them one against another And some when they would go a shorter way to work call but their Adversary by the name of his Sect that serves for Evidence Conviction and Condemnation and then secure him Goaler But it will be asked and ought to be enquired into How they came by such false Notions of things Then I say That Custom Chance Prejudice and Constitution give most men their way of Religion and creates their Consciences too they think this or that to be sinful not which is really and naturally so but what they see some men abhor and detest and what they have been taught is so and Youth generally take their Parents word and swallow all infinitely and implicitly and if one be mistaken 't is hardly possible but that the other will be mistaken too And 't is certain that the undutifulness of disobeying Parents injunctions and the reproach and shame of being singular and doing things contrary to their Country Customs and Usages are great Obstacles to Truth and Peace Some of the Indians did eat their dead Friends and Relations and thought it a great piece of Piety and the most honourable way of Sepulture but the Greeks they burned them all Alexander asked each of them what he should give them to exchange their Method They both answered with the greatest abhorrence imaginable and declaimed against each others Usages as the most barbarous and undecent way in the World. Custom makes good things to seem evil and evil things to seem good And I have read of a Shepherd on the Mountains of Naples who in the holy time of Lent came with Tears in his Eyes to his Confessor and earnestly desired Absolution in that he had swallowed by chance a little Whey which leaped into his Mouth from the Cheese-Press The Father asked him Whether he knew himself guilty of no other Sins He answered Not any as he knew of He again asked him Whether he was not accessary to any of the Robberies and Murders committed on their Mountains Yes indeed Quoth he that I am but this we never esteem a Crime 't is a thing daily practised by all of us and there needs no confession for such things By this may be seen what Custom can do But Education Prejudice and Custom have still further strange Operations For They strangely dispose men to be resolute and tenacious of their first-taught-Principles and make them Deaf to the most Weighty Sober and Convincing Reasons and when a man is linked to a Party there is no unchaining of him he delights in his Slavery and Chains and reckons him an Enemy that would free him He will be of the Religion he was bred to whether Turk Jew or Pagan and thinks that always the best Come to undeceive him and he looks on you as an Impostor and all the Arguments you shall bring signifie no more than Arrows against a Wall of Brass he is resolved say what you will you shall not move him he will not consider any thing that is alledged against him will laugh at your Reasons shift them off and do any thing rather than be Convinced nay he comes with a Resolution to a Discourse not to be overcome and to say something for his Side rather than the Truth and what is worst of all 't is impossible some should be prevailed upon who esteem all Arguments to be Temptations and therefore look upon themselves obliged by all means to shun them So that this sort of Obstinacy and Perversness this Partiality this respect to Persons and Sides and want of Sincerity and Indifferency to Truth keeps a foot our Differences obstructs mutual Compliances and Toleration every one calling his Fancy his Faith his Opinion his Religion and entitles God to all and when God is concerned then they think their Zeal cannot be too much and out of an hatred to Lukewarmness endeavour to make it as Hot as they can so Hot that it destroys Charity and Burns and Preys upon their innocent Neighbours But a further Accessary and Aggravation too of Christian Differences is the Method and Administration of their Government For First They suppose God Almighty has appointed a particular Discipline and Regiment for his Church and then fall out about it every one maintaining that their own particular Scheme is the same Then again they suppose that Discipline and Regiment is absolutely necessary both which are false I or God neither hath appointed any particular Way neither is any necessary any further than for the necessary Regulating such Assemblies as shall meet together to worship their God or to Excommunicate a man out of such their Assemblies for his evil Life which are things very easie to be done and need no great Wit or Learning to perform And any man may be Honest Just True Sincere Charitable Humble and Exercise any Christian Graces or Vertues without the help of Ecclesiastical Policy he may Pray to or Praise his God in Spirit and Truth which is all the Way that ever Christ appointed without the help of Church-Policy Christ's Kingdom is of another World and requires none of the Policy of this to manage it it ought to be kept pure and unmix'd being clear of another Nature We see Oyl in a Vessel of Water will not mix but keep its Body intire to it self no more ought Spirituals to be mix'd with Temporals But these Spiritual Politicians have mix'd Heaven and Earth together confounded the World with their Policy and so jumbled things together that Christianity is almost lost in the Composition so that men know not where to find it I should think that the ill success and bad effects such Policy hath hitherto had in the World should make them ashamed and endeavour by all means to leave such methods which did always rather Disturb than any way Beautifie the Church of God. And let them further give me leave to tell them That if all the Hedges and Enclosures in England were pulled down and levelled that it would be England-still 'T is True Property might suffer by such a Communication but to Heaven and Religion every one has an equal Title and Property And if God Almighty had design'd a particular Way or Method of Worship he would have taken care that none should miss it and prevented all Differences about it But he has appointed none at all as I know of but that of in Spirit and in Truth And had any particular Way been absolutely necessary our Saviour would have told the Woman of Samaria when she did as good as ask him the Question How or where they should worship God Whether at Jerusalem or Samaria For there was a great contest about it amongst the Inhabitants of each But he told her That the time was come that they should neither Worship him at Jerusalem nor Samaria that is not at either of those places in particular exclusive of others but in Spirit and in Truth As if he had said The Times of limitation of God's Worship is now over
An Expedient for Peace PERSWADING An Agreement amongst CHRISTIANS c. READER I Saw the World in a Flame and among the rest have thrown in my Bucket to quench it Indeed I have been something in haste but where there is Fire in the case this must not be called a Fault but a Duty But I hope I have not made so much haste or been so ill guided as to mistake with some and to fill my Bucket with Oyl instead of Water I 'll assure thee I drew it from a very Charitable Fountain and am none of those that have either Respect to Persons or Parties But I think I need not make my Excuse for the ensuing Discourse for that would be to Apologize for doing my Duty All that I shall desire of thee is That before thou begin to read thou lay aside all those Common Enemies to Truth and Peace viz. Passion Prejudice Partiality c. or else we shall both of us lose our Labours RELIGION I will not say the True Religion as men manage it is become the grievance and burden of the Nation and is the proper Province of the State to take it into consideration When the Messias was born the Holy Angels Anthem was Glory to God in the Highest Peace on Earth Good Will towards Men but ill men and the Devil together have ordered things so that the same is inverted and may now be said D. shonour to God on High Confusion on Earth Ill Will towards Men The truth is men have been so madly extravagant in the things they call Religion and have made such tumults and stirs in this World about the things of another that notwithstanding I contend earnestly for a Toleration as the only remedy to heal them yet 't is not for a Toleration to do mischief and I can willingly subscribe after all I shall say in behalf thereof that no sort or party of men should be indulged in any of their Religions or Perswasions of what denomination soever but those that are ready and willing to give the State security for their Good Behaviour and Peaceable Living Now the concern of Religion is to make men happy here as well as hereafter and after all men's talk has but two Parts To love the Lord our God with all our Hearts c. And our Neighbour as our selves But men have been so mad that they have almost vacated both by over zealously and indiscreetly endeavouring to perform the first and have thought they could not love God enough unless they hated and destroyed their Neighbour That these things are but too true all Christendom by sad Experience can attest and in particular this unhappy Nation which like a Ship at Sea has been long a sinking The Captain indeed labours to save her having found out her leaks and call to his men for affistance but they like madmen every one endeavour to secure something of her Cargoe not considering that when the Ship is gone all is gone and instead of assisting do unreasonably oppose him So that he must save them against their Wills or they will inevitably perish Indeed it is a lamentable thing to consider that that same Religion which was given by Heaven on purpose to the Sons of Men to make them happy should by an unhappy concurrence of evil Accidents make them miserable and I think to find out those evil Accidents 't is the duty of every Man especially of every Christian and therefore I will lay down my Observations thereof altho' I meet with the common fate of Reconcllers to have blows for my pains Then First I take notice men make a false Calculation of the Differences and Dissentions of men in points of Religion and call them criminal when they are not and endeavour to reconcile them when 't is impossible and put too great a value on Agreements that is when men do the same things together not regarding so much the Truth Unity and Sincerity of their Minds as the Company Presence and Congregation of their Bodies in one Place and performing a thing after the same manner All the World will acknowledge with me that what is impossible to be done is not necessary to be done Now as long as men have variety of Principles several Educations Constitutions Tempers Distempers Hopes Fears Degrees of Light and Degrees of Understanding several Capacities Offices and Imployments 't is impossible and therefore not necessary they should be all of one Mind And therefore he that attempts it does like him that claps his Shoulder to the Ground to stop an Earthquake that would stop the course of the Sun stem the raging Ocean or pull down the Pillars of the Earth 'T is foolish therefore to wish it or expect it and they that endeavour it do but vex and trouble the World and thinking to procure they but spoil all its Harmony which consists in so great variety of Discords It has been said by a learned Prelate that in the large interval of sixteen hundred and odd years so much juggling hath passed in Christendom That the Obscurity of some Questions the nicety of some Articles the intricacy of some Revelations the variety of Humane Vnderstandings the windings of Logick the tricks of Adversaries the subtilty of Sophisters the ingagement of Educations personal Affections the portentous number of Writers the infinity of Authorities the vastness of some Arguments as consisting in the Enumeration of many Particulars the uncertainty of others the several degrees of Probabilities the difficulty of Scriptures the invalidity of Probation of Tradition the opposition of all exterior Arguments to each other and their open Contestation the publick violence done to Authors and Records the private Arts and Supplantings the falsifyings and indâ—fatigable Industry of some to abuse all Vnderstandings and all Perswasions into their own Opinions These and a thousand more even all the difficulties of Things all the weaknesses of Man and all the Arts of the Devil have made it impossible for any man in so great variety of matter not to be deceiv'd And say I too have made it equally impossible for men to agree or be all of One Mind It hath been made plainly appear that Rites and Ceremonies that such and such Vestments such and 〈…〉 Ministers such Discipline Gevernment or way of Administration such Places or Times c. are things of an indifferent Nature and not of absolute Necessity to Men's Salvation nor belong to the Being or Essence of God's Church but are things alterable according to Contingencies and Emergencies to be retained or disallowed according to the custom of Places or Nations or as they are made plainly to appear to minister to the Ends of Peace and Charity for the Edification of God's Church and not Destruction And that the essential and fundamental qualifications that make a man a Christian and a true Member of Jesus Christ are Holiness Purity Piety Charity Belief in God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and our Warrant herein is what St.
Paul told the Romans This is the Word of Faith which we Preach That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe with thine Heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved as also St. John For every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God God dwelleth in him and he in God So that such a belief with sincere and hearty endeavours to please God according to the best Notices a man can get will secure a man his Salvation if it will not there is no Salvation to be had at all Now the best Notices we can get and only Rule to direct our Lives and Actions are the Books of the Old and New Testament wherein are transmitted the Transactions of Heaven with the Sons of Men and are of an inestimable value teaching all things fully that relate to God or Men as to the Nature and Worship of the one or the Duty and Salvation of the other Now that men can understand these Books is a thing without all controversie and only disputed by them whose interest it is they should not I mean men of ordinary and mean Capacities for if not to what end were they wrote Or why to them directed And why are all commanded to read and search them if they were not capable to understand them And how can such men who deny it be able to vindicate the Wisdom Goodness or Justice of Almighty God in delivering his Creatures a Rule to walk by and exact a due conformity thereto if they were not capable to understand it No certainly the Good God as he has condescended to give his Creatures a Rule so he has calculated this Rule to all their Capacities and so adapted the one for the other that they have the greatest reason in the World to Adore and Admire his Wisdom and Goodness for the same I will allow that some can better understand them than others and that they are not equally understood of all because of the difference of men's Capacities and Acquirements and because they should have a dependance and be beholding to one another which ministers to Charity but then nothing is more certain than that all men of the meanest Capacities may understand them sufficient and enough for Salvation if they come with a sincere affection of being instructed and of finding out Truth otherwise they would not answer the end for which they were designed Some things indeed the deepest Heads cannot reach and others the weakest Understandings can hardly possibly mistake and those too are all of the greatest importance If only one sort of men were able to understand them as some would have it we should have had notice from Heaven who those should be and how qualified and that in such plain Characters that it should not be possible we should mistake but there is no such thing And if any sort of men claim this Arcanum above others 't is an affront to the Understandings of all the rest and their Words ought not to be taken in their own Case And indeed 't is a thing too great to be trusted with any one sort of men Some indeed will only have Learned Men capable of understanding them but then if this should be what alamentable case the World would be in Truth would then 〈◊〉 a precarious thing and we should have no more of it than these Learned Men please and if they should be byassed corrupted or be dishonest what must the other three parts of the World do Must they lie at their Mercy and their Salvation depend on their Honesty No God forbid And blessed be his Name he has taken care men shall not lie liable to any such Impostures But if these men will needs be in the right above the rest and understand for them let them do their duty for them too for 't is not reasonable they should be charged with a duty that do not understand it But having found their own failings herein and that they are but men like others during not to be so confident as usual they betake themselves to shifts and to countenance their fallibility supply the defects of honesty and salve their imposition of their sence they set up a strange sort of Infallibility which indeed would put an end to all the Disputes and Differences in Chistondom were there any such thing But that which they have invented to put out the Flame serves only to increase it for where the Power of Infallibility is lodged Heaven has given us no notice which it would certainly have done had there been any such thing And 't is certain that those who pretend most to this Infallibility have been most deceived of all Indeed the Romanists for the most part have drove furiously and forced all their People to do the same thing and worship God the same way but this cannot be called an Agreement no more than Sheep are said to agree when they are drove up and Pounded all together by the Shepherd And there is greater Agreement amongst those though the foolish World think to the contrary who worship their Maker under the Administration of several Disciplines and Conduction of several Guides For Force and Violence may make a Congregation of Bodies but no Unity of Minds 'T is only a Hearty Intention Sincerity of Mind and Affections Simpleness and Identity of Address to the same Object which can be called Unity and Agreement and nothing else for other things though they may seem differences and disagreements to men yet really they are none at all for the Circumstances of Time and Place Publick or Private Day or Night the several Instances of Respects Methods and Way of Worship are all one and the same thing to God Almighty He only looks at the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Differences with men are not so with him if they agree in sincerity of Affections and integrity of Spirit that 's the Agreement he looks after 'T is true again That men understand the Scriptures differently and to different Senses but why this difference of Understanding should be Objected as a Crime I know not For 't is impossible it should be otherwise so long as there be such great variety of Humane Understandings and as long as they understand not differently and amiss on a bad end and design they cannot possibly be Criminal for no man is Obliged to understand better than he can Then again Many men may be totally Ignorant of many things in Scripture and yet be very Innocent and certainly if their Total Ignorance be no fault their understanding differently those things which they might have been Innocently ignorant of cannot make them guilty of a Crime if it should it would highly advance Ignorance and very much depress Understanding and Knowledge But further if they understand them differently which I contend for the most part they do in order to promote a Virtue encourage a Grace or
suppress a Vice or any Immorality in themselves then this difference ought to be so far from being reputed a Crime that it becomes Necessary and ought to be Encouraged and they that put a scandal on it are very much to blame And it must be allowed that men may dispute things in utramque partem affirm and deny the same thing innocently enough so the good intention be secured and it be to edification and make no infraction on Charity But the things that become Criminal are those sort of differences which every side and party of Christians are but too guilty of and which concerns them all to amend and that is Forcing an Interpretation on Scripture contrary to the natural and genuine sense thereof and that with a design to countenance their own Interest or Party And what the Papists Object is but too true though they have the least reason to complain that every one Interprets the Scripture to his Side and Party and so do they to Theirs and that the divisions of Protestants have been principally occasioned by every on 's having the use of the Scriptures which admitting to be true since these differences are unavoidable and naturally Innocent in themselves and only accidentally evil and much better at the worst than forced Agreements one would think they should have no further to Object Since further if the use of good things should be denied and prohibited on the score of their abuse and accidental Inconveniencies a just pretence might be brought in for all the Irregularities in the World. Now since the Essentials and Circumstantials in Religion are agreed on since it has been made to appear that every one may understand so much of Religion and the Scriptures as is necessary for his Salvation since 't is impossible men should not differ and disagree as also in most things not to be deceived one would think these things should make men modest and peaceable and hinder the ill effect of any dissention that might happen among them But men are willing to admit and indulge one another a difference of Thought and Understanding in most of their Secular Concerns but grow impatient and are unwilling to admit any difference of Sentiments in the matters of Religion and to their dealing on this account most of the Confusions and Distractions of Christendom owe their Original and after the Unreasonableness Injustice and Folly of the thing has been made to appear to the World one would think they should cease their mad and ineffectual proceedings For it has been made to appear to the World That Conscience ought not to be constrained that a Corporal Punishment ought not to be inflicted for a Spiritual Fault that men ought not to Punish where they have no power to Command that they cannot command the belief of a thing unless they give a sufficient Reason and that that can only be sufficient when the party is convinced and that is not in their power to know unless by the party acknowledged that matters intellectual are not discerned by a Secular Power that to punish men for differing in Opinion is as unreasonable as to punish them for having different Faces that no Humane Authority is either sufficient for cognizance or determination or competent for infliction of punishment in such matters that the Terms of Schismatick and Heretick are only Scare-crows and signifie next to nothing that no man is a Schismatick but he that departs from a good Life that fears not God nor loves his Neighbour and that no man is a Heretick or ought to be punished as such but he that teaches ill Life or takes up an ill Opinion contrary to Fundamentals on a bad account viz. on the Score of Pride Ambition Interest Malice or any other Sinister End which will be very difficult to be known that 't is impossible for men not to differ that 't is not necessary they should agres that all Sorts and Parties of Christians have been deceived that amidst so great difficulties 't is impossible they should not be deceived that Punishments ought to be proportioned to their Crimes that Spiritual Faults ought only to have Spiritual Punishments that a certain Punishment ought not to be inflicted for an uncertain Fault that most Spiritual Faults are uncertain that if a man was punished or killed he was certainly punished or killed but that it was not so certain he was in a Fault that Conclusions ought not to be stronger than their Premises that no man ought to be Judge in his own Case that Reason Discourse and Agreements are the only Proper Methods and Instruments to Convince Men and no other that if others of an Heterogenial stamp were used they might make Hypocrites but no Proselites and that they were never accompanied with success that the generality of men are disposed to live quietâ—y that Oppression Tyranny and Penal Laws are occasion of most of the Disturbances in Christendom that fallible men ought not to call their Opinions Articles of Faith that they ought not over-hastily to interest their Maker in their uncertain Cause that God's Glory doth consist with the Good of Men and may be maintained without their Destruction Further it hath been made evidently to appear against them that say We have a Law That Law cannot make a Truth that Truth is as old as the Eternal Veracity and suffers no Degrees for what was yesterday will be true to day to morrow and to the End of the World And therefore to force People to be of their Religion because Established by Law is a great piece of Vanity and Nonsense That neither Fathers Councils no Individual Man or Company of Men no Power or Force upon Earth are able to make a Truth or an Article of Faith. No all they are able to do is by way of Promulgation Declaration or Explanation of Truth but nothing by way of Creation they may illustrate indeed and make Truth appear to be so but they cannot neither add or diminish What was Truth and agreeable to God's Will was so before they undertook the Disquisition or before they came into the World and will be so when they are extinct and gone out of it notwithstanding all their endeavours for or against it Again Nothing is more Certain than that Men are Men and Uncertain that they are and have been proved fallible That General Councils have erred and contradicted one another on Record that Fathers have been mistaken that what has been may be again and therefore that all respectively may be used with reverence and respects as occasion may require as the best Humane Guides and Directors but always with deference and an eye to their Fallibility that their Opinions ought not to be pressed as Articles of Faith nor their Determinations have the weight of Mathematical Demonstrations Methinks these Considerations should make men look a little amicably on one another and a little come to themselves But I find they do not and may be the Scence is laid too
far off and therefore I will bring it nearer home and let themselves judge A certain number of Pilgrims were going to the Holy Land had equal desires and affections for the Place being all moved by the same Love and Good Intention none indeed had been there already and therefore they were the more to seek for their way they were all very diligent to find out the true Road and as they go along they meet with several Ways and Paths upon which the Company divided some go one way and some another according as they thought it surer and more probable than the other but some of the Company of hotter Constitution than the rest asked some of their Fellows why they should not go their way since they were sure they were in the right To which they answered They could not be sure because they never were there that they had the same Charts and Directions which they had and had as honestly and sincerely perused them induced by the same if not greater Love and Affection to the Place and that they did not think that way to be right but that the Path they were going in was the surer and more probable way and hoped that it would bring them to the Place as soon if not sooner than theirs would and therefore desired to be excused adding That if they should go with them they should go against their Thoughts and Consciences which would be a trouble to them all along the Road but especially at last if they should be mistaken This answer though modest and very reasonable yet was not satisfactory for the other pressed them hard loving Company very well and said That since they were all going to the same place 't was fit they should all go together in the same Road and if they would not they would take away their Provisions and Money and force them And their Passions and Zeal was so hot that they did so and worse for some they beat and others they killed and for the Rest at the next Town they prevailed so with the Magistrate and misrepresented them so ill that they got them put in durance Now who can but pity the hard fate of these poor Pilgrims Or forbear to Censure and give his Verdict against the hot fiery Zeal of the other But let them speak as dare Whoever pities them I shall say to them as Nathan said to David You are the Men All sides have been too but Guilty and have plaid the same Pranks when in Power One would wonder how Christian men should have such Hatred and Animosities one against another and run Counter to all the Principles of their Religion and Laws of their Great Master Whose Lessons as one said were softer than Nard or the Juice of the Candian Olive teaching all imaginable Compliance mutual Forbearance and Charity and one of his last Commands to them was To love one another but they have not minded the Commands of their Good Lord or observed the advice of their Compassionate Joseph but have fallen out by the Way dishonoured their Profession and ruined themselves But a man shall quickly be raised from his wonder when he considers the mistakes under which they lie They greatly mistake in calling their Respective Opinions Several Religions I affirm there is but ONE God and ONE Religion and that they may as well call the several Counties in England several Nations as to give several Opinions the denomination of several distinct Religions We ask a man what Countryman he is If he tells us Darbyshire Stafford-shire all is well there is no hurt done but if we ask him what Religion he is off and it prove to be differing from ours presently an Animositie arises and we look on him with strange thoughts and reckon him almost something else than a Man and rather a Heathen than a Christian and when we have made him such a Heathen then we think like the Israelites That 't is Lawful to destroy such a Canaanite from among us never considering all this while the mans Constitution Education Prejudice the Books he may have Read the Company he may have kept c. which may make him have different thoughts and apprehensions of things from ours and that his Honesty and good Intention may make his Sentimens though differing from ours yet altogether as Innocent Again 'T is a strange vanity that men have in valuing themselves so extreamly for being of this or that perswasion or party of men and brings a great deal of trouble to the World. One saith he is a Catholick and no Heretick the Protestant-Hereticks say they are good Protestants and no Papists and the Church-of-England-man saith he is of a Religion established by Law and no Dissenter as if Law could make a Truth and so they go on upbraiding one another supposing every Division of Christians that has a distinct Name is a distinct Religion Now if we should be so foolish in other concerns what would the World think of us If the Yorkshire-men should say the Kentish-men are no English men or the Merchant-Taylors tell the Mercers they are no Citizens would not the Asserters be exposed to derision Further if a man calls not himself by some name or other as Catholick Church-of-England-man Presbyterian Independant c. he is look'd upon as a piece of Defaced or Antiquated Coin that will not pass If he say he is a Christian that will not satisfie he runs some hazard in calling himself by that Name but 〈◊〉 or none in not departing from Iniquity if he â—â—â—ls himself Lutheran Calvinist Zuinglian c. all will be well he is sorted and hath Fellows shall be respected and esteemed but if be will espouse none of their Factions nor interest himself in their simple Quarrels he is branded with the odious Name of Atheist or to be of no Religion at all And such a high pitch of Extravagancy is the World come to that a Jew in a Christian Nation shall have more respect than a Christian and that for no other Reason but because he calls himself so Should a man be so hardy as to leave Paul Apollos and Cephas and call himself by that Venerable Name which requires some courage 't is odds but he may be called to an account for raising a New Religion his imitation of his Holy Life would not satisfie the mad World if he cannot pronounce Shiboleth plainly and herd himself with a Party there 's none will take him into their Folds but out he shall lie in the Fields exposed to the mercy of the Elements But all this might be cured in a great measure if the State would put a Fine on those that call themselves by any other Name than that of Christian For 't is incredible to think what mischiefs go along with these New Names O he is a Papist says one he 's a Fanaâ—ick says another they are Words of reproach and their meaning is he is an ill man for so every Side and Party accepts
and the World would cry out on them should they not have some ugly thing to lay to their Charge after having so unhandsomly treated them But these Aspersions have been wiped off over and over and it has been said If it be enough to Accuse who shall be Innocent The Charge also has been returned on the Accusers Heads to whom indeed it belongs For Tyrants and Oppressors blow the Coals and then make Wonders at and accuse the Flame They wonder men will not be Quiet and accuse them of Disturbance when They are their only Disturbers and occasion of all the Commotion by Oppressing them and Punishing them without a Cause They make multitudes of Penai Laws and by Consequence multitudes of Delinguents The fewer the Penal Laws are the more Quietness and Peace always there is in the World and those were happy Ages when Verba minantia fixo are legebantur Every man might go but to the Market Cross and read presently his Duty what he was to do and what to avoid The plain Truth is the multitudes of Penal Laws do but muster up and show the World how strong they are in Delinquents and when they see their Numbers they take Courage and presently Conspire animated by their being equally Obnoxious to throw off their Yoke and Government that hath made them all such Criminals and Subjected them to Punishment for things in their own nature Innocent and such Laws proves generally fatal to the Makers Further it hath been made to appear that 't is a most Unreasonable and Unjust Thing that a King should come to a Crown and not to have the Benefit and Service of all his Subjects indifferently That those Laws which qualifie one sort of men only for his Service are too Partial and Unjust and put it into the Power of those men to do with him what they please That 't is not fit nor safe for a Prince to have but one Staff to lean on or one Weapon to defend himself That 't is Unreasonable and Unjust that any one sort of men under what Denomination soever should engross all Honours and Preferments to themselves and have all the Favour of the Prince and only sit in the Sunshine and all the rest in the Shade whose Fidelity and Integrity to their Prince their Sufficiency and Ability in Business their Peaceable Temper and equal if not more probable Arguments for the truth of their Religion set them on equal ground and give them as large and just a Claim thereto as others That such Discriminating and Partial Laws do naturally tend to put the Kingdom in Confusion and as long as one Religion as they call it receives an Establishment and another doth not that has equal Pretentions to it there will never be Peace and Quiet in England Again It has been proved that Laws are Naturally Null and Void and grow into Desuetude and need no formality of a Repeal after the Reasons for which they were Enacted are taken away or when they bring so many Inconveniences which out-ballance their Advantages A Law for good Consideration is made That for the space of Ten Years none shall presume to Kill or Destroy such a sort of Wild Beasts but in the space of Five Years they grow so numerous and unruly that they come into the Neighbouring Towns and make great Havock and destroy the Inhabitants Will any man deny the men of the place the priviledge of killing them and charge them with a Breach of the Law No sure I Such Laws lose their Obligation and ought to lose their Denominations too and to be called something elst than Laws rather than Grievances or Nutsanâ—es which they really are and ought to do no Mischief under the specious Title of Laws His Majesty is charged with breach of Laws for taking such Nuisances away methinks they should rather thank him for such Low Condescention it being the Scavengers Office. If unruly Fire break out in our Buildings a Door is admitted to be broken open or a neighbouring House to be blown up and no injustice charged 'T is His Majesty's Case He pretends not to put the Fires out of men's Chimneys or to Cancel any wholsome or necessary Laws but to put a stop to the Outrage and Violence of those Fiery Cruel and Sanguinary Laws that have made such Havock amongst his People and if so much Power must not be allowed him he has not Power enough to Defend Himself or His People But this Opposition being made by Interested and Unreasonable Men is less to be taken notice of And I question not but will be over-ruled by Him who is not Partial as they â—â—e but consults the Good of the whole and will not let any one sort of men have Power to Oppress the rest But then again as to our Differences I am utterly against reconciling of them by such Methods which some men take and am indifferent whether they be reconciled or no so they may be made Harmless and Easie to the Publick And I do protest I cannot see so much Iniquity in them as some would perswade and hardly know how to call them Differences but observe more their Agreement than their Difference For all do mutually agree to Worship the same Eternal Ever-Living God and believe in his Ever-Blessed Son Jesus Christ The Differences I most observe are Men's Differences and mutual Animosities about Differences And I affirm the first Differences in the various modes of Worship are mostly Innocent but the second Differences are Criminal that is men's differing one with another and inflicting Punishments one upon another about them and breaking the Bonds of Charity hating and denying Communion one to another on the score of any way of Worship differing from theirs though altogether as Innocent And what I have said before is not with a Design to make all Men to be of one and the same Mind to have the same Thoughts and Apprehensions of things to agree and perform the same things after the same Manner and Method as some Men are over-fond of and lay out all their endeavours but to no purpose to bring to pass for this is neither possible nor necessary and therefore do rather incourage honest and sincere Differences than such forced and Hypocritical Agreements For what signifies a Congregation and Presence of Bodies when there is a dissent and absence of Minds 'T is the Unity of Minds makes the Agreement and though Company and Universality may seem fine and plausible things to men yet they cannot be pleasing in the sight of God if accompanied with Error or Hypocrisie which are generally the Concomitants of pack'd Agreements But we know that he is well-pleased with our sincerity and good intentions and will rather Pity than Punish our unwilling and unfortunate mistakes in our various and differing Methods and Instances of Respect unto him But my design is from the Impossibility of men's Agreement about the things they contend from the Innocency of their first Differences from the
Folly and Vanity of their Contention all aiming at and designing the same things viz. The Salvation of their own Souls and the Glory of God to perswade men to calm quiet and soften their Minds and to convince them of the Unreasonableness of their Mutual Severities and Impositions and to dispose them to Mutual Compliances and Charity Also I would discountenance as much as possible the foolish and vain Attemps of those Men who with all the Art and Industry imaginable do endeavour to make the World all of One Mind are impatient of any Contradiction and Dâ—ssent 'T is strange that the Experience of so many Ages should not School them into a better Understanding let them quote the Age wherein they all agreed Has there not been Father against Father Council against Council a continuation of Changes and Innovations And have we not transmitted to us a Black List of Heresies and Schisms as men call them And 't is possible they may quote an Universal Force and Tyranny but never an Universal Agreement But why should I go on These are things past Contradiction c. And what hopes is there now to make Men all of One Mind more than formerly Have we not Their Difficulties and our Own too to contend with And to say true we have nothing handed down certain and not subject to dispute but the Good Being weadore and his only begotten Son in whom we believe These things indeed are Universally Credited amongst us and not disputed by any But all other things do and may challenge a Dispute since they have passed through so many differing Hands and served so many different Interests and Parties Indeed some Records I reckon more Authentick than others I mean those that teach and instruct us in the ways of Peace and Holy-Living but in general all lie more or less liable to exception For they have been managed by men of various and differing Understandings Passions Humours Constitutions and Interests And have we not the same sort of men And is not the World governed by the same Methods and Politicks as formerly We see every party quote Scripture and Fathers and Councils one against another But to what purpose For none of them at this time of the day after the Revolution of so many years are competent or sufficient to decide our Differences Every Age brings up Men of Prudence and Discretion enough to govern themselves and what the Fathers did is not to be drawn down for a President for these Time They lived in Ages wherein their Civil Customs were different from ours and their Civil Customs may as well be imposed on us as their Ecclesiastical their Civil Customs did influence their Ecclesiastical and so doth ours and that increases the difficulty Besides they were but Men and so are We They were Good Men indeed and lived Holy Lives and were Ornaments to their respective Generations and as such we ought to respect them But there is too much reverence paid to Antiquity by some and they are apt to draw very weak Conclusions and say Such a Father said such a thing Ergo 't is true and think this way of Arguing is Good and Authentick never considering the Truth and Reasonableness of the Thing so much as the Authority of the Man. But further passing over the Iniquity of the Times and the Corruptions which they may have undergone and supposing them to be all truly transmitted to us yet they will signifie very little at best since every Disputer and Party is to manage them They will speak any thing we would have them to speak and are Weapons in the Hands of every one that pleases to take them And nothing is more common than to hear all Sides and Parties say They have Reason Scriptures Fathers and Councils on their Side but this signifies nothing at all because they must not be Judges in their own Case Indeed they signifie as to particular men for instruction and direction in Holy Living and give Excellent Councel and Advice and minister to Holiness and Piety but will decide few of our Controversies since Parties must manage them 'T is certain that Law Scripture Argument and Reason signifies little amongst Disputers each Party calling that Law which doth serve their Turns that Scripture which doth seem to countenance their Opinion and that Reason and good Argument which favours and tends to promote their Design and not what really are so And this misery will still be continued in the World as long as we have several Interests to manage several Parties and so few if any indifferent and impartial Judges amongst us and all things will suffer Aggravation or Extenuation be great or little good or bad according as they quadrate with mens Opinions Prejudices or Interests But supposing men to be Impartial Diligent and Honest yet 't is impossible they should not differ in their Sentiments since their Understandings are so various And some understand more some less than is meant some Figuratively some Literally some Relatively others Collectively Distributively Privitively Positively Affirmatively Negatively and a hundred other ways to the wearying and wearing out of all the Adverbs Witness all those numerous and large Comments and Explications on Law and Gospel both by Ancient and Modern Expositors most differing one from the other though on the same Texts according to the Capacities differing Acquirements Educations Prejudices or Prior Notions of the Managers all which add to the Difficulties of Mens Agreement Then again Affection being founded in Likeness the various Authors find Abetters according as they find Readers of the same Humour and Constitutions One loves such a Book and such a Man and saith What he writes is certainly the Truth and Right and why Not that it really is so but because he writes something suitable to his Genius and Complexion The Sanguine loves the Chearful and Encouraging the Melancholy the most Doleful and Tragical Exposition and most call that which pleases them the Truth But further Let them tell me what good they have done by such their Endeavours of Uniting Men as they call it Have they no raised more Devils than they can lay Has not one Book begot another and one Dispute another And so like is Truth to Falshood and one thing to another and there be so many Plausibilities and Probabilities the Wisest and most Considering Man may be deceived and so by Consequence this Humour of Disputing propagated to the end of the World which instead of Curing and Healing Differences doth but enlarge the Breaches and increase them by raising Mens Passions and destroying Charity As to publick Disputes 't was hardly ever known but they that had most Power and the largest Interest always went away with the Victory And as for private I scarce ever knew two Persons engaged in a Dispute but that both came off worse though both got the better The love of Victory on one hand and the shame of being overcome on the other their Passion and
Indiscreet Zeal their Weakness or Interest hath made them so obstinate and resolute and put them on such Shifts and Artifices that have made them come off worse Men I am sure worse Christians Since then it must be allowed me that 't is impossible the World should agree or be all of one Mind in matters of Religion and no means found competent to make them so to what end then do Men Dispute Do they think to Unite the Poles or reconcile Contradictions Indeed their Endeavours may be pitied because they mean well but not at all to be commended But to speak Truth they have seen the impossibility of their Attempt long ago and therefore laid their Heads together for an Expedient to salve all Hence came the concern of Infallibility a poor shift indeed which hath made all things worse than they were before and has been so often baffled and is such a ridiculous thing so much against the Experience of all Mankind that Laughing at it is the best way of Arguing And to my Apprehension the more Certain and Infallible Truth of the Impossibility of Agreement is a much better Expedient to charm the mad World into an Agreement than that of Infallibility For when after so much Experience and so many Attempts made Men find the impossibility of Agreement methinks they should at last agree that is they should yield themselves Vanquished see their Faults and Vanity of Contention be induced to be at Peace one with another cease their mutual Violence and Severity and Amicably turn all into mutual Love Compliance and Charity And when the Romanists boast of their Agreement and Infallibility and object it to the Protestants that they cannot agree I would have them tell them again that 't is impossible to agree nor is it necessary and that it is no Crime to disagree in their Sense Also that their Agreement however they may boast is no Agreement that the Fagots may as well be said to agree when they are bound up together or Sheep when drove up together and pounded in their Folds and that it is rather a Combination or any thing in the World more proper than an Agreement And let me ask the World the Question Where the Harm would be if Men Worship their Maker in their own way and have various and different Apprehensions of Things if all their respective Opinions and Sentiments be secured from having ill Effects on the Publick and from disturbing one another What is that to me if a Man think a Tree to be a Man or a Man to be a Beast if a Man so mis-thought and apprehended be secured from being baited or worried We are all to answer to one common Lord and Master He is to be our Judge if we have served him not right Indeed I look on it as my Duty to inform my Neighbour and instruct him if he be out of the way if I think my way the better and more pleasing to my Maker But then since I may be mistaken and out of the way and he in the right way my method with him ought to be no other than Reason and Discourse and that in the most moderate and discreet way I can For if I should do otherwise I may bring a greater Inconvenience on him than that I pretend to Regulate But again As to the innocency of Differences why should my Man be esteemed a Criminal or punished as such whose Desires and Intentions are to please his Maker as well as mine We see all Rivers little and great at last discharge themselves into the Ocean and all Divisions and Sects of Christians have the same End and Tendency and Terminate in the same Center viz. in endeavouring to Please to Glorifie and Honour their Maker Why therefore should the distinct Ways and Methods in Spirituals be more a Reproach than those in Temporals and Men not to be allowed to choose for themselves their Method in obtaining a Mansion in another World as well as securing a Possession in this Their own Souls lies at stake which if they have any apprehensions of must needs oblige them to be sincere But this interposing in other Mens Matters and being over-Officious I like not and they that force their own Inventions and Models of Worship on other Men under the specious pretences of Right and Truth do I am afraid force a Trade rather than Truth which stands in need of no Coercion And indeed there is such a mysterious Trade driven in the Concerns of Religion and so much Gain gotten by some particular Methods that 't is no wonder Men contended so earnestly for them And amongst other hindrances of true Hollness and Christian Affection and of the Establishment of Truth and Peace among us are the Dignities Honours and large Revenues of Spiritual Men And I beg some Gentlemens Pardon if I think amiss when I say I believe the Flames of Contention that are afoot and so much disturb Christendom would cease and abate were the Oily Substance of their fat Benefices a little diminished or taken away And that a great many Men would not think it worth their while to contend so about the invisible things of another World were there not a great deal to be gotten in this But in order to a Conclusion We may hope and wish Truth and Peace to flourish in the World but we never shall see it as long as Temporals are so mixt with Spirituals There will never be a prosperous or blessed Issue of such an unhallowed and unsanctified mixture But when there is a Divorce put to these and all Power of the Church be devolved on the State and the Men be chosen in another manner and their Allowances setled on them by the State and when Learning is better managed and reformed For the Poet saith but too true Whatsoever ill the State invades The Pulpit either forces or perswades Others may bring the Fewel to the Fire But they the Breath which makes the Flame aspire And that was but an unlucky sort of Comment which one made of those Words wrote over the Head of ouâ— Saviour by Pilate in Hebrew Greek and Latin That he should be perseeuted most by men skilfull in those Languages For 't is the Learned men are the Warriers and manage all our Contentions they would in a manner naturally Disband had they not such Leaders who have little else to do but to raise unnecessary Quarrels and set the World together by the Ears The other three parts of the World have little leasure and less will and abilities to maintain them I say when Learning is better managed and when a perfect and unalterable Toleration of all Perswasions in Religion is established then the Eternal God will bless the World with Truth and Peace but 't is only the last I mean Toleration which we at present may expect and that for the Reasons aforementioned as also for the unvaluable Benefits hereafter we shall certainly reap thereby For in particular What can
more contribute to the Security Prosperity and Fourishing State of this Unhappy Nation than by one joint and Universal Act to Abolish all those Grievances which have so long disturbed our Peace I mean Penal Laws and Tests and at the same time to Settle and Establish a Great Pacifick Charter that Hell it self nor all the United Force of Malicious Men shall never be able to disturb Wherein every one cannot fail to find their Account except those who are not fit to be quieted or contented because they will not be satisfied with their proportion of Power or good Livings but demand all But leaving such unreasonable men to be managed into Compliance by that Power which I hope will do it effectually I promise my self that all the rest will not betray so much Weakness as not to acquiesce in such a Sovereign Expedient which will certainly redound to the good of the whole For hereby every one will have his Religion secured to him by as good a Title as his Land every one will be secured from the Destructive and Fiery Zeal of his Violent Neighbour And since humanum est errare and Mistakes and Errors will be as long as there be men yet this Great Charter will protect all from the evil of one anothers mistakes and will put an end to mens ruining and killing one another for God's sake will make the Lyon lie down with the Lamb and silence the voice of Complaints in our Streets will check the Insolence and Ill Nature of Perverse Men of all sides and let men Worship their Maker sincerely and truly and prevent Hypocrisie will make His Majesty's Government easie and prevent Factions Plots and Conspiracies against it will give Him leave to exert His Royal Vertues and make as considerable a Figure in Christendom as any of His Ancestors will take away all the pretensions ill men may have from Coercion and Restraint and leave them inexcusable if Turbulent and Unquiet so that none dare endeavour to Patronize them or mitigate their Condign Punishment Will lay asleep all Fears and Jealousies and quiet the Passions and Animosities of men or at least make them Impotent and Uncapable of doing Hurt And in fine that by its Provisions and Sanctions will qualifie things so that men'of all Perswasions shall have an equal Claim and Title to Religion Property and their Princes Favour and that no publick Emoluments no Office Interest Benefit Favour or Preferment shall be denied to any man on the account of his Perswasion but purely on some Notorious Wicked Incapacity And further by its Pacifick Nature will gradually effect that the present odious malignity affixed to the distinguishing Names of Christians shall be mortified and made innocent and to go under several different Denominations shall be no more a Reproach to them than it is for Citizens to be free of several Companies or Country-men to be called by the Name of the County they were born in But in answer to some Objections If it be alledged That the Papists ought not to have the Benefit of Toleration because of their Wickedness To this I answer The same Argument holds good against any Side or Party for they have been all wicked by Turns when in Power and have been pretty even one with another and so I think have the greatest Reason to agree Besides if we stay and will admit of no Religion to receive an Establishment till its Professors have cleared themselves of all Real Crimes or pretended ones I am afraid we shall have no Religion at all For all Sides have been really to Blame and really Criminal though every Side endeavour to Extenuate their Guilt but being Parties must not be Judges in their own Case Their denying their Faults does not make them less guilty though some men think so and by an odd sort of Inference they reckon to make another man a Criminal is to make themselves Innocent And the principal thing urged in their Discourse is To magnifie others Faults and lessen their own And this humour is so Epidemical I meet it almost every where and if they can prove or make out any way the Perswasion of another to be absurd or odd they look upon themselves to be very good Christians never considering how easie a thing it is to make any thing absurd nor what different ways of Falshood there are in some of which 't is ten to one but they themselves may Tread But to come to a more ingenuous Confession and as an Indifferent Person to speak the Truth and give all Sides their due I protest I cannot in Conscience vindicate any Parties proceedings The Papists have Faults enough and the World is Inquisitive to find out more not to mention the misrepresentations and foul charges which is inseparable to disputing Parties Nor are the Protestant Dâ—ssenters innocent but in many things must acknowledge they have sadly miscarried especially in those late unhappy troubles in the Reign of King Charles I. Much less is the Church of England to be excused who by their Severities and Pressures of Government gave but too great provocations to both and their Furious Driving like Jehu is the principal Cause of most of our Troubles They were the occasion of the Scots Rebelling Arch-Bishop Laud imposing the Common-Prayer upon them contrary to the Constitution of their Nation and of the English former and late Rebellions by laying such Loads on Dissenters which they would not help to bear with the least of their Fingers but most of all to blame by establishing Iniquity by Law and after so much mischief done thereby yet vindicate the same Law still and by Consequence their Wicked Proceedings In Calm Fits and Sober Hours they confess their former ill Treatment by Dissenters has made them over-act themselves of Late And why will not they allow this to be a good Plea in the Mouths of others who over-acted themselves too in their late and former Outrages resenting too deeply and unchristianly their Ill Usage and Oppression Tyranny and Oppression is the Original and Source of most violent Outrages and when-ever the Banks are pull'd down the Current runs with the greatest Impetuosity 'T is well known the Papists have had but miserable Treatment in England ever since the Reformation but especially since Queen Mary's time and 't is known as well that the Dissenters have had little better And no wonder therefore that they have plotted and been troublesome to them that have kept them under and the Church of England too when under Hatches by the Dissenters were Plotters to bring themselves though they called it the King in again Indeed they have not had so many Temptations as others for since the Reformation they have been mostly Regent and in the Sunshine I shall not further object against them what their Enemies have objected but say they begin to shew themselves Men and exactly like other Men too they grow angry and discontented sometimes Threaten sometimes Flatter then Reflect start Jealousies and