at the Sacrament Now that Uniformity is thought sufficiently preserved without kneeling at Prayer is evident by the various Postures Men are at liberty to use and may be generally observed in all our Congregations during the Minister's Prayer in the Pulpit before and after his Sermon which it seems can consist well enough with Decency and Uniformity tho it be at Prayer addressed to the great God of Heaven and Earth to whose Majesty it is that the Reverence to be expressed in our Gestures is due when we put up Petitions to him who is invariably the same in what or whose Words soever we address our selves to him The Preface to the Book of Common-Prayer tells us That the Riâ—…es and Ceremonies appointed to be used in Divine Worship are things in their own Nature indifferent and alterable Here I ask you whether any humane Power can make any thing in its own nature indifferent necessary to Salvation If it cannot then neither can any Humane Power be justified in the use of Force to bring Men to Conformity in the use of such things If you think Men have Authority to make any thing in it self indifferent a necessary part of God's Worship I shall desire you to consider what our Author says of this Matter which has not yet deserved your notice The misapplying his Power you say is a Sin in the Magistrate and lays him open to Divine Vengeance And is it not a misapplying of his Power and a Sin in him to use Force to bring Men to such a Compliance in an indifferent thing which in Religious Worship may be a Sin to them Force you say may be used to punish those who dissent from the Communion of the Church of England Let us suppose now all its Doctrines not only true but necessary to Salvation but that there is put into the Terms of its Communion some indifferent Action which God has not enjoin'd nor made a part of his Worship which any Man is perswaded in his Conscience not to be lawful suppose kneeling at the Sacrament which having been superstitiously used in Adoration of the Bread as the real Body of Christ may give occasion of scruple to some now as well as eating of Flesh offered to Idols did to others in the Apostles time which though lawful in it self yet the Apostle said he would eat no Flesh while the World standeth rather than make his weak Brother offend And if to lead by Example the Scrupulous into any Action in it self indifferent which they thought unlawful be a Sin as appears at large Rom. XIV how much more is it to add Force to our Example and to compel Men by Punishments to that which though indifferent in it self they cannot join in without sinning I desire you to shew me how Force can be necessary in such a Case without which you acknowledg it not to be lawful Not to kneel at the Lord's Supper God not having ordained it is not a Sin and the Apostles receiving it in the Posture of sitting or lying which was then used at Meat is an Evidence it may be received not kneeling But to him that thinks Kneeling is unlawful it is certainly a Sin And for this you may take the Authority of a very Judicious and Reverend Prelate of our Church in these Words Where a Man is mistaken in his Judgment even in that Case it is always a Sin to act against it by so doing he wilfully acts against the best Light which at present he has for the direction of his Actions I need not here repeat his Reasons having already quoted him above more at large though the whole Passage writ as he uses with great Strength and Clearness deserves to be read and considered If therefore the Magistrate enjoins such an unnecessary Ceremony and uses Force to bring any Man to a sinful Communion with our Church in it let me ask you Doth he sin or misapply his Power or no True and false Religions are Names that easily engage Mens Affections on the hearing of them the one being the Aversion the other the Desire at least as they perswade themselves of all Mankind This makes Men forwardly give into these Names where-ever they meet with them and when mention is made of bringing Men from false to the true Religion very often without knowing what is meant by those Names they think nothing can be done too much in such a Business to which they intitle God's Honour and the Salvation of Mens Souls I shall therefore desire of you if you are that fair and sincere Lover of Truth you profess when you write again to tell us what you mean by true and what by a false Religion that we may know which in your sense are so for as you now have used these Words in your Treatise one of them seems to stand only for the Religion of the Church of England and the other for that of all other Churches I expect here you should make the same Outcries against me as you have in your former Letter for imposing a Sense upon your Words contrary to your Meaning and for this you will appeal to your own Words in some other Places but of this I shall leave the Reader Judg and tell him this is a Way very easy and very usual for Men who having not clear and consistent Notions keep themselves as much as they can under the shelter of general and variously applicable Terms that they may save themselves from the Absurdities or Consequences of one Place by a help from some general or contrary Expression in another Whether it be a desire of Victory or a little too warm Zeal for a Cause you have been hitherto perswaded of which hath led you into this way of writing I shall only mind you that the Cause of God requires nothing but what may be spoken out plainly in a clear determined Sense without any reserve or cover In the mean time this I shall leave with you as evident That Force upon your ground cannot be lawfully used to bring Men to the Communion of the Church of England that being all that I can find you clearly mean by the True Religion till you have proved that all that is required of one in that Communion is necessary to Salvation However therefore you tell us That convenient Force used to bring Men to the true Religion is all that you contend for and all that you allow That it is for promoting the true Religion That it is to bring Men to consider so as not to reject the Truth necessary to Salvation .... To bring Men to imbrace the Truth that must save them And abundance more to this purpose Yet all this Talk of the true Religion amounting to no more but the National Religion established by Law in England and your bringing Men to it to no more than bringing them to an outward Profession of it it would better have suted that Condition viz. without Prejudice
understand me to say that he sins in doing it and lays himself open to divine Vengeance by it And can he be encouraged to this by hearing what others may gain by what without Repentance must cost him so dear Here your Men of Art will do well to be at hand again For it may be seasonable for you to appeal to them whether the nature of your Discourse will allow you to descend to shew ` the Magistrate the bounds of his Authority and warn him of ` the Injury he does if he misapplies his Power You say the Question there debated is Whether the Magistrate has any Right or Authority to use Force for promoting the True Religion which plainly supposes the Vnlawfulness and Injustice of using Force to promote a 〈◊〉 Religion as granted on both sides Neither is that the Question in debate nor if it were does it suppose what you pretend But the Question in debate is as you put it Whether any body has a Right to use Force in Matters of Religion You say indeed The Magistrate has to bring Men to the True Religion If thereupon you think the Magistrate has none to bring Men to a false Religion whatever your Men of Art may think 't is probable other Men would not have thought it to have been besides the nature of your Discourse to have warn'd the Magistrate that he should consider well and impartially examine the Grounds of his Religion before he use any Force to bring Men to it This is of such moment to Mens temporal and eternal Interests that it might well deserve some particular 〈◊〉 addressed to the Magistrate who might as much need to be put in mind of impartial Examination as other People And it might whatever your Men of Art may allow be justly expected from you who think it no Derivation from the Rules of Art to tell the Subjects that they must submit to the Penalties laid on them or else fall under the Sword of the Magistrate which how true soever will hardly by any body be sound to be much more to your purpose in this Discourse than it would have been to have told the Magistrate of what ill consequence it would be to him and his People if he misused his Power and warn'd him to be cautious in the Use of it But not a word that way Nay even where you mention the account he shall give for so doing it is still to satisfy the Subjects that they are well provided for and not left unfurnish'd of the Means of Salvation by the right God has put into the Magistrate's hands to use his Power to bring them to the True Religion and therefore they ought to be well content because if the Magistrate misapply it the Great Judg will punish him for it Look Sir and see whether what you say any where of the Magistrate's misuse of his Power have any other Tendency And then I appeal to the sober Reader whether if you had been as much concern'd for the Bounding as for the Exercise of Force in the Magistrates hands you would not have spoke of it 〈◊〉 another manner The next thing you say is that the Question being Whether the Magistrate has any Right to use Force to bring Men to the True Religion supposes the Vnlawfulness of using Force to promote a False Religion as granted on both sides which is so far from true that I suppose quite the contrary viz. That if the Magistrate has a Right to use Force to promote the True he must have a Right to use Force to promote his own Religion and that for Reasons I have given you elsewhere But the Supposition of a Supposition serves to excuse you from speaking any thing directly of setting Bounds to the Magistrate's Power or telling him his Duty in that point though you are very frequent in mentioning the Obligation he is under that Men should not want the Assistance of his Force and how answerable he is if any body miscarry for want of it though there be not the least Whisper of any care to be taken that no body be 〈◊〉 by it And now I recollect my self I think your Method would not allow it For if you should have put the Magistrate upon Examining it would have suppos'd him as liable to Error as other Men whereas to secure the Magistrate's acting right upon your Foundation of never using Force but for the True Religion I see no help for it but either he or you who are to licence him must be got past the State of Examination into that of certain Knowledg and Infallibility Indeed as you say you tell the Magistrate that the Power you ascribe to him in reference to Religion is given him to bring Men not to his own but to the True Religion But do you put him upon a severe and impartial Examination Which amongst the many False is the one only True Religion he must use Force to bring his Subjects to that he may not mistake and misapply his Power in a Business of that Consequence Not a Syllable of this Do you then tell him which it is he must take without Examination and promote with Force whether that of England France or Denmark This methinks is as much as the Pope with all his Infallibility could require of Princes And yet what is it less than this you do when you suppose the Religion of the Church of England to be the only True and upon this your Supposition tell the Magistrate it is his Duty by Force to bring Men to it without ever putting him upon Examining or suffering him or any body else to question whether it be the only True Religion or no For if you will stick to what you in another place say That it is enough to suppose that there is one True Religion and but one and that that Religion may be known by those who profess it What Authority will this Knowableness of the True Religion give to the King of England more than to the King of France to use Force if he does not actually know the Religion he professes to be the True or to the Magistrate more than the Subject if he has not examin'd the Grounds of his Religion But if He believes you when you tell him your Religion is the True all is well he has Authority enough to use Force and he need not examine any farther If this were not the case why you should not be careful to prepare a little Advice to make the Magistrate examine as well as you are sollicitous to provide Force to make the Subject examine will require the Skill of a Man of Art to discover Whether you are not of the Number of those Men I there mention'd for that there have been such Men in the World Instances might be given one may doubt srom your Principles For if upon a Supposition that yours is the True Religion you can give Authority to the Magistrate to 〈◊〉 Penalties on all his Subjects that
hands into the Sheepfold where when they are once whether they understand or no their Ministers Seâ—…mons whether they are or can be better for them or no whether they are ignorant and hypocritical Conformists and in that way like to remain so rather than to become knowing and sincere Converts some Bishops have thought is not sufficiently enquired but this no body is to mention for whoever does so makes himself an occasion to sheâ—… his good Will to the Clergy This had not been said by me here now I see how apt you are to be put out of temper with any thing of this kind though it be in every serious Man's Mouth had not you desired me to shew you a better way than Force your way apply'd And to use your way of Arguing since bare Preaching as now us'd 't is plain will not do there is no other means left but this to deal with the corrupt Nature of Conformists for Miracles are now ceased and Penalties they are free from therefore by your way of concluding no other being left this of Visiting at home conferring and instructing and admonishing Men there and the like Means proposed by the Reverend Author of the Pastoral Care is necessary and Men whose business is the Care of Souls are obliged to use it for you cannot prove that it cannot do some Service I think I need not say 〈◊〉 and at a distance And if this be proper and sufficient to bring Consormists notwithstanding the Corruption of their Nature to examine impartially and really imbrace the Truth that must save them it will remain to shew Why it may not do as well on Nonconformists whose I imagine is the common Corruption of Nature to bring them to examine and imbrace the Truth that must save them And though it be not so extraordinary a Reâ—…edy as will infallibly cure all diseased Persons to whom it is apply'd yet since the Corruption of Nature which is the same Disease and â—…inders the impartial Examination and hearty imbracing the Truth that must 〈◊〉 them is equally in both Conformists and Nonconformists 't is reasonable to think it should in both have the same Cure let that be what it will CHAP. X. Of the Necessity of Force in Matters of Religion You tell us you do not ground the lawfulness of such Force as you take to be useful for promoting the true Religion upon the bare usefulness of such Force but upon the necessity as well as usefulness of it and therefore you declare it to be no fit means to be used either for that purpose or any other where it is not necessary as well as useful How useful Force in the Magistrate's Hand for bringing Men to the true Religion is like to be we have shewn in the foregoing Chapter in answer to what you have said for it So that it being proved not useful it is impossible it should be necessary However we will examine what you say to prove the necessity of it The Foundation you build on for its necessity we have in your Argument considered where having at large dilated on Mens inconsiderateness in the choice of their Religions and their persisting in those they have once chosen without due Examination you conclude thus Now if this be the case if Men are so â—…verse se to a due Consideration if they usually take up their Religion without examining it as they ought what other 〈◊〉 is there left Wherein you suppose Force necessary instead of proving it to be so for Preaching and Perswasion not prevailing upon all Men you upon your own Authority think fit something else should be done and that being resolv'd you readily pitch on Force because you say you can find nothing else which in effect is only to tell us if the Salvation of Mens Souls were only left to your discretion how you would order the matter And in your answer to me you very considently tell us the true Religion cannot prevail without the assistance either of Miracles or of Authority I shall here only observe one or two things and then go on to examine how you make this good The first thing I shall observe is that in your Argument considered c. you suppose Force necessary only to master the aversion there is in Men to considering and examination And here in your Answer to me you make Force necessary to conquer the aversion there is in Men to imbrace and obey the true Religion Which are so very different that the former justisies the use of Force only to make Men consider the other justisies the use of Force to make Men imbrace Religion If you meant the same thing when you writ your first Trtatise it was not very ingenuous to express your self in such Words as were not proper to give your Reader your true meaning it being a far different thing to use Force to make Men consider which is an action in their power to do or omit and to use Force to make them imbrace i. e. believe any Religion which is not a thing in any ones power to do or forbear as he pleases If you say you meant barely considering in your first Paper as the whole current of it would make one believe then I see your Hypothesis may mend as we have seen in other parts and in time may grow to its full Stature Another thing I shall remark to you is That in your first Paper besides Preaching and Perswasion and the Grace of God nothing but Force was necessary Here in your second it is either Miracles or Authority which how you make good we will now consider You having said you had no reason from any Experiment or expect that true Religion should be any way a gainer by Toleration I inâ—…anced in the prevailing of the Gospel by its own Beauty Force and Reasonableness in the first Ages of Christianity You reply that it has not the same Beauty Force and Reasonableness now that it had then unless I include Miracles too which are now ceâ—…sed and as you tell us were not withdrawn till by their help Christianity had prevailed to be received for the Religion of the Empire and to be encouraged and supported by the Laws of it If therefore we will believe you upon your own word Force being necessary for prove it necessary you never can you have enter'd into the Counsel of God and tell us when Force could not be had Miracles were imploy'd to supply its want I cannot but think say you it 's highly probable if we may be allowed to guess at the Counsels of insinite Wisdom that God was pleased to continue them till then i. e. till the Laws of the Empire supported Christanity not so much for any necessity there was of them all that time for the evincing the Truth of the Christian Religion as to supply the want of the Magistrate's Assistance You allow your self to guess very frelly when you will make God use