A MODEST ANSWER TO Dr. Dove's SERMON, PREACHED AT Bow-Church BEFORE THE Lord Mayor AND Court of ALDERMEN, ON The Day for the Election of a Lord Mayor.  
London, Printed for R. Rabnutt, 1682.   

A Modest ANSWER TO Dr. Dove's SERMON, Preached at BOW-CHURCH before the LORD MAYOR and Court of Aldermen on the Day for the Election of Lord Mayor.  
THE tendency of the Christian Religion is to induce her followers to a Conformity to the Rules thereof, two principal Rules whereof are Charity and Obedience; the latter is the Doctrine pressed and inculcated in the Doctors Sermon. But although he thus presseth Obedience to Magistrates, wherein he doth well; so likewise his Concession is excellent, when enforcing the aforesaid Doctrine, page. 10. of his Sermon, he saith, If that pass into a Law, which is repugnant or inconsistent with the Laws of God, we must submit under it, though we must not comply with it, for here that antecedent Rule takes place, to Obey God rather than Man. But if a mans private Conscience cannot assent to the public Conscience, since the Apostle Paul argueth, What is not of Faith, is Sin; if then a Man must in conformity to the public Conscience captivated his private Conscience contrary to the dictates thereof, though dissenting from the public Conscience: what means the Doctors assertion, page. 14. There is no such phrase throughout the Bible as Liberty of Conscience. Which if there be not in the very words or phrase, yet is implyed in the sense and drift of the before cited Argument of the Apostle: But further he saith, page. 23. The Government has a right to tie the Consciences of Men by the firmest bonds it can. Now if the Consciences of men which are free and unconstrained must be tied, it must be by threatenings and Punishments, which may indeed make some men Hypocrites, but can make no men true Converts to any opinion or Doctrine whatsoever; nay Bishop Sanderson himself acknowledgeth and saith, in his Sermons, Vol. 1. p. 1. 2. Ad Magistratum; There hath been left, for any thing I find to the contrary, in all well governed Polities, a kind of Latitude more or less, and power in the Magistrates, even in those Courts that were strictissimi Juris, upon fit occasion to qualify and mitigate something the Rigor of the Laws by the Rules of Equity: thus far Bishop Sanderson, and indeed most convenient is it in point both of Charity and Policy not to force men contrary to their Consciences, or at least wise as Bishop Sanderson saith, that the Rigour of the Laws in that case be suspended, for, He that is suffered to enjoy under a State the freedom of his Religion, when differing from the public Profession, has not only the common tie of a Subject upon him, for his protection as a man, but the cumulative obligation, and thanks to pay for his Indulgence as a Christian under such a Character. Subjects in such a posture, as they will ever be studious of an opportunity, to testify their grateful fidelity, and by some eminent Service to lay up a stock of Merit, that may secure their future quiet; so they will be of any, most careful not to forfeit so pleasing an Indulgence, by falling under a public displeasure. A Prince in such a state of things, by making himself a common Father to the whole Protestant Religion, though made up of some differences within itself, will be secured not only of that common Homage of Obedience and Subjection, but with it, that more noble, of the Hearts, and Affections of all his Protestant Subjects.  
But if you suppose the Dissenters to be possessed with Errors, yet Persecution of them for their profession of Religion, and adherence to the Doctrines they Embrace, is apt to make the professors thereof, think them more than ordinary Truths, and themselves some great men in maintaining them; so it makes others seek after that, when driven into a Corner, which were it in the open streets, no man would Regard. He that Preaches and writes under restraint, that restraint begets him Readers and Hearers, that would else pass through the World with very little notice taken of him; things difficult and hard to be come by, carry some weight in mens expectance: Foolish and absurd Opinions are only put to Nurse by Persecution, and by that made to have something in the concerns and fears of others, which has indeed nothing in itself. The hiding men by a keen pursuit after them, in the profession of such things, keeps them alive; whereas if they openly preached, writ, and were discoursed, the folly of them would appear such, as not only others, but the men themselves would be ashamed and weary of them.  
Nay, Were there no other reason to make a Prince or a State out of love with punishing men for Religion, and matters of that nature, this were sufficient, to consider such punishment ever falls upon the most honest of his Subjects in every differing party; men of loose juggling principles, and unsound Hearts, will be sure to escape the Net; only the sincere plain-hearted man, that cannot dissemble, is caught; 'twas the device against Daniel heretofore, They knew in the matters of his God 'twas easy to deal with him, because in those he would not upon any terms dissemble.  
This has Three ill Effects always attending it.  
1. It disobliges the best sort of men in every party, whom the State should most cherish and engage; whatever is said to the contrary, those that are the truest Subjects to the Great King, will be also found the best to his Vicegerents here: 'Tis a strange Heterodox kind of policy, to make all the honest, sincere men in a Nation, of every party, but that one the State adheres to, the object of the States displeasure, and to make Laws that can have no other effect, but their Suffering.  
2. All standards by, the generality of a Nation looking on, must needs be dissatisfied, to see a Plain honest man, upright and punctual in all his dealings amongst men, punished merely for his Conscience to God; and because he will not comply to save himself, which nothing but his Conscience can led him to, and by parting with which, he may at any time Purchase his quiet; in such a case common ingenuity begets pity for him, if not Proselytes to him, and great dislike of the course taken with him.  
3. Though it be a secret, yet 'tis a very sure and certain way of bringing National Judgments upon a people; no doubt God takes great notice of the Punishing men merely, because they are true to him, for so every man is, that is true to his Conscience, though it be erroneous. Upon no other account was it, That Paul justified himself before the High-Priest, in saying, He had walked before God, in all good Conscience to that time. His meaning was, He had gone according to his Light, as a thing Pleasing to God, though otherwise, as to the matter, his Conscience was erroneous, and his iudgment mis-informed. And he tells us, afterwards, That he obtained Mercy from God, because what he did against the Church, was done Ignorantly, and in pursuance of the best Light he then had.  
The punishing men merely for following the pure dictates of Conscience, is no doubt the true cause of many National miseries; And a State should be careful to avoid this, as they would preserve their own safety and Welfare. If we look into that which naturally occasioneth several Opinions in Religion, 'tis that which a Prince should for his own Interest highly encourage, and that is Knowledge; for no doubt, as Knowledge increaseth, it expatiates itself into variety of Thoughts and Principles; and as it enlargeth all other Sciences, so Religion. Knowledge is the Glory of a Nation, and that by which all matters of Concern to it, as War, Trade, Policy, and every thing else is highly enlarged. 'Tis the high Honour of a Prince to Govern a Wife and a Knowing People, as well as a Great People; 'Tis an impotent piece of Policy, and equally destructive to all public Interest, to say, Subjects must be kept ignorant, as to say, They must be kept poor. They are Maxims only fitted for a Tyrant, and such who only govern for themselves, and calculate all Interests, as they concentre in their own, and by so doing, make themselves their own Idols. Nothing damps all Noble Undertakings amongst men of Conscience, like Imposition in Religion, it makes them hang down their Heads, it makes them heartless in their Callings; If they are denied freedom in Religion, men of Conscience will care little for any thing else. Solomon tells us, A wounded Spirit no man can bear. He that carries a taint of trouble in his mind about these things, is impotent in every thing; 'tis Liberty in Religion that breeds the noble and generous minds. Let a man know his duty to God, and have freedom to perform it, and that man will have wisdom and Courage above any man. Imposing Religion upon men has never other effect, than either to lull men asleep into implicit ignorance, and so make them as sottish and useless Members of a State, as they are of the Church; or else, where it meets with Knowledge and Integrity, sinks men under the greatest grief, and provokes them to the greatest dissatisfaction. If we look amongst ourselves, Who be they that desire favour in this particular? And who be they that will be gratified and engaged by it, but every where men of Religious Principles? And are not they generally the sober and serious men, that bring good to a Nation? Are not they in all Callings and Trades, generally most industrious, and thriving? Are not they most saving in their expenses, and every way, either in War or Peace, most useful and serviceable? 'Tis debauched, loose, expensive people that over-live their Estates, and neglect their Callings, that help to pull a state down; Such men will be sure to comform to any thing, that secures them in present Luxury; 'tis the sober, Serious, Religious sort of men, that every way make a Nation prosper; to discontent such, and to put them into one common Dungeon of imputed Faction, and actual Persecution, will never be found any right measure of a true National Interest.  
Several things, with great Evidence, seem to pled for Moderation and Indulgence here in England.  
1. The Number and Quantity of those concerned, as well as the Quality is such, that it can be no way prudent to discontent them, upon that which will no way compensate the inconvenience; there can be no good Policy to leave so many men, mixed every where, even in the highest places of the Nation, under dissatisfaction, without the least effect, but the reproach of imprudence in doing it, and to put a disgraceful distinguishing Character upon them, as men unfaithful to the State, only because they cannot comply with some Ceremonies( as the case is generally amongst us) and worship God just in the public way, a thing of no more intrinsic concern to the State, than to have all men of the same Opinion in a disputed point of Philosophy, and a thing of as equal likelihood to be attained. A Subject that gives the same testimony of his Fidelity to his Prince, that others do, and behaves himself in all Civil Concerns, as a faithful and profitable Member of the Commonwealth, and yet is looked upon as a public enemy, and made the object of public anger, because he cannot in every Circumstance comply with public Religion, is without doubt very severely and impolitickly dealt with. As every Subject hath an Interest in his Natural Prince, so hath the Prince in every Subject, and should be like the True Mother that would by no means divide the Child.  
Let Liberty of Conscience be once fitly given, and the root of all mens hopes and pretensions, that desire public mischief, is pulled up, and the King will be the greatest, and most Beloved Prince that ever yet sate upon the Throne.  
2. We shall never have a flourishing Trade without it.  
1. Because the Pressure in these things falls generally more upon the Trading sort of men, than any in the Nation; we may see it in the great City, and in all Corporations: It makes many give over Trading, and retire; It makes others remove into Holland, and other foreign Parts; as it did heretofore from Norwich, to the irrecoverable prejudice of our Clothing Trade, upon the like occasion; And it certainly prevents all Protestant Strangers to come to Live and Trade amongst us. It puts great Advantages into the hands of the Hollander every way, who have not a better Friend in Europe, than Uniformity in England. As Liberty of Conscience here, is that they fear above any thing, so it would insensibly more weaken them, than all the Victories we have obtained over them.  
2. Men will never Trade freely, where they do not Live and Converse freely; where a man is afraid to be watched to a Conventicle, and all the time he serves God, is fain to hid himself; No man will choose to live so, if he can avoid it; every man that cannot comform to the public Religion, lying under the lash of the Law, will prudently shun both Business and Company, will never lay out his Estate, where 'tis in any mans power to do him a mischief. A man conscious to himself, that he cannot comply with the Law, will avoid meddling with any thing, and choose privacy as his best security.  
3. 'Tis the King of Englands true Interest to become Head of all the Protestant party in the World, and he will never do that, but by first making himself a common Father to all his Protestant Subjects at home. That 'tis his Interest to Head the Protestant party abroad, is plain; because being the greatest and most powerful of all Protestant Princes and States, he will necessary draw them into a dependence upon him, and desire of Protection from him; by which not only the Protestant Interest in itself will be much secured, by being so united and conjoined, but the King of England also will receive a great Accession of power, by the Influence he will have on so great a part of Christendom, which he may make use of, not only to secure the Protestant Religion against the common Enemy of it, but to advantage himself every way, by the great respect and Interest he will have in all Protestant States.  
To bring the Protestants into an union amongst themselves, will be of advantage to every Protestant State, but to none so much as England; First, Because England naturally becomes the Head of such a Union; And Secondly, Because the Designs and Practices of the Popish party, ever since the Reformation, have lain, and will lie more united against England, than any Protestant State, as supposing that the chief Support of all the rest; and therefore England can never be truly safe, nor secured in its proper Interest, but when 'tis environed with all Protestant States adhering to it, and depending upon it. How sadly England has miscarried, when it has espoused any other collateral Interest but the Protestant, has been too obvious, ever since the first Reformation: England has been always greatest at home, when it has been the greatest Defender of the Protestant Faith abroad. Now if the King will thus rightly state his interest abroad, he must begin the Work at home; if he persecute and keep under any of his Protestant Subjects at home, those of their Opinion abroad, will never put themselves under his protection: As he must make no distinction in Christendom, but Protestant and Papist, so he must make no other amongst his Subjects at home. He that imposeth any one Opinion amongst the Protestants, and will tolerate no other, makes the distinction to be still between Protestant and Protestant, and makes himself but Head of a Party amongst them, and will never so heed the Protestant Interest, as to oppose the Popish party with it, or unite the Protestant, so under him, as to make himself their Head.  
Who ever would be Head of all the Protestant Interest, must have no common Enemy but Popery, and concentre all there: Imposing Conformity to the Opinion of any one Protestant party, upon all the rest, is but to make himself so much the weaker by every dissenter, and is indeed totally destructive to the very being of such a thing.  
Lastly, Liberty of Conscience is the best way to secure us to the Protestant Faith, and to prevent a relapse to Popery; the Protestant Religion will be fastest rooted, by exerting fully the Principles of it, and a throughout adhering to them; By our practise in dealing one with another, to deny those Principles by which we justify our Separation from Rome, is the ready way to make them return thither again. Teach men, that there is no man, nor men under any one denomination, since the Apostles times, that are infallible in delivering Divine Truth. Teach men, that the Scripture is the only Rule, of Religion, and let them red it: Tell them, they are to follow no men, farther than they follow that Rule, and that every man is Judge according to the best Light he hath of that Rule, and how far other men comply with it, and differ from it: And that every man is bound to behave himself towards God, according to the Judgement he shall so make within himself; all which are Protestant Principles, and Eternal Truths. And then collect the sense which these principles issue themselves into; and how unreasonable will it then appear to force men to comply with the belief of others, contrary to their own; and when you have bid them use their Light and Reason, to punish them, because they will not oppose it, and go against it. How can we otherwise justify forcing men, where such Principles are avowed, but by a flat denial of them, and recurring to those Popish Weapons of the absolute Power of the Church, and her uncontrollable Authority; and so by condemning others, that upon the exercise of their own Light and Reason now differ from us, we condemn ourselves, who upon the same at first departed from Rome. When we oppose ourselves upon the very same Arguments by which dissenters now amongst ourselves make their defence against us; and when we dispute against them, we take up the same Argument the Papists use against us. There is scarce any considerable Argument urged of late for Conformity, and Imposition, but if you trace it to the Seat, you shall find it in Bellarmine or Suarez. The truth is, He that cannot endure to have any differ from him in Opinion, about the Supernatural Truth of the Gospel, and will have no Toleration of several persuasions of that kind, and thinks it destructive to mankind, and the being of every State, to suffer any so to be; That man is a Protestant by mistake, and will find himself at home in his principles no where but at Rome. The farther we remove in our Reformation from the practise and Principles of the Church of Rome, and live upon our own, the less like we are to return to it. If we make use of their Arguments and Principles at one time, we may come to use them at another, and at last espouse them all together; and what serves our turn at some times to oppose others, may at last prevail upon ourselves. And so 'tis in our practices, reserving any of their Ceremonies, may at last bring us to some of their Doctrines. He that keeps a Holiday, is within a step of praying to that Saint, for whose sake he keeps it, specially if he have the wit to consider why keeps it. He that kneels, and puts weight upon it, is in a fair way to adoration: and he that is for joining the across with Baptism, may come to do it after Grace, and across himself in time. 'Twas Bishop Bonners observation, when he saw the Reformation, and how many of the Popish Ceremonies were retained, being asked what he thought of it, If they like( saith he) the taste of our Broth so well, they will eat of our Beef shortly.  
2. Liberty of Conscience is the great means to dissuse Gospel-Knowledge in Divine things, and that's the best and surest way to bar out Popery, and lock the door upon it for ever. Ignorance is the great and only preparative for implicit Subjection. Christendom cannot( I dare say) afford an instance that ever any State or People, where Divine-Knowledge, by Liberty of Conscience, and a Liberty for the Gospel was spread, were in the least danger of turning Apostates to Popery, but have grown daily more and more into a detestation of it, and generally almost every man amongst them, carrying a Weapon in his understanding to defend the Protestant Cause.  
Were Liberty of Conscience granted in Italy, and other Popish States, we should soon see the Mitre totter upon the Popes head, and probably see as fair Churches there, as in any other part of Europe. 'Twas observed in the Wars of the Low Countries, That when ever any catholic began to look into the Bible, he was not long lived in the Roman Profession.  
3. Liberty of Conscience will breed men up with an irreconcilable dislike to all imposition in Religion and Conscience, and so unite them in a general abhorrence of Popery, as the Grandmother and Author of it. All Christendom over, all principles and parties born from a Liberty given in Religion, have an Antipathy in them to that Romish Yoke, and do naturally unite against the Popish Religion, as the grand and common Enemy of them all.  
Let Liberty of Conscience once be given in a Protestant State, and though there be never so many differences amongst themselves, yet men of all persuasions will concentre in that. He that has the freedom of his Religion, will be concerned to defend it, and look upon Popery as the great giant he is in danger of. Experience and Fact, the best of all demonstrations, do evidence this: take a view of those places, where Liberty of Conscience hath been most given, and you will find there the greatest aversion to Popery, that is in any parts of Christendom.  
'Tis in other places, where other Methods of Imposition and Persecution are used, that compliance with Popery hath been attempted, and projects set on foot to compound the Protestant and the Papists into an agreement.  
'Tis Imposition in Religion sweeps the house, and keeps the Nest warm for Popery: Liberty of Conscience mortally stabs it; where that is once given, it may be said to the Pope, as it was to Belshazzar; God hath numbered thy Kingdom, and finished it, and the place where he once tyrannized, shall know him there no more.  
Lastly, If the Church of Rome understand their own Interest, as we have good reason to believe they do, this Case is determined to our hands: for upon every occasion since the reformation, both in Germany, France, switzerland, and all places where Liberty of Conscience hath been endeavoured, the Popes have toto animo every way opposed it, and declared it a thing perfectly destructive to the Church, and such, as where ever it was suffered, would destroy the Roman Faith; and in that maxim, I believe their infallibility is not much to be denied. Some are so much otherwise minded, that they believe Liberty of Conscience will be the ready means to induce Popery again amongst us, the reasons of it seem invisible, unless it be to be done by some new Rule of contraries; it must either come to pass, by giving liberty in general to Protestants of differing persuasions, or else by giving liberty to the Papists themselves, as included in a general Liberty. For the first( I hope) it appears evidently to have another tendency.  
And for the second, The giving Liberty to the Papists themselves amongst us, no man well informed, can imagine that they should be included in any such Liberty.  
Because in their practise amongst us, they refuse to give that public assurance, every Subject ought to give of his fidelity that expects the favour due to a Subject.  
And also Because their Principles are such, That if they derstand their own Religion, they can never be good Subjects to any Protestant State: He that knows not this, knows not the Roman Religion, and to prove it so by Fact.  
Amongst very many other Instances, let what was done here in the time of Queen Elizabeth to her; and at the same time in France to Henry the Fourth, for ever lye upon Record against them. Nor can a Papist ever become a true and hearty Subject to a Protestant Prince, but by that act he ceaseth to be so. And as common justice does deny them all pretensions to Liberty, so common equity opposeth them; for as both they and their Religion abhor giving Liberty to any but themselves, so is their practise accordingly, for they never give liberty to a Soul living, that differs from them, where they are able and dare deny it.  
To say, That Liberty of Conscience can have no other effect, but to tolerate damnable Heresies, and all kind of Sectaries, which is the usual way of discoursing it; and so to enlarge into all kind of satirical rhetoric upon that topic, is to put a Bears skin upon it, and then to bait it. 'Twill be to impose a thing of a very hard belief upon me, to say, That Truth never gains by Liberty, and that the Imposer is always in the right, and the sufferer in the wrong; especially considering, he that thinks me an heretic, another thinks him so, and a fourth thinks us all so; and all the while we are all of us weak, imperfect, fallible men, sitting in judgement, and sentemcing one another; And there can be no other end of it, but that he that is strongest, makes himself in the right, and destroys the rest. When ever Truth comes to suffer by Imposition, as many times it does, and comes afterwards to be so acknowledged, the evil of such Imposition carries its own evidence. But suppose such Truth never gets any good, and Liberty should be only to men under Errors and Mistakes, 'twere not fit then to deny it, that is, 'twere not fit then to impose upon them; for Liberty is nothing but a Negative upon Force and Imposition; If we consult the good of such men themselves, so lapsed into Error, and desire their Conversion, Force and Imposition is no way to it; If we consult our own Security, there is no danger at all can come by it; for as long as such errors lie in the understanding, and are only conversant about supernatural things, they have no reference at all to the being or well-being of Mankind, as such: What hurt does an Error in Religion do me in my Neighbour, that is otherwise an honest and good man? He is rather in that an Object of my pity, and instruction, than of my anger.  
If we desire to have all men of our Opinion, because we think we are in the right, 'tis a very commendable thing; and if we do it with such a public Charity, we shall use only such Christian means, as naturally conduce to bring it about. But if through the pride of mens hearts, and the intention of their own exaltation thereby, they will have every body of their Opinion; and because they cannot convince and persuade them, will therefore force them, and trample upon them, that's an odious superintendency.  
To say, That upon a prudential Account, Liberty should never be allowed in State, because 'tis that which will unite Parties, and bring them to a Consistency amongst themselves, and so render them much more dangerous, is to say a thing upon a great mistake. For common experience shows us, That nothing unites parties more amongst themselves, than a hot Persecution; nor does any thing bring them so much together as that; 'tis like a great Storm, that drives cattle, that are scattered about, altogether, and brings them to meet in one common shelter to save themselves.  
Ridley and Hooper agreed in the Goal, that would ha●dly have disputed themselves Friends.  
There is no bond of union amongst disagreeing Persons, like Persecution; the common concern of their Security then begets Correspondency, Acquaintance, and such Intercourse and mutual Assistance, as endears them above any thing one to another. And for the danger there may be of any party, there is nothing sure so like to remove that, as Indulging them with a Liberty: the best way to be secured against the discontent of any party, is to remove the cause of such discontent; and the best way to be out of fear of them, unless you can totally destroy them, is to oblige them, and so at once to engage and win them over, and thereby disband our own fears.  
A Modern Author tells us with particular remark, That Maecenus heretofore gave advice to Augustus, That upon no terms he should endure such, who would bring in any strange Worship into the State. I believe it, and 'twas such kind of Advice( no doubt) that caused the ten first Persecutions.  
Methinks the Author should have remembered, that that Advice would have kept Christianity out of the World: For, if we follow the tract of such Policy, we shall find, that what we now say against Tolerating Dissenters amongst ourselves, The Papists first said, and do still say against us all; and if we go one step higher, the Heathens said the very same against the Christian Religion itself, and thought it a Factious, fanatic project of sick-brain'd men, and a thing not to be endured, that men should not content themselves with the same Gods that the rest of the World worshipped and acquiesced in. 'Tis a sad thing and much to be lamented, That the Protestants should take up the dregs of those politics, and make use of them one against another, upon every small difference amongst themselves.  
The same author, in anothor part of his Book, propounds this question,  
If divers ways of Worship( saith he) be allowed in a Nation, What shall a Prince do? If he keep any men of any Profession or Party out of employment for their Opinion sake, he disobliges that party; If he bring all men indifferently alike into employment, if he be of any party himself, he will disoblige his own party, who will expect pre-eminence in that kind, and so in conclusion, by endeavouring to please all, he will lose all.  
This is a knot very easily untied. I will suppose a Prince strict in the Profession and practise of what he thinks is the Truth; and the more strict personally he is, the greater will the favour of Indulgence appear to those that differ from him: but there is no necessity, that he should make a party of those, who are of his Opinion, distinct from the rest of his Subjects; 'tis below his Greatness, and besides his Interest so to do; they will soon become like the Sons of Zeruiah, Those that are of his Opinion, he may think them, in his private judgement, better Christians than others; but there is no Policy so to distinguish them, as if they were thereby better Subjects than others.  
All men in a State, are to give one common Assurance ●f their Fidelity, and such who are allowed a Liberty ●… their Religion, when differing from the public Pro●… ession; the Political end of it is, to make them good S●bjects; and the end of that must needs be, to make ●… em serviceable to their Prince; and there is no reason ●o doubt, but that they will be so, and eminently so, ●… ecause they lie under an Obligation to his Favour, those of his own Opinion are not capable of. A Prince ●… hold seat himself in his Throne, with an equal Political Aspect to all his Subjects, and employ them, as their finess for his Service qualifies them: There is no reason to narrow and limit a Prince to any Party, or to let any Party grow into such a predominant Opinion, as if the Prince were confined to them.  
No mans bare Opinion in such things should qualify him for an employment, nor no mans Opinion ought to put a Negative upon him in that kind; that is for a Prince, after he has obliged all his Subjects to him, to lose the use of a great part of them. Let a Prince but choose men to serve him, whose Ability and Fitness carries the evidence of his choice, and other Exceptions will soon vanish. 'Tis below the greatness of a Prince, to have any Subject pretend to employment, upon any score, but his judgement of his fitness for it.  
The King of France hath heretofore often with good success employed his Protestant Subjects; Nay, has often trusted the Command of his whole Army in the hand of a Protestant, and yet feared not the disobliging of the Popish party, or being thought a man of no Religion for so doing. 'Tis a most absurd and impolitic thing, because men differ in some divine supernatural things, to put them under such Characters, as to make them unuseful one to another, in all other human things.  
Let a Prince once give Liberty of Conscience, and he obliges all Parties to him, and makes them wholly depend upon him; the tenor of their Liberty will be a tenor in Capite, and Quam diu se been gesserint; and for employing men, and dispensing favours to them, let all Parties with a due subjection lie under the Prerogative and sovereignty of his pleasure.  
Two things are with much earnestness usually Objected against the grant of Liberty;  
First, That it is unbecoming the Zeal and Concern a Magistrate should have for the Truth of Religion, to give Liberty to any thing, but what he thinks to be so, and that such a lukewarmness, as Liberty to several Opinions supposeth, does no way become him.  
And the Second, That giving Liberty to men of several Opinions, is the way to propagate and increase them, and is of great danger to a State.  
For the First, It is very fit that the Magistrate should espouse, what he thinks to be the Truth, and keep himself to a strict practise of it, and use all lawful means to possess others with it; let him use all the means Christ and the Apostles used to Convince and Convert men; but let him not lay violent hands upon mens persons, because he cannot satisfy their understandings; that is Zeal without Knowledge, and Religion without a Rule, either in Reason or Divinity; that is to run into so wide an extreme from Laodicaean lukewarmness, as to become like Paul before his Coversion, who saith of himself, that he was mad, persecuting the Church.  
To say a Magistrate is lukewarm in Religion, because he will not force men to his Opinion, is to say, He is lukewarm, because he will not do a thing, that Christ hath no where required of him; and do a thing, that is to no purpose to do, for that very end for which it is done.  
Tolerating men has no more in it, than not forcing men, 'tis only a Negative favour, there is nothing Affirmative in it; a Magistrate will never be charged with Lukewarmness in Religion, that makes use of all Gospel-means to promote Truth, and that he may do, and yet never violate the due Liberty of any mans Conscience. If we consult the ancient practise of the first Christian Magistrates, we shall find it plain, That Liberty of Conscience was given by the Christian Emperours. Constantine did it fully. Eusebius in his life tells us, that he made a Decree in these words, Ut parem cum fidelibus, ii qui errand, pacis & quietis fruitionem gaudentis accipiant. 'Tis true, he banished Arius; but let any man consult the Ecclesiastical History, and he shall find Arius so factious and base a person, that there needed no part of his Opinion to be the cause of his exile. Gratian the Emperour made likewise a Decree for Liberty in Religion. The Jews had granted by all the Emperours, the same Rights with other Christians. Jovinian and Valentinian, most noble Princes, suffered Christians of several persuasions, to enjoy their Liberty: Of this, Grotius in his Book De Imp. Sum. Potes. Circ. Sac. Cap. 8. takes particular notice, adding these words, and saith he, which is more to be noted, The Emperour did not only permit impunity to disagreeing Sects, but often made Laws to order their Assemblies. Liberty therefore in Religion is not either so new, or so strange a thing, or so great a Monster, as men would make it. State-Religions are not always infallibly true, Truth sometimes keeps men from embracing them, it does so in many parts of Christendom; and in that case a Negative Restraint upon the Magistrates compulsion, is the only shelter of Truth. The Wisdom of Christ, who hath forbid the use of the Temporal power under the Gospel, about Religion, hath left things best. For if a Magistrate be in the right, he may promote Truth, as far as in the nature of the thing, and by Christs appointment, it can be promoted; if he be not in the right, where the Temporal power does not interpose, men are secured in the profession of Truth, and not hazard in refusing a public error.  
He that would have the Magistrate force all men to his Religion, will himself be burnt by his own Principles, when he comes into a Country, where the State-Religion differs from him: To say, He is in the right, and the State that does it in the wrong, is a miserable begging the Question. If one Magistrate be to do it, all are to do it, and there can be no other rule of Truth and Error in that case, but what they think so. If a Magistrate be once admitted to punish with death, what is really and truly in itself an heresy, he may, and must by the same rule so punish every thing he thinks so; Where shall the definition of heresy terminate, and who shall set the Magistrate bounds in such a case? Misinformation, Passion, or some sinister Interest, can only led men into such Principles, which tend to nothing, but to make Religion disturb the Peace and Quiet of all mankind; and as one saith well, to bring Christians to a butchery one of another, and to make a mere Shambles of Christendom.  
For the Second Objection, That giving liberty to several Parties, increaseth them, and makes them dangerous to a State.  
First, 'Tis very fit, that wheresoever you will suppose Errors to be sprung up, all the means Christ hath appointed for that end, should be used to suppress them, and reclaim men from them; let their mouths be stopped with sound Doctrine, and spiritual Censures; the only Question is about the use of the Temporal power in such things: And experience tell us, That since the World began, to this day, Principles and Opinions in the mind were never extinguished by the punishing the body; That old saying verifies it,  Sanguis Martyrum, seemen Ecclesiae. 
Nay, there is nothing under the Sun to promote an Opinion in Religion, like making men suffer for it; the constancy and courage of men in suffering for an Opinion, will sooner persuade men to it, than all the Discourses and Sermons in the World.  
If the Magistrate take a violent course to root out all different Opinions in Religion, such as the Emperors heretofore, when Heathen, took with the Christians, and the Popish States, where they are able, do at this day with the Protestants; besides the cruelty of it, with which he will besmear himself, he will miss of his end, and find a succession of those Principles in others, rising out of the Ashes of those he destroys, as it used to be said heretofore by the Martyrs,  Quoties morimur, toties nascimur. 
If he take a mildred and more gentle way of persecution, he only exasperates them, and then leaves them armed with all possible discontent.  
Consider the giving of Liberty under these two heads.  
First, the giving of it to several Opinions and Parties, where they are already actually existing.  
And secondly, The givng Liberty so, as will occasion and produce such Parties and Opinions.  
For the first, Where there are several Parties in Religion already in being, and diffused all over a Nation, as the Case is with us, it is the best way to indulge them, for they are by their number outgrown the political part of persecution.  
For the second, Consideration of Liberty, the giving it so as will naturally produce several Principles and Opinions in men, he that would prevent that, must give no Liberty to the Protestant Religion, must not let the Bible be red by the Vulgar: There is no way to keep out several Opinions in Religion, but an implicit ignorant subjection to an imposed Infallibility, and to do as the Turks do, who will not have any Learning or Discourse amongst them of Religion, for that very Reason, because they will have no religion but Mahomet, nor no Learning but the Alcoran; such policy to murder mens Souls is hatched in Hell.  
The very ART of PRINTING was at the first thought dangerous, because it was looked on as a thing like to introduce several Opinions in Religion.  
Cardinal Woolsey, on a Letter of his to the Pope, hath this passage about it. That his Holiness could not be ignorant what divers effects the new Invention of PRINTING had produced; for as it had brought in and restored Books and Learning, so together it hath been the occasion of those Sects and Schisms which daily appeared in the World, but chiefly in Germany, where men begin now to call in question the present Faith and tenants of the Church, and to examine how far Religion is departed from its Primitive Institution. And that which particularly was most to be lamented, they had exhorted Lay and Ordinary Men to red the Scriptures, and to pray in their Vulgar Tongue. That, if this were suffered, besides all other dangers, the common People at last might come to believe that there was not so much use of the Clergy; for if men were persuaded once they could make their own way to God, and that Prayers in their Native and Ordinary Language might pierce Heaven, as well as Latin; How much would the Authority of the Mass fall? How prejudicial might this prove unto all our Ecclesiastical Orders? Lord Herberts Hist. of Henry the Eighth.  
Liberty of Conscience lies as naturally necessary to a Protestant State, as Imposition to a Popish State; he must be a good Artist that can find a right middle way between these two. 'Tis the Glory of Protestant States to have much of the knowledge of God amongst them, and that variety of mens Opinions, about some less weighty, and more obscure matters of Religion, as it much tends to a discovery of the Truth of them, so it no way breaks the Bond of Protestant Union, where men generally agree in the same Rule of Religion, and in all the chief and necessary Fundamentals of Salvation. Liberty of Conscience in such States, as it is their true and genuine Interest, and without which they will but deny themselves those advantages they might otherwise arrive at; so with the forementioned Boundaries, can never prove hurtful or dangerous, there being always a just distinction to be made between those who desire only to serve God, and such who pretend that, to become injurious to men. And thus we have seen, that not only Religion but Reason, not only Duty but Interest, do invocate Princes and States in this Particular: To whom it may fitly be said in the words of the Psalmist, Be wise now therefore, O ye Kings, and be instructed, O ye Judges of the Earth.  
I shall now add, by way of Post-script, a Citation out of an ingenious Book, entitled, An Humble Apology for Nonconformists, &c.  

Post-script.  
HAD you rather that Quakers and Romish Seducers should gather up Multitudes; and that Taverns, Alehouses, and wors● places, should on the Lords day be filled with the number of those that absent themselves from the public Assemblies, rather than that they should be tolerated to hear a Sermon of Faith and Repentance, and other Duties towards God, and of Loyalty to the King, of Love and Charity one towards another, in a private house? For my own part, I confess in this Case, I would much rather go learn what that means, The Harvest truly is great, and the Labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest, that he would sand forth Labourers into his Harvest. Again, it is to be considered, that Mr. Dod, Mr. Hildersham, and others, were silenced formerly but in some dioceses, and for some time; afterwards they got divers times liberty to preach. Mr. Cotton had a licence to preach, under the broad Seal of England, procured by Bishop Williams, then Lord Keeper, notwithstanding his Inconformity. Mr. Cartwright, notwithstanding he had writ so much, and so sharply against Conformity, was suffered to preach, and enjoyed a place of Master of an Hospital at Warwick, to his dying day. Yea, Mr, Brown, the Father of the Brownists, if we believe the Historian, was suffered to keep a Living, and that no mean one,( A church in Northamptonshire) to his Death. The Bishops in those dayes, if they turned Men out of their Pulpits, let them have a Livelihood; either some way from their Livings, or else permitted them, or connived at least at their teaching of School. My Schoolmaster at a grammar School, was one that had left a Living, rather than he would comform. And 'tis storied of old Mr. John Fox, by Doctor Heylyn, that though he refused to subscribe to any thing but the Greek Testament, yet he enjoyed his Prebends place in Salisbury till his dying day. 'Tis worthy our notice, that these mens yoke was more easy than ours: And that notwithstanding they are thought to be of different Principles from the present Nonconformists, yet certain it is, that they held it lawful to preach and pray, and keep days of Humiliation in private Houses. And I was  told by one Mr. W That he never had any other Ordination but Prayers and Imposition of hands; by old Mr. Dod, and some other Ministers his Friends, in a private House.  
Upon the consideration of the Premises, my hearts desire is, That the present Age may labour to imitate, and surpass the Age past; the Right Reverend the Bishops their Predecessors, in their Forbearance and Moderation; and the Nonconformists theirs, in their Meekness and Peaceableness; That the Bishops would endeavour to be Reconcilers, and Repairers of our Breaches, and Restorers of our Pulpits to preach in; and that the Nonconformists would desire nothing but what may become Sons of Peace, and such as earnestly long after Unity, and had much rather, as becomes Labourers, be admitted to work in the Vineyard, than to stand any longer idle in the Market-place: Or as becomes Fishers of Men, to be casting their Nets on the right side of the Ship, than to sit any longer mending their Nets on the Shore. That so the Ages to come, when they shall red the History of this Generation, when we all( Conformists and Nonconformists) are laid down to rest quietly together in our Graves, may have no occasion to rise up and say, That whereas the late War had made its thousands of Separatists, Rigid Conformity had made its ten thousands: And all too, during the peaceable Reign of our most Gracious sovereign,( a Son of Peace) CHARLES the Clement; as he hath manifested himself, by his Royal Letters and Declaration from Breda, his Royal Declarations since, and his present Princely Clemency; And this too, notwithstanding great Animosities, Exasperations, and Irritations of some, on the one hand, out of an inordinate Zeal; and many Weaknesses, Follies, and Provocations of some on the other, for lack of Knowledge.   
FINIS.