make against the Church of England are directed by this Author's Hand Or be the Arguments whose they will the Malice 't is plain is purely his Judas I do not know Sir how my Friend may like this Dealing but if you will not be led I cannot drive you you must take your own Way Tim. Then Sir to what you said last I reply that notwithstanding what this Author hath said blessed be God the Throats of the Clergy of the Church of England are pretty well yet but how they would be if this Author had his full Swinge at them I cannot tell But pray Sir by your leave a little Did the Difference between the Church of England and the Dissenters in Bishop Laud's Time shew the young Traveller upon his Return that they were both Cheats Pray what then Sir must a young Traveller think now upon his Return of the Deists when he shall read their bitter and malicious Invectives also against the Church of England Will he not think that they now as well as the Dissenters formerly are contending with the said Church about Power and that there is Knaves-Craft as well as Priest-Craft and that Deism is as very a Cheat as they say the Christianity of the Church of England is In short Sir our young Traveller seeing all Christian Churches exploded by these Men and in the mean time observing so much Malice and Bitterness in their Writings against all Perswasions but those of their own Sect pray Sir what must this young Gentleman do if this Man's Argument be good but turn Atheist and leave them all Once more Sir what if our young Traveller upon his Return should find an Army of Factious Republicans in Rebellion against the King and Parliament and the King and Parliament in Maintenance of their just Rights and Laws in Arms against them Must the young Traveller presently conclude that this is only a Contest for Power and that the King and Parliament are as very Cheats as those Rebels And that their Controversie at bottom only is How they shall make the best Market of the People Will he conclude that Government is nothing but a Piece of Kings-Craft and that Government and Governours are Cheats both alike Will he conclude that as by reason of the zealous Contest between Archbishop Laud on the one Part and the Presbyterian Kirk on the other he will be of no Religion so by reason of these Controversies between the King and the People he will live under no Government Will he therefore betake himself as if this Man's Argument be good he must to Hobbs his Natural State of Independency and like a Bear or a Wolf retire to Caves and Dens and bid Defiance to all Mankind Or will he not rather as he ought and as he will if he have made any Improvements in his Travels Arm himself in defence of the King and Laws of the Land against those Factious and Ambitious Rebels whose only design is to be uppermost themselves But to let this pass Sir that which troubles me most is to hear this Author so positively affirm the Church of England to be but one Great Bulk of Imposture and that all her Priests to a Man except Mr. Johnson are so many Knaves and Cheats At this Rate Sir he must believe the Church of England to be the Church of Hell as well as the Church of Rome and for all as I can see by this Charge must have a great many more Devils in her than she has Judas Why truly Sir my Friend does verily believe the Church of England so to be and so he will call her assoon as he can do it with the same security he now does the Church of Rome Nay Sir I tell you further that he believes all setled Churches in Christendom so to be For he tells you plainly Page 27. That 't is the trick of all setled Churches to take away the Use of Mens Reason to render them Slaves and Vassals to their Dictates and Commands and what are these pray that do so but Churches of Hell But particularly as to the Church of England he has proved it to a Demonstration that she is so Arrant a Cheat that she has no other Ends than to make her self Rich and Great Tim. If this be proved Sir I am his Convert But pray Sir does this Author mean that the Church of England Cheats us of the Use of our Reason because she does not teach us to believe that one of his Friends Page 25. or rather indeed himself can write as good a Moral as our Saviour Judas We will let that pass at present Sir if you please and examine this Author as near as our discourse will permit page by page and if I do not demonstrate to you that he has made it clearly appear that all setled Christian Churches are but so many Cheats but more particularly the Church of England I also with the rest of the Fools will give up my Reason to them Timotheus If you do Sir I am your Proselyte and will take this opportunity to recover the Use of mine Judas We will begin with the Church of England Sir I told you that the main end of that Church was to make Themselves Rich and Great nay that they do as my Friend says even Rival the Sovereign Power For the proof of this see Pages 6 7. The Bishop's House says my Friend like that of the King 's must be called his Palace he must keep up his Claim to the Miter and Crosier to Vie with the Crown and Scepter The Title of the King's Courts is Anno Regni nostri of the Bishops Anno Consecrationis nostrae In short is the King Enthroned The Bishop is Enthronised Has the King a Divine Right So has the Bishop c. And now what think you Sir Is not this Argument a plain Demonstration of the Ambition and Pride of the Bishops Is it not worth its weight in Gold as scarce as Mony is now Tim. It may be Sir for all as I know and yet not be worth much neither Judas Why do you think 't is of no weight Sir Tim. Undoubtedly of very great and strength too The whole Convocation must needs sink under the Burden of it Another such Barrel clapt under the Church of England would blow her up infallibly But now I think of it Sir this Argument puts me in mind of two other sorts of Men who if this Man 's Reasoning be good seem as dangerous to the State as the Bishops and Clergy And you might do well the next time he comes up to the sitting of Parliament to advise him to take them a little into his Consideraton Judas Pray who are those Sir Tim. Why the Nobility and Lawyers especially the Lord Chancellor and the Twelve Judges Judas But pray Sir how do you think my Friend may make this out for if it can be done I can promise for him for next a Priest he hates these Men at his Heart
Tim. Then first of all Sir as to the Nobility he may Argue That has the King his Crown so have the Nobles their Coronets Has the King his great Palaces so have They Has the King his Robes so have They Has the King a Coach and Six and a numerous Attendants of Lackyes and Foot-boys so have they Nay they have as many Ears and Eyes as the King has and called by the same Name too and what is most dangerous of all they have as many Fingers and Toes and Nails as the King and who knows how soon these bold Men may climb up into his Throne and scratch out his Majesties Eyes Judas Upon my word Sir I think this is well thought on my Friend will improve this I 'le warrant you for he loves the Commonwealth too well not to hate the Nobility But pray Sir how shall he make it out as to the Chancellor and Twelve Judges Tim. Easily enough Sir thus Has the King his Scepter my Lord Chancellor has his Mace Has the King his Purple the Judges have their Scarlet Has the King his Throne they have their Benches Nay Does the King wear a Doublet and Breeches so do these Men too And what is worst of all as if they intended to starve his Majesty these Conquering Judges have Thrust him out of his own great Refectory or Hall where all his Ancestors did constantly Eat and Drink and have there erected a Committee of Twelve to determine of all his Majesties good Subjects Lives and Estates And this Committee of Twelve being as nimble in wresting a Statute as any of the Committee of Six is a Text to their own Advantage get great Estates Themselves whilst many Honest Men Live and Dye Beggars Nay what is more than all this These Conquering Twelve will not admit his Majesty to sit in their Courts so that his Person is as little seen and known there as his Name is heard of in the Bishops But like Moses to Aaron these Men make themselves Gods to the King and say Hitherto shall thy Prerogative come and no further And what is more than this still when these Conquering Twelve have a mind to shew their Power abroad they take a Jaunt once or twice a year through the Kingdom and hang up so many of his Majesty's Subjects that 't is to be feared that in a little time his Majesty will be King but of a very small moyety of his People And for this doughty Service of theirs I may honestly say without the help of a Whetstone as in Dr. S's Case they have sixteen hundred pounds a year a Man whilst Honest Mr. Johnson Starves upon Charity Judas Pray Sir what would you advise my Friend to do in this Case Tim. Why your Friend may Sir if he pleases the next time he comes up to the Session of Parliament but advise his Majesty with the Committee of Six Page 31. to Dissolve this Committee of Twelve and he will then be King both of the Clergy as he says and Laity too And fix the Obedience of all his Subjects on himself exclusively For on these two hang all their Law and their Prophets But were they but once Dissolved his Majesty need but Ask and Have Whereas 't is plain now that these two Conquering Committees of the Clergy and Lawyers cast an Awe upon the Sovereign Power and suffereth it not to provide for the Common Good of the Subject but will appropriate the Salus Publica and Influence the Government to serve their own Particular their own Private Ends as this Author has most admirably worded it page 31. Judas Really Sir you have hit the Nail on the Head and don 't you fear but assoon as the Times will bear it my Friend will be at the Lawyers too as well as the Clergy He has given you a smart Touch of his Inclinations that way already page 23. where he calls the Attorney General and Judges so many Court Bloodsuckers and by Consequence as very or worse Tyrants over the Lives and Estates of the People than the Bishops are over their Consciences Tim. But now I have thought better of it Sir I think my self bound to give you Notice that there may be a little Danger to your Friend from my Advice for the Judges are of the Fundamental Constitution of this Government Jud. As if my Friend did not know that the Bishops were so too Alas Sir I have heard some wise Men say that there is but One great Fundamental either in Church or State Tim. Pray what is that Sir Judas Every Action of your Life tells you Sir 't is Self-Interest And can you think Sir so accomplish'd a Person as my Friend is will be frighted only with a Hard word fit only for the Amusement of the Ignorant Vulgar If he has taken that Courage Sir to Examine what he believes and will not submit to your Fundamentals in Religion do you think he will boggle at those of the State Under the Rose Sir it would make a Cat laugh to hear you talk of Fundamentals Tim. Nay Sir if your Friend shall think it is for his Interest let him do it I shall not hinder him Judas But pray Sir let us look back a little Do you not think that my Friend has by the last Argument plainly demonstrated that the Bishops of England Rival as he says the Sovereign Power Tim. Truly Sir I cannot as yet bring my self to believe that living in a pretty good House with a little Honour and Power by the Bounty of his Prince can make a Man a King Nor do I think that Kings would have been so weak as to have bestowed These Honours on the Bishops if they had believed that at the same they they had made so many Rivals of their Power Methinks this Author should have shewn some Mony they had Stampt have produced some Bills they had Past He should have named the Embassadors they had Sent and Received the Wars they had prolaimed and the like Judas The Wars they have proclaimed Sir pray who are they at Peace with By the Abjuration of the Covenant and other Acts he tells you Page the 9th That they proclaimed War against the Presbyterians and beat them out of their Livelihoods and after that drove them five Miles distance from all Market-Towns And that King Charles the II. was not able to support these his Loving Subjects against the Power of the Bishops And Page the 8th he tells you That by a new Church Device or Law they have deprived the rest of the Dissenters of the Priviledges of their Country to which they were Born and Pages the 18th and 19th That they have proclaimed War against the Honest Deists too because they will not believe Things which are in their own Natures Absurdities and impossible to be believed such as the Doctrine of the Trinity and other unintelligible Mysteries which serve only for Amusement and not for Instruction And lastly Sir he shews you plainly That they
pulled the Nut out of the Fire with the Cats Foot but both the Action and Design was wholly the Monky's and not the Cat 's and this Gentleman makes so many ugly Grimaces through his whole Pamphlet against all Christian Churches as well as that of England that it is an easie Matter to see who was Master of this Movement 'T is true said he he does sometimes seem to boggle a little at the Deists Arguments brought against the Truth and in Scandal of the Christian Religion but he does it after such a yawning rate that you would believe he were more than half a-sleep when he did it But however it be as to that matter yet all they bring against the Church of England he swallows whole and does not only allow but improve them So that whatver Disguises he would appear under in other Respects yet all that is said against the Church of England is plainly his own and ought to be so esteemed And therefore said he let him put on as many Skins as he will we see his Ears still as the Man knew well enough who it was that stunk though the Woman said 't was her Dog But pray Sir said I how can this be When Page the 8th we are told that he belongs to the Church of England and that it was well for him he was of the Bishop's Church for without a dutiful Allegiance to the Bishops he could not hold the Place he now enjoys I am glad Sir said my Friend to hear that some Men may hold Places under the Church of England that are not of the De Facto-ship And this is the only Instance I think though I believe much against his Will and Knowledge that he has confuted the Objections he made by the Deists against the Church of England For by this Instance he hath let the World see that a Man may hold a Place and yet pay very small Duty to the Bishops Not that I doubt said he but that he is old enough to hold a Place under any Church whatever and be their Shiboleth the Jure Divino or De Facto or any other Title he is wise enough to hold fast what he has only it may be he had rather their Shiboleth were the Title of the People that so the King might hold his Place under him And as for his belonging to the Church of England he may Sir said he for all as I know if you will allow Judas to belong to Jesus and the twelve or Ascarides to belong to the Body of a Man After he had said this Sir said I we will have done if you please with the Title and I will beg the Favour of you to give me your Judgment of the Body of the Discourse Judas It is what I have been long a waiting for Tim. I tell you then Sir said he that if you will believe all this Author says you may believe enough if only what he proves you can believe nothing For if you will not take his Word for his Stories there 's an End of them and I dare boldly say that take ten Pages together through his whole Book and there is hardly one Word of Truth in them or if there be it may honestly be said of him what he colourably says of the Deists Page the 14th that he stretches his Conclusion beyond his Premises The main of his Building is raised on the Shiboleths as he calls them of the Church of England The Doctrine of Non-resistance and the De Facto Title there is a little Colour of Truth in the First in the last there is none at all So that if you do but rightly state the former and barely deny the latter his whole Structure falls about his Ears and he is buried in its Ruins The rest of his Book is most of it Personal Calumniations just said and never proved and for the greatest Part as false as the Foundations of his Building are rotten In short Sir said he it is a Discourse written with that little Truth and less Argument with that incomparable Malice against all settled Churches particularly that of England against Christianity it self in all its holy Mysteries more especially that of the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour that I cannot think those Papers can deserve any better Fate than to expire in a like Place where the Authour 's famous Ancestor Arius did and Sir said he I honestly confess to you that those I had of them have sometimes since given up the Ghost Thus Sir you have heard in part the Thoughts of my Friend upon this Pamphlet pray now before we go any further what are your Thoughts of him Judas Why truly Sir to deal plainly with you I think him a Priest-ridden Ass one that has more Ears than Brains that hears and receives whatsoever the Priests please to put into his Head and has no Judgment to distinguish of things But as for my Friend the Author of this Pamphlet so I call him for so he is I think him next the Honourable S. R. H. the best Distinguisher in the World He had that Acumen Ingenii from his Infancy that he was used to slit Motes in the Sun when he was but four Years old and now he is above threescore he can he says slit a Hair without Spectacles In short Sir I believe that you cannot but see that he has distinguished so nicely between Religion and Priest-Craft that he has made all Ambitious Priests to stink even from Aaron down to this Day And has turned the Edge of the Church of England's Caution to young Travellers Page 5th so sharply against their own Throats that he has distinguished them forever out of their Gains that way by making it plainly appear that there are as many holy Cheats amongst the Clergy of the Church of England as amongst those of Rome And now Sir since you have had my Judgment so freely of your Friend pray let me have yours so of mine and of his Discourse Tim. I will Sir as far as concerns the Church of England but no farther let others answer for themselves And I will do it only on this Supposition too that when I charge this Author with what is said against the Church of England you do not reply that it was said by this or t'other Deist and not by him For besides that this would breed an endless Confusion in our Discourse if the Charge that is made against the Church of England be answered it matters not under whose Name it be done But I cannot think of a juster Way than doing it under this Authors for the Cause and Quarrel is wholly his though like a Coward he hides his own Head and thrusts other Men forward to fight it for him Do not think therefore Sir that in the Judgment I shall give of and Answer I shall make to this Pamphlet that like a Gladiator I will go to fencing with half a dozen Men at once when 't is obvious that all the Thrusts they
proclaim War against King William by allowing him only a De Facto Title as the Principle of their Obedience Page the 13th And that this is now the Shiboleth of their Party as Non-resistance was formerly and that none must be promoted to Church Dignities but such who come in upon this Title only So that 't is plain as is said Page the 12th That the Church of England is a Party and are at War with all but those of their own Perswasion and have their Watch-words to know one another as well as their Church Devices to destroy all others but themselves Tim. This is a heavy Charge indeed Sir but a Grace of God it may not be true I will give an Answer to the Particulars of it by and by But this you call Sir Proclaiming of War and Rivalling of Sovereignty do you not Judas Can you doubt it Sir is there not waging of War against Men's Livelihoods as well as Lives Tim. And against Mens Reputations as well as Lives and Estates and would not they think you that do it upon the one do it upon the other if it were in their Power Judas I allow it Tim. Then is your Friend this Author not only a Rivaller of Sovereignty but the most barbarous Tyrant living Judas How is that proved Sir Tim. By his murdering the Reputation of the Innocent without distinction of Age or Sex not sparing our Saviour himself from his Cross down to this day Judas Pray Sir how does this appear Tim. Only from his own words Page the 7th where after he had sufficiently scandalized the Modern Clergy He tells us That 't is not Impossible but that the Ancient Clergy might be possessed with the same spirit of Pride that has prevailed over the Modern and who does not know what this Man means by that word Impossible Nay he can hardly forbear an open Justification of the Romans Crucifixion of our Saviour himself and punishing him as he words it as a Slave For although he covers it with this supposition If he laid the Foundation of the Power of the Clergy Yet he must be blind indeed that cannot see what this Man means here by his If 's and And 's When the times will permit he will leave them out and speak plainly Jesu God! how is it that we live to see thy Face impudently spit in again by Miscreant Infidels and all this openly in the Face of the Sun and a Christian Government Judas You mistake Sir 't is a Deist says this and not my Friend Tim. I warned you of this Sir at the beginning of the discourse you think your Friend is like Legion in the Gospel but he is just the contrary For he himself is the Master Daemon and hath power over all those Evil Spirits which have taken up their abode in him and hath Power over them to command them to speak what he pleases even to the blaspheming of our blessed Lord himself But if this Man Sir would have had us hearken to his condemnation of contentious Humours and Hostile Inclinations in others he ought first to have shewed to us the Peaceableness of his own If he would have exposed the Quarrelsome and unchristian tempers of Church-men he ought first to have recommended himself by a Spirit of Meekness and Charity Then he might with better confidence at least have reproved those of the Church of England as he does Page the 8th from the breach of the second table and might sometime or other it may be have had his wish that his Soul might be amongst the Philosophers But in stead of this he has sounded a defiance throughout this Pamphlet not only against the Church of England but all other Christian Churches whatever and thrown as much filth upon them as old rotten Lungs could discharge Whereby he has proved himself a spurious breed of Celsus Porphyry Julian c. for he has their Spite and Malice he only wants their Wit and Learning But if this be the Religion of the Deists Gather not my Soul O God with these Sinners Judas Pray Sir let Harangning alone and come to the Particulars you promised Does not my Friend make it plainly appear that the Bishops and Clergy did use the Presbyterians and Dissenters barbarously by the Church devices of Abjuration of the Covenant and the Test c. Tim. Good Sir what makes your Friend so sweet all on a sudden on the Presbyterians how comes he to appear to them like an Angel of Light in this Page and yet in the two immediately foregoing to be kicking with his Cloven Foot at them to spurn them to death for there he levels them with the Bishops and tells us that they both under a pretence of Religion were grasping at Power and that the Claims of the Presbytery are nothing inferior to those of the Bishops So that as kind as he is to them here yet he has given them such a Cast of his Office as plainly to discover to them that were they guilty of the same fault the Church of England is at present that is were they uppermost again he would not fail to remember them how they Imposed the Covenant as a Condition of their Communion as he now tells the Church of England they did the Abjuration of it That he would tell them then as he does the Church of England now Page the 8th That no Man could enjoy a place of Profit or Trust under them though never so dutiful a Subject or honest a Man unless he had a Conscience by their Law established by which they deprived Men of the Privileges of their Country to which they were born c. These and a great many other matters upon occasion I suppose this good Author could rub his old Temples and call to Remembrance against the Presbyterians were they once again uppermost which I hate to rake in for I have Dunghil enough before me already Judas But what 's all this to the business Sir does the Presbyterians dealing barbarously with the Bishops and Clergy justifie their dealing so with them and other Dissenters What can they say for those Church Devices of their making the Acts of Abjuration of the Covenant and the Test c. Tim. If your Friend could make this Good he might well say they rivall'd the Sovereign Power It may be he thinks he can And indeed he is pretty near it he is within one Proposition of it for if he can but prove that the King and both Houses are all Clergy-Men he has done his business but till he has done that he has done nothing at all Now although I do look upon this Author to be a meer swell'd Hypocondriac whose Spleen does not only Rival but tyrannically domineer over the Sovereignty of his Brain yet I do not believe him so weak neither but that he knew very well what he did and understood well enough what he said in this Matter He knew well enough that these were not Acts of Convocation but of
Facto Title is now none being promoted to Dignities but such as come in upon that Title whereby they proclaim War against King William himself by allowing him only a De Facto Title as the Principle of their Obedience Tim. We will come to the De Facto Title by and by in the mean time we will talk a word or two to the Doctrine of Non-Resistance or Passive Obedience Although this Doctrine of Non-Resistance was never the Shiboleth of the Church of England yet it always was and is still believed by all the true and understanding Members thereof although not in that extravagant Latitude that some Men would have stretcht it unto However as a very Judicious Gentleman observes in his True Notion of Passive Obedience stated who was far from subscribing to the late bewildred Notion of some Men of Non Resistance It is no wonder says he whilst the bloody and distracting Consequences of the unjustifiable Proceedings against Charles the Firstlay fresh in Mens Memories and when there was a Ground of Suspicion that the same Tragedy was again designed in Charles the Second's Time if the Imaginations even of the most understanding were warmed in Opposition to such Principles and Practices and by a well designed Zeal were carried on to enlarge the Notion of Non-Resistance beyond the Limits their cooler Reasonings would Allow However therefore Sir there might be some few Men in the Late Reigns of warm Zeal and hot Constitutions who observing those Evils above menzioned did extend this Doctrine to an unruly Latitude yet were there many more of cooler Thoughts and Complexions who never allowed it or believed it in that Latitude And although they have sometimes when they thought there was great Occasion Preached the Doctrine of Non-Resistance themselves yet they did never stretch it beyond its due Bounds and Measures But only taught That we were bound either Actively to submit to the Laws of the Land or if we could not in Conscience do it then Passively to submit to the Penalties rather than Resist For they were fully of Opinion That Humane Laws are and ought to be the Measures of our Obedience to our Governours though Christ's Laws must be the Measures whether this Obedience ought to be Active or Passive And this is the Notion of Passive Obedience which upon the best Judgment I can make is contained in the Sermon of Obedience in our Homilies If our Author can make more or less from thence let him do it and thereby prove what he says it is Page the 12th A Sacred Record of the Injustice of some of those who concurred in the late Revolution Thus Sir you see though some Hot and most of them some few excepted unthinking Men mistook themselves in this Point yet were there a great many Others of more Cool and Sober Thoughts that stood their Ground and still maintained the Right And whether the Judgment of the Church of England be to be taken from the first or last of these let any Reasonable Man judge And now I have dealt pretty well Sir I trust with this Author 's great Giant the Doctrine of Non-Resistance I hope we shall do well enough with his Man of Straw that follows Judas Do you call the De Facto Title then a Man of Straw Tim. The Halt and the Maimed are little better and one would think by this Man 's Writing that he did verily believe the Clergy of England did extend their Doctrine of Non Resistance to Him as well as the King For no Man surely would have brought only the Blind and the Lame into the Field if he had thought he should have met with any Opposition Judas Good Sir methinks this Charge of the De Facto Title seems to be sound and whole and of great strength Can you deny Sir but that this is now what Non-Resistance was formerly the Shiboleth of the Church of England And that none are promoted to Dignities but such who come in upon this Title as is said Pages the 12th and 13th Tim. I will tell you a Story Sir I have heard it reported of the Witches of Lapland that they knew very well when the Father of Lyars tells them a Loud One by a Noisome Stench such as they are not able to endure which follows immediately upon it If the same should happen to his Sons in England How offensive must some Mens Neighbourhood be There would be no living within some Furlongs of them If this Author had not contracted a great deal of Confidence to say no worse in his Travels how is it possible he should tell the World that the De Facto Title is the Shiboleth of the Church of England He may as well tell us that the Jure Divino is so of an old Republican For the Unanimous Association of the Clergy in defence of his Majesty as Lawful and Rightful King of England plainly shews the contrary Judas But pray Sir how comes it to pass then that there are none preferred to Church Dignities as my Friend says but such as come in upon the De Facto Title Tim. This were a Question worth asking if there were the least shadow of Truth in it But he that has the Confidence to tell us this groundless this ridiculous Story will tell us in the next place of the Cabbage and Caldron Judas Why Sir was not the King made to pay Fifteen Hundred Pounds a Year to Dr. S. for a De facto-ship only Page 13. Tim. This Man will force us to speak out in spite of our Teeth and to tell him plainly to his That if ever Impudent Lying come to be Rewarded in proportion as he says Title-Making is he cannot fail to have Sixteen Thousand Pounds a Year at least And then 't is to be hoped he will keep Mr. Johnson from Starving But here before I go any further I cannot but Remark that when this Author is laying about him in his mad Fits he makes no Conscience where his Blows light so that if he can but down with a Church-man or two he does not care if the King fall with them For who that had any Regard to the Honour of his Majesty would reflect so basely on his Wisdom and Government Who I say that had any Honour for the King could represent him to the World as a Prince of that Weakness and Simplicity to give the greatest Price for that which is worth Nothing at all Nay for that which is worse than Nothing worse than the worst of Titles when he had much better as he says of his own before and by which he opens a Door not only to let in King James but to Turn himself out at also at the same time And what is worst of all to suffer Dr. S. to force him to do all this Judas Why has not Dr. S. done it Sir Tim. Bless me What a D. of P's have we gotten that the King at the Head of an Hundred Thousand Men should be afraid of him He must be
more than Jesuite Sir that can bring this Story under the Doctrine of Probability Rablais would have Blush'd to have put it into his History of Grangousier and Nothing can Match the Impudence of him that told it but the Folly of him that believes it Judas But Sir Can you deny that Dr. S. set up a De Facto-ship Tim. If we do allow he has is therefore the De Facto-ship the Shiboleth of the Church of England This Man Reasonings keeps equal Pace with his Stories and his Logick and Ethicks are just of a Measure So impossible is it for any Man to Apostatize from Christianity except he first turn Renegade to all Honesty and Truth Judas But pray Sir are there any of the Clergy preferred but such as come in upon the De Facto Title Does not my Friend tell you plainly there are not Tim. Truly Sir if your Friend makes no more Conscience of what he does than what he says his Neighbours that live near him had need to keep their Mounds in good Repair If there be any likelihood of Truth in this Charge Sir why does not this Man produce the Subscriptions required of the Clergy to this Title in order to their Preferment What will he answer to their Unanimous Associations mentioned before in which they own King William to be Lawful and Rightful King of England c. Will he tell us that none of these Associators were preferred Bless me how many vacant Dignities be there then at this time in the Church of England Enough sure to tempt an Infidel to turn Christian or an old Republican to turn Churchman and be of the De Facto ship But now we are talking of Title-making pray Sir what Title would this Man be pleased with The Jure Divino Title he Laughs at the De Facto he Rails at that of Conquest he says is Cut off by Parliament the Matrimonial Title is dead Pray what Title is it Sir that this Man would have Judas He tells you Sir Page the 28th That one of his Friends saw with his own Eyes our Great and Gracious King accept the Crown of England as the Gift of the People Tim. One of his Friends saw that is himself saw Very well Sir and so the King's Title to his Crown must stand upon the Sandy Foundation of the Will of Himself and some few Republican Demagogues Pray Sir who leaves a Loophole for King James his Right now And not only for His but for any other Man or Body of Men as well as King William when these Men shall think fit to find a Crack in his Covenants When it shall be wholly in their Power which shall be Uppermost the Head or the Rump Pray Sir who Rivals the Sovereignty now The Jure Divino Bishops that say God makes the King or this Man that says He makes Him Who Rivals the Sovereignty now Sir Those Church-men that Tay if you will believe all that his Majesty holds his Kingdoms by his Sword or this Man that says He holds them from his Grant But now I think on 't this passage of our Author satisfies me very well why he called the Church of Rome the Church of Hell Page 22. It being now manifest that the Pope has been a damnable Usurper for some Hundreds of Years that Prophecy of Jer. 1.10 being never meant of Him but Personally of our good Author who is the Holy Father of whom it is said I have set thee this day over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to pull down to destroy and throw down to build and to plant Judas But by your leave Sir my Friend shews plainly Page the 11th the great Reason the Church of England have to maintain this De Facto Title for thereby they kill two or three Birds with a Stone Tim. Do they so Sir then they sate a little nearer together than your Friend has laid his Stories But I have shewn you just now that the Church of England may carry her Ammunition home again for he himself has killed them already Judas Well Sir let them be De Facto Men or what they will it is plain they are Enemies to the Government Tim. Pray Sir how does this appear Judas From their being great Friends to the Jacobites who are so and yet these Jacobites find such Favour with the Bishops that if the Livings they lose are in the Bishops Gift he shall present any Friend which the dispossessed Jacobite shall recommend Now what can be more by them desired than to enjoy the Profits of their Livings and put in what Curate they please as is said Page the 9th Tim. This is another Taste of our Author 's Travelling Accomplishments But oh these Bishops these pestilent Bishops How heavy do they lie upon many a good Man's Stomach How Sick do they make this good Author What Convulsions what Vomitings do they cause in Him Even to the casting up of his Christianity and all Truth and Honesty with it What great Pity is it that the King and Government will not destroy this Pestilent Race of Men who have been a Part Constitutive of it little more than a Thousand Years that this good Author may recover his Health again But pray Sir If there be any Bishops guilty of this Man's Charge why did he not Name them Why did he not tell us who they be and where they live Why did he not produce the Bonds of Resignation they have taken from the Curates and the Articles they agreed on He has kindness enough for them to have done it if he could But alas Sir if he had descended to Particulars he knew well enough that those Bishops would quickly have vindicated themselves and exposed both the Falseness and Malice of his Charge He knew that Knaves-Craft lay safest under Generals and that the unthinking Multitude would swallow this Pill whole as he gave it them and since abusing of the Clergy was the Text he was to Preach on he was resolved not to wander from it And whether this was done by false and malicious Invectives groundless and scandalous Stories weak and absurd Consequences it was all one so it was done This was the Author's great Aim and this was keeping to his Text. Rem Rem quocunque modo Rem Thus Sir you see this heavy Charge improved by the highest Aggravations is the issue only of this Author 's bewildred Brain and that there is no hurt done but what his unchristian Calumniations have done to himself Judas But pray Sir let me urge a Supposition to you made Page 15. Suppose the King should bestow a Bishoprick upon a De Facto Doctor and this Doctor should there find his old Acquaintance Dr. H. and being a Stranger in his Diocess should be willing to instruct himself in the Characters of Men from the good Doctor would it not fall out so that the Clergy of the Diocess must be used well or ill as the most open and notorious Enemy the Government
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN Timotheus and Judas Concerning a Pamphlet called The Growth of DEISM in England A DIALOGUE Between Timotheus Judas Concerning a PAMPHLET CALLED The Growth of Deism in England LONDON Printed for S. Manship at the Ship in Cornhil near the Royal-Exchange MDCXCVI TO THE READER ABout the middle of June last a Gentleman put into my Hands a Pamphlet called The Growth of Deism in England but withall told me that he had borrowed it upon promise to restore it with speed and therefore could allow me just time to peruse it and so I did and that was all My Curiosity leading me to a further and more ferious perusal of it I sent with what speed I could to London for one of those Pamphlets but could not get one till July the 18th Assoon as I had received it and read it once or twice I believed that the Author's Travels in his Youth had spoiled him and so much corrupted his Christianity as not to leave him the Morals of an Honest Infidel What his Modesty his Truth and Charity are his Pamphlet tells us plainly enough What his Religion is I wish he himself could tell If we should allow him to be a poor deformed By-blow of Socinus we do him great Honour But who can guess what or who he is He has more Disguises on than Father Grey-beard had on the Scaffold in 48. Jan. 30. Whether that Man be still living or no who can tell But however that be the Author of the Growth of Deism has undertaken the like Jobb of Journey-work again excepting only that his Master has enlarged his Commission to the Execution of the whole Body of Christianity with its Prince or as he calls him Page 17. its Patron I had sent this abroad a little sooner to beg the Honour of its being admitted into his Numerous Acquaintance but I feared being upon his Travels in making his Summer-Visits it might not find him But the Season of the Year approaching now that will call him to his Winter-Quarters in London I thought it good Manners to send this forth a little before-hand to wait him there and Congratulate his Return A DIALOGUE BETWEEN Timotheus Judas Concerning a Pamphlet called the Growth of Deism in England Judas SIR next paying my Respects to you after your Return Home the chief of my business is to have your Judgment of a Pamphlet lately written called The Growth of Deism in England Tim. I just saw and heard of it Sir in my Journey and that was all Judas Bless me Sir It has been abroad several months and written with that smartness of Stile and quickness of Wit that I am amazed to hear you say you did not hear of it before Tim. If you could have added Evidence of Truth and Strength of Argument it had been never the worse But you know Sir that I live a Retired Life and that I have neither Time nor Mony like that Author to Contract a Numerous Acquaintance to spend the Winter in Town and the Summer in Country Visits There may be a thousand Books Printed and I never hear of One of them And it was meer chance only that ever I heard of this Judas But pray Sir what is your Judgment of it for I presume you have read it since your Return Tim. Once or twice I have Sir enough in Conscience to see through the Authors both Honesty and Argument But because I do not much trust to my own Judgment in any thing I will if you please Sir wave mine a while and give you an honest Gentleman's Opinion of it who was with me lately and who had scanned it narrowly Judas With all my Heart Sir Tim. Asking then his Judgment Sir of it he told me that it was ominous to stumble in the Threshold When I read Sir said he the Title of that Pamphlet of the Growth of Deism I expected to have heard of Arguments to invalidate all Revelation I expected to have heard of Sampson's Locks and Balaam's Ass in the Old Testament and of as many Absurdities in Matters of Faith and Falshoods in Matters of Fact in the New I believed he would have proved its inconsistency with the Chronology and History of those Times in which it was written of its prescribing Mysteries to be believed which were contradictory to common Understanding and of matters of Practice which were so to common Morals I expected to have heard that the Apostles were no proper Judges of the Matters of Fact they delivered that they were corrupted either through Interest or Design or rendered Incompetent through Ignorance or Profligate Lives and by consequence that their Testimony could not be supposed to pass in any Court of Judicature in the World and that for the same Reasons we might reject the Validity of it too This I say I lookt for at least from this Man when I read the Title to his Pamphlet for I expected Pertinence and not Design but instead thereof out comes a Mouse at last and tells me that there are a parcel of Men amongst the Clergy of England that do not live so good Lives as they should do as if said he there were any Body of Men in the World that did and that our Saviour had not expresly foretold that to the End thereof there would be Tares mixed with the Wheat Sir said I methinks there cannot be a weaker and more Ridiculous Argument brought against the truth of any Doctrine than the ill Lives of some of its Professors For if there be any Force in it there is with Christianity an End of all Religion in the World for none are without some Men of bad Lives and all Mankind if this Argument be good must with one dead weight sink into downright Atheism To which my Friend replyed and who knows Sir saith he what hidden Reserve this Man had when he made use of it But Sir said I it may be if this Author's Life were narrowly inspected into that it might be found no very good Argument for the Truth of that Religion whatever it be that he himself professes To which my Friend returned We ought Sir to have better grounds to believe it is than he has given us in this Pamphlet for Diabolical Slanders and Malice said he are but poor Arguments of a Good Life But when all is done said my Friend if the bad Lives of some of the Clergy of England are an Argument against the Truth of Revelation the Lives of those that are good must by a Parity of Reason be an Argument for it and except said he that this Man is lost to all Shame and Modesty he cannot deny but that there are abundance of the Clergy of England that live answerably to their Faith Upon this I interposed a little and said you seem Sir to me to be much mistaken For this Gentleman does not say that these Arguments have made him a Deist but some of his Acquaintance To which he replied The Monky Sir you know
all these divisions amongst the Deists he says he does still believe there is a God And if so Sir pray why may not the Christians believe there is a Trinity though some of them may differ in what we must believe concerning it I remember Tully says somewhere That nothing can be a more weak and ridiculous Charge than such a One which by Changing the Name only a Man may turn upon His Adversary Thus changing the word Christianity into Deism I may say to the Author of that Letter shall I set my self to seek out a system of Deism amongst their endless Disputes Let them first agree upon it amongst themselves when that is done it will be time enough for me to consider what they say And truly it will not be good Manners for us to go before Them considering what a strong Palpitation of Heart the Clergy's desire of Precedency caused in your Friend the Author of the Growth of Deism Page the 19. I confess because we are naturally most jealous of that we most love I do not much blame your Friend for being angry with the Clergy if they do Rival his Mistress But however Sir if one sawcy Fellow of them had once in his Life it may be stept before Him yet he ought not methinks like an Italian to carry his Revenge down to the whole Body to which he stands related for his sake only Judas But pray Sir was not that pertinently alledged to prove the Pride and Insolence of the Clergy and could he give a better Instance of it than that A. one of his Majesties Chaplains did in the Pulpit at Whitehall abuse the Author 's Honourable Friend S. R. H. for writing a Treatise wherein with great Learning and Acurate Judgment he distinguish'd between Religion and Priestcraft For to tell you the truth Sir once more I think the Honorable Sir R. H. and my Friend to be the best Distinguishers in the World So that 't is great Pity but that Sir H. R. at least having like an Old Roman fought so stoutly in the Defence of the Liberty of his Country and his Gods and wholly vanquish'd the Priests of this Nation it is Great Pity I say but that he like them should have his Honorable Cognomen and as they had their stiles of Scipio Africanus Pompeius Magnus c. So he also should have of H-us Discriminator Tim. With all my Heart Sir I am no more a Rivaller of Titles than I am of Sovereignty But to return to our business I remember Sir that Pages the 18th and 19th this Charge you mention of Love of precedency in the Clergy with a great deal more is said and laid against them by this Author Particularly that they do not allow of Sir Matthew Hales his Notions nor will they suffer us to take any thing for Religion that is distinguished from their particular Interest And Page the 19th That a Man's Churchmanship will not appear by any Mark so well as by the Hatred he bears to all Dissenters and in Conjunction with a deep aversion to all the Ancient Rights and Just Liberties of his Native Country Judas And what Answer Sir can you make to this Charge Tim. No more than this Sir that it is so grosly and scandalously false that this Author gives us thereby undoubted Reason to believe that the Accomplish'd Traveller he mentions Page the 6th was none Other than Himself who having got an ugly Habit when he was Young could never leave it since For he might with the same Truth and Charity have charged the inhumane and bloody Barbarities committed by his Forefathers in Dr. Cave's Seculum Arianum upon the Church of England or have brought in the other Arm of Arsenius and have Sworn that he was murdered again by the present Archbishop of Canterbury as have laid those things as he has done to the Charge of that Church However Sir this I must needs say in his Honour that I think no Man living ever kept closer to his Text than this Author I think he ought to have Precedency in that Respect of all the Clergy of England For for uncharitable Censures idle and loose Consequences unchristian Leasings joyned with incomparable Spite and Malice he ought not only to have Preference of the Church of England but of all Mankind Living I never heard of his Peer Shimei was an Ass to him He could only Rail and Curse but he had never Travelled and so was unacquainted with the great Accomplishment of impudent Lying He was ignorant of that Noble Maxim Fortiter calumniare aliquid adhaerebit Judas But pray what can you say to A's abusing the Honourable Sir R. H. for his Excellent Treatise Tim. Who this A. is or wherein he has abused this Honourable Person I cannot tell but I presume he is of Age and can Answer for himself And as for the Honourable Sir R. H. his Book whoever he be also for I am no Cunning Man at Cyphers I have not seen it and so can give no Account of it But I am apt to think that the Niceness of these Mens distinguishing Faculties lies more in their Pockets than it does in their Heads and that the Bishops deadly Sin of Priestcraft lies chiefly in this That they have a little Mony in their Purses and a little Land belonging to their Bishopricks But truly Sir I cannot but say to you first of all That if these Bishops could use their Mony to no better purposes than some of these Honourable Distinguishers have done it were great Pity they should ever have any Secondly I say Sir that if this Author would have had us believe that his Friends are such nice Distinguishers in other folks Matters he ought in order thereunto to have given us good Proof of their Distinguishing with a little more Honour than some of them are said to have done in their own And lastly Sir pray give me leave to tell you that sometimes through an inveterate Wont or Habit a Man may wholly lose his Distinguishing Faculty Thus there was an Honourable Knight in or near the last Age so wonted to Errantry that at last he could not Distinguish between a Wind-mill and a Gyant and there may be Another for all as I know in this that may have been so long accustomed to the Stage that he may think the Priesthood Religion and all things else to be Counterfeit and may not be able to Distinguish between the New Testament and a Play Therefore Sir let these Men put what Value and Estimate they please upon their Distinguishing Faculty yet I do not intend they shall measure my Opinion of it by theirs Judas Stay Pray Sir You are Riding on the wrong side of the Post and must turn back again I am afraid you do not care to hear what I mentioned before of the Church of Englands prevarication in the Matter of Non-Resistance which was formerly as my Friend tells you Page the 12th the Shiboleth of their Church as the De
hath shall design Tim. And pray Sir let me have my Suppose too if you please Suppose this Bishop does not meet Dr. H. there what then Why then there is an end of this Gentleman's Jest Or suppose he does meet him there and does not ask him why then there is an end of the Gentleman's Argument But suppose he doth both meet him and ask him must all follow what this Man says No surely this great Prelate did never yet see with other Mens Eyes or hear with other Mens Ears and if this Author will have us believe him he ought to give us better Reasons than he has yet why he must begin now If this Man knew of any Grievances in that Diocess from Dr. H's Information he will do well to Name them if he does not Name them 't is plain he cannot for he has Charity enough to do it if he could I only mention this Sir to let you see that allow this Author all the If 's and And 's he can desire yet has he not either Logick or Honesty enough to draw from them one true Conclusion And that it would move a Passion in Job to hear this Grub-street Author undervalue this great Bishop of so profound Learning as a Common-Placer only Page the 14th whom all the Learned World admires between whom and this Crawling Scribler there cannot be the Thousandth part of Comparison for Worth and Learning that there is for Poetry between an Honourable Discriminator and a Ballad-maker In short Sir that which rubs this Man's Back and makes him Kick so hard against this great Bishop is That he is an unfoilable Champion for the Divinity and Satisfaction of our Blessed Saviour and these are Sins of Priest-craft that he will never forgive him Judas But pray Sir can you deny but that the Ambition and Pride of the Clergy has been often the Ruin of this Government What was it as is said Page the 22th but the Insolence of the Priesthood that brought about Father Laud's and Father Peter's Revolutions And Page 26. What an unhappy Effect had the Spirit of Father Laud upon King Charles the First Tim. In answer to this Sir I cannot but observe first of all The Malice of some Men to be bolder than that of the Devil himself For they tell us they believe and yet they tremble at Nothing This Author is an eminent Instance thereof who has not feared to keep his Spite Boiling against this good Bishop for Fifty Years together and by an Inhumane Barbarity like a Wolf or a mad Dog is taring him out of his Grave where he had slept in Peace for so long time after he had fell a Sacrifice to the Rage of such Merciless Wretches as he is What great Reason does this Man give us to believe that he himself did in his Youth mingle his Hands in the Blood of this Sacrifice whose Ashes he is now throwing in the Air as the sport of his Old Age And how does this Wantonness in Cruelty at these years give us just cause also to think that the same Hands and Heart are ready to make the like Oblation in the Blood of the Priests of the same Church now For the older Satan grows they say still the more Devil Thus when Men have once lost their Christianity their Bowels like those of Judas and Arius quickly gush out and all Pity Compassion and Common Charity with them But maugre all this Man's Spite the Piety and Devotion of Archbishop Laud will be Conspicuous to all Ages of which his Diary will be an Everlasting Monument And if he had any Failings it was because he was a Man This Author thinks he has made a notable Jest upon him by calling him Father Laud and joyning him in Company with Father Peters by which he would insinuate that he was a turbulent Papist But all the World knows that this good Bishop was no more a Papist than this Man is a Christian And if by being joined with ill Company makes this Prelate any thing the worse how bad must this Man be who for all as I can see amongst his Numerous Acquaintance keeps no other For if we may guess from his own Confession Page the 5th his Acquaintance are but of two sorts and the first he makes Scandalous for their Lives and the other for their Vnderstandings The first he calls downright Atheists Page the 5th And Page the 14th he makes the others little better than Fools as he might well enough from their Ridiculous Reasonings And he himself is so outragiously mad against all setled Churches in Christendom and upon such weak grounds that he seems to me to be venomously bitten by both of them To conclude this Point Sir It was not Bishop Laud's Counsel to King Charles the First but such Mens Counsels as this is to the People that brought that good Prince to the Block Thus Sir you may see from my Discourse with you on this Pamphlet how little Wit joined with a good Stock of Spite and Malice is required to abuse the best of Men and best of Causes Nay to banter our Blessed Saviour himself the Christian Religion and all the Holy Mysteries thereof with the whole Body of Christians from our Saviour's Time down to this day as well as the Clergy of the Church of England But however such scurrilous Writings may make some Impression upon Men of sickly Brains and crazed Religion yet upon Men of stronger Understandings and sounder Piety it has no Influence at all The issue of the whole is They laugh at the Jest and despise the Buffoon Judas But pray Sir let me ask you one Question more if you please before we have done Tim. I am quite tired but if it be but one Question it will not break squares much Judas How can you Sir believe this Author such an Enemy to the Church of England as you have represented him when Page 32. he tells you That he is far from begrudging the Bishops and Clergy that small Maintenance which is by Law Established And that he hopes they have no other Aim in discharging their Offices but to save our Souls by imprinting in our Hearts the Reason the Advantages and Excellency of the Law of Christ c. Tim. Amongst many other matters Sir proposed to my Friend whose judgment I gave you in part at the beginning of this Discourse this was one and I will give you his Answer to me upon it which was as followeth This Author said he in his Travels had doubtless visited the old Satyr who could blow Hot and Cold in a Breath For how does this Poor Maintenance of the Bishops as he calls it here agree with their Royal Stiles Dignities and Greatness which he instances in Page the 6th and 7th as undeniable Arguments of their Pride and Ambition Does not this Man then said he envy the Bishops their Estates But who can believe him after so many malicious Invectives against them and their Power Who can believe
said he this Author can have any grounds to Hope for what he says at last that has read what he said before So that this Gentleman seems to me said my Friend to have the Honesty of the good old Fox who after he had singled out several of the Flock and devoured them wiped his Mouth after Dinner and fell to his Prayers wishing the remainder of the Geese all increase of happiness and that they were double the number upon the Common Thus said my Friend I wonder this good Gentleman in his great Fit of Charity and Devotion had not wished the Estates of the Bishops double also that he might have the pulling of their Feathers and the larger share in the division of their Lands But I tell you Sir continued he with vehemence that there are Thousands and Thousands of us Gentlemen of the Church of England who are not to be baffled out of our Religion by an Irreligious Jest or two We are not Beau's of Sixteen that we should forego our Faith in our Blessed Saviour to hearken to the Buffoonry of an old Infidel Nor shall any Man living perswade us that Estates are proper only for Men that wait at Taverns and Plays and worse Places while those that wait at the Altar of God must Starve or that Thousands of Learned and Honest and Religious Men must want that Fools and Knaves and Atheists may abound We cannot disbelieve the Mysteries of Christianity to hearken to this Man's Reason till he has shewn a little more of it than he has done in this Pamphlet or let it be as good as it will he will have much ado to perswade us that his blasphemous Friend Page 25. can write as good a Moral as our Saviour and the next time he comes up to Parliament it may be will tell us he can live as good a one too But if his Friend said he be so very good at Writing Morals I think this Author would do well to desire him to Write One against malicious Lying and to read it well over himself when it is done For this puts too Keen an Edge upon an ill-natur'd Infidel as well as Divine and is the ugliest sign in the World of a Mean Birth and Narrow Education In fine Sir said he this Man would feign insinuate by one of his Friends as he would have us believe Page 27. That all Religion is wholly lost in the World I pray God said my Friend this be not more this Man's Wish than his Belief But if it be lost I must say said he that of all Men living neither he nor his Friends do seem to me to be the Persons that are ever like to find it But if these Men's Counsels added he and Devices should stand there would quickly be an end of all Religion in the World indeed Pray Sir said I what is your reason for this Opinion Because said he he that has but half an Eye may see that the end of these Men is to bring us all to Deism and to beat out all Revealed Religion But if once Sir said he we come to have no Divine standing Revealed Measure or Rule of Life and Faith he must be quite blind that does not see that a very little time will bring the greatest part of Mankind either to downright Atheism or Idolatry which is as bad and that every Man will make his own God and every Man his own Worship Upon this I replied Surely Sir you mistake when you say that these Men intend to pull down all Revealed Religion For the Author of the Growth of Deism says Page the first That there is no reason why one should suspect the Gospels of Forgery and Page 25. He makes one of his Deists to be convinc'd by a late Book of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. that he was more indebted to Revelation than he thought of And the Author of the Letter to the Deists confesses Page 138. That the generality of Mankind stand in need of some further Assistance than that general Capacity they are naturally endowed with and that considering the many Frailties of Humane Nature some extraordinary Helps may be useful Page 141. And he does not deny in the same Page but that God may convey these Helps by Men extraordinarily Commissioned by him Now this Sir says he Page 138. is pretended at least among Christians to have been done by the Revelation of Jesus Christ And if the History of the Gospel be true he says its Divine Authority cannot be questioned And he believes Page 142. that Christianity has the sairest Pretensions to this of any Religion now in the World To which my Friend answered The Author of the Letter to the Deist Sir said he is the best Interpreter in the World of the Author of the Growth of Deism He is I doubt not as well acquainted with his Mind as his own though if you will believe him not with his Person They were both convinc'd as he says Page 148. of the reality of Revealed Religion by the same Book and are both Converts questionless of the same Make and Size The Author of the Growth of Deism tells us Page 25. that one of his Deists but the Author of the Letter Page 148. tells us with more Honesty or less Caution that it was himself was convinc'd by a late Book called The Reasonableness of Christianity c. that he was more indebted to Revelation than he thought of but yet he tells us in the same Page that he could have written as good a Moral at the Scripture himself and had not his Modesty stood a little in his way I presume would have said a much Better and by Consequence that he could have done as well without it Nay I think verily it had never been mentioned but to insinuate some malicious Suggestions against the Church of England The Author of the Letter receives the Gospel no further than if it be true as an Improvement of Deism Page 144. and so far he is ready for all as I can see Page the 8th to receive what is written by Apollonius or Mahomet That Jesus Christ was Commissioned by God to reveal his Will is he says Page 138. only pretended by Christians and the utmost he will allow to Christianity is Page 142. That it has the fairest Pretensions to Revelation of any Religion now in the World So that our Saviour has only fair Pretensions to a Divine Authority at best and if this Man lived at Constantinople as he does in England who knows whether he might not find out another Fair Pretender there For Page 136. he tells us That something more easie and more evident is still wanting and therefore Page 137. he solicits Mr. Lock to give us a more perfect System of the Laws of Natural Religion It would Sir said my Friend make an Ass speak again to forbid the madness of these Prophets I know not which the Author of this Letter deserves most our Laughter our Pity
Lot an Abraham or some such Preachers of Righteousness furnishing them with Gifts and Abilities to teach and instruct Mankind in the true Knowledge and Worship of the Deity Who with the other two above mentioned Means and Advantages might be to Man instead of a written standing and revealed Rule and Law Now Sir said he if notwithstanding all these advantages both before and after the Flood these Original Deists in the very Infancy of the Times of both did sink into so gross Idolatry as to provoke the Jealousie of God so highly as to move him once to destroy the whole World except one Family and afterwards to renounce as it were and cast off all Mankind except one small Nation How is it possible to imagine but that the Deists of these last Ages who can pretend to none of these advantages must in a very little time if once the Light of the Gospel be extinguished sink into utter Darkness and turn as gross Idolaters as any the Spaniard sound at Peru or Mexico And this Sir said he will more plainly appear if we consider further That some of these Deists confess that many of their Brethren are little better than so already For the Author of the Letter to the Deists tells us bewailing the Brotherhood Page 12. That many of them have such base Idea's of the Deity as may have a worse Influence upon them than none at all and that while they did own the Name of God they did take away the Thing and substitute a worse instead of it He tells us Pages 12 and 13. of the several Gods these Men frame to themselves of the Inconsistency of their Notions that it would be an endless Task to expose them that two of them did not entirely agree in one System and that all their Schemes equally lead to Irreligion c. He tells us of the Materialists the Antiprovidentialists the Fatalists and we may add their almost infinite Divisions and sub-divisions all which lead Naturally to downright Atheism or worse For it were better as Plutarch says of himself to believe that God never was than to have base and unworthy thoughts of him But what wickedness may not the Fatalists be guilty of and charge it upon God when they have done The Antiprovidentialists will quickly have as little regard to God as they believe he has to them and the Materialists will as speedily fetch their Gods out of their ultramundane Retirements and set them before them in Gold or Silver or Brass or Wood and when this is done 't is not this Gentleman 's superfine Philosophy in proving the Impossibility of thinking matter can help it Or what if we should allow said my Friend further that all Deists should agree in a right and true Idea of a God which will never be will they therefore all agree in a like and a right manner of Worship What if they shall be to seek for a System of Natural Duties as this Author of the Letter acknowledges he himself is Page 135. And by consequence run of course into such degrees of Superstition which may as this Author also says Page 50. be of as evil tendency if not worse than absolute Irreligion So that I say Sir if Mankind have not a fixed Rule and Law backed by a Divine Authority to stand to they will never stand to any thing but will quickly run into a Thousand Confusions of Superstition and Idolatry both in respect of God and his Worship For there is no reason why any one Man should be guided and directed by the System of another if he have no Divine Commission from God For the best of Men may be corrupted by Lust or Interest and the wisest may be blinded by Ignorance But the Precepts of Nature as they must be drawn from long Observation of Nature its self from deep Skill in Philosophy and great Strength and Trains of Reasonings whereby a Man may be enabled from his general Observations of Nature to deduce particular Rules easie as to their Practice and familiar as to their Use for all the Exigencies and Necessities of Humane Life As they must be drawn from distinct and right Idea's of the Natures of God and Men that from thence we may receive exact Schemes of the many and even infinite Obligations Man lies under to his Maker and of the variety and almost infinite too of Duties and good Offices one Man owes to another and all this in plain and easie Propositions fitted to the Capacities of the meanest that will but seriously attend to them so must it all be done by an unbiassed Judgment by an inflexible Honesty a most profound and universal Knowledge both of God and Man with the infinite Relations they bear to all things else in Nature And where shall we find Sir said he such a Man with all these Qualifications Or if we could how should all Mankind know he has them except he be sent from God Divinely inspired and his Commission sealed by Miracles or some other Stamp of the Divinity Now from what I have said Sir said my Friend I conclude That if the Deists before and after the blood notwithstanding those several advantageous Means they had of informing themselves aright of the Nature of God and his Worship did for want of a standing revealed Rule most scandalously Apostatize from the Worship of the true God into the grossest Idolatry of the Creature From this I say I conclude That the Deists of our days who cannot pretend to the Advantages of the former who do already labour under unworthy and scandalous Notions and Idea's of the Being and Nature of God who confess themselves ignorant of the Duties arising from Natural Religion and have no Man's Judgment they can rely on or stand to for their better Information therein These Deists I say must of necessity in a very little time if once the Scriptures be cast off as a Rule of Faith and Manners and all Footsteps and Remembrances of Christianity worn out change the Truth of God into a Lie and in all probability Apostatize into so ridiculous and multifarious an Idolatry as to become the Scorn and Laughter of the very Indians And then said he the Author of the Growth of Deism if he lives to come up to Parliament in those times may write us what I fear his Fingers itch to be at an Account of the Growth of Atheism in England For who can give a better Account of it than he that has been one great Cause of it Thus Sir I have given you my Friends last Judgment of your Friend the Author of the Growth of Deism and his Pamphlet Judas You may well call it his last Judgment Sir for there is Condemnation enough in Conscience in it Tim. You seem to Jest and be Merry Sir but I tell you seriously that except your Friend mend both his Faith and Manners I fear he must expect a much greater Judas You seem to me Sir to be wholly of