A DEFENCE OF THE ANSWER TO A PAPER ENTITLED The Case of the Dissenting Protestants of Ireland, in Reference to a Bill of Indulgence, from the Exceptions lately made against it.  
THE Vindicator of the Case of the Dissenting Protestants of Ireland having in the beginning of his Reply to my Answer expressed his Resentments at my saying, That he had weakly Argued for the granting their Desires; I shall, to abate if possible the sourness; though not to gratify the vanity of his Temper, now declare, That the weakness of the Arguments he produced is not wholly to be ascribed to the meaness of his Abilities, but chief to the badness of the Cause he had undertaken to defend.  
And though he has showed great dexterity in perverting, and little sincerity in representing the sense of my Answer, yet I shall not be influenced by so disingenuous an Example, but whatever is material in his Replies (though there be very little that is really so) I shall set in its proper light, and give it a due consideration: and should never have blamed him for what he charges me withal, viz. For not showing him the civility of using his own words (though I was generally careful to oblige him even in that) if he had not done me the injustice of wresting my Expressions to such a meaning as they are not fairly capable of, which he has manifestly done in most passages of his pretended Vindication.  
And the first remarkable instance of it, is in the phrase of General Indulgence, which (as is apparent by the beginning and end of the Paragraph where 'tis first used) does plainly signify no more than a Legal Toleration of Dissenting Protestants, though he wrists it to import a comprehension of all sorts of Religions.  
I perceive that the Vindicator lays it down as a Rule, that those are of the same Religion with the Established Church who subscribe the Doctrinal Articles of it, and that there are three Sects only, viz. Presbyterians, Independents, and Anabaptists, for whom he desires an Indulgence, which he tells us can multiply no other Sects than these.  
Now to this I Answer, First, That the Rule he lays down is not in strictness, and propriety of speaking to be allowed as true; for sure he can't be ignorant that there are three grand parts of Religion, namely, Doctrine, Worship, and Government; and that an Agreement in every one of these is necessary to make the several Societies of Men appear to be of the same Religion. And truly in order to the preservation of that Christian Peace and Unity, which are so strictly required by our Saviour, and his Apostles, 'tis highly necessary that we should not only be joined in the profession of the same Principles of Religion, but also in the participation of the same Ordinances, and in conformity to the same Discipline. For 'tis observable that an Agreement in the same Doctrine among those that differ in other Religious matters is generally known, only to the Learned of each Dissenting Party; but the holding of distinct Communions, and the differences in Ecclesiastical Government are plainly perceived by the most vulgar Capacities, and do more effectually tend to the alienating of our Affections from one another than our consent in Religious Articles only, to the establishment of public Peace, and the promoting of Christian Charity amongst us.  
But secondly, Tho the Presbyterians and Independants profess their wilingness to Subscribe all the Doctrinal Articles of our Church, the Anabaptists (whom the Vindicator would have comprehended in the Indulgence) do not even in Doctrine, as he acknowledges, agree wholly with us. Now if their differing from us in one single Article of Faith can in the Vindicators judgement neither incapacitate them for public favour, nor Justify us in esteeming 'em of a distinct Religion from the Established Church; many other Divisions of pretended Protestants may arise and lay claim to the same legal Toleration from Authority, and the same charitable opinions of 'em from the Conformists, on account of their refusing to Subscribe no other Doctrinal Articles of our Church but one: and by this means it may possibly happen, that all our Doctrinal Articles may, one by one, be denied by the different Sects of Dissenters: and yet according to the Vindicator, we must be so far from judging 'em unqualified for public Indulgence; that they will appear to be of the same Religion with the Established Church.  
Thirdly, He tells us, That the Bill he pleaded for can multiply no other Sects than those he mentions; Now this methinks has little show of reason to recommend it; for may not the Indulgence he desires occasion the Rise and Increase of many others that he never pleaded for, nor ever thought of? Are we not sufficiently assured by the experience of all ages; that a free Toleration of some few Sects has been productive of a strange medley of different Religions? as in Holland it was particularly remarkable in the Sect of the Anabaptists; which in a few Years time was observed to spawn so numerous a brood, that by their Divisions, and Subdivisions from one another, they increased to near Fifty Sects of different Principles, and distinct Communions; and yet all of them agreed in the common name of Anabaptists. Is there not therefore great reason that all Persons in Authority, who are answerable to God for all the People committed to their Charge, should deny an unlimited & irrestrictive Indulgence to Presbyterians, Independants, and Anibaptists, lest the general and legal Allowance that is granted them may be productive of a multiplicity of new Sects; which, though much different from each of those, may desire to be called by their Names to take away their Reproach, and by shrouding themselves under their cover may plead a Title to, and enjoy the benefit of the public Toleration.  
Yet notwithstanding all that I had said in my former Answer, the Vindicator seems either unable, or unwilling, to apprehend the mischievous consequences of this Legal Indulgence; and propounds several Questions very little to the purpose; as whether the Popish Interest will be ever the stronger, because there are more Protestants to oppose it? And because their mutual forbearance, as to their lesser differences, will more unite their endeavours against the Common Enemy? To which I answer, First, That though the Popish Interest would sensibly be weakened by the Increase of Protestants of the same Communion, yet it will be considerably strengthened by the multiplicity of Sects, which these Legal Indulgences have perpetually promoted. Secondly, we have no reason to expect that a Toleration here will have a happier Influence now than it has formerly had in a Neighbouring Kingdom; where it has been observed, that the Dissenters on the Granting of these Indulgences did not grow more peaceable and modest, but far more Insolent and Tumultuous than they were before.  
But because the Vindicator says, he would gladly know from me wherein a Toleration to Dissenting Protestants will advance the Popish Interest here; I shall endeavour to give him full and ample Satisfaction in this matter, and in Order thereunto, I shall desire him seriously to consider: First, whether there be not violent presumptions that a Public and Legal Indulgence to Protestants does highly advance the Popish Interest, since all Romish Emissaries, who must be allowed to know their own Interest best, and to be very wise in their Generation, do so eagerly desire and so industriously promote Tolerations, though limited to Protestant Dissenters: and when all other measures sailed have readily expended considerable sums of Money for the purchase of them; and it is generally known that the Declaration of Indulgence in the Year 1671/2 was of the Papists procuring.  
Secondly, When the free exercise of Religion, according to the different modes of Divine Worship among pretended Protestants, has either been Legally Indulged, or Generally Tolerated among us, it has still been observed that Popish Emissaries have been then more numerous, their application much greater, and their Harvest of Proselytes experimentally sound to be more plenteous, than at any other Conjuncture of Public Affairs. And to this purpose there is a very remarkable Letter of Bishop Bramhals who was then in France, to Primate Usher, in the Year 1654. wherein he gives an account, that then, which was a time of  Liberty to most of the different sorts of the pretended Protestant's among us. there was a great multitude of the Popish Clergy in the place he lived in, who were taught several manual Trades, and were then ready to be sent into England, to foment the Divisions there, by setting up as spiritually gifted Mechanics, and by maintaining the cause of Presbytery, Anabaptism, and Independency, &c, according to the various tendencies of their natural parts, and the signal proofs they gave to their Superiors of their different abilities in Canting and Arguing for the several Sects, and Opinions, they were obliged to maintain. By all which the Vindicator may understand if he please, at how considerable a rate the Papists value, and what great advantages they make, of all public Indulgences to Protestant Dissenters; which have proved very fatally Instrumental to the promoting of what they commonly term the Catholic cause.  
Thirdly, among the several fallacious Arguments that Popish Emissaries make use of, to beguile unstable Souls, there is none so generally plausible, and so unhappily successful, as the seeming Unity of the Members of the Church of Rome, and the open and scandalous Divisions among those of the Reformed Religion: And as all Public Indulgences to Dissenting Protestants do evidently Countenance, so they have always very sensibly Enhanced these Religious Differences amongst us; and thereby have given great advantages to the Common Enemy of Increasing the number of spiritual Deserters from us. And accordingly when the like Indulgence was pleaded for, in King Charles II's time, Mr. Baxter writ his Defence of the Cure of Divisions, in the Preface of which he has these Remarkable words viz. Our Divisions gratify the Papists and greatly hazard the Protestant Religion, and that more than most of you, (speaking to the separating People,) seem to believe or regard. (Among the chief of which none believers, and non regarders, the Vindicator may deservedly be reckoned.) And again he says, Popery will grow out of our Divisions, for by the Odium and scorn of our disagreements, inconsistency, and multiplied Sects, they will persuade People that we must come for unity to them: or else run mad, and crumble into Dust, and individuals.— Thousands have been drawn to Popery, or confirmed in it by this Argument already, and I am persuaded that all the Arguments else in Bellarmine, and all other Books that ever were Written, have not done so much to make Papists in England, as the multitude of Sects among ourselves, yea some professors of Religious strictness, etc. have turned Papists; when they had run from Sect, to Sect, and had found no consistency in any.  
Fourthly, these Public Indulgences have not only fatally conduced to the perverting a considerable number of Protestants, but also have effectually hindered the Conversion of many Papists: who, though they were sensible of several gross Errors in the Principles, and ungodly Practices in the Worship enjoined 'em by the Church of Rome; yet were so highly Scandalised by the multitude of Divisions among us; that they chose rather to continue in a House, that seemed to be at unity in itself; (though the Superstructure were ruinous, and its Foundation on the Sand,) than to remove unto a fairer Building, which, (though its Materials seemed to them to be of a stronger consistence, and its Foundation on a firmer Bottom,) yet could not in their Opinion continue long, where they observed many Intestine Divisions unfortunately raised, and industriously propagated among the several Members of the Family.  
Fifthly, That the Granting Liberty of Conscience will considerably advance the Popish Interest may be further evidenced; if we consider the different State of Denmark, and Sweden, from that of the United Provinces, in reference to the number of Papists in those Countries. For as the strictness of their Laws, against those that differ from their Established Churches, has been remarkably effectual to the Rooting out of Popery from amongst 'em; so the free and unlimited Toleration that is granted in Holland, to Men of all Sorts and Persuasions in Religion, has been highly Instrumental to the multiplying of Papists there. Neither will the Restriction of the Indulgence pleaded for in this Kingdom, for the three Sorts mentioned by the Vindicator, namely, Presbyterians, Independants, and Anabaptists, prevent the Advancement of the Popish Interest here; since the various and cunning ways, that Priests and Jusuites have of creeping in among us, under several Shapes and Disguises, are sufficiently known: And I have showed the time when a vast Colony of 'em was sent into England, professing, and maintaining, the Opinions of those very Sects, for which the Vindicator so eagerly desires a Bill of Indulgence.  
Neither, sixthly, Does his Argument for this Indulgence, drawn from the widening of the Basis (as he has often told us) of the Protestant Interest, seem of any force or consideration at all; for though it may appear to widen, yet it will undoubtedly weaken the Foundation of the Protestant Security in this Kingdom; because each Tolerated Party (as experience has sufficiently taught us) will rather industriously promote their own distinct Interests, than unanimously oppose the common Enemy, as was lately evident in Huson and his Followers; who in the times of the greatest Danger, most scandalously separated themselves from the main Body of the Protestants in the North of Ireland: and publicly owned their Acting on a different Bottom from them; and the Intestine Animosities of those seeming Friends, would (if an extraordinary Providence had not Intervend) have been of a more mischievous consequence, to the Designs of our Brethren, than the open Hostilities of our professed Enemies; And the Divisions which those few pretended Protestans, endeavoured to foment, were really more formidable, and might have been more fatal, to our common Interest and Security, than the united force and power of a numerous Popish Army. For 'tis not our agreement in one common Name, and in the public profession of the Protestant Religion, but our Union in the same Christian Faith, our Communion with one another in the same Holy Ordinances of Divine Worship, and a quiet Submission, and Obedience, to the same Ecclesiastical Government; These I say are the only sure Bands of the Protestant Safety against the common Enemy. And 'tis observable in the Gospel, that as it was not the wideness, but strength of the Basis that preserved the wise Man's House unmovable against the most violent assaults of Wind and Floods, so 'twas not the narrowness of the Foundation, but the looseness of the Sand on which the other House was built that made it obnoxious to the prevailing force of the Water, and the Violence of the Tempest: And therefore we may undoubtedly conclude that 'tis not the large compass of the same Religious Profession, but a close Union in the same Holy Doctrine, a Hearty Communion in the same Divine Worship, and an humble submission to the same Ecclesiastical Discipline that will secure the Protestant Interest against all Opposers.  
But because all that I have said in this matter, may perhaps appear of little or no weight with the Vindicator, I shall confirm the truth of what I have said, by an Authority, which I presume he will not have the confidence to oppose: For as he recommends the Case of the Dissenters to a Protestant Parliament, so I shall give him the judgement of a Protestant Parliament concerning these Indulgences, for which he pleads, in the very words of the Address (of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament) to King Charles the Second, on the Twenty Fifth of February 1662., viz. We have considered the nature of the Indulgence proposed, with reference to those Consequences, which must necessarily attend it. It will establish Schism by a Law, and make the whole Government of the Church precarious; and the Censures of it of no moment, or consideration at all— It will be a cause of increasing Sects, and Sectaries; whose numbers will weaken the true Protestant Profession so far, that it will at least be difficult for it to defend itself against them: And which is yet further considerable; those numbers, which by being troublesome to the Government, find they can arrive to an Indulgence, will, as their Numbers increase, be yet more troublesome; that at length they may arrive to a General Toleration; and in time some prevalent Sect, will at last contend for an Establishment, which for aught can be foreseen, may end in Popery.  
But Seaventhly, As an Argument that may appear to the Vindicator, and those of his Persuasion, the most forcible of all, to prove the great Mischief of Toleration, I shall give them the united Votes of a very considerable Number of Dissenting Ministers, Assembled on purpose to declare their Judgements concerning these Legal Indulgences, which we have in these following Words: A Toleration would be putting a Sword into a mad Man's hand; a Cup of Poison into the hand of a Child; a letting lose of mad Men with Firebrands in their hands; an appointing a City of Refuge in men's Consciences for the Devil to fly to; a laying a stumbling Block before the Blind; a proclaiming Liberty to the Wolves to come into Christ's Fold, to pray upon its Lambs, a Toleration of Soul Murder, (the greatest Murder of all others) and for the establishing whereof, damned Souls in Hell would accurse Men on Earth. Neither would it be to provide for Tender Consciences, but to take away all Conscience: If Evil be suffered, it will not suffer Good; if Error be not forcibly kept under, it will be superior, which we here the rather speak of to undeceive those Weak Ones, who under the specious pretext of Liberty of Conscience (being indeed Liberty of Error, Scandal, Schism, Heresy, Dishonouring God, Opposing the Truth, Hindering Reformation, and Seducing others) are charmed by Satan into a better liking of an unconscientious Toleration.— We are struck with Horror, and Astonishment, at the endeavours of many; for it looks as if Men could not sin fast enough, unless they were bidden; as if God were not already enough dishonoured, except the Throne of Iniquity were set up, framing Mischief by a Law. Harmonious Consent of Lancashire Ministers with those of London, printed 1648.  
I should be voluminous if I recited all the severe Reflections that are passed and published by great multitudes of Dissenters on the Granting of Tolerations, even to those that are Protestants; I shall therefore mention but a few: Thus,  
In Edward's full Answer, p. 247. 'tis said, That a Toleration of one or more different ways of Churches, and Church Government, from the Church and Church Government Established, will be to this Kingdom very mischievous, pernicious, and destructive.  
And 'tis said, (Nepthaly's Engagement to Duties) We do again Renew our solemn League and Covenant, wherein the securing, and preserving, the Purity of Religion against all Error, Heresy, and Shism; and namely Independency, Anabaptism, etc. and the Carrying on the Work of Uniformity shall be Studied, and Endeavoured, by us, before all worldly Interest.  
In Prin's full Answer to Jo. Goodwin, p. 13. We are told, If the Parliament, and Synod, shall by public consent Establish a Presbyterial Church-Government, Independents, and all others are bound in Conscience to submit unto it, under the pain of Obstinacy, singularity, etc. In case they cannot really, by direct Texts and Precepts, prove it diametrically contrary to the Scripture.  
And in Adam Stewart Doubly 1644. part 2. p. 162. We have these words, That Courtesy, viz. Toleration, which no Man can obtain of the Independents, where they have Authority, viz. in New England; That Courtesy, should they not be suitors for here in Old-England.  
I shall add no more Concerning this Matter, but shall make this true and obvious Remark, viz. that the Fortune (if I may so speak) of Toleration is always in extremes, either very good, or very bad, and is at several Turns both highly Applauded, and violently Decried by the whole body of Dissenting Protestants; For they esteem it the most unreasonable thing to be denied, when they are in a depressed Condition; and the most mischievous to be Granted when they are in Power.  
Yet notwithstanding the inconveniencies I intimated in my first Answer of Granting Indulgences, the Vindicator suggests it to be so groundless an Imagination to suppose that a Toleration to Dissenting Protestants would make many of 'em turn Papists, that he Questions whether I could produce one Instance of any Protestant Dissenter, even in the late Reign, turning Papist.  
To which I Answer, That I could give several Instances of this kind, though I shall not mention any, but hope the Non-Conformists will do us the justice, to acknowledge that the great reason why no more of theirs, and of our Communion were perverted, is, under God, to be ascribed to the happy influence of the many excellent Discourses Writ against the Papists, by the Episcopal Glergy in the late Times: For it is particularly observable, that amongst the vast number of those admirable Tracts, only two were Written by Dissenters, one of which was by Mr. H. Care, and 'tis not certainly known what Communion he was of. But this is certain, that what ever censures might have been passed heretofore on the Dissenting Clergy, for being Trumpeters in State Tumults, and Seditions; they too nearly resembled such kind of Persons in the Religious War of Disputes, between Protestants and Papists, in the late Reign: For though they made the greatest noise, yet they did the least Service; though they founded to Battle, yet they were very little engaged in the Action: And unless the Walls of Rome, like those of Jericho, fall by the noise of the Trumpet, and not by the Force of the Assault, they will have no Considerable share in the Honour of the Conquest; but if the most effectual way of Apprehending or Rooting out the Popish Robbers of our Churches be merely by raising the Hue and Cry, and not by a hot and close Pursuit; I look upon our Dissenting Brethren as having the best Weapons for this part of spiritual Warfare: And since the Writings of the Conforming Clergy have been of late so eminently serviceable in preserving the main Body of the Protestants in these Kingdoms, from lapsing into Popery; the Vindicator had no occasion to upbraid us with our unsuccessfulness in drawing over Dissenters to our Communion: for though our endeavours in this Pious and Charitable undertaking, are not so uneffectual as he suggests, yet the reason why no greater Number of Nonconformists have of late been Reconciled to the Established Church, is mainly to be ascribed to the unwearied Labours of the Dissenting Preachers, in raising unreasonable prejudices, and in fixing an Invincible Aversion in their Hearers to our Ecclesiastical Discipline and Constitutions: For though they pretend to be the Greatest promoters of Edification, yet 'tis undoubtedly true, that they have made it no small part of their business to Widen those Breaches in God's Church, which they should zealously have endeavoured to Close.  
But though the Nonconforming Preachers have been the chief, yet not the only Fomenters of the Divisions among the Protestants in these Nations, which are indeed in a great measure imputable to the prodigious Licentiousness, and the uneven Management of Affairs in a late Reign: The Dissenters having perhaps just Occasion, at some times, to despise the Government for its too easy Condescensions; and at other times to abhor its Rigour in too severe an Execution of the Laws against 'em: Whereas the Civil Magistrates Behaviour to his People, should resemble that of discreetly tender Parents to their Children; not indulging their Follies by an imprudent Fondness, nor punishing their Faults by too harsh a Correction, but by constantly keeping a strict hand over 'em, which will prove the most effectual means of preventing, or restraining their Exorbitancies.  
And truly the present state in this Kingdom does seem in a more especial manner to require the watchful Eye of the Government in observing, and a prudently strict hand in managing, the Public Affairs. For though the Vindicator tells us, that this present Toleration can tempt none to leave Scotland, yet I'm sure it has not hindered many Thousand Families from coming thence, and settling in this Nation within these Five Years; and 'tis observable, that the Dissenting Ministers among 'em, are all zealous for the Covenant, and 'tis not to be doubted but that the whole Body of the People (excepting some few Highlanders) are of the same Persuasion with those Teachers: And all of 'em being lately come from a Kingdom where Episcopacy is abolished, and Presbytery established, and having solemnly sworn to exterpate Prelacy; and their Aversion to our Ecclesiastical Polity being so deeply rooted in their Natures, and their Obligation to destroy it so strongly enforced upon their Consciences, there is great reason to fear, that when their Power and Numbers are increased, they will employ their Utmost Strength, and most Vigorous Endeavours to Overturn (now their hand is in) this Truly Apostolical Government of the Established Church: And therefore for the preservation of the public Peace and Safety of the Nation, 'tis adviseable that we should deal with their Preachers at their first coming over as 'tis usually done with those that come from a Country infested with the Plague: they should all be obliged to perform their Quarentine, and undergo some Religious Tests, and Probations, before they be publicly allowed to Preach in their Conventicles.  
Neither may the Civil Government of this Nation, be less reasonably alarmed with its Danger from the Cameronians, who are lately Landed here, and dwell among us, and are not so inconsiderable in their Numbers as the Vindicator re-presents 'em: For he tells us, he could hear of few or none left in this Kingdom: By which I perceive he is as great a stranger to the State of this part of Ireland, as he imagines me to be to the Public Affairs of Scotland.  
But the next mistake, or rather disingenuity he is guilty of, within a few lines after is of greater Consequence and more Unpardonable; where he tells us that the Avoved designs of extirpating the Protestant Dissenters, were declared in the many Sanguinary Laws passed against 'em, both in England and Scotland, and that there were later Ones in Scotland, that made it Capital to be present at their Meetings.  
To which I Answer, That as I never heard of any, so I'm informed by some (that have reason to know this matter, better than the Vindicator) that there is not one Sanguinary Law in England against Protestant Dissenters: And touching Scotland, I do not find that there was any Sanguinary Law enacted against Protestant Dissenters in that Kingdom, except one, which was August the Thirteenth 1670. Wherein 'tis Declared, that whereas Field Conventicles are the Rendezvous of Rebellion, and tend in a high measure to the Disturbance of the public Peace; He that shall Preach or Pray, in such Field Meetings, shall be punished with Death, and Confiscation of Goods, and every person present at such Field-Conventicles, shall be fined toties quoties, in the double of the respective Fines appointed for House Conventicles. And that this Act was to continue in force only for three Years, unless his Majesty think fit it should continue longer: By which 'tis observable.  
First, That the occasion of making this Act was, because Field-Conventicles were Rendezvouses of Rebellion.  
Secondly, That no Person was to be punished with Death, but he that Preached or Prayed in those Field-Conventicles. For  
Thirdly, All others that were present at those Meetings, had only a double Fine imposed upon 'em. And  
Fourthly, This Act was to continue in force but for three Years, unless the King (viz. King Charles the Second, who was Remarkable for his Clemency) should continue it longer.  
And now the Reader may take notice, that those many Sanguinary Laws, which the Vindicator tells us, were in force in England, against Protestant Dissenters, prove upon Enquiry, to be none at all: That the many Sanguinary Laws in Scotland, against 'em, are, as far as I can find, reduced to One: That the Law Declaring it Capital to be present at their Religious Meetings, extended only to Field Conventicles; and that the avowed Designs of Extirpating Protestant Dissenters, were not formed against the Hearers, but solely against them that Preached or Prayed in those Seminaries of Rebellion. So disingenuous is the Vindicator, in saying that there were many Sanguinary Laws in Scotland, that made it Capital to be present at the Meetings of Protestant Dissenters, intimating thereby that every Person who was present at any of their Religious Meetings, was to be punished with Death.  
And how destructive their Principles, as well as their Practices were to the Established Church and Government, was plainly evidenced by the desperate obstinacy of these Field Conventicle Rebels, several of whom refused to save their Lives at so dear a Rate (as they called it) as praying for the King. And certainly those that refuse to give the Government (under which they Live) all reasonable assurances of their Fidelity and Obedience, and will not solemnly Disavow their Turbulent Principles, but still retain their Inveterate prejudices, and pernicious Disaffection to the Established Church and State, cannot with any modesty expect to be treated as sincere and hearty Friends; but as declared and open Enemies to the lasting Peace and Settlement of the Nation.  
And though the Vindicator tells us, That the Conformists, and the Dissenters in England did now Converse more sociably, and Live more peaceably together, than when the Protestant Dissenters were in danger of having their Persons imprisoned, and their Goods distrained and sold: Yet this only manifests the undisturbed security which the Dissenters there enjoy; but does not prove either their modest behaviour to the Government, or any grateful returns they have made to the Conformists for the Indulgence that is granted 'em: But on the contrary, I have been very credibly informed, since my writing the first Answer, That the Dissenters in England were grown very insolent on the news of the intended Dissolution of the last Parliament, and that they resolved (if possible) to necessitate the Government to make some larger Concessions in behalf of their Ministers.  
By this late instance of their restless tempers we may conclude, That they will (as their Circumstances admit) imitate the Example of their Nonconforming Fathers in Queen Elizabeth's Reign, of whom the Historian 
* Isaac Waltons' Life of M. Hooker  gives account, That first they began with tender and meek Petitions, proceeded to Admonitions, then to satirical Remonstrances, and at last, having taken an estimate of their strength, durst threaten, first the Bishops, and then the Queen and Parliament.  
And now the Vindicator's method leads me to consider the Replies he makes to my Answers; of the Arguments he produced in his first Paper, for the reasonableness of granting an Irrestrictive Indulgence to Protestant Dissenters.  
To the first of his Arguments, drawn from the early Zeal of the Dissenters in behalf of this Government I returned Answer, by enumerating several considerable Marks of Royal Favour, which the Nonconformists in this Kingdom have for these several years enjoyed as a Reward of their Services. To which he replies, that 'tis reasonable that the continuance of the same favour should be secured to 'em by Law Now to this the Answer is very easy; namely, That a legal security of the same favour is not denied 'em, if they be pleased to accept of it, with those Clauses and Restrictions that their equally deserving Brethren do now enjoy it in England: And if they had as full an assurance of their own dutiful Obedience to the Government for the future, as they have reason to have an entire confidence in His Majesty's justice and goodness, they would not only with gratitude acknowledge the many signal Acts of Royal Bounty, but would also with a cheerful thankfulness acquiess in their present Indulgence. And whereas the Vindicator intimates that there are few of the French Protestants, but if left to their liberty, would choose a Discipline, and Worship more conformable to their own, than ours.  
I Answer, First, That supposing it were true that the French Protestants have a more forward inclination to the Communion of the Nonconformists, than to that of the Established Church, it would not in the least abate the force of my Argument: For the Question between us, is not whether the French Protestants are more inclined to our way of Religious Worship than to that of the Dissenters; but whether their generally declaring the Forms of our Communion lawful, and unanimously joining with us in the same Divine Offices, as they all did before the late Troubles, do not give them, though Foreigners, a better Title to a legal Indulgence than those of our own Country, who scandalously separate from us; most of whom severely censure our Form of Worship as unlawful, and many of 'em judge our Church Government to be Antichristian.  
Secondly, The best way of passing a right Judgement on the Principles of any particular Church, is not by taking notice of the inconsiderate Words or Actions of some of the meaner sort of the Laity, but by observing the solemn Declarations, and the constant practice of the Learned Clergy of that Communion. And therefore, that the Reader may the better know what Sentiments the French Protestant Church entertains of our Liturgy and Ecclesiastical Constitutions, as also what Censures she passes on our brethren's Separation from us; I shall deliver the Judgement of some of the most eminent Divines amongst the French Protestants, out of their own Letters, written professedly on this Subject about Fifteen Years ago: The first of which shall be that of Monsieur Le Moyne, Professor of Divinity at Leyden. whose Words, according to the English Translation are these, viz. From whence does it come that some Englishmen themselves have so ill an opinion of her (meaning the Church of England) at present, and divide rashly from her as they do? Is not this to divide from all the ancient Churches, from all the Churches of the East, from all the Protestant Churches, which have always had a very great respect for the Purity of that of England.— For my part, as much inclined to Toleration as I am, I cannot for all this persuade myself, that it ought to be allowed to those that have so little of it for other Men; and who, if they were Masters, would certainly give but bad Quarter to those that depended upon them. I look upon these Men as disturbers of the State and Church, and who are doubtlessly animated by a Spirit of Sedition. Nay, I can scarce believe that they are such as they say they are; and I should be something afraid that very dangerous Enemies might be hid under colour of these Teachers. Societies composed of such Persons would be extreme dangerous; and they could not be suffered without opening the Gate to Disorder, and advancing towards one's own Ruin. There are some of these that are composed of more reasonable Men, but I could wish they were reasonable enough not to separate from those, of which the Church of England is composed.— For, to speak the truth, I do not see that their Meetings are of any great use, or that one may be more comforted there, than in the Episcopal Churches. When I was at London, almost Five Years ago, I went to several of their private Assemblies, to see what way they took for the Instruction of the People, and the Preaching of the Word of God; but I profess I was not at all Edified by it.—  
The second Extract I shall produce, is taken out of a Letter of Monsieur De L'Angle, one of the Protestant Ministers of Charenton near Paris, and is as follows, viz. That which you tell me of Writings which are at this time published, to make Men believe that communion with the Church of England is unlawful, etc. seems to me, a thing so unreasonable in itself, and so very unreasonable now, that I should scarce believe it, if it were not attested by a person of your merit, and consideration.— The way which I used two years ago, when I was in England, in frequenting your Assemblies, and Preaching too in a Congregation that is under the Jurisdiction of the Church of England, sufficiently shows that I am very far from believing that her Communion is unlawful. And this also proves very evidently, that my Opinion in this matter is the same that is holden by our Churches; because it is not imaginable that I would, without any necessity have done a thing which would have drawn the displeasure of my Brethren upon me, and which at my return would have exposed myself to be blamed, if not to be censured by them.— I would to God, that all the mistaken Christians that are in the World would receive your Reformation; I would with all my heart spend all the blood I have, to procure them so great a good. And I am sure with what an exceeding Joy our Churches would enter into their Communion, if being pure in their opinions for Doctrine, they differed no more from us than by Surplices, and innocent Ceremonies; and some diversity of Orders in the Government of the Church.— It is without doubt the duty of all the Reformed of your Realm to keep themselves inseparably United to the Church: And those that do not this, upon pretence that they should desire more simplicity in their Ceremonies, and less of inequality among the Ministers, do certainly commit a very great sin.—  
The 3d Person whose sense I shall give concerning the separating of the English Protestants from the Established Church, is that of Monsieur Claude, Colleague with Monsieur de L'Angle, in the Church of Charenton: in these words viz. We do not believe that a single Difference of Government or Discipline, nor even a Difference of Ceremonies, innocent in their own Nature, is a sufficient occasion to break the sacred Bond of Communion.— The same reason which makes them desire the Independency of the Flocks, may be likewise employed to Establish the Independency of the Persons in every Flock: For a Flock has no more right to desire to be Independent upon other Flocks, than a Person might have to desire to be Independent upon other Persons. But this would be to bring all Discipline to nothing, to throw the Church, as much as in us lies, into a horrible Confusion, and to expose the Heritage of the Lord to the Reproach of its Adversaries. But to imagine that we cannot with a good Conscience be present at Assemblies, but only when we do fully and generally approve of all things in them, is certainly not to know neither the use of Charity, nor the Laws of Christian Society. This Principle would overturn all Churches; for I cannot tell whether there be any, whose Government, Discipline, outward Form, Usages and Practices be of such perfection, that there is nothing at all in them to blame; and however it be, as the judgements of Men are very different, this would be to open the Gate to continual Separations, and to abolish all Assemblies. It is therefore certain, that Conscience does not oblige us to withdraw from the Assemblies, but on the contrary, it obliges us to join with them, when the things that offend us are Tolerable, and do not hinder the Salutary efficacy of the Word, of the Divine Worship, and of the Sacraments. 'Tis the favour of this Charitable patience that justifies our being present at those things, which we do not perfectly approve. See what St. Paul says, to the Phillippians, Chap. 3. If in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same Rule, let us mind the same thing. This is very far from saying, as soon as ye have the least contrary sentiments; Separate yourselves, Conscience will not allow you to remain together.— What deadly effects would not such a Separation produce if it were Established amongst you? As the dispositions of Men are, one should quickly see to spring from hence a difference of Interests, of Parties, of Opinions, even in respect of the civil Society, mutual Hatred, and all the other sad Consciences which a Division not tempered with Charity, does naturally produce. The Question here is not about the esse or the bene esse, but only about the melius esse that they dispute with you, and this being so, Justice, Charity, the Love of Peace, Prudence and Zeal for Religion in General, will never allow that they should Divide themselves from you.—  
To his third Reply, wherein he tells us, That 'tis fit the Dissenters should have a fuller security granted 'em than the Papists; because 'tis reasonable that some difference should be made between those that deserve well and those that deserve ill of the Government.  
I Answer, That 'tis unquestionably true, that there ought to be a very considerable distinction in the treatment of persons in so dfferent, or rather in so contrary circumstances as those whom the Vindicator mentions; but still this Rule ought to be understood with this supposition, viz. That the dispensing of those Favours be in the free choice and election of the Government; for 'tis no reflection on the justice or kindness of the Civil Parent, if by the pressure of some Unfortunate Occurrences he be forced unavoidably to a Concession of such favourable and advantageous conditions to an Enemy, which if he was left to the freedom of his own Will, neither his Fatherly kindness would incline him, nor his Prudence permit him to allow to some, even of his own Children.  
To his fourth Reply, viz. That the Dissenters do not think a general Declaration of Tenderness a sufficient security from future Persecution.  
I Answer, That they have far less reason to be jealous of the kindness of the Government to 'em, on any State turn, than we have to be apprehensive of the change of their Behaviour on the granting 'em a free and irrespective Indulgence; and if ever we should follow the Wise Man's Advice in Remembering to Distrust, it should be when we are treating with persons whom by former Experience we have found to be Men of uncertain Measures, and unsteady Tempers; and we know not what Changes some sudden Turns of public Affairs might possibly make in the Passions and Interests of such Men, and therefore, though the Vindicator cannot but apprehend a legal and irrestrictive Liberty more desirable and satisfying to Dissenters; yet I presume all prudent and unbias'd persons will agree in judging a limited Indulgence to be both more proper for the Nonconformists themselves, and far more conducive to the establishment of the public Peace, and for the security of the Government both of Church and State: And none ever blamed the quiet Chineses, who having had so frequent, and so fatal experience of the Incursions of the Tartars, built a Wall on their Frontiers to defend 'em from the violent encroachments of their envious and unpeaceable Neighbours.  
And now at length the Vindicator being sensible of the insufficiency of his Replies to my Answer, endeavours to Support the weakness of 'em by having Recourse to a pretended Memorial of the Affairs of the Church of Scotland since the Revolution; for being hunted out of his Cover of Arguments, he thinks fit to take Soil, in matter of Fact, He therefore presents us with a Letter, which he petends to have received from a Friend, who, as he tells us has good ground to understand the Affairs of that Kingdom better than the Answerer; but what advantage soever the writer of that account may possibly have of the Answerer, in his knowledge of those late remarkable Transactions there, I am fully persuaded he does not understand them better than the Vindicator, for the stile of the Letter does clearly discover him to be the Author of it and plainly shows, that it was writ from himself to himself. And besides, the pretended Narrative of those public Affairs has so many Marks of his peculiar Genius in setting things in a false Light as are easily distinguishable from those of other Men.  
And first, concerning the particulars of this Letter, I shall observe, that the general Reflection which he Casts on the whole Body of the Scotch Bishops, for Expressing their utmost abhorrence of His Majesty's Descent into England, their unanimous Deserting the Convention of Scotland, would in all probability, if it had been true, have occasioned some public and severe Remark to be passed upon them, and would have been insisted on as the most plausible, if not the greatest Reason for the Exterpation of Episcopacy: whereas in the Act for Abolishing Prelacy in that Kingdom, there is not the least censure passed on any of the Bishops, either on account of any misbecoming Actions of their Lives, or of any unpeaceable Turbulence of their Principles in Relation to the Civil Government.  
And it can't but appear very hard, that so many worthy persons should be made the Instances of so remarkable a severity, for no other reason; but for the Eminency of their Stations, and the Principles of their Religion.  
But Secondly, Because the Vindicator so confidently asserts, That there is not so much as One single Man of the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland who were in the possession of the Churches, and public Live when King James, Abdicated and Forfeited, who has been since King William's Accession to the Throne thrust out for any other Crime, than either first, For not Reading the Proclamation whereby King William and Queen Mary were declared King & Queen; or 2dly. For their not Praying for their Majesties; or 3dly. For not Swearing the Oath of Allegiance and Assurance; or 4thly. For Immoralities as the Church of England as truly disallows as Presbyterians. I shall produce a remarkable instance to the Contrary in an Episcopal Clergy man of Scotland who is now in this City; The Clergy man's Name is Mr. Samuel Mowat, of the Diocese of Glascow, who was in the possession of his Living of Crawford John, after King William's and Queen Mary's accession to the Throne, and Read the Proclamation whereby King William and Queen Mary were declared King and Queen, published by the Council of Scotland, April 13. 1689. by the appointment of the General Assembly. And secondly, He publicly Prayed for Their Majesties. And thirdly, Took the Oath of Allegiance, and Subscribed the Assurance before the Council in Scotland, which was all that was required of him by the Council. Neither fourthly, were there any Immoralities laid to his charge; and moreover declared his willingness to submit to the Presbyterian Government, according to His Majesties Formula: For the truth of all which he appeals to the Books of the Council and the Books of the Treasury of Scotland where these things are recorded; yet Notwithstanding all these qualifications, when the said Mr. Mowat made his Application to the Presbyteries of Lanerke and Hamilton, in order to be Restored to his former Living (out of which he had been violently turned by the Rabble) he was rejected by them, because he would not Renounce the Episcopal Government, and declare his Unseigned Sorrow for his submitting to it heretofore. By which we may perceive that what the Vindicator, or his Friend, has told us concerning the Terms on which the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland may be continued in their Live, is far more confidently than truly asserted.  
And Mr. Mowat does further declare, that he was so far from prejudicing the Presbyterians against him that he protected 'em, and interposed his interest in King Charles the Second time to preserve 'em from any severe usage, on account of their Nonconformity to the then Established Government of the Church; and yet notwithstanding all the good Offices he had done the Presbyterians, he, and his Wife, and Four small Children, were violently turned out of his House, in a very stormy day, and forced to take shelter in a Barn, but durst not return to his House, or live in his Parish for fear of the Rabble, but went and lived privately in Dunfreze, where the Rabble took a Common-Prayer Book (which some Episcopal Ministers were privately reading together) and put it on a Pole and burned it publicly.  
Thirdly, The Vindicators Friend further tells us, That so far are they in Scotland from exercising Severities against Men for their being Episcopal in their Judgement, that a great part of the Ministers of that Kingdom, who enjoyed not only the Protection of the Government, but the free and public exercise of their Ministry, together with the legally established Maintenance before the First of September last, were, or professed to be of the Episcopal Persuasion, and had not all that time so much as taken the Oath of Allegiance to His Majesty; and yet of these no more is required for their continuance in their Parishes, than that they take the said Oath of Allegiance and Assurance, and that they behave themselves worthily in Doctrine, Life, and Conversation, as appears by the Act of Parliament past the 16th of July 1695.  
Now before I return a distinct Answer to these several particulars, I cannot forbear most seriously to declare my wonder and astonishment at those who pretending to be more than ordinarily strict & holy Ministers of Jesus Christ, and the most faithful & obedient Servants of the God of Truth, can allow themselves the liberty of wilfully misrepresenting the most notorious Matters of Fact, and the plainest state of Public Affairs, by designedly casting their sense into such Phrases as may impress on the unwary Readers Mind such a meaning of 'em as is flatly contrary to the Truth of things, and the certain knowledge of the Writer. Now that the Vindicator is most scandalously guilty of this disingenuous way of writing will more fully appear by a distinct consideration of his Words that I have last recited.  
For first, Tho 'tis very true that a great part of the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland have enjoyed the free Exercise of their Religion, and have had the quiet possession of their Parishes ever since the late Revolution; and for these several Years last passed had neither taken the Oath of Allegiance to His Majesty, nor made any Submission to the Presbyterian Judicatories, yet I may justly deny any one of these to be true, in the sense that the Vindicator would impose them on the Reader; for 'tis evident that these Remarkable Instances of a seeming Favour, which the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland have for some time enjoyed, he produces as Arguments of the Moderation of the Presbyterian Government there; whereas in truth these were nothing else but the effects of the weakness of that party, for that great part of the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland, which the Vindicator mentioned, as having so long continued undisturbed in the exercise of their Religion, and the enjoyment of their Benefices, are most especially, if not solely, the Ministers that live on the North side of the River Tay which is known to be little less than half of that Kingdom; and where 'tis very remarkable that there are (as I am very credibly informed) about Eleven Persons of the Episcopel persuasion for One Presbyterian, and it must be allowed as a most Notable Proof of the Vindicator's ingenuous temper in extolling the Lenity of the Presbyterian in the West, for the granting to those of the Episcopal persuasion in the North a free exercise of their Religion, which they wanted sufficient power to suppress; and in permitting the Ministers quietly to enjoy their Benefices, where they had no Rabble on their side to dispossess 'em; and in not imposing an humble Submission to the Presbytery on those who were very considerable in their Number, and universally devoted to the Episcopal Government; by all which we may perceive, that it was not the special Indulgence of the Presbyterians in the West, but the formidable force of the Episcopal party in the North that secured the Ministers there in the undisturbed possession of their Live, and exempted them from the grievous Impositions of the Kirk.  
But secondly, As every odinary Reader must observe that the Vindicator, or his Friend, makes mention of an Act of Parliament in Scotland passed the 16th. of July last, in favour of the Episcopal Clergy of that Kingdom, so every thinking Reader must conclude, that if there had been any other Acts of Parliament of the like nature passed since the Revolution, the Vindicator would undoubtedly have produced 'em, and therefore since he produces but one single public Act of Grace to those of the Episcopal persuasion in that Kingdom, and that too of so late a date as July last, 'tis left to every prudent and impartial Reader to consider what sort of Usage the Episcopal Ministers have had for these last Five Years, not only from the unparallelled rage of a Barbarous Rabble, but also from the intemperate zeal of their bitter and bigoted Enemies in Authority.  
Nay thirdly, This very Act of Parliament which the Vindicators Friend seems so much boast to of, and thinks himself so happy in having in his Custody, and does so much depend on undeniably to demonstrate the Lenity of the Presbyterian Government in Scotland, has considerable Marks in it of the great hardships the Episcopal Clergy have been under heretofore, as also plain Evidences of the Continuance of many Severities against them for the future: For having that Act of Parliament by me, which he refers to in his Letter, I observe first, That the Favour granted by it, is only to those Ministers that were at the time of his Majesty's happy Accesion to the Crown, and have since Continued actual Ministers in particular Parishes; By which 'tis evident there is no provision made for those that were violently dispossessed of their Live by the Rabble, though they should take the Oath of Allegiance, and Subscribe the Assurance, which I hope the Vindicator himself will acknowledge to be severe; for he having owned, That the barbarous treatment of the Episcopal Ministers, by the Western Rabble, was an Illegal violence, which none can excuse. The Argument he makes of to Justify the Government there, for not employing their authority in quelling those illegal violences, was, because their Circumstances were such that they might have hazarded the overturning the whole Revolution, by immediately resettling 'em in their Parishes; so that according to the Vindicator himself, as soon as the violent ferment of popular Rage was abated, and the present new model of the Church established, those Ministers who had been barbarously abused should have been quietly resettled in their Parishes by the authority of the Government; but they were so far from receiving this Ordinary Mark of Public Favour, that these were not allowed the Liberty to perform the Offices of their Function in their Parishes, on the same Conditions with those of their Episcopal Brethren who had still continued on their Cures.  
And Secondly, Those Ministers also are excluded by that Act, who are under any Sentence of Deposition or Deprivation passed against them; (and how many those are is not easily known) and are now unqualifyed for any Ecclesiastical Benefices, though they should apply themselves to the present Church Government for Admission, and perform all the conditions that are required of others.  
Fourthly, That the severities in Scotland, since the Revolution, against the Episcopal Clergy, have been more than ordinary, may be clearly demonstrated by an Act of Parliament passed June the 12th. 1693. whereby it is Enacted, That no Person be Admitted, or Continued to be a Minister, or Preacher, within the Church of Scotland, unless he own the Presbyterian Government to be the only Church Government of that Church; that he will submit thereunto, and Concur therewith, and never endeavour directly or indirectly, the prejudice or Subversion thereof. Now from hence we may take an Estimate of the truth of what the Vindicator tells us, viz. That in Scotland, they are far from exercising Severities against men for their being Episcopal in their Judgement; for I presume all rational, and indifferent persons will be fully convinced that the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland are very far from being favourably treated by this Act; though perhaps the Vindicator may be of so rigorous a temper, and of so wild an opinion, as to believe that no Ministers of the Episcopal persuasion can be harshly dealt withal, and that the Depriving them of those Benefices which they were formerly possessed of, and the Declaring them uncapable of Enjoying 'em for the future is no hardship, or Severity at all.  
Secondly, 'Tis ordered in this Act, that Uniformity of Worship and Administration of all public Ordinances within the Church of Scotland should be observed and Subscribed by all Ministers, and Preachers, not only as it is at present performed but as it shall hereafter be declared by the authority of the same. Now if it be deservedly counted unreasonable for the Papists to oblige the members of their Communion to Implicit Faith, and to believe as the Church believes, it must also seem very strange, for the Presbytery of Scotland to Impose an Implicit Obedience on all those that shall be Admitted, or Continued Ministers or Preachers in their Communion, and to require their solemn Engagement to Observe that Uniformity of Worship which the Church does now, or shall hereafter order to be Observed. And methinks this new Mode of promising, does nearly resemble the old way of sweeting to et coetera's.  
Upon the humble Representation of these and other Grievances to his Majesty which the Episcopal Clergy lay under in Scotland, his Majesty was pleased to write such a Letter in their favour to the Government in that Kingdom, as gave Rise to the forming of the Bill that passed the 16th of July last, whereby the Act of July the 12th. 1693, was in part repealed in favour of some persons only, whose more than ordinary Circumstances gained them an Exemption from the severity of that Law. Notwithstanding which it is observable they passed a very severe Act the 5th of July 1695. against the Episcopal Clergy under the name of Intruders, by whom were Chief meant those Episcopal Ministers who being thrust by the Rabble from their Churches, had repossessed themselves of them, when the popular Fury was abated. And by this Act 'tis Declared first, that such Intrusion into Parishes without an orderly Call from the Heretors, and Legal Admission from the Presbytery, was of dangerous consequence, and tending to perpetuate Schism. Secondly those persons that have thus Intruded are Declared uncapable of any Church or Stipend within the Kingdom for the space of Seven years. Thirdly, Sheriffs, Stewards, etc. are required to remove all those that shall hereafter Intrude into Churches. Fourthly, Letters of Horning and Caption are ordered against 'em to Compel the Intruders upon Ten days warning to remove from their Churches. And fifthly, they are commanded to cause those Ministers to cease from exercising any Ministerial Acts within the said Parishes into which they shall hereafter Intrude. And sixthly, the Privy Council are to take effectual Course to hinder those Ministers that are, or shall be hereafter deposed by Judicatories of the present established Church from Preaching or Exercising any Act of their Ministerial Function.  
And therefore we may undoubtedly conclude, that the reason of the Vindicator's not publishing the Act of Parliament of Scotland passed the the 16th of July last, was not the Inconvenience of delaying his Reply to my Answer (as is alleged to the Letter) but a just Apprehension of setting Matters in a true Light, and of exposing too plainly his Gross and Wilful Misrepresentations of the present state of that Kingdom.  
Now by all the foregoing Remarks I have made on the Vindicator's Letter, every intelligent and impartial Reader may easily judge what great reason he had so Triumphantly to say that in this Resolution, Scotland has set those of the Established Church a very commendable example of moderation which if they will once come up to, and equal the Dissenters, will give 'em leave to censure any thing that may yet seem too hard in their Constitution.  
I must indeed acknowledge that we cannot boast of our coming up to and equalling the example which the present Presbyterian Government in Scotland has set us; for.  
1st. Our Moderation to Dissenters has not expressed itself in the raising of the Rabble against 'em, much less in returning them public and solemn thanks for the greatness of their Zeal.  
Nor 2dly. has our Church of England Parliament in this Kingdom declared that the Nonconformist Ministers in exercising any part of their Ministerial Function have offered a high Contempt of the Law, as tending to perpetuate Schism and of dangerous Consequence.  
Nor 3dly. has their Commendable example influenced us to make an Act of Parliament in 1695. against Nonconforming Ministers as Intruders (though they be really so) into our Parishes.  
Nor 4thly. have we forbidden any of 'em whom the Calamity of the late times had driven away; to return and perform any Ministerial Acts in the places where they formerly held their Conventicles, for want of a Legal Call.  
Nor 5thly. have we by any Act of Parliament Authorized and required the Mayor of Corporations, and Justices of the Peace, as in Scotland they have ordered their Stuarts, Sheriffs, Bailzyes of Balzuries, etc. to remove all those that shall hereafter intrude, not recommended the Removal of those that have already intruded, to the Lords of the Privy Council.  
Nor 6thly. Are we come up to, and equalled their Example in Ordaining Letters of Horning and Caption, Viz. in issuing Writs of Rebellion and Capias', against Dissenting Ministers, in order to the Compelling 'em to remove out of the Parishes, where they Live, and making 'em desist and Cease from exercising any Ministerial Acts.  
These are some of the many Instances of the Moderation of the present Church Government in Scotland, towards those of the Episcopal persuasion, which I presume the Vindicator on second thoughts will not be so fond of as to judge 'em fit Patterns for us to imitate, much less to equal and come up to; but yet 'tis highly probable that if such a Revolution of Church Affairs should happen in this Kingdom, as we have lately seen in Scotland, the Vindicator and his Adherents would be easily inclined to believe the practice of their Presbyterian Brethren there a very considerable Example for them to follow here, and would then be very fully persuaded that the Episcopal Clergy in exercising the Acts of their Ministerial Function were guilty of dangerous Schism, and would therefore think themselves indispensibly obliged to take some effectual course to make 'em desist and cease from exercising any Ministerial Acts, and would judge it a commendable instance of their Zeal to order Writts of Rebellion and Capias' to be issued out against all those that should presume to keep any separate Congregations. And indeed there is little reason to doubt but that the Dissenters here would, if their Power was as great, and their Numbers were as considerable as those of their Brethren in Scotland, equal and come up to the lenity and moderation that is set 'em by the Presbyterian Government there; not only in removing the Episcopal Clergy from their Parishes by Letters of Horning and Caption, but also in depriving others of the Episcopal persuasion of their Civil Offices by the imposition of New Tests: for not only the Ministers of Parishes, but the Masters of Schools, and the Professors in the Colleges of Scotland have felt the Rigour of the Presbyterian Visitations, as is evident by the Inquisition that was lately practised against the Professors of the College of Edinburgh in August and September 1690, according to an Act passed the 4th. of July 1690, by which it is ordered, That no Minister, or Professor in any College or School, shall be allowed to continue in the exercise of his Function, but such as do acknowledge and profess, and shall subscribe the Confession of Faith rattified by this present Parliament,— and submitting to the Government of the Church now settled by Law.—  
And 'tis observable, first, That in the management of this Inquisition, all the lieges were warned and summoned to come in, and make what Objections they could against the Masters.  
Secondly, That the Commissioners of the Universities did plainly declare, with what tenderness and moderation the Professors might expect to be treated by 'em, by their calling all Episcopal Men by the name of Malignants.  
Thirdly, 'Tis observable, That when it was enquired of some of the Commissioners whether by that part of the Test which requires to submit to Presbytery were meant only a quiet and peaceable living under that Government, or if it imported any thing farther: It was answered, that by that clause of the Test was also meant, That every Master should thereby declare the Presbyterian Government to be preferable to any other whotsoever, and the only Government left by Christ and his Apostles in the Church, and warratned by the Scripture.  
Now by those, without making any more Observations, every rational and indifferent person may perceive by what spirit the Commissioners were acted, and what issue the Professors, Dr. Monro and Dr. Strachan might have expected of their Trial before 'em.  
And now, though I have just occasion to make further Reflections on the unfair representation that has been made by the Vindicator, or his Friend, of the state of Scotland since the Revolution, yet I shall rather choose to end the account I have now given of the Affairs of that Kingdom with a just commendation of the ingenuous temper of the General Assembly there, declared in their Act for a solemn National Fast and Humiliation, with the Causes thereof, at Edinburgh November the 12th. 1690. in which we have these remarkable words, viz, The the Lord has put a stop to the course of Defection, and of his great mercy given us some reviving from our Bondage, yet we have sad cause to regrate and bemoan that few have a due sense of our Mercy,— few walk as becometh the Gospel, and imitate our holy Lord in Humility, Meekness, Charity towards Men; there is even until now a great want of Piety towards God, and Love towards Men, (viz. as I presume those of the Episcopal persuasion) with a woeful selfishness, every one seeking their own things, few the things of Christ, or the public good, or one another's welfare. And finally, the most part more ready to censure the Sins of others, than to repent of their own.  
God grant, that as they have been very ingenuous in acknowledging their grievous Offences, particularly against their Neighbours, so they may be very sincere in repenting of 'em.  
And now the Vindicator's Method leads me to consider the remaining part of his Replies to my former Answer. For having given him several Material Reasons why some Conformists may be unwilling to grant the Dissenters a Legal Toleration, the Vindicator replies, that there is no such satisfying mark of tenderness to 'em as this Legal security, and that 'tis hard to forbear some jealousy of those that will still hold a severe lash in their hand.  
To which I answer, that those Gently Penal Laws which he is pleased to term a severe Lash are not designed as the Instruments of an Unreasonable Correction, but as the Necessary Means of keeping such Children as are of a Froward and Ungovernable temper within the Bounds of a due Subjection and therefore it ought not to be esteemed an Unkind Severity, but a Prudent tenderness in a Parent to deny 'em such Indulgences, as in all probability will be abused to the divesting him of his Paternal Authority, and to the encouraging them to a total withdrawing of their filial duty and obedience for the future.  
The next exception that he makes, is at my mentioning the Misdemeanours of the Dissenters which I would have in the power of the Government to repress; by which he seems to suspect (but without any ground) that I meant matters of mere Nonconformity, but withal tells us, that if I meant any other misdemeanours, a Legal Indulgence would not disable the Civil Magistrate from repressing them.  
The Answer to which is very obvious; that though a Legal Indulgence would not wholly disable, yet would in some degree weaken the Hands of the Governor, and besides, since the main design of all Government is Obedience, and not Punishment, it becomes the wisdom of every Governor to take such measures as may rather prevent than repress the Exorbitancies of the Subject.  
His Reply to my Answer to his last Argument on the first head, refers to the late and present circumstances of the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland, and tells us, that no Protestants are persecuted in that Kingdom, on the account of Religion, either by the Civil or the Ecclesiastical Government, and doubts not but that by this time I am satisfied what Reply may be given to the Question I propounded, viz. Whether there were any Law to Cover the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland.  
Now to this I presume I have given a full Answer in the preceding account of the Church Affairs in that Kingdom out of several Acts of Parliament that were passed there since the Revolution: by which the Reader may be inclined to think that the Vindicator does rather take the liberty of a Traveller come lately from a far Country, than to act the part of an impartial Relater of affairs transacted in a neighbouring Nation; and surely there is none of so little Intelligence, or of so great Credulity in this Kingdom but can certainly know what circumstances the Episcopal Clergy must be in, where the very Order of Episcopacy itself has been so lately, and so forcibly extirpated.  
In reference to the second thing desired by the Dissenters, viz. that there be no such Clauses to the Bill of Indulgence as may disable 'em from serving the King and their Country. I observe that this is the very Argument the Papists made use in the late Reign for taking off the Penal Laws and Test, and the design of the Dissenters now is the same with that of the Papists then, viz, not only to capacitate themselves for all Employments of Honour, Trust, and Profit, but also to exclude all others of a different persuasion for having a share in any, unless perhaps in mean and unprofitable Offices. We freely acknowledge that the late services of the Dissenters did deserve public Favour; and I hope they will not deny but that they have received it in many considerable instances; and I am glad that the Vindicator assures us, in their name, that they do not seek any new Privilege, but only are unwilling to have a new Yoke put upon 'em. I do not know indeed of any design that the Conformists have, either of depriving the Dissenters of their present Liberties, or of imposing on 'em a New Yoke; but if they desire an accession of New Favours, I think we may justly expect a further security of our Legal Establishment, that the advances of the public Safety may be suitable to the increase of their Privileges; for 'tis not reasonable that we should either pull down or weaken any part of our Church to furnish them with Materials to build or strengthen theirs.  
To what the Vindicator further urges, That if a thousand Men have ten or twenty thousand Enemies to secure themselves against, 'tis against their interest to divide their strength by disabling three hundred of them from being employed in any public Post for their common defence. I answer, That if these thousand Men, as they plausibly agree in one common name, were as hearty united in their affections, and if the three hundred of the thousand that seem to be of the same party had as great a kindness to the remaining seven hundred of their Allies, as they have an aversion to the twenty thousand of their Enemies, I should then agree that the disabling of the three hundred were not only an unreasonable weakening of our Confederate Forces, but a shameful betraying of our Common Cause: But where we have good reason to believe that the three hundred Men will with all secret Industry endeavour more to promote the Interests of their own distinct party than to provide for the security of the main body, if while they desire Arms to assist us in keeping a Conquered Enemy in a due subjection, there be violent presumptions to persuade us that they will make use of their power to the subduing of their Friends; in such a case as this I think they have not so great reason to complain of our Unkindness to them, or to accuse us of our neglect of the Common Interest, as we have to suspect their Unfaithfulness to Us, and their preferring their own separate designs to the public Good.  
Now since it cannot be denied that there is a daily accession from a neighbouring Country of great numbers of such as are generally Enemies to the Episcopal Government, and the public Worship of God establshed in this Kingdom, We should look upon ourselves indispensably obliged to take such prudent measures as may secure us not only from the open Violence of our professed Enemies, but also from the possibly ill designs of our seeming Friends, and should be very cautious of expressing our tenderness to Protestant Dissenters in such instances as may very probably tend to the disturbance of the public Peace, and the subversion of the Established Church.  
And that this Censure on the Dissenting Protestants of this Kingdom, especially on those in the North, may appear to be reasonable, and the Representation I have made of the public mischiefs of an unlimited Indulgence to 'em may not seem to rely upon the Credit of my Assertion, I shall endeavour to justify it by matters of Fact since the Revolution, attested by several considerable persons of known prudence, and integrity in the North; One of whom gives us this account; That the late Presbyterian Minister of the Parish where he lives, viz. Litterkenny, did scarcely suffer a Lords day to pass these two years, but he either expressly declared our Church to be Popish, and Antichristian, or spoke words purporting as much, either in his Prayers or Sermons, and that it was his Constant practice to pray for its Destruction, and upon all occasions both preached and talked against its Government and holy Offices as Popish, and Superstitious, and that upon the annual return of our Festivals, he never failed to preach against 'em and forbade his people at their utmost peril to keep any of 'em, and in particular last Christmas, he told his hearers, in the Pulpit, that that Festival was kept in honour of the Devil, and that he was solemnly worshipped on that day. And that for some years past he commanded the Inhabitants of that Village not so much as to entertain a Servant in their families who was of our Commumunion though at the same time he indulged 'em to keep Popish Servants at pleasure. And that there was an Affidavit made by a young Gentlewoman in that place, who had been Presbyterianly educated, but out of mere conviction of Conscience came to Church, who deposes, That the Presbyterian Minister of that Town said to her, that all of our Communion were certainly damned, and publicly preached against Her, as an eternally damned Creature, she having renounced her Baptism, and Christianity by going to Church, and that he came to her Parents and bid 'em turn her out of doors, and afford her neither meat, drink, nor lodging, and if that did not bring her back to the Meeting to take her, and hang her up for her Apostasy, or to that effect, as the original will show.  
And I have received from the same worthy Person a further account, viz. That the same Dissenting Minister puplickly called the Minister of the  Parish an Usurper, for keeping his Church, and Revenues from him, who was the true, just, and legal owner of 'em, and all this without the least provocation or disturbance given to him in the free exercise of his Ministry in the Meeting house, or where ever else he pleased, save only in the Parish Church.  
And another considerable Person of the North in a late Letter to his Friend in Dublin has these words, viz. To evidence how far we can depend upon strengthening our Party against Irish Papists, by raising Dissenters, may appear by their practice, anno 1690. and 1691.  
Mr. Nathaniel Cooper (a Clergyman) was in the Town of Litterkenny by them pulled out of the Church. They in the same Church hindered Mr. Crawford to preach. Mr. John Lesly officiating in the Church of Rimoghy, Mr. Liston the Presbiterian Minister (though they had a Meetinghouse near the Church) came with a Party, forced him to give over, threatened to Kill him, and Mr. Liston went up and preached. And Mr. Hunter, in the Diocese of Derry had his Gown torn, and was pulled out of the Pulpit.  
But the latest, and most remarkable Instance he gives of the Inveterate Malice of the Dissenting Ministers to the members of the Established Church, and the utter Abhorrence they express to our Liturgy and Ecclesiastical Constitutions, is in a Sermon preached by Mr. William H. near Castle Darg in the Diocese of Derry, who took for his Text, the Second of Kings, 18. Chap. 4. v. whence he endeavoured to explain what Idolatry was, and how great a sin, and to prove that Idolatry, and Idolaters were to be destroyed, he affirmed that the Book of Common prayer Used by the Prelates was altogether Idolatrous, and that therefore of necessity it should be destroyed; that Kneeling in the Receiving the Sacrament was damnable, and that the Prelates were gone so far in Idolatry that he believed they would at last worship the Devil.  
I hope the Reader does observe, that though Mr. H. does not expressly declare that the Prelates, as well as the Common Payer Book, aught to be destroyed, yet his Argument does manifestly imply the Necessity of their destruction too.  
And from these Instances, we may undoubtedly Conclude, that if the Dissenters have been guilty of such Intemperate Speeches, and Illegal violences against those of the Established Religion, when the Liberty they enjoy wholly depends on the favourable Connivance of the Government; they will be most insufferably Insolent, and Tumultuous, if by their Importunity, and our Imprudence they should gain the  Liberty of a Legal Irrestrictive Indulgence. So true was the Representation which the House of Commons in England made to K. Charles the 2d. above thirty years ago, of the fatal Consequence of granting Toleration to Dissenting Protestants, viz. That it would be so far from tending to the peace of the Kingdom, that it was rather likely to occasion great disturbances, because the variety of professions in Religion does directly distinguish Men into Parties, and withal gives them opportunity to count their Numbers, which considering the animosities, which out of a religious pride will be kept on foot by the several Factions does tend directly and inevitably to open Disturbance, nor can your Majesty have any Security that the Doctrine or Worship of the several Factions which are all Governed by a several Rule shall be consistent with the peace of your Kingdom.  
And we can't reasonably expect, that if Dissenting Protestant's should grow considerable in their Numbers, and power, they would express a more dutiful regard to the Established Church in this Kingdom, than they have lately done in a Neighbouring Country, and therefore we ought not to entertain so great a fondness for these professed Protestants us to lay a side all jealous Apprehensions of Bigoted Covenanters; For a pompous appearance of Zeal against Popery cannot make sufficient compensation to us for an irreconcilable hatred of Episcopacy.  
That the Number of Papists will in all probability increase by the granting an irrestrictive Indulgence to Protestant Dissenters, I have I hope, sufficiently proved in the preceding part of this Discourse, and that the Vindicator may perceive that his Reply to the Instance I gave of Holland is plainly insufficient, I shall farther acquaint him that 'tis so far from being evident that those who adhere to the Protestant Religion, as there established, are a large Body, to which those that are excluded from public Service bear no proportion. That every one who has but a superficial knowledge of that State can inform him, that none but Calvinists are admitted into any Employments in the Policy or Justice of that Country, and that the several Sects and Denominations of Protestants there, are a far larger Body than those of the Established Church. And 'tis the observation of Pensioner fagel, one of the late great Ministers of that State, That there is no Kingdom, Commonwealth, or any constituted Body or Assembly whatsoever, in which there are not Laws made for the safety thereof, and that provide against all attempts whatsoever that disturb their Peace, and that prescribe the Conditions and Qualities that they judge necessary for all that shall bear Employments in that Kingdom, State, or Corporation: And he declares his Judgement, that no Man can pretend that there is any Injury done him that he is not admitted to Employments when he does not satisfy the Conditions and Qualities required.—  
I have told the Vindicator in my Answer to the Case, that in the North of Ireland, where there are the greatest numbers of Dissenters, the generality of the Nobility and Gentry are Conformists; so that if another Rebellion should break out (which God forbidden) there is no danger of what the Vindicator urges, viz. That any considerable party of Men might be disobliged by having any but their Landlords, or other Gentlemen of their acquaintance, or of great esteem and authority in their Country to command 'em; and as those that first shut the Gates of Derry against the late King's Soldiers, and those that were the Governors of it in the time of the Siege were Conformists, so I am very credibly informed that in that prodigiously daring and successful party at Eniskillin there was not one Commission Officer, not so much as one Ensign, that was not of the Established Church, and of the private Sentinels there were Six Conformists to One Dissenter.  
To what the Vindicator says, viz. that there is nothing to the purpose in my Answer to his Third Argument drawn from the Parliament of England, I Answer that since in the beginning of his Vindication he had expressly declared that he would present the Reader with the Answerers Reply in his own words; he has here neither been just to his own Promise, nor answered the Readers most reasonable expectation of presenting him with the sense of my Answer: However he has well consulted the Reputation of a weak Argument which he himself acknowledges to be but a probable one, by not producing the least word of that Answer, which was so plain a Refutation of it. Yet since he is pleased to say, that if the Parliament of England had thought the Sacrament Test Needful, they could easily have added it as they have the Test against Popery mentioned in the same Act.  
I answer, that if the Parliament of England had intended to excuse the Protestant Dissenters in this Kingdom, from a Sacrament Test, as they had obliged 'em to the Test against Popery, they might as easily have forbid the former as they have positively enjoined the latter.  
And since the Vindicator, in his Reply to my Answer to his fourth Argument, desires to know what Rights of the Church have been hazarded since this Revolution, I shall acquaint him (though I presume he has heard it before) that the Dissenters in the North did generally refuse to pay the Conforming Ministers their accustomed Dues till His Majesty did on that occasion put forth his Royal Proclamation for the payment of 'em.  
And whereas the Vindicator speaks of the Government's employing a few Protestant Dissenters in a few Inferior Offices, I must needs tell him, that this is a plain mincing of the matter, or rather, (to give it its due character) a most disingenuous representation of the desires of the Dissenters; for I would fain know whether they would be satisfied that an Act of Parliament in their favour should be so worded as to qualify some few Dissenters for an admission into some few inferior Offices. I am sure a friend of the Vindicators, namely the Author of their Case, did not represent their desires in this seemingly modest guise, but their Indulgence desired was without any restriction of the number of Persons, and without distinction of the quality of Offices.  
Nay supposing the case was really as the Vindicator represents it: We know that when a great crowd is waiting at a door, though there be but few of them that may reasonably expect, or be duly qualified for admittance, yet when the Door is once opened there is no shutting it till they all rush in.  
To invalidate the Replies which he makes to my Answer of his Arguments for the unfitness of the Sacrament Test, I shall acquaint him now, as I formerly did, that we do not drive any to the Sacrament: But since the Civil Magistrate is God's Vicegerent, 'tis surely not unfit that he should imitate Almighty God whom he represents, in proposing temporal Advantages as encouragements to the performance of Religious Actions; and surely to any unprejudiced person it cannot seem improper that those should be judged best qualified for public Employments, of the greatest Profit, Trust, and Honour, that give the most public and signal Evidences of their Piety to God, and of Obedience to the Civil Magistrate: And notwithstanding the Vindicator's vain boasting of the supper eminent Holiness of the Dissenters, and his uncharitable suggestions of the general wickedness of Conformists, in saying, that if the Sacrament Test were intended as an expedient to discriminate the Good from the Bad, it seems to be hitherto but ill applied. We hope there will be still a sufficient number of the Members of the Established Church who will be both fitly prepared, according to the Rubric, for the reception of the Blessed Sacrament, and duly qualified otherwise for admittance into Civil and Military Offices, so that there will be no pressing necessity of advancing Dissenters to great Employments in the State, or considerable Posts in the Army for want of Men of true unexceptionable Worth and Abilities amongst the Conformists to supply them. All that I shall further say in this matter, is to tell the Vindicator as the Apostle did some in his time, viz. That we do not compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, considering that not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.  
What the Vindicator says concerning the Mode of Receiving the Blessed Sacrament, if it proves anything, it proves too much, for it does not only infringe the Power of the Church in that particular Instance, but nulls the Authority of its Laws in all Indifferent Matters, and then not our Liturgy, but the Dissenters Directory too, must be abolished, and all their determinations in reference to the several Rites and Ceremonies must be of no effect. The Vindicator indeed tells us that those different Modes of Worship are called trivial in respect of their Intrinsic Importance, not in respect of the Consciences of those that Scruple'em: Now that, says he, may be in itself an Inconsiderable thing, which yet the Conscience of a wise Man may for fear of sinning not dare to comply with; but can he be deservedly counted a Wiseman that wilfully entertains such Scruples in his mind, and suffers himself to be so far influenced by 'em in his practice, as to incur the certain guilt of offending God by disobeying the lawful Commands of Authority? To avoid those groundless fears of falling into sin which his own misguided Fancy has created. 'Tis more agreeable to the Character of a truly Wise Man to be Scrupulously fearful of disobeying, rather than of obeying the Commands of Authority, and 'tis far more reasonable that Children should lay aside their Groundless Scruples of Complying with the Orders of their Parents, than that Parents should lay aside their most prudent commands out of a too easy compliance with the Froward Humours of their Children.  
To the Vindicators last Argument I answered that many Unforeseen Inconveniences might happen to the Established Church by the Admittance of the Dissenters into Civil Offices; and to this he replies that the Clergy have met with no opposition in asserting the Rights of the Church, the contrary to which I have already proved. But 'tis very surprising that the Vindicator should so peremptorily say, that the Nonconformists have been both before and ever since the Revolution qualified for Civil Offices when the contrary is so undeniably evident; for, as before the Revolution they were bard from Employments by the Oath of Supremacy: So there are several Ecclesiastical Laws still in force, by which, though they be not wholly unqualified for an Admittance into Civil Offices, yet they are perfectly disabled from continuing in 'em: So that their present quiet enjoyment of Employments is not so much owing to their Legal Qualifications as to the Kindness and Lenity of the Ecclesiastical Governors.  
And now having, as I hope, returned a full Answer to the particulars of the pretended Vindication of the Case of the dissenting Protestants of Ireland; all that I shall further add, is to remark, that as the Vindicator has been manifestly guilty, in many instances of great disingenuity, in misrepresenting the sense of my Answer, and the truth of matters of Fact, so the grofest, and the most imprudent of 'em all is in the latter end of his Vindication; for he having justly repeated my words, viz. That None can foresee the difficulties the conforming Clergy may contest with in asserting the Rights of the Church, etc. Within three lines after he very unfairly says, that he agrees with the Answerer, That no wise Man can foresee ANY Difficulties they are in danger of meeting with for the future; by which most palpable misrepresentation of my Words, as he passes a great affront on the Reader, and does a manifest injustice to the Answerer: So he does most effectually expose to the censure of all men, the strong, and (as I fear) unalterable bias of his disingenuous temper: For by this we may plainly perceive, that neither the heinousness of the crime of misrepresenting an Adversary, nor the certainty of detection can restrain him from it: But seems to love disingenuity for its own sake, and to practise it on purpose to keep his hand in, though he be sure of being discovered by the most heedless Reader.  
And as by this, and many notorious Instances in his other Writings, he has proved himself a very unfit person to accuse the Considerer of disingenuity: So in this pretended Vindication he has showed himself no less unduly qualified to tax the Answerer with irreverence towards the Holy Scriptures: For he has not only in a very undecent and profane manner ridiculed the first Constitution of the Apostles against eating Blood; but has been pleased to end his Replies to my Answer by an irreverent and unjust application of the Words of our Saviour to the present celebrated Parliament of Ireland, in implying that their granting the Dissenters a Legal Indulgence, with a Sacramental Test, would be to act like those churlish Parents, that when their Children ask for Bread give them a Stone, and when they ask for Fish give them a Serpent; as if the free exercise of their Religion with worldly honour and profit were Bread and Fish, but that a public freedom of Divine Worship, without Temporal Advantages, were Stone and Serpent: And that the Parliament in denying the Dissenters an unlimited Indulgence were churlish Parents.  
To the Vindicator's Reflections on the Considerer, drawn from the unfitness of narrowing the common Protestant Interest, from the sanguinary Laws in Scotland, from the Dissenters subscribing the Doctrinal Articles of Faith of the Established Church, and their thinking themselves obliged in Conscience to give to all their Fellow Protestant's the Toleration they now desire, from the greater inclination of the French Protestants to their Communion then to ours, from the pretended inexpediencies of the Sacrament Test, and from the pretence of desiring that only a few Protestant Dissenters should enjoy the effects of his Majesty's favour: To all these I leave the Reader to determine whither I have not already given a satisfactory Answer, and all that remains to be considered in those Reflections is the Doctrine and Practice of some Dissenters occasionally Communicating with the Established Church. To which I answer.  
First, That what the Vindicator says here, concerning the Dissenters in these Reflections on the Considerer, seems inconsistent with what he says in his Replies to my Answer; for there he says; that those who really scruple Kneeling in the Act of Receiving are no way Inferior for Wisdom to those whose judgement has that latitude that they could receive the Sacrament Kneeling, Sitting, or Standing: but here he says he takes those Protestants who can Occasionally communicate both with the Established Church and with the Dissenters, to be the most judicious.  
But 2dly and lastly, Concerning the Doctrine and practice of Occasional Communion, I shall present the Vindicator with the sense of the Author of a Book called Vox Clamantis, who was himself a Dissenter, and addresses himself to his Brethren in these words, viz. There are some things that I will but lightly touch, though others of Contrary Sentiment will lay on loads; one is, at which I am not a little abashed, that though you according to your declared Principles and ordinary practice are Nonconformists and Dissenters; yet upon occasion, and to get into Place, and Office of Honour or Profit, you will, and can take any manner of Tests that have of late been imposed; also that you can on such occasions take the Sacrament according to the Form and way of the Church of England, though you never did it before, nor perhaps will ever do the same again, except on the like occasion.— And tells 'em that they make use of the same Artifices as the Jesuits do on such cases,— and that he knows nothing will more render 'em, in the eyes of all, as Men of flexible and profligate Consciences— And speaking of the Reflections which he supposes the Conformists pass on the Dissenters, for these things he says, that they think that nothing, though never so contrary to their Principles, can be devised or made to keep you out, or to hold you in, but that you will break all Bounds, and leap over all Hedges.— And now I do not question but that if the Vindicator would deal ingenuously, and speak a bold Truth, he would, with the Author of the forementioned Book, protest that he knows not how to answer this in behalf of the Dissenters with TRUTH and HONESTY.   

ERRATA.  
PAge 6. line 39 read are. p. 7. l. 40. r. two or three. p. 10. l. 13. after answer; deal; p. 13. l. 18. r. consequences. l 44. r. irrestrictive. p. 14. l. 21. r. Genius. l. 27. r. and their l. 47. r. such immoralities. p. 15. l. 37. r. their. p. 16. l. 19 r. especially. l. 24. r. Presbyterians. l. 36. r. ordinary. l, 49. r. to boast. p. 18. l. 13. r. swearing. l. 46. r. easily. l. 47. r. Revolution. l. 49, put, after equal. deal, after Dissenters, p. 20. l. 23. r. warranted. p. 21. l, 8. after subjection put. l. 45. r. use of.