Prophane Jeers and Satyrs.

FOr of all Villains, Preface, pag. 53. the well-meaning Zealot is the most dangerous; their Godliness makes them bold & furious: And however their Attempts succeed, they are sure of the Rewards of Saints and Mar­tyrs.

Ibid. And what so glorious as to lose their Lives in the Cause of God? One would think the world were not now to be taught that there is nothing so difficult to be managed as godly Zeal.

Page 13. Religion sanctifies all their Passions; Anger, Malice and Bitterness, are holy Fervours in the Cause of God.

Ibid. Zeal for the Glory of God will both excuse and justifie any Enormity.

Ibid. Arm'd with Religion, and led on by the Spirit of God, to disturb the publick peace, &c.

P. 15. And when Passion becomes holy, then it can never be exorbitant.

P. 16. And thus are their Vices sanctified by their Consciences.

P. 57. Filling the World with a buzze and noise of the Divine Spirit.

P. 73. And better be lewd and debauched, than live an honest and vertuous Life, if you are not of the godly party.

P. 74. And instead of a sober Devotion, they have brought in a more spiritual and intimate way of Communion with God, that in truth consists in little else but meeting together in private, to prate Phrases, make Faces, and rail against Carnal Reason, i. e. in their sense all sober and sincere use of our Understandings in spiritual matters.

Their Piety then sanctified Fury.

P. 150. When Passion is fired with Religious Zeal, nothing can temper its outragious and Fanatick Heats.

P. 151. No malice so spiteful and implacable, as the Zeal of a godly Party; nor any Rage so fierce and merciless as sanctied Bar­barism.

Ibid. All the Ancient Tyranny has in some places been out­done by a thorough Godly Reformation.

P. 168. It is an Eternal Truth, that for the godly Party not to be uppermost, is and ever will be Persecution.

P. 178. All the pious Villanies that have ever disturbed the Chri­stian World, have sheltered themselves in this Grand Maxim, That Jesus Christ is the onely Law-giver to his Church.

P. 263. When to pick Quarrels with the Laws, &c. shall be made the specifick Character of the godly Party, and when giddy and humerous Zeal, shall not onely excuse but hallow Disobedience, when every one that hath Pride enough to fancy himself a Child of God, shall have license to despise Authority, and do what he list.

P. 267. The last Refuge for godly Disobedience, &c.

P. 278. It is a glorious thing to suffer for a tender Conscience &c. and then what Godly men are they, that are so ready to be punish­ed for a good Conscience! It is their Ephod and their Terraphim, i. e. the onely mark of their Godliness, and symbol of their Religion, and if you rob them of that, you take away their Gods, and what have they more?

P. 282. And to endure neither Laws nor Superiours, because they are proud enough to think themselves more holy than their Neighbours.

P. 284. Now to permit these Men their Liberty, who mistake Insolence for Tenderness of Conscience; is to indulge Zealous Idiots in their Folly, and to infest their Government with a sullen and cross-grain'd Godliness.

322. And when they are once let loose, who then can set Bounds to the Wildnesses of Godly Madness?

And if they will endure to be checked, &c. by every Systema­tical Theologue (and most, not to say the best, of our Adversaries are little better) &c.

P. 307. From all the Disturbances of a peevish and wayward Godliness.

Greater Safety in Tolerating Open Debaucheries, than Liberty of Conscience.

Pref. P. 53. If Princes would but consider how liable Mankind are to abuse themselves with serious and conscientious Villanies, they would quickly see it to be absolutely necessary to the Peace and Happiness of their Kingdoms, that there be set up a more severe Government over mens Consciences and Religious Perswasions, than over their Vices and Immoralities.

Ibid. I shall refer the Reader to my Book, where I think I have proved enough to satisfie any Man of an Ordinary Understanding, That Princes may with less hazzard give Liberty to Mens Vices and Debaucheries, than to their Consciences.

P. 17. When the Vertues of the Godly are more pregnant with mischief and villany, than the Vices of the Wicked.

P. 18. Now when 'tis so difficult for Magistrates to remove these Religious Vices, or to bridle their Unruliness, they must needs find it an incomparably harder Task to restrain the Extrava­gancies of Zeal, than of Lewdness and Debauchery.

P. 19. And this certainly hath ever been one of the most fatal miscarriages of all Governours that have gone about to govern un­ruly Consciences by more easie and remiss Laws, than those that are onely able to suppress scandalous and confessed Villanies.

P. 78. Are not wrong Notions of the Divine Worship as de­structive of the Peace and Settlement of Commonwealths, as the most vitious and licentious Debaucheries?

Moral Vertues and Grace, not of a different nature or respect, but the same on all Accounts and Considerations.

P. 65. Contents. Of the villany of those mens Religion, that are wont to distinguish between Grace and Vertue.

P. 68. The Precepts of the Moral Law are both perfective of our own natures, and conducive to the happiness of others; and [Page 12]the practise of Vertue consists in living suitably to the Dictates of Reason and Nature. And this is the substance and main design of all the Laws of Religion, to oblige mankind to behave themselves in all their Actions, as becomes Creatures endowed with Reason and Understanding, and in ways suitable to Rational Beings, to prepare and qualifie themselves for the state of Glory and Im­mortality.

P. 69. So that moral vertue having the strongest and most ne­cessary influence upon the end of all Religion (viz.) man's happi­ness; it is not only its most material and useful part, but the ul­timate end of all its other duties, and all true Religion can consist in nothing else but either the practise of Vertue it self, or the use of those means and instruments that contribute to it.

P. 71. All Religion then (I mean the practical part) is either Vertue it self, or some of its instruments, and the whole duty of man consists in being vertuous, &c.

P. 72. All that the Scripture intends by the Graces of the Spi­rit, are only vertuous qualities of the Soul, that are therefore stiled Graces, because they are derived purely from God's free Grace and Goodness.

P. 76. So that all Religion must of necessity be resolved into Enthusiasm or Morality. The former is meer imposture, and therefore all that is true must be reduced to the latter.

P. 77. The whole state of affairs is briefly this; Man is sent into the world to live happily here, and prepare himself for happiness hereafter; this is attained by the practise of Moral Vertues, and Pious Devotions.

Tender Consciences, scornfully vilified and reproached.

P. 269. A weak Conscience is the product of a weak Understan­ding; and he is a very subtle Man that can find the difference be­tween a tender Head and a tender Conscience.

P. 272. Doubts are the natural products of Ignorance, Weak­ness is their Parents, and Folly their Nurse.

P. 279. Weakness of Conscience, alwayes proceeds in some measure from want of wit.

P. 285. And therefore such untoward and humoursome Saints must be lashed out of their sullenness, otherwise they will be an E­ternal annoyance to all Government, with the childish and whi­ning pretences of a weak and crazy Conscience.

The tenderness of their Consciences (for which forsooth they must be born with) consists in nothing else but their being the greatest and most notorious Hereticks.

And now upon the result of these particulars, I leave it first to the publick Authority to consider, whether it be not a wonderful wise piece of good nature to be tender and indulgent to these poor tender Consciences.

P. 306. It is prodigiously strange (and yet as common too) to consider how most men, who pretend (and that perhaps sincerely) to great tenderness of Conscience, and scruple postures and inno­cent Ceremonies, are so hardy as to digest the most wicked and most mischievous villanies.

And therefore instead of being complyed with, they must be re­strained with a more peremptory & unyielding rigour than naked and unsanctified villanies, else they will quickly discover themselves to be pregnant with greater and more fatal dangers.

Publick Conscience.

P. 308. In cases & disputes of a publick Concern, private Men are not properly sui Juris, they have no power over their own acti­ons, they are not to be directed by their own judgments, or deter­mined by their own wills, but by the commands and determinati­ons of the publick Conscience. And if there be any sin in the command, he that imposed it shall answer for it, and not I, whose whole duty it is to obey.

Ibid. The Commands of Authority will warrant my Obedience, my obedience will hallow or at least excuse my action, and so secure me from sin, if not from error, because I follow the best guide and most probable direction I am capable of; and though I may mi­stake, my integrity shall preserve my innocence. And in all doubt­ful and disputable cases, it is better to err with Authority, than to be in the right against it,

P. 309. And therefore in all such matters, their commands are the Supream rule of Conscience.

Christian Liberty.

P. 92. Mankind therefore have the same natural right to liber­ty of Conscience, as in affairs of justice and honesty; i. e. a liberty of judgement, but not of practice. They have an inviolable free­dom to examine the goodness of all Lawes, Moral and Ecclesiasti­cal, and to judge of them by their suitableness to the natural rea­sons of good and evil; but as for the practise of all outward acti­ons either of Vertue or Devotion, they are equally governable by the Laws and Constitutions of Commonwealths; and men may with the same pretence of Reason, challenge an exemption from all humane Laws in matters of common honesty, upon the score of the freedom of their Consciences, as they plead a liberty from all Authority in duties of Religious worship upon the same account, because they have a freedom of judgment in both, of practice in neither.

Ibid. And upon the reasonableness of this Principle, is foun­ded the Duty (or rather priviledge) of Christian Liberty.

P. 94. So that Christian Liberty, or the inward freedom of our judgments may be preserved inviolable under the restraints of the Civil Magistrate, which are outward, and concern only the acti­ons not judgments of men.

P. 95. The whole affair of Christian liberty, relates only to our inward judgment of things; and provided this be kept inviolate, it matters not (as to that concern) what restraints are laid upon our outward actions.

Ibid. As long as we obey the determinations of our Superiors, with an opinion of the indifferency of the things themselves, we retain the power of our Christian liberty, and are still free as to the matter of the Law, though not as to the Duty of Obedi­ence.

P. 301. Where the dictates of a private Conscience happen to thwart the determinations of the publick Laws, they in that case lose their binding power.

P. 303. And therefore to act against the inclinations of our own doubts and scruples, is so far from being criminal, that it is an eminent instance of vertue.

Uncharitable and bitter Censures.

P. 105. And therefore to quarrel with those Forms of Pub­lick worship, which are established by Authority, only because they are humane Institutions, is at once notorious Schism and Re­bellion.

He that acts cross to the Commands of Authority, he is a proud and factious person.

P. 221. If they would but make it part of their business to undeceive the People; but they dare not let them know their Er­rours, lest they should forfeit both their Party and their Repu­tation.

P. 273. And then he pretends Conscience, only to vouch his Humour and his Insolence. i. e. he is a Villain and an Hypocrite.

P. 277. The truth of it is, Some men study for impertinent Scruples; they have enslaved themselves to their follies, and are resolved to grow old in a voluntary bondage to Trifles and Fooleries.

P. 284. And as queazy as it is (Conscience he means) in re­ference to its Superiors Commands; 'tis usually strong enough to digest Rebellion and villany; and whilst it rises against a poor innocent Ceremony, it is scarce ever stir'd with Schism, Fa­ction, and Cruelty.

The Churches absolute Power in the Exterior part of God's Publick Worship.

P. 104. In the Mosaick dispensation, indeed God took special care to prescribe the particular Rites and Ceremonies of his Wor­ship, not so much by reason of the necessity of the thing it self, as because of the sottishness and stupidity of that Age, &c. But when mankind was grown up to a riper understanding, then did God cancel the old Discipline of the Law, and by the Ministry of [Page 16]Jesus Christ established a more manly and rational Dispensation: in which, as he hath been nore sollicitous to acquaint us with the main and fundamental Articles of Religion; so has he scarce at all concerned himself in exterior Rites and Significations (the two Sacraments excepted) but for all other Rites and Ceremonies of ex­ternal Service, he has left their intire disposal to the power and dis­cretion of the Church it self; knowing, that as long as men had wit and reason enough to manage the civil Affairs of Commonwealths, they could not want Prudence to judge what circumstances were conducive to Order and Decency in Publick Worship.

Scripture, no adequate Rule of Worship.

P. 174. That nothing ought to be established in the Worship of God, but what is authorised by some Precept or Example in the Word of God, that is the complete and adequate Rule of Wor­ship: This very Principle is the only fountain and foundation of all Puritanism.

P. 180. Why are not the Holy Scriptures as perfect a Rule of Civil as of Ecclesiastical Policy? Why should they not be as com­plete a Systeme of Ethicks, as they are a Canon of Worship? Why do not these men require from the Scriptures express commands for every action they do in common life?

P. 181. How dare they take any Physick but what is prescribed in the Word of God? How dare they Commence a Suit at Law, with­out warranty from Scripture? How dare they do any natural action without particular advice and direction of Holy writ?

P. 196. And this may suffice to demonstrate the unparallel'd Follies and Mischiefs of this Principle.

Magistrates incited to Severity against Nonconformists.

P. 253. In brief, the only cause of all our troubles and distur­bances, is the inflexible perversness of about an hundred proud, ignorant and Seditious Preachers, against whom if the severity of the Laws were particularly levelled, how easie would it be, in some competent time, to reduce the people, &c,

P. 257. Princes have no reason to abridge themselves in the ex­ercise of their lawful Power, onely because some of their Subjects will not learn to be modest and ingenious.

P. 270. Governours must look to the Publick, and let Tender Consciences look to Themselves.

P. 271. And therefore if Princes will be resolute, (and if they will govern, so they must be) they may easily make the most stubborn Consciences bend to their Commands: But if they will not, they must submit Themselves and their Power to all the follies and pas­sions of their Subjects: For there are no Conceits so extravagant, or so pernicious, that may not pass for Principles of Consci­ence.

P. 286. In the mean while, we see what is to be done in the Case of Tender Consciences. If they are acted by calm and peaceable Principles, they will not desire liberty; if they are not, they will not deserve it.

P. 309. And every Conscience that is not thus perswaded, is upon that account to be reckoned as seditious and unpeaceable, and so to be treated accordingly.

And now Christian Reader, be thou of what Party or Profession soever, judge whether the Author of these recited Passages, be as he would perswade the World, of a tame and softly humour, and so cold a Complexion, that he is not capable of hot and fiery impressions. Sure this kind of Language was born not under the frigid but tor­rid Zone. If he be thus fiery in his cold Fit, what shall be expected from him in his hot? If he be so mad when he is tame, that nothing can bound his fire and fury; alas who durst think of seeing him in a wild humour? If Lightning, Storms and Thunder, trouble a se­rene Air, what Tempests will a troubled have? Doth the coolness of his Spirit produce such heat, what will the boylings of his Passion do? But I rather think the Gentleman's mistaken in his own Com­plexion, and is too partial in his own Character. He would do well to consult his late Book, to rectifie his Apprehensions, and calcu­late his Temper from that Meridian: There he hath formed his Effigie, raised his Statue, limned and pourtrayed himself to the [Page 18] Life. An Enterprize impossible for any other Person to have ac­complished: For Charity would have obliged others to a better opinion of him, than he hath now plainly told us he merits. They would have drawn him to some likelier advantage. And because he is a Minister, and an Archbishops Chaplain, it must necessarily have been said, He is questionless a Man of Conscience, Honesty, Candour, and good Nature; but he has declared the quite contra­ry; and is not ashamed publiquely to relinquish the least interest in those Noble Qualities. His Friends and Admirers are behold­ing to him for undeceiving them. It is indeed something strange, that he who boldly determines Religion to be nothing else but Mo­rality, and terms them Villains who offer to suppose a distinction; should yet be so manifestly defective in common Vertues. Are not not the Violences of Passion, Pride, Fury, Malice, and Insolence, Immoralities, and great ones too? How easie upon his own Prin­ciples, may we prove him a Graceless Person? If all the mention­ed Evils (and a Complication of many others) do not evidently shew themselves in his late Discourse, I have lost my Sense and Reason. They are but some Expressions (amongst a multitude of the like nature) that I have collected together; for a fuller satis­faction I refer the Reader to the Book it self. Wise and sober men are astonished at his Extravagancies and intemperate Railings, cannot guess at his Design, unless it be (under the Colour of opposing Toleration, and aspersing the Phanaticks) to throw dirt on Christia­nity it self; and instead of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to intro­duce an Ethnical Religion. For should his notions be embraced, Faith, Justification, the Merit of Christ, and Salvation by it, may reasonably be exploded, and a Philosophical Creed justle out the Chri­stian. For else what is the import of that passage, page 77. The whole state of Affairs is briefly this; Man is sent into the world to live happily here, and prepare himself for happiness hereafter; this is attained by the practise of Moral Vertues, and Pious Devotions. If Moral Vertues have so full an influence into a Christians felicity, in vain do men talk of a Mediator; people need not trouble them­selves about the Son of God: And Socrates, Seneca, and Plato, were in the right Religion, and the path-way to Heaven. Chri­stianity, not a whit superior to Paganism; we may even part with [Page 19]our Bibles, or only read them as Romances, to spend an idle hour. Some therefore think, the young man had a mind to be taken no­tice of, and doubting whether his wit would make him famous e­nough, he resolved his wickedness should; like the poor obscure Fellow in Ephesus, that to perpetuate his Name, burnt down the Temple of Diana. Others are inclined to think, He writ this Book, more out of humour than design, to sport himself a while. And the rather do they imagine it, because he has in his Preach­ing vented wild and untoward Notions; being told of, and blamed for it, he hath used to put off all with a Pish, he was but in jest, and he spoke as the present fancy or humour took him. However it be, the thing is highly criminal and notoriously wicked. I pray God shew him wherein he has offended, that he may do no more so wick­edly. I doubt not but he will scoff at me for interesting my self so much in his concerns, but I care not; let him take heed that that Scripture be not one day sadly fulfilled upon him, That God shall laugh at his calamity, and mock when his fear cometh. I might tell the Reader of a Sermon he preached lately at Covent-Garden-Church, much of the same complexion with his Book, decrying an imputed Righteousness, railing at Phanaticks, jearing them with lolling upon Christ, calling them Lubberly Believers, &c. Aspersing our Learned and Pious Reformers of Religion, openly asserting that they wanted either Wit or Judgement. Besides the Popish Doctrine then delivered, that Good Works are the Causes of Justi­fication. And such-like strains as these doth he commonly stuff his Discourses withal.

But I shall no further trouble the Reader with an account of his drolling and prophane Wit: I intend neither an Answer to, nor Animadersions on his Book: I am too conscious of my own weak­ness and incapacity for such a Work. I shall but acquaint thee with one particular, liable it may be to mis-construction, and that is, about the Magistrates Dominion in Ecclesiastical Matters. I am far from disowning their Power, I do not at all question his Majesties Right in the Government of the Church and State both; and when the Publick Ministry pray for him, as being in all Causes, and over all Persons, &c. I do not refuse my Assent. Onely in my poor Opinion, Mr. P. has given the Magistrate that absolute Au­thority [Page 20]which I think no Christian Prince ever claimed; not ou [...]redge [...] of ignorance, (as he confidently insinuates) but from a sense and conviction it belong'd not to their Prerogative. He is the First, and Onely Person that I know, or have heard of, who hath subject­ed Conscience so unlimitedly to Secular Soveraignty and Domina­tion. However, supposing this an Error in me, I am thus far innocent, in barely relating his words upon this Subject, leaving it to the Construction of the Peruser, without affixing any sence of my own upon them.

And now Reader, I shall no longer trespass on thy patience, but onely take the liberty to wish a happy end of all our Diffe­rences and Divisions, the blotting out all Names of Distinction, and the promoting of Catholick Charity amongst Brethren: That all true Christians may endeavour to preserve the Ʋnity of the Spi­rit in the Bond of Peace.