church in it let me ask you Doth he sin or misapply his Power or no True and false Religions are Names that easily engage Mens Affections on the hearing of them the one being the Aversion the other the Desire at least as they perswade themselves of all Mankind This makes Men forwardly give into these Names where-ever they meet with them and when mention is made of bringing Men from false to the true Religion very often without knowing what is meant by those Names they think nothing can be done too much in such a Business to which they intitle God's Honour and the Salvation of Mens Souls I shall therefore desire of you if you are that fair and sincere Lover of Truth you profess when you write again to tell us what you mean by true and what by a false Religion that we may know which in your sense are so for as you now have used these Words in your Treatise one of them seems to stand only for the Religion of the Church of England and the other for that of all other Churches I expect here you should make the same Outcries against me as you have in your former Letter for imposing a Sense upon your Words contrary to your Meaning and for this you will appeal to your own Words in some other Places but of this I shall leave the Reader Judg and tell him this is a Way very easy and very usual for Men who having not clear and consistent Notions keep themselves as much as they can under the shelter of general and variously applicable Terms that they may save themselves from the Absurdities or Consequences of one Place by a help from some general or contrary Expression in another Whether it be a desire of Victory or a little too warm Zeal for a Cause you have been hitherto perswaded of which hath led you into this way of writing I shall only mind you that the Cause of God requires nothing but what may be spoken out plainly in a clear determined Sense without any reserve or cover In the mean time this I shall leave with you as evident That Force upon your ground cannot be lawfully used to bring Men to the Communion of the Church of England that being all that I can find you clearly mean by the True Religion till you have proved that all that is required of one in that Communion is necessary to Salvation However therefore you tell us That convenient Force used to bring Men to the true Religion is all that you contend for and all that you allow That it is for promoting the true Religion That it is to bring Men to consider so as not to reject the Truth necessary to Salvation .... To bring Men to imbrace the Truth that must save them And abundance more to this purpose Yet all this Talk of the true Religion amounting to no more but the National Religion established by Law in England and your bringing Men to it to no more than bringing them to an outward Profession of it it would better have suted that Condition viz. without Prejudice
to say to my Modesty and Conscience for imputing to you what you no where say I grant it in direct words but in effect as plainly as may be The Magistrate may impose sound Creeds and decent Ceremonies i. e such as he thinks sit for what is sound and decent he I hope must be Judg and if he be Judg of what is sound and decent it amounts to no more but what he thinks sit and if it be not what he thinks sit why is one Ceremony preferr'd to another why one Doctrine of the Scripture put into the Creed and Articles and another as sound left out They are Truths necessary to Salvation We shall see that in good time here only I ask Does the Magistrate only believe them to be Truths and Ceremonies necessary to Salvation or does he certainly know them to be so If you say he only believes them to be so and that that is enough to authorize him to impose them you by your own Confession authorize Magistrates to impose what they think necessary for the Salvation of their Subjects Souls and so the King of France did what he was obliged to when he said he would have all his Subjects saved and so fell to Dragooning If you say the Magistrate certainly knows them to be necessary to Salvation we are luckily come to an Infallible Guide Well then the sound Creeds are agreed on the Confession and Liturgy are framed the Ceremonies pitch'd on and the Terms of Communion thus set up you have Religion establish'd by Law and what now is the Subject to do He is to conform No he must first considâ—…r Who bids him consider no body he may if he pleases but the Law says nothing to him of it consider or not consider if he conforms 't is well and he is approved of and admitted He does consider the best he can but finds some things he does not understand other things he cannot believe assent or consent to What now is to be done with him He must either be punished on or resign himself up to the Determination and Direction of the Civil Magistrate which till you can â—…ind a better name for it we will call Implicit Faith And thus you have provided a Remedy for the hazardous Condition of weak Understandings in that which you suppose necessary in the case viz. an infallible Guide and implicit Faith in Matters â—…oncerning Mens Salvation But you say For your part you know of no such Guide of God's appointing Let that be your Rule and the Magistrate with his Co-active Power will be left out too You think there is no need of any such because notwithstanding the long and many Proofs and remote Consequences the false Grounds and the captious and fallacious Arguments of Learned Men vers'd in Controversies with which I as well as those of the Roman Communion endeavour to amuse you through the Goodness of God the Truth which is necessary to Salvation lies so obvious and exposed to all that sinâ—…erely and diligently seek it that no such Person shall ever fail of attaining the Knowledg of it This then is your Answer that Truths necessary to Salvation are obvious so that those who seek them sincerely and diligently are not in danger to be misled or expos'd in those to Error by the Weakness of their Understandings This will be a good Answer to what I objected from the Danger most are in to be led into Error by the Magistrate's adding Force to the Arguments for their National establish'd Religions when you have shewn that nothing is wont to be impos'd in National Religions but what is necessary to Salvation or which will a little better accommodate your Hypothesis when you can shew that nothing is impos'd or requir'd for Communion with the Church of England but what is necessary to Salvation and consequently is very easy and obvious to be known and distinguish'd from Falshood And indeed besides what you say here upon your Hypothesis that Force is lawful only because it is necessary to bring Men to Salvation it cannot be lawful to use it to bring Men to any thing but what is absolutely necessary to Salvation For if the Lawfulness of Force be only from the need Men have of it to bring them to Salvation it cannot lawfully be used to bring Men to that which they do not need or is not necessary to their Salvation for in such an Application of it it is not needful to their Salvation Can you therefore say that there is nothing required to be believ'd and profess'd in the Church of England but what lies so obvious and expos'd to all that sincerely and diligently seek it that no such Person shall ever fail of attaining the Knowledg of it What think you of St. Athanasius's Câ—…eed is the Sense of that so obvious and expos'd to every one who seeks it which so many Learned Men have explain'd so different Ways and which yet a great many profess they cannot understand Or is it necessary to your or my Salvation that you or I should believe and pronounce all those damn'd who do not believe that Creed i. e. every Proposition in it which I fear would extend to not a few of the Church of England unless we can think that People believe i. e. assent to the Truth of Propositions they do not at all understand If ever you were acquainted with a Country-Parish you must needs have a strange Opinion of them if you think all the Plough-Men and Milk-Maids at Church understood all the Propositions in Athanasius's Creed 't is more truly than I should be apt to think of any one of them and yet I cannot hence believe my self authorized to judg or pronounce them all damn'd 't is too bold an Intrenching on the Prerogative of the Almighty to their own Master they stand or fall The Doctrine of Original Sin is that which is profess'd and must be owned by the Members of the Church of England as is evident from the 39 Articles and several Passages in the Liturgy and yet I ask you whether this be so obvious and expos'd to all that diligently and sincerely seek the Truth that one who is in the Communion of the Church of England sincerely seeking the Truth may not raise to himself such Difficulties concerning the Doctrine of Original Sin as may puzzle him though he be a Man of Study and whether he may not push his Enquiries so far as to be stagger'd in his Opinion If you grant me this as I am apt to think you will then I enquire whether it be not true notwithstanding what you say concerning the Plainness and Obviousness of Truths necessary to Salvation that a great part of Mankind may not be able to discern between Truth and Falshood in several Points which are thought so far to concern their Salvation as to be made necessary Parts of the National Religion If you say it may be so then I have nothing farther to enquire but
things speak of Miracles in their time with no less Assurance than the Fathers before the 4 th Century and a great part of the Miracles of the 2d and 3d Centuries stand upon the Credit of the Writers of the 4 th So that that sort of Argument which takes and rejects the Testimony of the Ancients at pleasure as may best sute with it will not have much force with those who are not disposed to imbrace the Hypothesis without any Arguments at all You grant That the True Religion has always Light and Strength of its own i. e. without the Assistance of Force or Miracles sufficient to prevail with all that consider it seriously and without Prejudice That therefore for which the Assistance of Force is wanting is to make Men consider seriously and without Prejudice Now whether the Miracles that we have still Miracles done by Christ and his Apostles attested as they are by undeniable History be not fitter to deal with Mens Prejudices than Force and than Force which requires nothing but outward Conformity I leave the World to judg All the Assistance the true Religion needs from Authority is only a Liberty for it to be truly taught but it has seldom had that from the Powers in being in its first entry into their Dominions since the withdrawing of Miracles And yet I desire you to tell me into what Country the Gospel accompanied as now it is only with past Miracles hath been brought by the Preaching of Men who have labour'd in it after the Example of the Apostles where it did not so prevail over Mens Prejudices that as many as were ordain'd to eternal Life consider'd and believ'd it Which as you may see Aâ—…t XIII 48. was all the Advance it made even when assisted with the Gift of Miracles For neither then were all or the majority wrought on to consider and embrace it But yet the Gespel cannot prevail by its own Light and Strength and therefore Miracles were to supply the place of Force How was Force used A Law being made there was a continued Application of Punishment to all those whom it brought not to imbrace the Doctrine proposed Were Miracles so used till Force took place For this we shall want more new Church-History and I think contrary to what we read in that part of it which is unquestionable I mean in the Acts of the Apostles where we shall find that the then Promulgators of the Gospel when they had preach'd and done what Miracles the Spirit of God directed if they prevail'd not they often left them Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing you put it from you and judg your selves unworthy we turn to the Gentiles They shook off the Dust of their Feet against them and came unto Iconium But when divers were hardned and believed not but spake evil of that way before the multitude he departed from them and separated the Disciples Paul was pressed in Spirit and testisied to the Jews that Jesus was Christ and when they opposed themselves and blasphemed he shook his Raiment and said unto them Your Blood be upon your own heads I am clean from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles Did the Christian Magistrates ever do so who thought it necessary to support the Christian Religion by Laws Did they ever when they had a while punish'd those whom Perswasions and Preaching had not prevail'd on give off and leave them to themselves and make trial of their Punishment upon others Or is this your way of Force and Punishment If it be not your's is not what Miracles came to supply the room of and so is not necessary For you tell us they are punish'd to make them consider and they can never be suppos'd to consider as they ought whilst they persist in rejecting and therefore they are justly punish'd to make them so consider So that not so considering being the Fault for which they are punish'd and the Amendment of that Fault the end which is design'd to be attain'd by punishing the Punishment must continue But Men were not always heat upon with Miracles To this perhaps you will reply that the seeing of a Miracle or two or half a dozen was sufficient to procure a hearing but that being punish'd once or twice or half a dozen times is not for you tell us the Power of Miracles communicated to the Apostles served altogether as well as Punishment to procure them a hearing Where if you mean by Hearing only Attention who doubts but Punishment may also procure that if you mean by Hearing receiving and imbracing what is propos'd that even Miracles themselves did not effect upon all Eye-witnesses Why then I beseech you if one be to supply the place of the other is one to be continued on those who do reject when the other was never long continued nor as I think we may safely say often repeated to those who persisted in their former Perswasions After all therefore may not one justly doubt whether Miracles supplied the place of Punishment nay whether you your self if you be true to your own Principles can think so You tell us that not to join themselves to the True Church where sufficient Evidence is offered to convince Men that it is so is a Fault that it cannot be unjust to punish Let me ask you now Did the Apostles by their Preaching and Miracles offer sufficient Evidence to convince Men that the Church of Christ was the True Church or which is in this case the same thing that the Doctrine they preach'd was the True Religion If they did were not those who persisted in Unbelief guilty of a Fault And if some of the Miracles done in those days should now be repeated and yet Men should not imbrace the Doctrine or join themselves to the Church which those Miracles accompanied would you not think them guilty of a Fault which the Magistrate might justly nay ought to punish If you would answer truly and sincerely to this Question I doubt you would think your beloved Punishments necessary notwithstanding Miracles there being no other â—…umane Means left I do not make this Judgment of you from any ill Opinion I have of your good Nature but it is consonant to your Principles For if not Professing the True Religion where sufficient evidence is offer'd by bare Preaching be a Fault and a Eault jusâ—…y to be punish'd by the Magistrate you will certainly think it much more his Duty to punish a greater Fault as you must allow it is to reject Truth propos'd with Arguments and Miracles than with bare Arguments Since you tell us that the Magistrate is obliged to procure as much as in him lies that every Man take care of his own Soul i. e. consider as he ought which no Man can be suppos'd to do whilst he persists in rejecting As you tell us pag.
and I think you will forwardly enough agree that till Christianity was made the Religion of the Empira there were those every where that heard the Preachers of it so little or so little consider'd what they said that they rejected the Gospel and that therefore Miracles or Force are necessary Means to make Men hear and consider You must own that those who preach'd without the Power of Miracles or the Coactive Power of the Magistrate accompanying them were unfurnish'd of competent and sufficient Means to make Men hear and consider and so to bring them to the True Religion If you will say the Miracles done by others were enough to accompany their Preaching to make it be heard and consider'd the Preaching of the Ministers at this day is so accompanied and so will need no assistance of Force from the Magistrate If the report of Miracles done by one Minister of the Gospel some time before and in another place were sufficient to make the Preaching of ten or a thousand others be heard and consider'd why is it not so now For the Credibility and Attestation of the Report is all that is of moment when Miracles done by others in other places are the Argument that prevails But this I fear will not serve your turn in the business of Penalties and whatever might satisfy you in the case of Miracles I doubt you would not think the Salvation of Souls sufficiently provided for if the Report of the Force of Penalties used some time since on one side of the Tweed were all that should assist the Preachers of the True Religion on the other to make Men hear and consider St. Paul in his Epistle to Titus instructs him what he and the Presbyters he should ordain in the Cities of Crete were to do for the propagating of the Gospel and bringing Men heartily to imbrace it His Directions are that they should be blameless not Rioters not self-willed not soon angry not given to Wine nor filthy Lucre not Strikers not unruly Lovers of Hospitality and of good Men sober just holy temperate To be able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and convince Gain-sayers In all things to be a Pattern of good Works In Doctrine shewing Uncorruptedness Gravity Sincerity sound Speech that cannot be condemned that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil to say of you These things speak and exhort and râ—…buke with all Authority Avoid foolish Questions and Genealogies and Contentions A Man that is an Heretick after the first and second Admonition reject To repay you the favour of your Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which if I may take your liberty of receding from ONr Translation I would read avoid The Cretans by the Account St. Paul gives of them were a People that would require all the Means that were needful to prevail with any Strangers to the Gospel to hear and consider But yet we find nothing directed for the Support and Propagation of the Gospel in this Island but Preaching Exhortation Reproof c. with the Example of a good Life In all this Epistle writ on purpose to instruct the Preachers of the Gospel in the Means they were to use among the Cretans for their Conversion not a word about Miracles their Power or Use Which one would think strange if They were the Means appointed and necessary to make Men hear and consider and without which they would not do it Preaching Admonition Exhortation Intreaties Instruction by the common Light of Reason were known and natural to be used to perswade Men. There needed not be much said to convince Men of it But if Miracles were a necessary Means it was a Means wholly new unexpected and out of the Power of other Teachers And therefore one would think if they were appointed for the Ends you propose one should hear something of that Appointment Since that they were to be used or how and when was farther from common Apprehension and seems to need some particular Direction If you say the same Spirit that gave them the Power of Mivacles would also give them the knowledg both that they had it and how to use it I am far enough from limiting the Operations of that infinitely wise Spirit who will not fail to bring all the Elect of God into the Obedience of Truth by those Means and in that manner he shall think necessary But yet our Saviour when he sent abroad his Disciples with the Power of Miracles not only put it in their Commission whereby they were informed that they had that extraordinary Gift but added Instructions to them in the use of it Freely you have received freely give A Caution as necessary to the Cretan Elders in the use of Miracles if they had that Power There being nothing more liable to be turn'd to the advantage of Filthy Lucre. I do not question but the Spirit of God might give the Power and stir up the Mind of the first Spreaders of the Gospel to do Miracles on some extraordinary occasion But if they were a necessary means to make Men hear and consider what was preached to them till Force supplied their place and so were ordinarily to accompany the preaching of the Gospel unless it should be preach'd without the means appointed and necessary to make it prevail I think in that case we may expect it should expresly have made a part of the Preachers Commission it making a necessary part of the effectual Execution of his Function But the Apoâ—…le it seems thought fit to lay the stress upon instructing others and living well themselves upon being instant in season and out of season And therefore directs all his Advices for the ordering the Cretan Church and the propagating the Gospel there to make them attend to those necessary things of Life and Doctrine without so much as mentioning the appointment need or use of Miracles I said But whatever Neglect or Aversion there is in some Men impartially and throughly to be instructed there will upon a due Examination I fear be sound no less a Neglect and Aversion in others impartially and throughly to instruct them 'T is not the talking even general Truths in plain and â—…ear Language much less a Man 's own Fancies in Scholastical or uncommon ways of speaking an hour or two once a week in publick that is enough to instruct even willing Hearers in the way of Salvation and the Grounds of their Religion And that Politick Discourses and Inveâ—…tives from the Pulpit instead of Friendly and Christian Debates with People at their Houses were not the proper means to inform Men in the Foundations of Religion and that if there were not a neglect in this part I thought there would be little need of any other Means To this you tell me in the next Paragraph You do not see how pertinent my Discourse about this matter is to the present question If the shewing the Neglects observable in the use of what is agreed
necessary Means of Force in the way you contend for reaches no farther than to bring Men to a bare outward Conformity to the Church of England wherein you can â—…dately affirm that it is presumable that all that are of it are so upon Reason and Conviction I suppose there needs no more to be said to convince the World what Party you write for The Party you write for is God you say But if all you have said aims or amounts to nothing more than that the Church of England as now establish'd by Law in its Doctrines Ceremonies and Discipline should be supported by the Power of the Magistrate and Men by Force be driven into it I fear the World will think you have very narrow Thoughts of God or that that is not the Party you write for 'T is true you all along speak of bringing Men to the True Religion But to evidence to you that by the one only True Religion you mean only that of the Church of England I tell you that upon your Principles you cannot name any other Church now in the World and I again demand of you to do it for the promoting whereof or punishing Dissenters from it the Magistrate has the same Right to use Force as you pretend he has here in England Till you therefore name some such other True Church and True Religion besides that of England your saying that God is the Party you write for will rather shew that you make bold with his Name than that you do not write for another Party You say too you write not for any Party but the Soâ—…s of Men. You write indeed and contend earnestly that Men should be brought into an outward Conformity to the Church of England But that they imbrace that Profession upon Reason and Conviction you are content to have it presumable without any farther Enquiry or Examination And those who are once in the outward Communion of the National Church however ignorant or irreligious they are you leave there 〈◊〉 by your only competent Means Force without which you tell us the True Religion by its own Light and Strength is not able to prevail against Mens Lusts and the Corruption of Nature so as to be consider'd as it ought and heartily imbraced And this drop'd not from your Pen by chance But you professedly make Excuses for those of the National Religion who are ignorant of the Grounds of it And give us Reasons why Force cannot be used to those who outwardly conform to make them consider so as sincerely to imbrace believe and obey the Truth that must save them But the â—…verend Author of the Pastoral Care tell you PARTY is the true Name of making Converts except they become at the same time good Men. If the use of Force be necessary for the Salvation of Souls and Mens Souls be the Party you write for you will be suspected to have betrayed your Party if your Method and necessary Means of Salvation reach no farther than to bring Men to outward Conformity though to the True Church and after that abandons them to their Lusts and depraved Natures destitute of the help of Force your necessary and competent Means of Salvation This way of managing the Matter whatever you intend â—…ms rather in the Fitness of it to be for another Party But since you assure us you write for nothing but God and Mens Souls it can only be said you had a good Intention but ill Luck since your Scheme put into the Language of the Country will sit any National Church and Clergy in the World that can but suppose it self the True and that I presume none of them will fail to do You were more than ordinary reserv'd and gracious when you tell me That what Party I write for you will not undertake to say But having told me that my Letter tends to the promoting of 〈◊〉 in Religion you thought 't is like that was sufficient to shew the Party I write for and so you might safely end your Letter with Words that looked like civil But that you may another time be a little better informed what Party I write for I will tell you They are those who in every Nation â—…ear God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and are accepted with him and not those who in every Nation are zealous for Humane Constitutions cry up nothing so much as outward Conâ—…ormity to the National Religion and are accepted by those who are the Promoters of it Those that I write for are those who according to the Light of their own Conâ—…ences are every-where in earnest in Matters of their own Salvation without any desire to impose on others A Party so seldom favour'd by any of the Powers or Sects of the World A Party that has so few Preferments to bestow so few 〈◊〉 to reward the â—…ndeavours of any one who appears for it that I conclude I shall easily be believ'd when I say that neither Hopes of Preferment nor a Design to recommend my self to those I live amongst has 〈◊〉 my Understanding or misled me in my Undertaking So much Truth as serves the turn of any particular Church and can be accommodated to the narrow Interest of some Humane Constitution is indeed often received with applause and the Publisher finds his account in it But I think I may say Truth in its full Latitude of those generous Principles of the Gospel which so much recommend and inculcate universal Charity and a Freedom from the Inventions and Impositions of Men in the things of God has so seldom had a fair and favourable Hearing any where that he must be very ignorant of the History and Nature of Man however dignified and distinguish'd who proposes to himself any secular Advantage by writing for her at that rate As to your Request in the Close of your Letter I hope this will satisfy you that you might have spar'd it And you with the rest of the World will see that all I 〈◊〉 in my former Letter was so true that you need not have given me any caution for the future As to the 〈◊〉 of what I say I doubt whether I shall please you Because I find by your last Letter that what is brought by me to shew the Weakness Absurdities or 〈◊〉 of what you write you are very apt to call 〈◊〉 and nothing to the purpose You must pardon me therefore if I have endeavour'd more to please other Readers than you in that Point I hope they will find in what I have said not much besides the matter But to a Man who supposing himself in the right builds all upon that Supposition and takes it for an Injury to have that Privilege deny'd him To a Man who would soveraignly decide for all the World what is the True Religion and thereby impower what Magistrates he thinks fit and what not to use Force To 〈◊〉 a Man not to seem 〈◊〉 would be really to be so This makes me pleas'd with your Reply to so many