fears no disturbance from those who are Wise and have their senses exercised to discern Good and Evil all her troubles arise from the Ignorant and Half-witted Since she proposes the Scriptures to every Reader She cannot be judged to be averse from those that search it and that are inquisitive to approve things that are excellent But indeed she does as the Apostle abhor those that are ever learning and yet never come to the Knowledge of the Truth In Sect. XIII he would perswade us that what he had said is no Threatning to Rulers nor Intimation to Rebellion for he saith Why may not Governors be minded by Subjects of the State of their People as it is indeed without any hint or thought of Rebellion It is true they may if so be they mind the Governors themselves and with that Submission as is due to Magistrates if the Subjects are not Partisans and so mind their own Interest to the Injury of the Publick if they be such as may be presumed to have a clear Understanding of the Nature of the People their Grievances and of proper Remedies But miserable must the condition of Governors be if every private person who will have the impudence to abuse their time and patience must be of their Council If they must bear with the Remonstrances of every Factious Party and must admit those Rules and Arguments of Equity and Safety which they have modelled for their own advantage If this be admitted the Thrones of Princes are level'd with the dust and Parliaments shall have but a precurious Anthority and no more then what these Demagogues will give them For this was plainly the practice of the late Times by which we were reduced to Anarchy and then bow'd down our necks to the yoke of Tyranny And now Let those who as he will have it are not transported with Passion judge what it is to tell the Discontented Party themselves as well as others in Print That they are an Intelligent Sober sort of men the Residences of no small part of the Nation 's frugality and Industry that with them Trading Civility and Good Conversation do cohabit and remove That they are momentous in the ballance of the Nation Numerous and every where spred That their Ministers are Examples to them of Constancy and Resolution That hitherto they have been successful against the Laws That if any meditate their total Extirpation as perchance some do yet they cannot do it without hazard of the Publick ruin or the loss of Trade and Wealth That the not gratifying of them hath brought a Decay already And that their Cause is good for it is for their Inquiries into Religion Let them judge I say whether to tell this to the People so that the Supream Governor it is probable may have no notice of it but in a Mutiny nor ever see these Rules of Safety and Equity till they be presented on the Swords of a Popular Rout whether this is to mind Governors of the State of the People or to prepare the People to mind their own State But he saith Should they whom he pleads for meditate Rebellion and War they were abandoned of their own Reason We say so to Nevertheless it is no such impossible thing but that a People may easily be praecipitated into ways of violence by such Popular Discourses as these are for the last War had not more specious pretences nor higher incouragements then are here represented And indeed they need not War for the Author doth insinuate another way more plausible and less hazardous and yet as effective for he saith There be sullen Mutinies that make no noise but may loosen all the Joynts and Ligaments of Policy But it will be an hard matter to justifie such a Mutiny from the guilt of Rebellion For that doth not consist only in taking up Arms but in a wilful refusal of Obedience which is the meaning of such sullen Mutinies And it is as contrary to the Commands of Christ as taking the Sword For he commands Obedience for Conscience sake and not only when the Magistrate is to be feared So that the Author while he endeavours to divert the Imputation of one Sort of Rebellion doth yet threaten another SECT 14. That to Moderate the Establish'd Order is neither Prudent nor Safe nor for the Peace of the Church IN Sect. XIV the Author proposes three Expedients to comprehend all Dissenters and saith That the Setling of a Nation may be made up of an Establishment a Limited Toleration a Discreet Connivence He is not so true to his own Discourse and his Reputation of a Judicious person as to tell us what he means by every one of these and how they shall be composed yet he is most kind to the Establishment as that which concerns himself and his own party and though he do not tell us what it is in particular or shall be yet in In Sect. XV. he tells us in General That the Established Order should be so broad that by its own force it may be chief and controle all Parties That it be compact to promote Sound Doctrine and godly Life and to keep out all wicked Error and practise And therefore must not have narrower bounds then things necessary to Christian Faith and Life and godly Order in the Church But we say this Establishment is not enough for a Settlement because it doth not secure the Peace and how can we settle but in that To this the Author questioneth Why should not the great things of Christianity in the hands of Wise Builders be a sufficient Foundation of Church-Unity and Concord We answer 1 that they are not For it is plain the Church of England and the Presbyterians are agreed in the great things of Christianity and yet there is no Concord betwixt them 2 They alone cannot be Because there may and does arise Dissentions about the Persons to whose care these great things shall be entrusted to see them conveyed to Posterity whether they shall be Single Persons or a Consistory or each single Congregation And men also may differ concerning the Means of Conveying these things the Worship of God and the Circumstances of it as we see they do Therefore to preserve Peace among her Members who if they Dissent cannot be brought to Unity but by the Determinations and Injunctions of their Lawful Superiour the Church hath need to determine more then the great things of Christianity and to enjoyn more then what is barely necessary to Faith and Order We say as well as he that Moderation and Charity are far more excellent than glorying in Opinions Formalities c. but we say also that Charity cannot be where there is not Peace The next argument is That some parts of enjoyned Uniformity are but Indifferent and have been long Disputed from Bishop Hooper 's time to the present Non-Conformist and if this be concluding they ought therefore not to be enjoyned To which we answer 1. that they being Indifferent i.
A DISCOURSE OF Toleration In Answer to a late BOOK Intituled A DISCOURSE Of the RELIGION of ENGLAND ROM 16.17 Now I beseech you Brethren mark them which cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which you have learned and avoid them LONDON Printed by E.C. for James Collins at the Kings-Head in Westminster-Hall 1668. ERRATA PAge 3. l. 1. read men p. 4. l. 25. r. succeeding p. 6. d. 12. r. extract p. 21. l. 37. r. in resisting p. 22. l. 11. r. Law l. 12. r. the Emperours l. 30. r. had marg r. vâ—ternosae p. 23. l. 11. r. that p. 32. l. 37. r. Discourser A DISCOURSE OF TOLERATION SECT 1. To form a right Judgment of Toleration it is necessary to consider the subject of it THere is so much malignity in our corrupt Nature that Detraction and envious Reflections are easily believed and we daily see one man sport at the loss of anothers Fame This corruption appears in nothing more than in the case of Magistrates to speak ill of whom is mistaken for Liberty whilst the commendation of their just actions scarce escapes the infamy of flattery or servitude Hence it is that Writings which pretend to plead the cause of a Party whose Interest is judged inconsistent with the publick have a great vogue because they do insinuate the ill management of Superiours imply their Want of Love to the Truth Ignorance of their own Concerns and Cruelty to the Innocent And such are Discourses for Toleration of Dissentions in Religion which finde acceptance with weaker Spirits because they are both prone to pitty even those that suffer justly and have too jealous a fear of those that are in power But yet to do right to our humane nature we must acknowledge that though it be corrupted yet is not the Light of it wholly extinguished nor hath it utterly lost its Notices and Inclinations to good though it may sometimes be deceived by its own passions in the pursuit of it so that when any thing is discovered to be ill in its nature the product of some infamous causes and attended with consequences of raine then reason will prevail unless some base lust hath wholly debauched the Soul and vindicate it self from the impostures of a mistaken interest And however men may be kinde to a Toleration when it is considered barely as a bearing with Dissenters moderating the Rigors of those whose fortune and power tempts them to an insolency as it is a pity due to the Infirmities of mankinde which is subject to erre and hath a semblance to the Meekness of Christianity yet when they consider the subject of it which are Dissentions in Religion whose prime causes are for the most part hateful and the consequences terrible they will boggle at it as being that which will quite enervate Religion and also shake if not overthrow all Societies To form therefore a right Judgment of Toleration we must first consider the Nature Causes and Events of the Subject of it SECT 2. The Nature of Dissentions in Religion WHat Dissentions of Religion are in their nature is best known by reflecting upon the wayes and means which Christ hath appointed for the maintenance and continuance of Religion in the World Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ having purchased a great Salvation for Mankinde and made known the means of obtaining what he had acquired that this knowledge might be propagated through all Ages to those that were capable of his benefits did establish a Society which should be conservers of these truths into which all those that did believe what he had done and said and would submit to those conditions he required upon the solemn profession thereof by Baptism were to be admitted without any distinction of State Sex or Nation And this is his Church That this Society might perform its Office and be preserved to this great end Unity of the Members among themselves was more necessary for it then for any other Community because it was for greater and more glorious ends than ever any Society of man was established for and without unity it could not possibly attain these ends For if those who pretended to shew men the way of Life did disagree among themselves were divided into several factions mutually abhorring each others Communion and condemning each others for false or defective Churches how could those who were without believe the truths which all pretended unto and yet every one did mutually deny to be found in another since these truths not like those which Philosophers pretended unto that were but the Collections of mens Observation and Conclusions of Discourse were all asserted as such which had been revealed by the most Wise and Faithful God and were the manifestations of the pleasure of his Will wherein was no place left to humane invention every pretender contending that what he delivered was spoken at first by the Lord Heb. 2.3 and confirmed to following ages by those that heard him Besides those who some way or other had convictions of the truth of Jesus and desired to be more fully instructed in that way and to do those duties which Christ commanded one Christian to do with another these I say must be much distracted being yet Babes and Novices in Christ and so supposed not able to determine by reason of all those controversies of the different parties with whom they might joyn themselves unto the Lord so that without this Unity the Church cannot perform those great ends for which it was instituted by our Saviour Therefore to preserve this Unity Christ hath done all those things which he thought necessary for it He poured out prayers to his Father That all those that believed on him might be one Joh. 17.21 23. and be made perfect in one He hath ordered that the Supplies of his Spirit should be administred by their holding of him their Head and by being fitly joyned and compacted together Eph. 4.16 1 Cor. 12.12 He hath so dispensed the gifts of his Spirit in that way and measure that the Members of his Body might have the same dependance the same benefits as one member of a natural Body hath fâ—om another and so conserve so strict an Unity as may entitle the Church to the Honour of his Name and be called Christ He commands them to maintain their Unity by a constant and frequent Communion of his Sacraments 1 Cor. 10.16 17. What weight hath he put upon his command of Love the principle of Unity and there is no duty more pressed by him and his Apostles than those of Unity and Peace Yea all those Precepts of Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Meekness Patience are in order to this great end of Unity among the Professors of his Doctrine Thus the necessity of Unity and methods by Christ appointed for its preservation must needs argue Dissentions which are destructive of it to be of a nature hateful to every soul that hath a true sense of Christianity SECT 3.
The Causes of Dissentions and Schisms in the Authors of them BUt besides this they are more odious in their causes whether we consider the first Authors of them or the Followers As for the Authors of them the Apostles set forth them to be persons led by such motives as did abandon all respect to Christ Rom. 16.18 that They served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly 2 Cor. 3.3 Gal. 5.20 Phil. 3.19 1 Tim. 1.19 They were called carnal Seditions and Heresies are reckoned amongst the works of the flesh They are said to be the enemies of the Cross of Christ whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame The putting away of a good Conscience and making shipwrack of the Faith is their character Pride and covetousness are said to be their grand principles ib. c. 6.4 Tit. 3.11 Subversion and Sin is their state of Life S. Peter and S. Jude give them characters full of horror Thus in the â—ucceeding ages of the Church the Historians who give us an account of those Heresies and Schisms which arose in it do also tell us how great Monsters they were which did bring them forth and there was in every Sect many opinions and practices that rendered all Christians of whose number they pretended to be odious even to the Heathen The abominations of the Gnosticks are not to be named even by a sober Heathen for the vilest acts of uncleanness which would dishonour even a Stewes were taken up by them for Duties of Religion which shewed the causes of their dissentions to be exceeding hateful It would be tedious to survey all and give a particular account of the causes of every Sect. One instance will be sufficient and it shall be that of the Donatists a great and lasting dissention which had a complication of Wickednesses to bring it forth into the world It began at the Election and Ordination of Caecilianus Bishop of Carthage whereby the ambition of Botrus and Caelesius two Presbyters of the same Church and Competitors of the same Dignity being disappointed to depose him they conspire with other Presbyters to whom Mensurius the preceding Bishop had in the times of persecution delivered the Church-Plate to be kept private that it might not be a spoil to the Persecutors these men had refused to deliver to Caecilianus to whom at his Ordination the Inventory of Church Goods was given up the things committed to their trust and that they might ascertain the prey to themselves they laboured to draw the people from Communion with the Bishop This separation was forwarded by one Lucilla a rich woman who having been displeased with Caecilianus because when he was a Deacon he had admonished her to behave her self as the other Christians in the publick Worship she continued her passion to him now made a Bishop and by her gifts and promises corrupted others that they should depose Caecilianus and set up in his stead one Majorinus who lived in her house To strengthen this Separation they call to Carthage Secundus Bishop of Tigisita Primate of Numidia who together with other Numidian Bishops in a Council at Cirta had mutually convicted one the other to have been Traditores i.e. such who had delivered up the Holy Scriptures to be burnt by the Gentiles and so having pardoned one the other that they might not be questioned by the other Churches of Africk did willingly embrace this occasion of making and compleating a Schism at Carthage whereby also they might hide their Indulgences one to the other at home by their severity to others abroad removing from themselves the suspicion of that Crime which they condemned in others These men being entertained at Carthage by those whom Ambition Anger and Covetousness had made factious did condemn Caecilianus unheard as being ordained by Faelix Bishop of Aptungita who was accused to have been a Traditor and then set up Majorinus in his stead and so formed that Schism which for a long time troubled all Africk and polluted it with much blood This one instance is enough to shew how Dissentions in Religion may and sometimes do owe their Original to the lusts of men and that evil Affections though different and various may yet amass men together in the same Schism and that however we hear of nothing now as it was probable they did so then pretended for a dissent but Conscience Yet we know that men live and dye by the same rules and the same lusts in this age will work as they did of old in the same circumstances and whatsoever is of such an extract must needs be hateful SECT 4. The Causes of Dissentions in the Followers AS for the Followers of these Dissentions although it is possible many of them may be led aside in the simplicity of their souls by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness of such as lie in wait to deceive Ephes 4.14 yet we find the Scriptures often censure such of lusts also which give them over to the arts of those who lead them captive 2 Tim. 3.6 2 Tim. 4.3 2 Pet. 2.19 As an Averseness to the sound doctrine which contradicts their lusts an Affectation of Novelty having itching ears or of too much Liberty greater than will comport with the Discipline of the Truth An affectation of some more then ordinary knowledge thus the Apostle saith Col. 2.18.23 Jude 16. some were beguiled by things which had a shew of wisdom St. Jude saith that the Hereticks of his time did speak great swelling words by which he implyed the Gnosticks who did abuse the people with a strange noise of words that signified nothing but their followers imagined to have the secrets of wisdom And thus St. Augustine saith that he was a follower of the Manichees for 9 years together having sleighted the Religion his Parents had educated him in and that because they promised not to require any mans faith Aug. lib. de Vtilitate cred c. 1. unless they made the truth clear and evident and therefore this captivated him being young and when he was by reason of some knowledge in the disputes of the learned Garrulus and Superbus i.e. talkative and proud 2 Tim. 4.3 2 Pet. 2.19 Another cause may be a want of love to the Truth 2 Thes 2.10 Hence comes their Loathing all pains that are necessary for the searching after the Truth and from this a Compliance with those opinions that are importunately imposed upon them by their Relations Add to these the Envy at those whom the Providence or Spirit of God hath advanced either by more useful Graces or to more splendid conditions this was it which made much of that noise which was in the divided Church of Corinth Weakness in not differencing between the Lives and Professions of those that continue within the Church so Audius as Epiphanius saith began his schism and sometimes Injuries received from those that are for the Truth make morose and cholerick minds
joyn themselves to those that are Enemies Thus the calumnies which some of the Roman Clergy spread of Tertullian as a Montanist made him in truth after imbrace that Sect. The advantages also that a man may promise to himself in a Party which he cannot hope for in a peaceable Church These and many other may move a man to herd himself in a factious Congregation and to separate from an established Church and therefore Conscience though it be generally pretended is not the only cause of Dissentions in Religion And indeed how can it otherwise be imagined of the far greatest part of Dissenters but that as the Scripture saith They are laden with diverse Insts When they trample upon so clear and frequent Commands of our Lord Jesus Christ to follow after Peace and Unity and those things that tend to Edification and stick at some thing that either is not commanded or not forbidden by God and therefore left to the Magistrates liberty or which is but obscure and doubtful When they swallow great sins as Perjuries Rebellions Falsehoods and yet strain and scruple at an indifferent Ceremony When they place so much of the essence of Religion and the Worship of God in the forbearing an indifferent Rite that they think God is prophaned by it and refuse Communion with those that so worship him When they praecipitate themselves either through Envy Passion or Design into the several Sects of dissenters without a search after the Truth and so ignorantly that they know not what it is they embrace but only that it is contrary to what they have forsaken When their Separation is attended with so many works of the flesh as bitterness evil-speaking slanders of those who disagree lies to support their way reproaches of the Government cruelty against their opposites when in their power and those bloody undertakings to destroy the lawful Magistrate How is it possible for us to think that Conscience and a fear of God is is the only Principle of those Dissenters for if that was the great rule of their actions they would walk by it in those other things wherein there is no occasion of scruple and therefore it is to be concluded that though it is possible for some good souls to be deceived yet the far greater part are first blinded and manacled by their own lusts and so are led captive by deceivers SECT 5. The Consequences and Effects of Dissentions as to Religion and the Church NOw since the Causes of Dissentions in Religion are in themselves so wicked how can we but fear that their consequences will be full of horror for what can these spawn but misery and destruction By them the truth of Christianity is dishonoured for the reason our Saviour gives of his Prayer for Unity among his Disciples was Joh. 17.21 that the world should believe that his Father had sent him i.e. that he came from God and therefore what he said was true therefore the dissentions which should happen among them would give a colour of unbelief to the world and they would be apt to conclude that God was no way the Author of that which was full of strife The Apostle tells the Corinthians that the disorders which were among them would perswade Vnbelievers to say they were mad 1 Cor. 14.23 The Contentions in the first ages of the Church were the sport of the Gentile Theaters and every unhallowed scorner made the strifes of Christians the subject of his mirth They also obstruct men in the imbracing the Faith as was shewed above and therefore Celsus upon this account did reproach the Christians as if * Origen con Cels lib. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. they envied the world the acknowledging the Truth because they no sooner encreased their number but their Dissentions were also multiplied Thus they hinder the Propagation of the Gospel and forbid those that otherwise would come into the Church They corrupt also those that are within and hinder the Growth of Grace which every member ought to promote both in himself and others for the Apostle having said of the Corinthians that they were enriched in all knowledge and so having a plentiful portion of the Spirit he might have expected to have found them Spiritual 1 Cor. 1.5 grown up to some perfection in Christ 1 Cor. 3.1 yet by reason of their divisions they were still but Babes still carnal For Divisions and Dissentions in Religion do hinder both the inward and the outward means whereby Christians may grow in Grace and in the knowledge of God and of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ The Inward is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that supply of the Spirit which is given to every man to profit the Church withal 1 Cor. 12.7 And it is said Ephes 4.16 that From Christ the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplies makes the Increase of the body to the edifying of it self in love But dissentions hinder this way of supply for either they break the Continuity of the body as violent winds tear off the branches from the trunck of the tree which effect the Apostle insinuates when he calls Heresies winds of doctrine in vers 14. of the same Chapter Or else they stir up such humours of Wrath and Malice which like tough obstructions in the veins and vessels of our bodies hinder the current of blood and spirits so do these hinder that supply of spiritual nourishment that one Member should afford unto another For all those Parts and Abilities which God hath given with all that Time which might be imployed in converting men to Holiness in reconciling Souls to God in perswading men to break off their sins by Repentance are spent and wasted in Bitterness and evil speaking one of another in mutual Contradictions perverse Disputings doting about questions and Strife of words in making Proselytes to the factions rather then in turning them to God in teaching them the Principles of the party rather than instructing them in the Oracles of life Then as to the Outward means of edification which is the Assembling of Christians together for the Apostle Heb. 10.24 having admonished the Hebrews to consider one another to provoke unto love and good works presently adds as a means to this Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together the joyning in the Worship of God being the most powerful conversation which can possibly beget love and good works of one to the other This likewise is lost by factions for where there are these dissentions Altar is set up against Altar and Congregation against Congregation and in stead of Provoking to love and good works men are enraged to Malice and Destructive designs against the dissenters For that is another sad effect of these Dissentions they do imbrutish mankind make them heady high-minded fierce dispisers and contemners of others from doting about Questions and strife of words comes railing envy evilsurmises and at last they come to the
severest Cruelties for such have been practiced by the Arians Donatists Circumcelliones and Papists c. And how unfit are such souls for an habitation of God through the Spirit How uncapable do they become of the Image of the Lamb who was lowly and meek and whose voyce was not heard in the streets These are the mischiefs they do to Religion the injuries they bring upon the Church but they stay not here SECT 6. The Consequences of Dissentions as to the Civil State FOr they vex the State also which being Christian cannot be safe while the Church is in a Tempest The mutual contendings of the divided Parties disturb the Publick Peace distract the People with fears how far the malice of the more prevalent will reach and the several vicissitudes of Success on the different sides hinder the common Settlement and represent new terrors In Ecclesiastical Histories we often find the great Cities of the World in flames kindled by Dissentions in Religion the Streets running with blood Churches broke open to let in some new Intruder and Armies called to succour the Community and stint the rage of the contending Sects and the Gentiles though unconcerned which part had Truth yet felt themselves involved in the Contentions of both But the mischiefs they bring upon a State are most evident in those Injuries they do to Princes and Magistrates who cannot be distressed with Difficulties but the whole Community under them must have sensible Miseries Dissentions are injurious to them as they take away that mutual Confidence which ought to be betwixt all the members of the State and more especially betwixt the Prince and People without which confidence a Nation can never do any great thing men do not easily and willingly trust those whom they do not think faithful to God and so every Schismatick looks upon his Prince that doth not profess the same Opinions with himself Hence comes it to pass that he is obstructed to any great design Constantine complained that he could not wage his War against Persia when the Heresie of Arius did so perplex his Empire For he might justly have seared that other effect of Dissentions which is that they give Occasion to some Ambitious Spirit to gain the Affections of the more sleighted Sect and so fit himself with a Party to endeavour at Tyranny for pretending their Protection and defence of their Cause he might drive on his own designs for a greatness not due to him Besides Dissenters in Religion are fit Instruments for an Invading Enemy to weaken the force of a Nation by pretending Kindness to the discontented Sects who easily are cheated to think Changes will prove Remedies and vainly hope for those favours from a Foreigner which they dispair of under their Lawful King Nay sometimes the discountenanced Dissenters raise an Ambition where they found none for it is usual with them to give immoderate praises to all of their side especially to any Great man whom they have chanced to deceive and so by swelling him to a Pride flatter him to attempts at Power that he may vindicate them from their imaginary Oppressions SECT 7. What the Magistrate should do as to Dissentions THus having seen the Nature Causes and Effects of Dissentions in Religion that they are directly contrary to the Interest of the Gospel that they are derived from Lusts and Corruptions and at best they are the Infirmities of men which first give them a being and afterwards nourish them that their Effects are as base as their Causes and also pregnant with misery both to Church and State We may now proceed to form a judgement of Toleration First I conceive all will grant that Every man in his Place and Order is bound to remove all such things as are so dishonourable to Religion obstructive to true Piety and pernicious to Church and State for his Obligations to his own Profession his Interest to provide for his own Peace and Safety and his Love to his Countrey require no less from him and indeed this every Sect doth practice and indeavour for while they labour to draw all to their own party they plainly declare they would have no dissentions Then it follows that Magistrates Kings and Princes and all concerned in the Legislative and Juridical power of their own People are likewise obliged to the same endeavour For must Kings fit still and be the idle spectators of injuries daily acted against the Religion they profess be quiet in their own Dishonour and their peoples Misery and must they patiently see their Cities and Communities rendred more unsafe than a Wilderness and more unquiet then herds of Beasts shall not a Prince labour to prevent the contempt of Religion binde up the wounds of his divided State stop the avenues to all ambitious Usurpation but this cannot be done unless it be his Power and Right either to prevent these Dissentions as much as he can or restrain and remove them if they do arise And were it not Lawful for Christian Princes to do so their condition must be far worse by becoming Christians than when they were strangers to the Faith and they would be losers as to their temporal Rights by falling down before Jesus Christ which is contrary to the will of our Saviour who hath commanded his followers to give them all their Dues their Fear and Honour nay no man either loses or gains any temporal Right by embracing the Faith and therefore we are not to think that when our Lord would have Kings and all that are in Authority come to the knowledge of the truth that they might be saved that he intended they should forfeit their just rights and part with that Power that should keep their People in a due Subjection For by the Law of Nature Princes have power to use all just means to keep their people in peace and to be Ministers for their good But if becoming Christians they may not use their power to restrain dissentions in Religion it is not possible for them to secure the peace and preserve the weaker from the more strong and violent nay nor guard their own just Rights from those who will attempt at Tyranny How also can the promise of God be accomplished by which he assures the Church Isa 49.23 That Kings shall be her nursing Fathers and Queens her nursing Mothers If those who have the supream Dominion cannot preserve it from the greatest Pests that she is obnoxious unto and defend her from those things which will at last bring a Famine of the Word by which she lives And how can the Christians hope for that end of their Prayers that Kings should acknowledge the truth since if they have no power to restrain Schisms they cannot secure them in a quiet and peaceable life It is said by those who are afraid that Princes who differ from them should concern themselves in the care of Religion that the Magistrate may do his Office towards the propagation of Piety by his own
Example Profession and Munificence But alas however effectual the Examples of Kings if bad are to the licensing of Vice yet Experience shews how little though good they prevail to an Imiation of Vertue especially in a Corrupt Generation for such cannot bear even with the Virtues of Heroical Princes Besides the Slanders which the several Sects raise upon a King that dissents from them blunt all the force of his Example and draws even his noble Acts to occasions of Jealousie Moreover it is an unusual way of Governing in things of so great Concernment as Religion is only by bare examples When Corruptions are strong and high vigorous Laws only can give a check unto them Nay the first thing that Schismaticks and Hereticks are taught is to Despise Kings and cast of all reverence to Princes as those that have so much of the World that they have nothing of Christ And although the personal profession of a King may be an encouragement to the Truth yet it is no provision for the Peace for the neglected Sects will through envy encrease their animosities against the indulged party and so lay aside that reverence which is due to the Prince as a Common Father and look upon him with that indignation as is used against a professed Enemy As for the Munificence of Kings to the Religious they approve it doth more enrage the Factions Constantine's Charity to the Catholicks in Africk that communicated with Caecilianus first heated the Schismaticks to libel against him Had not the Liberality of our Ancient Kings raised Bishops above scorn and put them in such State as kept off contempt together with want they might have been as quiet now as a President of a Presbytery or a German superintendent notwithstanding their pretensions to sole power in Church affairs But now the favour of the Prince is a mark for envy and if He hath no other Guard for his peace his Goodness shall summon troublesome and envious Spirits to Mutiny and Sedition SECT 8. That a Toleration is not the way to our Peace and Settlement THus it being proved that the Magistrate is obliged and hath a rightful power to restrain Dissentions in Religion and to hinder those destructive and sad Consequences which necessarily flow from them and that he cannot attain his end either by his Example Profession or Munificence to what he judges to be truth I conceive it follows that he must use the most proper Means of all Government which are good and wise Laws and a due Execution of them when made What these Laws should be is not for private and particular persons to prescribe this was the itch in the late Confusions and did increase them but is to be left to those whose Province it is whose Advancement above the common Level gives them the best prospect of the Inconveniences and Necessities of the people whose Experience in the wayes of Conversation can suggest what is most suitable and being Ministers of God for this very thing may expect his blessing for their direction The Undertaking therefore of this discourse is not to determine the use of Power but to shew that a Toleration of Dissentions is not as is pretended in several Pamphlets the way to the peace and happiness of this Nation Because it cannot remove the Causes of our Distempers nor hinder the destructive Effects of them For if these Dissentious are as it is said the wretched causes of our want of Settlement and it can be proved that a Toleration of them will make them neither less in Number nor in their Malignity how can it be thought that we shall be any thing the better for a Toleration of them I shall therefore 1. Give some reasons in general that a Toleration will not remove Dissentions nor hinder their effects 2dly That a Toleration is not for the Interest of our Nation at this time 3dly I shall answer the reasons which are urged for it SECT 9. That a Toleration is not the way to remove our Dissentions nor to hinder their effects 1. UNless it were evident that the men who speak and write for a Toleration do plead their own Interest which commonly imposes upon the understanding we might wonder how they could ever imagine that a Toleration were the only way to wast Dissentions or make them languish as to their malignancie that we should have more Peace by permitting the Breaches of it and come to a Settlement by encouraging our Distractions If indeed it were plainly acknowledged that all these Dissentions grew from a Spirit of Contradiction then perchance a Toleration might suffer them to languish in their own fury and wast for want of Opposition and by leaving men to their own giddiness let them come to Quietness by their fall But then this may render the Condition of Princes despicable who must purchase their peace by the Prostitution of their Authority and get Obedience by giving no Commands But this Love of Contradiction although it be sufficiently implyed to go a great way to the effecting of our Dissentions since it is so common a maxime among the Dissenters that an Indifferent thing becomes unlawful by being commanded yet this is not publickly professed and therefore is not urged for a Toleration But Conscience is most pretended to be the cause of our Dissentions To take of this pretence it is not necessary and it would be tedious to discourse how vain are the Pretensions of the greatest part of Dissentions to Conscience and how difficult it is for the Dissenters to make out their Pretensions and what measure of Liberty is to be afforded to them Our subject requires no more then to show that a Toleration of Dissentions that pretend to Conscience will not abate either their Number or their Effects For the Conscience which is pretended to colour Dissentions is either Erroneous or Dubious or Scrupulous because in many Dissentions about the same thing the Consciences of one party only can be guided by true and certain Principles all the rest must be abused by Errors Doubts or Scruples Now although it lies not in the power of mortal men to keep the Consciences of others free from any of these Yet they may take of all Incouragements to Error and so make men more Diligent in the search of the Truth when it will not be safe to Deceive or be Deceived They may also restrain men from proposing their doubts and scruples to the trouble of weak Consciences the disquiet of the Church and the scandal of those who are without And for this they have the practise of the Apostle for their rule Who commands the Christians and Churches to do all that in them lay to hinder such things as did administer to Contentions as by Withdrawing from them and Rejecting them which are the expressions of Excommunication the greatest punishment the Church could inflict Thus he commands Timothy 1 Tim. 6 4 5. To withdraw himself from men that doted about Questions and strifes of words
and those men of corrupt minds who were given to perverse Disputings He commands Titus To avoid foolish Questions and contentions Tit. 3.9 10. and strivings about the Law for they are unprofitable and vain and to reject a man that is an Heretick He commands the Church of the Romans to receive the weak in faith Rom. 14.1 but not to doubtful Disputations and yet the things which were among them disputed seem to be of greater moment pretended as much to Conscience as the Dissentions among us do and he gives this rule to every Christian how he ought to manage his differing opinions of things in which the Kingdom of God is not Hast thou faith Ib. ver 22. have it to thy self before God a man was not to publish his opinions however perswaded in his Conscience to the hinderance of Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost all which Dissentions doe certainly hinder This was the Apostolical course to remove Dissentions that pretend to Conscience which if they be tolerated must needs increase for the Itch of disputing Opiniastrete desire of victory and applause and the encrease of Congregations which are Infirmities that stick close to the flesh even of Conscientious men will maintain if not multiply the Dissentions And if they are maintained What security can there be to the Church and State that their effects will not be as violent and destructive For it is a vain speculation to think that men who differ upon Principles of Conscience will not by the some Conscience be prevailed upon to endeavour the Propagation and enlargement of their way and if they do so it must be with the depression of others who equally contend for the same with them and then whatsoever Ambition Anger or Revenge can find as means for it shall be sure to put in practise on both sides But if Dissentions as hath been proved have for the most part no other Original than Lusts both in the Authors and Followers Can we hope that Carnal desires will grow modest by being Tolerated and languish under a Permission That men will then certainly grow good when they may without fear of the Magistrate be evil And that then they will learn peace when they have an Indemnity for being contentions and quarrelsome Lusts are hardly retrench'd even by severe Laws but they will certainly grow wanton and be more cursedly fertile in all their wicked effects when a Law licenses them SECT 10. Instances of Dissentions increased by a Toleration THus therefore whatsoever the Causes of Dissentions are it is plain that a Toleration of them neither lessens nor softens them but this being to be a matter of Fact the best judgment we can form of a thing that is to come is to consider how the same thing was in times past and if we consider the Instances of a Toleration in former Ages we shall soon perceive what we are like to hope for from it if now it should be put in practice The first Instance shall be that Toleration of Julian the Apostate who though at the beginning of his Usurpation to delude the Christians to an acquiescence under his Empire he did profess Christianity and observed their Solemnities yet when Constantius was dead then he openly applyed himself to set up the Idolatry of the Gentiles And that he might do this with ease and without fear of the Christians by his Edicts he gave a publick liberty to all and every Sâ—ct of the Galilaeans for so he called the Christians To what purpose Ammianus Marcellinus who was one of his Courtiers and Officers and of his own Religion tells us for he saith * Am. lib 22. Dissidentes Christianorum antistites cum plebe discissa in palatium intromissos monebat ut civilibus discordiis consopitis quisque nullo vetante Religioni suae Serviret intrepidus Quod agebat ideo obstinatè ut dissensiones augente licentiâ non timeret unanimantem postea plebâ—m nullas infestas hominibus bestias ut sunt sibi serales plerique Christianorum expertus He did this with so much the more Industry that Toleration and Licence increasing their Dissentions he need not for the time to come fear that People would agree together he having had experience that no Beasts are more savage to men than most of the Dissenting Christians are to one another How far he attained his end the murder of Georgius the Arrian at Alexandria the Tumults about Athanasius and the suffering of the Orthodox there the Insolencies of the Donatists in Africk the commotions at Antioch and the frequent Apostacies are sufficient Evidences of the mischiefs of his Toleration yet he when he gave it pretended Kindness and Peace for he admonished them to lay aside their Civil Discords and that every one without fear or contradiction from any should observe his own Religion It is no great credit for Toleration that this man's practise is proposed for a pattern by the Author of a Proposition for Peace and Happiness Page 15. who to abuse the Age to an inclination of Imitating him calls him Wise and Brave though with an allay of Cursed and Apostate Which is no great wonder since every Sect commends those of their own Judgment and it appears that that Author is not acquainted with the History of that Usurper for if he had he must have censured him for a vain and light-headed person and must have known that the Toleration he granted and not his Contempt of Christians did them the greatest mischief Another Instance is that of the Donatists the Authors of which were before spoken of This Schism began at the Conclusion of Diocletian's Persecution about the year of our Lord 306. For the space of six years after they imployed all their arts to root themselves by spreading abroad Calumnies of Caecilianus in all the Churches of Africk and by confirming in frequent Synods their Sentences against him and all that did adhere unto him But when Constantine began to shew his greater care of Christianity and granting several Priviledges to the several Churches did likewise among the rest take care of the African and commanded Anulinus the Pro-Consul that he should exempt the Clergie of the Catholick Church there of which Caecilianus had the care from all Publick and Civil burdens or Services and had also in his own Letters to Caecilianus commended unto him the dispensing of his Charity to the poor of Africk this honour done to him enraged the envy of the Schismaticks They thereupon exhibit to Anulinus a Book of Articles against Caecilianus which they desired might be transmitted to Constantine and not content with that send some of theirs to prosecute the charge This being matter of great trouble to that good Emperour he refers the cause to several Bishops and afterwards calls a Council at Arles in all which the Donatists were condemned and Caecilianus quitted This Judgment so far provoked them that they sleight the Sentences of the Referrees and
e. neither Commanded nor forbidden by God are therefore the proper matter for the Injunctions of the Magistrate Since we are Obliged to the things Commanded by God although the Magistrate do not Command yea though he doth Contradict and what God hath forbiden we are bound not to do though the Magistrate leave us to Our selves or Command the contrary and therefore a thing Indifferent is the most proper subject of the power of man therefore because it is so it cannot be concluded that it ought not to be enjoyn'd 2. If things long Disputed and Doubted may not be enjoyned then let them tell us what may for there is scarce any Truth which hath not had its Heresie contrary to it and therefore the Church may not enjoyn things necessary to Faith and Order which this Author in few lines before granted to her Besides Would not this Argument be as well urged by the Papists for their Cause hath been disputed even from the beginning of Luther's Reformation by several men of great Parts and Abilities that wanted not Pretensions to the Titles of Learned and Conscientious So also may the Socinians urge that the Points we hold against them have been Disputed almost from the beginning of the Reformation But yet the Author contends 't is not fit that the first should have a Toleration and I suppose he will be ashamed to pretend for the last But then he inquires What shall a man do that doubts of the things enjoyned seeing the Apostle saith He that doubts is damned if he eats because he eateth not of Faith To Doubt we answer doth suppose Arguments on both sides and in such case the Common Rule is the safest part is to be followed Now let all sober men judge whether it is not safer to keep the Peace and Unity of the Church which is so frequently and with so much Authority Commanded by Christ to be Obedient to the Higher Powers in those things which are proper matter for their Commands and wherein God himself hath determined nothing to Obey them that are over us in the Lord all which are clear and plain Duties then for a scruple or doubt of the Use of a thing that God hath left to humane Liberty which the Magistrate hath power to confine to cause Schisms in the Church Factions in the State Despise the Laws of Princes and the Government of the Church As for the Text of the Apostle He that doubts is c. It is an admonition given to the Jews that were become Christians that they should not do that in which the Church had not interposed her Authority by the Example of others which they themselves thought not lawful or did very much doubt whether it were so or no for he that did go against his own perswasion did condemn himself in that which his practice did seem to allow Therefore that Text doth not concern this Case at all The 2d attempt is That the Church not claiming an Infallibility cannot settle the Conscience by her sole Warrant but still leaves room for doubting and in prescribed Forms and Rites the Conscience that doth its office will interpose and concern it self c. I am willing to hope that the Discourser writ this in Ignorance and that he is not guilty of such portentous Malice that so he might destroy the Authority of the Church he did not fear to publish such an Opinion as would disturb all Government both in Families and in the State that would confound all Society and extirpate Feith and Justice from among the sons of men For if whosoever diselaims Infallibility cannot settle i. e. oblige for if it doth not signifie that it signifies nothing the Conscience Then neither the Laws of Kings nor the Commands of Fathers and Masters who disâ—â—â— Infallibility are to be obeyed for Conscience sake or in the Lord but only as the power of the Superiour is able to enforce Obedience or Punishment No man likewise is obliged in Conscience to perform his Vows Promises and Contracts because when he made them he was not Infallible and being not so he cannot settle his own Conscience but leaves room for doubting and if he doubts as he applyes the Apostles Text he is damned if he does perform and therefore it will not be safe to perform them Thus this Mine that is wrought to blow up the Churches Authority will bury all Government and Common Honesty in the ruines of it Such are the goodly Doctrines whereby these men keep their Party close unto them and make them boggle at whatsoever the Magistrate requires from them as terrors to their Conscience If the Author thinks he hath secured himself from the shame of the absurd Consequences of this Opinion by that clause Her sole Warrant he is unjust and unfaithfully represents her Doctrine as if she pretended to binde the Conscience by her own Authority which is very false For when We hold That humane Laws of things not unlawful do oblige the Consciences of men subject to the Law-givers We do not refer the Obligation which is a necessity of Obedience to the matter of those Laws for that being in its nature Indifferent cannot be Necessary But to those commands of God which enjoyns us to be subject to the higher powers To obey them that are over us in the Lord. For those commands do of themselves and directly enforce a Necessity of Obedience to whatsoever humane Laws are not in themselves unlawful upon the penalty of God's displeasure For the Truth of which as it is easie to prove were it not to render the Discourse too long by interweaving Incidental Controversies so do we appeal to the Judgment of all sober Divines whatsoever We have for it the Testimony of Mr. Calvin the Founder of the Presbyterian Government and the Greatest Ornament that ever they had who though he disputes against Humane Constitutions yet meeting with the Objection raised from that Text We must be subject not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake Answers by Distinguishing betwixt the Genus and Species For saith he although the particular Laws in themselves Cal. Institut l. 4 c. 10. sect 5. do not touch the Conscience yet are we Obliged by that General Command of God which commends unto us the Authority of Magistrates which is as much as we desire for if the Authority of Magistrates do either Directly or Indirectly in General or Particular by it self or by vertue of Gods Command bind the Conscience then must it needs be false which this Author saith that In prescribed Forms and Rites of Religion the Conscience that doth its office will interpose and concern it self c. For that Conscience which is guided by the fear of God will know its Office is to submit for God's Commands sake to what those that are over us in the Lord do carefully prescribe In the next place he brings in the Testimony of Woful Experience crying out No more of such Injunctions than needs must
It is true indeed We have had Woful Experience of men who to free themselves of such Injunctions have put the Nation into Confusion and those who scrupled at a Surplice made no Difficulty to roll many Thousand Garments in Blood And yet the Injunctions of our Church were no more than needs must For at the beginning of the Reformation there were two sorts of men Reasons of the Ceremonies before the Common-Prayer-Book One that thought it a great matter of Conscience to depart from a place of the least Ceremony they were so addicted to their old Customes Another sort were so new fangled that they would Innovate all things and nothing could satisfie them but what was new Whether was it not Necessary for the Church to interpose for Peace sake and by her Determination to put an end to those Controversies If it was necessary that she should interpose she must either fling off one of the Parties or make a Determination that might satisfie both sides if Moderation would prevail To have flung off that Party that were for Ceremonies had been imprudent being the greatest Number comprehending all those who staid at home and did not fly in the time of Queen Mary's Persecution which did facilitate the return of Protestancy at Queen Elizabeth's Reception to the Crown It had been also the more dangerous for it would have made them more obnoxious to the temptations of Romish Priests who would have soon took the Advantage of so numerous a Discontented Party and wrought their Dissatisfaction to a relapse to Popery That Party which were against Ceremonies though they were but small as being but some few of those that â—led beyond Sea for all were not so vain to like those things they saw abroad because they had no such at home though they had likewise brought a Dishonour to the Reformation and an Infamy upon our Nation by their unquiets and troubles they caused at Frankfort yet it had been great pity to have cast them off since they had suffered for Religion and gave evidence that they had a zeal for Piety though in somethings not according to knowledge Besides it would not have been of good report in the Churches abroad among whom these men had conversed and with whom it was expedient for Ours to hold a good Correspondence and Brotherly Communion although she was no more obliged to receive all their practices than they to receive hers Nor was it safe in their first beginnings to have rejected or despised any number of men when the Common Enemy was Numerous and Industrious Thus it being neither Prudent nor Safe to reject either Party it was necessary for the Church to consult her own Peace betwixt them But this was not possible for her to do without pleasing each Party to their Edification in some things Which being Indifferent were therefore in her Power either to Confirm or Condemn and also enjoyning some things to the Common Observance of all The Church therefore did take away the excessive Multitude of Ceremonies as those which were dark that had been abused by the superstitious blindness of the Unlearned and such as did administer to the Covetousness of others This might have satisfied the Innovators if reason could or if they had had any desires of Peace any compassion for their Opposites that were subject to the same Infirmities with themselves though under different forms On the other side the Church retained those few that were for Decency Discipline and apt to stir up the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his duty to God And this did satisfie those which were against too great and many Innovations Now let any man judge whether the Church's Injunctions at first were not necessary The same Necessity for them continues still Because those that are for the Church are as unwilling to have these Ceremonies taken away as her Enemies are for the removal both of them and her And are these to be revoked by a complyance with those that will never be satisfied Shall the Church abandon those who in Conscience adhered to her in the severest Persecution to gratifie those who pretended Conscience to destroy her Besides the imputations that have laid upon the things enjoyned as Antichristian Idolatrous Superstitions c. the War that was undertook to remove them makes the Church think it her behoof to keep them lest Concessions in that kinde may be urged by her Adversaries for a confession of those crimes and taken as a colour to charge her with all the Blood that has been spilt in that quarrel For so these very men served the late Murdered King Moreover what a reproach is it for a Church whose Foundation is upon a Truth to be various And what advantage do the Popish Priests make of our very Temptations to Inconstancy which makes all that have Authority contemptible and Changes are full of danger So that the Injunctions are become as necessary as Prudence Safety and Honour can make them It was the importunity of Hereticks that made the Primitive Church determine many things in their seasons which before were not matter of observation and take up some expressions which were not vulgarly known in the Church before So likewise Dissentions about things indifferent have necessitated the Church to Injunctions for as other Laws arise from Corruptions in manners so Schisms in Religion do beget Injunctions We wish as well as you that Injunctions were fewer i. e. we wish you had never given occasion for them But that we may know what is necessary he tells us That the Indisputable Truths of Faith and the Indispensable duties of Life are the main object of Church Discipline Yet he leaves us still in the dark for what are those Indisputable Truths since there is scarce any Truth of Faith that hath not been disputed against if these be the main of her charge she hath a narrow Province and Papists and Socinians and every Heretick may promise themselves exemptions from her care And as for Indispensable Duties is there any one duty more Indispensable that is more strictly enjoyned then the Unity and the Peace of the Church and yet all this dispute is to deprive her of the means that were proper for it and because she will still take care of it she cannot avoid the slander in the last words of that Paragraph In the next place he would have the Moderation which the Church of England uses in her Articles of Predestination c. to be likewise used in the present Orders and Ceremonies But the case is not the same Those points are so full of difficulty that they and questions of that nature have been matter of Dispute in all Ages and all Religious therefore our Church did with prudence take notice that there were some common Truths on both sides which have analogy to the Faith and are a Foundation for Good Life and these she is tenacious of and leaves the nicer speculations to the curiosity of Disputers
he saith that the Anti-Puritan Interest as occasion serves can contest with Kings and pretend Conscience too If he means this of the Church of England he is not able to give an Instance and an Accusation without a Proof is but a Slander If he meant it of the Papist Why doth he urge it against us for they do as all other Sects do But he would not have these things repeated for he saith Acts of Indempnity should be also Acts of Oblivion I hope he would not have us lose our Understandings as well as our Memories of what was done The Act did not intend this that bound us not to Remember to Revenge but yet Reason would have us Remember to a Caution that we come not to the same Miseries and that is best done by considering what is past In Sect. XXI he considers this Latitude in respect to the Interest of the Church and Clergy In this Consideration he first Commends the Non-Conformists and having shewed how far they agree with us he saith The Ministers of this Perswasion are Godly and Learned able and apt to teach the People and no small part of the Congregations in England feel the loss of them We are not to wonder that he assigns so great Virtues to Ministers of his own Perswasion It hath been the practice of old for every Sect to be immoderate in the praises of their own Party Nay it is very rare if they do not impale all that is praise-worthy to themselves Tert. l. de Praescript c. 41. Nunquam facilius proficitque quà m in Castris rebellium ubi ipsum esse illic promereri est so Tertullian observed of the Schismaticks in his time Proficiency in Virtue was no where so easie as in the Congregations of those that revolted from the Church for to be among them was to be deserving But let it be true concerning some of them as I believe it is yet we do not take it as an evidence that they are so nor that they are the more so because they scruple the Injunctions of the Church Besides even Godly men may and have been through some Infirmity Prejudice or Mistâ—kâ— through want of Experience in the ways of Converse or through Implicity of heart being obnoxious to the arts of other men and so made their properties for some strange designs Such persons I say may and have been the Causes of great Disturbance to the Church Which men had they kept themselves in their proper Sphears might have been thought the Blessings of their Generation and such as the World was not Worthy of But forcing the Bounds of their own private Condition endeavouring to set up Vnpracticable Forms of Government or Imposing upon others have set the World in such disorders that they have been deem'd the Pests of their times Sozon l. 8. c. 11. Thus the Religious men that lived a devout Life in the Desarts of Aegypt while they kept themselves in their Cells had the admiration of all that knew them but when their Weakness had betrayed them to that gross Heresie of the Anthromorphitae and they would by a Sedition impose their Opinion upon the Bishop of Alexandria they were then a reproach to Christianity and a trouble to the World The case of Savonarola at Florence was the like Guicciardin Hist l. 3. while he kept himself to his own duty in Preaching Repentance to the debauched Italians and severely taxed the Corruptions of the Church of Rome he had a reverence due to him and did much good in his place But when he did seem ambitious of or at least not decline the esteem of a Prophet and did endeavour by the Authority he had got to change the form of the Common-wealth and therein to regard more the Interest and humours of his Party than the Publick good he met with the Publick hatred and fell as a disturber of his People Thus Godly men may be the Causes of the publick disquiet their godliness makes them not Infallible nor fit for Government Which if they aim at without or against a Lawful Authority the Church may reject them lying under such Circumstances and answer the Lord of the Harvest with the direction one of his Chief Shepherds St. Paul hath given Mark them that Cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine you have received and avoid them But how will they answer the Great Shepheard for having declined the feeding his Sheep only for Trifles as they call them i. e. things not unlawful yet Commanded by the Magistrate his Substitute and the Church his Spouse let them think upon that dreadful Account with horror In the next place he charges the Bishops with more crimes then he could number virtues for his own friends but the best of it is he cannot prove them And he was sensible that he could not for he doth not downright affirm them but as Impotent women vent their Passions he insinuates them by many malicious and implying Interrogations as 1. Whether the Bishops and Dignified Clergy and those of their Perswasion can believe that the Church of God in these Nations is terminated in them alone No they do not believe it for it is even hoped by them that Christ hath a Larger Interest in these Realms and according to their hope they admit those very Dissenters to the Communion of the Church But observe where this Author places the larger Interest in Christ that is in Non-Conformist Ministers for they only are debarr'd from the Opportunities of the Ministery 2. He asks Whether it shall be said of the English Prelacie that it cannot stand without the ejection of Thousands of Orthodox Pious Ministers Men may say what they please if they never think of giving account of every idle and false word but they have no reason to say so For the English Prelacie is the greatest encouragement of Orthodox and Pious Ministers that ever Protestancy saw and hath had the Testimonies and Observance even to sufferings of far more exceeding Number of Thousands then ever their Adversaries could be accounted Do but compare those many thousands that were undone by the Covenant with those few that did not Conform and then it will appear but an empty boast to talk of their Number Howsoever neither Episcopacy nor any Government Civil or Ecclesiastical can stand if it do not secure it self by frustrating the attempts of those that Plot and contrive against it How great a slander it is to say That Prelacy dreads Knowledge in the People I have shewed before and I never heard of any but this Author that had that Maxim No Ceremony No Bishop How worthy had it been for this Author to have proved that the Bishops did fear the Preaching of Indubitable Truths but this can no more be proved than that his Party are Peaceable The Established Clergy refuse not their Brethren if they will come to joyn in the Work of the Lord and give but Security that they will be Peaceable all the Emoluments