us to take his Advertisement that our Liberty hangs but by slender Threads and a Reason of State and not of Nature Right or Christianity which certainly is not to bespeak this Considerable Party to the advantage of the Government And for which I think the Bishop a very moderate States-man and the Government as little beholding to his Politicks as we are to his Charity However we will have a better Opinion of our Superiors Regards to Liberty and conclude that their Inclination equals their Discretion and that their Judgment as well as Prudence is of that side Let the Bishop say what he pleases And tho' he deserves it not at my Hands I could almost perswade my self to think that he does not begrudge us and means not so loosly as he writes But be it as it will That God that has upheld us by hit free Spirit to this Day through many and great Afflictions we firmly believe will suffer nothing to attend us that shall not in the Conclusion work for his Glory and our Good if we continue stedfast to the End in the blessed way of Righteousness wherein he has so often and signally Owned and Preserved us notwithstanding the Violence of Open Enemies and the Treacherous and Restless Endeavours of False Friends His 16th Paragraph multiplies Reflection as before observed and Repeats what I have already largely answered particularly that we own the Christian Faith which he makes us to Wave Suppress or at least not to Confess and have express'd it even in the Paper he has faulted so much of Shortness and that more fully in all Points than in the Creed commonly called the Athenasian except that about the Trinity which seems to me less plain by that Copious way taken to explain It. He also says We Reject all Outward Positive Parts of Worship which we deny For we own and use Prayer Preaching and Praising in the Spirit without which they cannot be Owned or Joined with for they cannot be so performed to Edification by a true Christian Worshipper since God who is a Spirit will be Worshipped in Spirit and in Truth which Christ's Spirit must enable us to perform And such Worshippers Only God the Father seeks to Worship him Implying he regards not other Worshippers But Especially the Bishop says we reject Baptism and the Supper We say we do not Reject but Disuse the Signs because we felt the Invisible Graces in our Souls they were Signs and Shadows of and therefore not in Disrespect to the Signs but in Reverence to the Divine Substance they shew forth we discontinue their use among us They obtain'd place in the Infancy and Twi-light of the Church in her more weak and Ceremonious time directing as I may say that Inter-regnum between the Law and Gospel before the Dispensation of the Holy Ghost had Fully obtained Place and Preheminence in the Church But of this I have been already very particular He grows warm in his 17th Paragraph and Episcopal for he says In a word I again Require you as you will answer all your Secret Arts and Pretensions at Christ's Tribunal that you either Embrace and Profess the Entire Christian Truth in the Points wherein I have shewn you to be Defective and that you receive the Christian Seals or Badges Baptism and the Lord's Supper or else that you Desist to lay claim to the Name of Christians But first I must return the Bishop his Secret Arts and Pretensions In all which he is Greviously Mistaken For either I do not understand his meaning or I abhor it Next be it known to him we Wave not we Suppress not but heartily Embrace and Profess before the whole World all Points of Christian Doctrine according to the mind of the Holy Ghost as I have amply signified before upon this subject And where the Bishop takes leave of the Text he must excuse me if I leave him to keep company with it We did not Entitle our Paper All Gospel-Truths but Gospel-Truths which extended so far as we were Tax'd with Error about those Truths And yet he must have but a little Charity that will not allow a Believer and Follower of those Truths to be a Christian Nor indeed has the Bishop given us the Articles of Faith he says we Wave or Suppress or told us his own or that One Churches Faith he would have us receive as I have Complained already But that the Bishop should forbid us so much as to lay claim to the Name of Christians unless we will Practice what he calls the Seals or Badges of Christianity which divers Churches in Christendom think he misuses is very Uncharitable and Dogmatical But besides what I have said at large in our Excuse and Defence in that Matter he produces not one Scripture that calls them either Seals or Badges But yet there are other things that are so represented by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles which he takes no notice of As Mat. 16. 24. where they that will he reputed Christ's Disciples must take up his Cross and follow him Christ's Cross is a Christians Badge and Seal of Discipleship Again John 13. 35. He said to his Disciples By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another Likewise Mat. 25. 34 35 36. The Distinguishing Character of the last Day is not Water Baptism and the Outward Supper but Love Mercy and Compassion Bowels and Charity not being Ashamed or Afraid of Owning and Helping the Lord's Servants in their Afflictions viz. I was an Hungry and ye gave Me Meat I was Thirsty and ye gave Me Drink I was a Stranger and ye took Me in Naked and ye Cloathed Me I was Sick and ye visited Me I was in Prison and ye came unto Me. This is the Christian Badge that will be Recognized by our Lord Jesus Christ at the last day We have his own Word for It. In all which He is so far from mentioning either of the other Badges that Luke 13. He brings in the Unhappy that are on his left hand using this Argument to engage him to receive them into blessedness viz. We have Eaten and Drank in thy Presence and thou hast taught in our Streets A plain Instance they had the use of such Ordinances as the Bishop reputes Badges of Christianity but it is as plain that such Pleas would not do For behold the Lord Jesus says unto them in the Parable I know you not depart from me ye workers of Iniquity I recommend the perusal of the following Verses to my Reader which confirm my sense of the Text For He spoke to an outside People that counted themselves the People of God and were observers of Meats and Drinks and Divers Washings And that which was Doctrine and Caution then is Doctrine and Caution now for Truth holds the same to the End I might add Holiness for a Characteristick without which no Man shall ever see the Lord And that neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor
Circumference to the Center they all meet and center in Christ Anâ— indeed it is as the Navel of Christianity anâ— Characteristick of that Religion 〈◊〉 would intreat Him again to reflect well 〈◊〉 his own Acknowledgment and Comâ—endation of our Belief concerning the End 〈◊〉 Benefit of Christ to Mankind and he 〈◊〉 not think us so deficient much less unâ—â— such strong and dangerous Delusions as he 〈◊〉 been pleased to represent us His Third Paragraph will not suffer us 〈◊〉 be Christians notwithstanding what 〈◊〉 have said of our Belief in Christ in our Paper called Gospel-Truths In one sence I shall easily agree with him for I think nothing makes any Man a True Christian but Regeneration the Power of the Son of God Revealed in the Soul Converting 〈◊〉 to God For the Devils Believe and Tremble too and yet are Devils still they Believe what is True but they do not Truly Believe in him that is True They know and assent to the Propositions of Truth or Articles of Faith and knew Him to be Christ too when He came of old and called him by His Name but this did not make True Christians Then of them Nor yet does an Assent Now to all the Truths of the Gospel Truly Qualifie Men Christians unless they feel the Power of them upon their Hearts And I would have my Reader reflect well upon rhis Great â—nd Essential Truth tho' he were as Big as a Bishop For a new Creature is the Bâ—siness an Orthodox Life the Cross of Chriâ—â— which is the Narrow way of Self-denial 〈◊〉 I must say That whoever declares he believes in Christ as his Sacrifice and Sanctifâ—â—â— which is to save both from the Guilt 〈◊〉 Pollution of Sin is a Professor of Christianâ—â—â— and may reasonably be allowed to beâ—â— Christian at large And that what we haâ—â— declared in our Third Fourth Fifth aâ—â— Sixth Gospel-Truth comprehends the Beâ—â— before-mentioned my Just and Sober Râ—â—der may satisfie himself in the peruâ—â— thereof His Fourth Paragraph faults our first Article as he is pleased to call it with greâ—â— Shortness and Imperfection concerning our Belief of God for tho' he says we own his Prâ—vidence as to the other Life yet we say nâ—thing as to the Creation of this present Work and Providence over it But with the Bishop leave He that believes in God believes 〈◊〉 all that 's necessary to the Supreme Being 'T is what he and all Christians take foâ— granted and allow as often as they heaâ— any one say He believes in God For noâ— to believe Him Omnipotent Omnissieâ—t and Omnipresent is not to believe him to beâ—â— God being inseparable from the Divineâ— Nature I must appeal to the Bishop wheâ—â—er a small Grain of Charity would not have excused us from his Reflection upon this Head We have said more then Moses â—â—d to Pharaoh For besides that I am is â—o more then He is We have added that He is the Rewarder of all Men according to â—heir Works We gave the Text as it is â—nd the very Text seems exprest for a Declaâ—â—tion of Faith in God viz. He that will come to God must believe that He is and that He is a Rewarder of them that seek Him â—he Text does not Enumerate and require â—he belief of all the Divine Attributes and Properties that are in God but the bare â—elief of his Being and what He is to Mankind that fear him And whatever the Bishop says this is enough for a Man to come to God tho' not enough it seems to come â—â—o the Bishop in the Quality of a Believer He must help the Holy Ghost to speak Properly or we that speak after him must be deficient in our Expressions if not our Belief But when any one affirms that Man was created by God is he Short Fallacious or Equivocal because he does not say how God made Man or what he made him â—â—is not his Body Soul and Spirit his Will Understanding Memory and Affections comprized and meant under that word Man Besides could the Bishop think that while we owned God's greater Providence his lesser could be disbelieved by us He that has the alone Power of Rewarding Men in the other World according to their Works in this must certainly be the Sovereign of Both and his Providence in Justice is to be so understood And as it is most certain that we believe of God all that the Holy Scriptures declare of him and whatsoever is proper to that Great and Glorious Being so had we not thought it unnecessary to be more particular from the Common Notion all Men have of the Deity the Bishop could have had no room left for the Exercise of his Charity In his fifth Paragraph he Blames us of being Defective in our Confession of the Holy Trinity Tho' we give it in the very Terms of the Holy Ghost 1 John 15. 7. If this is not a sufficient Text to prove the Trinity that Antiquity Urges and also Modern Writers of the Church of England to prove it I know not where to find one in the Scripture It is Generally believed the Apostle John gave this Declaration to the first Christians to prevent their being deluded by Cerinthius How come the Bishop then to render it but 〈◊〉 by passage and otherwise intended by the Apostle than for an Article of Faith about the Trinity Is there a plainer or a fuller any where in the Writings of the New Testament Three and yet One is the Doctrine of the Trinity And no other Apostle has gone so far or been so Express Insomuch that the Text has been doubted and render'd Apocryphal by such as do not believe the Common Doctrine of the Trinity and Foisted in to serve the turn of Trinitarians So plain it has been thought to their purpose even by the Anti-Trinitarians How then is the Text defective with the Bishop But he says the Apostle writ it upon occasion Doubtless he did so But what other Occasion I pray than that of the Holy Trinity He adds and it was to the Apostles purpose touching the Father Son and Holy Ghost But what purpose could the Apostle have but that of Declaring the Trinity and yet Unity What other Use does be make of it The Bishop must be very hard put to it certainly to shift off and lessen our Confession in this Point and Rather then fail render the Text it self short which with submission I think is a bold Attempt in one of his Station if he Believes the Thirty Nine Articles The next and sixth Paragraph relating to our third Gospel-Truth is large and consists of divers Branches and therefore I shall Consider them distinctly and apart In the third Article You acknowledge indeed the Son of God to have been made Flesh but neither Conceived by the Holy Ghost nor Born of the Virgin Mary So that it does not appear by this your Confession but that he was at first anâ— Ordinary Corrupt and Sinful Person I think it is
hardly to be supposed that we could intend so Gross a thing or that it is inferrible from the Manner of Expressing of ourselves in Reference to Christ's Manifestation in the Flesh Where Enough is said to Comprehend the Rest all is Meant though all be not Exprest We call him the Beloved Son of God the only Begotten of the Father Pray what is that short of being Conceived by the Holy Ghost To be sure it is very far from a Corrupt and Sinful Person a Supposition as remote from what we said as from what the Bishop promised viz. Charity He that Confesses the Word was made Flesh Confesses Him made Flesh by God and therefore made Holy Flesh For God never made any Corrupt or Sinful Flesh If the place is read as some do viz. the Word took Flesh the Flesh must be Holy for he would not take or dwell in Sinful Flesh And had the Bishop well remembred what he Acknowledged upon our Believing Christ to be a Propitiation for Sin not many lines before he could never have Suggested so unreasonable as well as uncharitable a conceit since Sinful Flesh or a Corrupt Person could never be any part of a Sacrifice for Sin So that in Commending that part of our Belief he has sufficiently secured us against this part of his Insinuation But the Bishop proceeds to Aggravate our Shortness in Expression to a Severe Imputation viz. that we own him not so much as Jesus or the Christ This must be a great oversight of the Bishop not to say worse when the very Fourth Head about Justification by Christ of which he declares himself so well satisfied Thrice confesses him to be Christ viz. in the First Third and Fourth Lines Again we call him Christ in the First Line of the Fifth Gospel Truth likewise in the First and Fourth Lines of the Sixth we call him Christ We do the same in the First and Fifth Lines of the Eighth and in the First Line of our Tenth Gospel-Truth How the Bishop came to miss in so Palpable a Point of Fact in the Compass of one half side of a Sheet of Paper I cannot Imagine and am unwilling to Censure Nor would I willingly think the Bishop so Trifling as Well as Disingenious as to Excuse himself herein because we do not call the Word that took Flesh by the Name of Christ in that place since the Bishop Repeats it from us out of our aforesaid Fourth Head about Justification by Christ where we call him by the Name of Christ as may be seen in the Second and foregoing Paragraph of his Reflexions Besides we have not Confessed his Name less than Nine times in that Paper But if the Bishop could yet insist upon the word Christ not being in our Third Head I say the Thing is there though the Word be not For what is Christ but the Word made Flesh and who is the Word made Flesh but Jesus Christ Again who is the Beloved Son of God but Christ and who else but Christ is the Beloved Son of God and Only Begotten of the Father full of Grace and full of Truth For these High and Distinguishing Characters are to be found in That very Head of Doctrine where the Bishop will not have us to acknowledge him to be Christ So that unless a Corrupt and Sinful Person can be full of Grace and Truth I wonder how the Bishop came to suppose a thing in our Name so very Gross But he proceeds in the same Paragraph You acknowledge indeed he died for Sin but you have not one Word of his Resurrection from the Dead or of his Ascention into Heaven which it may he proved some of you have expresly denied saying he is not ascended into Heaven he is in us With more to this Effect I should be sorry to tax the Bishop here of Absurdity and Uncharitableness but who can help it For if Christ be not Risen He is still in his Grave He is no more How then do we assert him to be a Propitiation and the Light and Life of his People See Gospel Truth 3 4 5 and 6. Can that which is Dead Sanctifie and Justifie Believers Can the Dead give us Grace and the Holy Spirit Or have we not said so of Christ that he is the Giver thereof And if we have said so must not the Bishop be Extreamly beside the business His Uncharitabliness is as obvious I will not say his Untruth but I must pray him to Reflect a little better upon what he has writ for unless he would make us to mean the Grave when we say that Wicked Men shall never come where Christ is gone Gospel Truth 6 he must allow that we acknowledge Christ to be in Heaven and Consequently Ascended What shall I say to his Story of some of our Friends whom he makes to affirm that Christ is not ascended into Heaven he is in us Can it touch us or should he have said it and not have proved it Is that fair and candid Is it Charitable Supposing it were true which does not appear Or is it Just to Insinuate it upon the People as Dubious But let it be never so true it cannot Conclude the People if not the Act of the People The Church of England has Doctors of very different Sentements would the Bishop think it fair the Common Belief of the Church should thereby be concluded It is true and a great and Comfortable Truth that Christ is in us according to 2 Cor. 13. 5. Gal. 2. 16. Col. 1. 26. 27. but not Confined to Man He is not so there as that he is no where else and least of all that he is not in Heaven For the Apostle tells us Eph. 4. 10. that He Ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things then he is in Man certainly So that our asserting that Doctrine of the Indwelling of Christ in Man does not make void his being elsewhere because he is every where Tho' in Heaven most Gloriously without doubt being there Glorified with the Glory that he had with the Father before â—he World began And they that Thus believe in Christ cannot deny his being at God's Right Hand which signifies according to Scripture Philip. 2 9 10 11. the Highest Exaltation Nor yet to be their Mediator for that is inseparable from his being their Propitiation So that tho we did not dwell upon Points but were Concise in our Expressions yet whatever is Implied or is Implicable from any Assertion Justice as well as Charity always grants and so wound the Bishop have done had they been Uppermost in his Mind when his Pen ran so fast against us I must own it was not writ for Criticks but for such Readers as the Bishop says he was or should have been to wit who Exercise Moderation and Charity more of which I hope he thinks as well as I will do him no harm But it disturbs the Bishops that we have said nothing of Christ's coming to Judgment nor
and at the same time while â—e is speaking to his Superiour because Thou â—ost sounds a little rudely to soften the Thou â—nd say Thee doest which is commonly your Peoples practice It is pity the Bishop could find nothing else to observe from us that might have better edified us and his Readers Yet if this be that among the Laudable Customs which we call Vain which is most Offensive to his Stomach it shews him to have a very weak one However a weak Stomach is better then a weak Head and such an one I should take mine to be if my Instances were no more to the Purpose and my Readers Instruction But I have somewhat to say to the Bishop before I leave him upon the Old Topick of Sincerity and Charity in this Reflection as I have had in most of the other viz. That he makes the Ground of our Conscientiousness about the saying of You to 〈◊〉 single Person to be only Propriety of Speech which he I was going to say in his Conscience must know is not so But that the true Reason of it is first That It is the Language of the Scriptures of Truth and next that the Original of You to a single Person was Pride and Flattery being a Plural Honour to a Single Person given first to Potentates and then gradually to all Subordinate Ranks of People In Ancient and Unmixt Tongues Thou to a Single Person is kept still as also among the Common People of the present Languages and particularly in that Kingdom where he is a Bishop I refer him to a Book entituled No Cross No Crown where he will find other Reasons â—or our Tenderness in that Matter then he â—lledges or we have Room for here tho' â—he Bishop confines us to Propriety as the â—nly Reason of our Practice that he might â—e better Lash us with the Impropriety of Thee for Thou which yet he might have â—pared since nothing is more common with â—ll People than to take the like freedom in â—peech in Cases as well as Tenses not â—xcepting the Learned themselves But be â—t so we keep Numbers and intend not â—lipping of Cases and that 's Our Point tho' â—ot the Bishop's it seems which it should â—ave been would he have been just to us upon the Question As for the Levity and Scorn with which he is pleased to treat us upon this Head I shall only say it unbecame him and Confirms us more than it Exposes us whatever it does Him But I Confess I am surprized to find a Man of his Character and Pretensions propose so loose a Question as that with which he closes this Paragraph viz. Will you ever be able to prove the Primitive Christians used a Dialect or Dress different from other of their Nation or Quality and placed Religion in it Does not Christ require Saluting those that Salute not us And no doubt Hoâ— and His Apostles Salutations were in the Common Form Doubtless we are able most easily and fully And 't is admirable to conceive how he could be Ignorant of these Proofs who ought to be so well read in Scripture and Antiquity I beseech you therefore Brethern says the Apostle by the Mercies of God that you present your Bodies a Living Sacrifice Holy Acceptable unto God which is your Reasonable Service And 〈◊〉 not Conformed to this World but be 〈◊〉 Transformed by the Renewing of your Minds Rom. 12. 1 2. Again the Apostle Peter Chap. 1. 13 14. Exhorts the Believers to Gird up the loyns of their Minds and be Sober as Obedient Children not Fashioning themselves according to the former Lusts in their Ignorance which was the Custom of their Countrey And Chap. 3. 3 4. Whose Adorning let it not be that of Plaiting the Hair and of Wearing of Gold or of Putting on of Apparel But let it be the Hidden Man of the Heart in that which is not Corruptible even the Ornament of a Meek and Quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great Price Thus the Apostolical Counsel to the Churches But for all this the Bishop of Cork cannot tell how to think We are â—ble to prove that the Primitive Christians â—iffered in their Dress from other People of â—heir Country and Quality Nor was this â—nly the Strictness of that Time for the â—ame Apostle adds Verse 4. as an Argument 〈◊〉 Enforce his Advice for After this manâ—er says he in the Old time the Holy Woâ—en also who trusted in God Adorned themâ—lves But can a Man of his Letters realy â—e at a Loss for a Proof of the Singularity of Primitive Christians in Dress Speech and Behaviour Or is it to try if we have any â—o resolve his Question or taking our Ilâ—iterature for Granted that he puts upon â—â—s I beseech him to Converse with Ouzeâ—ius upon Minutius Faelix and he will tell him that the first Christians were tax'd and despised for Ill-bred in Manners Unpolish'd in Speech Unfashionable in Behaviour in â—fine Rustichs and Clowns As the Christians Irronically return'd their Scorners the â—stile of Well-bred and Eloquent This and much more he cites out of Arnobius Lactantius Theodoret c. And Jerom writing to Celantia and Dometias Noble Women of that time sets them a Singular Form of Life from that of the People of their Quality And Paulinus Bishop of Nola was so far from pleading for Christians Temporizing with the People of their own Nation or Quality according to the Bishop of Cork that he sharply reproves Sulpitius Severus for It in a letter to him as the learned Casaubon in his Discourse of Use and Customs observes If the Bishop would look into the Constitutions that go under the Name of Clemens Romanus with Tertullian Gregory Naz. Clemens Alexandrinus Austin Gregory the Great and other Ancients he would perceive the Care and Zeal of those Eminent Men to suppress the Education and Customâ— of the Gentiles and to encourage and recommend the Simplicity and Moderation of the Manners and Behaviour of the first Christians Which Machiavel in his 2d Book of Disputations takes notice of and is none of the least proofs to our Point And to finish my Authorities passing by Petrus Belonius Gratian Cardan Luther c. I must recommend to the Bishop the History of the Waldenses an Early People if not Successive from the Primitive Times written by one Perrin more especially containing their Faith Worship and Discipline and there he may if he please observe the Simplicity Plainess and Distinction of that People from the Customs of the Countries â—hey lived in and those that have the name â—f Reformed ones now But he tells us Christ and his Apostles had â—alutations and I tell him so have We â—ut he will have it that Christ and his Aâ—ostles Saluted after the Fashion of the Counâ—ry they were in which is sooner said then â—rov'd For Christ asked the Jews How â—an you believe that receive Honour one of anoâ—her and seek not the Honour that cometh from God Only
of the Spirit of God within and the Scripture of Truth without is the Rule and Judge of Faith Doctrine and Practice yea that the Spirit is given to Believers to be the Rule and Judge by which they are to understand the true Sense and Meaning of the Scriptures Now let the Reader judge who gives the Truest Honour to the Scripture the Bishop or the People called Quakers They say the Scriptures have a Double Record that is the Evidence of the Spirit of Truth in the Hearts of Believers as well as their Own Or the Bishop who by his way of Treating us and our Principle will allow us no other Evidence of their Truth but Themselves For to say the Evidence of the Spirit of God with that of the Scripture make a Double and agreeing Testimony is with him to undervalue the Scripture and the Ground in his Apprehension of our Strong Delusions It must be my turn now to pity the Bishop and truly I do it with all my Heart to see him strain so Sound as well as Inoffensive an Expression as that which he makes the Reason of our Delusion that he might have an occasion to lessen our Credit with the Professors of Christianity and especially Protestants Can it Dishonour the Scripture to deny the Evidence of the Principal and Author of the Scripture to back the Authority of the Scripture Or doth not he rather lessen the Authority of Scripture that will not allow us another Evidence of the Truth of Scripture than its own for fear of Co-ordinacy which was not so much as once intended to be insinuated by us nor do the words import any such thing yet it had been no strong nor any Delusion at all to give the Holy Ghost the Preference But I shall keep to the Terms of the Paper whatever the Bishop is pleased to do knowing that whoever Concludes an Argument in terms not in the Question nor plainly deduceable from the Premises is not a fair Dealer in Controversie In which the Bishop if he pleases may reasonably enough think himself more than once concerned Blessed be God we have known the Power and Efficiency of this Holy Light and Spirit of Christ in our selves and being in good measures Witnesses thereof we do not only speak by Report but by Experience We had the Scriptures in the Days of our Ignorance and Worldly-mindedness but disregarding the Reproofs and Instruction of the Light of Jesus in our Hearts we never could come to know the Power of those Truths the Scripture declares of But when it pleased God in the Riches of his Love to cause his blessed Light that had shined in Darkness and the Darkness comprehended it not to shine out of Darkness and gives us the Knowledge of himself in the Face or through the Manifestation of his Son Jesus Christ we saw and bewailed our selves and by an unfeigned Sorrow and Repentance returned as Penitent Prodigals towards our Fathers House and in this Turn we were brought to die daily to that Love and Satisfaction we once had in the Glory Pleasures Honours Friendships and Diversions of the World which now became Burdensome more than ever they were pleasing to us Hence it was and from no Sinister Ends or Self-righteous Conceits that we became an altered and a distinguished People in our Behaviour Garb and Conversation More Retired Watchful Silent and Plain than formerly equally avoiding Luxury and Avarice I say it was the Work of God's Spirit upon our Hearts who by his Light gave us to see the just difference of things and to distinguish between that which pleased Him and that which pleased Him not And this Holy Pattern he gave us in the Light of his beloved Son which we design to follow as did the Holy Ancients and is a full Answer to the Bishop's Unfriendly Queries upon our distinguishing Behaviour in his 14th and 15th Paragraph as if it were not out of Fear towards God or upon a Conscientious Bottom but to serve a worldly Turn For he asks us Is it not your main Aim End and Study by pretended Mortifications to make your selves a Party Considerable Again Are not to this Purpose your different Garb Speech Looks and Gestures and to make your selves remarkable rather than out of a Sense of Duty or Conscience of Obligation Which as it is the worst Construction that the most Irreligious and Prophane could make upon our Behaviour so I beseech God to forgive the Bishop and make him sensible how little such Treatment of strict sober Living advances the Common Cause of Religion and how much it indulges those that know no Reins or Check to their Excesses in his own Church But to go no farther than the Bishop and his Clergy pray who distinguish themselves more by their Garb from other People then they Tho' I cannot say as much of their Behaviour So indeed did the Chemerims or black Coats of old and Those that wore long Robes in our Saviours time but as I take it they went not without his Censure while I think the Bishop will find none in Scripture against our Plainness But the Bishops Pontifical Robes do in my Opinion look much more like Singularity and a Sight than ours for our Garb is like other Mens only freed of their Superfluity In short I wish him a better Understanding of the true Grounds of our stricter Conduct and Where and Who they are that make a Trade of Religion that if he has any Shot left against Mercinary Religionists he may not miss the Mark next time but may make it his main Aim End and Study to Expose Hirelings and Hypocrites in their Proper Colours And some are of Opinion he need not go far to find too many of them It is strange the Bishop should be so unsensible of the Advantage he gives me by his Queries and what a wide Door he opens to a severe Retaliation but my desire to be Modest and to be Silent upon such Advantages is I think to be abundantly so Howbeit I must take Notice of one Expression for it may too seriously affect us not to be observed to him When he asks If it be not our main End and Study by pretended Mortifications to make our selves a Party Considerable He adds and such to which for Reasons of State Peculiar Priviledges must be indulged If this were not more than Mockery I should wave my Notice but calling the meaning of the Government in Question about the Liberty of Conscience we enjoy He must forgive me if I bestow a few Remarks upon that Expression It seems then our Liberty flows not from the Inclination of the Government to Liberty less from Compassion and least of all from Justice and a Christian Principle Which Motives carry with them a Prospect of the Continuance of Liberty if not for Liberties sake But the Bishop believes no such thing and if he would not have us of his mind he did weakly to tell us so Well then we are all of