presume to add or of none at all for I know nothing hath more augmented the unreasonable Folly of Atheists than that very gross Doctrine which diverted the great Arabian Philosopher from Christianity not to mention their Claim to Infallibility and our own Persecution of one another who pretend not to it yet endeavour to lock up the only way left us to vanquish Atheists Heathens Papists or any other in the magisterial positive and implicite Breasts of that sort of Men who give the greatest Blow to Religion it self by such Preclusion of Enquiry when the Scripture biddeth us search and we cry out upon the Church of Rome for her imposing implicite Obedience The next thing the Gent. falleth upon after his having abounded in his Repetition of Rules to interpret the Scripture by having also before agreed Reason to be useful in leading us to the Truth of Scripture which Rules are ordinarily in Books laid down is that the Author useth too great a Latitude in setting the Gates of Heaven too wide open calling it Charity with a Witness inferring as if the Author had designed to prove we ought to believe Turks Jews Heathens and Atheists themselves to be in an equal Possibility of Salvation with the unerring Christian which must be true so far as it is possible these or any of these are in a Possibility of being convinc'd of their Turkism Judaism Heathenism and Atheism to Christianity and may be true as to the Heathens from the Plea allowable to them of invincible Ignorance not so as to Turks because Christianity is amongst them nor to Jews from their Obduration against immediate Miracles done for their Conversion nor to Atheists because they are convincible from the course of all natural Agents though the Author only ask'd the Question Whether we ought to believe these be forenamed were in an equal possibility of Salvation with Christians and to shew he did not believe it he confesseth there is no other name to be saved by that is to speak strictly but that of Christ and then subjoyneth that he may very well believe there are other secret and wonderful ways by which God may be pleas'd to apply his Merits that is Christ's Merits to mankind besides those direct open and ordinary ones of Baptism and Confession which I suppose is no Crime to say nor hard to prove if the time would give Leave so that for all these Scratches of the Gent. the Author's Charity is safe enough Let us see how charitable the Gent. is to his own Countrymen for I must make Leaps as he doth else I cannot overtake him To evidence it pag. 75. of his Answer he saith that when he seeth others when they should worship God sit on their Tails like Dogs or wallow and loll and grunt and groan like Swine or stand up and wriggle and make ugly Faces and grin and make Mouths like Apes or Baboons he must confess he cannot for his Soul but think their way of Worship ridiculous and contrary to the due Expressions of the Reverence they owe to the infinite God of Heaven and Earth which is the Witness of his Charity Now pray observe if I have not Reason enough to think that the Gentleman's way of Worship may seem as ridiculous to the others I am sure his Censure is very uncharitable for though men worshipping according to their Consciences may miss in legal Circumstance yet it is rational to suppose there 's much of Devotion in their manner of worship and Saint Paul was of another mind than this Gent. is for he would not eat rather than offend his weak Brother and there is no one thing more press'd by Christ than Charity which I leave to the Gent's Consideration at his Leisure But he objecteth against the Author for saying That as well different Thoughts may represent the Worship of God and his Son Jesus Christ as different Words can represent the same Thoughts which the Gent. termeth an extravagant Assertion in the literal Sense of it to which I answer It is possible I may have Thoughts of God's several Representation of himself as by Moses by the Man Christ by his Apostles which is to worship him for his gradual Exertion of himself and in the Wisdom and Method of his Operation and otherwise I may reflect upon the Creation of the World beyond that upon the first Race of Intellectuals and then again of the fall of man his being thereby subjected to God's Wrath and finally of Christ's Passion which put us again into a potentiality of being saved by all which to instance in no more I do render him no different but one Worship though every part of my Worship be not at all times subtiliz'd in my Imagination and Memory Therefore though I should admit to the Gentleman that the Worship of God is essentially plac'd in the Thoughts it doth not thence follow as he would have it though illogically that different Thoughts must make different Worships for there is allways an Identity of Worship both natural and grounded upon revealed Truths and if internal Worship be no more than conceiving of all ways according to the best of my Reason so govern'd to honour God by from and under the Satisfaction to me of his incomprehensible Existence and Power I shall have much Peace by it Again How disingeniously the Gent. endeavoureth to possess his Readers that the Author goeth about to prove a man may be excusable though he followeth humane Reason to the denyal of Christianity when the Author expresly saith pag. 57. and 58. That the best and truest humane Reason could not have found out of it self the Wisdom of God in a Mystery ev'n that hidden Wisdom which God ordain'd before the World which is the Mystery of Christ Jesus Christ for saith the Author it was necessary it should be first revealed by the Spirit of God which can only discover the deep things of God but as soon as God had revealed it by Miracles fulfilling of Prophesies humane Reason was able to behold it and confess it not that Grace had alter'd the Eye-sight of humane Reason but that it had drawn the Object nearer to it So far is the Learned Author from alledging that a man may be excusable by following of Reason to the Denyal of Christianity that he hath made it primarily subservient to the Divine Spirit and yet capable to embrace the rationability of Scripture-evidence which is one of the main but not the sole Foundations of Christianity And for Answer to the Gentleman 's confident Challenge to the Author that he would prove that ever the heathen Greeks had amongst them any Question which they defended more directly contrary to the Christian Religion than the Author 's I suppose he meaneth our Relyance upon Reason I will Instance in one only though I might produce more and that is the Epicureans Doctrine which acknowleding God deny'd nevertheless his Providence by pretending it below and inconsistent with his Majesty Divine to
AN APOLOGY FOR THE DISCOURSE OF HUMANE REASON Written by MA. CLIFFORD Esq Being a REPLY to PLAIN DEALING With the Author's Epitaph and Character Frustra ei consilium datur qui per se non sapit Machiavel Princepâ—â— London Printed for Walter 〈◊〉 Amen Corner MDC 〈…〉 To the Right Honourable ANTHONY EARL OF SHAFTESBURY Baron Ashley of Wimbourne St. Giles and Lord Cooper of Pawlet SIR I Presume to lay this my Discourse tending to Peace humbly at your Feet because 't is well known You are a Courteous Generous Excellent and Impartial Judge and not so more from your long Experience in the highest Concerns of your Native Countrey than from the unequall'd choiceness of your Natural parts and besides all these which were not my least Inducements from my assurance of your Lordships Condescention in formerly obliging the now deceased Author of the Discourse about HUMANE REASON by a particular Favour and so significant then that there may be Reason to doubt whether if it had not been seasonably done we had ever seen the Publication of that Issue of his Brain for nothing has more often dampt the pregnancy of clear Understandings than the Iron hand of terrible Necessity which was Mr. Clifford's Case till by the Mediation and prevalent Influence of your Lordship his before narrow Salary as Master of Sutton's Hospital was inlarged and consequently by this my Apology for him I have happily gotten opportunity of presenting the best Sacrifice I could of Gratitude for him and my self If then what is here advanc'd shall happen to please your Lordship I may rationally conclude it will not displease the most Discerning and Virtuous part of the English Nation so worthy an Esteem it has of whatever Action does any way appear considerably good in your opinion because your Soul cannot own a mean thing nor unprofitable to the Publick Interest Pray therefore Honourable Sir be pleased to pardon this boldness of him whose Design is and has for many years been only to let you know he is and from a true sense of Duty Your Lordships Most devoted and most Humble Servant Albertus Warren London Octob. 1680. THE PREFACE DEdications and Prefaces to Books seldom if at all used by the Ancients though never so tempting or glorious like the Bushes of our Taverns which unless answering the Readers or the Guests expectation alwayes subject the Writers to Scorn or Ridicule the Book-sellers to Repentance and I the Vintners to Poverty aâ—er of which Effects no Age has been more fertile than the Modern every Apology supposing a tincture of Guilt and good Wine not needing a Garland Therefore all that I dare to say here is That I have advisedly done my utmost to justifie Mr. Clifford's Licens'd Papers in his Discourse of Humane Reason which is the Gift of God as well as Faith in opposition to that Gentleman who to confess the truth has as strongly and smartly as I think can be done endeavour'd to expose â—ur Author not only as a bold and weak man but as pernicious in the consequence of his Arguments to Men as Christians and Subjects which Charge if it had been true I that honour Truth would never have oppos'd but now whether that Gentleman who wrote the Answer or I who reply be in the wrong for we cannot both be in the right others must judge or whether which is possible we have divided Truth betwixt us 't is not very considerable if the standers by reap any profit by it which was my aim and I hope was his also However I am apt to flatter my self as Victorious from this Evidence which no man can properly gainsay that if Humane Reason were not experimentally found to be the supreme Arbiter in all Appeals and the true Allay to all the sensible priviledges of Beasts then Beasts for ought we know are more happy than men for they can think though not syllogize then I say bateing Reason which is our Light to judge of our Self-preservation by all Precepts impos'd by men in Power must be swallow'd though contrary to Peace all Exhortations to Obedience in order to Temporal or Eternal Happiness must be unexaminable and we had continued in a state of War for no other tye could have oblig'd us to keep Covenant when the Violation had appear'd more profitable and then the Laws which Necessity first begot might have been truly said to be in a great measure if they who made them did not pretend Reason rather traps to get money from honest men than design'd to continue Peace and though with me the Publick Reason shall alwayes be very Sacred yet I hope to wish for or propound the Rationability of either the Explanation or Correction of some Laws strainable and strain'd by het men and posibly ignorantly zealous or ill men for their private Interests beyond if not contrary to the intent of former Legislators in Times of other Complexions will never be by any true English-man and wise objected to me as Criminal especially at this time when some Tools made when the Times requir'd them have their Edges turn'd by accident against many quiet though probably misguided Dissenters to the pleasant humouring of that Classis of men amongst us whom both his Majesty and his Great Counsel have declar'd we have reason to suspect and prepare against as our Enemies though 't is plain that the Bigots on all sides and on our Dissenters also have made moderate Men and true Lovers of their King and Countrey uneasie which ugly Fever next malignant if the Reason of the Seat of Power cannot Remedy we shall be in great danger lest that Mischief may return which a Great Man not long since honestly deprecated in words to this Effect viz. It were strange if We should be twice undone by the same Method which God forbid and every good Subject by being quiet in his Station ought to endeavour to prevent In the mean time 't is better to examine and consult the Reason of things than by trusting to any Book not Sacred to be slily Cully'd into affected and unnecessary Zeal or foolish Atheism which will if it increase overmuch vainly project to invalidate not only the King 's but higher Evidence nor do I know a better Method of Cure relating to those Fears and Jealousies which perhaps are now less terrible to some good men than a close retirement to Reason nor better Advice for Individuals when they do go to Law than to consult that generally Learned and Old Serjeant who is reported wittily to have answered a Client lately That he thought his Case was good but could not be positive unless he knew the Judge which shrewd yet ingenious Opinion may stand for a celebrated Precedent and is as reasonable for us to admire as it was for the Worthy man to give and if it were truly ascrib'd to that prodigious Master of Law and consequently of Humane Reason it clearly shews 't is generally safer for a man to trust to his Natural
trouble it self with humane Affairs but if Providence had been exploded out of the minds of men it had been impossible to have persuaded us that God was ever displeas'd at the Fall of Aâ—an and consequently there would have appear'd no need at all of Restauration by Christ But the Gent. flyeth yet higher in the very same page by charging the Author that he hath busied himself to prove Humane Reason may with Safety to eternal Happiness tolerate Atheism it self and consequently all kind of Lusts and Wickedness whatsoever Really a most irrational and degenerous Objection such an Objection as no man who pretendeth to be a Gentleman but would blush to make to cancel which I need do no more than repeat the Author 's own Words pag. 31. which are these I believe first that Reason it self will declare to every man in the World that he ought to adhere to the Christian rather than to any other Religion in the World Now if Christian Religion ought to be adhered to it followeth necessarily that Vertue ought to be embrac'd and Vice detested because that Religion doth engage men to Holiness without the Practise whereof none can be happy according to the very Elements of that Religion The next things quarrell'd at are those Positive and undeniable Arguments which the Author propoundeth to establish the Excellency of Humane Reason taking it with it's due Helps that is by comparing it with other Guides standing in Competition with it in the Prosecution whereof how learnedly accurately and judiciously the Author hath particularly demonstrated the Uncertainty of many other pretended Guides and the Improbability of their being able to satisfie a solid Inquisition after Truth and which we are commanded to make and for which the Bereans were called noble appeareth so clearly from the 62 pag. of his book to pag. 64. that I dare say no unprejudiced Reader having considered them will suppose less than this that his Arguments need not any other Proof but the bare Prolation But however to give the Gent. fair Play I will go back a little to the Author's page 63. where he proveth Authority less safe than humane Reason out of which the Gent. would very fain squeeze something like a Face of Contradiction to which I answer He that believeth any thing because enjoyned by Authority is not nor cannot in his own Conscience be so fase as he that believeth and obeyeth Authority because he is rationally convinc'd he ought to obey it having commanded a rational thing As to the Gentleman's Instance of the Judges passing Sentence Secundum allegata probata he is mistaken for our Judges do not so judge nor will our municipal Law bear it nor is it any thing pertinent to the Business in hand for it is the Jury that groundeth the Sentence here the Judge only pronouncing it And touching the Gentleman's Instance about Adam's Fall from want of following of the Dictates of his own Reason asserted by the Author and which the Gent. would elude by saying that Adam's Crime was for believing Eve rather than his own Reason insisting that the Inhibition was not a Law of Nature or Reason but a mere positive Law I answer if the Law were merely positive Adam had the greater Reason to observe it and therefore it was irrationally done to follow the Persuasions of his Wife you may call it Authority if you please considering our Wives now in England before the Command of his Maker and indeed a thing altogether unbecoming his masculine Superiority and by the Gentleman's Favour Eve did not plead the Authority but Fraud of the Serpent which beguiled her nor did the Serpent pretend to any Dominion over her But I see the Gent. groweth angry by his Excursions in the upper part of his 96. pag. being nothing civil at all to the Author nor indeed pertinent to the Controversie which for the Gentleman 's own sake because possibly 't was but the effect of mere Passion I shall forbear to mention here particularly and now I must look backwards To what is objected against the Author's Words which are That they who commit themselves to the Guidance of their own Reason if they do commit themselves wholly to it are as safe on the Left band as on the Right as secure of Happiness in their Errors as others are who are otherwise guided ev'n in the Truths which they happ'n to fall into I suppose it is no more than if he had said that Councils Doctors Fathers Schoolmen Churches c. have erred both ways and therefore I am in as great Danger in submitting to such fallible and blind Guides every whit nay greater than if I happ'n to err after having searcht with all the imaginable Strength of my Reason for Truth for saith the Author There is no danger of perishing but for Disobedience to what to God's Commands and I am commanded to offer a reasonable Service I am to give a reason of my Faith and that Hope which is in me and doth it look like a good Plea to say that I did search and pray'd to God to direct me in that Search by his Spirit or is it better to say and more tolerable that I believ'd as the Church believ'd and rested there as safe I thought as a Thief in a Mill but this last Plea can never hold for me to pretend I did so with other men's Eyes when God hath giv'n me Eyes of mine own and this made Luther stir and H. 8. too who being King of a Kingdom independent of Rome properly though many ways usurpt by the Pope was not à parte rei obliged to refer himself to the Decision of any foreign Potentate about that which he alledg'd troubl'd his Conscience or if it were from any other Motive yet it was generously done upon the main and God can bring Good out of Evil whence the Author's Assumption that there is in man a natural Ability of searching for spiritual Truths and that it can be nothing else but the Vnderstanding neither to any thing else can the Command of searching be directed c. cannot be shaken by what is objected besides that the Author has the Suffrage of the best learned in all Ages to back him As to what fell in betwixt the Author and Master Hobbs it doth not much concern me to meddle with in this place T. H. will shift for himself but I will tell the Gent. he is the first Christian that ever interpreted the fifth of Matthew Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good works to warrant the Necessity of Obedience to external Worship nor will the Scope of that Chapter bear it the Apostle intending to explain thereby the blessed State of Christianity in Suffering for Christ c. And that it is impossible Humane Reason so guided as the Author hath told us should lead men into those Sins of Theft Murder c. and all other Villanies appeareth from this that nothing else besides it
can preserve us from the Commission of them for no man while he used his own Reason rightly ever committed any of them it being impossible to suppose it could be the Effect of Reason to be impious but it may be the effect of the enslaving of our Reason to the brutish part of a man which is his sensual Appetite or the like which indeed is too familiar while Youth lasteth It is true which the Gent. affirmeth that whoever faileth by the willfull neglect of finding out of Truth which was in his Power to help is therefore inexcusable but he that persecutes those who have searcht according to their best means and yet cannot satisfie their own Consciences is more inexcusable by doing that to others which he would for no man would be persecuted not have done to himself But the Gentleman excepts against the Author's asserting That we ought not to believe Errors of Faith to be damnable it being unreasonable to teach men that Errors overthrow our Hopes of Salvation unless we could likewise give them a Catalogue of those Errors which are so Paul indeed saith there are damnable Heresies and Peter but names none in particular but denying of the Lord that bought us thereby bringing swift Destruction c. it is very plain thereby Peter defin'd or rather determin'd the denying of the Lord that bought them to be the only damnable Heresie which indeed I take to be Apostacy However the Gent. adventureth to give us another manner of Catalogue of damnable Heresies which he saith are all such as are continued in in Opposition to the Authority of the Church perversely and obstinately I grant it true But if all are guilty of damnable Errors or damnable Heresie who do not obey what the Church enjoyneth that is the Law in England and Scotland considering the Indifferency of some and the dissenting of others there will be but a few compar'd to the guilty in any Possibility of Salvation in those two Kingdoms and it must needs invite all lukewarm Protestants to the Roman Religion rather than to stick to the Religion of that people so generally infected with damnable Errors the Papists have reason to thank him for it Yet again the Gent. quarrelleth at the Author for saying Where we do not know our Fault we have no means of Repenting of it and consequently cannot expect Pardon for it there being no Forgiveness without Repentance and Repentance is impossible without knowledge of our Fault To which the Gentleman's answer is if this be true it would damn all Mankind and my Reply is If it be not true it must damn most of Mankind for confident I am there 's not one in a thousand that thinketh himself obliged to repent of Sins he never knew of it being enough and more than most men do to repent of known sins Pardon implyeth a Guilt Guilt is a Breach of the Law The old Testament condemneth none but for actual Sins the new maketh few new Sins more than the old for Thoughts if transient and not reduc'd into Act are not Sins and what David saith Who can understand his Errors there is not any more meant by it than that it is difficult to understand them and when he prayeth to be pardon'd his secret Sins he intended not any other than such Sins as were only known to God and himself so against presumptuous Sins which are intended against Light against Reason no man having ever had greater Reason to be thankful to God than he who had been preferr'd and preserved in so admirable a manner more than once from his Enemies c. And the Gent. cannot forget who prayed to be deliver'd from unreasonable men nor who fought with Beasts at Ephesus Again the Author having said the great Probability of Truth on all sides ev'n in the erring ones ought to make us believe that God will pardon those Errors the Gentleman answers thus If our Errors be such as are not the Effects or Causes of any Sin we have no Reason to think but God will pardon them and I say If our Sins be the Causes of our Errors we have no Reason to think that God will pardon them and that Sin is for the most part the Cause of Errors is plain to any man who shall observe the Effects of Debauchery for how is it possible any man can act rationally who drowneth his Reason or believe as convinc'd by Reason when he will offer Violence to it and brutifie himself But saith the Gent. if our Errors are the Effect of willfull Ignorance Pride or Idleness if they have lead us into Schism and Heresie and thereby into Contempt of Authority then we can have no Hopes of Pardon without Amendment wherefore Sin being most commonly the Cause or the Effect of Errors or both it proveth there is no small Danger in them I must mind the Reader here how the Gentleman runneth the Wild-goose Chase one while putting an erroneous person in hope of Pardon in which he implieth Guilt or else why Pardon Another while no Pardon without Amendment as if Amendment were not the tacite Condition of every pardon which if it were not true men might presume to sin daily upon Assurance of daily Pardon or at least upon Presumption of it I suppose he should rather have said no Pardon was to be had without Repentance in any Case which he was afraid or unwilling to say least he should have admitted the Truth of the Author's Assertion which was that true Repentance could not be without fore-knowledge of the Fault and I think as concerning Errors to mend is no more than to repent of them But for that the Gent. makes Wilful Ignorance a damnable sin I do not well understand what he meaneth by the term Wilful there it being as absurd to my apprehension to call Ignorance Wilful as to talk of Free Will the Will alwayes following and being acted by the last Dictate of the Understanding so that it not only seemeth to be but is necessitated being no Faculty in it self men cannot therefore believe what they please nor think what they please that such or such an Opinion or thing is true or false Indeed a man may act contrary to his Understanding which is Hypocrisie and which if the Gent. pleaseth he may call Wilful Hypocrisie nor do I know a fitter man to make Hypocrites than himself who is so fierce nay fiercer than our Laws are themselves to have all men compelled to Conformity whether it be with or against their Reasons after the way Carters use by the Whip to teach their poor Horses obedience Now again the Author having said and truly that there is no such great danger from Errors since there is but one true way for a thousand false ones and that there 's no mark set upon that true way to distinguish it from others Reason being the Judge the Gent. argueth that where the difficulty surpasseth the Faculty that God hath given us Reason still for we have no
other we need not fear he will punish us for not finding out such Truths Where 's Wilful Ignorance now for saith he if they had been necessary I wish he had told us what are necessary for our Salvation they would have been suited to our Capacities but if we are wilfully ignorant of necessary Truths then it is not more contrary to the Goodness of God to punish us Eternally for that than for any other sin which we dye in without Repentance I reply That in all Cases where I cannot assent to any Proposition about Faith because unconvinc'd having search'd and try'd what possibly I could to convince or inform my self I need not fear God will punish me eternally for in this case I cannot be guilty of that he calleth Wilful Ignorance for it followeth that all Truths which I assent not to having so search'd by my Reason do either surpass my Understanding or they do not if they do I am not punishable saith the Gent. eternally and I say If they do I am not punishable eternally because I could not know they were Truths Punishment alwayes presupposing Guilt and it is no Crime not to be able to know but a natural Infirmity indeed it is a Crime not to search for Truth but none to think such a Position false Neither do I know that men are any were in Scripture said to be condemned eternally for any other but unrepented actual Sins But if I should grant that some Errors are damnable how shall I know which are so one Church condemning another must not my Reason judge for me Yet higher If it be hard to say which a Great Author saith not yet answer'd nor perhaps ever will that God who is the Father of Mercies that doeth in Heaven and Earth all that he will that hath the Hearts of all men in his disposing that Worketh in men both to Will and to Do and without whose free gift a man hath neither inclination to Good nor repentance of Evil should punish mens Transgressions without any end of Time and with all the extremity of Torture that men can imagine and more it seemeth hard to think which I add that he will punish men eternally for not being able to find out the Truth harder for their Errors which they believe to be Truth but hardest of all for not conforming to the External Modes of honouring him which are alterable and many times accommodated to the Interest of a Nation and are only honourable towards him because they are legally declar'd to be honourable in one place not so in another How much therefore doth it concern the Supreme Power every where to consider and weigh the present Genius of the People before they make Ecclesiastical Laws for they alwayes touch the Consciences of men not so other Laws for they are for Publick Peace strictly and must be obey'd they are I say to be considered especially there where in the very Nature of the People there is much pity for Sufferers about Religious concerns and in whom there is a general abhorrence as with us about Religion from Persecution which His Majesty well understood when he afforded that Gracious Condescention besides all men know Persuasion was the Method of the Apostles not Rigor nor will Rigor prevail here And we have lived to see once more to say it the Profit of that demonstrative and rational way of Preaching and Printing used of late whereof D. Stillingfleet's Book Entitled Origines Sacrae that most Excellent Book proving the Being of God the Immortality of the Soul and the truth of Scripture is no mean Example nor are D. Tillotson's Printed Sermons less considerable against Atheism From whence I pass by as granted on all hands the Gentleman's long Harangue which he before play'd with of the Rationability of Men's being obliged to consult with Divines Lawyers and Physicians as answered before Though I may pertinently subjoyn what great Reason our Author had to mention the Ignorance or Malice of one sort of our spiritual Phisicians together with their too visible Vices I mean in some of them as none more likely to let in a Flood of Atheism and Popery than the Disobedience of Dissenters from whence I pass to the Gentleman's next Argument against our Relyance upon Reason he putting the case of meeting with a Jesuit or Sectary who shall attaque me how I will avoid being made either of those two To which I must reply and can give no other than this that in such a Case I must fly to Reason as my safest Guard all other Guides being fallible which no man in his Wits was ever yet so irrational as to say of Reason nor the Gentleman neither Yet to speak freely I cannot think otherwise but that I am obliged to yield to either of those two if they appear either of them to have greater Reason than mine and that I may be safe with either of them the Gent. allows so there 's no Danger at all in meeting with either the one or the other but a possible Profit So great is the use of Reason and so great is the Force and Defence of it The plain Truth is it is the thinking man that is wise As for Books they may be useful yet 't is dangerous relying upon them 't is true a few Books well chosen and digested may open and establish the Understanding when as too much reading dazles it how many Persons of good Natural Parts acquired Wit and Learning wear out their dayes in a perpetual hurry of reading is obvious to every man of general Conversation such are alwayes learning and never come at truth So that every Humane Excellency resolves into Reason or shrowds under its Umbrage Reason which as a Light Divine govern'd the World before the Metaphorical word Conscience was known This begot Government teaches Obedience and first of all oblig'd men to Natural Religion which can never be cancell'd or forgotten All the Lawyers in the World cannot make any Case Law which is not Reasonable 't is not Precedents will do it they are but Opinions Nor can any Divine preach me into a belief of any Proposition unless he be able to convince my Reason that what he sayes is true Nor any Politician warrant the soundness of his Advice to his Sovereign till the Event has justified the Rationability of his Counsel which is the Reason why it has been observed that some wary men in Counsels endeavour to speak last 'T is hard to conceive what that thing is which the Learned call Physicum Fatum so many little and impossible to be foreseen intervening Accidents may and do often alter the most subtile Projections On the other side a Rational and Prudent man may live in Peace in most Times under the changes of Government by complying as Judge Hale did in the times of Usurpation to maintain Property 'T is true Subjects have Liberty in all things where they are not restrain'd by Laws and in such things they have
Lash which is a Gravamen I think and may or ought to be prevented by a new introductory Law for I suppose the Common Law is too dull to do it or the Medicine that way has given place to the Disease for the Remedy by an Action against the Justice is worse than the Disease since their awe upon Juries from their abused Power to the scandal of the Government and thereby to the indisposing of Subjects from their due and peaceable obedience to the Laws wherein Religion properly consists And as to our Reply Whereas the Gentleman boldly assum'd but never prov'd the consequence of Atheism by the reliance upon Reason which I have refuted and shew'd who were two of the most probable Introductors of it I think fit to add a third Cause of irreligion if not Atheism namely the daily Printing and publishing many Translations and other Books which presume to treat of the inexplicable Mysteries of the Christian Religion and of God which indeed fall not under Humane Capacity to examine Logically and whereby in stead of reconciling that which they call Philosophy to the Doctrine of the New Testament or remarking upon both Testaments they render the plain Truths thereof not only to the Vulgar but to some pedantically Learned men suspicious Such is the now publickly sold Spinosa's Tractate which does hurt and if I should say D. Cud. Repetitions also possibly 't were true though the Dr. meant well and is very Learned The Contemplation whereof obliges me to add a fourth Cause of Irreligion if not Atheism which is that several Books of late years have been Licens'd even by the Universities bearing glorious Titles the Subject matter whereof does unhinge the Foundations of our Reveal'd Religion whereof one instance may be in a celebrated Folio wherein amongst other wild Opinions 't is positively said and often insisted that the Soul of man before its attainment of Heaven must pass through and run the hazard of being bewilder'd and suffocated in thick gelid Vapours dusky Clouds and other such like which though the Learned may digest safely yet ordinary men who have been taught that the Soul of a good man passes immediately from Earth to Heaven after death without such intermediate Probations Purifications and Punishments are apt either to lean from such infusions towards the Doctrine of Purgatory or to think there is no proper dependance upon our Systeme of Religion or which is more probable from such Chimaera's of the Learned to think that Religion it self is nothing else but a Politick Device These Books I say so authoriz'd or Printed otherwise are the bane of Unwary and especially young men not able truely to weigh matters nor to take in such Pills without chewing of them And these are the fruits of exuberant Fancies not grounded either upon Reason or Scripture whereof I might give a thousand instances Moreover whereas I have hinted in my Reply that our Dissenters ought to understand the necessity of some Laws for the Government of the Church I should have added that the Conformist Ministers by several Discourses of many Persons Eminent for their Degrees and Parts have best defended Protestantism against its Adversaries of late tho it does not therefore follow but that some better Progressions may be made and if her Out-works and Guards grow crazy or become languid by overmuch watching it may be necessary to repair the one and reinforce the other with detachments from her disbanded yet valiant and politick Officers For where Workmen or Souldiers are left or put out of Employment upon presumption that there 's no occasion to use their help if there happen to be occasion for their assistance by a sudden irruption of the Enemy 't is not only convenient but necessary to take them into Service again unless their former Unfaithfulness have render'd them totally unworthy or uncapable Now whether the present time requires the whole strength of our Friends or not or whether the Nonconformist Ministers are fit to be considered as Friends upon the main who aâ— belov'd of the greatest number of Civil People are generally moral men and are oblig'd in point of Interest and otherwise dispos'd to oppose the Romanists I must leave Authority in Parliament to consider and I doubt not but the thing will be consider'd there with all the imaginable Duty and rational Representations to His Majesty with the utmost respect to his Imperial Crown and Dignity which ought to be the wish and Prayer of all Protestants and possibly the undoubted truth of this Aphorism may inforce the Consult viz. That where the Danger of any action out-weighs the probable profit 't is no wisdom to attempt it but where the possible profit out-weighs the Danger 't is imprudence to neglect it But whether these Instances will be pleasing to men otherwise influenc'd by Interest or misguided by the Artifice of others not truly English it does not much concern me for I am well persuaded by Humane Reason that they need no other proofs of their veracity to all knowing and good Subjects than their bare Prolations yet I do but propound as I think what is Rational Pursuant to my Design No man questions but that Peace is the proper end of Government so 't is admitted that the Magistrate is Judge of the ways and methods which conduce to that end nor is it deny'd by any that pretends to Sense but that Opinions if contrary to Peace in the Judgment of the Supreme Magistrate may be regulated because mens Actions commonly follow their Opinions and 't is experimentally true that our Divisions about small things do weaken the Protestant Cause and it follows thence that rigid and indiscreet starcht and positive men of all sides relating to the External part of Worship are the hindrance of Peace Next these follow the foolish yet dangerous Atheists who are the onely Rebels against God with which Disease whoever is tinctur'd is ready if possibly to shake off all obedience to his Vicegerents upon Earth and consequently to reduce Mankind to the state of War which is Anarchy and against which Poyson I have proved Reason to be the onely Antidote whence it naturally follows that all those who daily by Discourse and Writings industriously strive not onely to undermine the Basis of the Protestant but to cancell the undoubted and Eternal obligations of Natural Religion are Enemies to Peace and without which conviction which begot all Covenants the very foundations of Property no fear of present or future Punishments for violation of such Covenants can be at all and thence all obedience to Humane Laws will decay if it shall seem against Interest I suppose therefore it mainly concerns the Supreme Magistrate as well in his Natural as Politick Capacity by all possible condescentions upon emergent occasions and By-laws in time and Penally to obviate the growth of such idle Discourses as threaten the dissolution of Government it self unto which end there can be no such direction as Humane Reason