chievous to the ftate. Nor did this come of the prince's neglect or indulgence; there are other reasons to be affigned; of which, the opportunities domeftick troubles gave to their increase and power, and the se-. verities used to fupprefs them, may go for none of the leaft. So that it was as involuntary in the prince, as to the church anxious. And under this neceffity to tie the magistrate to old measures, is to be regardless of time, whose fresh circumftances give aim to the conduct of wife men in their present actions. Governments, as well as courts, change their fashions: the fame clothes will not always ferve: and politicks, made obfolete by new accidents, are as unfafe to follow, as antiquated dreffes are ridiculous to wear.

Thus feamen know, and teach us in their daily practice: they humour the winds; though they will lie as near as they can, and trim their fails by their compass; and by patience under thefe conftrained and uneven courses, they gain their port at laft. This juftifies the government's change of measures from the change of things; for res nolunt malè adminiftrari.

And to be free, it looks more than partial, to elect and reprobate too. That the church of England is preferred, and has the fat of the earth, the authority of the magiftrate, and the power of the fword in her fons hands, which comprehend all the honours, places, profits, and powers of the kingdom, must not be repined at: let her have it, and keep it all, and let none dare feek or accept an office that is not of her. But to ruin diffenters to complete her happiness, (pardon the allufion) is Calvinism in the worst sense; for this is that borrendum decretum reduced to practice: and to pursue that ill-natured principle, Men are civilly damned for that they cannot help;' fince faith is not in man's power, though it sometimes expofes one

to it.

It is a fevere dilemma, that a man muft either renounce that of which he makes confcience in the fight of God, or be civilly and ecclefiaftically reprabated: there was a time, when the church of England herself

stood

stood in need of indulgence, and made up a great part of the non-conformists of this kingdom; and what The then wanted, the pleaded for, I mean a toleration, and that in a general ftile, as divers of the writings of her doctors tell us:, of which let it be enough but to mention that excellent difcourfe of Dr. Taylor, Bishop of Down, intitled, Liberty of Prophecy.'

And that which makes severity look the worse in the members of the church of England, is the modesty fhe profeffes about the truth of the things fhe believes for though, perhaps, it were indefenfible in any church to compel a man to that which he were infallibly affured to be true, unless fhe fuperfeded his ignorance by conviction, rather than authority, it muft, doubtless, look rude, to punish men into conformity to that, of the truth of which the church herfelf pretends no certainty.

Not that I would lefs believe a church fo cautious, than one more confident; but I know not how to help thinking perfecution harfh, when they ruin people for not believing that, which they have not in themselves the power of believing, and which he cannot give them, and of which herself is not infallibly affured. The drift of this is moderation, which well becomes us poor mortals, that "for every idle word we fpeak, muft give an account at the day of judgment," if our Saviour's doctrine have any credit with us.

It would much mitigate the severity, if the diffent were fullen, or in contempt: but if men cannot help or hinder their belief, they are rather unhappy than guilty, and more to be pitied than blamed. However they are of the reasonable stock of the country; and though they were unworthy of favour, they may not be unfit to live. It is capital, at law, to destroy baftards; and bye-blows are laid to the parish to keep they must maintain them at laft: and fhall not thefe natural fons, at least, be laid at the door of the kingdom? Unhappy fate of Diffenters! to be lefs heeded, and more deftitute than any body. If this fhould ever happen to be the effect of their own folly, with fubmiffion,

fubmiffion, it can never be the confequence of the government's engagements.

Election does not neceffarily imply a reprobation of the rest. If God hath elected fome to falvation, it will not follow of courfe that he hath abfolutely rejected all the rest. For though he was God of the Jews, he was God of the Gentiles too, and they were his people, though the Jews were his peculiar people. "God re

fpects not perfons," fays St. Peter; the good of all nations are accepted. The difference at laft, will not be of opinion, but works: fheep or goats, all, of all judgments, will be found: and "Come, well done;" or, "Go, ye workers of iniquity," will conclude their eternal ftate: let us be careful therefore of an opinion-reprobation of one another.

We fee the God of nature hath taught us fofter doctrine in his great book of the world: his fun shines, and his rain falls, upon all. All the productions of nature are by love; and fhall it be proper to religion only to propagate by force? The poor ben inftructs us in humanity, who, to defend her feeble young, refufes no danger. All the feeds and plants that grow for the use of man, are produced by the kind and warm influences of the fun. It is kindness that upholds human race. People do not multiply in fpite: and if it be by gentle and friendly ways, that nature produces and matures the creatures of the world, certainly religion fhould teach us to be mild and bearing.

"Let your moderation be known to all men," was the faying of a great doctor of the Chriftian faith; and his reafon for that command cogent, "For the "Lord is at hand." As if he had faid, Have a care what you do; be not bitter nor violent; for the judge is at the door: do as you would be done to; left what you deny to others, God fhould refuse to you.'

And after all this, fhall the church of England be lefs tender of mens confciences, than our common law is of their lives; which had rather a thousand criminals fhould efcape, than that one innocent should

perish?

perish? Give me leave to fay, that there are many innocents (confcience excepted) now expofed; men honest, peaceable and ufeful; free of ill defigns; that pray for Cæfar, and pay their tribute to Cæfar.

If any tell us, They have, or may, ill ufe their toleration;' I fay, this must be looked to, and not liberty therefore refufed: for the English church cannot fo much forget her own maxim to Diffenters, that Propter abufum non eft tollendus ufus. It fuffices to our argument it is no neceffary confequence, and that fat and time are for us. And if any mifufe fuch freedom, and intitle confcience to mifbehaviour, we have other laws enough to catch and punish the offenders, without treating one party with the spoils of fix. And when religion becomes no man's intereft, it will hardly ever be any man's hypocrify. Men will chufe by confcience, which at least preferves integrity, though it were mistaken: and if not in the wrong, truth recompenfes inquiry, and light makes amends for diffent.

And fince a plain method offers itself, from the circumstances of our cafe, I take the freedom to prefent it for the model of the intreated toleration.

Much has been defired, faid and preffed, in reference to the late king's being head of a Proteftant league, which takes in but a part of the Chriftian world; the Roman and Grecian Chriftians being excluded. But I moft humbly offer, that our wife men would please to think of another title for our king, and that is head of a Christian league, and give the experiment here at home in his own dominions.

The Chriftian religion is admired of all in the text, and by all acknowledged in the Apoftle's Creed. Here every party of Chriftians meet, and center as in a general. The feveral fpecies of Chriftians, that this genus divideth itself into, are thofe divers perfuafions we have within this kingdom; the church of England, Roman-Catholicks, Grecians, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptifts, Quakers, Socinians: thefe I call fo many orders of Chriftians, that unite

in the text, and differ only in the comment; all owning one Deity, Saviour, and Judge, good works, rewards and punishments: which bodies once regulated, and holding of the prince as head of the government, maintaining charity, and preffing piety, will be an honour to Christianity, a ftrength to the prince, and a benefit to the publick: for in lieu of an unattainable, (at best an unfincere) uniformity, we shall have in civils unity, and amity in faith.

The Jews before, and in the time of Herod, were divided into divers fects. There were Pharifees, Sadducees, Herodians, and Effenes: they maintained their diffent without ruin to the government; and the magiftrates fell under no cenfure from Chrift for that toleration.

The Gentiles, as already has been obferved, had their divers orders of philofophers, as difagreeing as ever Christians were, and that without danger to the peace of the ftate.

The Turks themfelves fhow us, that both other religions, and divers fects of their own, are very tolerable with fecurity to their government.

The Roman church is a confiderable inftance to our point; for fhe is made up of divers orders of both fexes, of very differing principles, fomented fometimes to great feuds and controverfies; as between Francifcans, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Sorbonists; yet without danger to the political ftate of the church. On the contrary, fhe therefore caft herself into that method, that she might fafely give vent to opinion and zeal, and fuffer both without danger of schism. And thefe regulars are, by the Pope's grants, privileged with an exemption from epifcopal vifitation and jurifdiction.

God Almighty infpire the king's heart, and the hearts of his great council, to be the glorious inftruments of this bleffing to the kingdom.

I shall conclude this perfuafive, with the judgment of fome pious fathers, and renowned princes.

Quadratus