no prudent Ground assure himself of their Fidelity whom he hath taught to be Treacherous to their own Convictions Wise Men rarely confide in those whom they have debaucht from Trust to serve themselves At best it resembleth but forc'd Marriages that seldom prove happy to the Parties In short Force makes Hypocrites 't is Perswasion only that makes Converts Fifthly This Partiality of sacrificing the Liberty and Property of all Dissenters to the Promotion of a single Party as it is the lively Representation of J. Calvin's Horrendum Decretum of Predestination so the Consequences of the one belong unto the other it being but that Ill-natured Principle practised Men are put upon the same desperate Courses either to have no Conscience at all or to be Hang'd for having a Conscience not fashionable for let them be Virtuous let them be Vitious if they fall not in with that Mode of Religion they must be reprobated to all Civil and Ecclesiastical Intents and Purposes Strange that men must either Deny their Faith and Reason or be destroyed for acting according to them be they otherwise never so Peaceable What Power is this But that men are to be protected upon Favour not Right or Merit and that no Merit out of the English Church-Dress should find Acceptance is severe That Father we justly blame that narrows his Paternal Love to some one of his Children though the rest be not one jot less Virtuous then the Favouriter Such Injustice can never flow from a Soul acted by Reason but a Mind govern'd by Fancy and enslaved to Passions Sixthly consider Peace Plenty and Safety the three grand Inducements to any Country to honour the Prince and love the Government and the best Allurements to Forreigners to trade with it and transport themselves to it are utterly lost by such Intestine Jars for instead of Peace Love and good Neighbourhood behold Animosity and Contest One Neighbour watcheth another and makes him an Offender for his Conscience this divides them their Families and Acquaintance Perhaps with them the Towns and Villages where they live most commonly the Sufferer hath the Pitty and the Persecutor the Odium of the Multitude and when People see Cruelty practised upon their Inoffensive Neighbours by a Troublesom Sort of Men and those countenanced by a Law it breedeth Ill Blood against the Government Certainly haling People to Goals breaking open their Houses seizing of their Estates and that without all Proportion leaving Wives without their Husbands and Children without their Fathers their Families Relations Friends and Neighbours under Amaze and Trouble is almost as far from the Peace of a well-govern'd Kingdom as it is from the Meekness of Christianity Plenty will be hereby exchanged for Poverty by the Destruction of many Thousand Families within this Realm who are greatly Instrumental for the carrying on of the most Substantial Commerce therein Men of Virtue good Contrivance great Industry whose Labours not only keep the Parishes from the Trouble Charge of maintaining them and theirs but help to maintain the Poor and are great Contributors to the Kings Revenue by their Traffick I his very Severity will make more Bankrupts in the Kingdom of England in 7 Years then have been in it upon all other Accounts in 7 Ages which Consequence how far it may consist with the Credit Interest of the Government I leave to better Judgments This Sort of great Severity that hath been lately and still is used amongst us is like to prove a great Check to that Readiness which otherwise we find in Forreigners to trade with the Inhabitants of this Kingdom for if Men cannot call any Thing their own under a different Exercise of Conscience from the National Way of Religion may their Correspondents prudently say We will not further concern our selves with Men that stand upon such tickling Terms what know we but such Persons are ruin'd in their Estates by Reason of their Non-Conformity before such Time as we are reimburst for Money paid or Goods delivered Nay we know not how soon those who are Conformists may be Non-Conformists or what Revolution of Councils may happen since the Fundamental Laws so jealous of the Peoples Property are so little set by with some of their own Magistrates for though we are told of very worthy and excellent Laws for the Security of the Peoples Rights yet we are also told that they all hang at the Churches Ear and no Church-Conformity no Property which is no Church-Man no English-Man so that in Effect the Rights of their Country depend upon the Rights of their Church and those Churches are so numerous and have taken their Turns so often that a Body knows not how to mannage one's self securely to one 's own Affairs in a Correspondence with any of them For in King Henry the eight's Dayes Popery was the only Orthodox Religion and Luther Melanchton Oecolampadius Calvin c. were great Hereticks In Edward the sixth's Time they were Saints and Popery Idolatry A few Years after Q Mary makes the Papists Holy Church and Protestancy Heresie About six Years complcats her Time and Q. Elizabeth enters her Reign in which Protestants are good Christians and the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon In her Reign and King James ' s and Charles the first 's sprung the Puritans who divided themselves into Presbyterians and Independents the Bishops exclaimed against them for Schismaticks and they against the Bishops for Papistical and Anti christian In the long Parliament's Time the Presbyterian drives out the Bishop O. Cromwel defeating them and sending the Presbyterian to keep Company with the Bishop confers it mostly upon the Independent and Anabaptist who kept it through the other Fractions of Government till the Presbyter and Bishop got it from them and the Bishop now from the Presbyter but how long it will rest there who knows Nor is my Supposition idle or improbable unless Moderation take Place of Severity and Property the room of Punishment of Opinion for that must be the lasting Security as well as that it is the Fundamental Right of English People There is also a further Consideration and that is the rendering just and very good Debts desperate both at home and abroad by giving Opportunity to the Debtors of Dissenters to detain their Dues Indeed it seems a natural Consequence with all but Men of Mercy and Integrity What should we pay them for may they say that are not in a Capacity to demand or receive it at least to compel us Nay they may plead a sort of Kindness to their Creditors and say We had as good keep it for if we pay it them they will soon loose it 't is better to remain with us then that they should be pillag'd of it by Informers though Beggary and Want should in the mean time overtake the right Owners and their Families Nor is it unworthy of the most deliberate Thoughts of our Superiours that the Land already swarms with Beggars and that there
Interest so inconsistent with Peace and Unity as that which dare not solely rely upon the Power of Perswasion but affects Superiority and impatiently seeks after an Earthly Crown This is not to act the Christian but the Caesar not to promote Property but Party and make a Nation Drudges to a Sect. Be it known to such Narrow Spirits we are a Free People by the Creation of God the Redemption of Christ and careful Provision of our never to be forgotten honourable Ancestors So that our Claim to these English Priviledges rising higher then the Date of Protestancy can never justly be invalidated for any Non-conformity to it This were to loose by the Reformation which God forbid I am sure ' twas-to enjoy Property with Conscience that promoted it Nor is there any better Definition of Protestancy then protesting against Spoiling Property for Conscience I must therefore take Leave to say that I know not how to reconcile what a Great Man lately deliver'd in his Eloquent Harangue to the House of Lords His Words are these For when we consider Religion in Parliament we are supposed to consider it as a Parliament should do and as Parliaments in all Ages have done that is as it is a Part of our Laws a Part and a necessary Part of our Government For as it works upon the Conscience as it is an INWARD PRINCIPLE of the DIVINE LIFE by which good Men do govern all their Actions the State hath nothing to do with it it is a Thing which belongs to another kind of Commission then that by which we sit here I acquiesce in the latter Part of this Distinction taking it to be a venerable Truth and would to God Mankind would believe it and live it but how to agree it with the former I profess Ignorance for if the Government hath nothing to do with the Principle it self what more can she pretend over the Actions of those Men that live that good Life Certainly if Religion be this Principle of Divine Life exerting it self by Holy Living and that as such it belongs not to the Commission of our Superiours I do with Submission conceive that there is very little else of Religion lest for them to have to do with the rest merits not the Name of Religion and less doth such a Formality deserve Persecution I hope such Circumstances are no necessary Part of English Government that can't reasonably be reputed a necessary part of Religion and I dare believe that he is too great a Lawyer upon second Thoughts to repute that a Part of our Laws a Part a necessary Part of our Government that is such a Part of Religion as is neither the Divine Principle nor yet the Actions immediately flowing from it since the Government was most compleat and prosperous many Ages without it and hath never known more perplext Contests and troublesom Interruptions then since it hath been receiv'd and valu'd as a Part of the English Government and God I hope will forbid it in the Hearts of our Superiours that English Men should be deprived of their Civil Inheritance for their Non-conformity to Church-Formality For no Property out of the Church the plain English of publick Severity is a Maxim that belongs not to the holy Law of God nor Common Law of the Land 4. If Liberty and Property must be the Forfeit of Conscience for Non conformity to the Princes Religion the Prince and his Religion shall only be lov'd as the next best Accession to other Mens Estates and the Prince perpetually provoakt to expose many of his Inoffensive People to Beggary 5. It is our Superiours Interest that Property be preserved because it is their own Case None have more Property then themselves But if Property be exposed for Religion the Civil Magistrate exposes both his Conscience and his Property to the Church and disarms himself of all Defence upon any Alteration of Judgment This is for the Prince to fall down at the Prelate's Fâ—â—t and the State to suffer it self to be rid by the Church 6. It obstructs all Improvement of Land and Trade for who will labour that hath no Propriety or hath it exposed to an unreasonable Sort of Men for the bare Exercise of his Conscience to God and a poor Country can never make a Rich and Powerful Prince Heaven is therefore Heaven to Good and Wise Men because they have an Eternal Propriety therein 7thly This Sort of Procedure hitherto oppugn'd to the behalf of Property puts the whole Nation upon miserable Uncertainties that are follow'd with great Disquiets and Distractions which certainly it is the Interest of all Governments to prevent The Reigns of Henry 8. Edw. 6. Q. Mary and Q. Eliz. both with relation to the Marriages of the first and the Religious Revolutions of the rest are a plain Proof in the Case King Henry voids the Pope's Supremacy and assumes it himself Q. Mary his Daughter by his first Wife Katharine repeals all those Acts made since the 12th of Henry 8. in Disfavour of the Pope Oaths taken on both sides to maintain those Laws Edw. 6. enacts Protestancy with an Oath to maintain it 1 Q. Mary c. 1. This is abrogated Popery solemnly restored and an Oath inforc'd to defend it Comes Q. Elizabeth and repeals that Law calls back Protestancy ordains a new Oath to un-Oaâ—h Q. Mary's Oath and all this under the Penalty of loosing Estate Liberty and sometimes Life it self which Thousands to avoid lamentably perjur'd themselves four or five times over within the space of 20. Years in which Sin the Clergy transcended not an Hundred for every Thousand but left their Principles for their Parâ—shâ—s Thus hath Conscience been debaucht by Force and Property toss'd up down by the impetuous Blasts of ignorant Zeal or sinister Design 8. Where Liberty Property are violated there must alwayes be a State of Force And though I pray God that we never need those Cruel Remedies whose Calamitous Effects we have too lately felt yet certainly SELF-Preservation is of all Things dearest to Men insomuch that being conscious to themselves of not having done an ill thing to defend their unforfeited Priviledges they cheerfully hazard all they have in this World so strangely vindictive are the Sons of Men in Maintenance of their Rights And such are the Cares Fears Doubts and Insecurities of that Administration as render Empire a Slavery and Dominion the worst Sort of Bondage on the contrary nothing can give greater Cheerfulness Confidence Security and Honour to any Prince then ruling by Law for it is both a Conjunction of Title with Power and attracts Love as well as it requires Duty Give me Leave without any Offence for I have God's Evidence in my own Conscience I intend nothing but a respectful Caution to my Superiours to confirm this Reason with the Judgment and Example of other Times The Governours of the Eleans held a strict Hand over the People they being in Despair call'd in the Spartans for
Relief and by their Help freed all their Cities from the sharp Bondage of their Natural Lords The State of Sparta was grown Powerful and opprest the Thebans they though but a weak People yet whetted the Despair and the Prospect of greater Miseries by the Athenians deliver'd themselves from the Spartan Yoak Nor is there any other considerable Reason given for the Ruin of the Carthagenian State then Avarice and Severity More of this is to be found in W. Raileigh's History of the World lib. 3. who hath this witty Expression in the same Story l. 5. of a severe Conduct When a forced Government saith he shall decay in Strength it will suffer as did the old Lion for the Oppression done in his Youth being pintcht by the Wolf goar'd by the Bull and kickt also by the Ass This lost Caesar Borgia his New and Great Conquests in Italy No better Success attended the severe Hand held over the People of Naples by Alphonso and Ferdinand 'T was the undue Severity of the Sicilian Governours that made the Syracusans Leontines and Messenians so easie a Conquest to the Romans An harsh Answer to a petitioning People lost Rehoboam Ten Tribes On the contrary in Livy Dec. 1 l. 3. we find that Petilia a City of the Brutians in Italy chose rather to endure all Extremity of War from Hannibal then upon any Condition to desert the Romans who had govern'd them moderately and by that gentle Conduct procur'd their Love even then when the Romans sent them Word they were not able to relieve them and wisht them to provide for their own Safety N. Machiavel in his Discourses upon Livy p. 542. tells us that one Act of Humanity was of more Force with the Conquer'd Falisci then many violent Acts of Hostility which makes good that Saying of Seneca Mitius imperanti melius paretur They are best obeyed that govern most mildly 9. And lastly If these ancient Fundamental Laws so agreeable with Nature so suited to the Disposition of our Nation so often defended with Blood and Treasure so carefully and frequently ratified shall not be to our great Pilots as Stars or Compass for them to steer the Vessel of this Kingdom by or Limits to their Legislation no Man can tell how long he shall be secure of his Coat enjoy his House have Bread to give his Children Liberty to work for Bread and Life to eat it Truly this is to justifie what we condemn in Roman-Catholiks It is one of our main Objections that their Church assumes a Power of assuring People what is Religion thereby denying Men the Liberty of walking by the Rules of their own Reason or Precepts of Holy Writ To which we oppose both We say the Church is tyed to act nothing contrary to Reason and that Holy Writ is the declar'd fundamental Law of Heaven to maintain and not to usurp upon which Power is given to the true Church Now let us apply this Argument to our Civil Affairs and it will certainly end in a reasonable Limitation of our Legislators that they should not impose that upon our Understandings which is inconsistent with them to embrace nor offer any the least Violation upon the Fundamental Law of the Land from whence they derive their Power to prosper such Attempts Do the Romanists say Believe as the Church Believes Do not the Protestants and which is harder Legislators say so too Do we say to the Romanists at this rate Your Obedience is blind and your Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion Is it not also true of our selves Do we object to them This makes your Religion sluid as the Rivers one Thing to Day and another to morrow any Thing the Church saith or doth Doth not our own Case submit us to the like Variation in Civils Have we not long told them that under Pretence of obeying the Church and not controling her Power she hath raised a Superstructure inconsistent with that Foundation she pretends to build upon And are not we the Men in Civils that make our grand Priviledges to depend upon Men not Laws as she doth upon Councils not Scripture If this be not Popery in Temporals what is It is humbly beseecht of those Superiours that it would please them to consider what Reflection such severity justly brings upon their Proceedings and remember that in their ancient Delegations it was not to define resolve and impose Matters of Religion and sacrifice Civil Priviledges for it but to maintain the Peoples Properties according to the ancient Fundamental Laws of the Land and to super-add such Statutes only as were consistent with and preservative of those Fundamental Laws To conclude this Head My plain and honest Drift has all along been neither more nor less then this to show that Church Government is no real Part of the old English Government and to disintangle Property from Opinion the untoward Knot the Clergy for several Ages have tyed the which it is not only the Peoples Right but our Superiours Interest to undo for it gauls both People and Prince For where Property is subjected to Opinion the Church interposes and makes something else requisite to enjoy Property then belongs to the Nature of Property and the Reason of our Possession is not our Right by Obedience to the common Law but Conformity to Church-Law a thing dangerous to Civil Government for 't is an Alteration of old English Tenure a suffering the Church to trip up supplant the State a making People to owe their Protection not to the Civil but Ecclesiastical Authority For let the Church be my Friend and all is well make her my Foc and I am made her Prey Let Magna Charta say what she will for me my Horses Cows Sheep Corn Goods go first my Person to Goal next and here 's some Church Trophys made at the Conquest of a peaceable Dissenter This is that anxious Thing May our Superiours please to weigh it in the equal Scale of Doing as they would be done by Let those Common Laws that fix and preserve Property be the Rule and Standard Make English Men's Rights as inviolable as English Church Rights Disintangle and distinguish them And let not Men sustain Civil Punishments for Ecclesiastical Faults but for Sins against the ancient establisht Civil Government only that the Natures of Acts and Rewards may not be confounded so shall the Civil Magistrate preserve Law secure his Civil Dignity and Empire and make himself Belov'd of English Men whose Cry is and the Cry of whose Laws has ever been Property more sacred then Opinion Civil Right not concerned with Ecclesiastical Discipline nor forfeitable for Religious Non-conformity But though an inviolable Preservation of English Rights of all things best secureth to our Superiours the Love and Allegiance of the People yet there is something further that with Submission I offer to their serious Consideration which in the second place concerns their Interest and the Peoples Felicity and that is their Discord about
things for their Country And if we had no other Instance then our own Intervals of Connivance they were enough to satisfie reasonable men how much more Moderation contributes to publick Good then the Prosecution of People for their Religious Dissent since the one hath ever produced Trade and Tranquillity the other greater Poverty and Dissension The second Objection and by far the more weighty runs thus Obj. The King and Parliament are sworn to maintain and protect the Church of England as establisht c. therefore to tolerate other Opinions is against their Oath Answ Were the Consequence true as it is extreamly false it were highly unreasonable to expect Impossibilities at their Hands Kings and Parliaments can no more make Brick without Straw then Captives They have not sworn to do things beyond their Ability Had it been in His and their Time and Choice when the Church of England had been first disturbed with dissenting Opinions it might have reflected more colourably a kind of Neglect upon them But since the Church of England was no sooner a Church then she found some sort of Dissenters and that the utmost Policy and Severity of Q. Elizabeth King James and King Charles the 1st were not successful towards an absolute Uniformity Why should it reflect upon them that the Church of England hath not yet rid her self of Dissenting Parties Besides it is Notorious that the late Wars gave that Opportunity to Differing Perswasions to spread that it was utterly impossible for them to hinder much less during the several Years of the King's Exile at what time the present Parliament was no Parliament nor the generality of the Members of it scarce of any Authority Let it be considered that 't was the Study of the Age to make People Anti-Papistical and Anti-Episcopal and that Power and Preferment went on that side Their Circumstances therefore and their Ancestors are not the same They find the Kingdom Divided into several Interests and it seems a Difficulty insurmountable to reduce them to any one Perswasion wherefore to render themselves Masters of their Affections they must necessarily govern themselves towards them on a Ballance as before exprest otherwise they are put upon the greatest Hazards and extreamest Difficulties to themselves and the Kingdom and all to perform the Uncharitable Office of suppressing many Thousands of Inoffensive Inhabitants for the different Exercise of their Conscience to God This is not to make them resemble Almighty God the Goodness of whose Nature extends it self universally thus to narrow his Bowels and confine his Clemency to one single Party of Men It ought to be remembred that Optimus went before Maximus of old and that Power without Goodness is a frightful Sort of a Thing But Secondly I deny the Consequence viz. That the King is therefore oblieged to persecute Dissenters because he or the Parliament hath taken an Oath to maintain the Church of England For it cannot be supposed or intended that by maintaining Her they are to destroy the Rest of the Inhabitants Is it impossible to protect her without knocking all the rest on the Head Do they allow any to Supplant her Officers Invade her Livings Possess her Emoluments Exercise her Authority What would she have Is she not Church of England still in the same Regency invested with the same Power bearing the same Character What Grandeur or Interest hath she lost by them Are they not manifestly her Protector Is she not National Church still And are not the greatest Offices Civil Military and Maritin conferr'd upon her Sons And can any of her Children be so insensible as either to challenge her Superiours with Want of Integrity because they had not performed Impossibilities or to excite them to that Harshness which is not only destructive of many Thousands of Inhabitants but altogether injurious to their own Interest and dishonourable to a Protestant Church Suppose Dissenters not to be of the visible Church are they therefore unfit to live Did the Jews treat Strangers so severely that had so much more to say then her self Is not the King Lord of Wastes and Commons as well as Inclosures Suppose God hath elected some to Salvation doth it therefore follow he hath reprobated all the rest And because he was God of the Jews was he not therefore God of the Gentiles or were not the Gentiles his People because the Jews were his peculiar People To be brief They have answer'd their Obligation consented to severe Laws and commanded their Execution in that they have still preferr'd her above Every Interest in England to render her more Powerful and Universal till they have good Reason to be tired with the Lamentable Consequences of those Endeavours and to conclude that the Uniformity thereby intended is a thing Impracticable And I wonder that these men should so easily forget that great Saying of King CHARLES the 1st whom they pretended so often and with so much Honour to remember in his Advice to the present King where he saith Beware of Exasperating any Factions by the Crossness and Asperity of some Mens Passions Humours or Private Opinions imployed by You grounded only upon their Differences in Lesser Matters which are but the Skirts and Suburbs of Religion wherein a Charitable Connivance and Christain Toleration often Dissipates their Strength whom Rougher Opposition Fortifieth and puts the Despised and Oppressed Party into such Combinations as may most Enable them to get a Full Revenge upon Those they count their Persecutors who are commonly Assisted with that Vulgar Commiseration which attends all that are said to Suffer under the Common Notion of Religion So that we have not only the King's Circumstances but his Father's Counsel who saw not the End of one half of them defending a Charitable Connivance and Christian Toleration of Dissenters Obj. 3. But it may be further alledged This makes way for Popery or Presbytery to undermine the Church of England and mount the Chair of Power and Preferment which is more then a Prudential Indulgence of Different Opinions And yet there is not any so probable an expedient to vanish those Fears and prevent any such Design as keeping all Interests upon the Ballance for so the Protestant makes at least six Parties against Popery and the Church of England at least five against Presbytery and how either of them should be able to turn the Scale against five or six as free and thriving Interests as either of them can pretend to be I confess I cannot understand But if one only Interest must be tolerated which implies a Resolution to suppress the Rest plain it is that the Church of England ventures her single Party against six growing Interest and thereby gives Preshytery and Popery by far an easier Access to Supremacy especially the latter for that it is the Religion of those Parts of Europ which neither want Inclination nor Ability to prosper it So that besides the Consistency of such an Indulgence with the Nature of a Christian-Church there
came into the World and preacht that Heavenly Doctrine of Forbearing and Loving of Enemies and laid down his most Innocent Life for us whilst we were Rebels that by such peaceable Precepts and so patient an Example the World might be prevailed upon to leave those Barbarous Courses And doubtless very lamentable will their Condition be who at the Coming of the great Lord shall be found Beaters of their Fellow Servants In vain do Men go to Church pray preach and style themselves Believers Christians Children of God c. whilst such Acts of Severity are practised and any Disposition to molest harmless Neighbours for their Conscience so much as countenanc'd A Course quite repugnant to Christ's Doctrine and Example In short the promoting of this General Religion by a severe Reprehension and Punishment of Vice and Encouragement of Virtue is the Interest of our Superiours several Wayes 1. In that it meets with and takes in all the Religious Perswasions of the Kingdom Penal Laws for Religion is a Church with a Sting in her Tail take that out and there is no Fear of the Peoples Love and Duty And what better Obligation or Security can the Civil Magistrate desire Every Man owns the Text 't is the Comment that 's disputed Let it but please him to make the Text only sacred and necessary and so leave Men to keep Company with their own Meanings and Consequences and he not only prudently takes in all but suppresseth nice Searches fixes Unity upon Materials quiets present Differences about Things of lesser Moment retrives Humanity and Christian Clemency and fills the Kingdom with Love and Respect to their Governours 2. Next A Promotion of general Religion it being in it self practical brings back again ancient Virtue Good Living will thrive in this Soil Men will grow Honest Trusty and Temperate we may expect good Neighbourhood and Cordial Friendship one may depend more upon a Word then now upon an Oath How lamentable is it to see People afraid of one onother Men made and provided for of one God and that must be judged by that one Eternal God yet full of Diffidence in what each other sayes and most commonly interpret as People read Hebrew all Things that are spoaken backward 3. The third Benefit is that Men will be more industrious more diligent in their lawful Callings which will encrease our Manufacture set the Idle and Poor to work for their Livelyhood and enable the several Countries with more Ease and Decency to maintain the Aged and Impotent among them Nor will this only make the Lazy conscientiously industrious but the Industrious and Conscientious Man Chearful at his Labour when he is assured to keep what he Works for and that the Sweat of his Brows shall not be made a Forfeit for his Conscience 4. It will render the Magistrates Province more facil and Government a safe as well as easie Thing for as Tacitus sayes of Agricola's instructing the Brittains in Arts and Sciences and using them with more Humanity then other Governours had done that it made them fitter for Government So if that practical Religion and the Laws made to maintain it were duely regarded the very Natures of Men now wild and froward by Cross and Jealous Interests would learn Moderation and see it to be by far their greatest Interest to pursue sober and amicable Conversation which would rid the Magistrate of much of his present Trouble And the Truth is 't is a Piece of Slavery to have the Regiment of Ignorants and Ruffains but there is true Glory and Royalty in having the Government of Men instructed in the Justice and Prudence of their own Laws and Country Lastly Heaven will prosper so natural so noble and so Christian an Essay which ought not to be the least Consideration with a good Magistrate and the rather because the Neglect of this practical Religion hath been the Ruin of Kingdoms and Common Wealths among Heathens Jews and Christians This laid Tarquin low and his Race never rose more How puissant was Lacedaemon and Athens in Greece till Luxury had eaten out their Severity and a pompâ—…â—…ing contrary to their Excellent Laws render'd their Execution intolerable And was not Hannibal's Army a Prey to their own Idleness and Pleasure which by esseminating their Natures conquer'd them when the whole Power of Rome could not do it What else betray'd Rome to Caesar's Ambition and madeway for the after Rents and Divisions of the Empire The Conquest and Inheritance of a well govern'd People for several Ages as long as their Manners lasted The Jews in like Manner were prosperous while they keept the Statutes and Judgments of their God but when they became rebellious and dissolute the Almighty either visited them from Heaven or exposed them to the Fury of their Neighbours Nothing else sent Zedekiah to Babylon and gave him and the people a Prey to Nebuchadnezar and his Army Neglect of Laws and dissolute Living Andrew Horn that lived in the Time of Edw. the â—st as before cited tells us was the Cause of their miserable Thraldom and Desolation the Brittains sustained by Invaders and Conquerers And pray what else hath been the English of our sweeping Pestilence and dreadful Fires of late Years Hundreds of Examples might be brought in this Case but their Frequency shall excuse me Thus have I honestly and plainly clear'd my Conscience for my Country and answer'd I hope modestly and though briefly yet fully the Import of the Question propounded with Honour to the Magistrate and Safety to the People by an happy Conjunction of their Interests I shall coâ—â—lude That as greater Honour and Wisdom cannot well be attributed to any Sort of Men then for our Superiours under their Circumstances to be sought to by all Perswasions consided in by all Perswasions and obey'd by all Peswasions and to make those Perswasions know that it is their Interest so to do as well as that it is the Interest of our Superiours they should which the Expedients proposed naturally tend to So for a further Inducement to embrace them let it be constantly remembred that the Interest of our English Governours is like to stand longer upon the Leggs of the English People then of the English Church since the one takes in the Strength of all Interests the other leaves out all but her own and it may happen that the English Church may fail or go travail again but it is not probable that English People should do either while Property is preserved a Ballance kept General Religion propagated and the World continues May all this prevail with our Superiours to make the best Use of their little Time remembring in the midst of all their Power and Grandeur that they carry Mortality about them and are equally liable to the Scrutiny and Judgment of the last Day with the poorest Peasant and that they have a great Stewardship to account for that Moderation and Virtue being their Course they for the future shall steer after