in the way of it and is nevertheless as hungry and ill-favoured at last as at first That Kingdom or Common-Wealth that is infected with store of this sort of Cattle shall never be at rest long unless they have the liberty to Gore those themselves have voted Heterodox and to furnish them with Tools to do it Cum Privilegio Nothing like Interweaving themselves with the State So that the Civil Magistrate shall be made believe 't is his Duty and Interest always either to confer more Honours and Profits on them or else to suppress their more vertuous Neighbours under the Notion of their being Hereticks which is not the least Prejudice to Religion in general as well as it is not seldom the like to the State since the common People are more inclinable to favour and unite with the Sufferer than joyn with the Persecutor Suffering generally speaking rather making Proselytes than answering the end of the Persecutor especially where the Sufferer has the answer of a better Conscience than the Persecutor which not seldom is the privilege of Dissent But if Vertuous Living under a Dissent from a National Church Liturgy be interpreted Irreligious and renders the Professors Obnoxions to the Laws whilst Immorality goes unpunished How is it possible that the Interest of Religion can be advanced since the Sufferings that attend a vertuous Man is greater than what falls upon the Irreligious and Profane Which shews that whatever Pretences are made for Religion the Practice is unreasonable and therefore is no longer held for Truth than whilst the Rod obligeth the Fearful and Cowardly to say Amen contrary to the Perswasion of their own Minds But three things are the design of the Ambitious Clergy-Men viz. Wealth Honour and Power all which renders Religion the more doubtful and unreasonable Since neither was the mark that the best Example that ever was in the World aim'd at but his Doctrine and Practice the reverse to it all And that they can be his Followers and Disciples and thus apparently contradict both his Doctrine and Practice is unreasonable to believe And therefore that Church that will indulge Ambition in her Clergy is as remote from the Basis of true Religion as she that Connives at Immorality and both the reasonable part of Mankind must conclude to be a great way off from Truth and consequently Irreligious and Unreasonable Nor can it be thought reasonable that ever the Civil Magistrate should be able to allay those evil Spirits that such Ambitious Men are able to raise from the contrary Winds of Doctrine that will inevitably blow in a National Church which will make more work for the Magistrate to reconcile than he is capable of performing as many Instances might be brought for Proof Besides till they all speak one and the same thing at home 't is unreasonable to think that Dissenters should return to that Church which is not in Unity with it self But again an Ambitious Clergy cannot bear contradiction And therefore when what they have stamp'd with the Seal of Orthodox meets with a Non-reception the Sword of the Magistrate must be imployed to force its entrance which is so much the more Irreligious for that it is so unreasonable Since 't is reasonable Arguments and not Blows that must Convince the Understanding and till the Clergy can furnish themselves therewith they are never like to be free from Dissenters But if their Ambition will admit of no Competitor as most certain it will not nothing but Persecution can follow their Venemous Doctrine where the Magistrate is become more a Party than the common Father of the People Which that he may not is the humble Request of all his Dissenting Children that though he hath an Eldest Son he may not to Gratifie his Ambition destroy the rest from enjoying their Natural Birth-right In short to make an Image and then by the help of the Civil Magistrate oblige every body to fall down and Worship upon pain of Corporal and Pecuniary Punishment is what hath produced so much Irreligion c. in the World and frustrated the design of Religion in general as well as been a Stumbling Block in the way of those Seekers that would extreamly rejoyce to find the way that leads to Everlasting Blessedness obscured by the Dust the Immoral and Ambitious Clergy have raised which tho' they viz. the common People know but little yet know so much that Immorality and Ambition is never the way to it These things being premised the following Considerations are Candidly Offered to the Serious Thoughts of the Impartial for Cure of our present Maladies that the just and reasonable design of Religion may be answered that God may be glorified our Consciences eased and Souls saved That the Government may be freed from unnecessary Trouble and the People enjoy perfect Tranquility First That it 's not Opinion but Holiness is the design of Religion Secondly That the Principles that lead to it are few reasonable and plain Thirdly That making of Creeds not to be found in Holy Scripture is at best but Imaginary and therefore not to be bowed unto Fourthly That Liberty of Conscience is every Man's Birth-right and that it cannot be invaded without violating the Laws of the Land Fifthly That Morality may be encouraged since it is so great a part of Religion that without it none can be Religious 1st That it is not Opinion but Holiness is the design of Religion It was the Condition of the great Charter granted to him that was the Patriarch of the Church before the Law on Tables of Stone was given to his numerous Posterity see Gen. 15.1 compare with Gen. 17.1 Walk thou before me and be thou Perfect c. No written Law now consequently no Creeds yet the Law written in the Heart was Abraham's Rule by which he was to walk before God to Perfection Again If without Holiness no Man can see God Heb. 12.14 without Holiness no Man can walk with him But the first is true therefore the last For want of it the old World was destroyed because of it and not untelligible Creeds Noah was saved Gen. 6.9 The Tenor of the Covenant in Horeb centered in it viz. to Implant Love and Fear in the People to God-ward that thereby they might be kept from Sin Exod. 20.20 compare with Deut. 30. but what that Dispensation began the Gospel finisheth what that pointed out in Types and Shadows the Gospel Substantially and Radically compleateth Which is to give Power to do as well as Light to know what the good and acceptable Will of God is Since on the knowing and doing thereof our present and future Happiness depends and this is as it must be the only design of true Religion Again Let us consider what the Institutor of the Christian Religion saith hereupon Mat. 7.21 It is not every one that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the Will of my Father that shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven From which we are to
RELIGION AND Reason UNITED By a Lover of his Country LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-street and at the Bible in Leaden-Hall-street 1699. PREFACE Sober Reader THE Design of the following Discourse is an Essay to allay if possible the Heats and Animosities with which one Party or Religious Society treats another that if they cannot Vnite in Judgment they might for the Ease of the Government their own Interest and Benefit of Posterity Vnite in Affection For as we have not all alike outsides neither in Shape or Complexion no more are our Intellectual Conceptions And as it would be Madness to Quarrel about the first so it would be little less to Persecute about the last 'T is true the Primitive Christians were of one Heart and Mind but that which made them so was the Sword of the Spirit not of the Magistrate And where that Spirit rules it will produce the like Effects but without it 't is vanity to think of bringing People into such a Vnity but much more vain to think of Persecuting People into it Since 't is God that must Persuade Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem and till by him Men are so Persuaded the Magistrate loseth his Labour to force into that Tent or Church that at best is but supposed to be the True One. One thing I intreat my Reader viz. That he would endeavour Rather to Re-examine his Conscience and Education to know whether his Faith and Practices are Reasonable than value himself upon Church Membership Religion and Reason UNITED HAD Mankind no Innate Notions of a Deity or of the Immortality of the Soul of a future State of Rewards and Punishments 'T is reasonable to suppose that the greatest part would avoid troubling either their Minds or Heads about what is called Religion But this Language would be as universally heard and believed as expressed viz. Let us eat and drink c. for to morrow there 's an end of us we must die But since the contrary is most certain and that all the Inventions of Men and Artifices of Satan are not able to suppress or totally silence those Dreadful Alarms we are made to hear in our own Consciences it becomes our Interest as well as Duty to apply our selves with all fervency of Spirit to such a Course of Life as may first free us from that Perturbation of Mind which infallibly is sooner or later entail'd on an Evil Conscience And secondly obtain the assurance of a Lot in that future Peace Kingdom and Glory that shall have no end Religion then is that Science which perfectly to Understand and Practise is the only means for accomplishing the aforesaid end viz. quiet the Conscience here and assure the Soul of Blessedness hereafter True it is the Word hath often been abused and the intent of it not seldom mistaken yea to that degree that what God designed in it who is Just and Reasonable in all his ways for an universal Advantage to Mankind hath been engross'd and made the property of a Party who have been so far from Converting and Curing of Souls by it that it hath not failed of being the greatest Stumbling to those that have taken reasonable ways to save their own And this hath chiefly sprung from two Roots The First is the Immorality of those pretended Doctors whose pernicious Example have had this effect either to make the Observer conclude there is no such thing as Religion in the World but that talking of it is only a Political Contrivance to subject the People that they may be the more unlike to give their Superiours trouble in Governing them Or else that this Doctor is but a meer Quack who prates about Religion no otherwise in earnest than to get Money by it which what a vast Prejudice that is to the Cause of Religion in general is not hard to determine For if he that seems devoted to Religion gives no better Proofs of the Power and Vertue of it than only to Talk of Curing others whilst his own Distemper is so notorious no Marvel if others that are Afflicted despise both the Man and the Means the last as defective as the first a meer fopp Thinking Men who have the use of their Senses and believe the Service of God to be Reasonable as well as Religious are of the Judgment That 't is impossible for the Design of Religion to be answered until by a Purge of the Law these Blasphemers of God and Religion and Profaners of all that is Sacred be totally ejected and a Bar set at the Church Doors to prohibit every such Person from taking the Name of the Holy God or his Religion in their Mouths under any such Character And that this seems to fall under the Magistrates Observation and Correction as well as Cure is not hard to prove For if God will not hold him guiltless that takes his Name in vain ought not the Magistrate who is God's Minister of Justice look to it that none pass his Stamp of Approbation that are so absolutely Excepted against in the Declared Law of him the Magistrate Represents For if God saith I will not hold him Guiltless that taketh my Name in vain And the Magistrate saith otherwise what account can he give of his Trust and Stewardship And if he that is an Immoral Ecclesiastick don't take the Name of God in vain in the worst sense pray what is the Sin and Guilt Indeed there is one case in which it is not in vain and that is the same with the common Beggars viz. To get Money whose Prayers and Blessings are the same Minute turn'd into Curses and their Light into Profound Darkness if no Oil appears to continue the Lamp But to proceed if Men of Immoral Conversations shall be admitted or connived at by the Magistrate to be Pastors over the People to feed them with Holy Food 't is certain that in a little time Religion will be wholly lost and the People starved instead of being fed and destroyed instead of being saved for how is it possible for him to feed a Flock that never had ought to feed them withal And that the Immoralist hath nothing to feed them withal that is good is evident since himself to all goodness is a Reprobate Again no Man can lead another farther than he goes himself but how far the Immoralist is gone in the Way of God is not to be disputed Again the Blind are fit to be leaders to none and none but those that are so with a witness can esteem them fit for it But if such will follow them our Saviour tells us where the end of their Journey will be But who is a Blinder Creature than the Immoralist However none but the reverse to him can see God Therefore they that would go to God must have better Leaders or else they can never come to him The Second is Ambition it is a Passion that like Pharaoh's lean Kine devours all that comes
World And so shall the Civil Magistrate have great Peace and the People have that Tranquillity that attends sitting Vnder their own Vine where none can make them affraid To Conclude he that is Born Heir to an Estate is not Heir because he is of such a Church but because he is his Father's Son And if his Inclination Education or Judgment lead him out of the national Road to work out his own Salvation 't is very unreasonable as well as contrary to the Fundamental Laws of the Land that he should therefore loose his Birth-right And indeed great pitty it is that all parties are not hearty herein for none knows but that those that are otherwise minded are making Rods for Themselves or Posterity to be whipt withal But leave Conscience Uncramp'd and by this means the Civil Magistrate will always be Umpire between the several Parties that are under his Government for as he protects all so all will fly to him as to their Common Sanctuary where the Laws will decide all Controversies or Disputes that may arise And if the Civil Authority is pleased to make one Party as the Eldest Son that Elder may not have Power to spoil the Younger For this Reason I Conceive with Submission that Holland has given us an Excellent Example in which tho' they have no National Church yet the Magistrate gives a preference as he pleaseth and therefore takes care to maintain what he so prefers out of the Common Stock which is a Just and Reasonable way and by that means all Parties contribute to the upholding what the Magistrate is willing to prefer and here is no Imposition upon those that do not think as the Magistrate thinks nor is A. B. compell'd to pay B. C. for what A. B. thinks were better let alone But A. B. is obliged to render to Caesar what is Caesar's viz. Taxes Tribute c. and if Caesar will out of that Common Stock maintain that Man or Ministry that he prefers he ought not to be disobeyed for there are perhaps many Thousands of People under his Care who have not the Discretion no more than Children to choose for themselves And therefore 't is but reasonable the Magistrate should provide for them that labour to Instruct the People in Religion and good Manners over whom in chief the Magistrate himself is over-seer 5thly That Morality may be encouraged since it is so great a part of Religion that without it none can be Religious Were the foregoing Propositions well considered there would be the less need to say much upon this Head since it would be for the most part actum agere for let but the Immoralist the Ambitious the Tenacious the Persecutor be discouraged in short let Vice be under the Displeasure and Correction of the Civil Magistrate and Virtue or Morality will naturally be encouraged The encouragement that is here intreated is that no Man that is a Just a Temperate and Honest Man that keeps himself clear of those Sins that shut Men out of the Kingdom of Heaven may be either exposed to Contempt Scorn or Persecution nor look'd upon as a common Nusance nor as the 5th Wheel of a Waggon but that he may have that Respect and Preference by the Government that his virtuous Life hath justly merited for where a Man of a vicious Life shall have the Smiles of Authority whilst a Man of better Talents and a good Life shall be for God's sake slighted and despised This is an apparent discouragement to Morality and how prejudicial that may be to the State in time as well as to Youth at present is not hard to determine For Young Men will not apply themselves to the Study of Virtue to recommend themselves for the Service of their Countrey when they see Examples of Vice before their Eyes under Promotion But if Virtue were the only Qualification to advance to Honour Power and Profit and that none but those that were Educated in her School should be intrusted with the Charge of the Nation the Nobility and Gentry as well as common People would find themselves obliged to take care of their Posterity to keep them from every Vicious Path since that leads to nothing but Destruction both of Body and Soul here and hereafter True it is many good Laws we have in England both against Swearing Drunkenness Whoreing and Gaming c. now 't is to no purpose to catch a Porter and make him pay 12 d. for an Oath or send a Kitchen Wench to Bridewell for Twelve Months for having a small Child whilst Persons of higher Rank shall by practice repeat that every day without Censure which these poor Persons must suffer for though but once committed But to stop the growth of Impiety and to retrieve the Nation from that Debauchery it is now fallen into let every Man that is guilty of any manner of Debauchery or Immorality be mark'd out as an Enemy to the Peace and Tranquillity of his Country by being rendered uncapable of doing any thing for his King and Country till he hath repented and reformed his Life And if this method were begun at Court Vertue would grow in Fashion in the City and so should Morality be encouraged in all parts of the Country With these things God Almighty would be well pleased and pour out his Blessings upon us With these things the King and his Great Counsel would find abundance of Ease and Great Wealth as well as Immortal Honour With these things the City and Country would be safe and eased of that continued Vexation and Charge that the contrary always brings upon them True it is that altho' every One that is a Just and Temperate Man in short that is a Moral Man may not be a good Man for tho' his outside may be without blemish his inside may be too faulty and very unclean yet no good Man can be so without the Moral Man's outside nor will those lusty Believers that pretend to Church Priviledges and by Presumption not Faith lay claim to Promises find their account but themselves irreparably mistaken if there be any Truth in him that said First make clean the inside and the outside will be clean also By outsides we are known one of another and to one another and by outsides we make our Judgments of each other and if the outside is not fair we are sure we must lay by our Reason to think the inside can be otherwise than foul and how Consonant that is with Religion is above declared nor can it make any better mixture than Iron and Clay Let Men that have clean outsides then be commended and encouraged for Example's sake and if they are not so but Hypocrites God will find them out as he did Annanias and Sapphira But sure I am the Government will have the Advantage of that Conformity if it be no more than Hypocrisie in the Conformist THE Conclusion ALL Mankind that has any Sense of Religion makes something the Foundation of that Sense Now that something must be either Tradition Reason the Holy Scriptures or Divine Inspiration But he that has only the first cannot be said to be a Religious but Superstitious Man who cramps his own Reason as he would others Consciences Yet even such a one ought not to be done by as he would do by others for then we should be as bad and worse than he because of our larger Knowledge True it is he ought to be pitied but not persecuted and if his Eyes cannot be opened but he must die as blind as he was Born and Lived we must e'en think of him as of Idiots viz. Leave them to the unseen ways of that God who is slow to Anger and of great Kindness Though I highly prefer Reason to Tradition in Religion yet I cannot think Reason as commonly understood a good Foundation for Religion Nevertheless he that is moved by no Power Superiour to that of Reason from Reasonable Considerations must of necessity be Silenced and Routed out of his Traditional Religion And if Reason conquers Tradition as nothing is more certain it will also discover its own Insufficiency from whence an earnest Desire and Search will be after something to make good that Defect And here the Holy Scripture without and the Holy Spirit within will come in to the relief of every such Person to the Impregnating his Understanding and Judgment to Comprehend as well as Desire and Will to Comply with what is his Duty to God his Neighbour and Himself So that Faith which comes by hearing the Word of God and is God's Gift to render us Christian and Reason which is his Gift likewise to make us Humane are like the Husband and Wife no more to be Twain but One. Nevertheless the Man has the Preheminence for the Head of the Woman is the Man and the Head of the Man Christ c. as the Apostle teacheth Therefore those that would endeavour to part what God hath so joyned together bring themselves under the Curse But Faith which is the Foundation of Religion for without it we cannot please God and Reason which is Essential to our Humanity God hath United in One that so all our Beliefs and Works relating to God our Neighbours and our Selves may appear to be no more than really it is viz. our Reasonable Service FINIS