of Government by all laudable Means to preserve Sincerity for without it there can be no Faith or Truth in Civil Society Nor is this all for its a Maxim worthy of Caesar's Notice NEVER TO THINK HIM TRUE TO CAESAR THAT IS FALSE TO HIS OWN CONSCIENCE besides raped Consciences treasure up Revenge and such Persons are not likely to be longer Friends to Caesar than he hath Preferments to allure them or Power to deter them from being his most implacable Enemies 11thly There is not so ready a Way to Atheism as this of extinguishing the Sense of Conscience for Worldly Ends destroy that Internal Rule of Faith Worship and Practice towards God and the Reason of my Religion will be Civil Injunctions and not Divine Convictions consequently I am to be of as many Religions as the Civil Authority shall impose however untrue or contradictory This Sacred Tye of Conscience thus broken farewel to all Heavenly Obligations in the Soul Scripture Authority and ancient Protestant Principles Christ may at this Rate become what the Jews would have had him and his Apostles be reputed Turners of the World up-side down as their Enemies represented them and the godly Martyrs of all Ages so many Self-Murderers for they might justly be esteem'd Resisters of Worldly Authority so far as that Authority concern it self with the Imposition of Religion because they refused the Conformity commanded even to Death And it may not be unworthy of Caesar's Consideration if from these Proceedings People are tempted to infer there is nothing in Religion but Worldly Aims and Ends because so much Power is abus'd under the Name of Religion to vex and destroy Men for being of another Religion that he hazards the best Hold and Obligation he hath to Obedience which is Conscience For where they are taught to Obey for Interest Duty and Conviction are out of Doors By all Means let Conscience be sacred and Virtue and Integrity though under dissenting Principles cherisht Charity is more powerful than Severity Perswasion than Penal Laws Lastly To the Reproach of this Course with Wise Men it hath never yet obtain'd the End desir'd for instead of compliance the Difference is widened the Sufferers are pitied by Spectators which only helps to increase the Number of Dissenters for whoever is in the Wrong few think the Persecutor in the Right This in all Ages having been the Issue of severe Prosecution of Dissenters for Matters of Religion what a Cruel Troublesom Thankless Succesles Office is it for Caesar to be imployed in May he take better Measures of his Authority and Interest and use his Power to the Encouragement of all the Virtuous and Industrous and Just Punishment of the Lazy and Vicious in all Perswasions so shall the Kingdom Flourish and the Government Prosper Church Power supposeth a Church first It will not be improper therefore to examine first What a Scripture New Testament Church is and next what is the Scripture-Power belonging to such a Church A Scripture-Church as she may be called Visible is a Company or Society of People believing professing and practising according to the Doctrine and Example of Christ Jesus and his Apostles and not according to the Scribes and Pharisees that taught for Doctrine the Traditions of men They are such as are Meek in Heart Lowly in Spirit Chast in Life Virtuous in all Conversation full of Self-denyal Long-suffering and Patient not only forgiving but loving their very Enemies which answers Christ's own Character of himself Religion and Kingdom which is the most apt Distinction that ever can be given of the Nature of his Church and her Authority viz. MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD Which well connects with Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's It was an Answer to a very suspitious Question for it was familiarly bruitd that he was a King and came to possess his Kingdom and was by some called the King of the Jews The Jews being then subjected to the Roman Empire it concern'd Pilate Caesars Deputy to understand his pretentions which upon better information he found to center in this My Kingdom is not of this World else would my Subjects fight for me As if he had said these Reports are a meer perversion of my Peaceable and Self denying Intentions an Infamy invented by malicious Scribes and Pharisees that they might the better prevail with Caesar to Sacrifice me to their hatred and revenge I am Caesar's Friend I seek none of his Kingdoms from him nor will I sow Sedition plot or conspire his Ruin no Let all Men render unto Caesar the Things that are Caesar's that 's my Doctrine for I am come to erect a Kingdom of another Nature then that of this World to wit a Spiritual Kingdom to be set up in the Heart and Conscience is my Throne upon that will I sit and rule the Children of Men in Righteousness and whoever lives Soberly Righteously and Godlily in this World shall be my good and loving Subjects and they will certainly make no ill ones for Caesar since such Virtue is the end of Government and renders his Charge both more easie and safe then before Had I any other Design then this would I suffer my self to be reproached traduced and persecuted by a conquered people were it not more my Nature to suffer then revenge would not their many provocations have drawn from me some Instance of another kind then the Forbearance and Forgiveness I teach certainly were I animated by another principle then the perfection of Meekness and Divine Sweetness I should not have forbidden Peter fighting saying Put up thy Sword or endoctrinated my Followers to bear Wrongs but revenged all Affronts and by Plots and other Stratagems have attempted Ruin to my Enemies and the acquest of worldly Empire and no doubt but they would have fought for me Nay I am not only patiently with Pity to Enemies sensible of their barbarous Carriage towards me for my Good Will to them for their Eternal Happiness I only seek but I fore-see what they further intend against me they design to crucifie me And to do it will rather free a Murderer then save their Saviour They will perform that Cruelty with all the Aggravation and Contempt they can deriding me themselves and exposing me to the derision of others for they will mock my Divine Kingship with a Crown of Thorns and in my Agonies of Soul and Body for a Cordial give me Gaul and Vinegar to drink But notwithstanding all this to satisfie the World that my Religion is above Wrath and Revenge I can forgive them And to secure Caesar and his People from all Fears of Imposition whatever Authority I have and how many Legions of Angels soever I might Command both to my Deliverance and the Enforcement of my Message upon Mankind I resolve to promote neither with worldly Power
those that Persecute for Religion are Irreligious 2dly The next Cause of Persecution is the gross but general Mistake which People are under concerning the Nature of the Church Kingdom of Christ for the lamentable Worldliness of mens minds hath put them upon those Carnal Constructions which have made way for all the external Coertion and Violence used by bad and suffer'd by good Men on the score of Religion from the beginning And no wonder if ordinary Persons tumble upon this Construction when the Disciples of Jesus shew'd themselves so ill read in the Mysteries of his Kingdom that after all the Intimacy they had had with him they resrain'd not to ask When shall the Kingdom be restored to Israel They look't abroad had a Worldly Idea in their minds Jew like they waited for external Deliverance from the Power of the Romans rather then an Internal Salvation from the Dominion of Satan and interpreted that to Worldly loss and freedom which did relate to the loss and Redemption of the Soul but Jesus taught them better things yet so as not to deny or flatly discourage and rebuke them that though true might have been more then they could have borâ— therefore he winds off with them upon the Time and the Season of the thing knowing that the Time was at hand that they should be better taught and satisfied of the nature of his Kingdom unto which he referred them When the Spirit of Truth comes it shall lead you into all Truth c. That the Kingdom of Christ is not of this World has been before observed and the Reason is so great that all men of common Sense must allow it upon Christ's Principle for says he then would my Servants fight for me truly implying that because the Kingdoms of this World are evidently set up and maintained by Worldly Force and that he will have no Worldly Force used in the Business of his Kingdom therefore it is not of this World Consequently those that attempt to set up his Kingdom by Worldly Force or make that their Pretence to use it are none of his Servants they are truly but Men of this World such as seek an Earthly and not an Heavenly Kingdom themselves and not Christ Jesus Where by the way let me observe That though the Jews to engage Pilate the more easily to their side impeach't Christ of being an Eâ—â—e my to Casar they were Enemies and He a Friend to Caesar for he came to reform the Lives of Men to make them better Subjects to obey Caesar not for Fear but for Conscience sake so would Caesar's Provinec have been easie and safe But the Jews would have had him Caesar's Enemy one that should have forcibly rescued them from Caesar's Power they waited for a Captain General to begin the Revolt and with an high Hand to over bear and captive Caesar as he had done them and 't is more than probable that his Appearance being to another End they therefore rejected him their Heart being set upon this But to return Christ told his Disciples that he had chosen them out of the World how not to converse or live bodily in it no such matter but he had chosen or singled them from the Nature Spirit Glory Policy and Pomp of this World How Persons so qualified can make a Worldly Church or Kingdom unless they desert Christ's Doctrine is past my Skill to tell So that the Capacity that Christians stand in to Christ is Spiritual and not Worldly or Carnal and therefore not Carnal or Worldly but Spiritual Methods and Weapons only are to be used to inform or reclaim such as are Ignorant or DisobediÌ„ent And if we will give Antient Story credit we shall find that Worldly Weapons were never employed by the Christian Church till the became Worldly and so ceast to be truly Christian But why should I say the Church the most abused word in the World her Leaders have taught her to eâ—â— and that of believing as the Church believes is so far from being true in point of Faith as well as Reason that the Church her self his ever believed as the Clergy that is the Priests believed since that sort of Men have practised Distinction from and Superiority upon the Laity He that will peruse the Ecclesiastical Story delivered us by Eusebius Pamphili Secrates Scholasticns Evagrius Ruffinus Sozomen c. will find but too many and sad Instances of the Truth of this In short Peoples apprehending the Church and Kingdom of Christ to be Visible and Worldly like other Societies and Government have thought it not only to be Lawful but Necessary to use the Arts and Force of this World to support that Church and Kingdom especially since this Interest of Religion hath been embodied with that of the Civil Magistrate for from that time he hath been made Custos utriusque tabulae and such as offend though about Church Matters have been reputed Transgressors against the State and consequently the State interested in punishing the Offence Whereas had Christians remain'd in their primitive Simplicity and Purity in the Self-denying Patient and Suffering Doctrine of Christ Christianity had stood in Holy Living not in Worldly Regiment and its Compulsion would have been Love its Arms Reason and Truth and its utmost Rigour even to obstinate Enemies or Apostates but Renouncing of their Communion and that not till much Forbearance had been used to them To sum up all The Kingdoms of this World stand in outward Bodily and Civil Matters and here the Laws and Power of Men reich and are effectual But the Kingdom and Church of Christ that is chosen out of the World stands not in Bodily Exercise which the Apostle says profits little nor in Times nor Places but in Faith and that Worship which Christ tells us is in Spirit and in Truth to this no Worldly Compulsion can bring or force men 't is only the Power of that King of Righteousness whose Kingdom is in the Minds and Souls of the Just and he rules by the Law of his own free Spirit which like the Wind Bloweth where it listeth And as without this Spirit of Regeneration no man can be made a Member of Christs Church or Kingdom so neither is it in the Power of Man to command or give it and consequently all Worldly force employ'd to make men Members of Christs Church and Kingdom is unnatural and ineffectual I could be very large upon this point for 't is very fruitful and so much the cause of Persecution that if there were never another to be assign'd this were enough for upon due consideration it must needs meet with every mans Judgment and Experience I will here add the sense of memorable Hales of Eaton upon this subject When our Saviour in the Acts after his Resurrection was Discoursing to his Disciples concerning the Kingdom of God they presently brake forth into this Question Wilt thou now restore the Kingdom unto Israel Certainly this Question betrays their
should go and when he is Old he will not depart from it This is prov'd to us every Day but it is in the Wrong Way in the Way of Idleness Wantonness and Impurity of Manners 't is worth While and High Time to make the Experiment the other Way to try what the Suppression of Vice and the Encouragement of Virtue will do in this our Superiors must begin and give their Example as well as shew their Power There is scarcely any one thing that so much needs the Wisdom of the Nation in the Contrivance of a New Law as the Education of our Youth whether we consider the Piety or Prudence of our Manners the Good Life or Just Policy of the Government There is such an Example of what Industry may do in the Practice of the Jesuits that I hope the Present Conjuncture will make the Proposal of the thing more Welcome to you That the Interest of the Jesuits is the Greatest in the Roman Church and Empire is so far from being doubted that all Protestants wish it were 't is our Trouble rather than our Scruple it may be some other Orders are of the same Mind being much Ecclipsed since the Rise of this Great Interest Ye know they appeared about the time of the Reformation and apply'd themselves with all Conceivable Industry to secure the Tottering Papacy against the Progress of it In this Attempt they Ventur'd so much farther than any of their Predecessors in the Church that they have been esteem'd of Merit the Great Ministers and Governours of the Chair for some Last Ages Indeed they have almost Engross'd the whole Power of Church and State to them all other Orders seem but Small Retailers their Great Politicians their Philosophers Orators Historians and Mathematicians are generally found amongst this Society so that we scarce see any thing of Note come out from Men of that Religion which is not subscribed E. S. J. The Fame and Apprehension of their Extraordinary Learning and the Arts they have to recommend it have made their Order the Choice of most Princes and Men of Quality of that Religion for the Education of their Children in whom they have Carefully instill'd with their Instructions and Principles that peculiar Respect to their own Society as hath greatly serv'd to the Advancement of it when they have grown to Age and Power But that which above all other Stratagems hath prevail'd to extend their Dominion in the Roman Church has been their Erecting of Schools where they have Colledges for the Free Education of Youth The very Doing of it Gratis makes it look like Charity with the Poor that have little to give and with the Rich that seldom love to part with Money to be sure it is no Objection Thus Obliging the Parents they next fall to making themselves Grateful with the Children and here they Exercise not a little Skill They Strictly Observe the Divers Humors and Dispositions of their Schollars and take great Care not to baulk their Capacity by Cross or Unsuitable Studies But when once they are fix'd every Youth according to his Genius it is not Easie to be believed what pains they take to Allure them to their Studies how they will Tempt them with Childish Rewards and Excite them to their Book by raising an Emulation among them So that to Excell is more than a Rod and Victory than any Chastisement whatever By these Arts they fit all Capacities with Suitable Study and Cultivate them to the Pitch of Learning they are Capable of and all with that Obligation upon the Youth to Love them that from thence forward they become Partial Devotees to the Advancement of the Honor and Interest of that Society To Conclude they have got into their Hands the Education of the Generality of the Youth of the Romish Religion in every Country from the King to the Peasant and being Masters of them when Boys they turn Governors and Confessors to them when they are Men so that all seem to have fallen into their Hands and being but one Entire Interest throughout the World and maintaining a most punctual Correspondence they must needs have the Knowledge and Disposal of the Affairs of States and Kingdoms by that Share they have in the Counsels of Princes and that great Reliance that is upon their Judgment and Ability This if we regard only the Romish Religion shews great Wit Design and Industry but if we consider well how Formidable these Arts render them to Protestant Kingdoms it will become us to use our utmost Prudence to Secure our selves And there seems not to me a more Effectual Remedy than a Wise and Virtuous Education of our Youth In order to it let us improve Methods not inferior to theirs but for better Ends Let us use our Skill to improve the Childrens Natural Abilities to excite them to Virtue and Endear the True Interest of their own Country to them I will briefly set down what at present occurs to me as a good Way of Education 1. First Let Care be taken To breed up Youth in MORALITY for Virtue prepares the Mind helps the Understanding and gives Industry to compass this Let no Books be used in Schools in which there may be the least Indecency there were and not without Reason Ancient Canons against the Reading of such Heathen Authors and not a few Learned Sober Men have rebuked that Practice amongst us It is an Affront to Christianity yea to our Natures to fetch our Wit or our Manners from them It were well if some Tracts of Moral Virtues and Invectives against Vice were written in those Languages we would have Youth to learn for in such Discourses they might obtain Good Manners with the Languages whereas by tying up Schools to Heathen Authors our Youth has learned Base Obscenities and a Corrupt Conversation 2. In the Next place I would propose some of the easier Parts of Mathematicks and the Knowledge of Plants and Natural Bodies to be compos'd on purpose after a Familiar Manner that they may be Instituted in the Knowledge of Nature and learn Things at the same time they learn Words 3. The Last Sort of Books which I would recommend and are in my Opinion most suitable to their Maturity of Age and Understanding are such as relate to the Histories and Transactions of our own Kingdom the Interest of the True Protestant Religion and Civil Policy amongst us But because there are very few if any of these Discourses extant it were Worth the Care of our Superiors and an Act deserving Praise That some Skilful Socer and Judicious Men were set to work for the Composure of some small Tracts of this Nature and as an Appendix to the whole that there might be a Summary of the Most Virtuous and Infamous Actions of Former Times with the Rewards and Punishments they have received from God and Just Government that by the Power of Example they may be deterr'd from Vice and provoked to an Honest Emulation of