it useth in the other Discourses for Toleration When the Evidence of Truth hath forced from them one reasonable Concession that one Concession doth plainly give away from them nothing less than their whole Cause For pray tell me Constantine and the Christian Emperours are here commended for their care and oversight in Religious things and so our own Kings for securing to us the Protestant Religion Now was not all this done by Laws and Penalties and the Civil Sword and was there any possibility of having it done any other way This being premised as to the Exceptions themselves I briefly say this If no force is to be used in matters of Religion because it is an incompetent Method as being able to reach only to the Body and Estate but is by much too weak to reach unto the Mind this is a Difficulty not at all peculiar to the Gospel but common to that with all other Dispensations The Mind of a Man was as much a Spirit under the Law as it can be now and the Sword was made of as meer Matter in those days as it can be in these and therefore thus far the Case is one and the same As to the Second Exception That all Force is now unlawful because Christ hath not commanded it they have been told and have had it proved to them too in many parts of the Puritan Controversie that many things are lawful which there is no particular Command for that a thing becomes unlawful not by being not commanded but by being forbidden And this leads me directly to the Third Exception That all Force is plainly forbidden by St. Paul when he says 2 Cor. 10. v. 4. that The weapons of our warfare are not carnal Now this saying of the Apostle is so far from being a hibition of all Coercion in the Affairs of Religion that it doth plainly refer to a very great Coercion which himself did in these very words threaten for to use viz. the Censures of the Church in such a manner as to carry temporal Penalties along with them in manner miraculous visible and extraordinary And therefore it followeth in the next words that those Weapons which in themselves might be supposed weak yet if they were better looked into would be found to have a strength from God which they had not from themselves for they were not meerly carnal but mighty through God for the bringing down strong holds And to render it clear that these words have a penal meaning in them it follows that these Weapons are able to cast down imaginations and every high thought that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ And to put it out of all doubt that those Weapons had a coercive power in them the Apostle adds in a stile much beyond exhortation and advice nay much beyond a bare reproof that in the strength of them he would revenge all disobedience And as for the last most pressing and convincing Consideration That if Force was to be used in any affair of Religion at all it was of all others the most to be justified in order to the pulling down of Antichrist the greatest of all other Gospel-enemies But even in that Case it ought not to be used and therefore most certainly not in any other The Sword of the Spirit being the only Weapon by which Christ will destroy Antichrist the greatest Gospel-enemy which the World hath produced I shall not here take an advantage which I have already mentioned that the Sword of the Spirit doth in Scripture signifie something which carries Coercion along with it but shall be contented that that word be understood in the common meaning of it And upon that Supposition I believe that this Assertion of this learned Gentleman will scarce pass for true Doctrine in the Separated Congregations I am sure that there was a time when it would not have done so and I never yet heard that in this Point their Minds were altered How unlawful soever it may be for the Magistrate to make use of the Civil Sword in a Cause of Religion I am sure that it hath been often preached as a great Gospel Duty though in a Rebellion to make use of the Military one We have not forgot how often the Zeal of the Common People was inflamed against the King by telling them that the Cause then fought for was the Cause of God that their Persons and Estates were all too little to be sacrificed in this Concern of Religion and the question really was whether Christ or Anti-Christ should be King And so I return to our Author Amongst all the Arguments which are brought to prove the Compulsory Power of the Magistrate under the Gospel the greatest weight is laid upon the practice of the Kings of Israel and Judah and what they did under the Law in compelling men to the Worship of God then established In the due Consideration whereof we shall find the truth in hand no wayes invalidated and that what was then done by the Kings of Israel and Judah cannot reasonably be now made a Rule to Magistrates under the Gospel And that the Analogy will no way hold may be made appear both from the different station and posture those Kings were in from all Magistrates now and also from the different Condition of the Church then and now and many Circumstances peculiarly relating to both First the Worship and Policy of the Jews being in it self Typical and representative of what was to come hereafter their Government was likewise so and in their Kings very eminently Secondly God was pleased in those Times upon all eminent Occasions of Reformation in his Worship and Proceedings of that Nature to send Prophets to declare his positive Mind and to put an end to all Doubts that could be about such things Nay some of the Kings themselves were Prophets immediately inspired and did not only take care of the Worship established by Moses but did themselves by Divine Authority bring in things of a new Institution into the Worship of God Thus David did and Solomon in bringing Musick into the Temple and setling the Courses of the Priests and were divinely inspired to write part of the holy Scriptures No Magistrate now can pretend to any such power in themselves nor have they any such extraordinary direction to guide them but are punctually obliged to whatever Christ hath revealed in the Gospel And therefore in this respect the Analogy holds no way good The sum of all which is that no Argument ought to be drawn from the Examples of the Kings of Israel or Iudah whereby to prove the Power of any present Magistrates over the Affairs of Religion by reason of the great difference between those Magistrates and ours especially in these two respects First that they were Typical Secondly that in such Cases they had either Prophets sent to them or themselves were divinely inspired And in this part of the Argument if
THE Modern Pleas FOR COMPREHENSION TOLERATION AND The taking away the Obligation to the Renouncing of the COVENANT Considered and Discussed LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXV A SCHEME OF THE CONTENTS How little Cause our Dissenters have either for Separation or Alteration pag. 1 4. An Account of the Design of a Book entituled Of the Religion of England p. 4 The Design of it inconsistent and unpracticable p. 7 9 The Terms of Communion which the Church of England imposeth are not sinful in the opinion of the most learned among the Dissenters p. 11 There is no sinfulness objected by them as to the 1. Articles p. 15 2. Liturgy p. 17 3. Canons or Ceremonies p. 23 It is no sufficient objection against our Ceremonies that they are not by God commanded p. 25 Nor that they are significant p. 26 Nor that they grieve a pievish sort of men p. 29 There is no sinfulness in that the Church imposeth new Bonds and Terms of Communion p. 36 Of the Assent and Consent ibid. Of renouncing the Covenant p. 40 Certain Articles of the Covenant that make it dangerous not to be renounced p. 41 Artic. 1. p. 42 Artic. 2. p. 45 Artic. 3. p. 48 Artic. 4. p. 56 Artic. 5. p. 59 Artic. 6. p. 61 Of the Conclusion of it p. 63 An Instance in a known Presbyterian who did renounce publickly the Covenant as to the most meritorious part of it voluntarily long before the Kings Restauration p. 69 How it comes to pass that the Presbyterians and other Dissenters whose Opinions and Pleas are mutually so inconsistent do agree in their clamours for Liberty of Conscience p. 72 They themselves cannot agree what Liberty of Conscience is and what are its true bounds p. 74 Of Comprehension and how little will be gained by granting it p. 77 Of unlimited Toleration p. 78 The Dissenters own Testimony against Toleration p. 81 Of Comprehension without Toleration p. 92 135 What the Presbyterians ought to do before they be admitted into the Church by Comprehension p. 94 140 178 What shall be done with the private mans Conscience when it is inconsistent with that which the Conscience of the Governour dictates whether of the two shall over-rule p. 98 Religion hath very great influence upon the Peace of any Government 101 Magistrates not alone in point of Interest but Conscience are to have great care of Religion p. 102 Objections and Authorities against this answered p. 105 Of the use of force in propagating Religion p. 107 Of that Text 2 Cor. 10. The Weapons of our Warfate are not carnal ibid. That Objection Force may not be used in pulling down Antichrist therefore not in propagating Religion retorted p. 109 Of the Argument drawn from the Example of the Kings of Israel or Judah p. 112 Testimonies out of Scripture for the Magistrates Authority in using force for the propagating Religion p. 104 105 The Apostles when they were brought to to answer before the Governours of that time did not deny their Authority p. 118 Universal Toleration contrary to Scripture p. 121 The Magistrate by becoming Christian if he hath no addition hath yet no diminution of his power p. 131 Of that smalness of Difference that is pretended between us and the Presbyterians p. 136 A Comparison between the Severities used now against the Covenant and those used by them in imposing it p. 142 How far they approve of Episcopacy and Liturgy p. 144 The Inconveniencies that attend Liberty of Conscience p. 146 How much Toleration is better than Comprehension p. 149 Conscience absolutely taken no safe Rule either of Actions or Tenets p. 152 Of the Mischiefs Liberty of Conscience is like to bring to Religion p. 153 Of new Light p. 159 Government p. 162 By what means this Liberty is dangerous to Government p. 166 The private Consciences of men are not ordinarily trusted in their common dealings p. 169 What ends they propose to themselves that promote Liberty of Conscience p. 177 Their unwillingness to renounce the Covenant shews how little they repent of it p. 180 Objections answered p. 183 taken from their 1. Number Ibid. 2. Merit p. 189 3. Assistance against Popery p. 190 4. Their hindering Trade p. 196 5. France Holland have good experience of it p. 218 6. Civil Penalties in Religion make men Hypocrites p. 232 An Apostrophe to the Dissenting Brethren p. 235 A Postscript p. 247 ERRATA Page 71. line 25. for what may the meaning r. what may be the meaning p. 120. l. 14. for into his r. in this CONSIDERATIONS Concerning Comprehension Toleration AND THE Renouncing the COVENANT HE who endeavours to make any Alteration in a setled Government either of Church or State is obliged by all the Rules of Justice and of Prudence to alledge some very good cause why it is that he doth do so Alteration being in it self so great an Inconvenience as that it ought not by any means to be attempted but for some weighty Reason Now as to the Church as it is by Law established not withstanding all the fearful Outcries which of late have been made against it I would fain have any of our Dissenting Brethren to answer directly Whether there be any one thing sinful in her Communion or only some things as they conceive inexpedient If only inexpedient as there is good cause to believe that the most considerable Persons and those in no small numbers among them do suppose no more then I would fain know whether inexpediency alone is a sufficient and just cause of Separation And how well soever any particular man among them may think of the Grounds of his own Separation there is very good evidence that there are abundance among themselves who do plainly perceive and much lament it that by the means of this present Separation there hath been an entrance made for such Doctrines and Practices into this Nation which are chargeable with to phrase it modestly the very highest degrees of inexpediency When the rule and measures of inexpediency are well considered of and regard is had to that great variety of Respects in which one and the same thing may be both expedient and inexpedient it will then be found that inexpediency is a thing which private persons cannot easily determine indeed are no competent Judges of Besides if it were a clear case that in the present settlement there were something not altogether so expedient as were to be wished Is this a sufficient warrant for any not only to mislike so much of the Law as they think capable of being mended but withall openly and avowedly to separate to unite and joyn in great Combinations against the Publick Constitutions only because they are not arrived in their esteem at all possible degrees of perfection He who can submit to no Law but such a one as is exactly made to his own mind in all particulars must resolve for any thing I know never to obey as long as
of Devils as Saint Paul did upon occasion declare some Doctrines to be and that he ought not to give me Liberty to preach any such in his Kingdom What now is to be done in this Case Here is Conscience on both sides the King is as firmly perswaded as I am and thinks himself as well informed as I either am or can be If the King restrains me from preaching after my own way then I cry out that he is a Persecutor He replies that I am a Seducer nay a Blasphemer and he neither will nor ought to suffer any such in his Countries either his Conscience or mine must over-rule Both cannot be satisfied one or other must necessarily either yield or alter or else I must Preach and he must Punish and the Almighty must at his own time be Judge between us and in the mean time as to all the purposes of this World the King's Conscience hath reason to expect to be more Authoritative than mine and withall he is concerned to take care both of himself and all other men to Judge both as to his own particular and likewise as to the Concerns of His whole Nation If it be replied in this Case that the King's Conscience ought to yield because it is an Errour in Him to think that He is at all concerned in Points of this Nature that Religion is no part of His Care His business is only to look after the Civil Government and the Publick Peace a Pretence frequently insisted on The Answer to this is very plain and might easily be enlarged upon as to many Particulars I shall only mention these two Things First that Religion hath a very great influence upon Civil Government and the Publick Peace and therefore if so be that the Civil Government and the Publick Peace be within His Care then Religion ought by no means to be excluded from it as having so great an influence upon it In the next place as to the Pretence that the Magistrate is in an Errour if he looks upon himself as concerned in this Particular it is more than possible that that very Pretence will upon Examination appear to be the greater Errour And in general the Subject is no more free from Errour than the Soveraign And this need not seem News to us of this Age and Nation and to speak the Truth it is no easie matter to find out any Age or Nation where it hath not been sadly evidenced that Seducers will quickly be found in great abundance where Liberty hath been given for the People to be seduced by them And after all this it will be no impossible Task to make out that Magistrates are obliged not only in Interest but likewise in point of Conscience to have a great Care of Religion and to use that Authority which they received from God so far to the honour of him who gave it as by no means to suffer his Truths to lie all openly exposed to all the Lusts Designs and Mistakes of Men to all the Knavery and all the Folly of Every one who is either willing to deceive or liable to be deceived And of this I shall now endeavour to give a brief account both from Reason and Scripture the Necessity of the thing and the Authority both of the Old and New Testament But here a great many Rubs are thrown in our way by the fore-mentioned Author of Liberty of Conscience upon its true and proper Grounds asserted and vindicated Proving that no Prince nor State ought by force to compel men to any Part of the Doctrine Worship or Discipline of the Gospel London Printed in the year 1668. Which methinks is not very different from the Doctrine of the Blody Tenent dedicated to both Houses of Parliament in the year 1644. It is the Will and Command of God that since the coming of his Son Iesus a Permission of the most Paganish Iewish Turkish or Antichristian Consciences and Worships be granted to All men in all Nations and Countries But whatever the Assertion of our Author is either in it self or in its Consequence I shall briefly enquire into the Arguments he brings for it Pag. 25. That the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power are things perfectly in themselves distinct and ought in their Excercise to be kept so c. And The Magistrate hath ways such as Christ thought sufficient to promote the Good of Religion and propagating the Growth of the Gospel without drawing the Civil Sword which will make no more Impression in spiritual Concerns than it will do upon a Ghost which hath no real Body c. And p. 28. To use force in Religion is wholly unlawful in any hand whatever because it is by no means appointed by Christ to bring about any Gospel-End For the Magistrate to enforce the Laws of the Gospel by Temporal Power or to compel Men into the Gospel by such a Power is to act without the least Precept or Precedent to induce an Engine to execute the Gospel contrary to the nature of Christs Kingdom which is not of this World and contrary to the nature of all Gospel-institutions Doth not Paul positively deliver this That the weapons of the Gospel are not carnal but spiritual and mighty thorough God The Sword of the Spirit is the Weapon by which Christ doth all yea by which he will destroy Antichrist the greatest Gospel-enemy the World hath produced The Sum of which is briefly this 1. That Force is a very incompetent Method to be used in matters of Belief and Perswasion 2. That it is unlawful 1. Because Christ hath no where commanded it we have neither Precept nor Precedent for it 2. Because St. Paul hath plainly forbid it where he says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal Now as to these Suggestions which do frequently recurr in this Question I shall at present only briefly touch upon them premising this That our Author like to all the rest who have dealt in this Cause is as much concern'd to answer these and all the rest of his Arguments against using the Secular Interposition in matters of Belief as any of those he writes against because he himself doth very much approve and commend such Interposition where he likes the Cause in behalf of which it is made use of Now though this may seem strange because it is directly contrary to his whole Book yet it is very plain and I shall not expect to be believed upon my bare word but desire the Author himself or any one besides who makes a doubt of it to consider these words which we have pag. 24. Constantine and the Christian Emperours after him till the Church of Rome had cheated them into subjection took upon them the care and oversight of all Religious things among our selves we reap the advantage of our Kings and Princes care and Concern in that enjoyment we have of the Protestant Religion Now this Assertion of that learned Gentleman is evidently true but then it happens here as
I had a mind to enlarge farther than I needs must I believe that I should find it an easie matter to find our Authour to have committed sundry mistakes in assigning the Difference between the State of the Church and the Condition of Magistrates as it was under the Law I shall not dispute whether the Law fulness of the Magistrate's using coercive power under the Law was Typical of this that such coercive power should not be lawful under the Times of the Gospel But in the second place I shall venture to say this that several of the Constitutions made by the Iewish Kings were such as stood in no need either of direction from Prophets commissioned for that purpose or any immediate inspiration given in to them themselves And in this Part of the Debate I shall go no farther than the Instances which our Author here layes down of bringing Musick into the Temple the setling of the Priests Courses Two Things certainly which without inspiration common prudence would abundantly serve to assist any man in But to shew how little need there is to insist upon any thing of this I shall produce an instance of the Magistrates coercive power in Matters of Religion which shall not be liable to any of all these however frivolous exceptions as having in it not any thing peculiar to the Ordinances of Moses And I shall fetch it out of the Book of Iob chap. 31. v. 26 27 28. If I beheld the Sun when it shined or the Moon walking in brightness and my heart hath been secretly enticed or my mouth hath kissed my hand this also were an iniquity to be punished by the Iudges c. Here now is an offence purely spiritual a Crime meerly against Religion not any otherwise at all against the State or any particular Member of it a sin indeed it was against God but such an one as did consist in a meer mistake about him and such a mistake as was in that Age and part of the World very frequently committed and yet it is said to be an Iniquity to be punished by the Iudges So that it seems in the dayes of Iob the Civil Magistrate was thought to have in himself a power and was concerned to look upon it as a Duty incumbent upon himself to take care not only of the safety of Himself and His People but likewise to look after the Honour of Almighty God Now whatever may be pretended for that Natural Liberty which every man is now a-dayes supposed to have a full right to to be permitted the enjoyment of his own way of Worship we do find that things of this Nature were before the Dayes of Moses and without relation to any of his Laws under the Restraint and Authority of Superiours who were to be in this as well as in any other Affairs not only Guides but Governours I suppose that without breach of Modesty a man may with some Confidence affirm that if it had not been within the due bounds of that Power which of right did belong to Abraham that it would never have been recorded for his everlasting Honour by God himself That he would command his Children and Houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord not only advise or exhort but Command as we have it Gen. 18. 19. And Abraham's Family was so large as that Gen. 23. 6. He is stiled a Mighty Prince And in this place we are to consider that it is very plain that every one of all those Arguments which do assert Liberty of Conscience by way of Right so far as to exempt Religion from the Authority of the Magistrate doe at least with equal force exempt it from the Authority of Parents Masters or who ever else besides For this must needs be very evident that if this Liberty be such a natural indefeasable right as that no humane power whatever can take it away from us then as the Regal Power cannot take it away so for the same reason neither can the Paternal or Despotical Nay farther if so be that these Pretenders are in the Right and that such a Liberty in Matters of Religion and the Profession of that Liberty be one part of Liberty with which Christ hath made us free and which we are accordingly called upon to stand fast in as being purchased for us by our Redeemer's Blood then the same Argument doth return upon us again at least with equal if not with greater force for as the King ought not to deprive us of any degree of that Liberty with which Christ made us free so neither ought any Parent or Master presume to do any such thing and Liberty of Conscience must upon these terms receive as little interruption in Families as in Kingdoms No imposition must upon these terms be endured in any House School or Colledge as to Forms or hours of Prayer no Words no nor no Gestures must be prescribed every Child or Servant hath the free Liberty to remonstrate in behalf of this invaluable and frequently insisted on Priviledge that no man must dare to determine what Christ hath left free for in Christ there is no difference of any Age or Quality high and low in him are all alike The chief if not only ground of mistake in this particular is this that in the New Testament we have not an Example of a Civil Magistrate exercising his Civil Power in defence of the Gospel Now that which renders this Exception utterly insignificant is this that in the New Testament we do not read of any Civil Magistrate who was a Christian. And nothing can be plainer than this that the Magistrates which then were did look upon Religion as a thing within their Cognizance and accordingly as they did not believe the Doctrine of the Gospel to be true they did call them to account who did either profess or propogate it And if this had been one alteration which the Gospel had brought into the World that from henceforth Religion contrary to the Sentiments of all former Ages should be absolutely exempt from the Cognizance of any Magistrate and that every man's Conscience was so sacred as that God alone was fit to be the Judge of it it is not a little to be wondred at that in this new Epocha and strange alteration of Affairs the Apostles did take no manner of noticâ— of this change and when they had so fair Opportunities and proper seasons as when they themselves were called in Question about Matters of Religion did never in the least insert this in their Apologies that Religion was no part of the Civil Magistrates business When St. Paul was questioned about Heresie he made no such exception against the Tribunal he was called before that Heresie was a thing which they had nothing to do to enquire about but gave them an Account that the Doctrine which he preached was not Heresie And that we may root up the very Foundation of all mistakes in this matter it is very evident that
Hearts no manner of zeal for or against any Form of Religion any farther than as theiâ— other Ends and Designs were carried on by it I shall readily grant it him â—ay I shall say this farther That besides Religion the Civil Rights of the Nation were but plausible Colours by which the Leading Men of that Party did set off their other Ends such as Revenge Humour Discontent Covetousness and Ambition And this they were told publickly by one whom they knew to be able to make it good in the excellent Declaration of Aug. 12. 1642. Themselves know what Overtures have been made by them and with what Importunity for Offices and Preferments what great Services should have been done for us and what other undertakings were even to the saving the Life of the Earl of Strafford if we would confer such Offices upon them But that Religion was the thing which they did make shew of and by which they drew abundance of well meaning but deluded People to their assistanâ—â— is so plain and known so publickly that it is no little wonder that any should offer to outsâ—â—â— the Nation in so noâ—â—â—ious a Case Did not every Press and every Pulpit declare against Episcopacy Liturgy and Cereâ—onies Did not the Lords and Commons by their Votes of March 12. 1642. resolve upon the Question That an Army be forthwith raised for the Safety of the Kings Person c. and PRESERVING THE TRUE RELIGION c. Did they not in Iuly following put forth a Delaration concerning the miserable Distractions and Grievances this Kingdom now lieth in by means of JESUITICAL and wicked Cousellours now about his Majesty wherein they tell us over and over again of the Protestant Religion a great Change of Religion That they should be for ever earnest to prevent â— Civil War and those miserable Effects which it must needs produce if they may be avoided without the Alteration of RELIGION c. And in their Resolutions to live and die with the Earl of Essex they tell us That their Army was raised for the MAINTENANCE of the TRUE PROTESTANT RELIGION The Plaâ—e Wedding-rings Thimbles and Bodkins had never been brought in if it had not been that the Cause was so often called the Cause of God Let any man read the Remonstrances and Declarations of the Two Houses and then see whether Religion was not one of those things which they all along declared their Zeal for and accordingly in all the Parliaments Quarters the poor Surplice the Organs and the Common Prayer-book were the first Objects of all their Fury But because this present Design of Comprehension is particularly intended to gratifie some Clergy-men let us enquire under what name they recommended the War unto the People Was it not under the name of Gods Cause the setting Christ on his Throne fighting the Lords Battels There is a Collection of their Sermons Printed which will not suffer any Man to doubt of this out of which there is enough gathered to this purpose in Evangelium Armatum And This Mr. Baxter hath in a late Book confessed as to himself When the Wars began though the Cause it self lay iâ— Controversies between King and Parliament yet the thoughts that the Church and Godliness it self was deeply in danger by Persecution and Arminiaâ—isâ— did much more to byass me to the Parliaments side than the Civil Interest which at the heart I little regarded This Author likewise confesseth That whatever was the Cause at the first it soon became a War for Religion And Mr. Love a Person mentioned by this Author as one of great Merit in his Sermon at the Vxbridge Treaty complains of the so long letting alone the Two Plague-sores of Episcopacy and Common Prayer-Book The Seventh Proposition is this That the Parliamentarians in the beginning of our Troubles declared to abhorr and detest all Designs of deposing and murthering his Late Sacred Majesty That they did declare against any such thing I readily grant and amongst other Reasons for this laid down by our Author That it had been else impossible for them to have gained the people as they did But that there were among the chief Contrivers of the Wars Those who had a design upon the Kings Crown and Life is a thing where of there is great Evidence If it be lawful to fight with a King why is it not lawful to kill him Swords and Bullets are Things which are by no means to be used against that Person which we think we ought not to destroy And of the great danger which his Majesties Person was in at the Battel at Edge-hill himself hath informed us in a Declaration on that Subject And in the Remonstrance of May 26. 1642. the Lords and Commons did plainly assume to themselves a Right to depose the King in these words If we should make the highest Precedents of former Parliaments our Patterns there would be no cause to complain of want of Modesty and Duty in us when we have not so much as suffered those things to enter into our thoughts which all the World knows they put in act In which words there is thus much plainly contained That whatever former Parliaments have done they take themselves to have a Right to do Now former Parliaments have been over-awed into the deposing of Kings Now that they had their Eyes upon those particular Proceedings of former Parliaments appears by those Words All the World knows what they put in act His Majesty in His Answer to that Declaration of theirs tells us of two Gentlemen who said publickly unreproved in the Parliament House one That the Hâ—ppiness of this Kingdom did not depend upon Him or upon any of the Royal Branches of that Root Another That He was not worthy to be King of England And as for the Royal Power it was plainly demanded from him in the Nineteen Propositions The Eighth Consideration is this That the Non-conforming Presbyteriâ—â—â— had both their hearts and hands in the Restauration of His Majesty to His Royal Throne for which Mr. Love and Mr. Gibbons lost their Heads Of all things I should least have eâ—pected that the Advocates for the Presbyterians should have insisted upon their Merits to His Majesty or the Royal Family for which their best Apology is the Act of Oblivion and if they would have insisted yet however methinks they should of all men not have made Mr. Love the Person to have insisted on As for that Party of the Scots which he corresponded with it is no Part of their Wisdom to remind His Majesty of the Usage which he found from them As to Mr. Love the Learned Author of Saâ—aritanism hath informed us p. 152. That at the Execution of Archbishop Laâ—d he uttered these Words with great Triumph Art thou come Little Will I am glad to see thee here and hope to see the nest of the Bishops here e're long and having dipped his Handkerchief in his blood he rode with it to Vxbridge and used these Words Here is the
he lives any Law which is not of his own making and not only so but he will find that he must not obey many Laws of his own making for any long time neither If therefore a supposed inexpediency be the utmost of the charge as I suppose in the end it will appear to be then all wise men should consider with themselves Whether any fancied Alteration can be secure from equal if not greater dangers And before that any such Alteration be made it seems to be but just and equal that the New Model be agreed upon by those who do design it and that it be proposed either to our Governours or to the publick view that it may be examined before admitted and seeing that it is to be of lasting Consequence it is to be hoped that it will not be too hastily concluded upon A late ingenious Person set forth an handsome Discourse upon this Argument entituled Of the Religion of England asserting that Reformed Christianity setled in its due Latitude is the Stability and Advancement of this Kingdom Wherein he hath attempted something like a Model of a future Settlement his Discourse is plausible and desires seem to be bent on Peace and many of his Principles look as if they did seem to tend much that way but there seems to be this one thing very observable in his whole way of Writing that with great Art he doth very dexterously take care not to come too close up to the Argument and he brings his Reader even to the very Point where the business lies and almost unperceivably steals by and passeth on to something else and to a narrow view it will appear plainly that he keeps himself within the compass of such wide Generalities that he leaves the Reader in the same uncertainties in which he found him The Draught of his Design is to be seen Sect. 14. pag. 28. which doth consist in these three Contrivances First That there is to be an established and approved Order But because that this alone he finds not to be sufficient therefore in the second place there is to be a Provision for a sort of men who cannot come within the establishment and they are to be tolerated under certain Restrictions Nor is this all for neither the establishment alone is sufficient neither will a Toleration of Dissenters from it suffice and therefore in the third place there are another sort of men who must be only connived at Each of these Particulars are afterwards considered The establishment hath the honour of the first place and hath as it well deserves incomparably the greatest part of the pains bestowed upon it and of this he tells us Sect. 15. That it must not be loose and inâ—â—herent but well compacted that it may attain the ends of Discipline which are to promote sound Doctrine and Godly Life and keep out Idolatry Superstition and all wicked Errour and Practice that tends to the vanquishing of the power of Christianity Now these things do not require a constitution of narrower bounds than things necessary to Christian Faith and Life and godly Order in the Church Now is it not very plain that such a Comprehension as is here described that it shall be enabled to attain all these great and publick ends here provided for hath left no place for Toleration or Connivance and accordingly both those things are hudled together and in a very few words dispatched Sect. 18. pag. 38. I shall lay them down and leave the Reader to judge upon them As for others that are of sound Belief and good Life yet have taken in some Principles less congruous to National Settlement I would never be a means of exposing them to oppression Contempt and Hatred but would admit their Plea as far as it will go c. Nevertheless their Liberty pleaded for is not to be inordinate but measured and limited by the safety of true Religion in general and of the publick and established Order c. And now I shall take leave to desire those Persons who cannot come within the Comprehension to consider with themselves how very little they are beholding to this their Advocate he hath not in the least intimated to us what kind of Principles those are which he would have connived at as being only less congruous to a National Settlement nor given us any manner of mark whereby to know them Besides whatever Favour he doth intend for these dissenting Brethren he hath so clogged it with many Qualifications and Limitations that he hath rendred it so plainly useless that I much doubt whether he did ever really intend them any favour at all First They must be of sound Belief and good Life Secondly Their Plea must be admitted as far as it will go Now how far that is he hath not told us Thirdly Their Liberty must not be inordinate but must have two measures First The safety of Religion in general Secondly The safety of the publick established Order Upon these Terms and upon the whole matter I think that it is no easier a thing to understand the Nature and Bounds of that Settlement which our Author is here designing by the placing of several sorts of men in the three Ranks of First an establishment Secondly a Toleration and thirdly a Connivance with this Reason for the two latter For if God hath received them why should their fellow-servants reject or afflict them causlesly Every true Christian should be tender of all that love the Lord Iesus in sincerity I understand I say as little by all this what those Particulars are which he would have from us as if he had contented himself with Mr. Sterry's three Forms of Believers and methinks the one Harangue is as edifying and intelligible as the other Let us receive one another into the Glory of God as Christ receiveth us though that cloathing of the outward form be not on the same fashion in all nor on some so well shaped as on others to the proportion of the Body which is Christ. The Lord Iesus hath his Concubines his Queens his Virgins Saints in remoter jorms Saints in higher forms Saints unmarried to any Form who keep themselves single for the immediate embraces of their Love in his Epistle before England's Deliverance from the Northern Presbytery Now In these two Gentlemen of very differing Dispensations there are three sorts of People proposed to our Care and it is not unlikely that they may be suited each to one another But this one thing is remarkable in that Discourse of Mr. Sterry that the Presbyterians can at the very best hope for no higher Rank than that of Christ's Concubines as being according to the tenor of that Sermon if at all Saints at the very best Saints in the remoter Forms The more moderate sort of Independents may indeed by him be accounted Queens as being Saints in higher forms but for Christ's Virgins who are unmarried to any form and keep themselves single for the immediate embraces of
some and this Doctrine of theirs by the benefit of Liberty of Conscience hath been preached since their days and as often soever as that time shall come which St. Paul doth so much bewail 2 Tim. 4. 3. That men will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own Lusts heap to themselves teachers having itching ears Authority will be found useful as well as Instruction and Government be needful as well as Exhortation In the Second Epistle of St. Peter c. 2. v. 1 2 3. we read of false Prophets and false Teachers who shall privâ—ly bring in damnable heresies the consequence of which is there said to be very dreadful both to themselves and others They shall bring upon themselves swift destruction But this is not all for this kind of infection is not only fatal but contagious as it is expressed v. 2. Many shall follow their pernitious ways Now if errours are so pernicious to the Souls of men and withal of a very spreading nature is it a thing advisable that there should be an unbounded Licence for entertaining and receiving spreading and propagating them And this Consideration will appear evidently to be the more forcible if we withal remember that it is more than possible that Doctrines in themselves false may be known to be false by the men who teach them and with great art and demureness many may endeavour to perswade others to those things of which themselves are not really perswaded And let no man look upon this as any harsh or uncharitable Censure of mine for it is so far from being a suggestion of mine that it is in express terms taught by the Apostle v. 3. Thorough covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you So that Heresie may be a solemn way of setting up for a Cheat Separation a very gainful Trade the getting a Meeting-house a religious Method of setting up a Shop where the more numerous and ignorant his Auditors otherwise called his Chapmen are so much the more it is in his power to put off what Wares he will and to set what prices he pleaseth upon them And thus I think I have made it somewhat plain from the New Testament that that Liberty of Conscience which of late hath so often been called for is nothing like any part of that Christian Liberty which the Writers of that Book did ever think of that they themselves did exercise and require of others to exercise the whole Ecclesiastical Power in points of Doctrine as well as Manners and that was the whole Power they were intrusted with that this Power of theirs though in it self wholly spiritual was yet by an immediate interposition of God attended upon with Temporal Penalties and by the Apostles known and intended so to be So that in this Case it happened to them in vindicating their Authority as it did in another in the exercise of their Charity they could not give the poor man who begged at the Gate of the Temple Money but they could give him the use of his Limbs they had no Silver nor Gold but what was much better they had they could say Rise up and walk So in this Case they had not in those days the Sword of the Magistrate but when it was seasonable they made it evident that the want of that was abundantly supplied by the Sword of God Now all this being premised there is very little need certainly for men to require a particular express Precept for the Power of the Civil Magistrate in Matters of Religion seing the Authority of the Civil Magistrate over the affairs which related to the Worship of God was acknowledg'd and exercised over all the World the Original of which practice we find to be of as early Date as Magistracy it self It is notorious that the Kingly and the Priestly Office was of old in one and the same Person and when by the appointment of God they came to be separated there is not the least shew that this Separation was made out of any favour to Liberty of Conscience nor the least inâ—â—â—uation that holy things should for all Ages and Dispensations to come be looked upon as no part of the Princes care Nay this is so far from being any thing like the Case that in that very Nation wherein that Separation was made the Civil Power did all along retain the Right and did frequently use that Right of his in interposing authoritatively in Religious Affairs And he did do this both by the appointment of God and at other times without any especial appointment but by his original Right of Magistracy when there was an Exigâ—â—â—y of Affairs which did require it Nay and in Matters of outward Order and the more decent Celebration of Divine Offices he did not always tie himself to the express Rule of the written word but according to his own Prudence and what he did thus without especial Commission is in Scripture recorded with great approbation The Instances are too well known to stand in need of being insisted on Our forementioned Author tells us p. 13. That a Magistrate by becoming a Christian hath no addition of power to what he had before which is readily granted him let him have but so much and he will stand in need of no more They who exempt all Affairs of Religion from the Authority of the Magistrate must prove that Christ did take much from his Authority viz. the whole cognizance of Sacred things a Power known to have been used by Jews as well as Gentiles And however the Clergy have been frequently and falsly traduced in this particular that in order to Ends of theâ—â— own they have flattered Princes with a Power which really did not belong to them It is well known that the Writers of Politicks have asserted this Prerogative of Princes as earnestly as the Divines have done Instances would here be endless I shall therefore shew you the thing granted by a known Scholar but no Divine by Profession and that is the Excellent Grotius Omnes saith he qui de Republica aliquid lectu dignum scripsêre hoc jus in sacra non partem summi Imperii sed etiam potissimam atque praecipuam vocant de Imperio C. 1. p. 14. Now I must needs confess that our forementioned Author doth p. 22 23. not only assert the Princes Power in Matters of Religion but proves it very well and at last concludes that it is a great weakness to think otherwise But then he adds p. 24. That the Prince must by no means in this case use the Sword and having said this he seems a little suspicious as if that Limitation had quite spoiled his whole Concession as indeed it doth But his wonted courage doth immediately return again Nor need it seeâ— strange that the Magistrate should have the care and oversight of that where he is not to use the Temporal Power c. Now I think it is not easie to be imagined what effectual Care the Magistrate can take but
allowed to be publick Preachers are not to be intrusted with an absolute Liberty of propagating whatever Opinions themselves either really are or shall pretend to be of of which I have already spoke and therefore shall add no more upon that point besides the laying down some of the many Inconveniencies which will unavoidably arise upon the granting of any such Liberty in these Two Respects 1. Of Religion 2. Of Government First as to Religion and here the Case is very clear that such a Liberty is the most ready way in the World to make Religion weak and despicable by being crumbled into an unaccountable and every day encreasing variety of Sects and Schisms What one other Contrivance can possibly be thought upon whereby to expose Religion to the frequent and seemingly just scorn of Unbelievers than this That it should by publick Authority be openly exposed to all manner of ridiculous and incongruous pretences unto it to all kinds of dotage and imposture to all the folly and all the falseness which is to be met with among the sons of men That every one who hath but a Freak in his Brain shall have free Liberty if he pleaseth to Christen it a motion of the Spirit and every humour though never so unheard of and extravagant shall have by Law a Priviledge if it will but claim it to recommend its self as a degree of further Light Here we shall see men shaking all day as if the Spirit came to them in Convulsions and as the humour increaseth we shall see them run naked about the Streets as if with the Old Man they had put off all degrees of Modesty The Scripture shall be frequently so interpreted as that no man in his Wits can possibly understand it it both hath and may be allegorized so far as to leave no manner of Sence or Truth in any one Word of all the History of it its Laws may be so commented upon as to carry in them no manner of Obligation Among our selves the Family of Love had gotten a Fancy that Christ was not any one Person but a quality whereof many are partakers that to be raised is nothing else but to be regenerated or endued with the said Quality and the separation from them which have it and them which have it not is Judgmentâ— Now where ever this Liberty is indulged the Grand and concerning Articles of our Faith our Saviours taking Humane Nature upon him the Resurrection from the Dead and the last Judgment are all given away in Exchange for two or three fanciful Expressions The History of the Creation hath of old been made but an Allegory the Garden of Eden a 〈◊〉 Trope it is to little purpose to alledge that with equal Reason it might be said that by the whole Race of mankind was not to be understood any real Beings but only so â—any handsome Figures and by the Universe is not to be understood a Creation but a Strain of Wit for Reason in such like Cases will be no more harkned to than Scripture So likewise it 〈◊〉 been taught that Christ shall descend from Heaven in a Metaphor and we be catched up into the Air in a Moral way The New Heavens and the New Earth are nothing else but the World changed by their Example into their Opinions And if this Liberty be allowed all Miracles and all Mysteries will be quickly changed into so many Whimsies for what is it which self-conceit cannot inspire or madness prove or that man admit who cares not to know what himself means or whether he doth or not if he be once got under the plausible shelter of Liberty of Conscience himself what is it that he may not impose upon vast multitudes who though never so well meaning in themselves are yet liable to be overreached by the Arts of other men The dangers of this kind are not possible to be reckoned because they encrease and vary at their own pleasure neither is there any man living who can possibly tell us how many and how gross absurdities such a Liberty as this may bring into the Nation in the very next moment This very Devise of Liberty of Conscience which many who look upon themselves as wise men and no ill Christians are fond of is the very same by which one of its shrewdest Adversaries did hope to drive Christianity out of the World and that too by its own assistance and to that end he granted a promiscuous Liberty for all dissenting Christians to enjoy the publick exercise of their several ways in hopes thereby to engage one of them against another and by that means to make his advantage upon all of them For so we read of Iulian that when his long contrived project of restoring Heathenism began to be put in effectual execution that this was the Course which he pitched upon as that which was most likely to bring his Design about to grant Liberty of Conscience to all dissenting Christians as Ammianus Marcellinuâ— hath it Lib. 22. Vtque dispositorum roboraret effectum dissidentes Christianorum Antistites cum plebe discissâ in palatium intromissos monebat ut civilibus Discordiis consopitis quisque nullo vetante religionisuae serviret intrepibus Here was a man very tender of Consciences but what think we was his Reason for all this Indulgence and Moderation we may read it in the next Words Quod agebat ideo obstinate ut dissentiones augente Licentiâ non timeret unanimantem postea plebeâ—â— nullas infestas hominibus bestias ut sunt sibi ferales plerique Christianorum expertus This wise and subtle Adversary knew very well that this was a ready way to destroy Christianity to give a free Liberty and a full opportunity for every one who pleased to divide it So that this sage Contrivance of ours is but the Christianity of an Heathen the taking up the Moderate Counsels of a profest Apostate and our Wisdom in preserving Religion doth express it self in those very ways by which as wise men as our selves have thought the ready way to overthrow it Indeed it is hardly credible that any Person who understands Humaneâ—Nature who considers how many are its Weaknesses and how violent its Passions who is a Judge of Consequences or hath at all observed the course of Affairs can in the least be fond of any such device as this kind of Liberty who hath not within himself a very great Design against the present Religion of that Kingdom where he doth propose it But alas that is but a small part of this evil even our common Christianity will be hard put to it if it must wrestle with all the difficulties which Toleration will immediately bring upon it That Faith is in no great likelihood of remaining long pure and sound which is exposed to whosoever pleaseth to corrupt and to defile it There is one Principle well known amongst us which where-ever it is admitted there is no Doctrine of Faith whatever nor Rule of good Life
them made a Speech to manifest his Concordance This is enough to give any man satisfaction for the late laying it down And proportionably to this it is a thing well known that some very well affected to the Good Old Cause do for all that conform to the use of the Ceremonies of the Church under the sanctified Excuse of submitting to them as Burthens Now these I think are competent fore-warnings to Authority to take care to secure it self against any ill use which is possible to be made of any abatements towards that sort of People who in this very Case do profess themselves to act without sincerity and to make use of all the Arts which they can think of And in the next place their great earnestness in desiring to be dispensed with for renouncing the Covenant doth in them plainly shew a very great fondness remaining toward it and if yielded to would in Authority appear more than a tacit Confession that it had hitherto been to blame in its Zeal against it Their restleness in this is not to be wondred at because they are sworn never to be wrought over to an Indifferency or detestable Neutrality But that Authority should be wrought over to shew kindness to such a Combination against it self or that any should propose it to the old Cavaliers to give leave to their old Persecutors to believe themselves under the Oath of God to bring every one of them to condign punishment is a thing which may justly raise all mens wonder I confess indeed that by the last Bill of Comprehension it was provided and so perhaps it may in this That no man should dare to say that the Covenant doth oblige under such a Penalty c. But it is much to be doubted that such a Provision may not be sufficient for let us consider this one thing Those Persons concerning whom our present Debate is are such as are to be entrusted to be Guides of Consciences and if this Renunciation be once taken off then they have Liberty enough to insist upon the Obligation of the Covenant amongst their Confidents without coming within the danger of the Law Let us remember that the Holy League in France was taken by above half the Kingdom before the King did ever so much as hear of it But to make this Matter plain I shall propose a Case very like it in our own Kingdom Suppose that any man out of the great Tenderness which he pretends to have for the Consciences of Men should propose that the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy should be by Act of Parliament taken away upon this very pretence That Oaths are not to be multiplied but upon great necessity that the Consciences of Men are nice and tender things and ought not to be disquieted by being pried into and disputable Points of Government are not fit matters to be put into an Oath Ought not such a Person to be looked upon with a very jealous Eye as being ill affected to his Majesties Person his Crown and Dignity He himself and all his Favourers will no doubt reply no because he doth at the same time offer a Security in it self as Good and more fit to be taken and that is this That it shall be very punishable for any man to say That our Soveraign Lord King Charles is not lawful and rightful King of these Realms c. and that the Pope hath any Power or Authority to depose the King c. He I say who should propose this Alteration ought in all reason to be looked upon as a better Subject to the Pope than to the King And so likewise and for the same Reason those who with so great Eagerness and Importunity have so often endeavoured the taking away the Renunciation of the Covenant ought to be very much suspected lest they have in their Eye something which is of much higher Consideration with them than either the Settlement of the Church or the safety of his Majesty It now remains that I consider the great Objections which are urged against all which is already said which are these That Comprehension say some others Toleration others both are fit to be granted 1. By reason of the great Numbers who do desire it Secondly in respect of their great Merit they being Persons in whom doth consist a great part of the Sobriety Industry Frugality and Wisdom of the Nation and particularly the Presbyterians have deserved well of His Majesty Thirdly it is very adviseable to grant a Liberty at this time to these Persons by reason of the great assistance which they are able to afford us against Popery and Fourthly that if a Liberty be not given it will be a very great Inconvenience to Trade Fifthly Toleration of several Forms of Religion is a thing which we may see a good effect of among our Neighbours in France and Holland Lastly Civil Penalties are of no use in Religion but only to make Hypocrites To all which pretences I return this First that the Numbers of these men are not in any degree so great as they do pretend It is indeed one of their great and old Arts to make all the shew they can possibly and to boast of those Numbers which they cannot shew one who is as well acquainted with the Muster Rolls of these Parties as any man doth plead for an Indulgence by this very Argument that they are not so considerable as that any danger needed to be feared from them Peace-offering p. 8. What are we that Publick Disturbance should be feared from us nec pondera rerum nec momenta sumus by what way or means were we never so desirous could we contribute any thing thereunto What Designs are we capable of c. So that it seems this is an Argument which they can either use or lay aside as occasion offers it self They can either wheedle Authority into pity and forbearance upon the account that they are so inconsiderable as that no danger can possibly be feared from them Or otherwise they can Hectour Authority as being so considerable as that there is no danger so great but if they are disobliged it may reasonably be feared from them In the second Place is it any wonder that these men do appear in some Numbers considering how easily many honest well-meaning Persons may be seduced by the Zeal and vehemence of some who are seduced themselves and the various Arts of others whose great design is to seduce as many as they can possibly And again are there not some Remainders of the Old Army yet alive Committee-men Sequestrators Purchasers of Crown and Church Lands and otherwise interested in the late Rebellion besides vast Multitudes of the Common People depending on them who must needs be glad of so many Solemn Occasions of meeting one another by which they keep up their Acquaintance and Correspondence and put a very serious face upon their goad old Cause and find many opportunities to he mutually serviceable to one another in
been gained to our Church others that began to waver confirmed and settled in their Old Religion and some that were fallen from us recovered and reduced notwithstanding all the disadvantages of these confused Times and of each of these I am able to produce some Instances But I profess sincerely as in the presence of God and before the World that I have not known at least I cannot call to remembrance so much as one single Example of any of this done by any of our Anti-Geremonian Brethren whether Presbyterian or Independent Now whether our separating Brethren have been improved in their Abilities or have been more fortunate in their successes in their disputings with the Romanists since that time it lies upon them to make out I am sure that the Writings of the most eminent Persons now among them were then extant Since which time there hath indeed appeared a Body of Sermons being the united Labours of sundry of them but of any Miracles which either have or are likely to be wrought by them the World both is and it is to be feared will be for ever silent If therefore we take these men into the Church our Church will be so much the less defensible as having admitted into it Persons whose Principles are no way justifiable and withal with express leave not to renounce the most unjustifiable of all their Principles And for their Assistance against the Romanists it doth not as yet appear that it will be so valuable as to countervail the Advantage we shall give the Church of Rome by taking these into our Church If we suffer them to remain in Bodies distinct from the Church then the Romanists have an Advantage if they please to use it to take up what disguise themselves shall suppose to be fittest for them How easie a thing is it for a Priest to set up for a gifted Brother And what one Opinion is there imaginable which may not be brought in under the pretence of a farther degree of New Light Whether all the stories be true of Friars who have preached in Meeting-houses I have not had an opportunity of being so well informed as to venture to say any thing but I am sure if they will they have there fair opportunities offered And if it be not as yet seasonable to set up directly for their own Church they may however prepare the way by pulling down of ouâ—s And notwithstanding all the Zeal which the Non-conformists do declare against Popery it is well known that they know very well how to joyn both Counsels and Arms together The leading Men of both Parties in Ireland were wonderfully great together all the while that the Design was managing against my Lord of Strafford and here in England in the Declaration which the King set forth concerning the Success of the Battel at Edge-hill on October 23. 1643. He hath left this Memorial to all Posterity All men know the great numbers of Papists which serve in their Armies Commanders and others the great Industry they have used to corrupt the Loyalty and Affection of all our loving Subjects of that Religion the PRIVATE PROMISES and VNDERTAKINGS THAT THEY HAVE MADE TO THEM that if they would assist them against Vs ALL THE LAWS MADE IN THEIR PREIVDICE SHOVLD BE REPEALED c. As to the next Objection That the suppressing of Conventicles will be a great hindrance to Trade I must needs confess that this is a thing which would have great weight if it had any truth in it That Trade is a thing of great and general Concern is so plain and confessed a thing as that there is no need of spending many words whereby to prove it Our wisest Kings have always thought themselves concerned to make Laws and all manner of provisions whereby to promote and encourage it and there is scarce any man so mean but that he doth in one degree or other receive some benefit by our Commerce with other Nations Not to enter into particulars I shall only name one which is indeed the Measure of all the rest and that is Money which is not a thing of our own Growth but it is a thing without which those things which are of our own Growth cannot without great difficulty pass from one hand to another Our Ships are our Bulwarks nay they are more than so for they not only keep other Nations from coming to us but they carry us to them They make the Sea to be our Earth the whole World to be as it were our native Soil by bringing home to our doors whatsoever groweth in any Corner of the Universe It was Trade which brought Tyre to be called The City of Ioy the crowning City whose Merchants were Princes and whose Traffickers the honourable of the earth Esay 22. 7 8. It was by the benefit of Trade that this City is again said to have heaped up silver as dust and fine Gold as mire in the streets Zech. 9. 3. It is absolutely necessary for us if we will be secure of our own Land to keep up a proportionable strength at Sea And besides this necessity in point of Safety it brings innumerable advantages in point of improvement carrying from us our own Commodities which we can spare from our own use and in return bringing us whatsoever the World doth afford for Use Delight Strength or Ornament It is a thing by which vast multitudes do alone subsist and altogether depend upon which great numbers do thrive and flourish by by which his Majesty hath a brave Addition to his Revenue and every man besides doth in his degree find many comforts and conveniencies in his way of Living It is the great Employer and Rewarder of all sorts of Ingenuity and of Industry by means whereof we every day see men advanced to Wealth and Honour to live comfortably to themselves and with great benefit to their Country It is a thing in it self clear that Trade is very highly and universally beneficial and those who are but ordinarily versed in it are able to reckon many admirable Advantages which I cannot so much as think upon It remains now that I enquire whether there be any such Inconsistency between Trade and Uniformity in Religion as is generally though without any Ground which I could ever hear pretended These Two things have in their nature no manner of Repugnancy and if there be any Repugnancy between them it doth not proceed from them themselves but from something else which it is to be hoped may be removed and neither of these Two things the worse for the removal of it and what that is I shall now enquire It is well known that this Argument from Trade hath been used in former days when there was no manner of occasion for it but however it served as a pretence whereby to amuse the People and make them clamour against the Government I instance in the Case of my Lord of Strafford What a noise was raised all over the Town that there
which have no manner of relation to Liberty of Conscience and which would have the same effect without it as they can possibly have by it As to our selves and our present Case there are but three Things which I can learn pretended by reason of which it is possible to be supposed that the putting the Act against Conventicles in Execution can draw any prejudice upon Trade First that Merchants who are not willing to conform will not come over and settle in England Secondly that the most eminent Traders being Non-conformists they will either forbear Trading to the utter undoing of all such Workmen as Weavers c. who do depend upon them or leave the Kingdom and carry their profitable Trades along with them which will bring a great decay of Trade here and carry away that benefit which England might have received to that whatever Country they shall please to settle in Thirdly That Merchants beyond Sea as Roman Catholicks c. will not be easily perswaded to trust their Estates in the hands of those who are not of their own Religion and they who are being lyable to such Prosecutions as by our Laws they are liable unto will be fearful of having any Estates in their own hands and look upon it as more adviseable to forbear Trading rather than to be liable to so many Difficulties These are the three most considerable Objections which I have hitherto been able to meet with and to each of these I have this to offer by way of return As to the first that this severity will discourage Forraign Merchants from comming over to us It is a mistake to think that the Church of England is such a Bug bear to the rest of the Reformation as that the Religion of that is looked upon as sufficient Cause to hinder any great Numbers of valuable Persons from coming over to dwell in the Nation It is by no means clear that any store of them do at this time desire to transplant hither and if they did it is more than possible that some other of our Civil Constitutions may be greater bars in their way than the Act against Conventicles and particularly the want of a Register And that Person must have more than ordinary Intelligence who can be able to secure us that there are such Numbers of considerable Merchants at this time designing to come over and are diverted only by the News of the Bill against Conventicles going to be put into Execution as that the advantage and addition of those Persons and that Trade to the Nation should be 〈◊〉 great as to overbalance those many and unavoidable Inconveniencies which I have already shewed that Religion and Government must be exposed to by the grant of Liberty of Conscience It doth not remain in our Memories that in Cromwel's time when there was Liberty given to all except Papists and Prelatists that any were by that Liberty encouraged to come over at least not any such number as to be considerable But suppose it should so happen that some Eminent Merchants should design to come over I could never yet hear nor am I wise enough to think upon any reason why the Act against Conventicles should more fright them from England than the Inquisition doth from other Countries as Spain Italy and Portugal and yet in those Countries Merchants have their Factories and drive their greatest Trade Besides strangers Merchants have as much encouragement in this particular as can reasonably be desired the French have their Church the Dutch theirs nay even the Iews have theirs and all Aliens of 〈◊〉 Reformation have even by the very Act of Uniformity an express provision made for them as to the enjoyment of their own way of Worship at the pleasure of His Majesty and if they do meet and keep to their own Language they need fear no more in this Country than in any other As to the second Thing alledged that if the Act against Conventicles be put in Execution the most Eminent Traders being Non-Conformists they will leave off Trading and by that means undo all sorts of Workmen who do depend upon them and not only so but leave the Nation and carry their Trades away along with them Now that this is a thing of more Noise than Weight will appear if we examine it with a little Care That some eminent Merchants are Non-conformists is undoubtedly True but that the most eminent are so I am sure is not true and could easily make it appear if it were fit to mention the Names of particular Persons But so far as it is true doth any man in his wits imagine that the Act against Conventicles will make them either quit their profitable Trades or fright them out of the Kingdom It doth neither condemn them to be hanged nor burned neither doth it so much as touch their Persons or Estates for being Non-conformists but permits them to be of what Religion they please and alloweth them the free exercise of their Religion in their Families It cannot therefore be easily imagined that People will be so far out of their wits though I must confess that Fanaticism will go a great way toward putting them out of them as to leave their settled and profitable Trades their Native Country Relations and Friends only because they cannot publickly shew the exercise of their Mode of Worship whereas they may freely enjoy it in their own Families and be known to do so without the least interruption in any of the forementioned Conveniencies Especially considering that Merchants of that Eminency that their Case deserves to be taken notice of in a case of this Publick concern now under debate are very well able to keep Ministers in thier own Houses and may do it with far less charge and prejudice than either going into some other Countrey or the forbearance of their Trades will put them to But I shall for once suppose two Things whereof the first is evidently not true the second not at all likely That the most Eminent Merchants are Non-Conformists and that upon that account they will forbear Trading But even upon these Terms it is to be hoped that those they deal with will not be utterly undone whatever may be pretended For put the Case that three or four of the most Eminent Merchants should dy or which I wish did never happen break every dayes experience shews us that the Clothiers they deal with and consequently the Weavers and other Workmen depending upon them are not presently ruined or so much as out of employment but do immediately find other Merchants to deal with the Trades of those who either give over Trading or dy being alwayes continued by their Sons or Partners or shared amongst those who have been their Servants or other Merchants who deal in the same Commodity and to the same Places But suppose that the putting the Laws in Execution should so far distract any Numbers as to make them run out of the Kingdom Let it be considered
whither they will run only into Holland where they cannot more freely enjoy the exercise of their Religion in their own Families nor converse more freely with one another about it than they may do here in England All the difference is that here they cannot meet in great Numbers and I leave it even to the Non-Conformists themselves to Judge whether that one Conveniency of Meeting in great Numbers be a sufficient enticement to any rational man to exchange England for Holland But put the Case that they do go into Holland or into some other Country I did never yet meet with any man who could demonstrate to me how they could carry away their Trade of Merchandizing though they were never so willing live in Holland they may and drive their usual Trades here in England by their Correspondents in which Case the Nation will only loose the common profit of their eating drinking and wearing But to carry away the Trade of the Nation with them is not possible if they leave any Merchants behind as I am sure they will many more and more considerable than any who will go away and by withdrawing themselves into other Countries they will but leave their Trades to be shared amongst better men and better Subjects so that by leaving the Kingdom instead of prejudicing they would occasion a very great blessing unto it by carrying away with them the Divisions but not at all the Trade of the Nation When the Act against Conventicles was first made this Argument against it from Trade was much insisted on and I remember a Story was raised about some great Dealers in the West who had with-drawn their stock left off all business by which means vast Numbers of poor People who did depend on them were utterly undone This Matter seemed so considerable as that several of the most Eminent Persons in the Nation did meet together to consult about a remedy for so great and as it was said so growing an evil But when this Matter came to be enquired into I could never learn that it had any thing more than a great deal of noise in it There is an eminent City in this Nation inferiour perhaps to none except London wherein this Artifice was made use of to fright the Magistrates from suppressing the Conventicles A great rumour was spread up and down that if they might not have Liberty to meet as formerly then they would all with-draw their Stocks which would be a great detriment to His Majesty and a vast loss to the City and leave the Poor to be provided for by their respective Parishes But the Raisers of all this Clamour did quickly find that they had to do with those who were at least as great Masters of Trade as themselves and accordingly it was undertaken by those who were very well able to make it good that if the Dissenters did think fit to withdraw their Stocks there should immediate care be taken that the Trade of the City should be carried on to the very same height which it was at without the least abatement or leaving any one Work-man out of as good an Employment as he had before It was so far from being feared that it was desired that they would withdraw their Stocks and that they may be the better encouraged to the so doing provided that they would give Security that they will not Trade at all neither by themselves or others for them nor in other mens Names they shall at any time have a good sum of money given them if that may move them to it Let us not be vainly afraid where no fear is Do we know the Non-Conformists no better than so that we should suspect them of being apt to give over their profitable Trades It had been a more rational Jealousie to have looked upon them as more intent upon any imaginable way of getting of Money than on any Settlement of Religion of what sort soever And perhaps it would be not only no ill Experiment to destroy this Argument but withall as likely a way to reduce them as any which can be thought upon if there were a Law That those who refuse to conform or at least who meet at Conventicles should not be permitted to Trade Such a Law indeed would be terrible to them and I hope the bare mention of it will make them forbear to use this kind of threatning us with that which to themselves alone will be if at all dreadful As to the third Objection That Merchants beyond Seas as Roman Catholicks c. will be afraid to trust their Estates in the hands of those who are not of their own Religion c. It is of so little weight as to require but a very few words it being evident that all kinds of Merchants at this day do correspond and alwayes have corresponded with others not of their own Religion Papists with Protestants Protestants with Papists c. What other Pretences there are in this Case wherein Trade may seem concerned I do not at present call to mind and therefore shall go on to the next suggestion why a Toleration of several wayes of Religion may not do as well here as it doth amongst our Neighbours in France and Holland As to France the different Professions of Religion there hath not been without many sad effects upon both Parties and hath so sanctified the Animosities on each side that it hath prevailed upon both out of Zeal to God to let Aliens and Enemies into the Bowels of their Native Country But their Case and ours is vastly different the Hugonots who are there tolerated have those Merits to plead which our Non Conformists have not and besides they do not divide into several Communions among themselves neither would any such thing be permitted either by the Government or by the Reformed Church it self As to Holland Liberty of Conscience is a thing which they were not brought to admit of by second Thoughts and after mature Deliberation but were necessitated upon by the Nature of that Cause upon which they first united among themselves and the Constitution of that Government they fell into One part of their Cause was a Deliverance from the Impositions of the Church of Rome as exercised after the imperious manner of the Spanish Government Now Liberty in matters of Conscience was the most natural Word in the World in this Case to be made use of Freedom from the present Pressures was the thing immediately in their Eye and many of their Neighbours at the same time had the same Aim And as they were then only agreed what they would not have but not at all what they would have they invited all that all might come to their Assistance But besides this one Religion was not easie to be brought into so many several Independent Governments as go to the making up of those States For as Sr. William Temple tells us Chap. 2. of their Government p. 75. They are not a Common-wealth but a Confederacy of
this Case make use only of the words of an eminent Non-conformist in a Treatise which I have already mentioned entituled Of the Religion of England asserting That the Reformed Christianity settled in its Latitude is the stability of the Kingdom p. 28. Such is the complicated condition of humane Affairs That it is exceeding difficult to devise a Rule or Model that shall provide for all whom Equity will plead for Therefore the prudent and sober will acquiesee in any Constitution that is in some sort proportionable to the Ends of Government And again p. 38. Nevertheless if when all is said some dissatisfaction doth invincibly possess the Iudgment in that Case Christian Humility and Charity as well as Discretion adviseth such Persons to acquiesoe in their private security and freedom and not to reach after that Liberty that may unsettle the publick Order and â—â—dermine the common Safety Although it be a great a seasonable and a concerning Truth That it is more glorious to confess an Error than to continue in one yet because it may seem a severe Truth I shall no more than barely mention it If in earnest you are at least weary of divisions do all which in you lieth on your part to put an end to them and this you cannot pretend to have done till you have complied with the Publick Order as far as you believe you may lawfully and where you cannot obey you may yet be silent If there be a Ceremony which any one among you believes that he ought not to conform to doth it thence follow that he is obliged to make Parties against it and for the sake of that one to abstain from all the rest and to avoid all those other parts of the Church-Service and Communion where the Rite which he scruples hath no manner of place Again when from the Cause you fly into great Commendations of your Party you should do well to avoid such expressions as instead of tending to bespeak the Favour and Compassion of Authority do rather tend to awake its caution and to raise its jealousie That which doth but look like a Threatning is by no means fit for an Inferiour to put into his Supplication Not only the Honour but the Safety of all Government doth depend upon this to demurr at least upon the granting of that Request which he who puts it up doth actually take before he asks and in the very form of his asking it doth more than insinuate the great danger which may be in denying him And this methinks doth appear to have been an Indecorum in your eminent Advocate in His Discourse of the Religion of England p. 23. Sect. 11. How momentous in the ballance of the Nation those Protestants are that dissent from the present Ecclesiastical Policy Where he tells us of their great number their great Interest their great Commerce their many Relations their great Understandings and Discretion and in the close of all he adds NOR DO THEY WANT THE RATIONAL COURAGE OF ENGLISH MEN The meaning of which Words are at least very suspicious as to the King and as to the Church Since the late Discourses of their Endeavours after an Union their former Separations do not only continue but are managed in the same manner as formerly On their Parts we do not hear of any beginnings toward a Complyance One man indeed there was who made a Profession of something of this but what reserves he had in his mind whereby to render that Profession of his insignificant let his after-Practises teach us and withall give us warning what trust to repose in any general though never so fair Promises And thus I have briefly and plainly laid down some of the most obvious Exceptions against the late much discoursed of Projects Comprehension Toleration and a third made up of both them Comprehension may indeed proceed from an Excess of goodness in those who are ready to grant it but it is not very clear that those who are the most likely to desire it will be most ready to make a good use of it Indeed as to the thing it self it is kept so much in the dark that it is not except by some very few if by any understood who they are who either do desire or would accept it or upon what terms it would be either given or taken and as the nature of this thing is unknown so will the Issue be most uncertain As to those two abatements which are usually mentioned the taking away of Assent and Consent and dispensing with the Obligation of Renouncing the Covenant they are things which carry great and apparent dangers in them He who desires to be excused from giving his Assent and Consent can hardly be able to give any other account of that his desire than this That he doth not believe the Doctrine of the Church or doth not mean to conform to the orders of it As to the other Particular the Dispensing with the Renouncing of the Covenant the very Proposal is methinks a very bold one if we consider what was the occasion of the Covenant who were the Authors the Time in which it was entred into the ends in order to which what are the Contents of it how perpetual indispensible they have all along declared the Obligation of it to be what Effects it hath had already at any time may have upon the King the Church the Nation and in an especial manner upon the Old Cavaliers And then as to Toleration I have shewed the Inconveniencies to be innumerable and unavoidable which it may at any time bring upon either of them there is no Imposture which at this door standing alwayes open may not enter into the Church No Danger which by a dexterous management of such an unbounded Licence may not have a very fair easie passage made for it into the State And as for any mixture of these two Contrivances it will be so long before the Bounds and Limits can be agreed upon to be set between them so many things are to be considered of before these two can with any satisfaction to either be suited to one another that an Enquiry may I suppose be safely put off until a time of greater Leisure The End A Postscript to the Reader WHen I had put an End as I thought to your Trouble Good Reader and my own there came to my hands a new Pamphlet entituled Certain Considerations tending to promote Peace and good Will amongst Protestants very useful for the present times The Design of which is to promote the forementioned Comprehension which the Author doth endeavour to put a very good colour upon by laying down several Propositions the Third of which is this That the late Civil Wars in England were not begun for the Extirpation of Episcopacy and Liturgy or to settle the Presbyterian Government here but merely for Civil Rights as he adds afterwards Now if this Gentleman only means that the Grandees of the Party had in their