Reason than to be guided by Books which are the Counters of Wise men but the Money of Fools For though Error be almost as old as Truth and he that in the Gospel ask'd what Truth was would not stay for an Answer and that Infidelity after due search yet disconviction may seem no Crime there is left to us poor mortals no imaginable Cure for that Evil nor a more proper Antidote for to prevent the Debauchery of this conceited Age than to study the excellency of Humane Reason which will lead us to confess believe and obey the Commands of the Giver thereof And this great Truth is that which according to my capacity I have in the following Discourse illustrated not by quoting of particular Books tho the chiefest are wholly on my side that way being a little out of fashion but by familiar and known Instances and whereof the Reader may easily judge without trouble or charge and I have declined to say any thing as foreign to my Apology in Answer to some other Papers Printed since the Answer call'd Plain Dealing about the Abuse of Humane Reason because 't is well known the wickedness of man's heart has alwayes been too ready to abuse God's chiefest Blessings unto wantonness which does not take off from the Excellency of the Gift on the other side we are commanded to offer up to God our Reasonable Service and if Faith were contrary to Reason no body could believe at all nay to speak freely tho Faith may be above it yet few men without special and particular Revelation have hitherto believ'd the truth of Canonical Scripture upon any other Conviction but Tradition Comparison which cannot be done without Reason As for External Obedience to Humane Powers which is a great part of man's Duty no man as Christian ever pretended hitherto to be warranted therein but by considering of it as a general Duty where such Commands do not contradict the Divine Precept so that still it is Reason which must shew him such contradiction and therefore till any man can shew us a Safer Guide the point is if not absolutely gained yet all pretences of a safer Guide must be look'd upon as very fallible AN APOLOGY FOR Humane Reason IF for no other Cause yet for this that 't is more generous to vindicate the Dead where the Living are concern'd in the impressions of Envy upon their silent Ashes than to comply with the Humours of our Dearest Relations and especially where Truth is like to suffer by our silence I have adventur'd to publish this small Piece for the Justification of Mr. Clifford's Excellent Treatise Entituled Humane Reason by way of Reply to that Gent. who wrote the Answer call'd Plain Dealing without assigning any Reasons why this was not published till now having been written at Mr. Clifford's desire who dyed soon after Pursuant therefore to my Title Page as to the Countrey Gentleman's pretty Story of his travelling and enquiring of a lusty Follow the way to the next Town and of his direction after wise circumspection to go by the Esquire's House I am oblig'd to say the Folly lay in the Enquirer who might with the same Breath have ask'd on which hand or whether right on the House stood but it seems the Queen of Waters had too much influenc'd his upper Garret being as much out of his Wits as out of his Way But I 'le be charitable only craving leave to infer it is more than probable his narrow Collegiate Education a thing often fatal to good Wits hath a little blown him up and consequently expos'd him to the Character of Pedantry otherwise had he consulted more cooly our Learned Author 's very generous Design and observ'd how general an Applause that which he terms a little Pamphlet hath worthily had here at London from the best Persons as to Understanding he would have been more civil to the Writer and more cautious in his Censures unless it be grown a Fashion at Cambridge to make up defects of Reasoning with Clamour or Impertinency if that be the Mode there or if it be not the Gentleman's Design is equally defeated for even in the Conduct of it he hath yielded up the Palm to our Author as having made use of what way he conceived most rational to confute him However the Gent. saith and truly that all which the Author hath said amounteth to no more than this that every man must follow right Reason which is his direct way whither to his proposed End and what 's that he hath told him to Happiness but he urgeth that he who doth not before hand know wherein right Reason doth consist as most Mankind doth not will saith the Gent. be as much to seek in his way notwithstanding the Author's Directions which are that a man should use those Directions with Care and Constancy which Reason affordeth as he himself was not knowing whereabouts the Esquire's House was whereunto his wise Guide directed him To all which the Answer is at hand and easie for if the way to Happiness be no otherwise to be found out and attained than by an orderly pursuance of Virtue which the Gent. will not deny then to live virtuously is to live Rationally consequent whereunto it appeareth that to use Reason is no other than to be obedient to the Divine Law of which if any man be ignorant in Christ'ndom either he doth not follow Reason's guidance or is a Fool by reason of some Defect in his Natural Organs The Gent. granteth that by reason of the intricacies of the way to Happiness to choose the right paths and then to guide our selves therein we had need of a better Eye-sight than is left us by the Fall of our First-father but quarrelleth that the Author after all Considerations assigneth no other Guide than Reason and pretendeth not to understand how that can be nay he putteth his Life upon it to verifie his ignorance for he knoweth of no other Guide left unto us after the Fall but Humane Reason concluding that the Author by telling us we had need of a better Guide hath confuted his whole Book for then we have need of a better Guide than Humane Reason and this the Gent. calleth the coming out of Truth in spite of the Author's teeth The onely Question here is what those Directions are which a man's Reason ought to take before and in his Journey to Happiness for the Author told the Gent. Reason would do it if it took right Directions which the Gent. somewhat slily pretermitteth in his disingenuous and carping Inference I say what those Directions are and really I after having consider'd the great truth of the Assertion do more admire the Gentleman's blindness than he himself can be pleas'd with what he hath written for that the Author intended by right Directions Tradition is obvious to any indifferent Reader which is a due consideration of the History of God's Providence his Love Promises and Performances but lest the Gent. should
presume to add or of none at all for I know nothing hath more augmented the unreasonable Folly of Atheists than that very gross Doctrine which diverted the great Arabian Philosopher from Christianity not to mention their Claim to Infallibility and our own Persecution of one another who pretend not to it yet endeavour to lock up the only way left us to vanquish Atheists Heathens Papists or any other in the magisterial positive and implicite Breasts of that sort of Men who give the greatest Blow to Religion it self by such Preclusion of Enquiry when the Scripture biddeth us search and we cry out upon the Church of Rome for her imposing implicite Obedience The next thing the Gent. falleth upon after his having abounded in his Repetition of Rules to interpret the Scripture by having also before agreed Reason to be useful in leading us to the Truth of Scripture which Rules are ordinarily in Books laid down is that the Author useth too great a Latitude in setting the Gates of Heaven too wide open calling it Charity with a Witness inferring as if the Author had designed to prove we ought to believe Turks Jews Heathens and Atheists themselves to be in an equal Possibility of Salvation with the unerring Christian which must be true so far as it is possible these or any of these are in a Possibility of being convinc'd of their Turkism Judaism Heathenism and Atheism to Christianity and may be true as to the Heathens from the Plea allowable to them of invincible Ignorance not so as to Turks because Christianity is amongst them nor to Jews from their Obduration against immediate Miracles done for their Conversion nor to Atheists because they are convincible from the course of all natural Agents though the Author only ask'd the Question Whether we ought to believe these be forenamed were in an equal possibility of Salvation with Christians and to shew he did not believe it he confesseth there is no other name to be saved by that is to speak strictly but that of Christ and then subjoyneth that he may very well believe there are other secret and wonderful ways by which God may be pleas'd to apply his Merits that is Christ's Merits to mankind besides those direct open and ordinary ones of Baptism and Confession which I suppose is no Crime to say nor hard to prove if the time would give Leave so that for all these Scratches of the Gent. the Author's Charity is safe enough Let us see how charitable the Gent. is to his own Countrymen for I must make Leaps as he doth else I cannot overtake him To evidence it pag. 75. of his Answer he saith that when he seeth others when they should worship God sit on their Tails like Dogs or wallow and loll and grunt and groan like Swine or stand up and wriggle and make ugly Faces and grin and make Mouths like Apes or Baboons he must confess he cannot for his Soul but think their way of Worship ridiculous and contrary to the due Expressions of the Reverence they owe to the infinite God of Heaven and Earth which is the Witness of his Charity Now pray observe if I have not Reason enough to think that the Gentleman's way of Worship may seem as ridiculous to the others I am sure his Censure is very uncharitable for though men worshipping according to their Consciences may miss in legal Circumstance yet it is rational to suppose there 's much of Devotion in their manner of worship and Saint Paul was of another mind than this Gent. is for he would not eat rather than offend his weak Brother and there is no one thing more press'd by Christ than Charity which I leave to the Gent's Consideration at his Leisure But he objecteth against the Author for saying That as well different Thoughts may represent the Worship of God and his Son Jesus Christ as different Words can represent the same Thoughts which the Gent. termeth an extravagant Assertion in the literal Sense of it to which I answer It is possible I may have Thoughts of God's several Representation of himself as by Moses by the Man Christ by his Apostles which is to worship him for his gradual Exertion of himself and in the Wisdom and Method of his Operation and otherwise I may reflect upon the Creation of the World beyond that upon the first Race of Intellectuals and then again of the fall of man his being thereby subjected to God's Wrath and finally of Christ's Passion which put us again into a potentiality of being saved by all which to instance in no more I do render him no different but one Worship though every part of my Worship be not at all times subtiliz'd in my Imagination and Memory Therefore though I should admit to the Gentleman that the Worship of God is essentially plac'd in the Thoughts it doth not thence follow as he would have it though illogically that different Thoughts must make different Worships for there is allways an Identity of Worship both natural and grounded upon revealed Truths and if internal Worship be no more than conceiving of all ways according to the best of my Reason so govern'd to honour God by from and under the Satisfaction to me of his incomprehensible Existence and Power I shall have much Peace by it Again How disingeniously the Gent. endeavoureth to possess his Readers that the Author goeth about to prove a man may be excusable though he followeth humane Reason to the denyal of Christianity when the Author expresly saith pag. 57. and 58. That the best and truest humane Reason could not have found out of it self the Wisdom of God in a Mystery ev'n that hidden Wisdom which God ordain'd before the World which is the Mystery of Christ Jesus Christ for saith the Author it was necessary it should be first revealed by the Spirit of God which can only discover the deep things of God but as soon as God had revealed it by Miracles fulfilling of Prophesies humane Reason was able to behold it and confess it not that Grace had alter'd the Eye-sight of humane Reason but that it had drawn the Object nearer to it So far is the Learned Author from alledging that a man may be excusable by following of Reason to the Denyal of Christianity that he hath made it primarily subservient to the Divine Spirit and yet capable to embrace the rationability of Scripture-evidence which is one of the main but not the sole Foundations of Christianity And for Answer to the Gentleman 's confident Challenge to the Author that he would prove that ever the heathen Greeks had amongst them any Question which they defended more directly contrary to the Christian Religion than the Author 's I suppose he meaneth our Relyance upon Reason I will Instance in one only though I might produce more and that is the Epicureans Doctrine which acknowleding God deny'd nevertheless his Providence by pretending it below and inconsistent with his Majesty Divine to
other we need not fear he will punish us for not finding out such Truths Where 's Wilful Ignorance now for saith he if they had been necessary I wish he had told us what are necessary for our Salvation they would have been suited to our Capacities but if we are wilfully ignorant of necessary Truths then it is not more contrary to the Goodness of God to punish us Eternally for that than for any other sin which we dye in without Repentance I reply That in all Cases where I cannot assent to any Proposition about Faith because unconvinc'd having search'd and try'd what possibly I could to convince or inform my self I need not fear God will punish me eternally for in this case I cannot be guilty of that he calleth Wilful Ignorance for it followeth that all Truths which I assent not to having so search'd by my Reason do either surpass my Understanding or they do not if they do I am not punishable saith the Gent. eternally and I say If they do I am not punishable eternally because I could not know they were Truths Punishment alwayes presupposing Guilt and it is no Crime not to be able to know but a natural Infirmity indeed it is a Crime not to search for Truth but none to think such a Position false Neither do I know that men are any were in Scripture said to be condemned eternally for any other but unrepented actual Sins But if I should grant that some Errors are damnable how shall I know which are so one Church condemning another must not my Reason judge for me Yet higher If it be hard to say which a Great Author saith not yet answer'd nor perhaps ever will that God who is the Father of Mercies that doeth in Heaven and Earth all that he will that hath the Hearts of all men in his disposing that Worketh in men both to Will and to Do and without whose free gift a man hath neither inclination to Good nor repentance of Evil should punish mens Transgressions without any end of Time and with all the extremity of Torture that men can imagine and more it seemeth hard to think which I add that he will punish men eternally for not being able to find out the Truth harder for their Errors which they believe to be Truth but hardest of all for not conforming to the External Modes of honouring him which are alterable and many times accommodated to the Interest of a Nation and are only honourable towards him because they are legally declar'd to be honourable in one place not so in another How much therefore doth it concern the Supreme Power every where to consider and weigh the present Genius of the People before they make Ecclesiastical Laws for they alwayes touch the Consciences of men not so other Laws for they are for Publick Peace strictly and must be obey'd they are I say to be considered especially there where in the very Nature of the People there is much pity for Sufferers about Religious concerns and in whom there is a general abhorrence as with us about Religion from Persecution which His Majesty well understood when he afforded that Gracious Condescention besides all men know Persuasion was the Method of the Apostles not Rigor nor will Rigor prevail here And we have lived to see once more to say it the Profit of that demonstrative and rational way of Preaching and Printing used of late whereof D. Stillingfleet's Book Entitled Origines Sacrae that most Excellent Book proving the Being of God the Immortality of the Soul and the truth of Scripture is no mean Example nor are D. Tillotson's Printed Sermons less considerable against Atheism From whence I pass by as granted on all hands the Gentleman's long Harangue which he before play'd with of the Rationability of Men's being obliged to consult with Divines Lawyers and Physicians as answered before Though I may pertinently subjoyn what great Reason our Author had to mention the Ignorance or Malice of one sort of our spiritual Phisicians together with their too visible Vices I mean in some of them as none more likely to let in a Flood of Atheism and Popery than the Disobedience of Dissenters from whence I pass to the Gentleman's next Argument against our Relyance upon Reason he putting the case of meeting with a Jesuit or Sectary who shall attaque me how I will avoid being made either of those two To which I must reply and can give no other than this that in such a Case I must fly to Reason as my safest Guard all other Guides being fallible which no man in his Wits was ever yet so irrational as to say of Reason nor the Gentleman neither Yet to speak freely I cannot think otherwise but that I am obliged to yield to either of those two if they appear either of them to have greater Reason than mine and that I may be safe with either of them the Gent. allows so there 's no Danger at all in meeting with either the one or the other but a possible Profit So great is the use of Reason and so great is the Force and Defence of it The plain Truth is it is the thinking man that is wise As for Books they may be useful yet 't is dangerous relying upon them 't is true a few Books well chosen and digested may open and establish the Understanding when as too much reading dazles it how many Persons of good Natural Parts acquired Wit and Learning wear out their dayes in a perpetual hurry of reading is obvious to every man of general Conversation such are alwayes learning and never come at truth So that every Humane Excellency resolves into Reason or shrowds under its Umbrage Reason which as a Light Divine govern'd the World before the Metaphorical word Conscience was known This begot Government teaches Obedience and first of all oblig'd men to Natural Religion which can never be cancell'd or forgotten All the Lawyers in the World cannot make any Case Law which is not Reasonable 't is not Precedents will do it they are but Opinions Nor can any Divine preach me into a belief of any Proposition unless he be able to convince my Reason that what he sayes is true Nor any Politician warrant the soundness of his Advice to his Sovereign till the Event has justified the Rationability of his Counsel which is the Reason why it has been observed that some wary men in Counsels endeavour to speak last 'T is hard to conceive what that thing is which the Learned call Physicum Fatum so many little and impossible to be foreseen intervening Accidents may and do often alter the most subtile Projections On the other side a Rational and Prudent man may live in Peace in most Times under the changes of Government by complying as Judge Hale did in the times of Usurpation to maintain Property 'T is true Subjects have Liberty in all things where they are not restrain'd by Laws and in such things they have
that it directly leadeth us to the Scripture and leaveth us to be directed by it by which it confesseth it self ought to be guided It is very well the Gent. hath confest that Reason must direct us to the Rule but stay the Bells Sir when I come thither how shall I understand to take my Measures by that Rule that is how shall I use it if Reason do not still direct me For the Question is not amongst Christians whether the Scripture be true or no but this what the meaning is of particular Texts therein or if any man can shew me any other way to understand it but Reason I shall be very thankful if then there be no other way but the Mediation of Reason Reason and bare Reason is to be followed Which Demonstrative Method lately generally embrac'd by the most Learned Divines in London and elsewhere hath certain I am brought more Fixation upon men's Spirits to Truth than all the Canting of many years before if I should say many Ages it were no Hyperbole This may serve for Explication of the Author and to exempt him from the Aspersion which the Gentleman endeavoureth to cast upon him as if his Design had been to deter any man from conforming to the Church of England because if it be rational to comply he that doth not being convinc'd it is so is brutish and he that doth it unconvinc'd is an Hypocrite but if any Dissenter whatsoever from the Church have collected other things than the Book will bear it is not the Fault of the Author but the Ignorance of the Collector Here I might add the inestimable Benefit accruing to all rational men in those vast Tracts of Land where the Scripture was never publisht and where probably the very Name of Christ is unknown from their natural and instinctive Adorations of a Deity whereunto and consequently to Morality very Reason doth invite And I could wish the Gent. who pretendeth so much to civil Education and to be so dutiful a Son of the Church would be a little more charitable to men of tender Consciences who cannot conform without offering Violence to their Reasons for that it was not long since a very great Politician and rational man said There is nothing which is not made necessary by Divine Precept but is eligible But saith the Gent. I would have the Author when he writeth next shew us more of his honesty though less of his Ingenuity how that Confession of the Authors Ingenuity doth consist with the Gentleman 's often future Endeavour to expose him to the Censure of Folly though weakly enough God knoweth will appear afterwards in this Reply for like the good Cow that spills her Milk with her Heels he immediately repenteth of the Character so giv'n to the Author of Ingenuity by telling of us he is resolved Step by Step to lead us out of those Errors which the Treatise of Humane Reason hath lead us into by shewing us the way back again by the same Steps we were first led into them And I am resolv'd to follow the Gent. till he looseth himself or meets with some Ignis fatuus and there it will be fit for me in all our March ever to retire to my Center which is Reason whose Guide if I follow I am sure to be very near the Road unto Happiness this being I think taking of things by the right Handle And now the Author answering the Objection supposible viz. That many of the greatest Wits by following their own Opinions have encreased the Catalogue of Heresies thus that those men either followed not their own Reason but their Wills or first hudwinckt their Reason by Interest Prejudice or Passion escapes the Gentleman's Censure it is very well how then What shall we think of that frightful Word Heresie Which the Scripture hath not defin'd that one Church calleth Piety another Impiety which must be in the World and which hath occasion'd the Effusion of so much Christian blood but this that the Tares must grow up with the Wheat till the time of Harvest and that Experience hath more than once made it evident that men of fiery and blind Zeal have for haste pluckt up the Wheat also But the Gent. groweth angry with the Author for saying it is no great matter for falling into Heresies so called by the Weakness of their understandings for they are neither hurtful to themselves nor others and I cannot choose but add Coals to his Wrath being of the Author's Mind as understanding nothing else by the Term Heresie but Opinion for how can it hurt others what I think Nor my self for I do nothing which I can avoid while I think so as the last Dictate of my Understanding and when I am convinc'd by Reason I must think and believe otherwise Ay! But saith the Gent. is it not the best way for the Magistrate since the Number of Fools exceedeth the Wise in Number by Penalties to restrain these Fools within the Pale of the Church thereby to prevent Heresyes Irreligion and Atheism Grotius was of another Opinion and I believe ten parts of twelve in London are of Opinion that to punish for a bare Opinion is something against the Hair and abhorrent to the English Nation indeed it is not practicable now here nor consistent with Trade which is preferrible much to the Humour of a few violent men Nor do I believe Irreligion getteth any Ground by the Peoples not conforming nor Immorality neither for they that do but pretend to Religion are for the most part careful at least outwardly to appear honest men Probably it were better in several considerable respects if the People would conform but it will not do nor is it some think as of absolute necessity for the Peace of England nor for any individual Mans Salvation unless he doth believe himself oblig'd in Conscience to conform But the Gent. is displeas'd highly with the Author for saying That every man's Soul hath so much Light in it self as is requisite for it's Travel towards Heaven apprehending it to be down-right Pelagianism I am perswaded Pelagius is not very well understood but what if it be Pelagius his Opinion If it be Truth it is not the worse for being his Opinion Certainly every man is capable to consider God as in the course of Nature which is the way he is pleas'd to govern the World by in the Scripture which is the History of the divine Providence and his Duty and the Consequence of Sin Why is it not then proper to say every man hath so much Light in his Soul as will lead him to Happiness for I take Light Reason and Conscience to be the same thing so that notwithstanding the Gentleman's Objection the Text standeth impregnably firm And seriously methinks the Gentleman trifles in excepting at the Author who saith That we must search for Truth in the Center of our selves it being an Assertion worthily memorable from so judicious a man Where should we search for
Truth but in our Hearts which is the Center and it is the Heart God requireth Let men be of what Persuasion soever make what Pretences soever of never so much Christianity or Morality which goes very far is not Truth in the Center Do not the Pretenders know whether they are cordially religious or whether they lay on that only as a Fucus for Interest sake But I pass on The next Accusation which the Gent. bringeth against the Author is that he endeavoureth to shift off the third Objection calling it the most tragical Argument against him which is That an universal Liberty of particular mens Discourses would beget as many Religions as there are men and would be inconsistent with the Peace of all Societies The Author's Answer to the said Objection being in the Negative and proving it from the Examples of different Sects of Philosophers for saith he There were not fewer Sects in Athens than in Amsterdam or London and yet this Variety of Opinions neither begat any civil War in Greece neither was there any Inquisition nor high Commission to prevent them If the Gent. did not forget his Promise of leading us out of all those Errours the Author as he pretended leads us into I believe he would have disproved it by a more pregnant Instance than that out of Josephus about Apollonius Molon's inveighing against Plato who commanded the Citizens to persist in the unalterable Obedience to their Laws and against the not retaining in his Country men of strange Opinions or Religion the Gentleman telling of us Apollonius was ignorant of the Athenian Constitutions but how he could be ignorant of them and yet inveigh against them for not admitting such men of strange Opinions and Religion I cannot imagine nor by what figure that Slip is to be made good I believe there was amongst the Grecians as there is now amongst us Christians of other matters various Disputes touching the Souls of men viz. whether they are praeexistent traductive and mortal or eternal of the summum bonum about the Pythagorean Metempsycosis of the Nature of Daemons the Seat of the Passions the Origine and Nature of good and evil whether the highest Power God did sit majestically idle or did providentially govern sublunary Affairs whether the World were eternal or no and many such but I never heard or read of any besides Diagoras and Protagoras who were taken notice of for absolute Atheists of old and who were therefore worthily condemned for that irrational Opinion and it is very well known what Ages passed away in those kind of innocent Altercations before ever the name of Christ at least before his Doctrine was known in Greece neither is it impertinent to our Subject to insinuate that the Crime objected against Christians was not at first for worshipping Christ but because men gave Him Divine Honours who was not by the Roman Senate enrolled amongst the rest of their Dieties Certain it is where the Law is silent men have Liberty and so they had in Greece at Athens and elsewhere therefore till the Gentleman doth shew us any positive Law there forbidding Disputes about Divine matters every Poet there feigning Romances about their Gods and yet the wisest amongst the Grecians confessing and believing one Supream Power the Author's Instance standeth firm What Liberty Tamerlane gave as to particular Modes of Worship so men did acknowledge and believe in one God is well known and that the Turks at this day permit men to enjoy their general Liberty in Worship so they do not interrupt theirs whence a great Argument may be drawn by supposing it to have been not the least Means to support the Force Peace and Grandeur of that Empire so that every Society or Kingdom in the World doth not to speak of the Low Countries not impose severely merely for Opinions in religious matters no nor for the variety of external Worships so men obey as good Subjects in all other things But saith the Gent. Christians ought not to follow such Examples if any such have been or are because we have a positive and stated Religion given us by God in a most clear and infallible Revelation which our Governours ought to establish and maintain and therefore men must be restrain'd from discoursing else there would be as many Religions as there are men and so saith he the Author's Argument remaineth as Tragical as ever it did This is indeed a very Tragical Story to say Men ought not not to be restrain'd from discoursing I am satisfied we have Religion well stated here but for all that we do not pretend to infallibility wherefore for us to impose being our selves fallible is a little severe as to the Romanists they have something more colour they pretending to Infallibility though it was not because of their pretence to Infallibility we left them but 't was principally because they set the Miter above the Crown See the Laws and the Reason of them but the truth is that Disease of at least equalling the Miter with the Crown doth some suppose still affect all those who pretend something like a Title to their Commission without the Law which no wise Divine will do be it how it will there is nevertheless a great Latitude for Reason to discourse without offering Violence to any Article of our Faith and if I do believe any Article to be true either from Tradition or from Education yet if another can handsomly make it appear it is otherwise rational for me to believe it I shall believe it upon a more strong Motive And as to the Gentleman 's terming the Author's Assertion a sly Insinuation which was That the Stoicks themselves who inslaved the Will did never offer Violence to the Vnderstanding I suppose it not at all sly but true and proper for they had more Wit than to think the Understanding could be violently impos'd on any other way than by Reason they meaning as we do that the Will must necessarily follow the last Dictate of the Understanding that is of the considerative Faculty so the Will is not cannot be compell'd Let the Gentleman shew us if he can that the Author hath any where said the Church of England goeth about to inslave our Understandings but a gall'd Horse back is soon hurt if he cannot shew it why doth he ask that Question of the Author whether he doth or no What then hath the Author done or written shamefully to forfeit the Title of an English Gent. to prove he hath a strange Proof done something meriting that Degradation the Gent. insisteth upon the Obscurity of page the 12. and 13. of the Author's Book an obscure Proof scarce able to satisfie any Jury as if from those pages the Author seems to deserve the Loss of his Spurs and the Gent's Exoration to the Author is that he would upon his Reputation discover whether the Church of England be there meant or no I do not understand that there 's any Necessity in point of Reputation
obscure and impertinent by the Gent. How the Author is guilty of both at once here I cannot imagine for it is very confessedly plain our Birth and Education do most times ingage us in our Religion where 's the Obscurity and it is accounted Scandalous to change our Religion above once at least that is plain and that we are not obliged to a blind unalterable obedience about outward Forms is also reasonable to say for any Protestant which non-obligation the Gent. also agreeth is unnecessary And I will admit the Gent. saith well that it becometh every Separator from the Church of England to inform himself from his own Reason and from the Reason of others especially from his Lawful Minister I loving to hear the word Lawful in this case whether she doth injoyn him any thing that is sinful in it self and if he cannot find her guilty of any such Command then his Separation can no wayes be excusable either before God or Men for it is mere Obstinacy But what if after all these Enquiries and Consultations with others mine own Reason that is my Conscience does inform me it is not lawful to obey her Commands must I violate that Light Surely the Gent. will not perswade me to do so if he doth I shall and ought to deny his Rhetorick for he is to know it is sinful for me to act without Faith and if I do not believe it Lawful and yet do it for Fear or Interest it is not onely sinful but argues a Servile and degenerous Spirit And though I may think there ought to be some visible Judge of these things that is either the Pope or my particular Sovereign or those he appointeth yet at last my own Reason you may call it Conscience or Light within will be my Judge do what I can And now as to the Reasons and Causes which moved some upon the Act of Distinguishment to take the Sacrament and yet to refuse hearing of our Liturgy which Refusal the Gent. instanceth and calleth a great Sin tho' it concerneth not the Author nor me neither and was drawn in by the Gent. after his Custom of abounding in his own Sallyes yet I shall adventure to say from an unexceptionable Authority viz. Bishop Andrews that de modo of Understanding the Subsistence of Christ in the Sacrament it was never disputed till some Centuries after his Ascention and is not considerable which satisfy'd a very learned King of our own and many the most authentick learned Protestants besides that to wit it is enough if a man after due Preparation take it reverentially in Obedience to Christs Command and live after the taking of it like a true Christian holily and vertuously as aware and minding the damnable Consequences of returning to Impiety and the great Assurance by hope of the Benefit accruable from future Obedience all which Complexion and Satisfaction to Protestants depended and still doth depend upon the Reasonableness of the Bishop's Argument where I leave it From whence I proceed to observe what an huge Crime the Gent. maketh it in the Author for saying A man may be a Papist at one time and seven years after a Protestant and yet the Faith of the Party so changing may remain the same for that saith the Author It is all the while actuated by the same Soul of Faith which is Conscience presuming that both when he was a Papist and when he is a Protestant he may truly say with these Eyes I shall behold my Saviour But I answer If it be a Crime to change from Popery to Protestantism upon rational Gonviction it wanteth a name and that great Witt Chillingworth was mistaken who was induced so to change alternately for he was first a Protestant then a Papist and lastly a Protestant and so died he alledging Reason always to be the Cause of his Changes but certainly it was Reason with its due helps which urged him to change that Chillingworth who out-witted the most learned Romanists putting them to Silence 't was he who first after Sir Walter Raleigh began and was stopt by Queen Elizabeth upon an Insinuation that it would bring in Atheism Cujus contrarium verum est from rational Inferences made it evident that insignificant scholastick Velitations were too weak to hold sagciaous men in that blind Obedience which had long muzzl'd the greatest part of Europe wherefore unless the Gent. be of opinion that any Power upon Earth is entit'led from above to subject us to an unalterable Obedience to Ecclesiastical Sanctions which is to admit one universal visible Monarch Ecclesiastical or if the Romanists have all truth though superadding many unnecessary things and probably impure I say if the Learned cannot agree then it is very charitable to conclude men that are actuated by Conscience to Holiness while on one side or other may be in a salvable Condition I cannot think otherwise than that the Question at the last day shall not be whether I have lived allways a Protestant or allways a Papist whether I have been an high Churchman a Latitudinarian or a Dissenter but whether I have lived holily and have used all rational ways to inform my Understanding of the Truth expressed in Scripture and Nature which is to pursue the main end of my Creation it necessarily begeting a rational Adoration towards God and Duty towards men Which last that is the Observation of the second Table is so indispensibly necessary that if there were neither God nor Devil Heaven nor Hell it is most undenyably true the World could not stand without the Observation thereof and was worthily intimated by the judicious Raleigh And if I should suppose this Plaster as the Gent. calleth it will serve an Heathen's turn under invincible Ignorance as to the truth of the Scripture which he never heard of yet living according to the Light of Nature I do not think it amiss charitably to suppose he may be saved But for that idle Question of the Gentleman 's to the Author whether he thinketh an erroneous Conscience shall excuse a man from all Crimes whatsoever it is scarce worth answering for as much as every sober man will grant it to be impossible for him who followeth the Dictates of Reason to be advisedly wicked Conscience being without all doubt an act of Reason or Intellect not a habit it is always a Judge yet may err as all other Judges but it sits a-top and is divine therefore who resisteth it resisteth his own Reason and what is done against either or without Faith is Sin what then is the best Medium to rectifie my Conscience which is erroneous Even the same way that I was lead into Errour will bring me out of it that is by giving my Reason its free Mediation without hud winking of it darling or strangling of it by implicite Faith insignificant Terms violent Distractions and Prejudices and Preoccupations Pride Interest or other Vices of all which pestilent Fevers I can assign no other cause than
trouble it self with humane Affairs but if Providence had been exploded out of the minds of men it had been impossible to have persuaded us that God was ever displeas'd at the Fall of Aâ—an and consequently there would have appear'd no need at all of Restauration by Christ But the Gent. flyeth yet higher in the very same page by charging the Author that he hath busied himself to prove Humane Reason may with Safety to eternal Happiness tolerate Atheism it self and consequently all kind of Lusts and Wickedness whatsoever Really a most irrational and degenerous Objection such an Objection as no man who pretendeth to be a Gentleman but would blush to make to cancel which I need do no more than repeat the Author 's own Words pag. 31. which are these I believe first that Reason it self will declare to every man in the World that he ought to adhere to the Christian rather than to any other Religion in the World Now if Christian Religion ought to be adhered to it followeth necessarily that Vertue ought to be embrac'd and Vice detested because that Religion doth engage men to Holiness without the Practise whereof none can be happy according to the very Elements of that Religion The next things quarrell'd at are those Positive and undeniable Arguments which the Author propoundeth to establish the Excellency of Humane Reason taking it with it's due Helps that is by comparing it with other Guides standing in Competition with it in the Prosecution whereof how learnedly accurately and judiciously the Author hath particularly demonstrated the Uncertainty of many other pretended Guides and the Improbability of their being able to satisfie a solid Inquisition after Truth and which we are commanded to make and for which the Bereans were called noble appeareth so clearly from the 62 pag. of his book to pag. 64. that I dare say no unprejudiced Reader having considered them will suppose less than this that his Arguments need not any other Proof but the bare Prolation But however to give the Gent. fair Play I will go back a little to the Author's page 63. where he proveth Authority less safe than humane Reason out of which the Gent. would very fain squeeze something like a Face of Contradiction to which I answer He that believeth any thing because enjoyned by Authority is not nor cannot in his own Conscience be so fase as he that believeth and obeyeth Authority because he is rationally convinc'd he ought to obey it having commanded a rational thing As to the Gentleman's Instance of the Judges passing Sentence Secundum allegata probata he is mistaken for our Judges do not so judge nor will our municipal Law bear it nor is it any thing pertinent to the Business in hand for it is the Jury that groundeth the Sentence here the Judge only pronouncing it And touching the Gentleman's Instance about Adam's Fall from want of following of the Dictates of his own Reason asserted by the Author and which the Gent. would elude by saying that Adam's Crime was for believing Eve rather than his own Reason insisting that the Inhibition was not a Law of Nature or Reason but a mere positive Law I answer if the Law were merely positive Adam had the greater Reason to observe it and therefore it was irrationally done to follow the Persuasions of his Wife you may call it Authority if you please considering our Wives now in England before the Command of his Maker and indeed a thing altogether unbecoming his masculine Superiority and by the Gentleman's Favour Eve did not plead the Authority but Fraud of the Serpent which beguiled her nor did the Serpent pretend to any Dominion over her But I see the Gent. groweth angry by his Excursions in the upper part of his 96. pag. being nothing civil at all to the Author nor indeed pertinent to the Controversie which for the Gentleman 's own sake because possibly 't was but the effect of mere Passion I shall forbear to mention here particularly and now I must look backwards To what is objected against the Author's Words which are That they who commit themselves to the Guidance of their own Reason if they do commit themselves wholly to it are as safe on the Left band as on the Right as secure of Happiness in their Errors as others are who are otherwise guided ev'n in the Truths which they happ'n to fall into I suppose it is no more than if he had said that Councils Doctors Fathers Schoolmen Churches c. have erred both ways and therefore I am in as great Danger in submitting to such fallible and blind Guides every whit nay greater than if I happ'n to err after having searcht with all the imaginable Strength of my Reason for Truth for saith the Author There is no danger of perishing but for Disobedience to what to God's Commands and I am commanded to offer a reasonable Service I am to give a reason of my Faith and that Hope which is in me and doth it look like a good Plea to say that I did search and pray'd to God to direct me in that Search by his Spirit or is it better to say and more tolerable that I believ'd as the Church believ'd and rested there as safe I thought as a Thief in a Mill but this last Plea can never hold for me to pretend I did so with other men's Eyes when God hath giv'n me Eyes of mine own and this made Luther stir and H. 8. too who being King of a Kingdom independent of Rome properly though many ways usurpt by the Pope was not à parte rei obliged to refer himself to the Decision of any foreign Potentate about that which he alledg'd troubl'd his Conscience or if it were from any other Motive yet it was generously done upon the main and God can bring Good out of Evil whence the Author's Assumption that there is in man a natural Ability of searching for spiritual Truths and that it can be nothing else but the Vnderstanding neither to any thing else can the Command of searching be directed c. cannot be shaken by what is objected besides that the Author has the Suffrage of the best learned in all Ages to back him As to what fell in betwixt the Author and Master Hobbs it doth not much concern me to meddle with in this place T. H. will shift for himself but I will tell the Gent. he is the first Christian that ever interpreted the fifth of Matthew Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good works to warrant the Necessity of Obedience to external Worship nor will the Scope of that Chapter bear it the Apostle intending to explain thereby the blessed State of Christianity in Suffering for Christ c. And that it is impossible Humane Reason so guided as the Author hath told us should lead men into those Sins of Theft Murder c. and all other Villanies appeareth from this that nothing else besides it
our natural passions are contrary to the Laws of reason and for that the Vices of some of the Clergy on both sides have render'd them contemptible for which last God has more than once removed the Candlestick The Object of their Profession being properly Eternal Life the people think and truly they ought not to inter-meddle with Government at least in the Pulpit England has felt the ill Consequence of their Excursions more than once and what Prejudice the Spaniard has gotten and how he has dwindl'd in Power by his bloody and perverted Inquisition and blind Zeal otherwise he that runs may read What Liberty the Turk allows to peaceable Christians in his Empire is well known and how he thrives by it has been here hinted before We are near enough to the Vnited Provinces to understand their Permissions as to Conscience and the Advance of their politick Interests thereby which never lyes The Seat of Power is absolute there and every where therefore a Lenitive Law is not impracticable here in reason if our Superiors please nor inconsistent with our Government Regal The Church depends upon the State not the State upon the Church for the King is Head of both and they both â—re consolidate in him Jure Coronae All Kings as Kings were originally vested with that Power so the Pope in his own Dition has it Jure Papatus Some say Nothing is Conscience to any man which ought not to be so to another 't is regularly true I think and though sure he that said Tales publickly told and allow'd was Religion spake wittily relating to Sacred History yet methinks 't was something below his Gravity it was a Definition a little too jocular but that Gentleman spake of Religion in General However since the Gent. in his Plain Dealing has discover'd his dislike of T. H. I may take leave to say I think him a most excellent Philosopher and Great in several other respects for warranty whereof I need only produce that admirable Pindarick Ode upon him written by my School-fellow Cowley where he saith There 's none but God does know Whether the fair Idaea thou dost show Agrees intirely with thine own or no. Speaking of T. H. 'T is such an Ode as perhaps excells all made before it and I shall think it true till I see a fairer Idaea of Truth and no longer for it is not my purpose to be an obstinate Heretick no nor a State-Martyr neither Nor to suffer at all for Disobedience to Laws I take him to be the best Subject who obeys them not him who patiently yields to pay the Penalties Passive Obedience and Free Will are sense alike to my Understanding Why should a man be miserable before his time was the Question of the Wise King I do think 't is best to be of the Religion of a man's Countrey Externally at least and sure I am there is nothing morally evil in ours and for External Worship in Religion as to time and place it is determinable by the Supreme Magistrate in my opinion not as a Christian but as King For neither the Brazen Serpent nor the Golden Calf were naturally preferrible one more than another 't was Moses gave the Precedency Betwixt the Laws of Reason which are undoubtedly God's Eternal Laws and the Laws of a man's Civil Sovereign which we are commanded to obey I know none the Moral Law being but a repetition of the Laws of Reason This Consideration gives me occasion to slight the huge Volumes of stuff obtruded upon us otherwise impertinently as grounded upon the Old Testament but without any warrant to oblige us as Christians and Subjects to believe the Authors of such waste Papers in what they write All this while every good man is to consider the most Excellent Counsels of cur Saviour every where in the New Testament and the History of God's Divine Providence in the old Herein we agree but I do not understand what the Gent. means by the Laws of the Church for the Church of England never did nor can make any Law nor is it Rational to say she can for when Laws are made they are the King's Laws and the Bishops are his Bishops And if all the Bishops in England had been dead when the King was restor'd there did not above three survive the Usurpation as I am inform'd unless the King had been pleas'd to grant his Licentiam Eligendi there could have been no new ones made His Majesty in his Natural Capacity is the Causa sine quâ non This strikes off the Exploded Pretence of the Bishops Jus devinum and for their Politicum they were better without it Let the Parliament judge as to their Legal Rights But whether the greatest part of our Dissenters go to Meetings out of Interest to carry on their Trades and not out of Religion which the Gent. saith they do I know not Probably they do and 't is as true that many go to our Churches for such Ends or worse Let every man examine himself and by the Lives of each sort judge which are most probably Atheistical it being hard to believe that they who live in advised sins do really believe there is any God at all let them be of what Party they please As for my own part I am apt to think there are with us two main and Evident Causes of Atheism The first is the Example of Great Men and Vicious the second is the Debauchery of some Ministers especially in Countreys far off London for in and about London to speak candidly I find many worthy Preachers and vertuous men but how the Flights and Mountees of the Gent. against Atheism came to be inserted into Plain Dealing as in answer to our Author I cannot tell unless it were to shew his flosculous Oratory much good may it do him he is a Plain-dealing Person but the plain truth is the midling sort of men will not be brought to rest with an implicit Faith in their authoriz'd Teachers that will not do in England the People apprehend well enough for they feel soonest so far Vox populi is Vox Dei 'T is the mediation of Reason must convince them and reduce them or the special Revelation of Gods Spirit which how easily mistaken is easily understood I say mistaken by such who take their own Dreams for the Holy Spirit All mens Condescentions Adherencies and Procedures in Moral Religious and Politick Affairs being built upon what they think Reason and no otherwise which needs no illustration to a direct Atheist for he disbelieving a Deity gives no Adoration to a mere Pagan for he probably gives it to Sun or Moon and yet thinks they are Divine Powers to one of the Roman Church for he takes the Pope to be infallible c. to any Dissenter for if his dissenting proceed from Conscience it proceeds from his Reason So the Merchant and all other Tradesmen are directed and conducted by that which seems the most Rational way towards their respective
Ends. Yet the Gent. is pleas'd to term the Author's Argument proving invincibly the necessity of our Appeal to Humane Reason a foolish Argument But some are too hasty to wear Swords I might add that Obedience is more chearfully and rationally given to Princes from their Subjects from their being protected by their Princes Self-preservation being an essential part of the Law of Nature and involves the Summary of the Laws of Reason to do as a man would be done unto for if I abuse my Power there are Arms stronger than mine And as things are in my poor Opinion at this Juncture it comports best with the Interest of England and consequently with the King's Interest whose Greatness and Safety is involv'd in the Riches and Strength of his Subjects that all Dissenting Parties about the External Worship of God for Opinions may be and will be internally free should be kept as near as can be in a Balance the Romanists excepted so far as they are inconsistent with the Government because 't is said they would bring in a Foreign Head all which W. Penn has substantially proved in a little Treatise lately published and dispers'd into most Parliament mens hands by himself which to speak truly is accurately candidly and juicioussy compos'd and with a good Masculine Style free from Canting which without offering violence to Reason can never be answered for it is proved from the Laws of Reason from Scripture from the Laws of Nations generally and from those of England and relates to Eternal Happiness after this Life as well as to Temporals Besides I am very well satisfied the Scale of Trade would never have held as it has here since the King came in if the Dissenters had been rigorously punished in London the Center of Commerce 'T is true now that the Dissenting Parties are fix'd under their respective Ministers into a kind of Corporate Societies and their Ministers live by it it may be suppos'd it will be more difficult every day than other to make such a Comprehensive Law as is desir'd by the most Prudent men to bear well at this time As to that the Parliament can cure it well enough with the Permission of the King and by apt Qualifications and Restrictions if it pleases And I am inform'd Judge Hale did draw an Act for that end which Sir Orlando Bridgman put him upon but there is a Time for every thing and God's Time is the best time And now to return to our Province that the Gent. may not think I have forgot him I must presume to tell him his Answer does contain many other frivolous Objections impertinent Stories wild and illogical Conclusions deduc'd from precarious Principles or totally Foreign to our Author's Treatise and Design which I cannot hold my self oblig'd to reply Neither did I ever promise or undertake to obey the Gent. in such invitations nor to follow him in such extravagant Processions for I hold it loss of time and a kind of sawing off the Reader 's Ears We are indeed too much pester'd with Books every day creeping abroad scribled Pro and Con by passionate men which signifie nothing But the Design of our Author was in Appearance at least pious and honourable to pacifie all parties in Religion I mean all Protestants of what Species soever here in England with a Lenitive both charitable and rational which may seem now seasonable since it 's found by Experience such Corrosives as have been applyed prove altogether ineffectual And let us consider maturely the Wish of Moses I would that all God's people were Prophets the Example of our blessed Saviour in chiding of his Disciples Who ask'd Fire from Heaven c. of St. Paul's being all things to all men that of following Paul Cephas or Apollo and the Patterns of the Primitive Times of the Church when preaching was as it ought to be now catechetical not theatrical I say let us consider if all the Causes and Reasons before sparsedly given in this Reply and the Complexion of things do not seem to conspire for a legal Plaster to cure that incancerating Humor of vexing one another about Trifles at least Indifferencies compar'd to the Elements of Christianity or to the Essence thereof Good Laws and well executed to suppress Vice will keep all steady let the old Gentleman at Rome be as angry as he pleases he has got nothing by us of late and had he seen the throng in our Streets of stout Fellows when his Effigies was burnt last 't would have made him despair of being able to riggle in here The Nation is well rouz'd up and we have a Wise Prince able to judge of Exigencies all the little Shams and pretended Plots I say pretended Plots of ill-affected men of all sorts to the Government begin to dwindle and look as they indeed are ridiculous How far the main Design of our Adversaries does still advance and by what Artifices Authority must judge and does I doubt not take Care to prevent the Mischief Now as to our Design in this Reply I hope enough hath been said to satisfie all ingenious men and unprejudic'd that Reason is the safest Guide and consequently that the Author of that most ingenious much admired and fortunate Treatise entitled Humane Reason well deserves the Gratulation of every judicious person for his Pains in composing it As to the Reader of this Paper I shall not as the Author of Plain dealing does implore his reasonable and impartial Censure though I know 't is a very critical Age because if he that reads be rational I am sure I shall have it if he be otherwise I cannot have it therefore I will not ask it Nor will I counterbuff the Gent. with Grub-street Poetry in Opposition to his Comical Ralpho though I can do it with as nimble a Sarcasme it being at best only a gentile kind of Buffoon'ry something like the Rymes which the Parson of Pentlow in Essex when he was seventy at least told me he tyed in Paper about a Buzards Neck taken a little before in Lime-twigs which had snatcht away one of his Gosslings and which follows here The Parson of Pentlow that now is For stealing of one poor Gosling of his Has seal'd up mine Eyes and stich'd up my Bum And bid me go fly to the day of Doom What became of the Buzard so used after she had spent her Wings I never heard but if it were plain it was not fair dealing from a man of his Coat to be so cruel to the hungry Bird. Neither was it Charity in the Gent. we oppose to design the switching out of our Author's Light because he saw farther into a Mill-stone than other men and taught the Geese how to avoid the Fox by perching upon the tree of Life Reason whose Fruit when taken into a Stomach not overcharg'd with Choler always purifies the Brain I have done with the Gent. and having a small Book just now sent me by a very ingenious Lady
designedly written by a Romanist to strike our Author dead I read it over and found it fill'd up with Arguments of Universality Tradition and Infallibility of that Church Peter's Authority c. and all these larded with Zeal to persuade me into a Dependance and Reliance upon the Roman Church as the true one in which Treatise that Author boldly said my Reason ought to Acquiesce 't is well that side also makes Reason the Judge I was pleas'd with the sound of the Word more than with his reasons for they did not satisfie my Understanding yet had I known that Authors Genius inclin'd to Poetry I would have recommended him for Instruction to my old Friend the Parson of Pentlow And now I begin to think my self fortunate having hitherto sided with a noble Captain for so I account Humane Reason which 't is confest every side pretends to and which may possibly be beaten from it's Posts by the clatter of some Coffee-house but it will always recover and baffle its greatest Antagonists at the long run for Truth is strongest but Reason does assure it without whose gentle Mediation and Midwifry we had still remain'd in the State of War and consequently had been miserable THE END A RE-VIEW AND APPENDIX OUR Reply having been written now above two years I have re-consider'd it and from the past Circumstances of Affairs and present do think it necessary to add this Re-view and other Amplifications as either subservient to the Design or otherwise material insisting upon the Prospect of Reason and the ill consequence of neglecting its guidance viz. That from the Petulancy Heat and unseasonable Eagerness of some not very Discreet nor Learned and of others Learned Honest and generally Prudent but not infallible occasion is taken by the other side to answer upon such Provocations as they can alledging that their Sufferings are and have been all along for Conscience-sake and for well-doing though the Letters of the Laws are against them a Plea ever favour'd in all Ages That these Disputes about Externals onely for both Parties agree in Substance of Doctrine are mischievous to us at home and scandalous to the Protestant Churches abroad beyond the Seas That the Roman Church if it gets no Proselytes from these unseasonable Heats yet it has great reason to be pleas'd therewith for she thrives by our Divisions and can thrive by no other means here now That that Church was more Politick while she had as fair hopes as ever to prevail after the Queens death by complying outwardly with our Laws for till the 12th of Q. Eliz. all or most Romanists in England did and were permitted by the Pope to go to our Protestant Churches to hear the Service receive the Sacrament and take the Oath of Allegeance though since the Jesuits procur'd a Bull of Inhibition for their own profit yet 't was never accounted any Crime for a Romanist at that time not to go or to go to the Protestant Church whence our want of Charity to the Dissenters appears less than that of the Roman Church our Policy less and our uneasiness too visible thereby Neither are the Dissenters altogether excusable in their too stiff Separation and boggling at small things but I will be sparing in judging tender Consciences nevertheless it is obvious That from our pernicious Divisions so dangerous to our Religion and because tho the first Reformers went a good step yet no great progress has lately been made towards the Reason of our departure from Rome and reforming things amiss moderate men on both sides here do wish for some new Laws to consolidate the Conformists and Non-conformists in some measure or at least that some Ceremonies might be left and for the Explanation of some Laws now in force or limiting the force of others and particularly of that for imposing twenty pounds per Month for not coming to Church which Law I suppose no Lawyer doubts was originally intended against the Romanists and not against Protestant Dissenters who were few then and 't was the Roman Party at that time which confronted the Laws and begot the Statute The next Observation relates to Excommunications which how familiarly decreed and for what slight Causes and upon what gainful Designs and consequently how prejudicial to many of his Majestie 's good Subjects and how contrary to its Primitive and Grave Institution all Wise and Honest men of this Nation are and have been long very sensible of and of the ruine of some Families and the inriching of ill Officers by such Methods But may some say the Statute of Q. Mary against disturbers of Preachers is partly in force and of Use which was principally intended against Protestants for they were the Persons likely to disturb the Romanish Preachers then wherefore they say Why is not that of Eliz. also to be put in constant practise it being a general Law and provides for Peace Our Answer is The Case is alter'd for though equal Principles do lead to equal Ends 't is but when the matter about which we are conversant is equal And now the Papists are the most dangerous to our Peace and do plot to that end if we may credit King and Parliament or our own Eyes therefore that Law of Elizabeth against Recusancy stands in force yet it seems to want some Discrimination and that of Mary being in part repeal'd is continu'd as to the disturbing of Preachers the true Definition of Law being the Will of the Legislator There are many other antiquated and as things are inconvenient Laws Civil and Ecclesiastical which I have not room to remark here and as to the brangling practick part of both Courts the Judges may at least they ought to correct it tho one said wittily yet truly that no body but themselves meaning the Civil Practisers understands their Practise I had almost said Laws nor themselves neither The like may be said of the Practise at Common Law depending upon great Officers as some say if so 't is all dark This however since we are upon Discourse of Reason I 'll venture to say 't is evident that too often the Clients are tortur'd betwixt Prohibitions and Consultations so dangerous and troublesome it is where Courts do strive for Jurisdiction so also where the Judge's Power increases and the Jury's decreases or is over-aw'd for where Judges as has been our Case in Richard the Second's time presume to determine or delay by discretion or border upon the thing call'd perversion upon misapply'd Maxims which I hope will not be our Case Those Nations are more at ease where their Laws are unwritten supposing the Eternity of the Laws of Reason and which minds me of the familiar and exorbitant Practise of some as a wise Lord lately call'd them Trading Justices by their granting Warrants upon easie or unprov'd Suggestions above 10000 having been made out in one year by one of them lately which I can prove insomuch as few honest modest men can be free from their discretional
Gent. has offer'd against Humane Reason Upon Review of his Answer I am oblig'd to say once more that one part of three in it swells with illogical Consequences and is against constant Experience for he undertakes to shew what mischiefs must come to pass if Liberty of Conscience were permitted as to that 't is plainly otherwise for since Liberty has been generally assum'd the Nation has been very peaceable and obedient every way otherwise this I say is another experimental confutation of the main part of his Answer Therefore I would not have the Gent. spoil the Tone of his Stomach by Choler if I do discomply with him in not granting the not so horrible consequences of such a Liberty as he presumes contrary to Reason and Experience For if the Gent's desire had been seconded with Execution rigorously against the Dissenters it might have hazarded the putting of the English Nation into great Disorder by this time his words being Pag. 152 of Plain Dealing That if the Nobility and Gentry will not suppress the Sectaries by the Execution of the Laws they will soon arrive at that height that the Sword must do it or else there will be no Government at all in our Nation but what if it be impracticable to suppress them because the People will not accuse one another 'T is true Reason of State has been forc'd to strike smartly that other sort of men who by their barbarous and impolitick Actions have dared to confront the Government but I hope they will be made wiser hereafter by the late Examples of publick and infamous Inflictions for it seems the Common Law is in many Cases in the breasts of the Judges de Modo Poenae And let the Event be what it will to use the Gent's own words in the close of his Answer I must also with him profess that I have fully satisfi'd not only my Conscience but my Reason also which is the surer way and from better motives in this Reply by shewing my self according to my Duty a sincere Lover of Peace of Religion in general and of that particular Religion the support whereof I have asserted to be the true Interest of England and was alwayes so esteem'd since the Reformation And I will add my promise to the Gent. and that upon the word of a Gentleman which ought to be as sacred as that of a Priest that if he shall please to give me a Rejoynder without departure from his first Plea I will not demurr for want of Form but leave the Dispute to the Censure of indifferent Judges upon the whole Argument viz. Whether Humane Reason be not the best and safest Guide with its due helps beyond Popes Councils Fathers Canons and all Books whatsoever the Scripture excepted which yet if any man will ask me how I think to understand I can give him no other Answer but this that I must do it by Reason which is the only Talent God has indu'd me with for my preservation here and hereafter and by which and no other mediation it 's possible for a man of good Vnderstanding and not clogg'd with false Principles to be satisfy'd that the natural Dictates of God Reason carry no repugnancy to the Law and Will of God revealed in the Scripture the study of which Learning is the foundation of all true Ratiocination and the most generous and most useful Science for all men to aspire unto who would know their respective Duties as Christians and Subjects and upon the Presumtion of which Axiome it is that our Law of England if it were well digested into Method certainly the best in the World does say that if any Law shall be enacted contrary to Reason it is void eo instante because contrary to God's undoubted Eternal Law the Law of Reason my Province to maintain wherein if any thing have slipt from my Pen not consistent with the Duty of a good Subject or true Christian I do submissively and heartily beg pardon for it And to compleat my candid and at present sole Design of supporting Reason's Energy and for the justification of H. the Eighth's forsaking the Roman Church and thereby to justifie the Reformed Protestant Religion let the Reader consult the Decretory Council held under and by the Command of Pope Paul the Third 1538 Printed 1609 at London and taken out of Mr. Crashaw's Library then Preacher of the Temple wherein the Abuses of the Roman Ecclesiasticks are manifested under the Certificate of Nine of the most Eminent Cardinals then living whereof Pool was one and Sadolete another to whose Inspection the Inquiry was then referr'd by the said Pope which Abuses the Court of Rome would not then correct nor are they yet corrected the Book being suppress'd by Order of that Church and coming to my hands something late from a worthy Bencher of Grayes Inn which otherwise had sooner been made Use of to prove Reason a safer Guide than that Church which pretends to Infallibility and may serve for Answer to that Romanist who published some weak Reflections upon our Author's Discourse of Humane Reason who if he fail'd in any thing handled in his Book 't was in his a little too slightly referring the Cause of H. the Eighth's deserting of the Roman See to his Wantonness c. For that there were many other concurring motives to his Desertion is very probable from some Speeches I have seen of his in Parliament and from Histories about him who was tho a severe yet withal a very stout and inquisitive Prince and fitted thereby for the Work he so worthily began and whereof the Advantage accrues to us at this time Such are the unsearchable depths of Providence which tho few observe and fewer are willing to resign their Wills unto will do what is best for good men Lastly Because some men are most guided by Book Authorities I think fit to add that Montaigne Erasmus Raymond Sebond Charone Cassauder Chillingworth Cartesius Milton Gell Baxter and Hobbs also with others of Fame as D. Stillingfleet not to forget Bishop Tayler have unanimously approv'd of Reason as the best Guide and favour'd or cooly advis'd a circumscrib'd Toleration I having named Grotius before but I refer the ingenuous Reader once for all to that excellent Discourse of the Rise and Power of Parliaments Laws Courts c. and of Religion printed 1677. by way of Letter to a Parliament-man wherein a Toleration in Religion here for all but the Jesuits and Seculars is argued to be not onely Political but highly Rational and consonant to the Doctrine of the Holy Jesus of which Opinion till I am convinc'd otherwise by Reason I am resolv'd to be and no longer for I cannot Mean time as a Corollary to this Reply I subjoyn with submission that it appears plainly by his Majesties Royal Father 's Golden Book he was not much averrse to it and that ev'n Charles the Fifth during the Interim see Sleydan did allow a kind of Toleration in Germany where I leave the Cause but really unwillingly for further Proofs crowd so fast into me that to forbear venting them is a kind of Disease upon me tho I hope not Mortal Neither do I stand in awe of any Censure upon my Conclusions already publish'd by the future Impressions of any Bigotical Opponent whatsoever Epitaphium Cliffordianum HIC jacet insignis Cliffordi capsula terrae Reddita sed melior pars resoluta Polo Carmine non opus est famam celebrare polite Ni fallor Libro gloria certa micat Humanae Rationis opus munivit ultro Esse ducem vitae subsidiumque viae Si quae praeterea superaddere vota Poēsis Auderet nitida sacrificanda manu Englished HEre snatcht by Death Clifford interr'd does lye Whose Nobler Part is vehicl'd on high There needs no Muse to celebrate his Fame Whose Book eterniz'd has his gen'rous Name He proved Humane Reason's worth so well From other Arts it bears away the Bell. If any Poet superadds to this With impure hands his Holocaust's amiss His Character AS to his Person 't was little his Face rather flat than oval his Eye serious Countenance Leonine his Constitution Cholerick Sanguine tinctur'd with Melancholy of a facetious Conversation yet a great Humorist of quick Parts so of quick Passions and Venereal thence Lazy he was learned very critical positive and proud charitable enough and scorn'd to be rich he had a will to be just would drink to excess sometimes His Religion was that of his Countrey he was always Loyal to his King and a very good Poet. He died 'twixt 50 and 60 at Sutton's Hospital whose Master he then was not much lamented by the Pensioners few knew him well He was a man strangely compos'd 't is question'd whether his Virtues or Vices were most I incline to the last yet he departed peaceably and piously FINIS