without money in the case as is generally too evident how should houses Haud facile emergunt quarum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domus is as true as if it had been domi that is it holds as certain in houses as in men It is mony must raise them But what shall they do that have it not nor can by any means procure it I know no way but one viz. they must fell their ground but there is the misery who will give them to the worth of it They that know they must or are forced to sell think to buy it as they list or at some such rates as too many have bought Debenters it may be at a Noble for the worth and value of each pound Thus poor men are bought and sold as the Prophet expresseth it for a pair of shoes Amos 2.6 A rich commodity in a poor mans hand is nothing worth so barbarously are men upon the catch taking their utmost advantages one against another which is to make a vice instead of a vertue of necessity I mean a vice to themselves out of the necessity of others For doubtless he that buyeth out poor men so cheaply selleth himself to work wickedness Well what said Ahab to Naboth 1 Kin. 21.2 Give me thy Vineyard and I will give thee for it a better Vineyard than that or if it seem good to thee I will give thee the worth of it in money He offered a valuable consideration for Naboths ground will you be worse than that Ahab If your Brethren be hungry will you take occasion thereby to purchase their Birth-right for a mess of pottage as Jacob did who was many wayes crossed afterwards in one kind and in another What blessing can be expected or rather what curse may not be lookt for upon those houses the foundations of which are laid in oppression and grinding the faces of the poor who in order to bread are forced to suffer their own faces to be ground Are no merciful men to be found who in consideration of the necessity of poor men will give them for their ground rather more than it is worth at leastwise full as much yea why should not every man be so far forth merciful sith the latter of the two is but to be just Art thou in a purchasing case buy poor mens ground at a full rate build upon it and when that is done if they be able to pay a moderate Rent and it may be a courtesie to them become their Landlord He may prove a sufficient Tenant who is not able to build his own house and his Landlord may have a blessing for his sake for blessed is he that considereth the poor Psa 40.1 Be not you discouraged if you cannot build your selves another mans house may be as commodious for you as one of your own erecting and if there happen to be inconveniencies in it they will not so much upbraid and vex you as if they had been contracted by your own misbuilding as they might have been Nam quae non fecimus ipsi haud ea nostra voco you are not chargeable with the faults of those houses which you did not make or build your selves I have one thing more to say to such as must sell their ground and are dejected at the thoughts of so doing Were you not so far undone that you could not attempt to build who knows whither you as many others have been and it is supposed will be might not be undone by building DISCOURSE XI That a strict observation of the Lords day might greatly promote the rebuilding of the City THe Lords Day is not that Sabbath which was first so called for that was the last day of the week whereas it is the first yet a Sabbath it is and doubtless injoyned in and by the same Commandment that the Jewish Sabbath was viz. the fourth for whosoever doth not acknowledge it so to be must either say that there is no Sabbath at all or day of holy rest to be kept under the New Testament and consequently that there are now but nine Commandments in the Moral Law the fourth being abrogated and expired whereas Christ hath told us That till heaven and earth pass one jot shall in no wise pass from that Law Mat. 5.18 or else they must say that the last day of the week is that which ought alwayes to be observed by Christians as it is by Jews for the only Sabbath and weekly holy day that is for ever to be celebrated in obedience to that Command Most Christians are averse from Judaizing in taking Saturday for their Sabbath chusing rather to imitate the practise of the Apostles whose manner it was to observe not the last but first day of the week which we conclude they would not have done but by Warrantie and Commission from Christ who alone was Lord of the Sabbath so to do Yet some few Christians there are who symbolize with the Jews in their saturday-Saturday-Sabbath and keep the same day as holy as they can And verily if in this case I may speak my mind freely they are much less too blame who keep a Saturday Sabbath than they who keep none at all who understand that Commandment as the Jews do than they who make as if it were abrogated and disannulled But he that shall fall into neither of the extremes aforesaid but shall confess that the first day of the week is that which was instituted for Christians by the fourth Commandment must needs own it to be a Sabbath because instituted and appointed by and under that name Exod. 20.8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy and v. 11. The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it That it was necessary I should prove there is a Sabbath yet in being and that the day which men ought weekly to observe as holy to the Lord thoroughout all Ages is called the Sabbath to the end I might shew that the Promises made and incouragements given to such as have kept or shall keep holy the Sabbath day are not insignificant and out of date as to us who live under the New Testament Having done that it will be easie to prove what I have affirmed in the Title of this Chapter viz. that a strict observation of the Sabbath for so is the Lords day to Christians would greatly promote the building of the City witness that pregnant promise which of its self were a sufficient testimony Isa 58.12 13. And they that shall be of thee shall build the wast places thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach and restorer of paths to dwell in If thou turn away thy foot from my Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own wayes nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words v. 14. I will cause thee to ride
my self whilst I was about this work and found that saying of a reverend Divine most true that one man in a little time is many men In some parts and places of this book thou mayest lye down as it were in green pastures and be lead beside the still waters alluding to Ps 23. I mean tollerably recreate thy self if thou hast a mind so to do and in others again as in dark groves and obscure grottoes thou mayest satiate thy self with melancholy if that humour please thee better as some have seemed to me to be in love with it But I think thou wilt find the daies longer than the nights and less of darkness than of light or lightsomness throughout this whole treatise which I had no mind to make like the Fish called Sepia or Cuttle-fish which casts ink and blackness upon all the waters where it swims at least-wise so often as it self is in any trouble or danger of being taken but rather more like that more excellent creature viz. the Sun which disperseth clouds and darkness wheresoever he cometh Sic liceat magnis componere parva that is if it be lawful for us to make so unequal a comparison There are two things which I should most of all desire to meet with in the preface to any book viz. Some account of the Authour either from himself or from some other and some account of the work I would know whose book I read I mean the Genius and temper of the Authour that I might the better understand what I read ex gr If I know the Canticles to have been indited by the holy Ghost and penned by Solomon I am sure no one expression in that whole book ought to have any wanton or lascivious construction put upon it nor could be so intended the Authour considered though but for that there are several passages in that book liable enough unto being taken in an amorous sense It is an ordinary saying Cum duo faciunt idem non est idem when two men viz. of different spirits do one thing it is not one and the same thing which they do The same may be applied to writing and speaking Those passages may be well taken from persons of known moderation which coming from others might be liable to a worse construction and the sayings of moderate men should always be taken in a modest and moderate sense if the words will but bear it and whereas it is said that every thing hath two handles viz. a better and a worse what is presented to us by persons universally owned as candid and moderate should always be taken by the better handle of the two for the sayings and writings of men are generally such as they themselves are Now the Authour of this Treatise knowing that a verbal testimony given by any man to himself doth signifie nothing as Christ saith If I bear record of myself my record is not true maketh his humble appeal to all that know him whether the tenour of his conversation and practice for professions and subscriptions amount to little hath not alwaies proclaimed him a moderate man of a reconciling spirit and of a healing temper Those countries that lie near the equinoctial line are continually scorched with heat whether the Sun be moving north or south whereas those parts which are more remote from the Ecliptick line or path of the Sun go by the name of temperate zones So have I seen sober persons who by virtue of their moderation have been nearer to others whether they were such as had Northern or Southern latitude for moderation is a kind of medium participationis a participation of two extreams but of neither of them in extremity like a composition of elements which remain in mixtion but refractly I say I have seen such under greater sufferings than other men who have been violent one way or other and to fare like one that goes about to part a couple that are fighting and by that means brings them both about his own ears and whilst he would make them friends with one another makes them both enemies to himself I was about to say I my self have been a kind of Martyr in the behalf of Moderation and am not ashamed to own it It is fit that some body should do the world good even against its will and particularly by promoting that which violence would certainly extinguish I mean love and reconciliation without which the world can no more be happy than there can be day in the world without a Sun If I have any moderation to spare as some think I have I wish I could impart it to them that have little or none God was not in the wind which rent the mountains nor in the earth quake nor in the fire but in the still small voice 1 Kings 19.12 All the four Evangelists do record that the holy Ghost descended like a dove Mat. 3.16 c. The wrath of man accomplisheth not the righteousness of God I profess my self to be neither for Paul nor for Apollos nor Cephas in opposition to one another but for Christ in conjunction with all of them and to be most for those Disciples whether of Paul of Apollos or of Cephas which I judg to be really best in their practice though more remote than others from my particular judgment So far as men are of my mind they bear my image but so far as they are good they bear Gods image now I would love Gods image in men more than my own It may be a mans defect to be like me but I am sure it is his excellency to be like God I cannot bring my self to think that all persons of one or two perswasions are only godly and that all the rest of people who are not of those perswasions are carnal and wicked I think that some perswasions have fewer people of good lives adhering to them than do adhere to some others but yet there are some worse people amongst those that are generally best and some better people than many of them amongst those that are generally worse than they and that I ought to love the good people of a party more generally bad better than the bad people of a party that is more generally good Time was that Judas might have been seen amongst the disciples of Christ and Christ himself amongst the publicans Grace and Learning or solid wisdom and good nature all yea every one of these do more attract my heart to him that hath them and is not of my judgment than to be of my judgment doth or can attract it to him that hath them not If I were a Presbyterian indowed with power as some of that name have somtimes been I would more love and encourage an Episcopal man that were of good life and of good Learning and of a peaceable spirit than one that professed himself a zealous Presbyterian whose life and learning and temper were not so good to be sure than one that were of an iâ—
another man esteemeth every day alike let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind He that converseth with men about such matters as can admit of any dispute will find it daily and hourly verified that all men cannot idem sentire that is have the same sentiments and apprehensions as to such things but so many men so many minds proves too true a Proverb Thence I infer in the next place that Religion ought not consistere in puncto that is men ought not to make or pretend as if it did or to insist upon it that it should do so or to use force and violence to bring it to that passe it being a fruitless attempt so to do Peradventure men may idem mentiri that is counterfeit and make show as if they were all of a mind when it is their worldly interest so to do but then must they use many distinctions reservations equivocations c. wherewith to salve themselves and their pretended unanimity for idem sentire in matters doubtful all men never can no more than every mans Palate can be pleased a like with all sorts of Meat and Sauces Now that which puts men upon shifts evasions illusions equivocations and such Ananiah and Saphirah-like tricks which rewardeth men for the same and punisheth others that cannot do the like that I say ought not to be and therefore Religion should not be handled as if it did consist in an indivisible point as if every thing were fundamental that is but circumstantial or certain that is but probable or fit to be impos'd or inforc'd which is but fit to be recommended When I plead for some latitude to be allowed in matter of Religion I go upon this supposition that it is not amiss for a Christian Church to declare its opinion in some points of Religion that are not absolutely certain and to give its advice in some matters of practice that are not absolutely necessary at least-wise to salvation and that all Churches use to do so and such advice of a Church and declaration of its opinion is commonly reckon'd as part of the Religion which it professeth Now taking the Religion of a Church in that large and vulgar sense as well for what it opineth or doth but give its opinion and advice in as for what it determineth and is peremptory in I say in reference to the former of these though not to the latter some latitude ought to be given to modest dissenters either in Opinion or Practice and that for the reasons aforesaid St. Paul having received no Commandement from the Lord concerning Virgins their marrying or not marrying only gave his judgement that it was better at that time not to marry 1 Cor. 7.25 and then left them to their liberty verse 28. But if a Virgin marry she hath not sinned From which example of his may be inferred that where the mind of God is not clearly revealed or there is no manifest Command or Prohibition in the case it is good to advise men the best we can and then leave them to their Liberty By what I have said already may be understood what I mean by the encouraging and countenancing of but one Religion in a Nation so as by publick owning and professing of it and by the Magistrates providing a maintenance for the Professors and Teachers of it viz. that no more Religions should expect to be maintained and upheld by the Laws of one and the same Nation at a publick charge than those which are radically and fundamentally one and the same but it is far from me to assert or think that only one branch of that Religion which hath the same root should be watered by the kindnesse and bounty of the Magistrate whereas surely every branch of the same tree that beareth any fruit ought to be so as a Father ought to provide for all the Children that spring from his own loins and do behave themselves any thing towardly and not only for so many of them as are of such a complexion and of such a stature What are persons whose Religion agreeth in Fundamentals of Doctrine and Practice but Children of the same Father and of the same Mother and such as ought not to be excluded by some few that appropriate the Name of Sons to themselves as if they only were such I make account the true Protestant Religion is but one in and amongst all the Professors of it though they that are such be some of them Calvinists others Lutherans c. as the Children of one and the same Father have several Names or as the several arms of the Sea though diversly called are but one and the same Ocean That one Religion for the substance of it is common to all the true Professors of it as one and the same soul is common to all the parts of that body which it belongs to though of different shapes and figures or as the Apostle saith There are diversities of gifts but one and the same Spirit who worketh all and in all When then I plead the reasonableness of one Religion and but one to have more than the connivance of Authority viz. publick countenance and maintenance I mean the whole body of that Religion or rather of the Professors and Teachers of it if by dishonest unsober and unpeaceable carriage not by some variety in opinion and modest practice they do not cut themselves off All this doth well suit with the notion which I have contended for viz. of a latitude within one and the same Religion which I have proved cannot but be taken and moreover that it ought to be given And now I have one thing more to say concerning such a latitude as I have pleaded for in order to contenting the minds of men in point of Religion which is the design of this chapter I say I have this to prove that the vouchsafement of some latitude in Religion both as to Opinion and Practice needs not to be feared They that dread it are worse scar'd than hurt If some latitude indulged would destroy a Church or Kingdom few of either had been left in the World for some such thing is almost every where admitted and allowed of at leastwise connived at and tollerated even in the Romish Church which doth of all others most glory in its being at unity with it self Witness the Names of Distinction and Opposition which are found in that Church Witness their writing disputing and practicing one contrary to another the two former of which are more than I plead for The danger lyeth not in Dissents but in Dissentions now the former may be without the latter They that are of two minds may love one another far better and oft times do than they that are of one Two humble and well tempered men of different Judgments shall be dearer to one another and have lesser strife than two proud men that are of the same It doth not follow that because men are not of the same opinion they
must wrangle nor yet because they are that they will otherwise agree Some that cannot comply with all and every the opinions and practises of a Church in matters preter fundamental may yet be better sons to that Church in point of duty honour and service than hundreds are who either do or seem in all things to believe as the Church believeth Mr. Chillingworth if I mistake not was a Son that the Church of England seemeth to be as proud of as of most that ever she bore and yet we know he was no eccho to the Church that could say all its words after it he could subscribe the Articles of the Church in no other sense than that they did contain in them what was sufficient for the salvation of them that did believe and practise accordingly which might consist with their being interwoven with several mistakes and errors as a mans eating a hearty meal though it presuppose there is enough at the table of that which he well liketh may consist with many other dishes being there that he doth not care for How many that could universally assent to the Church have been a heaviness to that their mother and a shame to her whilest he that could go no farther than I have said who could not say credo ecclesiae but in ecclesia was and is a praise and a renown We can have but mens words for it that they are of our mind or of the same opinion with the Church and some mens words are but wind and give us no assurance that what they say is true or admit it be how great a change in the minds of weak and unstable men may a day or two produce some of which are generally of that mans mind whom they last discoursed with and carried about with every wind As for some latitude and variety in practise it was a thing the Apostle Paul seemeth not to have been troubled at nor willing that others should be much concerned about it One esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth all daies alike one believeth that he may eat all things another being weak eateth herbs The thing that perplexed him was not that they did not do all alike but that they did desspise and judg one another for not doing the same thing Different practise in circumstantial matters cannot make so great a discrepancy betwixt one Church and another and the ordinances therein administred as variety and diversity of gifts doth and needs must make whilst the gift of one Minister lieth in explication of another in application one is a Boanerges the other a Barnabas one hath a lofty stile like Isaiah the other as plain as Amos in one mans preaching an Elephant may swim but in another mans a Lamb may wade Is the use of gifts given by God for the edification of the Church to be suppressed because gifts are so various and unlike one another Is there not harmony even in that discord what great deformity or disorder can there then be in that smaller discrepancy which ariseth from the meer varying of circumstances such as habits postures gestures in which yet I would have no man to affect singularity and to differ from others no more than to suffer for that dissonancy to others which he cannot help his conscience being such as it is Did ever man complain that the motion of the Sun was irregular and ill-favoured because a certain latitude is allowed him within his ecliptick line which he makes use of one while Northward another while toward the South nay is it not for the good of the world it should be so To return once more to a latitude as to opinions about such points of Religion as are not fundamental I could plead for the allowance or permission of it by saying First That much of that which is called controversy is meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or strife about words we thinking others and they us again to be far more dissonant than indeed we are our meanings being like the tops of some mountains in Wales which do or seem even to touch one another but our words like the bottomes of those mountains which are many miles asunder Men oft-times do neither contradict us nor prejudice themselves so much by their different opinions as we take them to do because they seem to differ from us and from the truth more than they do Secondly By some liberty of disputing as by knocking of two flints together some sparks of light are brought out and men are more confirmed in the truth nihil est tam certum quà m quod ex dubio certum Thus trees by being shaken may take deeper root Thirdly to be in heart a dissenter from a Church in some lesse certain Opinions if men be such only in heart can no ways redound to the prejudice of Church or State nor be so much as a grief to either if they please not to enquire into it for as our Proverb saith What the eye seeth not the heart rues not Fourthly dissenters as to preterfundamental Opinions whilst they speak not Polemical but practical language which is easie for them to do can scarce be known to dissent but when men expresse controverted matters in School terms known terms of war and defiance they do as it were beat up an alarm to those of the contrary perswasion and send them a challenge and bring the enemy about their ears Prudent men by observing that rule though they dissent yet can forbear to offend and consequently need not to be rejected for their inoffensive dissents Fifthly Those that differ as to certain axiomes and principles may draw the same conclusions from both at leastwise aim at the same mark yea and hit it They that disagree in their speculative part may yet agree in the practick So it is observed that Calvinists and Arminians differ but little in the applicative part of their Sermons so have we seen Bowlers some play their byasses up others down at the same Mistress and both it may be have come near it The notional part of Physick is much altered from what it was yet men cure diseases as they had wont to do and that change which is made in the Theory of Physick makes little in the practice Lastly God would that there should be some latitude allowed both as to opinion and practise within the Verge and compass of the true Religion which is every where radically and fundamentally the same as we may easily gather first from hence that God hath left many smaller things in Religion adiaphorous that is indifferent and undetermined as if intended on purpose for to be the Sphere of Christian Liberty within the compass of which men might act or not act do the same things or differ one from another and both without sin Of this there are many instances in Scripture as Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 7. c. Again God hath left several other things in the Scripture dark and doubtful admitting of doubtful disputations as
himself and those that flock together with him But for the generality of men I dare to undertake that a liberty in common with others birds of the same kind though not of the same feather that is persons of the same Religion for substance though of different opinion would make their hearts more glad than theirs whose corn and wine encrease Then would our City go merrily on and men would build with a courage whereas on the other hand dissatisfactions as to Religion dis-spirit men for all good purposes and make them cold and careless whilst men dream of transplanting they will have little heart to building That which makes men listless to Trade will make them so to build and that which qui-ckneth the one as to deal tenderly with their Religion certainly doth will also quicken the other Whilst some upbraid others with their dissonant Opinions they will upbraid them again with their dissolute lives and thus whilst we pry into one anothers weaknesses and pelt each other with dirt the City is like to go but slowly on to what it might do if we had that mutual charity which is said to cover a multitude of infirmities A vexed conscience like the passion of jealousie is the rage of a man and will hardly spare in the day of its wrath A vexed conscience will go nigh to discover it self one time or other as they say vexata natura prodit seipsam And are men fit to build in a rage A serene mind is fit for any thing but a mind that is like the raging Sea will do nothing but cast up dirt and mire We read in Isa 11.13 how that Ephraim shall not envy Judah and Judah shall not vex Ephraim When God shall make and perform some such promise to England then certainly will our City go up amain DISCOURSE XVII That a studious advancing and promoting of Trade by those that have power to do it would greatly contribute to the Re-building of London WHat should we do with a City without a Trade Can men pay great rents and fines keep servants c. with little or no trade Citizens as is said of the Fowls of the Air can neither sow nor reap illis nec seritur nec metitur in a literal sense London streets are neither arable nor Pasture Take away their Trade and you take their Milstone to pledg which is their very life for so a mans livelyhood is said to be London is a Lamp Trade the Oil that feeds it What is a Lamp without Oil Give them but Oil enough and if others have made them burn you will make them shine again If Trade be destroyed Citizens will be starved and that will make them desperate for Hunger as they say will break through stone walls Those Bees will care for no hive if they can suck no honey If Trades be not the making of men usually they are their undoing If Trading take wings and fly away they will be gone too Could Londoners foresee there would be no Trade they would presently cease from building and betake themselves to the Countrey where they could profit more both by the earth and by the air and could live for less No Trade no City no City no Kingdom Impoverish London and you impoverish the Countrey for the City doubtless was and is the best door of utterance for the Countrey mans best Commodities impoverish the Farmer and you undo both Gentry and Nobility for what shall Landlords live upon when Tenants cannot pay their rents Who knows not that Trade is that to the Politick Body that the Circulation of the Bloud whereby proper nourishment is conveyed to every part is to the Body natural When the Bloud stagnates or doth not circulate freely the Body languisheth Trade is a Mystery of gaining by those that do gain by us and in the same Commodity The Merchant gains by the Drugster the Drugster by the Apothecary the Apothecary by the Patient and the Patient by the Apothecary with the blessing of God though not wealth yet health which is better As friendship is upheld in the World by an intercourse of kindnesses and doing of courtesies one for another so the greatest part of humane society is upheld by Commerce and Traffique one man needing anothers Commodities and he his again Trade is as I may call it a grave Tennis-play whereby the Ball of profit is banded from one man to another an exercise which most men are so well pleased with that should they be deprived of it many men would not much care to be in the World much less in the City In a word Trade is the very radical moisture of London and of other Cities when that is almost dried up Citizens like those that are fallen into a Consumption or hectick Feaver will change the Air and choose to be in the Countrey and to build there if they build any where Give Citizens what you will besides they will never be content without a Trade and the reason is because they cannot be content to starve as we see the Inhabitants of those Towns are ready to do where the ancient Trade were it of Cloathing or whatsoever else is almost quite lost Though Trade would not content them without any thing else yet I am sure nothing else would without the accession of a Trade Men will never believe they have any love for them who have none for their Trading and do naturally hate those whom they do but suspect to be enemies thereunto Enemies to Trade if there be any such Monsters can be no friends to the honour of the King for to be a King of Beggars must needs be a disgrace sith God counts it his honour to be a King of Kings I think the honour as of a King so of a Parliament is not a little concerned in the welfare of Trade For a Parliament is a Colledge of State Physitians and Trade hath been their Patient all along a cachectick obstructed Patient could they cure it at last they would be famous London in the Act for the rebuilding of it is spoken of by the Honourable Title of a place renowned for Traffique and Commerce all the World over So will the contrivers of that Act be for their Wisdom and prudence when they shall bring it to that pass again Could Londoners regain such a Trade as formerly they have had they would not grudg to build such a City as might even dazle the eyes of its beholders but as Trade goes now they think it is fine enough as it is and is intended to be if not too fine DISCOURSE XVIII That the best way to dispatch the City would be to build some whole Streets together WEE have yet but a scattering Village as it were of the new part of London whereas if we had been wise we might have had by this time almost as easily a kind of New City My meaning is this If the Owners of ground belonging to some of the highest and noblest Streets
very things that bring or shall bring on love will carry off fears and jealousies One good way to be trusted by others is to trust others so far as in reason we may Jealousies beget Jealousies and some men will not or cannot trust because they are not trusted as far as they think they might or deserve to be It is commonly found that men are jealous of those that are jealous of them for men are jealous of those that they believe do not love them and they do not believe they can love them who are much jealous of them For perfect fear will cast out love as perfect love doth fear On the other hand confidence begets confidence it is an usual argumentation amongst men why should not we put confidence in such and such as well as they put confidence in us as if it were a piece of gratitude and but justice to trust those that trust us Whereas on the other hand men that will take no assurance from others but what is more than enough or than they can give will be able to give no assurance to others that will be taken and so jealousies will be endlesly propagated by way of retaliation As good a receipt as any of the former for the cure of fears and jealousies is this viz. that persons who have the unhappiness to be generally suspected and ill beloved though possibly they may not deserve it should have as little of the safety and welfare of a nation committed to them as can well be forasmuch as the spirit of jealousie presently comes upon people when those whom they are greatly prejudiced against as being of a contrary religion or otherwise are chosen to places of eminency either military or civil An eye should be had to those who keep others in fear as they that give out threatning words causing the persons threatned to go in fear of their lives are or may be bound to their good behaviour Lastly If the heats and indiscretions of some men were lookt after who sometimes seem to symbolize with Papists in their peculiar doctrines and then the people by such preaching alarm'd cry out with a loud voice Venient Romani and who other whiles exasperate their hearers with bitter invectives putting them thereby into an expectation of nothing but trouble and persecution to â—nsue after so threatning expressions I say if men might not be suffered to harp upon those strings wherby an evil spirit is not laid but raised or were narrowly watcht that they should no where turn pulpits into cock-pits and come directly and intentionally not to bring peace but a sword a drawn sword instead of an Olive branch but more especially if Ministers would every where come as persons sent of God to bring good tidings to the meek to bind up the broken hearted to comfort all that mourn c. By that means would the exasperations of mens minds be gradually taken off and their fears and jealousies begin to go off like the morning Cloud and as the early dew Woe unto us that at this day we are all afraid one of another and woe unto them that study to encrease our fears When shall such a promise be made good to us as that in Micah 4.4 But they shall sit every man under his Vine and under his Fig-tree and none shall make them afraid DISCOURSE XXIX That if the dread and terrour of the Popish party which is upon the people were taken off the building of the City would thereby be much incouraged PApists must not be knockt on the head because the people are afraid of them neither ought their estates therefore to be confiscated or themselves generally confined much less for that only reason should they all be exiled from their Native Country Some of them I believe would do others no hurt if they could all should and may be disabled from any such thing if they would This may be done and yet they not be undone Certain it is that Papists at this day are a very center of jealousie in and upon whom the fears of all English Protestants of what perswasion soever do meet Is it because the bloud that was shed in the Marian daies doth still cry aloud in the ears of men as well as of Heaven or is it because the Invasion attempted upon England in Eighty Eight is not yet forgotten or is it because the Parisian Massacre will not out of mens minds or is it because the most hellish Powder Plot upon the accompt of which we celebrate each fifth of November doth still stick in mens stomacks or is it long of that most devillish Tragedy which was acted by the Papists in Ireland upon the Innocent Protestants within less than thirty years past causing the streets to swim with their bloud or is it because London was lately so suddenly and strangely burnt and Papists known to insult and triumph when it was done besides other suspitious passages of theirs relating thereunto as namely their predictions concerning it c. or is it all of these put together that do make Papists so formidable to Protestants in England Some rather than be thought to fear where no fear is would be ready to give many more reasons of the fear that is in them to every one that should ask them why they are so much afraid of Papists First their hatred to Protestants by the forementioned instances appeareth to be great and implacable then they would tell you that many Families of that Religion in England are very considerable for their estates parts and otherwise Nextly that they are great pretenders unto having highly merited as from God so from men above others if not to works of Supererrogation which is as if they challenged it as their due to be uppermost How politick how vigilant and how restless a people they are all men know how they compass Sea and Land to carry on their designs The men of their Religion seem to have a particular spite at England and an ambition to subdue it to themselves rather than any other Nation as he said Fight neither against great nor small but c. so they seem to say but against England We should not fear them say they but that we know what Religion France and Spain are of and can have no assurance that they will not one time or other crave aid at leastwise of so near a Neighbour as one of them is rather than fail of their designs What should hinder them from so doing who profess to the world that they do owe more homage to a forreign Prince viz. the Pope than to their own and that the Pope is Supreme Head over all temporal Princes and consequently can supersede the Laws of any other Prince and give away their Crowns and Scepters when and to whom he pleaseth If then the Pope shall command them to joyn with or invite in a Forreign Prince against their own Sovereign according to that principle it is but their duty to do
take is the commonest thing in the world I am mistaken if private and small Assemblies will not necessarily multiply in infinitum if places for publick Worship be not built If a great Family were crowded into a house in which every room were very small like Cabins in a ship it were impossible that whole Family should eat and drink and converse all together but every one must eat and drink by himself or only some few in a company which would be very uncomfortable and a great disorder Some may think that the variety of Opinions which are in England at this day would cause as great multiplicity of Assemblies as now is though there were ever so many publick Churches but I am not of their mind for that I have taken notice that where men of good lives and of good abilities have Preached the Congregation hath consisted of sober persons of very different perswasions whoout of a respect to publick Ordinances have there presented themselves though it may be scarce two of them of a different sort are ordinarily found together at the same private Meeting I do not at all despair but that some little prejudices which now keep good men asunder will in time wear off and that with the blessing of God what I have written in this book will somewhat contribute to it or they themselves by degrees will see the vanity groundlesness and ill consequence of their divisions and when that is done one Church will hold them whom now a few cannot The inconvenience and ill consequence of having many divisions and sub-divisions of Christian Societies more than is needful or than use to be is greater than can easily be foreseen If one and the same Church or Society break into ten or twenty distinct Churches or Societies every one of them under several Teachers and going their own way will they not have less love for one another less converse together less of Majesty and Authority less strength and power to withstand those that shall oppose and set themselves against them than they had when they were all together Who had not rather have any thing whole than in small pieces who will give so much for parcels and remnants as for that cloth or stuff which is cut out of the whole piece Bread that is cut drieth and spoils presently and they say that beer drinks smaller and dies sooner when there is but a little of it than when a great quantity is put up together Should an army be divided into as many regiments as there are companies in it and into as many companies as there are squadrons it would be nothing like so able to deal with an enemy nor would it be half so capable as now it is of good government and discipline Surely a good government in the Church were better than none at all nor can the Church well subsist without some government any more than a State can do but certainly the Church can at no time admit of any government either of one sort or of another in case it were so there were no publick Churches or publick congregations for if it happen there be ten or twenty societies for one that use to be that have no relation to one another nor no certain places of meeting who can take an account of them or have a due inspection over them If a master that hath two hundred scholars should divide them into fifty several forms or Classes reading distinct Authors how impossible would it be for him to teach them all whereas if he reduce them all to five or six forms with the help of an usher or two he may teach them well enough Let there be no government in the Church and then all will be Prophets all will be teachers or as many as please to make themselves so and as can gain a few people to hear them the people will make to themselves Prophets of the lowest of the people as did Jeroboam now it is a great evil to make teachers of them that are none as well as to make no teachers of them that are or ought to be such and they that preach will preach what they list none controlling them and practise how they list and the end of that will be woful ignorance error dissention and confusion which cannot be prevented unless the Church that great school of Christ do consist of larg forms or Classes I mean publick Churches and congregations to which the masters of assemblies may have an eye be those masters of assemblies of one judgment or of another If scholars repair to their schools at school time and there receive the instruction of honest and able masters if it be their happiness to have such they may better be trusted as to what they shal do at other hours either in their closets or chambers when they are by themselves or in company and consultation one with another Publick Churches will make way for Christians to testifie their union and communion with one another by joyning there together whatsoever opportunities over and above those they shall make use of in private Solomon tels us that the borrower is servant to the lender Prov. 22.7 If there be publick places erected primarily for religious worship then religion will be in a condition to lend as when Churches are lent at such times as they can be spared to such as teach school and cannot be otherwise provided but if there be no such Religion must borrow and so become a servant which ought to be every ones master Private places of worship frequented by those who altogether refrain the publick are ordinarily called by some name of distinction and appropriation as namely the place where the Quakers meet or the Anabaptists meeting-house or such like whereas publick Churches carry no such names of distinction with them nor pretend to any other than to keep open house for all comers that have a desire to wait upon God in his ordinances be they of twenty several judgments and that methinks is much better for till names of distinction cease divisions will continue and I see no reason why they who agree in the fundamental doctrines and practises of Christianity should not be willing to pray and hear and sing Psalms together where those duties are piously and solemnly performed though they differ about twenty little things Even infidels should be admitted to publick prayer and preaching how else should they believe in him of whom they have not heard or how should they be converted and as for those who in the judgment of charity are true believers though varying from us in some small opinions and practises I know not why we should exclude them from fellowship with us in the Lords Supper which is to raile in the Communion Table in the worst of senses To have no publick Churches would carry such a face with it as if no Religion were owned established and countenanced or any thing more than tollerated and connived at like a
neither was it a perfect World Or I might liken it to the first appearance of a second World after the first was drowned Is not London such a thing as that was where some high trees and high mountains began to shew themselves here and there but all the rest continued under water So gradually and leisurely doth our City rise But such shall not be the resurrection of the Just for they shall not rise one by one but semel simul all together 1 Cor. 15.52 In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump the dead shall be raised and we shall be changed We which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep we which are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds 1 Thes 4.15 17. And now methinks I have done by London as people use to do by young children whose looks are yet come to no setledness or consistence Some cry they are like the Fathers others that they are like the Mother others again that they are like this or that kinsman or kinswoman I have likened it to very many things and surely it hath some resemblance of every of them But when shall we see it like its self again or every where like what it now is so far as it is now its self Here and there something is hatcht but for the most part London is but as an Egge that we hope may be hatcht in time It looks much worse than it did before the fire but yet much better than it did presently after the fire so that it gives us occasion to sing both of Judgment and mercy Seeing so mixt a face of London as now I do some little part thereof so lovely as it is the rest so lamentable I can do no less than pursue it with my most earnest prayers that as the corrupted bodies of believers shall one day be conformed to their incorruptible Souls and not their immortal Souls ever made like to their mortal bodies and as the Church militant shall hereafter be made glorious as that which is now Triumphant but the Triumphant Church never conformed in sufferings to that which is militant so the ruinous part of London may in Gods good time become such as that which is now most beautiful but the beautiful beginnings thereof in spight of all that wish it may never become ruinous DISCOURSE XVI That uniting or at least wise quieting the minds of men as to matter of Religion so far as it can be done would much conduce to the rebuilding of the City I Am not of their mind that think it an impossible thing to give the generality of men that are any wayes considerable some reasonable satisfaction and contentment in point of Religion It may be difficult but surely it is feasible If it hath been and is done elsewhere why not amongst us That the World may see I do not drive at Anarchy in Religion the first principle I would here suggest is That it cannot reasonably be expected from Rulers and Governors to give equal countenance and incouragement to all sorts of Religion within their respective Dominions viz. to the Christian Jewish and Mahumetan Religion We would not that the Supream Magistrate should appear like a Sceptick as if he were inclined to all Religions but ingaged in none Much less would we that the Laws of a Nation should have a Religion to choose and should respect all alike that is either afford no countenance and maintenance or more than connivance to any or the same to all If the Christian Magistrate do think some Religions damnable as the Jewish Mahumetan and the like no reason he should provide a maintenance for them or for the Teachers of them as of that Religion in and by which he believeth men may be saved Private men are not willing to communicate their substance to the Teachers and leaders of a Religion Fundamentally different from their own What Protestant would voluntarily contribute to the maintenance of Popish Priests as such any more than to the making of a golden Calf why then should any such thing be expected from Protestant Magistrates It is more it may be than Rulers can do without impoverishing a Nation to provide a sufficient maintenance for the Ring-leaders of all parties and perswasions and therefore upon that accompt though upon many others also must let fundamental diffenters shift for themselves Howsoever to give the same encouragement to good and evil truth and falshood I mean to what is fundamentally such in the account of those by whom Laws are made and publick affairs administred is or seemeth to be as irrational a thing as for a Father to intrust a Prodigal child with as great an estate as the rest of his children that are good husbands or one that is a fool or mad man as those that have wit to manage it or as it is to reward vice at the rate of vertue The Principle I have laid down bespeaketh no Anarchy or confusion in Religion because it aimeth at some one Religion to be prefer'd above all the rest viz. that which the Legislators of a Nation shall think fit to establish own and countenance as the publick authorized Profession of this or that Nation which being so established is not alterable at the sole and single will and pleasure of the Prince to be sure in England as having not power in and of himself to repeal such Laws as are made whatsoever Religion or perswasion himself be of which objections being removed out of the way I see no reason why any body should be offended and I think upon the reasons aforesaid very few will if the Law of a Nation and Magistrates whose work it is to put those Laws in execution do afford that countenance and maintenance to one sort of Religion and to the leaders thereof which they afford not to any other that is fundamentally opposite thereunto as is the Jewish or Mahumetan to the Christian and the Popish in some things to the Protestant One or two objections more which are all I can imagine may be raised against this first principle will be answered by and by And therefore I proceed to a second viz. That the Religion of a Nation need not ought not yea indeed cannot consistere in puncto but intrà aliquam latitudinem It must needs be like a circle with several lines drawn within all which though they meet and touch in one and the same centre yet are somewhat distant each from other in the circumference What I affirmed last I shall prove first Viz. That Religion cannot be made to consist in a point that is that all persons who are truely of one and the same Religion can never come to agree in every punctilio For as the Apostle saith Rom. 14.2 One believeth that he may eat all things another who is weak eateth Herbs and verse 5. one man esteemeth one day above another