the Earth as to set him to search for Mathematicks in the centre of himself in which there is nothing but guts and the most of men would have as pleasant a search for Divine Truths in the centre of themselves and as sure they would be to find it there as the Augurs of old were to find out future events by poring on the guts and garbish of brute beasts For is not he think you very likely to find all Divine Truths in the bottom of his heart which are contain'd in the Scriptures who is not able for his heart to understand sense when he reads it in other Authors nor one word of the genuine Languages of the Sacred Writings Truly for my part I am almost of the opinion that since Truth lies in the bottom our Author should have bid them search not in the centre but in the bottom of themselves for it and then to be sure if there was any Truth to be found they must of necessity smell it out immediately For this had been a direction much more suitable to his similitude and no less beneficial to his vulgar Reader unless he will turn Quaker and assert that upon their search they shall immediately be inspired with new Light that shall lead them into all Truth which when he doth he may expect a further answer The third Object is that which he himself calls the most tragical Argument against him pag. 6. viz. That an universal liberty of particular mens discourses would beget as many Religions as there are men which would be inconsistent with the peace of all Societies Which he endeavours to shift off by the Examples of the different Sects of the ancient Philosophers For saith he there were not fewer Sects in Athens then 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 it This Evasion is like a great deal more of his Book meer supposition For I believe it will puzzle this Gentleman to prove that all these Sects amongst the Athenians did do any thing more then dispute these things in the publick Schools onely to exercise their Wits and improve their Reasons to make Truth appear more apparently and to exercise their young Scholars in disputing that they might better know how to defend their Religion As now it is and I believe ever was in our Universities where all or most of those Questions are commonly disputed in the publick Schools that were then argued in Athens to the end that Scholars having heard all Objections amongst themselves might be the more able to defend Truth when they came abroad into the world So thát he that calls these Sects in Athens may as well say that there are as many Sects in Cambridge or Oxford as there are Questions disputed in their publick Exercises which would amount to some thousands every year For as our Universities do allow or at least permit all sorts of Disputations and Questions freely to be debated in their Schools and Colledges in a Language not understood amongst the common people but yet would make a severe example as far as their power can extend of him that should preach to the people any thing contrary to the Orthodox Religion established in our Church and Nation and should endeavour to draw Parties after him so amongst the Greeks and Romans it is most probable that the Custom was the same For we are sure that whatever their Disputes were in their Academies and Schools of Learning they had their stated Ceremonies and ways of Worship as well as their particular Deities which it was in no wise lawful for any one amongst them to dare to contradict in their Discourses or Orations to the common people and though this Gentleman so pertly saith that they had no Inquisition nor High-commission yet Court of Judicature they had wherein they did condemn all Innovators in matters of Religion and punished those that were no orious even with capital punishments Now that I do not speak this by meer supposition and guess as this Author doth most things he here saith I shall give you the testimony of Josephus an Author whose word may go as far as this Gentlemans who about the latter end of his second Book against Appion tells us thus Plato commanded all his Citizens perfectly to learn his Laws and that they should persist in the unalterable observation of them But Apollonius Molon saith the same Author inveigheth against us for not receiving into our Country Men of strange Opinions or Religion whereas not onely we but the most prudent of all the Greeks do the same the Lacedaemonians did expel all strangers neither did they permit their Citizens to travel into strange Countries fearing that by both these ways their Laws might be corrupted Apollonius was ignorant how matters stood with the Athenians and surely the Author of Humane Reason was much more ignorant of them who boast their City was free for all Nations for they did most severely and without all mercy punish those that did but speak any word against their Gods But saith this Gentleman Every one in Greece enjoyed his Opinion with more safety and freedom then either his Goods or his Wife pag. 9. But if he means the publick profession of his Opinions how notorious an hummer he hath told us will be evident from the Examples the same Josephus gives us in the same place Socrates saith he was put to death by drinking Hemlock because he was accused that he corrupted young Men and contemned the Laws and Religion of his Country Anaxagoras for that he affirm'd the Sun which the Athenians worshipped for a God to be a fiery Stone was sentenced to die They also proclaimed that whoever would kill Diagoras of Melus should be rewarded with a Talent for his labour onely because this Diagoras was said to deride their mysteries Protagoras also had by them been taken and put to death had he not made a quick escape onely for that they supposed him to have written certain doubts concerning the Heathen Gods What then would have become of our Author who endeavours to excuse Atheism had he lived in Athens and enjoyed no other liberty of Opinions then they allowed But lest he should object any thing against Josephus his Testimony the same thing is evident beyond all exceptions by their so bloudy persecutions of the Christians both amongst the Greeks and Romans How much afraid were they of all Innovations in Religion when the most cruel Tortures that the wit and malice of men could invent as Racks Gibbets Gridirons red-hot Pincers and fleaing alive were daily inflicted upon Christians onely because they taught a new Religion This was that great Freedom as this Gentleman calls it that was allowed to Dissenters amongst the ancient Heathens I do not wish our Author should meet with the same though he seems to be so much pleased with it and though there was no Inquisition nor
Laws of the Realm as the Clergy did who would not take the Oath of Supremacy And whether this would not be the best Expedient to reclaim them without giving our Magistrates the trouble of executing the Laws against them Sixthly Whether the reviving of our Laws against Blasphemy and Atheism Uncleanness and Debauchery and profaning the Lords day would not very much put a stop to the growth of Schism and Faction amongst us But our Author answers all these Questions at once For he tells us that though they might be compell'd to an outward Uniformity yet every publick disturbance breaks all those Bounds and then such compulsions beget and ripen all Disorders Is not the same thing always evident in all other Laws whatsoever Does not every Rebellion break all the Bonds of Humane Society and make Liberty to be the main pretense to draw in the people What then shall our Magistrates to prevent this pretense give every man a Liberty at all times to be govern'd by what Laws he pleaseth and so at once cancel all the Laws of the Nation Or will they not notwithstanding this fear of begetting or ripening disorders in times of publick disturbance rather endeavour to preserve the peace at all times as far as they can by a due execution of the Laws Why then should this Reason hold to destroy Religion by letting all men enjoy their own Are there not ten to one more Rebellions caused out of the pretense of Liberty then of Religion Or is it expedient that men be left to their Liberty to destroy one anothers Souls by running into Schism Heresie Judaism Infidelity and Atheism if so be that they be restrained by laws from injuring one another in their Goods and their Bodies Nay would not all kind of present injuries to mens persons in a small time without a Rod of Iron be the necessary and unavoidable consequence of a toleration of all Religions Have I not already demonstrated that every mans enjoying his own Religion would soon bring men either into Atheism or else into mutual and irreconcilable Disputes and Quarrels which would destroy all Government He therefore as his last shift seems to insinuate that this may be prevented by the manner of establishing this Liberty in a Commonwealth which he saith would require an entire discourse by it self when I see that discourse I shall consider of it and make no doubt to answer it fully In the mean time I shall onely tell him this That if he can propose such a way of an universal Toleration that shall neither contradict his own Principle of every man enjoying his own Religion nor require a standing Army to keep the Nation in obedience Erit mihl magnus Apollo For till I see it done I must believe it absolutely impossible I have more particularly examined all that can appear with any shew of Argument for a general Toleration of all Religions because I suspect this is our Authors great Diana even the main design of his whole Book For it is printed in a distinct Character from the rest of his Book that every man should enjoy his own Religion as though it was intended that every Reader should take a more particular notice of those words then of any thing else in his whole Book His Fourth and last Argument or Defence of his Cause which he thinks so strong that it needs not the assistance of any other I must beg his pardon if I deal plainly with him and tell him that it is the most sensless and ridiculous consequence that ever I met with in my life either in his Book or in any other The sum of it I shall as near as I can set down in his own words viz. It is impossible that ever any man should have been is or hereafter can be guided by any thing else but his own Reason as in all other things so in matters of Religion He saith it over again and gives Reasons for it I say impossible For in all belief and in all other actions the last appeal is to Reason For I choose to believe this or that Doctrine or to do this or that Action because I have some Reason for it Now the consequence he aims at in all this must be this or nothing to his purpose therefore every man ought to be left only and wholly to his own Reason as in all other things so in Religion quietly to enjoy his own Now let us but consider how far men are left to their own Reason in all other matters and it will soon appear that our Author hath overthrown his whole Book by this Argument which he thinks so impregnable a defence of it The inward sentiments of every mans Reason in all Affairs whatsoever notwithstanding any Law are ever were and always must be free For nothing is freer then thought All men are left to their own judgments to think what they will of the Wisdom or Folly Justice or Injustice Convenience or Inconvenience of those Laws they live under because it is impossible for men to know their thoughts much more to restrain them And hath not every man the very same liberty in matters of Religion in the Church of England to think what he will of any of her injunctions So far I suppose we are agreed But now as in all other concerns though men have a liberty to think what they please so long as they keep their thoughts to themselves yet their words and actions are and must be restrained by laws because by either of these the Common-wealth might be damnified and our mutual peace disturb'd So in all concerns of Religion there is not nor can be any restraint upon our thoughts so long as we keep them within our own breast but if they shew themselves in words or actions contrary to the Laws of the church because the Unity of the Church and consequently of the State is endangered and mens eternal salvation hazarded by the propagation of false Religions therefore penalties are absolutely necessary to restrain mens words and actions in matters of Religion as well as in any other affairs whatsoever Lastly As no further use of reason is or can be allowed to every man in any Common-wealth in those things which are determined by Laws but onely so far as to judge whether he can or will obey them or whether he will suffer the penalties of them so no other liberty can be allowed in the Church to every man onely so far as to judge whether it is most reasonable for him to obey her Canons or to suffer her Censures and the penalties consequential upon them and as no good subject or member fit to live in a Commonwealth can think this restraint unreasonable in civil affairs because the peace of the society does necessarily require it so for the same reason ought no man to think such a restraint unreasonable in religious affairs because I have already proved that an absolute liberty in religion would be equally dangerous
High-Commission amongst them Was ever man thus confident to assert things thus palpably false which he and every one else must know to be so unless he knows nothing of any History I suppose this was one of those Truths which he smelt out from the bottom viz. That this quiet and happiness which was enjoyed four thousand years amongst the Heathen continued so long and so uninterrupted because every man following the rules of his own judgment allowed that liberty to others which he found so necessary for himself as he saith pag. 9. in fine For the Reason is onely the quite contrary viz. because they were so careful to preserve the Publick Unity of Religion by the execution of their Laws For I think I may justly challenge our Author to shew me if he can any of the ancient Heathens that ever gave a publick toleration of all Religions though if he could prove it Christians ought not to follow their Examples because we have a positive and stated Religion given us by God in a most clear and infallible Revelation which our Governors ought to establish and maintain so that whatsoever he hath said to the contrary it is evident by the consent of the whole World that were there not Laws to restrain particular mens publick discourses there would soon be as many Religions as there are men and so the Argument remains as tragical as ever it did For it appears by the Votes of all Nations that varieties and alterations in Religion were always thought to be inconsistent with the publick peace and safety As for that slie insinuation with which he concludes that Paragraph pag. 10. That even the Stoicks themselves that enslaved the Will durst never attempt this violence to the understanding I would fain know of this Gentleman whether the Church of England goes about to enslave any mans understanding hath not every one in her Communion a liberty of thinking what he pleases All that the Church of England enjoyns us is that we shall worship God decently and orderly and shall consent to the Articles of the Christian Faith and not contradict those few Articles which she hath given us but for peace sake shall quietly submit to them and to her most moderate Discipline I appeal even to this Author himself whether the Members of any Society in the World either Heathen or Christian have a greater freedom of exercising their understandings then those of the Church of England If he cannot produce me any that have then to what purpose doth he talk to English men of violence to their understandings unless it be fortiter calumniari ut aliquid haereret which is a practice so much below a Gentleman that sure our Author should be ashamed of it or else he is a shame to the Honourable Title of an English Gentleman I pray you Sir tell me upon your Reputation what you meant and of whom you spáke those things Pag. 12 13. If you meant the Church of England I must tell you that you do not know any thing of Her though She be your own Mother Doth the Church of England teach her Followers to damn all that are not of their way So far is She from it and so prodigiously charitable that She doth not exempt even those that die in a wilful separation from her unless they be actually excommunicated from Her most Christian Form of Burial in which She professeth to hope of their salvation Is there any Son of the Church of England that believes some Errours that are the inseparable companions of Humane Nature do exclude men from the Communion of the present Church or the hope of the future And as for that which he saith that then we could not be so cruel to persecute those faults to which God is so merciful and from which we our selves are not exempt I answer That our Church punisheth no man for any Errour unless it be accompanied with contumacy and contempt of Authority and does not every Society in the World do the same If then he will needs call this cruelty and Persecution he not onely accuseth our Church but all the Nations of the World of those hard words He might I think well have spared all that Discourse from Pag. 10 to the 14. about the causes of so much bloudshed since the Reformation unless he intended to make the Reformation guilty of all the bloud shed ever since it first-began However sure I am he cannot lay it at the door of our Church since there is none of her true Sons that ever was so mad to be guilty of any of those Causes which he gives of it As for his confident Assertion with which he concludes that Section it is much more applicable to the Papists and Fanaticks then to the truly Reformed For there are no men living that so much tie Infallibility to what they think Truth and Damnation to what they think Errours as they do at Rome and Geneva and such amongst us who have listed themselves under their Banners As for his peaceable Doctrine he so much boasts of Pag. 11 12. viz. That every man should be suffered quietly to enjoy his own Opinion and his own Opinion is this that he should suffer others to do the same As to the first part of it I answer it is granted him For there is no Society in the World that can take notice of matters of meer opinion but when those Opinions break out into practice so as to disturb the publick peace or at least to endanger a disturbance when men make use of them to draw Parties after them and to make Factions in a Nation then those Governours must be blind that will not see to suppress them And this is not punishing men for their Opinions but their Practices in divulging and propagating those Opinions which are contrary to the Laws and publick safety As for the second Part of it that every man should have that Opinion implanted in him to suffer all others to enjoy their Opinions I answer First That it is almost impossible to suppose this to be or that it ever can be the Opinion of every man For if men do sincerely believe that their Opinion is the Truth and necessary to Happiness then they must also think themselves bound to propagate it to all others But Secondly Could we suppose this Opinion to be in every man yet this would not maintain the Peace of a Nation if there were no Laws to restrain men from being led by their Passions and Interest to act contrary to their Opinions For I appeal to themselves to know whether the Papists and Presbyterians do not act contrary to their own Principles in promoting a toleration of all Opinions If they dare deny it it will be easily proved against them For the Grand Turk himself doth not more violently persecute the Christians then both these do all such as differ from them in Religion where they have power enough to do it Witness the Inquisition at this
that sacrificed their lives rather then they would admit of the least appearance of any change in their Religion Pity it is this Gentleman was not living some 1500 years agone what abundance of good Men might have been saved by this his Plaister which for want of it bled to death For our Author could have told them as long as their mind and intentions had been but to have still continued Christians or if they had been mistaken in their judgments and had thought they might have done it they had been as good Christians and as happy as any Martyr of them all though they had sacrificed to the Devil himself For that still if a mans conscience be erroneous he may possibly all this while act according to his conscience and so keep his conscience still inviolable But I pray you Sir do you believe your own Doctrine Can you think that an erroneous conscience shall excuse all crimes whatsoever then I assure you I should be very loth to trust my life in your hands For you might think your self a very good Christian and yet cut my throat For according to your Argument a man may murder his Prince or his Father if his erroneous conscience tell him he may do it as I shall afterwards prove it may and yet be a very good Christian. If this be true sure our Author hath said enough to awaken our Magistrates to take care how mens consciences are inform'd and taught and not to let men alone to their own Reasons unless they have a mind to have their throats cut by good conscientious Christians But an erroneous conscience can in no case certainly excuse but where the Errour proceeds from such causes as the person could no ways help as in the case of natural Fools and Mad-men and in them it onely frees from the guilt and crime in foro interno but not from the punishment in foro externo For we have a Bedlam and a Whip for Mad-men and Fools as well as Stocks and Prisons and Gallows for Knaves and Rogues Therefore let not our Separatists think that their Errours shall excuse them before God unless they think themselves stark Fools or Mad-men that it is impossible for them to be better inform'd nor that they ought to be pardoned before Men. For let them pretend to what conscience they will for their actions if they act contrary to the Laws the Magistrate is bound in consciene to punish them because of his Oath according to the sentence of the Law otherwise should mens Errours excuse them from penalty all the crimes in the world would thereby be tolerated and Christianity quite destroyed For men that were led into Errours might deny Christ and yet need not fear any punishment for it because they might in it act according to their erroneous consciences and so keep their consciences still inviolable What a company of Fools are we that take pains in studying to free our selves from Errour whereas if this be true which our Author hath here endevoured to prove it is much more safe for us not to trouble our consciences at all with information for if we do but act according to our consciences all 's well enough though they are never so wilfully erroneous This it seems is the new and módish way of drilling in Popery amongst us by bringing Men to renounce Christianity by accounting all Religions indifferent as is evident by the Jesuites practise upon the Quakers and Hectors of the Town and that general Design of theirs of debauching our young Nobility and Gentry wherever they can with a contempt of Religion He that doubts of this may be fully satisfied by a late Treatise call'd Fiat Lux in which this Design is most conspicuous from which I cannot but believe this Author hath taken the main of his Humane Reason And indeed there can be no readier way possibly found out of bringing in the Romish Religion then this of rooting out Christianity for as long'as the Christian Principles remain firm in mens minds it is impossible any one should change from the Church of England to the so palpable Errours Juggles Phantacism and Idolatry of the Church of Rome But to argue with these Gentlemen upon their own Principles If all kinds of Religion are so indifferent to them why then should they not keep close to that of their own Country since the consent of all Nations shews us that alterations in Religion are very dangerous to the publick peace and safety of any Kingdom Now that the Design of this Author is the very same with that of Fiat Lux will be evident to any attentive Reader that will but seriously consider what he saith from p. 20. to the 37. or else I must confess that I am most grosly mistaken For having foreseen that it was possible for men by an erroneous conscience to excuse according to his Doctrine even the renouncing Christianity and the denying of Christ himself He answereth that Objection not by recanting an opinion of so horrid a consequence to the Christian Religion but by endeavouring to prove that the same might possibly follow that Men might deny Christ by following any other guide as well as this of Humane Reason Nay to show the advantage of his principle above all others he declaims at a most prodigious rate of the great charitableness of His Opinion that would set Heaven Gates so wide open that Turks Jews Heathens nay Atheists themselves might find an entrance thereat Now what doth this tend to in the direct consequence but the very same as that other Treatise before mentioned viz. to prove that Men may be saved by any kind of Religion whatsoever And herein the two good wits jump exactly onely this Gentleman doth alittle out-do the former by not excluding Atheists from the Kingdom of Heaven and by consequence he insinuates into the minds of men that as to the main end which all aim at viz. Happiness It is indifferent whether men be Christians Jews Turks Heathens or Atheists that is in a word whether Men have any Religion or none at all Is not this an admirable advantage that this Gentleman hath above all others in his Humane Reason But I shall not spend time in declaiming against it but will endeavour throughly to answer his Reasons for it He endeavours to prove this first Assertion by a particular Examination of other Principles The first Principle he examines is that of the private Spirit or new Light This I easily grant is in its direct consequence a flat denial of the whole Gospel but then this is our Authors own Opinion For put but the Question home to any Quaker what he means by the Light within him and his Answer shall be either an evasion of the Question by running into railing or else by some other terms of Art amongst them as Christ within them c. or else they must be forced to confess that they mean nothing else but natural Conscience i. e. Humane Reason by
humility in us to hold to nothing at all but to be like a wave of the Sea tossed with every wind of Doctrine I appeal to any man living whether he doth not think him more humble who submits to the Judgment of his Magistrates in all indifferent things which is all that the Church of England requires then he that is dogmatical in his own opinions about them and onely rests satisfied according to our Authors meek and humble Doctrine in the sole dictates of his own Humane Reason And now who does not admire our Authors great humility in vouchsafing an Answer to this Argument But these are the common Objections Now follows the extraordinary one objected by extraordinary Mr. Hobbs He that pleaseth may read it p. 46. for I am not at leisure to transcribe it The Seventh Object is that of T. H. The sum of which is this That because all publick Worship of God consists in outward significations of our honour of him different ways of Worship must needs be scandalous to others in making them think that we dishonour God in stead of honouring him But this Gentleman dissents from him What pity it is that two such extraordinary Friends should fall out But let us see the Reason why he will contradict his old Master and this it is For the same Argument would as well hold against the diverse ways of Worship in several Commonwealths as in the same because none would be spectators of the Worship but such as believe it Honourable for were there an hundred several Religions in the same City still their Religious Congregations would be made up of none but those of the same Opinion I shall undertake to defend T. H. in his Assertion not for any extraordinary opinion I have of the Man or his Argument but because I believe he speaks truth in it and therefore I think it hard that he which speaketh truth so very seldom should be run down with meer words or metaphors when he doth but chiefly because our Author through him strikes at the injunctions of our Church and our Uniform and decent Ceremonies in the worship of God But do you think Sir that men of the same City would be as much strangers to the Religions of their next neighbours as they are to those of forraign Nations Certainly I should think that it was much easier for them to go a few steps to satisfie their curiosity then to cross the seas for it and would not their trade and interest one amongst another in the same town more oblige them to a religious interview then when they were at some hundreds of miles distance and had little or no concerns that should draw them thither Most probable it is that to carry on a trade with all sorts of men some would so far comply with all sorts of Religions to go to all their publick Assemblies since they might do it without giving themselves the trouble of going further then the limits of their own walls So that the case is much different which our Author would make the very same But our Author hath more Arguments then one and more Answers too or else he was in a poor case He adds That those that are for a toleration of all ways of worship in the same Common-wealth would not think any of those ways which differed from their own to be dishonourable to God But I beseech you Sir did they all tell you so or how do you know it by instinct or new light But Sir if they had I know no body is bound to believe them any more then your self For I dare be so confident as to assert that there is scarce any Sect in all England unless they be Atheists that do in their hearts allow of a toleration of all ways of worship in this Kingdome Hath not this been made appear by all our grand Separatists do the Papists allow it where they have power did the Presbyterian or the Independant allow any such thing when they were uppermost and have not the Quakers themselves set up a discipline amongst them which whosoever will not submit to is presently cast out of the Brotherhood so that we see our Author will find his own party very small when he comes to tell Noses unless he thinks he might find Atheists and Hypocrites enough amongst all or any of the other Parties For otherwise it is absolutely impossible that any man that is sincere in the choice of his Religion should not think that way of worship which is contrary to his to be less honourable to God then his own i. e. comparatively dishonourable to him For Instance I do sincerely choose to pray to God publickly on my knees because I do really believe that this is the most proper way of expressing before those men I converse withall that honour which I owe to God Almighty Now when I see others when they should worship God set 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 mows like Apes or Baboons I must needs confess I cannot for my 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 So that this Gentleman must suppose that all men in our Nation or the greatest part at least are meer Atheists or Hypocrites which no man but he that is one of these himself can possibly suppose or else that there must arise strange thoughts of one another from their contrarieties in the performance of their Publick Devotion and how soon these would break out into Disputes Contentions and Feuds and the Consequences of these Tumults and Seditions I leave it to any one to judge that is not prejudiced But if this Gentleman cannot carry his cause by Reason he knows another way still and that is Railing And therefore he sets full drive on the Clergy of the Church of England they being now exposed as the ancient Christians were amongst the Beasts in the Amphitheatres without any guard but their own generous courage and innocence he therefore ventures to give them the first Essay of his good natured and Gentile Doctrine by very civilly calling them by those most obliging titles of Ignorant or Malicious Physicians For that he speaks of them is evident because there are no other Spiritual Physicians which he there must mean but onely they that do publickly oppose his beloved toleration And is this all they have for their reward for setting themselves in the breach against that Flood of Popery and Atheism which is just ready to overflow our Nation Is not this rare encouragement to our Noblemen and Gentlemen to bestow a thousand or five hundred pounds in the Education of a Son to expose him when all is done to be abused by every Bussoon Is not our Nation come to a fair pass for Religion that though the most barbarous
was true which he can never prove that God would not punish us for our wilful errours yet since the consequence of errours doth naturally lead us into the most damnable sins it therefore behooveth us if we tender our eternal happiness to take care to preserve our selves from errour which may be not only of dangerous but of damnable consequence to us What then is the wisest way for the most of men to guard themselves from these dangers This is a question well worth our consideration if we think we have such souls in us as are endangered by errour to be eternally lost and miserable What then must the common people here amongst us the greatest part of which have scarce reason enough to demonstrate themselves to be men do to secure themselves I answer It is the safest way for them to relie upon the Church especially in all matters of indifferency and of unnecessary disputes and upon some of those Guides which the Church hath lawfully called and authorized in all cases of conscience For since as this Gentleman tells us many nay most of men and the wisest of men have erred though they have had all the advantages to improve their reasons that this world could afford them how should any ordinary man who is void of all helps but his own natural reason dare to rely upon it alone in business of so great concern as his eternal happiness or misery Especially since he doth not think it convenient to rely upon it in business of lesser concern viz. That of his health or estate Now I appeal to all men that in difficult cases do consult their Lawyer and Physician whether they do not think it safer to rely upon their judgements then to be governed only by themselves they must say they do so else they were mad to consult them and give them mony for nothing So that this Author hath the suffrage of all wise men against his opinion when he tells us that upon the account of safety we ought to commit our selves wholly to our own reason in the search of truth Nay I will refer it to himself and challenge him upon his reputation if he hath any left to tell me whether his own practise doth not contradict his opinion that is whether or n◠he consults his own reason and commits himself wholly to the guidance of it in cases that concern his life and estate or whether he is guided by the Doctor and the Barrister To this perhaps he will answer that he limits his discourse to the serch of Religious truths in which it is most safe for us to rely upon our own Reason But I pray you Sir why not then in all other can you shew me any cause of difference If you say because Religion is grounded upon probabilities I Answer so is Physick upon much more uncertainty then Religion and the Law is no less built upon uncertainties in many cases which have not been determined by presidents But suppose that religious matters are more intricate and obscure and less certain then other things since errours in Religion are no less dangerous to our Souls then errours in Law and Physick are to our Estates and Lives if we believe we have any souls We ought then to be more carefull to consult our Guides of Conscience then we are to take advice of our Lawyer or Physician But experience and practise is the best teacher Let us now suppose every private person to be wholly committed to the guidance of his own reason according to this Author's Doctrine and let us see what safety he enjoys thereby For then supposing he meets with a cunning Gentleman from Rome that hath been brought up in all advantages of Learning and Education that should baffle his reason for the defence of Protestantism then if he will act rationally he must presently turn Papist and so vice versâ The same thing would also hold if he should be baffled by any Jesuit under the disguise of any other Sectary whatsoever for he must so often change his Religion as he meets with more crafty Disputants than himself By which means he might every hour have a several religion and change so often till at last he had quitted all religion and turn'd Atheist which we see to be the ordinary consequence of frequent changes Nay further suppose he meets with some subtle Jesuit in disguise whose business it is to convert men first to debauchery then to Atheism and so by degrees to Popery who should baffle all his reasons for the practice of vertue nay for the immortality of his Soul and for the being of God as it may well be suppos'd where there is so great a difference in the advantages of the persons What then will become of him if he commits himself only to the guidance of his own reason he must then presently commence Brute and believe that he hath no more soul then his horse or any other beast and that he shall die and perish like one of them nay he must turn Atheist and not only deny the Lord that bought him but that God that made him and so be left altogether without any excuse Is not this person now very safe think you under the guidance of his own reason If therefore it be safe for us to run into Popery Heresie and Atheism let us follow our own Reasons and wholly commit our selves to our own guidance if not Let us follow the Church of England and those guides which she hath set over us in all difficult cases of which we our selves can be no competent judges and when we are press'd with any argument for a change in our religion which we are not able to answer let us repair to our own lawful Minister or to some other that shall direct us for a satisfaction of our doubts and objections And though this may seem a Paradox in this Age of Schism and Faction yet the relying on the Church is the very same direction that St. Paul gives 2 Tim. 3. 15. where he calls the Church of God The pillar and ground of truth For if so then all that are Christians ought to rely upon this pillar and to build their faith upon that which is the ground of truth But I know he there means the Universal Church But you 'l say how should I who am an illiterate person or a private Gentleman and understand not the languages in which the Scriptures and other Church writings are pen'd know what the Doctrine of the Universal Church is for I am not able to search for the Christian Doctrine my self I answer Read the Scriptures in English and practise those things that are plain and easie in them and as for difficult disputes either let them quite alone or else consult in all difficulties the directions of your own Church the Church of England by those guides which she hath set over you But may not these deceive me too as well as my own Reason I Answer It is
probable that they whose business it is to study those things must know them more certainly then I who have never had time nor convenience to study them But supposing they should deceive me as long as I am in this life I shall always be subject to errour and if I do follow these directions sure I am it is their fault and not mine if they lâ—ad me into errour for I have done what I could to prevent it and sure I am I cannot this way be led into Popery Infidelity and Atheism as I may be if I wholly commit my self to the sole guidance of my own reason since our Church hath so plainly guarded us against the Idolatry of Rome in its plain Homilies and against Infidelity and Atheism by her full and short Catechism and by allowing us the use of the Scriptures I dare confidently aver that there is no ways in the world left for us that are unlearned to keep us without a miracle from Heresie and Schism or Popery and Atheism but only by this method that I have now laid down If I am mistaken I shall be very thankful to any one that will shew me wherein If I am not mistaken I must desire our Author to give me leave to think that the Authority of the Church is a safer Guide to me then my own Reason and consequently that all his boast of safety is nothing else but meer impertinence and falshood Several things it is possible will be objected against this method which I have laid down for the safety of all private Gentlemen and men of ordinary capacity especially for common people which was this That every one should rely upon the Church of England and those Guides of Conscience which she hath authorized in all difficult cases and doubtful matters which surpass his own abilities to judge of Against this it may be objected First That this is ro run into the same implicit Faith which we condemn in the Romanists and put out our own eyes that we may see with other mens I answer Not at all for I allow every one the free use of the Scriptures and their own Reasons in all matters that are within the reach of their capacity and within their proper sphear of Action and for all others that are above them I have shewn them I am sure the safest guide I can possibly find If any body can produce a safer Iet them and they will do very good service to the publick Secondly It may be objected That by this Direction they that are Papists especially the common sort of them are in no possibility to be freed from the Roman Yoke and consequently must continue in Idolatry and therefore in most imminent peril of damnation I answer I gave not this direction to Papists or those that are without our Church For what have I to do to judge them that are without But to those who are or ought to be obedient Children of the most Christian and tender Mother the Church of England who is guilty of no corruption from the Primitive Christianity either in Doctrine or Worship who enjoyns the Belief of no new Articles of Faith nor no Idolatrous Worship nor commands any thing that is sinful to be obeyed the contrary to which the Church of Rome is most apparently guilty of Now I refer it to any man or to all mankind to judge which is the safest way for us of the Church of England whether to perswade all of our Communion to be governed by their own Reason and so to endanger the loss of the greatest part of them that are now free and must continue so so long as they continue in obedience to our Church from all fear of Popish Idolatry and thereby to expose them not onely to all false Religions but even to be of no Religion at all for fear of using such Arguments to secure them as might if used to ignorant Papists continue them in their Errours and obstruct their conversion to our Church of which we cannot have half so great a probability as there is of losing or at least hazarding their Souls who now are not nor never can be in any danger so long as they continue in obedience to their own Church or whether it is safer for them to be kept by Laws in the Communion of the Church of England and in obedience to her Injunctions in all honest and lawful things which is all that our Church requires even of the Clergy themselves Thirdly Another Objection may be this That possible it is our Church may in time as well as the Church of Rome which formerly was a Church as free from all corruption as ours is now degenerate into the very same Crimes which we now blame Rome for I answer That then our Church must be quite altered from what it is at present and I onely propose my Method of Safety to all illiterate Persons in Her present Communion and therefore am not at all concerned for future contingencies But if ever She should be changed from her Primitive Purity which God forbid then and not till then will this Objection deserve an Answer For if possibilities of Errour may render Separation allowable we must never be fixt in any Church till we can come to that which is triumphat in Heaven nay neither can any man be free from a possibility of Errour as long as he is here on Earth let him propose to himself what Guide he can And I dare appeal to any man that is rational whether he must not think that his own Reason may in all probability lead him into Errours much sooner then the Guides of the Church especially in such things as he is not a capable Judge of For surely every mans own Reason is much more subject to a possibility of Errors then an whole Church is to a possibility of a total change and alteration So that it must still remain much safer to rely upon the Church according to the Rule I have laid down then it is to rely wholly upon our own Reason 4. The last Objection I shall answer is this That if we that are illiterate must rely upon our Church in all things above our capacity that then we ought to have practised the same Rule when we were Members of the Church of Rome and consequently ought never to have separated from it and therefore that our Reformers were Schismaticks To this I answer That the Romish Doctrine of Transubstantiation and their Idolatry in worshipping the Host c. besides the Popes Usurpation upon our Regal Authority was so directly contradictory to the Word of God that he must needs see it that doth not wilfully shut his eyes Secondly Our Reformation was carried on not by Private Persons but by the Publick Power of the Nation and by all the wisest and most learned Men in it And consequently it could be no Schism it being granted upon so warrantable a Cause and done in so orderly a manner To conclude
we that will hang men for Stealing or Murder for hath not Nature given every man hands to take such things as he hath need of and why should he not kill any man who opposeth him in making use of his natural right to preserve his life Thus our Authors natural Argument serves in its direct consequence to dissolve all society and to destroy all Law and Right or else to demonstrate himself to be a meer Natural in not seeing the so obvious and pernicious consequence of it or something worse if he did see it and yet dared to insinuate it by little similies into the fickle heads of the self-conceited multitude But perhaps it was onely pure good nature in him For is it not a great deal of pity that men should be restrained from the free use of that which is so natural to every one as is his own Reason But I cannot for my life imagine what should put our Author into so sudden a Fit of good nature for if I am not deceived in the person the Gentleman is not always guilty of it certainly there was some particular cause for it at present and perhaps it was this To draw in the Women for Toleration that so they might draw in the men For So Indians draw in the Female Elephant t'inveigle the Male. And one good turn requires another so that those kind souls of that Sex that know themselves apt to mistake another man for their own husband are extreamly obliged to this Gentlemans Humane Reason and good nature and therefore they ought to be of his Party for he hath most effectually and demonstratively pleaded their cause For when the good man peeps through his horns and sees something that makes them begin to stand on an end for anger at his Wife she need but onely tell him that she did but make that natural use of her parts which her own Reason did dictate to her and that she truly knows no reason to the contrary why she might not make that natural use of her tail to get a livelyhood by as well as others do of their hands or their tongues and the poor Cuckold must rest fully satisfied with this answer of his wife and put his horns in his Pocket and sneak away for fear of being accounted an irrational Coxcomb for not understanding Humane Reason I wonder now that all the Whores and Rogues as well as the Quakers did not come and return this Author thanks for his Book It is a great deal of pity they did not What a goodly company of Friends would there have met together and how lovingly would they have greeted and embraced one another with the close hug Now I have done with this Gentlemans Naturals and must proceed to take a view of his Politicks and it would be very strange if these should not be as like the former as ever any Child was to the Parents His third Argument p. 78. is this That it is likewise most agreeable to the good and interest of Humane Society for all Wars of late Years have been either really for Religion or at least that hath been one of the chief pretences which if it were quite taken away the people could not thereby be drawn into a civil or foreign War Fare you well for a Politician What! must all Religion be removed out of the World Surely never any man in the heathen Politicks ever found such an assertion as this much less amongst any that did but so much as pretend to the name of a Christian. Neither is this assertion more contrary to Christianity then it is to true Politicks For I dare undertake to demonstrate that no other Principle whatsoever onely Religion can be the main support and foundation of Society So that if Religion be removed the Society must necessarily fall and consequently whoever endeavours to undermine and destroy Religion is a publick enemy to all mankind For setting aside Religion there is no other Principle that can keep men good subjects good children or good servants nay to go higher still nothing but Religion implanted in the minds of men can preserve Princes in their Thrones or Parents or Masters in their Families There can be but two Principles that can pretend to do it that I know of besides Religion and those are First Sense of Honour and Reputation Secondly Fear of Laws and Temporal Punishments But that neither of these can do it without the help of Religion will be evident to any man that will but allow himself a due consideration of it For supposing all men were rid of Religion then the grand Maxim by which they must rationally govern their actions must be only their own present preservation and welfare So that whatsoever makes for their present advantage can be no ways dishonourable for them in their own thoughts and as for a disesteem or dishonour from others it would only oblige them to act their crimes in secret not at all to avoid them For if they did but act their Villanies though never so horrid so privately that other men could not know them to be the Actors or the Authors of them they would thereby be secure enough from all dishonour from their Actions And as for the fear of Laws the very same thing viz. secresie in their actions would equally secure them from the punishment of the Laws as from disgrace So that if I can prove that the horridst murders may possibly be committed so privately that the World shall not know the Authors nor the Actors of them which is easily demonstrable to him that considers how easie it is to be guilty of Perjury and Forgery and that there are such things as Fire Poisons and Poniards in the World and that in most Kingdoms and Families mens present interest would incite them had they no better principle to govern them to the worst of Villanies even such as would ruine all Government either of Nations or Families it will follow that neither sense of honor nor fear of Laws could keep men from them Now that mens present interest would prompt them to the murder of their Prince is most evident in the next heir to the Crown for would it not prompt him to remove his Father that he might ascend the Throne and sway the Scepter which he could not hope to do as long as his father lived Neither could disgrace keep him from this murder if it was but done privately and much less could fear of temporal punishments in the least deter him from this horrid murder of his Prince and Father unless it were fear of those that might be supposed from religious Principles For his Father is no sooner dead but in all hereditary Monarchies the next Heir is actually Supream and therefore above all Humane Judicature of the Laws and all corporal or capital punishments from his Subjects Neither would the Governours of Families be much more secure from their next Heirs whose Interest would lead them to murder their Fathers that
so they might enjoy their Estates that would descend to them by Inheritance Now was there not a Conscience and secret dread of Religion that awed the minds of Children from the thoughts of so horrid Villanies it would be too easie for those that live under the same roof and have all opportunities of secresie in their crimes to act any Villany so privately that their interest should lead them to as that they should never without a Miracle be discovered But supposing they should be discovered it is onely death which is the utmost punishment they can fear which according to the Atheists Principles would be no such dreadful matter for it would onely put an end to all those troubles and disquiets they here labour under Now that this would be the consequence that would ensue if mens minds were free from Religious dreads is evident from the practice of debauched persons who have run themselves into Atheism For we see they stick not to hazard their lives daily for the satisfaction of their lusts by the perpetration of any Villanies even Theft and Murder not excepted for hopes of a very small and inconsiderable gain in comparison of that which the death of a Father would afford the next Heir nay we see that amongst wise and sober men the Merchant doth expose his life and estate to the most uncertain of all things even the Winds and the Wave sor the hopes of a far more uncertain gain then this would be to the Heir and the Souldier doth daily bid defiance to Death in the open Field onely for the sake of a poor livelyhood What then could preserve our Houses Towns and Cities from Fire our Lives or our Estates from perjury or our Persons from poyson and poniard ot our Wives from abusing our Beds or our Neighbours from cheating us was all Religion rooted out of the World Would not a Commonwealth of Men be soon worse then a Desert of Beasts Reason enabling men to do more mischief one to another and to act it more privately and effectually then the Brutes We cannot then but see by this time how absolutely necessary Religion is to the good and welfare of all Mankind and all Societies Wherefore those Gentlemen that delight to promote Atheistical Discourses sorry I am to think this Age should afford any such of that quality do expose themselves to be thought Enemies to all Mankind by all wise men and never to be trusted by any but inconsiderate Fools Had they therefore a true sense of their own reputation they would never be guilty of that gross folly to say there is no God or openly to countenance Atheism I hope this Gentleman our Author hath no such Design though by his excusing Atheism before as well as by his words in this place he hath given me too much Reason to suspect it I pray God our Magistrates may take care to revive those Laws that may put a stop to the growth of Atheism amongst us which they are obliged to do even for their own present preservation unless they can think it safe that our Nation should be quite overrun with such a sort of Villains that will stick at nothing though never so hellish a crime when their present interest or the satisfaction of some bruitish lust shall prompt them to it For if these grow numerous they themselves will not be in a much safer condition then the meanest Subject For they that once come to that heighth of madness to contemn their own lives and estates out of Atheistical Principles are Masters of the lives and estates of all other men Secondly To come to something more directly in answer to our grand Politician I must be forced to tell him as he did his extraordinary friend T. H. in plain English rhat it is false that Religion hath been so much as the pretence of all Wars that have been of late years amongst us Was it not a dispute betwixt the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and the prerogatives of the Crown that was the first pretence of the late dismal and unnatural War amongst our selves though it is never to be forgotten that Religion was afterwards drawn in to countenance Rebellion even by some of those very persons that are still Praters in unlawful Conventicles and do as far as they can still continue Leaders of Faction and Sedition Was it Religion or the vindication of our just Rights that was the cause or so much as the pretence of our late Wars against the Dutch Is it Religion or Interest and desire of Dominion that at this present sets the greatest part of Christendome in a Flame and causeth so much effusion of Christian Blood by the French Armies From whence nothing can be clearer then this That it is Interest and Propriety Right and Liberty Power and Dominion that are the Causes and Pretenses of Wars not Religion Shall we therefore acrording to the Reason of our Author 's grand Politicks remove all Power and Dominion and all Right Liberty and Propriety out of the world because if they were removed the people could never thereby be drawn into a civil or forreign War Are not the most necessary the best of things always most ready to be abused and the most destructive when they are so Go thy ways Sir Politick for if thou hast not deserved to be knighted for this Book I believe thou art very much mistaken in thy own modest thoughts of thy self What pity is it thou art not a Privy Councellour Ingrateful age that will not raise him fifty Cubits higher then other men who hath well deserved it certainly it is a great deal of pity that the Gentleman should not be preferr'd according to his Merits Plato in his Phaedo tells us that nothing drives us to fightings wars and feditions but the body and its lusts And does not St. James if happily he may be of any credit or authority with this Gentleman tell us the very same thing James 4. 1. From whence says he come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your Members c. So then all wars brawlings seditions strifes dissentions are raised and promoted not properly and truly for Religions sake which does not cannot authorize or countenance any thing of that nature but for the sake of mony ambition or profit or some such like temporary worldly and carnal consideration and yet I suppose our Sir Pol. loves his body his lusts and his mony a little too well to have them removed out of the world lest they should be the cause of wars and seditions But supposing what he saith was true viz. That Religion was really or at least in pretence the cause of all Wars since I have demonstrated it so absolutely necessary to the peace of all Societies what ought to be done with it ought it to be removed out of the world or rather ought not such care to be taken by establishing the Church of England
that it might be impossible to make Religion a pretence of Rebellion and this directly leads me to the next Reason against our Author's Politicks viz Thirdly That there is no Religion under Heaven doth better I might say so well secure the publick Peace as ours of the Church of England For can any Religion be more peaceable then that which makes resistance to Magistrates in any case whatsoever to be a most damnable crime then that Doctrine that tends to the highest perfection of our Humane Natures that brings our bodies under the subjection of our souls and both under subjection to God that exalts our nature from being like the Beasts that perish and makes us partakers of the Divine nature by rooting our those lusts and vices that cause war and strife amongst us and by planting in us all those heavenly Graces that would secure the peace of the world and make us like unto God and fit to enjoy him to all Eternity that most conduceth to the good of all Mankind that establisheth peace unity and universal charity amongst all men that preserves the quiet of Families the tranquility of our Souls and the health of our bodies In sum can any Religion better promote the peace of our Nation then that which commands every man to do all the good he can to every man and proposeth infinite and eternal Rewards to those that obey it that forbids all manner of evil towards any man under pain of the greatest most inevitable and eternal torments and makes not the least allowance for the least of evils either in thought word or deed Have we not seen the peaceable effects of our Church and her Doctrine in the time of the late miserable wars amongst us For not one true Son of the Church of England could ever be forced by the fear of penalties or ever be allured by the hopes of Reward to take up Arms against his Sovereign Whereas there is no other sort of men in England but too many of them were guilty even of actual Rebellion being led into it even by the very Principles of their Religion Why then should this Religion be removed from the minds of men would it promote peace to take away that which is the grand Foundation of it and to implant in the room of it principles of all kind of sedition and disobedience Would it preserve his sacred Majesty and our Laws to destroy that Church which is their greatest defence Is it forgotten already how true our late sad experience prov'd it No Church no King and no King no Laws May not our Church therefore justly say to those that would destroy her as our Saviour did to those that would have ston'd him for which of these good works tâ—at I have done amongst you would you now kill me This our Politician saw well enough and is forced to confess it in that he saith Unity in Religion would produce the same effect as that Principle which he propos'd But now let us consider that which is the main Design of his Book which he proposeth instead of the Church of England to maintain peace and quietness in our Nation Which we have p. 79. viz. That this should be made the main and general Ground of all Religions that every man should quietly enjoy his own I remember a Fable in AEsop to this purpose The Mice were in a grand consultation how to preserve themselves from their mortal Foes the Cats at length after a long and serious Debate one of them who like our Author thought himself a better Politician then all the rest very gravely gives them this wise advice That every Cat should wear a Bell about his Neck that so they might be warn'd of his coming by the Sound and might have time to provide for their safety This Advice no doubt was approv'd as very safe by all the company as this Gentlemans Proposal is by all his wise Admirers but at last one sawcy Mouse spoils all with onely asking this Question as a man might ask our Author viz. How this Advice should be put in Execution which made them all break up their Council-board with a loud laughter at the folly of their Counsellour whose great wisdom they did just before so much admire Against our Sir Pol's Advice besides the impossibility of the Proposal I may urge the General consent of all or most of the Nations in the whole world For let him or any man produce if he can any one Monarchy under Heaven in which the publick exercise of every mans particular Religion is allowed him where there is no standing Army to keep the people in obedience so that it is most evident that in every Nation either a standing Army or the establishment of an Unity in Religion is absolutely necessary for publick Peace and Safety Now whether it will be thought more convenient for the Peace of England to uphold the Church or to submit to the Long Sword I refer it to all English Gentlemen to judge If our Author shall say he means onely the private exercise of every man's Religion I answer that no Nation nor Church in the whole world allows a greater liberty in the private exercise of Religion then we have For is it not established by Act of Parliament that every man shall have liberty to exercise his own Religion not only with those of his own family but with five more strangers so that it is not for Religion but for the contempt of the Laws and for endangering by unlawful and numerous assemblies the peace and welfare of our nation that any one is or can be punished by our Laws This our Politician cannot be ignorant of and therefore he must mean not the private but the publick exercise of every mans Religion It may be this Gentleman is an experimental Philosopher and is therefore induced to try experiments in Religion and Politicks as well as in Naturals though he thereby hazards the safety of a whole Nation I will now as far as can be try it with him by granting him what he would have as to the last part of it for the first is altogether impossible and by letting him see the consequence of it in those Sects amongst us Suppose then that some men onely pretend Religion to gather parties together to set up a Common-wealth instead of the best Form of Government in the whole world which we now have established amongst us as it is to be feared most of our Phanaticks do especially the main leaders and abettors of them for though I will not say all dissenters from the Church are for a Commonwealth in the State yet this I believe our experience and observation may prove true that all Common-wealths-men are Schismaticks or at least favourers of Schism and Faction and great sticklers for a Toleration and are not these precious Youths think you to be tolerated in a Monarchy and would not it much conduce to the safety of the Monarchy to let them meet by