of our Lord and of me his prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel Ver. 11 12 13. Whereunto I am appointed a Preacher and an Apostle and a Teacher of the Gentiles for the which cause I also suffer these things Nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed c. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me c. That good thing which was committed to thee keep c. How keep not secretly only as a Christian but openly as a Preacher though thou suffer for it as I do So must Titus Chap. 2. 15. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority And such another charge have the Elders or Bishops from the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Qu. But is this also the case of those that succeeded them Ans. Yes they ordained others into the same office under the same Law of constancy and fidelity 2 Tim. 2. 2. The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also Though still the Rulers were against it And 2 Tim. 2. 24 25. The servant of the Lord must be apt to teach And what an example of Preaching publickly and from house to house night and day doth Paul give to all the Ephesian Elders Act. 20. even when Rulers were against it And again I say the practise and martyrdom of many and the writings of others do assure us that this was the judgment of Clemens Romanus Ignatius Polycarp Cyprian Irenaeus Clemens Alexandrinus Origen and generally of all the ancient Church who were called as we are by men and yet Preached to the death against the will of the Magistrate And as Paul himself desireth prayers for him that utterance may be given him that he might open his mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel for which he was an Ambassador in bonds that therein he might speak boldly as he ought to speak Eph. 6. 19 20. So he oft commendeth his fellow-labourers that accordingly served with him in the Gospel though they were no Apostles Phil. 2. 22. 4. 3. Rom. 16 c. And as he spake not as a man-pleaser 1 Thes. 2. 4. Gal. 1. 7 8. and as Christ would have his word preacht as on the house top Mat. 10. 7 8. so this is done as a duty of fidelity in Ministers as such and therefore Christ adjoineth with this charge such words as these that shew the Rulers Prohibition Vers. 16 17 c. 28. Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves but beware of men for they will deliver you up to the Councils and they will scourge you in their Synagogues and ye shall be brought before Governours and Kings for my sake for a testimony against them and the Gentiles c. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name sake c. But when they persecute you in this city flee ye into another The disciple is not above his master c. Fear them not therefore c. Fear them not which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him c. These are the next words to the command VVhat I tell you in darkness that speak ye in the light and what ye hear in the ear that preach ye on the house-top Luk. 9. 62. No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God Both Christians as such and Ministers as such must absolutely give up themselves to Christ and not look back for fear of man whatever it cost them to proceed 3. Mat. 9. 38. Luk. 10. 2. Christ commandeth Pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into his harvest viz. because the harvest is great and the labourers few And this is every Christians daily prayer when we say Thy Kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven If it be our duty daily to pray God to proportion the number of Labourers to the greatness and necessity of the work and that his Kingdom and the obedience of his will may be by his appointed means promoted on earth then it is our duty to do as we pray and not play the hypocrites with God as St. James his reproved hypocrites did as to the relieving of the poor that said Go and be clothed and warmed but gave them neither clothes nor food For a called Minister to pray Lord send out more Preachers and such as will promote thy Kingdom and perswade the world to do thy will while he forbeareth to Preach himself because that man forbiddeth him unwarrantably this is as very a mocking of God as it would be by the rich and covetous to pray Lord send some to relieve the poor when he giveth them nothing of his abundance 4. The Reasons of all these Commands for constant Preaching are moral and perpetual for the work of the Ministry is to open mens eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among the sanctified c. Act. 26. 17 18. But this work for these ends belongs to us to this day and therefore these Reasons intimate that the like constancy is our duty as was theirs But before I proceed to our further Reasons it will here be expected that I say somewhat more to the grand Objection viz. These that you talk of were Infidel or Heathen Rulers and will you compare our with them Or doth it follow that Christian Rulers may not silence Ministers because they might not Answ. 1. No far be it from me to compare our Governours with such We thankfully acknowledg it to be the Glory of England that it hath a King and Magistracy that owneth Christianity yea more that when the whole world hath but three Protestant Kings that I know of we have not only one of the three but the chiefest who keepeth Religion in greater purity than the rest But that which I have all this while been proving is but this That where and when the Gospel is necessary to be preached true Ministers of Christ may not lawfully forbear because the Rulers do forbid them though they be not Apostles but called by the way of man 2. A Christian Magistrate doth no more Ordain and Degrade than other Rulers but he is the Governour of the Ministers to keep them from neglecting or abusing their Callings and he may drive those out of his Dominions that will not otherwise be kept from subverting faith or godliness or that are proved truly to do more hurt than good in the Land And therefore if the King restrain or banish those that are truly the plagues and destroyers of the Land or of Religion or Loyalty he shall never be blamed for it by us Or if
in his glory which is much in the LOVE and Concord of his servants II. The Interest of the Universal Church is the pleasing and glorifying God in its unity and strength in the same Faith Hope Love and Obedience to Christ the sole Universal King III. The Interest of particular Churches is their pleasing and glorifying God by their union with Christ and the Church Universal by Faith Love and Obedience and their holy Union between Pastors and people and of the people among themselves IV. The Interest of the Kingdom is its pleasing and glorifying God and the welfare of the whole by a holy unity with God the Universal King and of the Soveraign and Subjects and of the Subjects among themselves V. The Interest of the King is the pleasing and glorifying God in the foresaid welfare and just government of the Kingdom his own salvation and his Political strength and honour which consisteth much in the most inseparable twist of union and interests with his united subjects VI. The Interest of the Pastors of the Church is the pleasing and glorifying God in the ministerial uniting of souls to God in Christ and among themselves in the same holy Life and Light and Love and their own salvation and consolation herein VII The Interest of each particular Christian is his pleasing and glorifying God in his holy union with Christ and with the Church Universal and subordinately his holy unity and concord with the Ecclesiastical and Civil Society where he liveth VIII The true Interest of an honest Separatist and Papist in England supposing them uncurably such requireth them to live quietly and peaceably in subjection to the King and in love with others in the concordant practice of so much of Religion even the Laws of Nature or common Christianity which we are all agreed in and in such tolerated exercises of their several errors as is consistent with the common welfare and not to exasperate others by reproaches or striving to get into suspected power IX The mistaken Interest of the Pope and Papal Clergy is to have their own wills in ruling all the world and to that end to weaken and disable Kings and States by divisions contentions and diversions and to draw them by deceit to a voluntary subjection as necessary to their salvation and to the concord of their subjects and the Christian world and to silence and disgrace all such as are against them X. The mistaken Interest of English Papists Quakers and all true uncurable Separatists is to encrease and strengthen their several parties and if it may be to get into power and to that end to unite in the bond of a common Toleration and to make the tolerated party as strong as they can and to weaken the united Ministry and Churches and therefore to cry down a Comprehension or Union of the sober Conformists and Nonconformists and to desire that those Impositions which themselves account sinful may be continued that good may come by the evil viz. lest the union of the rest should weaken the tolerated party and render them inconsiderable and to bring the established Ministry and all that are for union with them into contempt by reproaches XI The true Interest of a meer Nonconformist requireth him to commit no known sin on pretence of obedience unity or peace nor forsake his Ministry whatever he suffer for it but to live in loyalty peace and patience and in love and communion with the Parochial Churches and all Christians so far as they are agreed XII The true Interest of a Conformist requireth him to use all lawful means to procure as comprehensive a Union and Concord of all sound and faithful Ministers and Christians as they are capable of and to bear with tolerable differences to live in peace among themselves and by Ministerial skill fidelity diligence and holy living and by condescending humility and love to all men to win Dissenters to edifie and unite the people and so to advance the true honour of the Ministry and to encrease and corroborate the Church Octob. 27. 1675. R. B. FINIS THE CONTENTS A Prefatory History of our Case Page 1 c. Our judgment how far we are bound to Preach p. 14. Our Reasons for Preaching I. We judge it sacriledge to for sake the work to which we were consecrated p. 20. II. We cannot be ignorant of mens obliging necessities p. 22. III. Many express texts of Scripture oblige us p. 32. Many Objections answered to p. 44. Whether Princes may silence us Largely answered Of mans binding Conscience Of the Peoples choice of Pastors IV. By deserting our Ministerial Work we shall sin against the Natural Law of Love and be guilty of soul-murder p. 45. Objections and Accusations answered 1. That our preciseness falsly pretendeth mens necessity p. 52. 2. That we think too highly of our own Preaching as necessary p. 55. 3. That our Preaching doth more harm than good p. 56. 4. That we have made the People disobedient hypocrites c. p. 64. 5. That when we had liberty we cast out Catechising the Creed the Lords-Prayer Decalogue and Church-Government c. p. 69. 6. That we lived in sequestrations on other mens bread Mr. Durel's accusations of my self herein answered p. 77. 7. That we silenced and ejected others when we had power p. 83. 8. The better must suffer with the worse if they will joyn with them p. 85. 9. That our Preaching will increase mens dislike of Government p. 86. 10. That our pretended Piety is Pharisaical hypocrisie pride zealous Villanies The Pharisees described p. 91. 11. Of gathering Assemblies and separating from the Church p. 97. 12. For coming into Cities and Corporations within five Miles p. 102. 13. The Church giveth you power and may take it from you as the old Conformists in Mr. Rathbands book c. confess p. 104. 14. You are against Bishops because you cannot be Bishops Why did you demur so long before you refused Preferments p. 106. 15. Must the Laws be changed as oft as tender heads will scruple p. 108. 16. Obedience beseemeth tender Consciences Disobedience is as the sin of Witchcraft p. 110. 17. The only reason why some forsook the Ministry is that they durst not abjure the Covenant Why do they not do the rest p. 111. 18. Why not all tolerated as well as you and so let in Popery p. 113. 19. Preaching was necessary before the World became Christian c. p. 114. 20. Why do you not go preach among the Indians p. 115. 21. The folly and villany of your Religion is so opened by the Debater and the Ecclesiastical Politician that you should be ashamed to ask leave to preach ibid. 22. You overthrow all Principles of Government p. 120. This is answered since in a full Volume called The 2d Plea for Peace 23. They object our Doctrine as Calvinism and Puritanism c. The intended Scheme of my Reconciling doctrine since published p. 121. 24. You would make our Reconciliation with the Church of Rome impossible which is more desirable than with you p. 128. 25. Abating would countenance your scruples by authority and make you thought to be true Reformers p. 134. 26. It is rebellion that is in your hearts as your not renouncing the Covenant and resistance sheweth The foresaid 2d Plea for Peace fully answereth this accusation p. 137. 27. We remember your practices heretofore c. p. 140. 28. Dr. Goods Charge of the Kings death answered in a Letter to him p. 142. 29. The inhumane Calumnies of a book called The Modern Pleas for Comprehension Toleration c. considered p. 147. 30. The errors and faults of Sectaries imputed to us p. 155. 31. Dr. Ashtons and the Debate-makers Accusation of us of covetousness and pride and delaying to refuse preferment p. 157. 32. The Calumnies of a book called A free and impartial enquiry into the Causes of the very great esteem and honour that the Nonconformists are in c. p. 165. A notable passage of Clemangis and another of Bernard p. 173. The true Case of the Nonconformists sufferings which they are said to under go by Covetousness for gain p. 175. 33. Mr. Hollingworths Story of a Nonconformists cruelty p. 182. 34. Henry Fowlis heaviest accusation examined p. 182. Twenty Reasons why the Bishops and conformable Clergy should desire and endeavour the Nonconformists Ministry Plainly and seriously urged to their consciences p. 186. A Postscript Answering Mr. H. Dodwell's Reasons against our Preaching and publick worship when forbidden by the Bishops What he cannot deny us what we grant him what we cannot grant with the reasons of our dissent p. 237. An Account of the Interests of all the several Parties among us Interest ruleth the World p. 250. Reader I have not time to gather the Errata of the Press All this was written 1669. * 1669. â—y Gods merâ—y since theâ—riting of this have publiâ—hed it called â—atholick Theâ—ogy * The Earl of Orery who was present all the while at both times that ever I spake to Cromwell which was plainly and faithfully to his displeasure †The Lord Chief Justice Hale told me he had Hookers last books before and I now have the last printed long before Bishop Gauden published them ☞ â—his was writâ—â—n when we â—ad the Kings â—icense
heinous crime for any to vent any suspicions of his constancy which through so many temptations he hath approved And indeed it were a crime that deserved no small punishment as imputing that to our Sovereign which is scarce to be thought of a rational man even to give up most of his power and Kingdom to a foreign Usurper after his power is shaken off and that without any cause Princes that ever got loose from the Roman yoke do not use to come under it again at least except as King John resigned his Crown constrained by meer necessity But Godfrey Goodman a Papist was the last Bishop of Gloucester and I must profess that if I were a Papist and studied to help them to a Toleration I would by writings and by all my interest endeavour to bring as many more of you as I could into a necessity of seeking Liberty or Toleration that when the party that needed and sought it were considerable and the cry for it were great we might look for our part among the rest and say why not we as well as others And yet I would have the Papists and all conscientious persons used like men and not with any cruelty or inhumanity 19 Obj. There was indeed a necessity of much Preaching before the world was converted to Christianity but there is no such necessity now when we are all Christians Ans. This is fully answered before Do you think the bare name of a Christian and his Baptism will save those thousands that know not what Christianity is or those that live in enmity contempt or neglect of the Laws of Christ Is a wicked Christian that sinneth against the greatest means and his own Covenant vow and profession a happier man than the poor Infidels that never heard the Gospel If not these have need of teaching here at home as well as men in foreign parts But I will add no more to my former answer 20 Obj. But why do you not go preach among the Indians or in other lands where there is more need if liberty of Preaching be all that you desire Ans. 1. Some are sickly and weak and some aged unable to travel 2. Some have families which they are obliged to and must not desert and cannot carry with them If you say they should have kept themselves without I answer they were born in a land where good men were suffered to serve God quietly and therefore they thought they might fix themselves therein But if they could have foreseen that they should have been forbidden to Preach at home I believe that many would not only have forborn Marriage but also have set themselves to learn some foreign languages that they might have been able to Preach abroad But 3. our great impediment is that we have not the vulgar tongue of any other Country and therefore cannot preach to any of the vulgar there and if we could in a long time learn the Tartarian or Indian tongue c. a half learnt broken tongue doth but make the speaker ridiculous to the vulgar To say nothing of our want of maintenance to sustain us thither and there For my own part had I strength and any vulgar tongue which I might use in Preaching in other lands I think I should have left England long ago and not been an eye-sore to you so long 21 Object Have not the Friendly Debate and the Politician fully and unanswerably opened the folly and villany of your Religion and can you yet for shame desire leave to preach and propagate such a Religion as that Ans. Because so great prejudice is taken against us from those Books I intended in the end to have given a full answer to all that concerneth us not in their mode but in my own that is in certain Propositions containing our judgment and our reasons about those matters which I leave out now to avoid length having written Books enow to declare what my Religion is and so have others And therefore now only say this in general concerning the Authors and their dealing with us 1. As to the men I judg them to be of more than ordinary parts as to Ratiocination and expression and had they with humility patience and impartiality taken but a dozen or twenty years more time to have furnished their minds according to their capacity before they had permitted themselves with so great considence to say what they have said I believe they would have been as excellent persons as most ages have produced But they have put off the habit of little children too soon 2. I imagin by their writings that they have been unhappy in their converse and acquaintance and that they have had more to do with Sectaries and weak women and boys and the weaker sort of serious Christians among those called Puritans than with the sober understanding sort and so judg of the party by such as they have been acquainted with For most of the weak expressions and passages which they fill their Books with I have heard from some Sectaries or true Fanaticks and from some weak women and ignorant persons but never from the grave and sober sort of Nonconformists Nor have I used to converse with many of the Laity that talk at so low a rate as they feigned them to talk 3. I doubt also that their converse hath been more at the Universities and with Scholars and with the richer and well-bred sort of persons besides those Sectaries than with Plowmen and other of the lower rank and therefore that they are strangers to the condition of the vulgar which faithful Country Ministers know whose work hath been to Catechise them and personally instruct them 4. They cannot but know that most of those things which they blame in the people which are real weaknesses and faults we tell them of as loud as they do and as plainly as they though not so wrathfully or flamingly as they Mr. Pool's Vox calmentis hath told the si'enced Ministers even in Latin in the hearing of the world of more of their faults then both these Authors could remember and not only in my Directions for weak Christians but in divers other Books I have dealt as plainly with the people 5. Saving therefore the Debaters civility to my self I must ask him whether it savoured of common equity and justice to make the Nonconformist in the general the author or owner of all those weaknesses follies impudences falshoods c. which he could fasten only on Sectaries or on the ignoranter sort And especially when scarcely ever Books were written by any man as against Nonconformists that so little touch upon Nonconformity it self or any of the points in difference Is Gersom Bucer or Altare Damascenum or Amesius Fresh Suit or any other of the Nonconformists writings answered there except a late Nehushtan that few men own and he thought he could more easily say somewhat to 6. If he say that he told us that he spake it not of all I answer what if he
more openly and resolutely in their work But in the mean time the Countrey Gaols were possessed by many faithful Ministers where some have dyed and some excellent men contracted those diseases of which they dyed shortly after and some have dyed by the effects of poverty by cold and ill food for want of necessaries And the complaints of Wives and hungry Children and the burden of debts for meat drink clothes fire and houses hath been a sharper trial to very many of them than their revilers seem to be acquainted with And had they felt it but one year themselves it 's like they would not have thought this a way to gratifie either covetousness or pride It 's true that we should rejoyce in all our tribulations and in every condition be content but humane frailty must be confessed that some by such distress have been cast into sad melancholies which yet seemed more tolerable too than gripes of conscience for wilful sin And indeed the minds of few ingenuous persons will account it an ease to live on alms and to be beholden to mens charity for their daily bread especially when it 's too well known how much most men do love their money and how tenacious they are of it and if they give once how hardly they are brought to it again Who that is able would not rather with Paul get their bread by some labour than fordidly live on a barren and backward sort of charity And the truth is it is the poverty of the friends of the Nonconformists that hath been the cause of these defects It 's well known that it is but few comparatively of the Gentry that have owned them but the Countrey Farmers of their several Parishes whose payments and charges were so great that they had little to spare from the maintenance of their own Families And the lamentable fire so greatly impoverished the Londoners and all the Countrey Tradesmen that depended on them together with the decay of Trade that the Streams were dryed up that should have supplied the Nonconformists wants so that if some very charitable Citizens and others had not done extraordinarily for them beyond all others they might have perished by Famine And after all the number in the City and other parts who by the peoples liberality have a tolerable maintenance which ignorance and envy call a Plenty is very small in comparison of all those through the rest of the Land who have greater wants and lesser helps And it hath not been the least of the said Ministers sufferings that the continual uncertainty of their condition hath disabled them from any commodious fixing of their habitations and put them to the trouble and charge of frequent removals one while severities drive them to retirement and afterward his Majesties gracious Licenses draw them out to more populous places and encouraged them to take houses accordingly and put off the old And shortly after the revocation of the Licenses and the sharpness of prosecution puts them on the necessity of another change which indeed to single men is less but to the far greatest part who have families to remove and care for they that have tryed it and have no money to defray the charges of such removals know what it is to be thus unsetled But all these are light afflictions compared with the delights of pleasing God and saving Souls and with the pleasures of our daily work while we are employed in studying proclaiming and trusting the certain promises of eternal life and waiting for the promised reward in glory And far be it from us to mention them as murmuring at the Providence of God but only in confutation of the hard-faced Calumnies of some men and to acquaint posterity historically with the truth God is just in all the corrections which he layeth on us we have deserved silencing mulcts and imprisonments from him yea he is exceeding merciful to us both in our sufferings for truth and conscience-sake and in our preservations and deliverances and we are far from repenting of our Masters work But whether we deserve from men the accusations and usage which these 17 years we have undergone we refer to his judgment who will shortly by his just and final sentence decide this Controversie and justifie the just 33. Mr. Hollingworth in an Assize-Sermon printed tells a story to prove his Schismaticks as cruel as the execution of the Laws against us would be that some one leading Sectary said He would have all banished that would not subscribe the Doctrine of the Church in the 36 Articles I wrote to him to know whom he meant and he would not tell me but in a very respectful Letter said It was not nor Dr. Manton c. I since understood that this is said of Dr. Owen But 1. he professeth it is false 2. He is known to be for much liberty 3. If he did say it it was but to avert the odium of an overlarge toleration from the Independents 4. And what is this to the case of the many hundred Nonconformable Ministers in England But they be rendred odious for this word of his I will end with the Charge of Henry Fowlis passing over his abusive Volumes of Collections lest I be over-tedious in his History of Popish Treasons this is his accusation he saith of those whom he calleth Puritans I think the Puritans to be the worst people of all mankind A Sect that will agree with you in the fundamentals of Religion but will take Miff and destroy all for a trifle and rather than submit to an innocent Ceremony though imposed by lawful authority will ruine Kingdoms Murder Bishops A Sect that would hate Christ but that he said he came not to bring Peace but War As for the Roman Catholick I must needs have a greater kindness for him than the former fire-brands as being an adversary more learned and so to be expected more Civil and Gentile and wherein they differ from us they look upon as fundamental and so have a greater reason for their dissent than our Phanatical Presbyterians a people not capable of a Commendation nor to be obliged by any favours their very Constitution being ingratitude At this rate the Ecclesiastical Politician and others inform the world of Puritans and Presbyterians in the Gross Those that knew this mans Morals laugh at his Railery but posterity will not know what he was I shall only desire the Reader to note 1. That Puritans and Presbyterians now do signifie what the speakers please Mr. Robert Bolton a Learned Conformist thinketh that the name Puritan as commonly used in England in the mouths of common drunkards and the prophane and impious sort is turned against true Godliness with the greatest spleen that ever word was in the world 2. Mark that we are called The worst people of all mankind even Heathens Jews Turks Cannibals not excepted and yet we agree with the Accusers in all fundamentals This is the Charity which we meet with from these men
Physicians otherwise than by forbidding them to help the sick Deal not worse with Christ and Souls But if still you say that there is no other way to save mens souls from our false doctrine or false worship or any other danger which our Ministry will bring upon them We still answer you Make Canons and Laws against false Doctrine or against Seditious Rebellious Schismatical or other intollerable Preaching or against Idolatrous or superstitious Worship or against either Tyranny or omission of Church-discipline or against a worldly fleshly idle or otherwise vicious life and let us be lyable to the penalty of those Laws as others are But the next shall further answer this 6. It is a most certain thing that your method will not attain the Churches Edification Unity or Concord but is the directest way to subvert all these No nor your own establishment or honour in the world if that be it which you mean still by the Interest of the Church And why should any men use a means that will subvert and will never attain his ends Did you know this you would never chuse or use it But I perceive you do not and for ought I see you will not know it I shall give you those reasons that should make you know it if you have but the understanding of ordinary men supposing what is distinctly said in the Propositions Every wise man in the use of means will both foresee the probable effect and fore resolve how far to carry them on Either you think that your silencing and other hard usages of the Ministers shall convince and change them or disable and destroy them The former I have shewed you is a most vain surmise For 1. Kindness is more forcible to change the judgment than violence and hard usage This useth oftener to set men in opposition to what a hurtful adversary reasoneth for It is seldom that an enemies words convert Opposition rather kindleth an opposing zeal 2. You may partly conjecture by your selves If you thought it were Lying Perjury and false Worship which was imposed on you would you change your judgment by threatnings or by punishments There is nothing in force to illuminate the mind If you say It will tame their obstinacy and make them hearken more to reason I answer as before It most powerfully exciteth those prejudices and passions which hinder reason though it may promote hypocrisie in some 3. And experience telleth you and all the world that you are mistaken We read the same books out of a prison as in it if there we may have them And what abundance of Ministers within these ten years have come out of long imprisonment in the same mind as they went in yea much confirmed But who can you name that came out convinced that his way was wrong How long have they suffered not only poverty and reproach but that silencing which they account a greater evil And yet how few are changed by all this For the Novel-Politicians talk of a hundred men that continue to displease you is but a means to tell the world how exactly your Actions and Historical Narratives agree and what posterity must expect from the later as well as we from the former 4. But if 9 or 10 years experience be too little for you look back to the experience of all the world Your Bishop Taylor and many of your own can tell you how opposition inflameth the opposed party into a greater zeal 5. In a word I know not only my self but so many of the Nonconformable Ministers of England that I utterly despair that even silencing or imprisonment should change their judgments 2. The next question then is Whether it will make them hypocrites and force them to go against their judgments And this I am as confident it will never do with the most 1. Because I know so many of them to be truer to God and to their Consciences 2. Because experience also long evinced this 3. And so hath the experience of former ages in such as they some have still shrunk in a time of suffering But enow have suffered to fill up such Volumes as Mr. Fox's and the Century-Writers and many others 4. And here also I ask Would you do so your selves Would you do that which you think to be Lying Perjury renouncing Reformation c. against your consciences rather than suffer or would you not If yea you tell the world what your Religion is If not judge by your own course both now and formerly whether they or you be liker to chuse sin before suffering I know not you so well as them and therefore know not what you would do so well as I and you and all the world may know what they will do 5. And if they were such Villains as to sell their Souls for the safety of their flesh why should not the same principle now prevail with them to stretch their conscience by some distinction and take Livings and Honour among you with Conformity instead of a hunted and afflicted state of life If Satan shall say Skin for skin and all that he hath will a man give for his life Let me touch his body and I will make him curse thee to thy face whereas now he serveth not God for nought Yet God would support and vindicate the integrity of Job and though he may fall into some impatiency he would not yet forsake his Master nor leave his integrity to the death 3. The last question therefore is Whether their destruction will do your work or not seeing neither their change of judgment nor for saking their consciences is to be expected by your means I find that the Novel-Politician is confident of it that sharp execution is the way and would easily do it And so are most that write against us as well as Bishop Gunnings Chaplain But 1. He speaketh but like one of Rehoboams puny Councellors contrary to all the experience of the world I hope God will give his Majesty wisdom to avoid such counsels that would have him make his little finger heavier than Solomons loyns I confess if the work be to extirpate Christianity it self they that will and can follow it to the height of the example of Japon might imagine a possibility of the like success But it cannot be done so in England if there were any that would do it Because the body of the Nation is of the same Religion as the Japonions were against Or if the work were to suppress the Protestant Religion the Inquisition in Spain would be a probable means where there are but very few to be tormented and the thing may be done secretly in vaults out of the peoples sight and noise But for Protestants to destroy each other yea such and so many as must be so destroyed and this for the advancement of the Protestant interest is a course that will not do that work for which it is pretended For 1. Blood was never yet of light digestion Nebuchadnezzars