lessen the Authority of the Church of England 'T is a strange thing that the Roman Catholics who hardly know their own Religion should pretend to teach us ours They have been told a thousand times that the Bishops and Presbyterians of England differ only in so slight Ceremonies which are nothing to the Essential part of Divine Worship and that there is more of Obstinacy and Misunderstanding between them then of real Cause of Dispute We have seen at the Hugue for this ten or twelve Years the Princess of Orange now Queen Mary of England repair indifferently sometimes to the Dutch or French Church and sometimes to her own Chappel The Prince no sooner arriv'd at London but he receiv'd the Communion in an Episcopal Church and gave a favourable Reception to the Presbyterian Ministers who went to Congratulate him We see every day several of the Episcopal Party Communicate with the Reformed on this side the Sea and our French and Holland Protestants joyn themselves with the Church of England Yet maugre all this the Romish Doctors would make us believe we are of two Religions And upon the same score because their Religion properly consists only in exterior Pomp in Images Relics Beds Rosaries Holy-water Monks of several Colours and such like Superstitious Exercises and Institutions and that those other things wherein they differ from the Protestants are only the Inventions of Italian Policy they imagin it to be the same with ours Whence it comes to pass that all the Speculative Opinions of our Divines are by those Gentlemen lookt upon as so many All the Confessions of Faith the Liturgies the Ceremonies in the Administration of the Sacraments the Varieties of Discipline the Orders and Habits of the Preachers if our Adversaries were so to be believ'd among us make so many different Sects For this reason it was that a certain Prelate who believ'd himself to be very witty has made a History of the Variations of our Churches and he had so great a desire to augment the Number that he bethought himself of ascribing to us as many Relics as he found Systems of our Ministers upon the Apocalyps the most obscure Book of all the New Testament Nevertheless we must acknowledge that the Headstrong Obstinacy of some of Ours and the remains of Ignorance and the Spirit of Antichristianism that will not yet out of the Bones of some that Envy our Unity have given occasion to these Calumnies The Western Church has mourn'd for above these ten Centuries under the Darkness and Yoke of Popery During which time there was Opportunity and Advantage enough to deepen the Superstitions and Impressions of Popery under so wicked a Master Add to this that since the Reformation we have not had a Prince whose Knowledg Piety and Puissance have been able to reconcile our Differences The Great Gustavus had conceiv'd such a Design in his Mind but he vanish'd like a flash of Lightning in the midst of his Victories It seems that God has reserv'd this Honour for William the III. and this Happiness till our Time God has sent this Prince into the World in a Country where the Spirit of Toleration has pass'd from the Magistrates to the most Learned Ministers He has call'd him to a Kingdom replenish'd with Learned and Pious Bishops who have for a long time preserv'd their Flocks in Peace by their gentleness and moderation The Prince at hi first Coming to the Government found Factions in the Church as well as in the State He has appeas'd both the one and the other The Persecution of the Reformed in France has open'd the Eyes of all their Brethren and has shew'd them the necessity of guarding themselves from the Fury of the Jesuits All these Conjunctures in my Opinion presage a happy Union of the Protestants As to what is said that the Prince of Orange is more absolute in the Vnited Provinces then any of his Predecessors is an Equivocation For ever since the Establishment of the Commonwealth the Hollanders have always born a very great Affection to the House of Orange but true it is that ever since William the Silent who laid the first Foundations of their Liberty this State never had a Prince whom they lov'd more then William Henry The reason is because he enter'd upon the Government at a time when the Hollanders seem'd to be ruin'd beyond recovery and yet he restor'd them to their former Grandeur However notwithstanding this signal Service done them the dread of War and certain vain Suspitions were the Cause that there was great Opposition made against a Levie of sixteen Thousand Men which the Prince most earnestly press'd for as better understanding the Designs of France then any of the Burgomasters of Amsterdam The Event demonstrated that never was any Opposition made upon such bad Grounds nor more Prejudicial to the State For Lewis the XIV boasted in the Edict which revokes that of Nantes that he had not made the Truce but to Exterminate the Protestants out of his Kingdom James the II. took that time to perplex the Church of England and to invade the Liberties of his People At length France threw off her Mask and broke the Truce as soon as she thought she could do it with Advantage That long Train of Delusions justify'd the Prince's Innocence shew'd that he had no other Aim in all his Designs but the Preservation of Liberty and the Protestant Religion and gain'd him the Hearts of all the Hollanders And I would fain know how long it has been a Crime for a Governour to win the Love of those who are under his Conduct Thus you may see how the first Prince William render'd himself Absolute and how the same Power came to be transferr'd to his Successors not by Usurpation but by preserving the Liberty of the Republic The form of Government is still the same the Elections are made by the usual Suffrages the Resolutions taken for the raising of Money making Peace and War Affairs of Trade Justice and Civil Government are all determin'd in the Assembly of Estates according to the Ancient Customs and we are ready to make it appear that for these fifteen Years last past that William Henry has sate at the Helm he has acted nothing but according to the Laws and by vertue of the power annex'd to his high Authority and Command As to what is reported that the Prince engag'd the States General in his Expedition for England without imparting to them his Design is a Calumny of his Enemies which has no other foundation but the Malice of those who are enrag'd that he did not make a discovery of that Fortunate Enterprize at such a time that they might have had more leisure to prepare to obstruct him And it is an easie thing to convince all Intelligent Persons of the Folly of this Objection Suppose this Revolution had been the Effect of long deliberation it was necessary before all other things 1. To be assur'd of the Inclinations
procur'd to be given to themselves The Politicians also give us some Reasons for these Cruelties they say that the King is a great Lover of Glory and makes it a point of Honour to destroy a Religion which his Predecessors would have eradicated but could not They add that the Victories he has gain'd and the Progress he has made through the Divisions of the Neighbouring Princes and by other Stratagems have puft him up to believe that he is able to execute whatever he undertakes and that it is as easie for him to force his Subjects to change their belief as to win the strong holds of his Enemies Others there are who will have it that the Court has Sacrific'd the Reformed to the Ghosts of the Jansenists and that to procure the condescention of the Pope that the Disciples of St. Austin might be persecuted and the Canonical Elections abolish'd in these Churches where they were preserv'd they bethought themselves of oppressing the Protestants which has been always a great Mark of Catholicism Others hold that it was the design of the Ministers of State and superntendants to enrich themselves with the spoils of those that fled to defray the expences of the War and pay off the half famish'd Souldiers perswading the King that a small number of poor People by leaving his Kingdom did but discharge it of an unprofitable Burthen Lastly there are some that maintain that though there were no such probable reasons to be given there would be cause enough to believe that in a Court like that of France Religion is usually the Motive least consider'd However it be most evident it is that both Priests and Ministers are Banish'd alike that Religious Houses are dissolv'd as well as the Reformed Churches that Monasteries are sack'd and destroy'd as well as Temples and that they make War with the same violence upon those that adhere to the Pope as upon those that side with Calvin This I say is an evident sign that it is not the Doctrine of the Romish Church but Jesuitism which is the immediate Incentive to all these Cruelties That is to say that the Politcs of Matchiavel the thirst of Rule and to establish their opinions at any rate whatever to ruin those by all manner of ways that oppose them and to dispose absolutely of the Bodys Estates and Consciences of the People carry them to these Courses Whence it follows that all the French Roman Catholics or others ought to look upon these Persecutions 1. As Attempts against the Public Faith as being contrary to the Edicts of Nantes and Nismes confirm'd to outward Appearance by all the Declarations publish'd against the Reformed and to a Decree of Council by which the King forbids the disturbance of such as should have subscrib'd the Formulary and promises the same Usage to the Jansenists as to the Molinists These Persecutions ranverse the Foundations of public Security and introduce the Inquisition 'T is well known that the Questions about Predestination and Grace are very nice and thorny and how easie a thing it is whatever the receiv'd opinion may be to give a Heretical Sence to innocent Propositions so that if there be any that bear malice to a Learned Man or that he shall be so unfortunate as to displease the Society then is he lost for ever since there is nothing more easie then to forge an imaginary Heresie out of a Metaphysical Controversie 3. The Persecutions of the Jansenists lay a snare for Divines which they are not well able to be aware of For should the Disputes happen to be about Predestination or Grace the Mysteries of the Holy Trinity the Incarnation the free Satisfaction of Christ If what we ought to believe were clearly taught in Scripture or had been decided in a General Council according to the Principles receiv'd among the Christians the Opposers would be treated as Heretics But neither Pelagius nor St. Austin were ever condemn'd by the Universal Church and though the Body of the Roman Church agree with the Semipelagians nevertheless if the Disciples of Molinus would but speak candidly they must acknowledge that the contrary Doctrin has always been tolerated The Heresie of Predestination is a Chimera Godescale was Persecuted by the Faction of the two Arch-Bishops Rabanus Maurus of Mayence and Hincmar of Rheims The greatest part of the Prelates and Learned Men of Germany undertook the Defence of his Doctrin Nevertheless Semipelagianism was never listed in the Number of Errors against the Faith but got great footing afterwards in the West On the other side the Writings of St. Austin and his Disciples St. Prosper St. Fulgentius St. Gregory Tho. Aquinas and an Infinite Number of others have been approv'd receiv'd and respected by all the Church And there needs no more then to read and understand them to see then Jansenius has taught nothing but what other Ancient Doctors taught before him How is it then possible that a Divine who shall read the Books of the Holy Fathers who shall reverence them as Saints who shall look upon them as Testimonies to confirm the Doctrin of the Ages they liv'd in how is it possible I say but that he must either iump with them in opinion or condemn those that follow them consequently how can he avoid being either a Heretic or a Favourer of Heretics 4. These Persecutions are contrary to the Law of Nature and Nations The Law of Nature permits every one to defend his own Estate and his Life by all the lawful ways that may be and ordains as to others that we should deal by them as we would they should deal by us So that this Law is quite overturn'd in such Places where the Estate Life and Honour of several Persons depend upon the Fancy of a single Person and where the Innocent are oppress'd by a violent Faction and by a Power usurp'd and purely Arbitrary without any regard to the Law By vertue of which Law of Nations the Contracts of Superiour to Inferiour or of equal to equal remain immoveable The consequence of which is that every Man may live without disturbance in his own House and enjoy his Estate in Tranquility provided he behave himself peaceably toward the Government and Act nothing contrary to the Laws either Civil or Ecclesiastical Now the Protestant Religion having been establish'd in France by Solemn Edicts and seeing that the Doctrin of St. Austin was never yet Condemn'd by any Council it is most apparent that the Persecution of the Subjects for one or the other of these two Beliefs is a violation of the Law of Nature and Nations before an Assembly of Estates have revok'd those Edicts or a National Synod have rejected the Doctrin If then all the Facts that have been hither to alledg'd are certain if it be true that the Clergy have been despoil'd of their Libertys the Nobility of their Employments and Priviledges the People of their Subsistance If it be true that Priests and Ministers Catholics and Reformed have
them the Secrets of State and furnishing them with Money and some of their Ministers were imprison'd upon that Account This was only a Malitious Invention of two or three Monks they never could produce any Proofs against the Parties accus'd unless it were some slight Expressions that dropt unwarily from their Lips and in regard it was no good Policy to discover the weakness and divisions of the Kingdom the business was husht up and the Persons let go Nevertheless as it is common for those that are troubled with a bad Conscience to fear their own shaddows these reports and murmurs made a deep impression in the Minds of the Courtiers They apprehended that there was nothing so dangerous as to ruin People by halves to provoke a Powerful Body to the highest degree and leave them the means to revenge themselves Upon which there happen'd a slight Insurrection in Sevennes and the Dauphinate Several poor People being gather'd together without any Leader without any support or defence a fancy took them to Preach upon the Ruins of their Churches The Kings Ministers took the Alarum as if the four Corners of France had been on Fire and being secure of England nor apprehending any danger from the Low-Countries nor Germany after the twenty Years Truce and the defeat of Monmouth they began the utter Extirpation of the Reformed after that manner which is known to every Body Besides the Motives to the Persecution recited in the first Part of this Treatise there is one which has not yet been mention'd which perhaps is the chiefest For that France having laid the Design of Invading the Empire was afraid that while she should be busied in the Execution of it the Reformed should betake themselves to their Arms in Defence of their Liberties and their Languishing Religion Let the Reader judge whether this were a groundless Fear or no However it appear'd that the Court was strook with it by the way which they took to extinguish the Reformation in that Kingdom There were two things Aim'd at in sending the Dragoons among those People the first was to ruin the best Families because they were able to lend Mony which is the Sinews of the War the other to destroy the most devout and zealous as being the support of the Religious Societies Constancy is a vertue very rare exalted Minds and undaunted Courages but few but they are the Soul that moves the great Body and like the Salt which preserves it from Corruption so that when the Soul expires or the Salt looses it's strength the Societies dye or fall into fainting Fits which are a certain Presage of their utter Destruction Vulgar Courage or a resolution of some few days or hours may cause a Man to Contemn Death but it requires a Constancy more then Heroic to suffer long contriv'd Torments incessantly renew'd and which one would think would never have an end This last sort of Torments it was the most unsupportable of all which the Court of France made use of to exercise their Cruelty upon the Reformed And indeed that Court has been very Successful for those People that would have despis'd a Flaming Bavin where they had been stifled in a quarter of an hour wanted resolution to dye a thousand times in one day Yet several Persons of Quality saw themselves despoil'd of their Estates depriv'd of their Employments and torn from their Families and have endur'd Imprisonment and other Ignominious Usage till the Cruelty of their Persecutors was almost tyr'd Great Numbers of the Common People have undergon all that the Insolence and Barbarism of the Dragoons could invent the most Merciless and most Outragious nor have there been wanting of the seeble Sex who have signaliz'd their Constancy And many of those whom continu'd Torments had constrain'd to sign Ambiguous Professions of Faith repenting soon after forsook all and departed the Kingdom exposing themselves to be Condemn'd to the Galleys to be banish'd into Canada and to the most exquisite of Torments which have been inflicted upon some Others have refus'd to go to Mass and have endur'd the extremity of Torment with a Constancy beyond the former A good Number have stay'd behind in hopes of a speedy Deliverance Nevertheless a Man would hardly believe how many have perish'd in the midst of these Meseries or else that still are forc'd to endure their Miseries in Exile It cannot be deny'd but that France gave it self a very great Wound Nor did the Court without doubt believe that the perswasion of the truth had so much force upon the Souls of Men because they had never put it to the Tryal So that finding that the Number of the faint and dastardly was not so great as they thought they let go those whose Constancy fortify'd the weak and set open the Gates of the Kingdom for some few days on purpose to give the more zealous an Opportunity to escape tho they would not suffer them to carry any thing along with them It is evident that those of our Brethren who escap'd are the most Couragious and the most Politic as well as Fortunate Which being suppos'd if the Confederates neglect to restore the Protestants of France one of these two things will necessarily follow the first is that the Court believing themselves engag'd in Honour and continuing their ill usage to the most Constant at length either Sorrow or Misery will bring them to their end and then the rest being destitute of this support and the hopes of Delivery will endeavour to reconcile their Consciences and their Understandings to the prevailing Religion and of Politic Catholics will become Superstitious Zelots But on the other side if the King will be pleas'd to open his Eyes and to free himself from the fear of a Civil War while his Forces are employ'd against Foreigners shall recall the Banish'd and restore to the Reformed their Estates and Ancient Franchises the greatest part will return to their Country Native Air the Ancient Constitutions and free Converse with Kindred and Friends are such powerful Attractions which will much surmount the seeble remains of Fear more especially considering that few of those who fled for Sanctuary but met with among Foreigners as great Advantages as those which they left at home Either of which two things if they fall out France will find her self in nine or ten Years as peaceable and formidable to her Enemies as she was under the Reign of Lewis the XII before the Reformation or toward the end of the Reign of Hâ—n IV. after the Edict of Nantes The French are the best People in the World if their Kings do but pâ—t confidence in them they forget all the ill Usages they have receiv'd and Sacrifice their particular Interest to the necessities of the State During the Civil War 1651. under the Minority of Charles IX the Princes sought the Alliance of Q. Elizabeth as being of their Religion She assisted them but not with all that Vigour which good Policy requir'd For the
the Hearts of his People so that when a Prince and his Ministers are become Odious the Government can never be said to be strong A clear Example of which we see in James the II. But if that be not a proof sufficient because England is altogether Protestant let us call to mind the lustre of the House of Guise which the League reduc'd so low the downfal of the House of Austria after the Union between the Vnited Provinces and Gustaphus Adolphus Let us compare the Reigns of Mary and Elizabeth of Charles V. and Philip II. of Charles the IX and Hen. III. of Hen. IV. and Lewis the XIII Therefore the shortest and surest means to stifle the Spirit of Persecution is to procure the REUNION OF THE PROTESTANTS who living in the same Communion would make a Body so considerably Puissant that the Roman Catholics would not so much as think of disturbing them Thus we have set forth the Original of our Divisions the causes that have fomented them and the hopes that we have of an approaching Union We are not to shew that this reconciliation is not so difficult as People believe All our Controversies roul upon the same form of Ecclesiastical Government upon the manner of Christ's being present in the Eucharist and upon the Idea of Predestination As to the Ecclesiastical Government I do not believe that any Protestant will deny me the following propositions that seem to be unquestionable and of which there are some that are the foundation of our Reformation 1. That a Church is a Body or Society of several Persons that agree together upon certain Points of Doctrine and upon a certain form of public Worship 2. That every Church in the Quality of a Body makes up a Part of the Civil Society and every one of its Members is a Member also of the State and consequently that in that respect they are under the Soveraign Jurisdiction 3. That it is in the Power of the Magistrate to regulate the exterior Government of growing Societies or of such as are not yet Establish'd by public Authority and so grant them Laws and Priviledges 4. That he cannot change the Government of those which he finds already form'd nor deprive them of their Rights and Priviledges unless perhaps in some extraordinary Cases 5. That the Soveraign is Born Head of the Church he is a Member 6. That there is no precise Form of Ecclesiastical Discourse or Exterior Government prescrib'd in History or in the New Testament Indeed we find there general Precepts to avoid Tyranny Anarchy and Superstition to do all things with Decency and in Order and to turn all things to Piety and the Edification of the Faithful 7. That tho Episcopacy be the most Ancient of all Ecclesiastical Governments because the Roman Empire where the Gospel was first divulg'd was a Monarchy Nevertheless the Form of Government is a thing indifferent of it's self and the best Discipline is that which best agrees with the Nature of the Gospel with the natural Dispositions and Customs of the People and the Constitution of the Government 8. After the Roman Empire came to be dismember'd the several Soveraigns that shar'd it between them have as much right to regulate within their own Dominions the Discipline of the Church as the Christian Emperors had So that the Order of Presbytery cannot be Condemn'd in a Republic where the Magistrate has made choice of it as the most conformable to the Government of the Country 9. The last proposition includes certain Consequences which require explanation 1. That considering the present Constitution of Europe a Universal Bishop is a kind of a Monster and that it is also of dangerous Consequence that a Bishop an Abbot or other Prelate should have a Jurisdiction over any part of the Clergy belonging to Neighbouring Princes 2. That Oecumenic Councils are no more to be held but by the Consent of all the Christian Princes because those Councils were no more then General Assemblies of the Clergy of the Roman Empire which is now no longer in being 3. Supposing such an unexpected Happiness that all the Princes of Europe or the greatest Part should agree to call a General Council it would not be their business to handle Matters of Government nor of Discipline of which it would be in vain to seek for a Uniformity only to apply themselves to examin the Differences among the Christians about the Points of Doctrine and to regulate if it may be done the Number of the Fundamental Articles to determin what we ought to believe thereupon and so to order it that the Christians notwithstanding some few Controversies of little Consequence among them may always stand their ground look upon each other as Brethren and Communicate with the same willingness upon all Occasions together as they obey the several Magistrates of the several Countries through which they Travel 10. Schism is a separation occasion'd by particular Persons that forsake the Communion of a Church Authoriz'd by the Laws of a Kingdom to set up particular Congregations and that only for some defect which they find in the Discipline of the Church for some Ceremony or for some Point of Doctrine not Fundamental Thus the Labadists and the Anabaptists of Holland who differ from the rest of the Reformed only about the time of the Adminstration of the Sacrament of Baptism are Schismatics The Protestants of France of Poland of Hungary are not so but would be Hereticks if the Doctrine of Rome were true The Catholics of Spain and Italy who accuse the Protestants of England Germany and the Low Countries of Schism are Ridiculous for that the Magistrates of the North have as much right to regulate the Exterior Government of Religion as those of the South 11. Schism is very dangerous they who are the Promoters of it will have much to answer for at the last day and they who Harbour and Entertain it are no less Guilty It is the Original of many Quarrels between private Persons and of Factions in the State Add to this that many times it happens that the Ringleaders of the weaker Party for fear of being forsaken by their Followers they fill their Heads with Opinions which cause them to forsake in good earnest the Communion of the lawful Church We know what has happen'd to one Sect which has made a great noise in the World only because a few Learned Men embrac'd their Party 12. Ceremonies of themselves are indifferent as to Religion Nevertheless it is good to observe 1. That the most Ancient are the best and that they ought to be held in Veneration tho they may be alter'd upon weighty and considerable Reasons 2. That all those which have been reduc'd into the Church since Constantine are extreamly suspected because of the Spirit of Paganism and Tyranny which began then to Reign 3. That the Miseries which the Protestants have suffer'd from the Church of Rome have inspir'd them with an utter Abhorrency of all that
they are not Roman Catholics nor of the King's Religion If these Reasons could take Place or that a Prince could break his Promises made to his Subjects and persecute them with Fire and Sword meerly because they are not Christians after his manner what shall hinder him from breaking the Contracts made with his Allies that are of another belief which is different from his 2. If the public Faith engages the Protestants States to restore the Reformed of France it also excites the Catholic Potentates to require Satisfaction for the Injuries done them by that Crown which has omitted no sort of Usurpations increase to it's Grandeur either by unjust Wars or in full Peace Therefore it is but requisite that now for the obtaining of Peace Lewis the XIV should make reparation for all his Neighbours losses of which himself has been the occasion in the last War since the Treaty of Nimeghen and the Breach of the Truce that he restore what he unjustly detains from the Empire from Spain from the King of England from the Vnited Provinces from the Electors the D. of Lorrain the Pope and the Princes of Italy 3. The King of France never failing of Pretences to break the most Sacred Leagues no body that I know would be willing to trust him nor to be Guarantees for the performance of the offers he should make unless it were the Grand Signior with whom he has renew'd and confirm'd his Ancient Alliances And therefore it will be requisite that he surrender up several strong Towns and Garrisons as Pledges for his performance upon condition that they shall remain confiâ—scated to the Parties into whose hands they are surrender'd in case he break the Peace to be concluded Now in regard it is most certain that France will find such Articles very burthensome at least that she will never subscribe or put them in Execution there is no Foundation to be laid upon her promises whence it is clear that to procure the Peace of Europe there is a necessity that she must be constrain'd to it by Attacquing her on several sides This will be no difficult thing to bring to pass if the Empire Spain England Swedeland and the Vnited Provinces confirm their Alliance and if the Confederates create a particular General to the end that their Forces United under one Generalissimo may act by consent and unanimouslyagainst the common Enemy In all times misunderstanding has ruin'd the strongest Leagues of which we have seen frequent and fatal Examples in the last War If France therefore can yet find any means to disunite the Confederates they may assure themselves that the opportunity for pulling down the Power of France will not be long in their hands France will make use of her usual methods by bribing the Governors of Garrisons corrupting the Treasurer's that the Army may stil want either Money or Provision by gaining the cheif Ministers of the several Courts on purpose to make false reports to their Masters or impertinent and unseasonable Orders to the Generals and sowing jealosies between them to make them draw off one from another in the greatest urgency of Affairs And it is very probable that the greatest part of these misfortunes will not fail to happen if the Confederates do not agree to confer the supream command of General upon one Person in whose power it shall be to make the whole Body Act Unanimously and who shall have Reputation and Authority sufficient to restrain the inferior Generals within the bounds of their duty We are verily perswaded that neither Flatteries Promises Pension no Lewis's of Gold will be able to disarm the Protestant Princes Therefore France begins to despair of seducing them that way but gives it out that this is a War for the sake of Religion consequently that the Catholic Potentates ought to unite with her to prevent the Establishing the Reformation all over Europe But it is the ruin of his Matchiavillian Politics which he dreads more then the Establishment of the Reformation In the mean while the pretence is specious because he judges of others by himself and for that the Zeal of the Roman Clergy pushing him on to destroy the pretended Heretics he imagins the Resolutions of the reformed to be the same This is an Error of which it is of great Importance to convince these Gentlemen though it be no difficult thing to undeceive them if they will but take the pains to mind the following Reflections 1. That it is a Fundamental maxim of the Reformation that every Man has a right to examin the Religion he intends to profess to judge of it by his own understanding and to believe nothing but what he is perswaded of the Truth in his Conscience Whence the Protestants infer that no human Authority ought to force Men to exercise a Worship which they believe unlawful or to profess an Opinion which they concieve to be false Clear it is that this Doctrin is directly opposite to the Spirit of Persecution for if it be not lawful for the Pastors to constrain Christians to believe or practise what they hold to be false and forbidden of God much less is it lawful to employ the Power of the secular Arm to the same effect It signifies nothing to say that among us we Excommunicate Heretics or that we have frequently Persecuted Ministers and Private Persons for the same reason For as for Excommunication in respect of Speculative Opinions it is no more of it's self then a bare Declaration that such or such a one has not those Qualities which are requir'd to fit him to be a Member of such or such a Society In which case it is not accompany'd with any mark of Infamy or civil Punishment Suppose for Example that any Minister of the Church of England is perswaded that Episcopacy is no lawful Government that he cannot in conscience preach upon Holy-days or perform other Functions to which the Ministry obliges him and that thereupon he goes to his Diocesan and lays down his Function promising all the rest of his life to live quietly at home or in Communion with the Faithful Sure I am that if they could not undeceive him they would bewayl his Ignorance but yet they would be so far from using him as a Criminal that they would admire his Probity But if the same Divine should make use of the Liberty of his Function to excite the People to contemn the Bishops and to trample their constitutions under foot by shewing them himself an ill example then it would be but just to punish him not as a Person that holds erroneous opinions but as a disturber of the Public Peace This Maxim takes no farther place then to preserve the order and unity of Ecclesiastical Discipline for Politic Toleration is so much in practise among the Protestants that as well the particular Members of their Body as those that are not of the Communion of their Churches have all the liberty to believe and say what they think
fitting in respect of Religion provided they do not broach Impieties or trouble the State with Factions and Cabals 2. The Spirit of Infallibility is so natural to Men that are Proud and full of self Love and is so linkt with the desire of advancing their own sentiments that we have no cause to wonder that the Reformed have retain'd some small remainder of this Leven as being sprung from a Church which holds Infallibility for one of its Fundamental Doctrins and conveighs it from the Head to all its Members But during the last Persecution the Protestants have written so many Treatises to destroy that wicked Principle they have testify'd such an Abhorrency of all manner of Persecution both in their private and public discourses they have demonstrated in such a convincing manner that truth perswades but never forces that God alone is the sole Lord of the Heart and that to attempt to force it would be an Attack upon the Prerogative of the supream Majesty that though Conscience and the Spirit of Religion should not encline them to support all others their fellow Christians the Honour of observing one equal conduct and the shame of contradicting themselves would perswade them to Toleration 3. Before we believe that Intelligent Persons are capable of committing those faults which they detest and which are contrary to their Principles we ought to examin whether there be any conceal'd motive of Interest which inclines them to such absurditys Thus though Pope Pelagius the fourth Lateran Council and several other Pontiffs and Assemblies of the Roman Church had not canoniz'd the Persecution of the Heretics though the Council of Constance had never declar'd it to be lawful to break faith with the Hugonots though the same Church of Rome had never put these Principles in Practice by Imprisonment Exile Proscription and torments of such Christians as were not within the pale of their Communion yet we had reason to suspect her guilty of this design because it is perfectly agreeable to their Interests The Roman Clergy is a Monarchical Body of which all the several Members are in a capacity of Aspiring not only to the highest employments both in Church and State but even to Soveraignty it self Now the more numerous these dignities and employments are the more reason have Private Persons to hope and as certain it is that extent of Empire encreases the Number of Preferments Therefore it is that in all Monarchies that incline to Tyranny the surest means to extend their dominion is to carry as high as may be the Soveraign Prerogative though at the expence of the Peoples liberty Then again besides the secular Ecclesiastics there are infinite swarms of Monks whose principal business it is to extend the bounds of the Pontifical Empire in regard the vaster it is the richer the more powerful and more respected their several Societies will be and the more the employments of Particular Persons Now the Reformed are the declar'd Enemies of this Church they not only refuse Obedience to the Head of it to acknowledge it's Ministers and Officers or to admit of it's Maxims but they also ruin the Foundations of its subsistance in Preaching down the Mass Indulgencies Purgatory they drain and dry up the very Fountains of its Wealth by contemning Images Relics Invocation of Saints Bulls and Dispensations from Rome they destroy the respect and reverence which the People have for it in rejecting it's Infallibility Transubstantiation Adoration of Saints and the refusal of the Cup to the Laity Who can doubt after all this but that the Pope the Monks and Clergy of Rome are mainly interested to extinguish the Reformation and extirpate the Reformed It is not so with the Protestants in regard that neither their Principles nor their Interest prompt them to Persecute the Catholics I must acknowledge that t is for the glory and reputation of the English Bishops that all the Subjects of the Kingdom should be Members of the Church of England But neither their Jurisdiction nor their Revenues would be much enlarged by the conjunction of the Roman Catholics As for the Presbyterian Ministers in other States all the profit which they get by the conversion of their Adversaries is to have a more numerous Auditory in some places and to be at more trouble in visiting their Parishioners 4. But what necessity of Physical Reffections where the thing speaks it self You shall never find our Bishops nor our Ministers rambling over Sea and Land and Vagabonding about the World to gain Proselites nor Besieging the Houses of the public Magistrates to obtain decrees against the Roman Catholics Our Princes and our Governors suffer them to live unmolested at the same time that they Persecute our Brethren In a word the Protestants are all a sort of Republicans whose Government is Aristocratical in England Democratical in Holland and composed of both among the Lutherans but no where Monarchical So that all they mind is to preserve themselves in Peace without giving any trouble to others Thus the Roman Catholics have no cause to mistrust us and it is long of them that we do not live together like Brethren at least like Christians and good Friends Therefore let them surcease to hate and Persecute us for we wish them no ill and we likewise offer to bury in Oblivion all the mischeifs they have caus'd us to suffer in favour of those who shall joyn themselves with us to extirpate Tyranny and reestablish the PEACE OF EVROPE This is that Summum Bonum that Soveraign Good the Perfection and Fountain of all the Rest which will naturally spring from the debasing and humbling the Power of France and this is that which they who understand the designs and Pretensions of that Crown will easily apprehend by giving never so little Attention to what we are going to say The Grand complaint against that Monarchy is for pretending to the Vniversal Monarchy Nor are they mistaken in their Accusation And I dare affirm that had it not been for the great Revolution in England that France was upon the Point of obtaining what she had been so thirsting after People will say perhaps that she had several Countries yet to conquer But I could answer that all the rest of Europe was not in a condition to make much resistance The Emperor and the Venetians engag'd in a War against the Turk Denmark ally'd to Lewis the XIV Spain exhausted and under the conduct of a Woman dead some weeks ago that had a kindness for her own Country Portugal and the Princes of Italy almost in the same condition the King of England embroyl'd and in confusion at home and Germany divided What could Sweden and the Vnited Provinces have done They would only have been glad to have been the last attacqu'd But it may be reply'd that we live not in those conquering times nor in those Ages when they were wont to bring all into the Feild that were able to bear Arms or when two or three Battels