a thousand more These were after the Apostles the greatest glories of the Christian Church and were burning and shining lights It is in their lives writings and decrees that I desire you to view Episcopacy and if it have any way fallen from that first and fair Original direct your thoughts and zeal to contrive and carry on its recovery to its former purity and servor but take it not at the disadvantage as it may have suffered any thing from the corruptions of men in a succession of so many ages for you know the Sacraments the Ministery and all the parts of Religion have been soiled and stained of their first beauty by their corrupt hands to whose care they were committed But he were very much to blame who would thereupon quarrel these things I shall therefore intreat you will consider that Order either in it self or as it flourished in the first ages of the Church and not as prejudices or particular escapes may have represented it to you Eud. That you may both understand one another better let me suggest to you the right stating of that you differ about that you be not contending about words or notions of things which may appear with various shapes and faces one whereof may be amiable and another ugly give therefore a clear and distinct account of that Episcopacy you own and assert Poly. Since Philarcheus hath appealed to the ancient Church for the true pattern of Episcopacy I shall faithfully represent to you what the office and power of their Bishops was and how it took its first rise and growth among them and then I shall leave it to be discussed how lawful or allowable it is of it self The Iews had among them beside the Temple-worship which was Typical their Synagogues not only over the land but through all the corners of the World into which they were dispersed which were called their Prosenchae among the Greeks and Romans Thither did they meet for the dayly worship of GOD there did they likewise meet on their Sabbaths and recited their Philacteries or Liturgies and heard a portion of the Law read which was divided in so many Sections that it might be yearly read over there was also a word of exhortation used after the Law was read and there were in these Synagogues Office-Bearers separated for that work who were to order the Worship and the reading of the Law and were to censure sins by several degrees of Excommunications casting them out of the Synagogue they were likewise to see to the supplying the necessities of the Poor Now if we consider the practice of our Saviour and his Apostles we shall find them studying to comply with the forms received among the Iews as much as was possible or consistent with the new Dispensation which might be instanced in many particulars as in both Sacraments the forms of Worship the practice of Excommunication and these might be branched out into many instances And indeed since we find the Apostles yielding so far in compliance with the Iews about the Mosaical Rites which were purely typical and consequently antiquated by the death of CHRIST we have a great deal of more reason to apprehend they complied with their forms in things that were not typical but rather moral such as was the order of their Worship these things only excepted wherein the Christian Religion required a change to be made And this the rather that wherever they went promulgating the Gospel the first offer of it was made to the Iews many of whom believed but were still zealous of the Traditions of their Fathers And so it is not like that they who could not be prevailed upon to part with the Mosaical Rites for all the reasons were offered against them were so easily content to change their other forms which were of themselves useful and innocent Now since we see the Apostles retained and improved so many of their Rites and customs why they should have innovated the Government of their Synagogues will not be easily made clear especially since they retained the names of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon which were in use among the Iews and since they did bless and separate them by the imposition of hands which had been also practised among the Iews and all this will appear with a clearer visage of reason if we consider the accounts given in the Acts or rules prescribed in the Epistles of the Apostles about the framing and constituting their Churches All which speak out nothing of a new Constitution but tell only what rules they gave for regulating things which from the stile they run in seem to have been then constituted and is very far either from Moses's Language in the Pentateuch or from the forms of the Institution of the Sacraments And except the little we have of the Institution of Deacons nothing like an Institution occurs in the New Testament and yet that seems not the Institution of an Order but a particular provision of men for serving the Hâ—llenists in an office already known and received Now let me here send you to the Masters of the Iewish learning particularly to the eminently learned and judicious Doctor Lightfoot who will inform you that in every Synagogue there was one peculiarly charged with the Worship called the Bishop of the Congregation the Angel of the Church or the Minister of the Synagogue and besides him there were three who had the Civil Judicatory who judged also about the receiving Proselytes the imposition of hands c. And there were other three who gathered and distributed the almes Now the Christian Religion taking place as the Gospel was planted in the Cities where it was chiefly preached these forms and orders were retained both name and thing for we cannot think that the Apostles whose chief work was the gaining of Souls from Gentilism or Iudaism were very sollicitous about modes of Government but took things as they found them Only the Elder and greater Christians they separated for Church Offices and retained an inspection over them themselves And abstracting from what was said about the Synagogues it is natural to think that when the Apostles left them and died they did appoint the more eminent to be Over-seers to the rest which why not every where as well as was done by S. Paul to Timothy and Titus is not easily to be proved But this is yet more rational from what was premised about the Synagogue Pattern only they did not restrict themselves to that number for the number of the Presbyters was indefinite but the Deacons were according to their first original restricted to the number seven Thus the first form was that there was one whose charge it was to over-see feed and rule the flock and where the number of the Christians was small they met all in one place for Worship and it was easie for the Bishop to overtake the charge But for the spreading of the Gospel he had about him a company of the elder and more eminent
and they whet their Spirits and sharpen their Tongues against all of another mould which some do with an undisguised fierceness Other with a visage of more gravity by which they give the deeper wounds What sad effects flow from this Spirit is too visible and I love not to play the Diviner or to presage all the mischief it threatens but certain it is that the great business of Religion lies under an universal neglect while every one looks more abroad on his Neighbor than inwardly on himself and all stâ—dy more the advancement of a Party than the true interest of Religion I deny not but zeal for GOD must appear when we see indignities done to his holy Name in a just indignation at these who so dishonour him but what relation have little small differences about matters which have no tendency for advancing the Image of GOD in our Souls to that since both sides of the debate may be well maintained without the least indignity done to GOD or his holy Gospel What opposition to the Will of GOD or what harm to Souls can flow from so innocent a practice as the fixing some Churchmen over others for observing directing reproving and coercing of the rest that this should occasion such endless brawlings and such hot contentions But supposing the grounds of our divisions as great as any angry Disputer can imagine them then certainly our zeal for them should be tempered according to the Rules and Spirit of the Gospel Is it a Christian temper that our spirits should boil with rage against all of another persuasion so that we cannot think of them without secret commotions of anger and disdain which breaks often out into four looks ridiculous â—earings bitter scoffings and invectives and in attempts at bloud and cruelty How long shall our Nadabs and Abâ—hus burn this wild-fire on the Altar of GOD whose flames should be peaceful and such as descend from Heaven When we see any endangering their Souls by erroneous Opinions or bad practices had we the divine Spirit in us it would set us to our secret mournings for them our hearts would melt in compassion towards them and not burn in rage against them and we would attempt for their recovery and not contrive their 〈◊〉 The â—ne bears on it a clear impress of that nature which is Love in which none can have interest or union but such as dwell and abide in Love but the other bears on it the lively signature of him that was a murderer from the beginning and all that is mischievous or cruel is of that evil one and tends to the subversion of mankind as well as the ruin of true Religion Another great Rule by which the Peace and Order of all human Societies is maintained and advanced is obedience to the Laws and submission to the Authority of these whom GOD hath set over us to govern and defend us to whose Commands if absolute Obedience be not payed ever till they contradict the Laws of GOD there can be neither peace nor order among men as long as every one prefers his own humour or inclination to the Laws of the Society in which he lives Now it cannot be denied to be one of the sins of the age we live in that small regard is had to that authority GOD hath committed to his Vicegerents on earth The evidence whereof is palpable since the bending or slackening of the execution of Laws is made the measure of most mens Obedience and not the conscience of that duty we owe the commands of our Rulers for what is more servile and unbecoming a man not to say a Christian than to yield Obedience when over-awed by force and to leap from it when allured by gentler methods If Generosity were our principle we should be sooner vanquished by the one than cudgelled by the other Or if Conscience acted us the Obligation of the Law would equally bind whether backed with a strict Execution or slackened into more impunity Hence it appears how few there are who judg themselves bound to pay that reverence to the Persons and that Obedience to the Commands of these GOD hath vested with his Authority which the Laws of Nature and Religion do exact And the root of all this disobedience and contempt can be no other but unruly and ungoverned pride which disdains to submit to others and exalts it self above these who are called Gods The humble are tractable and obedient but the self willed are stubborn and rebellious Yet the height of many mens pride rests not in a bare disobedience but designs the subverting of Thrones and the shaking of Kingdoms unless governed by their own measures Among all the Heresies this age hath spawned there is not one more contrary to the whole design of Religion and more destructive of mankind than is that bloudy Opinion of defending Religion by Arms and of forcible resistance upon the colour of preserving Religion The wisdom of that Policy is â—â—â—hly senâ—â—al and devillish favoring of a carnal unmortified and impatient mind that cannot bear the Cross nor trust to the Providence of GOD and yet with how much zeal is this doctrine maintained and propagated as if on it hung both the Law and the Prophets Neither is the zeal used for its defence only meant for the vindicating of what is past but on purpose advanced for re-acting the same Tragedies which some late villanous attempts have too clearly discovered some of these black Arts tho written in white being by a happy providence of GOD by the intercepting of R. Mac his Letters which contained not a few of their rebellious practisings and designs brought to light Indeed the consideration of these evils should call on all to reflect on the sad posture wherein we are and the evident signatures of the Divine displeasure under which we lâ—e from which it appears that GOD hath no pleasure in 〈◊〉 nor will be glorified among us that so we may discern the signs of the times and by all these sad indications may begin to appehend our danger and â—o turn to GOD with our whole hearts every one repenting of the works of his hands and contributing his prayers and endeavours for a more general Reformation It is not by Political Arts nor by the execution of penal Laws that the power of Religion can be recovered from these decays under which it hath so long suffered No no we must consider wherein we have provoked GOD to chastise us in this fashion by letting loose among us a Spirit of uncharitableness giddiness cruelty and sedition And the progress of these and other great evils we ought to charge on our own faultiness who have provoked GOD to plead a Controversie with us in so severe a manner This is the method we ought to follow which if we did we might sooner look for the Divine protection and assistance and then we should experience it to be better to put our confidence in GOD than to put our confidence in
yet they were ordained of GOD and not to be resisted but submitted to under the hazard of resisting the Ordinance of GOD and receiving of damnation p. 2. And it is like the sacredness of the Magistrates power was a part of the traditional Religion conveyed from Noah to his posterity as was the practice of extraordinary Sacrifices Basil. It is not to be denied but a people may chase their own form of Government and the persons in whose hands it shall be deposited and the Sovereignty is in their hands of whom they do thus freely make choice so that if they expressly agree that any Administrators of the power by what name soever designed Kings Lords or whatever else shall be accountable to them in that case the Sovereignty lies in the major part of the people and these Administrators are subject to them as to the Supreme But when it is agreed in whose hands the Sovereign power lies and that it is not with the people then if the people pretend to the sword they invade GODS right and that which he hath devolved on his Vicegerent And as in marriage either of the parties make a free choice but the Marriage-bond is of GOD neither is it free for them afterwards to refile upon pretence of injuries till that which GOD hath declared to be a breach of the bond be committed by either party so though the election of the Sovereign may be of the people yet the tie of subjection is of GOD and therefore is not to be shaken off without we have express warrant from him And according to your reasoning one that hath made a bad choice in his marriage may argue that marriage was intended for a help and comfort to man and for propagation therefore when these things are missed in a marriage that voluntary contract may be refiled from and all this will conclude as well to unty an ill chosen marriage as to shake off a Sovereign Philarch. To this reasoning I shall add what seems from rational conjectures and such hints as we can expect of things at so great a distance from us to have been the rise of Magistracy We find no warrant to kill no not for murder before the Floud as appears from the instances of Cain and Lamech so no Magistracy appears to have been then Yet from what GOD said to Cain Gen. 4.7 we see the elder brother was to rule over the younger But the want of Magistracy before the Flood was perhaps none of the least occasions of the wickedness which was great upon earth but to Noah was the Law first given of punishing murder by death Gen. 9.6 and he was undoubtedly cloathed with that power So his eldest Son coming in his place by the right of representation and being by the right of primogeniture asserted before the Flood to be over his Brethren was cloathed with the same power and so it should have descended by the order of Nature still to the first-born But afterwards Families divided and went over the world to people it whereby the single jurisdiction of one Emperor could not serve the end of Government especially in that rude time in which none of these ways of correspondence which after Ages have invented were fallen upon These Families did then or at least by that Law of GOD of the elder Brothers power ought to have been subject to the eldest of their several Families And another rise of Magistracy was the poverty of many who sold themselves to others that were Richer and were in all Nations subâ—ect to them both they and their children and this was very early begun for Abraham's family consisted of 318. persons and the many little Kings at that time seem to have risen out of these Families for the posterity of these servants were likewise under the Masters Authority and these servants were by their Masters pleasure to live or lie nor had they any right to resist this unjust force But afterwards emancipation was used some dominion being still reserved and it is highly probable that from these numerous Families did most of the little Kingdoms then in the world spring up afterwards the more aspiring came to pretend over others and so great Empires rose by their Conquests Crit. I know it is strongly pretended that the state of servitude or such a surrender of ones life or liberty as subjects it to the tyranny of another is not lawful but this will be found groundless for though even the Law of GOD counted the servants a Man's money so that he was not to be punished though he had smitten them with a rod so that they died provided they lived a day or two after it Exod. 21.20 21. Yet in that dispensation it was not unlawful to be a servant nay nor unlawful to continue in that state for ever and not accept of the emancipation which was provided to them in the year of Iubily Neither is this state declared unlawful under the Gospel since S. Paul saith 1 Cor. 7.21 Art thou called being a servant care not for it but if thou mayst be free use it rather By which we see the Gospel doth not emancipate servants but placeth that state among things which may be lawfully submitted to though liberty be preferable Basil. From this it may be well inferred that if a Society have so intirely surrendred themselves that they are in no better case than were the servants among the Romans or Hebrews the thing is not unlawful nor can they make it void or resume the freedom without his consent whose servants they are and as S. Peter tells 1 Pet. 2.18 The servants to submit to their Masters tho punishing them wrongfully By whom all know that he means not of hired but of bought servants so if a people be under any degrees of that state they ought to submit not only to the good but to the froward and still it appears that the Sword is only in the Magistrates hand and that the people have no claim to it It is true in case the Magistrate be furious or desert his right or expose his Kingdoms to the fury of others the Laws and Sense of all Nations agree that the States of the Land are to be the Administrators of the power till he recover himself But the instance of Nebuchadnâ—zzar Dan. 4.26 shews that still the Kingdom should be sure to him when he recovers Iâ—â—t Now you begin to yield to truth and confess that a Magistrate when he grosly abuseth his Power may be coërced this then shews that the People are not slaves Basil. The Case varies very much when the abuse is such that it tends to a total Subversion which may be called justly a Phrensie since no man is capable of it till he be under some lesion of his mind in which case the Power is to be administred by others for the Prince and his Peoples safety But this will never prove that a Magistrate governing by Law though there be great errors in his
determining of the externals of Government or Worship falls within the Magistrate's Sphere then comes in a new Complaint and it is told that here Religion is given up to the Lusts and Pleasure of men though it be an hundred times repeated that command what the King will in prejudice of the Divine Law no Obedience is due If again it be proved that Church Judicatories in what notions soever are subjects as well as others and no less tied to obedience than others upon this come in vehement outcries as if the Throne and Kingdom of Christ were overturned and betrayed with other such like Expressions in their harsh Stile What is become of Mankind and of Religion when Ignorants triumph upon these baâ—ren Pretences as if they were the only Masters of Reason and directors of Conscience You know what my Temper is in most differences but I acknowledge my mind to be fâ—ll of a just disdain of these ignorant and insolent Pedlers which is the more inflamed when I consider the Ruins not only of sound Learning but of true Piety and the common rules of Humanity which follow these simple Contests they make about nothing Basil. To speak freely I cherish Reflections no where therefore I shall not conceal my mislike of these Invectives which though I am forced to confess are just yet I love to hear truth and peace pleaded for with a calm serene Temper and though the intolerable and peevish railings of these Pamphlets do justifie a severe Procedure yet I would have the softer and milder methods of the Gospel used that so we may overcome evil with good To take you therefore off that angry engagement let me invite you to a sober Examen of the Magistrates Authority in things Divine But before this be engaged in let it be first considered whether â—â—ere be any Legislative Power on Earth about things Sacred and next with whom it is lodged Isot. I will so far comply with your desires that for this once without retaliating I quit to Philarcheus the last word of scolding But to come to the purpose you have suggested consider that Christ hath given us a complete Rule wherein are all things that pertain to Life and Godliness It is then an Imputation on his Gospel â—o say any thing needs be added to it and that it contains not a clear direction for all things therefore they accuse his Wisdom or Goodness who pretend to add to his Laws and wherein he hath not burthened our Consciences what tyranny is it to bind a yoak upon us which our Fathers were not able to bear Whereby as our Christian liberty is invaded so innumerable Schisms and Scandals spring from no other thing so much as from these oppressions of Conscience which are so much the more unjust that the imposers acknowledging their indifferency and the refusers scrupling their lawfulness the peace of the Church is sacrificed to what is acknowledged indifferent neither can any bounds be fixed to those impositions for if one particular may be added why not more and more still till the â—oak become heavier than that of Moses was which is made out from experience For the humor of innovating in divine matters having once crept into the Church it never stopp'd till it swelled to that prodigious bulk of Rites under which the Roman Church lies oppressed And besides all these general considerations there is one particular against significant Rites which is that the instituting of them in order to a particular signification of any Grace makes them Sacraments according to the vulgar definition of Sacraments that they are the outward signs of an inward Grace but the instituting of Sacraments is by the confesâ—ion of all a part of Christ's Prerogative since he who confers grace can only institute the signs of it Upon all these accounts I plead the Rule of Scripture to be that which ought to determine about all divine matters and that no binding Laws ought to be made in divine things wherein we are left at liberty by GOD who is the only Master of our Consciences See from pag. 172. to pag. 180. Phil. You have now given me a full Broad-side after which I doubt not but you triumph as if you had shattered me all to pieces but I am afraid you shall find this Volley of chained Ball hath quite missed me and that I be aboard of you ere you be aware No man can with more heartiness acknowledg the compleatness of Scripture than my self and one part of it is that all things which tend to Order Edification and Peace be done and the Scene of the World altering so that what now tends to advance Order Edification and Peace may afterwards occasion disorder destruction and contention the Scripture had not been compleat if in these things there were not an Authority on Earth to make and unmake Laws in things indifferent I acknowledg the adding of new pieces of worship hath so many inconveniences hanging about it that I should not much patronize it but the determining of what may be done either in this or that fashion to any particular Rule is not of that nature Therefore since Worship must be in a certain posture a certain habit in a determinate place and on such times all these being of one kind Laws made about them upon the accounts of order edification or peace do not pretend to prejudg the perfection of Scripture by any additions to what it prescribes since no new thing is introduced Indeed did humane Law-givers pretend that by their Laws these things became of their own nature more acceptable to GOD they should invade GOD's Prerogative but when they are prescribed only upon the account of Decency and Order it is intolerable peevishness to call a thing indifferent of its nature unlawful because commanded For the Christian liberty consists in the exemption of our Consciences from all humane yoak but not of our actions which are still in the power of our Superiors till they enjoin what is sinful and then a greater than they is to be obeyed I acknowledg the simplicity of the Christian Religion is one of its chief Glories nothing being enjoined in it but what is most properly fitted for advancing the Souls of men towards that wherein their blessedness doth consist And therefore I never reflect without wonder on that Censure Ammian Marcellin a Heathen Writer gives of Constantius That he confounded the Christian Religion which was of it self pure and simple with doating superstitions So I freely acknowledg that whosoever introduce new parts of Worship as if they could commend us to GOD do highly encroach on GOD's Authority and man's Liberty But as for the determining of things that may be done in a variety of ways into one particular form such as the prescribing a set form for Worship the ordering the posture in Sacraments the habit in Worship determinate times for commemorating great mercies the time how long a Sinner must declare his penitence ere he be admitted
matters will never infer a surrender of conscience to him for certainly that must relate to what goeth before of the outward Government and Policy of the Church Besides none will quarrel the phrase of the Kings authority in all things that are Civil yet that will not infer that he can enact the lawfulness of murther and theft So these expressions must carry with them a tacite exception Yea even without that allowance the phrase may be well justified since it only imports that the Kings enacting any thing in these matters makes them legal which differs much from lawful and saith only that such Orders issued forth by the King are de facto Laws which will not conclude they must be obeyed but only that his authority is to be acknowledged either by obedience if the command be just or by suffering if unjust As for the effects this may produce I am sure they cannot prove worse than these which have followed upon the pretences of the Churches absolute authority and intrinsick Sovereign Power And indeed since there is so much corruption among men nothing that falls into the hands of men can scape the mixtures of abuse at long run But I must add that the passions and pride of many Church-men in all Ages have been such that the decision of the plurality of Church-men seems the model of the World that is fullest of danger Isot. Three things yet remain to be discussed The one is if obedience be due to the Laws when they command things contrary to our consciences For sure you cannot pretend in that case to give a preference to humane Laws beyond conscience which is the voice of GOD. The next is when the Magistrate commands things just of themselves but upon unjust motives and narratives whether my obedience doth not homologate his bad designs And finally where the commands of the Magistrate are manifestly unlawful how far should the Church and Church men oppose and contradict them For a bare non-obedience seems not to be all we are bound to in that case When I am satisfied in these things I will quit this purpose Basil. To engage in a particular discussion of what is now moved by you would draw on more discourse than our present leisure will allow of yet I shall attempt the saying of what may satisfie a clear and unprejudged mind And to the first I shall not fall on any longer enquiry into the nature and obligation of conscience than to tell that conscience is a conviction of our rational faculties that such or such things are sutable to the nature and Will of God Now all Religion is bound upon us on this account that there is such evidence offered for its truth which may and ought to satisfie the strictest Examen of Reason And all certainty is resolved in this that our rational faculties are convinced of the truth of the objects that he before us which conviction when applied to divine matters is called Conscience But there may be great mistakes in this Conviction for either the prejudices that lie on our minds from our senses the prepossessions of Education interest or humors the want of a due application of our faculties to their objects or chiefly the dulness and lesion of our Organs the corruption of our minds through sin and lust occasion many errors so that often without good reason oft contrary to it we take up persuasions to which we stifly adhere and count such convictions evidences of the Will of GOD. I acknowledg when a Man lies under a persuasion of the Will of GOD he ought not to go cross to it for this opens a door to Atheism when that is contradicted of which we are convinced But if this persuasion be false it cannot secure a Man from sinning in following of it For it is a Man 's own fault that he is thus imposed upon since if his rational faculties were duly applied and well purified they should prove unerring touchstones of truth If therefore through vanity wilfulness rashness or any other byass of the mind it be carried to wrong measures a Man is to blame himself and thus his errour ought to aggravate and not lessen his guilt If then a Man's conscience dictate to him the contrary of what GOD commands in that case he is in a visible hazard for his error can never tâ—ke away GOD's Authoâ—ity and so his wrong informed conscience doth not secure him from guilt if he be disobedient On the other hand nothing in Scripture can bind a Man to act a-against the convictions of conscience since we are bound to believe the Scriptures only because of the evidence of their authority to our rational faculties If then our belief of the Scriptures rest on that foundation no part of Scripture can bind us to walk contrary to that evidence for then it should destroy that Principle on which our Obligation to believe it self is founded which is the evidence of reason and so in that case a Man sins whatever he do Neither is this to be accountd strange since that erroneous conscience is from man's own fault And that which some alledg to escape this that in such cases a Man ought to forbear from acting will not serve turn to excuse a Man from sin For in these Precepts which exact a positive obedience such a â—orbearance and surceasing from action is a sin Upon these Evidences then it will follow that if the conviction of our conscience run contrary to the Magistrates commands these convictions are either well grounded or ill If the former then the Magistrates command being contrary to the nature and Will of GOD aâ—e not to be obeyed If ill grounded then that mistaken persuasion cannot secure us from sin no more than in the case of conscience contradicting the Law of GOD for the Laws of the Magistrates in things lawful are the Laws of GOD being the application of his general Laws unto particular instances by one cloathed with authority from him Therefore tho I do not say the Laws of the Magistrate can warrant our counteracting an erroneous conscience yet on the contrary a misinformed conscience will not secure us when we disobey the Magistrates lawful commands And thus I think your first Question is clearly answered End You have a great deal of reason to say so your discourse being so closely rational that I cannot see any escape from any paâ—t of it yet I must add that certainly it is a piece of Christian tenderness which obligeth all in Authority to beware of laying gall-traps and snares in the way of tender consciences And the best way to get an undisputed obedience is that their commands be liable to as few exceptions as is possible and that the good of any such Laws be well ballanced with the hazards of them that so the Communion of the Church in all outwards particularly in the Sacraments may be had on as easie terms as is possible whereby nothing be enacted that may frighten away weakâ—r
Blasphemers and apply all the threatnings against mockers of GOD and Piety to such as shall offer to unmask them or disclose any of their follies If these in Authority coerce them nothing is to be heard but complaints of persecution and revilings and evil surmisings But will gentle courses mollifie their hearts No not so much as to be grateful or civil to those to whom they ow them but they will be sure to observe how GOD binds up the hands of the wicked and how marvellously he protects his own and all the favor shewed them will have no better character than a very mean and scant act of Iustice â—licite by a visible State conveniency if not necessity See p. 493. You know of whom I mean and how justly applicable these Characters are to them and that they are not the dreams of an eâ—travagant fancy but true though imperfect descriptions of what every one sees to be among us Isot. I am heartily sorry to find you the first that swerves from your own Rule and to hear you engage in a Discourse so unlike your self at least so different from the character is conceived of you these invectives being fitter for the Author of the friendly Debate the Scriblâ—r of the Diaâ—ogues or the Asserter of Ecclesiastical Policy who have mortally wounded Religion and all the professions and expressions of it under a pretence of unvailing the Pharisaical spirit And indeed you are now in the same Tract your design being to charge all the faithful servants of CHRIST with this tatling whispering and censorious temper because perhaps some idle people who own a kindness for these Opinions but really are of no principles may be guilty of these ways Eud. I beseech you wrest not my words beyond my design and their meaning I charge not the whole Party with these Arts yet that there is too great compliance given to them and too little freedom used against them by too many may without unjustice or breach of Charity be averred but the disclosing of these is so far from injuring Religion that I know nothing so proper for recovering the World from the jealousies these Arts have occasioned at it as the unmasking of that Spirit that so the amiable and lovely visage of true Religion may appear in its own lustre and free of these false Colors some unjust pretenders to it hâ—ve cast over it and therefore these Writings you mention seem to have pursued a noble Design which shall not want its reward Bâ—t remember I make a vast difference betwixt the being of an Opinion and the pursuing all these crooked and wicked practices for its defence which I have laid before you At the former I have no quarrel for knowing how subject my self is to mistakes I censure and judg none for their Opinions till they strike at the foundations of Faith or a good life And so do not only not charge all your Party with these imputations but know a great many of them who are very free of them but that many are too guilty of them is what your self dares not deny And how much of that temper appears in the late Pamphlets I leave with every rational Reader to consideâ— for it is not worth the while for any of us to sit down and canvass them all But how guilty are most of you in this which you here blame me unjustly for which is the charging a Party with the escapes how great or signal soever of some individuals For to undertake the Patrociny of every man in every Party is that which none in his right wits will do To deal therefore equally with you I neither think your Party nor ours culpable for the faults of some particular persons Bâ—t Sir when a perverse detracting Spirit gets in to these who pretend highly certainly they ought to be told it and that roundly too For you know the greatest danger to Religion is to be apprehended from the leaven of the Scribes and Phariâ—â—ecs since open and discernible faults do not so much prevail for infecting the Christian Sâ—creties as these secret and more easily palliated errors Consider therefore a little what was the righteousness of the Pharisees and what was their leaven and search for it left it yet leaven you and lest your righteousness exceed not theirs The Pharisees prayed often and long both in the Synagogues streets and widows houses they studied the Law exactly and had a great reverence for Moses and the Prophets and much zeal against blasphemers false teachers and hereticks They were strict observers of the Sabbath and were careful to prepare for their Passouer solemnities They had great respect for the opinions of their Ancestors They looked grave and solemn They fasted often and gave tythes of all they had Their outward deportment was not only clean but beautiful They were zealous to gain Proselytes and expressed a tenderness of conscience even in the smallest matters They were careful to avoid all converse with profane or wicked persons In a word they had many things which to a vulgar and less discerning eye made a fair show in the flesh But with all this they were proud and exalted in their own conceits so that they despised all other persons They were Magisterial and desired to prescribe to every body They were full of empty boastings and assumed to themselves big and swelling Titles and all their opinions they obtruded as Oracles They did all to be seen of men and loved salutations in the market places and the uppermost rooms at feasts They envied any they saw outstrip them in true worth and hated and contemned all that followed these They studied to calumniate and revile every person that opposed them with the most unjust and cruel reproaches excommunicating all who adhered to them Neither would they yield to the clearest evidences were offered for their conviction and nothing but the blood of the most innocent could satisfie their revenge They were covetous and devoured widows houses with their pretences of devotion They were false and subdolous studying to ensnare others in their speeches or wrest what they said to a contrary and mischievous sense They were traytors to these in Authority though when it might serve their ends they spared not to pretend much zeal for them and the fervor of their zeal made them often attempt the murdeâ—â—ng of those who opposed them and discovered their false pretexts and mischievous designs And from this let all Jâ—dge how much of that Pharisaical leaven doth yet lurk and leaven among us I know the application would be thought as invidious as it is obvious And I pray GOD those gâ—ilty of these evils may charge them home upon themselves For I confess I love not that part of the Chirurgeons trade so well as to dwell longer on the cutting of ulcers or the searching of sores and these whom this general hint will not help to some conviction would be little prevailed upon by a closer discovery of the parallel But