upon Methinks this is but a poor pitiful thing and a melancholy prospect to any that regards the Dignity of his Nature and yet is the very best that such a Man can propose and a Favour that after all he cannot be certain of This is indeed it must be confessed much better than to be eternally miserable and that is the Reason that so many wicked Men fly to it as their Refuge and indeed they were in the right of it if either the one or the other were unavoidable But since by the Mercy of God this may be avoided only by leaving our Sins it must be great Stupidity for a Man to look upon it to be his Interest to die like the Beasts that perish so he may but indulge himself a little while here rather than have the Principles of Christianity true according to which it is in his Power by the Grace of God to be happy for ever and in prospect of that to make his Life very comfortable in this World 3. I would desire them to consider seriously whether they have thought upon the Matter as they ought to do whether they have throughly and with Attention weighed the Principles of Religion and the Arguments for them to see whether they are true or no. It 's plain that these things have been the Belief of many wise considering Men for several Ages who have ventured all they have in the World upon it and lost all for it and therefore the Matter should be at least well examined before they venture to declare against it for before that be done they can't tell but after all it may prove true and if it do they are undone for ever But then the Business must not be weighed slightly or put off with a Jest or judged only by Objections which Wit may raise against any thing and of which perhaps by reason of the Sublimity of the Matter we are not proper Judges but the whole Evidence must be taken together and after all we must not expect strict Demonstration in a Case which supposing it true will not admit of it but be content with such Reasons and Proofs as an honest impartial Man would be in a matter of this kind But above all it is necessary that we purge our Minds from all earthly and sensual Passions we must endeavour after a great Sincerity and Purity of Soul for Religion the Christian Religion especially is a thing of a spiritual and sublime Nature directly contrary to all those mean Passions and Inclinations that debase the Soul and therefore till that be purified a Man is no proper Judge in this matter he cannot relish or see the Excellency of this Religion Common Sense must indeed judge of the external Arguments that prove the Truth of it and from them a very wicked Man may conclude that this is the True Religion but still a Man can hardly discern at least not taste and inwardly feel the Excellency of it without purity of Soul which must take away much of the Force of those Arguments brought for the Truth of it To conclude this Matter A guilty defiled Soul must needs be of a Party against the Christian Religion and therefore is not fit to be a Judge Consider therefore seriously with your selves whether all this I have now spoke of have been done and whether it be not the greatest Madness in the World to venture your Souls upon it if it have not Having now finished what I designed I would humbly take leave before I conclude in a few Words to address my self to the Reverend Clergy of this Kingdom who are the Persons principally struck at in that Pamphlet upon which I have been reflecting That since their Enemies take all Occasions not only to make them vile but from thence also to reflect upon Our Holy Religion they would make it their great Care to cut off all such Occasions from those who seek it It has been a great Misfortune to the Present Establish'd Church that it has had so many Enemies of all sorts who have been ready to pry into the Lives and Actions of the Clergy to expose all their Failings and misrepresent Things that might well bear a good Construction not after all but that in so great a Body of Men we must expect there will be some neither so good nor so wise and discreet as the true Friends of Religion would be glad to see them but I hope that if there have been any who have not hitherto been so careful as they ought to be they will now especially lay to heart the great Obligations their Holy Profession brings upon them because not only their own Honour and that of the Church but even of our common Christianity is concerned in it A grave and serious a diligent and industrious a peaceable and unanimous Clergy are the likeliest means to recover the Reputation of Religion and to make it sensibly lovely in the Eyes of the World whereas on the other side every loose or careless ambitious or contentious Clergyman does indeed only expose and betray that Cause which he is bound to promote But especially as there is nothing more essential to our Religion than Meekness and Love and Gentleness so there is nothing more shocking than to see the contrary Character appear in the Sermons or Writings of Church-men tho' it be in the Defence of Truth It is very bad for Persons of that Holy Profession to be guilty of Vices in the private Conduct of their Lives but to Preach or to Write bitterly against each other is to proclaim to the World a Spirit directly contrary to that of their Religion and to call as many as they can to take notice of it In short Religion is a thing cannot be long kept up as Secular Factions may be by Interest or Grandeur or any thing of that kind no it must have real internal Esteem in the Hearts of Men otherwise the Effect is very like to be that they will leave that for some other or else look upon all Religion to be only Trick and Design It is true indeed that no Actions of Men can alter the Natures of Things or make that Religion to be true or false now which was determinately one of them many hundred Years ago But it is not every body that either can or will consider things aright that requires some Pains and Time and Freedom from Prejudice but a Good Life especially in Clergy-men is a sensible and a visible thing every body knows that the great End of Religion is to make Men Pious and Holy and therefore they will very naturally incline there where they see most of that To conclude all in a Word The best way that either Ministers or People can serve their Religion is by adorning it with a holy Conversation and it concerns all as they will at the Great day answer for the Scandal brought upon it that they do not by their ill Lives and as much as possible not by any Indiscretion cause the Enemies of the Lord to Blaspheme FINIS
Church of all sorts that it should be adviseable for her to put more Power in their hands than they have The next Cause he mentions of Deism Page 10. is the Clergy's Prevarication in this Revolution as to their Principles of Passive Obedience in which Case whatever Cause of Scandal may have been given has been very much aggravated by the Enemies of the Church of all sorts But methinks an equitable Considerer of things would rather argue thus That if some of them did in this leave some Principles they were fond of before 't was a Sense of the Good of their Country that changed their Minds because we see that they did stick to their Religion with a great deal of Zeal when it was very hazardous for them and we have just Reason to think that very many of them would have chearfully lost all they had in the Cause and have resisted even unto blood But after all there were not many of the Clergy that were so far for Passive Obedience that had the Case been put to them as ours really was at the Revolution of a King that was actually overturning the whole Constitution and either designed to inslave us by a Foreign Power or which was much the same thing so far hugged and encouraged a Monstrous Power in one of his Neighbours that in a very little time it had not been in his own Power to save either us or himself I believe had the Case been put thus there were not very many who would have said that it was unlawful for a People in such Circumstances to save themselves of which beside others I have this Reason That this was the Opinion of some Authors in great Reputation among our Clergy Grotius Barclay Dr. Falkner They did indeed preach up Passive Obedience in general Terms as the Scripture and the Laws of England deliver it and as for such Cases they were odious and not very fit to be mentioned but sufficiently excepted in the Nature of the Thing and such as common Sence would easily find out whenever any Case of that kind should happen As for those who went farther than this or carried the Matter with Heat and Violence I shall leave them to stand or fall according as they can approve the Sincerity of their Hearts to our Great Master who can make Allowance for Mistake and Prejudice and other Human Infirmities though Men won't But our Author is still angry and says that the Clergy are Enemies to the Government for a King de facto only and still Subjects to King James which if it be true I am sure there is no great matter of Priest-Crast in it for it is apparently against the Interest of their Church But by this as well as other things we may guess our Author knows very few of the Clergy especially those that have been preferred since this Revolution of which number are above two Thirds of the Bishops whom this Author calls Jacobites but some of his Friends use to call the Dead Weight for the Government in the House of Lords which contrary Reproaches are a good Sign that they carry themselves like Moderate and Honest Men and good Patriots of their Country He makes a great Stir in several places with Dr. S k as if he were the only Clergy-man almost he had heard of or that all the rest were guided by his Notions But I can assure him the Dean has more Reputation for his Books of Death and Judgment than he has for his Case of Allegiance It is a hard Matter to answer for so great a Body of Men as the Clergy of the Ch. of England especially in a Case where they are not all of one Mind and should I endeavour to clear them all from the Aspersions he there throws it 's possible I should have as little Truth of my side as he has Truth or Justice in aspersing them all or as those have who censure all Men of our Author's Stamp as Persons against Kingly Government and that design to make England a Commonwealth and yet that there are some such he himself will I am perswaded hardly deny As for what he charges upon them their making the King to be only so de facto if by it he mean that they look upon the King to be an Usurper and that tho' they may submit to him while he has them in his Power yet that this is to be only till they can have a good Opportunity of serving him who is their Rightful King This I believe is a gross Calumny and such as can be charged upon very few But there may be perhaps some others whom our Author will call de facto Men who tho' they should be mistaken in the Principles they go upon yet however may upon those Principles serve the Goverment as well as any that live under it Some it 's possible there are who do not approve of all that was done in the Revolution on and therefore would not themselves concur in it but yet when the thing is done and the Government settled by the Consent of the Majority may think themselves bound to submit to it and when they have given their Oath to stick to it as much as if the Original of it were never so uncontestable Others it 's likely there may be who do not think particular private Persons bound to examine the Titles of Princes that as in private Cases it is not their own Judgment but the Determination of the Judges that is to direct their Consciences to whom they are bound to pay their Rent or any other Due so in this great Due of Allegiance it is the highest Authority we have that of the Parliament must direct them to whom to pay it and whether that great Court be right or wrong in their Determinations they are not proper Judges And to mention no more there may be some others who may think that tho' every thing at the Revolution was not exactly agreeable to common Forms yet since it was agreeable to the great Law of Necessity we should thank God for the great Benefits it brought us and stick to it against all the World Upon these Hypotheses and several other it 's like some People may have come into the Government and tho' they should not be in every thing in the right yet it will be a hard matter to shew any Reason why they may not be good Subjects and very faithful to the Government and 't is neither just nor charitable nor for the Interest of the Government to censure all these as Subjects to King James But our Author still threatens the Clergy with an Oath of Abjuration Page 16. But whether he and his Friends will be able to persuade the Parliament to appoint such a one Time must tell us it is a Matter has been proposed more than once but has never yet been judged for the Good of the King and Kingdom It was the Wisdom of our Parliament at the Beginning of
the Government to frame the Oath of Allegiance in as general Terms as they could and to give as great a Latitude to the different Opinions and Apprehensions of Men as possible for which they had this very good Reason That the Government was so apparently for the Good of the Kingdom and so necessary to its Preservation that all Lovers of their Country would be glad to joyn with it if so be there was nothing to shock their Conscience and therefore to gain all sorts of People it was necessary to allow as great a Latitude for that as they could And the same Reason will hold still for the Government blessed be God is still in the Interest of the Nation and therefore it will be the Desire of all Lovers of Peace to preserve it unless the Government makes them Enemies to it by its first becoming Enemies to them by shocking their Consciences and turning them out of Employments as Persons not fit to be trusted And certainly it must be the Interest of any Government to make it self as many Friends as it can which is most effectually done by studying in all it does the Publick Good and next to that by provoking and disobliging as few as possible I don't question but several true Lovers of the King and Government may have desired and promoted such an Oath of Abjuration but upon considering the Matter as far as my Understanding will go I cannot think of any Advantage it is like to bring for it will not make the King one Friend he had not before but no body can tell how many Enemies it may raise All the Good that is like to come by it is that we may then be able to distinguish betwixt Men But how be able to distinguish Not who are Friends to the Government and who are not but who are for it upon one Principle and who are for it upon another which will be Knowledge dear enough bought if it must be by provoking all those who do not come into the Government upon one and the same Principle though it be the right In short multiplicity of Oaths has always an ill Influence upon Religion and does naturally tend to take away that Reverence which Men should have for a thing of so sacred a nature and it would be a thing very worthy the Care of the Wisdom of the Nation to look into that great number of Oaths of all sorts which Men in any Employment are to take and which in a great measure are reckon'd only things of course and therefore tho' not in their own nature yet by accident are apt to insnare Mens Consciences to make them either swallow them down without considering or else set their Wits at work for such Salvo's and Interpretations as make the Oaths vain and useless and are very contrary to that Plainness and Simplicity with which Men should enter into so sacred an Obligation To conclude this Matter If such an Oath should be imposed and upon that be generally taken by the Clergy and their Friends this Author would be for writing another Pamphlet about Deism and tell all the World they had renounced their Principles which though it be false if he means any Principles of the Church yet however such a Clamour as this would very likely be a great Prejudice to Religion But if on the other side they should generally refuse it then they would be represented as Enemies to the Government and considering the common Resentments and Passions of Human Nature perhaps many of them be made so which may prove no more for the true Interest of the State than it would of the Church I have dwelt the longer upon this because it is frequently made use of as an Argument of the Clergy's not being in the Interest of the Government because many of them seem to be against such an Oath but I hope by what has been said it may appear that true Lovers of the King and Government may be against it too and the more against it for their being so But I now come to consider another of those Causes of Deism mentioned by our Author which is The great Zeal the Clergy have shewed for Modes and Ceremonies and other things of an indifferent nature who he says have been more concerned about them than about the substantial Points of Piety and Holiness which he is pleased to call Priest-Crast or the carrying on an Interest of their own under pretence of Religion About which matter he quotes two Passages out of Sir Matthew Hale's Letters To which I shall only reply That Sir Matthew does in those Passages talk like himself that is like one of the best Christians this Age has produced And had our Author spoke about these Matters with that Spirit and Concern for Religion the good Judge does he should have had no Reflexions from me It has been often matter of great Concern to me to consider the Infirmity of Humane Nature how apt Men have been in all Ages and Nations to fall into Superstition to leave off the Thoughts of Piety and Holiness the Subduing their Passions and the Sanctification of their Souls together with the other noble Vertues of Justice and Charity Meekness and Humility and the like which even common Reason would teach us must be the best way to please a holy and good God and instead of these to expect to recommend themselves to him by little Tricks and Observations of their own inventing But especially it has been a great Trouble that so pure and holy a Religion as that which Christ has delivered to us should suffer so much under the same fate Much of this may have been owing to Weakness of Understanding and more I am afraid to the Corruption of Nature when Men have been unwilling to take so much Pains as to deny their Appetites and govern their Souls under the influence of Religion but yet still desired to please God and get to Heaven which because they would not do one way they must artempt to do another This has in most Ages given Men a strong Bent to Superstition as being their only Refuge and for this Reason it is chiefly that it is so hard a matter to keep any Nation from running into this or else into Irreligion and Atheism Men being so apt upon these Accounts to run into Superstition of themselves this may have been helped forward by the Ignorance of some and the Designs of some other of those who should have taught them better and when Corruptions of this kind were once brought in it would hardly be in the Power of those that were wiser and better to remove them again as I remember St. Austin makes a great Complaint of this kind against the Christians of his time that they were so set upon many Superstitious Observations that he durst not oppose them as seeing he was only like to lose himself and should not be able to do any Good upon them But not to dwell upon this any longer
tells us that there is but one God and yet gives the Name and the Attributes of God to the Father to Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Ghost How far each of these is distinct from the other it no where tells us only that each of them is God and yet there is but one God Here then we must stick That the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost God and yet there are not three Gods but one God and must conclude with our selves that there is some way which God has not thought fit to reveal to us perhaps because we are not now capable of understanding it whereby these three are one Now in all this there is no Absurdity or Contradiction but the only Difficulty is whether this be sufficient But if God has revealed this and revealed no more that ought to be no Difficulty this is not sufficient to gratifie Mens Curiosity or to answer all those Questions that we would indeed be glad to hear resolved but without going farther here is sufficient in this to answer those Ends which we may suppose God had in Revealing it For 1. If the Father Son and Holy Ghost are God here is sufficient Foundation for Divine Worship to be paid to each of Them So that this Doctrine of the Trinity is not as our Author represents it a Doctrine of meer Speculation but is a Foundation of one of the greatest Religious Duties the Worship of God If Jesus Christ be represented to me in Scripture as God as God blessed for ever I ought then to Worship him tho' I don't know how far he is distinct from the Father or the Holy Ghost or how these three are but one God 2. We may from the Revelation of so much understand the chief Points of the Christian Religion The great Doctrine of the Gospel of the Redemption of the World by Jesus Christ cannot be understood without it but with it we can give such an Account as can be expected of a matter of so high a Nature Of the Dignity of Our Saviours Person That the Word was made Flesh Joh. 1.14 1 Tim. 3.16 that God was Manifested in the Flesh and thence of the great Love of God and of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to us who tho he were in the form of God Philip. 2.6 7. yet for our Jakes humbled himself even to the death of the Cross We have hence a Reason of the great Value and Merits of his Sufferings which must needs be very great in such a Person whom when he came into the world Heb. 1.6 all the Angels of God were to worship which cannot be accounted for without such an ineffable Union to the Divine Nature as makes the Person Jesus Christ to be truly God And to name no more This gives us an account of our being Baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost of which without the Belief of each of them to be God it would be a hard matter to give a good Account but with this we may without knowing how far each is distinguish'd from the other But my Design was only to touch upon these things to shew that what God has revealed has not those Absurdities in it our Author suggests and is sufficient to answer all the wise Ends of the Revelation perhaps as much as if we had been told more and if Men will go further than this and then quarrel with one another it is not the Revelation of God but their own Notions which they quarrel about But to return now to the Matter of Deism I am afraid that it is but too true that these Controversies have been a Prejudice to the Christian Religion but then I believe the Guilt of this must light chiefly upon Our Author's Friends the Socinians who have made it their Business to expose and ridicule those Doctrines which will be found after all to be the Doctrines of the Holy Scriptures and to have been the Belief of Christians in all Ages which as it is in it self a very great Argument for the Truth of them so on the other side it must be a mighty Shock to Christianity to represent those things as Absurd and Contradictory which have been for so long the Common Faith of Christians and indeed it will be a hard matter to have any great Opinion of that Religion which has been in the World for above sixteen hundred Years and has hardly ever yet had any Professors but those who have grossly Misunderstood and Misrepresented it But it is not my Business to recriminate and I have designedly hitherto avoided it that I might not give any Occasion to Quarrels of which God knows the World is but too full already God in Mercy forgive all those who have any way done any thing to the Prejudice of so holy a Religion and grant that they may Repent and by their Zeal and Concern for it for the future may make some Amends for the Mischief they have done To conclude this Head This is not the first Time or Age in which the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity has been charged with Absurdities yet notwithstanding that it still continues to be the Faith of Christians and I believe is still like to be so notwithstanding all the Difficulties either the Disputes of its Friends or the Opposition of its Enemies can load it with a very good Evidence this that it is very well founded since so many Shocks have not been able to overthrow it And methinks there may be fetched some Evidence for the Truth of the Christian Religion it self from the Opposition which this and some other of its Doctrines have met with in the World None of its Enemies can prove any Absurdity or Contradiction in them but it must be confessed that they are such as are not in themselves very plausible and taking or very apt in their own Nature to win upon the World and therefore we see that the Apostle complains that Preaching up Christ and the Method of our Redemption by him was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness If we add to this Consideration what a mighty Prejudice the World commonly has against receiving any thing upon the Credit of such mean Persons as the first Preachers of Christianity were it will be very hard to conceive how this Religion should ever have prevailed unless God had in some extraordinary manner concurred with it The Truth is it is not easie to imagine how these things should ever have come into any body's head unless God had Revealed them But besides if Men had had a mind to invent they would have thought of something more plausible and of all things in the World they would never have made it their Choice to preach up a Crucified Saviour Certainly nothing but a full Conviction of the Truth of it could ever have persuaded a few mean People of a Despised Nation to think of Converting the World to such a Doctrine