THE SECOND PART OF THE Lay-Man's Religion: AS AN APPENDIX To the First.  
Published to the Memory of Queen Elizabeth, the late happy Guardian of our Established Religion, this 17th of November, 1690.  Gal. 5.9. A little Leaven leaveneth the whole Lump. 
LONDON, Printed by Eliz. Holt, for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1690.   

licenced,  
November 1690.   

TO THE READER.  
THE First Part of the Lay-man's Religion speaks itself to be neither designed, nor composed after the Method used by our Adversaries, with a Veil over our own, the better to discover other Mens Sins and Infirmities; but from the Standard of the Gospel, beginning at home, with an impartial judging of ourselves, thereby to leave no room for a partial Scrutiny of our Enemies; who are too apt to censure, and expose our Religion, not according to Truth, but by the vicious Lives of its Professors: But blessed be God, we have the advantage of them herein; for our Established Religion( like itis own Original,) needs nothing to set it off, but good Living.  
This Second Part is designed for Healing, not to make our Wounds bleed fresh; to discover the true Cause of our former Calamities, and our present Miseries, in order to our Cure, and to prevent the like dismal Effects from the same Cause, for the time to come.  
And certainly, every man that shall soberly and impartially red the following Lines, will be apt to conclude it impossible for any of those Men, who above forty years since, were riding Post into a Common-wealth, when they shall reflect upon the dreadful Consequence, and bloody Tragedy that followed their Attempts therein,( though prosecuted under a Disguise of the greatest Zeal for Reformation,) should ever again be so affencted with the thinness of Popular Breath, as to endeavour to Leaven a City and Kingdom with the same Principles again, unless they resolve beforehand, like Samson, to sacrifice themselves in the ruin of such a Babel-Superstructure upon the Foundation of Monarchy.  
Liberty of Conscience is a Christian's Birth-right, when bounded by the Royal Law of its Founder; but they are no true Disciples of the Blessed Redeemer, that under that umbrage, do seek Dominion in the World. It will be far more for the Honour, Interest, and Safety of such Men to improve their Parts and Talents to reform our Manners, and to secure and credit our Religion Established, as good Pillars in our Church and Government; without which they cannot support a crwoned Head. And if they do not support, they will undermine it; for such active Spirits, as through all our Changes, have been naturalised in State-Policy,( especially when in high Stations,) can never content themselves with a bare Neutrality; but will soon prove either Saints with long Arms, or Devils with long Horns. And happy were it for this Kingdom, if we had many such Proselytes, for that such a Change in the most virulent,( from a through Conviction of their Error,) may prove the best Security, where the Sin and the Reformation are equally conspicuous; that we may with the greater Confidence rely on their Sincerity; which 〈◇〉 the right way of censuring, according to the Divine Method, to distinguish the three by its Fruit. God grant we may all, both High and Low, strive to bear such Fruit in Sincerity, Piety, Righteousness and Sobriety, as may Credit our Religion, and become those that bear the Name of Christians.   

The SECOND PART OF THE Lay-Mans Religion: OR A Brief Account of the Happy Union among Protestants in this Kingdom, from the first time of the Reformation; especially during the Forty four years Reign of Queen Elizabeth, in Harmony of Divine Worship, without any other Discipline, Way of Worship, or Teacher, but according to what was Established and settled among us by the Holy Martyrs, and Founders of it; and also of the first Cause of Separation from our National Communion; and how the Congregational Way was first introduced into this Kingdom.  
IT is well known to all that are acquainted with the History of our latter Years, what a happy Union there was among Protestants in this Kingdom, in the practise of Piety, Sobriety, and righteous dealing, from the first time of the Reformation; especially during the whole Forty four Years Reign of Queen Elizabeth, notwithstanding all Endeavours of 
* 
See the Famous Memorial of Dennum, the Ambassador at Venice, sent to Q Eliz. The History of Faithful Cummin, a Dominican Friar, which plainly manifests who began the open Separation from the Church of England. He began it 1557. a year before Hollingham, Coleman, and Benson, the first Protestant Dissenters,( who as they were so seduced, may well be styled Popish Proselytes,) made any Separation from the Church of England. This Dominican Friar was detected and examined before Qu Eliz. in Council. The next Year Heath, a jesuit, was discovered at Rochester. In the Year 1583. Summers was detected at Gloucester. The next Year after, one Harper at Norwich: Many more might be name.  
Whoever desires farther satisfaction, let him red the Account which Bishop Bramhal gave while he was in France, to Arch-Bishop Usher, That in the Year 1646. by order from Rome, above an hundred of the Romish Clergy were sent into England for those very ends and purposes.   Popish Emissaries; who, appearing as Protestants, in disguise went up and down, labouring with all subtlety and Malice,( when they perceived their Thundering Bulls ineffectual to hinder the Reformation,) secretly to poison the People with strange Doctrines and Opinions, in order to divide them, and to draw them into a Separation from the National Communion, so as to alienate Protestant Subjects in their Affections from their lawful Sovereign, and to secure the Papists in their blind Obedience to the See of Rome; which occasioned those Penal Statutes to be made only against Recusants; for that all Dissenters then went under that denomination, as being deemed either Papists, or seduced by Popish Priests in Masquerade; which rather animated and encouraged the Protestants in general, to Union among themselves; who, in their several Parishes and Precincts joyfully and constantly( as one Soul) assembled and met together at their set Time, by the Church appointed, to celebrate Divine Service, as well satisfied it was most acceptable to God, without any other Discipline or Way of Worship, but what had been so settled among them by those Pious and Learned Founders of the Reformed( and our Established) Religion, who carried their own Faggots, ( not loving their Lives even unto death,) to bear their Testimony for it.)  
And as none dare question their Capacities and Qualifications for so sacred a Work; so it is apparent by the Work itself, what care they took to Adapt our Prayers, and the whole Form of our Liturgy, as it is composed of brief, plain, easy, and comprehensive Expressions, best becoming us in our humble Addresses to God,( who knows all our Wants( before we pray) better than we can express them, and is more ready to give, than we can be to ask;) especially as they are drawn from the Sacred Fountain of the Holy Scriptures,( wherein they retained nothing of what the Papists used, but what the Papists themselves received from the Primitive Christians,) so as to svit the whole Service to the meanest capacity, as well as the learned and most knowing; that all might harmoniously keep place in their public Devotion, with Understanding, and a clear Apprehension of their Duty therein.  
So it is most plain and evident to every unbiased Mind, that no part of our Worship, so established, doth in the least savour of Idolatry or Superstition; as hath been acknowledged by many Learned and Reverend Nonconformists, who, for their satisfaction therein, had carefully examined and looked into it; neither was it ever charged or arraigned so to be, but by such designing Enemies in private, who well knew the contrary, or openly by such ignorant and unlearned Persons( imposed upon by them,) as out of Pride and Self-conceipt,( wedded to their own way,) were so prepossessed with prejudice against it, as wilfully to shut their Eyes, resolving beforehand never to inquire into it, or to have a better Opinion of it.)  
And as none can deny but our National Church was then blessed and furnished with a great number of Pious, Learned, and Painful Preachers, whose Gifts and Parts were no way inferior to the most eloquent Orators among our Dissenting Clergy, and equally capable( with the best of them) of extemporary Prayer; yet they all from a Spirit of Meekness, and humble Condescension, judged it their duty constantly to join in fervent Devotion with the People, in the public Service of the Church; as well knowing that to be the only Means to keep up a venerable Awe of the Majesty of God in the Minds of the Vulgar, thereby to increase Christian Charity, and preserve Union in the whole Kingdom.  
By which means that happy Queen so long reigned in Peace at home, in the Hearts of all her Subjects, to the Terror of all her foreign Enemies. And our Church became the Envy of Rome, and the alone Sanctuary for all distressed Protestants abroad.  
But the restless Jesuit( to whom we owe all these unhappy Divisions of the present Age) was always plotting, and undermining, and scattering his Seed of Sedition and Treason in secret( though still in vain) till about the latter end of the Reign of King James I. when our long continued Peace and Plenty began to melt us down into Softness and Luxury,( the fatal Destiny of the most flourishing Kingdoms in all Ages,) when those Emissaries of Rome, by their infernal Agents, insinuated themselves into the Families of Great Men, with their pleasing Baits of Indulgence,( which our holy Religion abhors;) and by degrees so corrupted our councils, as to procure from our Temporal Rulers in Ecclesiastical Courts a Toleration of Sports on the Lord's Day, and a Dispensation in other Matters, which our Discipline established expressly condemns.  
And this gave Opportunity to our Enemies, to improve their wicked Designs of separating and dividing, to undermine and destroy the purest and best established Religion and Government in the World; first by secret Insinuations, to infuse scruples into the Minds of honest and well-meaning Persons of our Communion; and by degrees, industriously labouring from thence to create in them an ill Opinion of our established Religion, as if it countenanced, or allowed of what had been thus acted, and published by the secular Power.  
About this time, many reverend Clergy-Men, and particularly Mr. Bridge & Mr. Ward; as also divers Lay-Members of our Communion, who before that, were all so well satisfied with the Purity of our Doctrine and Discipline established, that( doubtless) had they had a lawful Call, they would willingly( after the Example of those holy Martyrs that founded and settled it) have sacrificed their Lives for its Preservation; yet upon account of these great Offences, given and continued by the secular Power,( so influenced by Popish Agents)— and for no other Cause, they afterwards about the middle of the Reign of King Charles I. left the Kingdom, transplanting themselves into Parts beyond the Seas; where, rather than turn Lutherans or Calvinists,( the settled Religion there,) they choose to set up a Discipline( as they endeavoured it) from the very Letter of the Gospel, Independent of any Superior.  
Who afterwards returning into England about the year 1641. when they had for several years tasted the Sweetness and Advantage of Sovereign Conduct of Souls, each Independent( in his peculiar Province, thereby to have the greater influence in temporal Affairs,( the most prevailing Bait for the greatest Saints,) as we know whose Ambition it is ( Jure Divino) to be at the Helm of Government, both in Church and State,) introduced the Congregational Way into this Kingdom  
Upon which the Presbyterian( who was then ascendant in the Government, and no less endeavoured to establish and rivet Presbytery with a solemn League and Covenant by an uniform way of Worship, changing our Liturgy into their Directory, but without liberty to any other Persuasion) vigorously opposed the Congregational way, as that which would not only open a Door to Libertism, but introduce damnable Doctrines, and give opportunity for false Prophets, to spread dangerous Opinions every where among the People, and be a means to set up subtle( though unlearned) Teachers, and indulge self-seeking & designing Hypocrites, to creep into all Persuasions, to the great scandal of the Christian Religion, rendering the honest and well-meaning Christian a Prey every where; and would in the end by dividing Protestants, prove only advantageous to our Common Enemy, the Papists, as at large may appear in several Treatises, then published on this Account.  
But notwithstanding all Endeavours of the Presbyterian, the Independent Party prevailing by the Sword,( for the Majority of Officers in the Army were modeled of that Persuasion,) branched out into various Forms and Persuasions, according to the humour or Fancy of the Leader or Founder, whether Clergy or Lay-man; for the one was equally capable of the Ministry, in their way of Ordination with the other. And though they all differ one from another, yet they all pretend to draw their Platform from the same Standard of the Letter of the Gospel, wresting the sense to their own way: And how far the Presbyterian was in the right, we need no other Evidence than the visible Effects that then followed, and the daily Productions of the present Age; for though Dissenters are apt( most uncharitably) to charge our Church with Superstitious Worship; yet it is most certain, they themselves are more guilty of it. And it is either from worldly Design, or for want of Knowledge of the Truth, that they separate from Us; otherwise they would never lay so much stress on the outward shadow or Persuasions, as to hazard the Peace of the Kingdom, only to exchange one Shell of Religion for another: For our Religion esteems the most refined outward way or Persuasion to be no more than the shadow in Divine Worship. Neither are we more bigoted or wedded to this our National Way of Worship, or more tenacious therein, than they at Geneva, or in Holland, Denmark, or other places,( where the Reformed Religion is settled beyond the Seas,) are for their outward, settled, and established Worship in their own Government; which would have been the same to Us, as ours would have been to them, had it been so settled and established; the one with them, and the other with us, from the beginning of the Reformation; which neither Place will allow to be invaded or altered, unless by the same Supreme Authority whereby it was so first established.  
And it is most plain, that although the Gospel be silent, as to prescribing any External Mode or Gesture in Divine Worship; yet in the Congregational Way, they lay more Stress in Sitting, and the manner of receiving the Sacrament, &c. than the Doctrine and Discipline of our Church doth; which places no more in that, or any other Gesture, Rite, or Ceremony, than Decency and Order in such holy Services do require; esteeming( as I have said) the most refined, but as the Crust and Shadow of Religion; and our whole Form of Discipline to be and contain no more of Substance, than as a plain and intelligible Means, whereby the Youth and Ignorant may be instructed gradually in their Christian Duty; and as that, wherein the most Learned, and least knowing may all join with understanding in public Prayer and Praise, as the alone Medium of Union among ourselves; which every Mind rightly informed, and well disposed towards God and Man, will without any doubt or scruple allow to be true. And it is only the Ignorant, and such as by the malice of designing and subtle Adversaries are prepossessed with prejudice against it, and do wilfully shut their Eyes, so as not to know and understand better, that can or dare to deny it.  
But it was the subtlety of the Church of Rome, when they found all their thundering Artillery ineffectual to hinder the Reformation, even then to make it a part of their Instruction to their Missionaries, whom they sent abroad in disguise, to preach up, and maintain in every country, a contrary Discipline to what they sound there established; as, Calvinism among the Lutherans; and the Discipline of Luther among the Calvinists, and both of them here in England, as the only Means to create Niceties and Scruples in the Minds of the People, in Matters circumstantial,( as all external Discipline ought to be esteemed,) that by laying more Stress than Decency and Order do require in the Shadow, they might cause division, so, as at last to separate from the pure Doctrine established in our National Church, which is the Vital Substance.  
But on the other side, it is true, and cannot be denied, though it be matter of great Lamentation; and( as I have already said,) is the Case of the Gospel itself; that notwithstanding the Religion be most pure and uncorrupt, yet a loose and scandalous Clergy may soon cause vicious and formal Professors, who will be apt to take occasion from such a Separation into various forms and modes of worship, to divert themselves at first with the Novelty of it, and to run from one place to another,( as it were) to take a view of all; but resolve to settle no where; and from thence they grow cool in Devotion, beginning at first to have a light esteem of the public Worship, and to neglect Family-Duties, till at length( from an indifferency in their judgement, which way to take,) they totally neglect, and afterwards( falling into a vicious Course of Living,) are apt to scoff at, and deride all Religion in general, and become downright Debauchees, and practical Atheists, wholly declining both public Ordinances and private Devotion; which are the only fuel to keep alive our fervent Zeal and Delight in the Service of God, and to maintain Christian Charity and Unity among ourselves.  
And from thence the industrious jesuit and whispering Sectary will be sure( in a secret, sly, and subtle manner) to improve all these Evils to their own advantage, by drawing the most harmless, innocent, and well-meaning persons into an ill opinion of our Established Religion, and a prejudice against it, as if it were defective, or imperfect, or did countenance, or allow such Irregularities and 'vice in such loose Clergy and Members, whereby they gradually incline them to a separation from it, into their own private Congregation, as into a purer Ark of Salvation, wherein they shall have a greater share of Saints Prayers, which is( at best) but to change one outward Shell of Religion for another, unless they could make every private Congregation a diminutive Church of Rome, a catholic, or Universal Treasury of Prayers and Merits: By which means many Thousands have been seduced, and separated from our Communion; though they all agree, and none can deny it to be the best reformed, and purest established Religion, both for Doctrine and Discipline, in the whole World: As it is a Communion above all others, adapted according to the Standard of the Holy Scriptures, for Uniformity in Worship through a whole Kingdom, and as its peculiar Ornament,( so long as it continued unmixed or blended with any other Disciplines, or Teachers, to corrupt its Members with Sedition or Treason,) was not only the best, but the alone Support of Monarchy, and surest Bulwark against Popery; as that glorious and happy 44 years Reign of the Blessed Queen Elizabeth may evidence( more than a Million of Witnesses) for it.  
And when once the Subjects are, from such Offences of our Clergy or Laity, by subtlety of our Adversaries, thus separated and dismembered from our Communion, and so influenced by Jesuits, or Sectaries, they draw others, as naturally as they are deceived themselves, into an ill opinion of our Established Religion; and so they crumble into Sects and Divisions, according to the Humour or Fancy of the Leader, or Founder; who all set up for chief Builders: And though they differ one from another, yet all pretend to draw their Model of Discipline from the same Standard of the Letter of the Gospel; picking out such Texts of Scripture,( for Materials in their Church-Government,) as may best svit their peculiar and separate designs.  
Which Discipline thus fabricated by the Teacher, is so obscure, as he himself must be the only Oracle, and all his Hearers, must from his Lips alone receive their knowledge; wherein they are ever learning, but never come to any certain settled knowledge of the Truth, so as to ground them in the Fundamental Principles of Christianity, contained in the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles Creed: Whereby the generality of them are so far from being disposed ever to return into our Communion,( unless in a partial conformity, by dispensation from their Teacher, to qualify themselves to serve a Turn in an Office for the present,) that many of them( Lucifer-like) are so puffed up( the natural fruit of the Serpent's Seed) with an over-weening Conceit of their own Way,( as if it were the infallible Oracle of Truth,) that they suck in with the very breath of their Teachers, a prejudice against our Doctrine and Discipline established, calling it Steeple-House-Worship; though that teaches and maintains the greatest Tenderness and Charity towards them, as People misguided, and out of the way.  
And herein lies the great advantage of all our subtle Adversaries, to gain and keep their Proselytes, whether in Popery, or Separation; that they are all ever heard of one side; for, Take heed how you hear, is their mighty Caution to all their Disciples; to which we may add, for fear of being undeceived; as the chief thing thereby designed by the Teacher.  
So that whatever they impose upon their Hearers, hath the influence of an Oracle, to gain Credit: And therefore it is no wonder their Hearers should be so averse from returning into our Communion, when our Worship is by their Teachers represented but as a refined Idolatry, at the best. And to render their Arguments the more prevailing upon the ignorant, who, like Children in the dark, are naturally fearful, they cry up in their Sermons, the Simplicity of the Gospel, and the pure unmixed Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles; and the great danger of adding or diminishing to the Letter of the Scriptures; or partaking of any Ordinance of Man's Invention. All which, in a right acceptation, they know very well, our Doctrine and Discipline do both allow and approve of, and most powerfully excite to the Belief and practise of it.  
But herein lies their Cunning, they know 'tis vain to meddle with our Doctrine; for that were to betray both their Malice and their Ignorance together.  
Therefore they endeavour to distinguish the Discipline from the Doctrine of our Church; and( to give them their due,) they so far approve of our Doctrine,( though it be but to give the greater Credit to themselves,) that they endeavour to persuade their Hearers, that the Doctrine of our Church is one and the same with the Doctrine in every one of their private Congregations; and that they are all willing to be one with us in Doctrine, but they cannot comply with us in Discipline; decrying That as a Superstitious Form, and a Dead Letter, a Lazy Service; and in the most contemptible Language, in effect, vilifying it, as a Relict of Popery, and Babylonish Worship: And all to beget in the Minds of the People a loathing of our Communion, and a better Opinion of their own way; whereby they have hindered many Thousands of well-meaning People from returning into it. But were those People, and all others who have forsaken our National Church, once so happy, as to think it worth their pains; and I am sure none can deny, but it is the duty of every Christian to try all things so fairly propounded for the Temporal and Eternal Good: I say, if they would but once examine and inform themselves, and seriously( with a pious and well disposed Mind) red our public established Liturgy, and inquire into the Form, Nature and Truth of every Part of it, as( through the Grace of God, I have soberly and industriously done, for my own satisfaction,) they shall find( with me) that they have been miserable abused, deceived, and imposed upon in all things wherein our Discipline hath been thus falsely, and most maliciously misrepresented to them, and that they have been lead into a most manifest Mis-persuasion, instead of Truth, by separating from it, or keeping out of it.  
And that there is really more of Superstition, as to laying stress in any outward Gesture, Rite, or Ceremony, in every private Congregation, than is to be found in our whole Discipline.  
And that upon a due and impartial examination, and comparing it with all others, there will not be found any other settled or Established Religion, on the face of the Earth, so agreeable to the Divine Standard, as this Established in Our National Church; wherein the honest, humble, and self-denying Christian, that sincerely desires to serve God acceptably, may sooner and easier find a Rest to his Soul,( which all seek, though in several ways,) and enjoy inward Peace, Content, and Satisfaction in the knowledge, belief, and practise of the Truth, by a conscientious discharge of his Duty to God, his Neighbour, and Himself.  
And as through the Grace of God abounding to me, I have for these Ends examined and tried all, that I might embrace and hold to that which is best, I judge myself obliged, in grateful and humble Thanks to God for his infinite Mercy towards me herein, and as the best Service I can do to his Church, to endeavour( as far as in me lies) to undeceive all those who have been, and still are so miserable imposed upon, by subtle and false Teachers, as out of Ignorance, Pride, or Prejudice,( for it must arise from one,) to have contemptible and low thoughts of this our Established Religion: I say, that I may undeceive those who despise this, and so much cry up and admire Extemporary Prayer,( as they style it,) I shall, in the simplicity of my heart, in the sight of God, humbly offer, as Truth, to the best of my Belief, what here follows, to their serious Consideration.  
That nothing in the whole World can be more odious in the sight of God, or pernicious and destructive to the Peace and Order of the Church, or dishonourable to the Christian Religion, than a loose, wild, extravagant Speaking extemporarily to the holy Majesty of Heaven,( called Praying by the Spirit,) by weak, or subtle designing Persons, under pretence of extraordinary Gifts; as if God Almighty were to be courted, or prevailed upon, by a long Concatenation of Sentences, or a continued variety of organical Expressions, from the Mouth of such an Enthusiastick Oracle; when( in truth) all they utter is but a stock of studied and acquired Expressions, designedly collected from other Mens Labours, and their frequent Converse with Men and Books: Whereby the greatest machiavellian Cheat in the World may outdo the most pious, learned, and Orthodox Preacher, though his Mission were immediately from God, by the inward holy Anointing of the Spirit; especially as these extemporary praying Men, with indefatigable Industry, furnish themselves with Expressions on all Occasions, to tickle and please the itching Ears of their admiring Hearers: And too often, when they have exhausted their Treasure,( which is more or less, according to their several Capacities,) they hum and haw, and are at a loss, and necessitated to make use of the next Words their empty Heads( thus at a Nonplus) afford them, to fill up their Discourse with the time. Wherein I fear they too often, notwithstanding all their Skill, are forced to break off abruptly.  
Now, how impossible it is for People of several Capacities, learned and unlearned, Youth and Servants, ignorant and weak Women,( especially such as are disposed to lift up their Souls to God with such a pious frame of Mind as becomes the Creature in these holy Duties,) to keep place with such an Orator in this his rude, immethodical, and incongruous Speaking, I leave to holy, learned, and rational Men of all Persuasions to judge. Which must needs highly offend, and grieve( if not nauseate) the Minds of the more knowing and sincere Christians; though it may, for the present,( as the Philosophers were wont, with their Rhetorical and florid Oratory, to win the Attention of their Auditors,) amuse and tickle the Ears of the Ignorant and Credulous, who( not knowing better) are apt to admire their variety of Sounds and Tones, and their passionate and quaint Expressions,( after a Jesuitical Mode;) though all they say, presently vanishes like music, and leaves no more Impression on the unsettled Mind, than the sound of a Bell, other than an itching desire of Hearing again( as it were) another Tune.  
And thus they may be said to be diverted( not edified) with Novelty, the Parent of Pleasure, made up of a continued Variety, without any solid Rest, or durable Satisfaction, to the expecting and inquiring Mind of the Hearer.  
Which partial Affection towards one, more than another, is condemned by St. Paul, in his first Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians: where he tells the Corinthians plainly, it was but from a carnal Principle in them, to declare themselves more the peculiar Disciples of Apollos, or of Cephas, or himself, than of any other Preacher of the Gospel.  
Nay, if we appeal to the Experience of fifty Years past,( which we may call the Beginning, Progress, and Continuation of this our Babel-Worship,) we shall find that there was never, in any Age, a greater Delusion, and more secret Mischief hatched in a Government, than what hath been thus done and acted here, in this Kingdom, by those Pretenders to pray and preach by the Spirit.  
For hereby the subtle Jesuit, who so first laid the Foundation in the Reign of King James the First, under the Disguise of a mean Artificer,( for they are all bread Handicrafts-Men, as well as Crafts-Masters:) And from his Example, the designing and undermining Sectary hath often had opportunity( which they could never have otherwise gained) to exercise their Talent to the best advantage in Separation and Division; and to spread all those dangerous Opinions, which have, from time to time, poisoned the whole Nation. And when, in those private Congregations, they have most zealously sounded out Liberty of Conscience, and Preaching of the Gospel from an inward Call, and Mission of the Spirit, they have then cried down as zealously, with the same Breath, all human Learning, and Ordination of the Ministry, as a Super-Addition to our Saviour's Gospel, and Man's Invention; whereby they endeavoured to remove all the Foundation of the first Principles in Religion, laid in the Minds of the Hearers, to make way for their own Building, and so to gain Credit and Applause with their Disciples, who cry them up for Men divinely inspired, of Revelation, and extraordinary Gifts; as immediately sent from Heaven, to convert the World.  
And from hence it is, that their Hearers are put out of conceit with all Method, Order, and Decency in Religious Worship, as Superstition and Idolatry; and so they naturally rail at, and despise the most holy, regular and Orthodox Clergy; and consequently, our established and settled Discipline in our Church.  
Now, what sad Effects these Methods and Practices( wherein Religion hath been thus made a Stalking-horse for worldly Design) have produced in this Kingdom, we need no other Evidences, but the Histories of the late Times, and the dismal Calamities we now groan under.  
And as I have thus traced the original Cause of Separation, from a Jesuitical Improving the Offences given, not by any thing in our Religion itself, but from what was first acted by temporal Rulers, as they were steered by Jesuits, and Popish Interests. And have also endeavoured to show how all our Divisions, Heats, and Animosities( though propagated under a colour of Religion) have all sprung from the original Poison of Self-love, in pursuit of Ambition, Worldly Design, and seeking Dominion and Rule, under the pretext of Liberty of Conscience, and a disguised Zeal for Reformation. And that Debauchery, Profaneness and Immorality( though first arising from the evil Examples of Superiors, by pleasing Baits of Indulgence, from jesuits, and Romish Emissaries, yet they) have been exceedingly increased, not only from the Scandal of a few of the Clergy, and vicious Members, but also from the hypocrisy, Pride, and Ambition of Professors of Religion in all Persuasions.  
But that which hardens those Persons in their Wickedness, who do not so much as own Religion in a visible Profession, and makes them turn practical Atheists, in scoffing and deriding at all Religion in general, is the many and various ways of separate Worship among us, under pretence of greater Holiness and Purity, with so little of the real Power of Godliness, or practise of Christianity, Humility, Tenderness and Charity to be found in any of them: As if Religion consisted in nothing but Fig-leaves of Profession, Disputes between Professors, railing at, and censuring of others, and creeping into different Persuasions, from as differing Principles and Motives in the several Persons, according to their distinct Qualities; such as are poor to follow the Loaves, others to be tradesman or Artificers to the Congregation, and the subtle Politicians to carry on their Ambition, and worldly Designs, by desposing and continuing a Separation, under pretence of a purer Gospel-Worship; whereby the Honest, and Well-meaning, who are willing to do or suffer any thing to be safe, are misguided, and imposed upon by their subtle Leaders, to imagine Church-Members in such a Persuasion have a greater share in the Saints Prayers and Privileges, and a better Title to what they possess of the good Things of this World, than others that are without,( or the Men of the World, as they style them,) whom many of them esteem to be but Usurpers. And how far this differs from Popery, let any be Judges, who are acquainted with the Doctrine and Principles of the Church of Rome.  
Forasmuch then as all separate Congregations among us do agree, nay rather( to credit themselves) do assert their Doctrine( which is the Substance in all Religion) to be one and the same with that established and taught in our National Church; and none can deny the Discipline( or outward Mode) to be only the Shell or Shadow in Divine Worship, which may vary in things indifferent, according to Usage in several Governments, from the beginning of the Reformation, as the holy and learned Founders have there settled it; who in every Country did establish some uniform Way of public Discipline and Worship,( annexed inseparably to the Government,) as the most likely Means to maintain and increase Christian Charity and Unity among their Subjects, the better to secure them against their foreign Enemies. I say, that if we consider these things, we shall find, that all our Quarrels, Disputes and Heats have been more about the Shadow, than the Substance of Religion. And that, those that have been most contentious, and made the greatest noise, have always had the least share in the Kernel, Truth, and Goodness, which are the vital parts of Religion.  
And therefore I very well approve of the satirical Invectives of a modern Writer against such seeming sanctified, Jesuitical Politicians: and I could wish he would employ his Pen in the Anatomy of that infernal Science, and expose it in its proper Characters, so as to render it odious to the present Age; especially the practise of those designing State-Mountebanks, who make Religion a Stalking-horse to serve their own turns in worldly Designs; and instead of exciting to the plain practical Duties of Christianity, in living and doing well, in order to Happiness, do create and raise, Niceties and Scruples in the Minds of honest and well meaning Persons, about the outward Way or Persuasion, which is but the Shadow, in order to sacrifice the Substance, by Separation, and dividing from our public Communion,( at the best, exchanging one Shadow for another;) to cause Heats and Animosities( the natural Consequents of Separation) between Professors of different Persuasions, to the Scandal of Religion, and Violation of Charity( the Cement of Christianity) among Subjects in one Kingdom; who otherwise would have continued in Harmony of Hearts, as well as Worship, holding the Faith in the Unity of the Spirit, in the Bond of Peace, exemplified in Holiness, Sobriety, and Righteousness of Life.  

I Do not hereby charge all Non-conforming Clergy, as culpable herein;( God forbid:) for I am fully satisfied there are many reverend, pious, and sincere Christians of that number; who have great veneration for our Established Religion; yet have so far engaged themselves in their different Persuasions, as they judge themselves uncapable ( Salva Conscientia,) entirely to communicate with us without some accommodation in those things which have hitherto obstructed so happy an Union; to which it is well known the most holy and learned Fathers of our Church have been, and still are readily and most willingly inclined, if such application were made, as according to the decent Rules of Civil and Religious Order in Government is required.  
And to stop the Mouths of such as endeavour to render such an Accommodation either unpracticable, or impossible, whoever shall red, and well consider the 34th Article of our Established Religion, may be fully satisfied, that as the pious Founders of it took care nothing therein should be repugnant to the Word of God; so they never intended the Rites and Ceremonies,( which are the Shadow, or Crust and Shell of Divine Worship) established in our Church, should( like the Laws of the Medes and Persians) be unalterable; thereby declaring plainly, that as those Rites and Ceremonies might be changed, according to the diversity of Countries, Times, and Manners of Men; so every particular, or National Church,( not particular Parties, or private Judgments) hath Authority to ordain, change, or abolish them; so as all be done to edifying.  
But, it cannot be reasonably supposed, such an Established Discipline( the alone Medium of Unity, and the Nerves and Sinews of all Government,) should be so from time to time changed, much less abolished, to gratify every Leader or Founder of a Sect, or different Persuasion, that separates from our public Communion, into Gathered Churches,( though on never so specious Pretences,) no more than may be reasonably required of a Master of a Family to alter the economy of his household, to gratify the humour of every petulant Servant, or of Magistrates in Corporations, to endanger the Peace and Safety of their Civil Established Government, by a change or alteration therein, only to remove or prevent the Murmurs or Complaints of every discontented Citizen, that through Ignorance, Interest, or Design, shall scruple, or refuse to comply with the Rules and Orders made long before they were there Inhabitants, for the Safety and well-being of the Place. Every reasonable and unbiased Person, that shall seriously consider these things, and well weigh the Consequence of it, must necessary conclude, that such a condescension in Superiors herein, would quickly unhinge all Government, and turn all settled Order in the best Constitution in the World, into Anarchy and Confusion.  
How infinitely happy then would it be for this Kingdom, if all that are Men of Learning and Parts, and every way fitly qualified for their high and holy Calling,( to whose judgement I humbly submit the consideration of these great and growing Evils,) would labour after such an Accommodation in so sacred and weighty Affairs; that they might all, as Fellow-Labourers, join in the promoting, and endeavouring after so desirable a Blessing, as Harmony in Divine Worship; the only Means to heal our Divisions, and effect an universal Reformation of Manners among us.  
For as it is most plain, Separation was the original Cause, and hath increased all our Miseries; so nothing but Union can heal and effect our Cure.  
God grant all their Majesties Subjects may approve themselves herein as worthy Members of such a Communion,( in order thereto,) by following the Royal Pattern and Example of our Sovereign, and chief Member himself, now on the Throne.  
But after all, I would be so understood,( as I have plainly in the first Part already declared,) that I do not aim at( in any thing I have said) the least abridgement of that honest and innocent Liberty of Conscience,( the Christian's Birthright,) which all ought to have and enjoy; who, from Education, or Mis-persuasion, cannot comform to our Established Discipline; but do desire and endeavour to live peaceably under the Government in all Godliness and Honesty. But still I say, it is both equal and just, that till such Persons shall be so rightly informed, and convinced in their Judgments, as to comform to our Religion established, they ought to be content with such Liberty of Conscience and Indulgence as the Law allows them, and not to make it a Stalking-horse to serve their Worldly Interest or Design; for it is from Lucifer, and not from Heaven, if they aspire after, or attempt to share in the Government, upon any other Terms.   
The End of the Second Part.