YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in
cooperation with Yale University Library, 2008. You
may not reproduce this digitized copy of the book for
any purpose other than for scholarship, research,
educational, or, in limited quantity, personal use. You
may not distribute or provide access to this digitized copy
(or modified or partial versions of it) for commercial purposes.

THE

SELECT WORKS

OF

WILLIAM PENN.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

T#.E FOURTH EDITION.

-^¦»»-

lonDon:

HUNTED AND SOLD BY WILLIAM PHILLIPS, GEORGE YARD,
LOMDAUJ) STREET.

1825.

CONTENTS
OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

Page
A Discourse ofthe General Rule of Faith and Practice
and Judge of Controversy ; greatly importing all
those who desire to take right measures of Faith, and
to determine (at least to themselves) the numerous
Controversies now on foot in the World .... 1
A Treatise of Oaths; containing several Weighty Rea
sons why the People called Quakers refuse to Swear.
And those confirmed by Numerous Testimonies of
Gentiles, Jews, and Christians, both Fathers, Doctors,
and Martyrs  Presented to tlie King and the Great
Council of England in Parliament  31
The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience once more
briefly debated and defended by the Authority of
Reason, Scripture, and Antiquity : which may serve
the place of a general Reply to such late Discourses
as have opposed Toleration  • . 128
A Seasonable Caveat against Popery ; or, A Pamphlet,
entitled, An Explanation of the Roman Catholic
Belief, briefly examined  • ... 165
The Proposed Comprehension soberly and not unsea
sonably considered  193
A Letter to the Council and State ofthe City of Embden 1 98
Wisdom Justified of her Children, from the Ignorance
and Calumny of H. Hallywel, in his Book, called,
An Account ofFamilism, as it is revived and propa
gated by the Quakers . . . . ,  203
England's present Interest considered, with Honour lo
the Prince and Safety to the People/ in Answer to
this one Question, What is most Jit, easy, and safe, at
this juncture of Affairs, to be done, for quieting of
differences, allaying the heat of contrary Interests,
and making them subservient to the interest of the
Government, and consistent with the prosperity ofthe
Kingdom ? Submitted to ' the consideration of our
Superiors  269

CONTENTS. Page
A Letter to the Princess and Countess at Hertford, in
Germany  • 321
A Summons, or Call, to Christendom ; in an earnest ex
postulation with her, to prepare for that Great and
Notable Day ofthe Lord, that is at the Door. . • 337
Tender Counsel and Advice, by way of Epistle ; to all
those who are sensible of their Day of Visitation, and
who have received the Call of the Lord, by the Light
and Spirit ofhis Son in their Hearts, to partake of
the great Salvation, wherever scattered throughout the
World. — Faith, Hope, and Charity,, which overcomes
the world, be multiplied amongst you  355
To all those Professors of Christianity that are exter-- ¦
natty separated from the Visible Sects and Fellowships
in the Christian World, so called, wherever hidden or
scattered : True Knowledge, which is Life Eternal,
from God the Father, through Jesus Chri$t,bein«
creased.  373
A Tender Visitation, in the Love of God, that overcomes
the World; to all People in the. High and Low
Dutch Nation, who hunger and thirst after Righteous-
ness, and desire to know and worship God. in Truth
and Sincerity ; containing a plain Testimony to the
ancient and apostolical Life, Way, and Worship, that,
God is reviving and exalting in the Earth, in his
Spirit and Truth  384
Travels in Holland and Germany  , 395
A Persuasive to Moderation to Church Dissenters, in
Prudence and Conscience. Humbly submitted to the
King and his Great Council. . ,  504
Good Advice to the Church of England, Roman Catho
lic, and Protestant Dissenter ; in which it is endea
voured to be. made appear, that it is their Duly, Prin
ciple, and Interest to abolish the Penal Laws and
lests- •••••.  543
Just Measures, in an Epistle of Peace and Love to
such Professors of Truth as are under any Dissatis
faction about the present Order, practised in the Church
of Christ  , . , . ?„„

A
DISCOURSE OF THE
GENERAL RULE OF FAITH and PRACTICE,
AND
JUDGE OF CONTROVERSY.
Greatly importing all those who desire to take right measures of
Faith, and to determine (at least to themselves) the numerous
controversies now on foot in the world.
By W. Penn.
Forin Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision,
but a n ew creature. A nd as many as walk according to this rule, peace be
on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. Gal. vi. 16.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit : for the Spirit seafcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. — The things of God knoweth no man, but
the Spirit of God  He that is spiritual judgeth all things. 1 Con. ii. 10,11,15.
But ye have an unction from the Holy One ; and ye shall know all things.
1 John ii. 20.

Published in the* year 1673.

Since there are so many faiths in the world, and per
plexed controversies about them ; and that it greatly benov-
eth every man, if to contend for,, then first to know, the
true faith that overcometh the world ; it may not be unne
cessary to say something of the general rule of faith and
life, and judge of controversy, at this time. And. indeed I
am pressed from this weighty consideration, that men perish
for want of it, and can no more arrive at truth without it,
than the distressed mariner can gain his port, who sails;
without either star or compass.
I shall begin with an explanation ofthe terms, rule, and
faith ; of which we shall first treat, that we may as well
express what we intend by the one, as W"<M; we mean by
the other; which will be a proper introduction to the whole
discourse. By general rttlk, &c. we understand^ that constant
ipeasure or standard, by which men, in all ages, have been
enabled to judge ofthe truth or error of doctrines, and the
good or evil of thoughts, words, and actions.
Voti ii, A.

2 OF THE GENERAL RUT.E
By faith, we understand, an assent ofthe mind, in such
manner, to the discoveries made of God thereto, as to re
sign up to God, and have dependence upon Him, as the
great Creator and Saviour of his people; which is insepa
rable from good works.
That men, in all ages, have had a belief of God, and
some knowledge of Him, though not upon equal discovery,
must be granted from that account that all story gives of
mankind in matters of religion. Several have fully per
formed this; of old, Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandnnus,
Augustine, and others; of latter times, Du Plessy, Grotius,
Amiraldus, L.Herbert, and above all, Dr. Cudworth : and1
indeed the relics we have of the most ancient historians
and authors, are a demonstration in the point. Now the
scripture tells us, that " no man knows the Father but the
Son, and he to whom the Son reveals Him :a" and "as none
know the things of man, save the spirit of man ; so the
things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God.b"
Hence we may safely conclude, that the creating word that
was with God, and was God, in whom was life, and that
life the light of men, and who is the quickening Spirit, was
he by whom God in all ages hath revealed himself; conse
quently, that light or spirit must have been the general rule
of men's knowledge, faith, and obedience, with respect to
God. And thus much Pythagoras, who lived about six
hundred years before those words were spoke or writ, laid
down for a maxim, viz. ' That no man can know what is agree
able to God, except a man hear God himself,' and that must
be within ; for that was his doctrine. To which the apostle'
and prophet thus agree :1. In that " whatever makes mani
fest is light.0" 2. That " whatever might be known of
God was made manifest within; for God (who is light, 1
John i. 5.) had shewn it unto them : and, " God hath shewn
unto thee, O man, what is good, and what God requireth
of thee,'1" &c. Which could not be without the light of his
Son shining in man's conscience : therefore the light of
Christ in the conscience must needs have been the general
rule, &c. It was by this law that Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
Melchizedeck, Abimelech, Job, Jethro, &c. walked and
were accepted, as saith Irenasus and Tertullian ; ' They
were just by the law written in their hearts :e' then was it
their rule, to and in that just state.
Obj. It seems then you deny the scriptures to be the ge
neral rule, &c.
Answ. How can they be the general rule, that have not
aMat.xi.l7. M Cor.K. 11. "Eph.v.lS. Rom. i. 19. "Mic.vi.S.'
« Iren. 1. 2. c. 30. . Tertul. con. Jud. p. 184.

OF FAITH AND PRACTICE. 3
been general ? That which was both before and since they
were in being, must needs be more general than they: but
that was this light in the conscience, the law and guide of
those Patriarchs (for the scriptures began long after, in the
time of Moses) consequently that must be the general rule,
&c. Obj. But granting that the light within were so before
scripture was extant; yet, since the writings of holy scrip
ture, the scripture, and not the light, hath been the general
rule. Answ. That cannot be, unless Palestina, or Canaan, a
little province of Asia, was the whole world, and that the
Jews, a particular people, were all mankind. For at
what time those writings were among the Jews, other
nations were only left to the law and light within. This
the apostle confirmeth in that passage, " For the Gen
tiles, which have not the law (that is, the outward law, or
law written upon stone) do by nature the things contained
in the law, which sheweth the work of the law written in
their hearts.'" And the Gentiles themselves called it, ' the
immutable law; the everlasting foundation of virtue; no
lifeless precepts, but immortal ; a sacred good, God the
overseer ; the living rule ; the root of the soul ; that which
makes the good man.' Thus Thales, Pythagoras, Socrates,
Plato, Plotin, Hieron, Philo, Plutarch, as cited. And
saith Sophocles, ' God grant that I may always observe that
venerable sanctity in my words and deeds which these noble
precepts (writ in man's heart) require: God is their father,
neither shall they ever be abrogated ; for there is in them a
great God that never waxeth old.' More reverent epithets
than our opposers can afford, as their books but too openly
witness ; yet would go for Christian men, though manifestly
short of Heathens.
Thus it is evident that the scripture was not the general
rule, after it was given forth.
Obj. But hath it not been since, and is it not now, the
general rule ? &c.
Answ. There hath been since, and is now, the same impedi
ment; for before Christ's coming in the flesh, and since,
where the scriptures never reached, there hath been the same
light. And though nations, by not glorifying God as Godj
when they have known him, have been given up to all man
ner of iniquities, insomuch as their understandings have been
greatly veiled ; yet did not the light within so entirely lose
its ruling exercise among them, as that they lived without
any sense of such a thing : therefore still the scriptures have
'Rom.ii. 14, 15.
a2

4 OF THE GENERAL RULE
not been, neither are, the general rule; no not so much as
of any age ; since in no age can it be proved that the whole,
or greatest part of the world, had them. But had they
been so for some one or two ages, as they never were ; yet
the granting it will not reach our question, where the word
general implieth the nature of the thing itself respecting
mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, and
so to the end.
Obj. But is not the scripture the rule, &c. of our day ?
Answ. If the rule, then the general rule : for whatsoever
is the rule of faith and life, excludeth all other from being
general, they being but particular in respect of itself: there
fore not the rule, though a rule, of faith and life.
But besides their not being general, I have several rea
sons to offer, why they cannot be the rule of faith and life,
&c. (a) If now the rule, then ever the rule ; but they were
hot ever the rule ; and therefore they cannot now be the
rule. That they were not ever the rule is granted : but
that they are not therefore now the rule, may be by some
denied; which I shall prove thus. If the faith of God's
people in all ages be of one nature, then the rule but of
one nature : but clear it is, Heb. xi. the faith has been but
(a) Justin Martyr saith, • that all are Christians who live with Christ, as Abra»
ham and Elias; and amongst the Greeks, as Socrates, Heraclitus, &c.' See
Scultetus on him: who also saith, 'that some at this day are of his judgment,
who have taught that Melchizedeek, Abimelech, Ruth, Rachab, the queen of
Sheba, Hiram of Tyre, Naaman the Syrian, and the city of Nineveh, are in the
catalogue .if Christians.'
Eusebius Pamph. in his Ecclesiastical History, saith, 'That Abraham and the
ancient fathers were Christians :' and defines a Christian to be, ' one that by the
knowledge and doctrine of Christ excels in moderation of mind, in righteous
ness and continency of life, and strength of virtue and godliness towards one
only God.' See Scultetus on him.
Clemens Alexandrinus saith, 'The law of nature and of discipline is one.
And Moses seems to call the Lord the Covenant :' for he had said before, ' the
covenant was not to be sought in scripture; for that is the covenant, which
God, the cause of all, settleth, whence his nature in Greek is derived. And in
the preaching of Peter, thou mayest find the Lord called the Word, or Reason,
and the Law." See his 1st book Strom at the end. And before, page S53, he
saith, * The Law and the Gospel is the operation of one Lord, who is the virtue
and wisdom of God : and the fear which the law had bred, is merciful to salva
tion : and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That she (that is,
Wisdom) that ministereth providence, is mistress and good; and the power of
both procureth salvation : the one chastising as mistress ; the other being bounti
ful, as a benefactor; for one must pass from darkness to life ; and, applying his
ear to wisdom, first be a servant, then a faithful minister, and so ascend into the
number of sons, and be brought into the elect adoption of sons. That the law
works to make them immortal, that chuse to live temperately and justly.' And
again, ' Evil men do not understand the law; but they that seek the Lord, do
understand every good thing.* And the whole first book of theStromata isespef
cii!)y to prove the antiquity of the one true religion, or philosophy, at he calh

OF FAITH AK» PRACTICE. 5
of One nature. In short, if the holy ancients had faith be
fore they had or wrote scripture, they had a rule before they
had or wrote scripture ; for where faith is, there is a rule
for that faith. And if the faith be of one nature, the rule is
of one nature also. And since the faith is inward, spiri
tual, begotten of the immortal word, in which is life, and
that life the light of men, and that this word of life and
.light was the rule ; then no book, writing, or engraving ou
visible and perishable matter, can be the rule now.
Again; such as the faith is, such must the rule be; but
the faith is, as before, inward and spiritual, which no mere
book can be.
2. If the scriptures were the general rule, they must have
always been a perfect rule, ever since they were a rule : but
this is impossible, since they were many hundred years in
writing, and are now imperfect also as to number; how then
are they the perfect rule F
That they were not the perfect rule before they were
written, must be granted : and that they were many hun
dred years writing, must also be allowed : and that they are
imperfect now, as to number, I prove:
First, " Enoch's Prophecy," is mentioned by Jude, but
not extant in the Bible. " The Book of the Wars of the
Lord," Numb. xxi. 14. '< The Book of Jasher," Josh. x.
13. 2 Sam. i. 18. " The Book of Nathan," 2 Chron. ix.
29. " The Book of Shemaiah, 2 Chron. xii. 15." " The
Book of Jehu :" " The Epistle of the apostle Paul to the
Laodiceans," Colos. iv. 16. and several others men
tioned in the scriptures, not now extant. And lastly, Luke
says, " That many took in hand to relate from eye- witnesses
the things most surely believed, &c." .
2. Now, it is taken for granted, that John wrote many
years after Luke: some think Luke wrote before Mark,
However, Matthew and Mark were not many, and to this
day we see no more than those four in our bibles ; arid
therefore many such writings are lost : and if lost, then the
scriptures, as aforesaid, are not perfect; and if imperfect,
how can they be the rule of faith, since the rule of faith
must be perfect ?
3. My third reason is this ; the scriptures, however use
ful to edification and comfort, seem not in their own nature
and frame to have been compiled and delivered as the gene
ral rule, and intire body of faith, but rather written upon
particular occasions and emengencies. The doctrines are
scattered throughout the scriptures ; insomuch that those
societies, who have given forth verbal confessions of their
faith, have been necessitated to toss them to and fro, search
here and search there, to lay down this or the other princi-

6 .;; OF THE GENERAL. RULE
pie ; and then as like the original text as their apprehen
sions can render it : whereas, were it as plain and distinct
as the nature of a rule requires, they needed only to have
given their subscription for a confession. Besides, here
they are proper, there metaphorical : in one place lite
rally, in another mystically to be accepted : most times
points are to be proved by comparing and weighing places
coherent; where to allude aptly, and not wrong the sense,
is difficult, and requires a clear and certain discerning, not
withstanding the clamours upon us about infallibility. Now
from all this, with abundance more that might be said,
plain is it that the scriptures are not plain but to the spiri
tual man : thus Peter said of Paul's writings, that " in
many things they were hard to be understood ?" Therefore
not such a rule, which ought to be plain, proper, and intel
ligible. 5. Again, the scripture cannot be the rule of faith, be
cause it cannot give faith; for faith is the "gift of God,
which overcomes the world :S" neither of practice, because
it cannot distinguish of itself, in all cases, what ought to be
practised, and what not ; since it contains as well what
ought not to be practised, as what ought.
This was the case of Christ's disciples, who had no parti
cular rule in the Old Testament writings for the abolishing
, of some part ofthe Old Testament religion : on the con
trary, they might have pleaded for the perpetuity of it,
because Christ said unto them, " Do as they say that
.sit in Moses's chair," more reasonably than many who
make that a plea now-a-days for their invented worships.
What ther. guided them in their declaring void and relin
quishing those things ? For instance, God gave circumcision
" as a sign for ever :h" And Paul tells the Galatians, "that
if they be circumcised, Christ should profit them nothing:'"
was not this the spirit of truth, that leads into all truth,
that the apostles made the judge and rule of their doctrine
and practice ? So said James, and the assembly of the
apostles, when they told the believers, " It seemed good to
the Holy Ghost, and to us,11" &c.
These very men that say it is the rule of faith and life,
deviate in their proof from their assertion ; for the scrip
tures no where say so of themselves. Here they fly to
meanings and interpretations : the question arises not about
the truth of the text, for that is agreed on all hands; but
the exposition of it : if then I yield to that man, do I bow
to the letter ofthe text, or to his interpretation ? If the lat
ter, as manifestly I do ; is the scripture, or that man's sense
*Eph. ii. 8. 1 John v. 4. » Gen. xvii. 7. ' Gal. v.i, 2. k Acts xv. 28.

OP FAITH AND PRACTICE. 7
of it, my rule? Nay, the person so interpreting makes
not the scripture his rule, but his own apprehension; what
ever he may say to gain credit to his conceptions with others ;
then mine it must needs be, I consenting thereto.
6. How shall I be assured that these scriptures came from
God ? I am bound to try all things : if all things, then them
among the rest. I would fain know what I must try them
with. With the scriptures ? Then the scriptures must be
the rule of my examination and faith concerning themselves,
which is improper. If with the spirit that gave them forth,
which searcheth the deep things of God (a measure of which
is given to me to profit withal) then is it most congruous to
call the spirit, by way of excellency, and not the scriptures,
the rule.
7. If the scriptures are the rule, they must be so in the
original, or copies : if in the original, that is not extant,
and so there would be no rule in being ; for the last of it
that was extant, was the Evangelist John's history at Ephe
sus, not seen almost these thousand years. If the copies
must be the rule, it were to be wished we knew which
were the nighest to the original, there being above thirty in
number. This is undetermined, and for ought we see, un
determinable. And that which farther confirms what I say
is, the variety of readings which we find amongst those co
pies, amounting to several thousands. And if the copies
cannot, how can the translations be the rule, so various (if
not differing) from the true sense ofthe copies in many
things, and one from another? Besides, 1 would fain
know of those of our present age, who thus contend for the
scriptures being the general rule, <%;c. in opposition to the
spirit, upon what foot they receive them into this place and
authority : is it by tradition or revelation ? I mean, the
internal testimony ofthe spirit; or the external award and
determination of men ? If the former, they must unavoid
ably come over to us ; for then the spirit will, and must be
both rule and judge : if the latter, I ask how are they assur
ed that they are not miserably abused by carelessness or de
sign ; since we see, that using the utmost diligence, both
translation, transcription and printing, are subject to nu
merous mistakes, and those sometimes very material, against
which the scripture of itself can be no fence ?
But admit there were no ground for any such objection,
I farther demand of our adversaries, if they are well assured
of those men that first collected, embodied, and declared
them authentic by a public canon ? Which we read was in
the council of Laodicea, held three hundred and sixty years
after Christ, though not as they are now received : during

g OF ^THE GENERAL RULE
which time they had been tossed and tumbled through, many
hands, and of many judgments and opinions. Some were
received, and some rejected,, and doubtless many thousands
of times transcribed : and it is not improbable that they
were also abused. If they miss in their judgment here,
they are gone till they come to us. I say, how do they
know that these men rightly discerned true from spurious ?
Either their judgment was infallible in the matter, or it was
liot: if it were, then there was such a thing as infallibility
since the apostles' days, which is a contradiction to your
selves. But be it so that they were infallible ; how came
you to be assured they were so ? Not by inspiration ; fQr
that is dangerous doctrine with you : which way w?s it
then ? Not by tradition : was it by the "scripture ? That
were to say that the scripture tells you that those men that
collected it for true, were right in their judgment : but we
are yet to find any such place ; and if it were so, that would
but begthe question. I cannot see any other ground, be
sides your very great indulgence to their choice ; which you
call Popery, and believing as the church believes, in other
folks. But if these men were fallible, as your opinion makes
them, arid their own determinations prove them, what then ?
Doubtless your condition will be very uncertain.
Now, sure it is, that some of the scriptures taken in by
one council for canonical, were rejected by another as apo
cryphal ; and that which was left out by the former for apo
cryphal, was taken in by the latter for canonical. Now vi
sible it is, that they contradicted each other, and as true
that they both erred, respecting the present belief: for
your canon and catalogue vary from theirs, and, let me
say without offence, from any catalogue you can produce.
Behold the labyrinth of uncertainties you run yourselves
into, who go from that heavenly gift in yourselves, by which
the holy scriptures are truly discerned, relished, and distin
guished from the inventions and abuses of men !
8. Farfhermore, if the scriptures were the rule of faith
and life, &c. then, because they cannot be the rule in their
translations, supposing the ancient copies were exact, it
cannot be the rule to far the greatest part of mankind ; in-
deed.to none but learned men : which neither answers the
promise relating to gospel-times, which is universal; nor
the necessity of all mankind for a rule of faith and life.
' 9. That the scriptures are not the rule of faith and life, is
proved from those voluminous discourses of cases of con
science that are extant among us : for had the scriptures
been as sufficient as the nature of the rule of faith and life
requireth, there had been no need of such tracts: every

OP FAITH AND PRACTICE. 9
man might have read; his own condition laid down in scrip
ture, without those numerous supplements. Do not your
own language and practice prove its insufficiency to that
end, at what time you both exhort to, and go in secret to
seek, the mind of the Lord in this or that important affair?
Why do not you turn to chapter and verse for satisfaction,
if the scripture be appointed of God for the general rule ?
>. Strange ! that what is so common in the mouths of all sorts,
viz. " God direct you," (which implieth inspiration and re
velation, or immediate counsel or guiding from God) should
not be known, much less acknowledged by you in your
writings; but disdained with such scaring epithets, as en
thusiasm, familism, fanaticism, Quakerism, &c. In short,
there are a thousand cases, and not a few occurring almost
daily, in which the scripture cannot be our plain and distinct
rule and guide:1 yet has not God left himself without a wit
ness in any bosom ; for his grace, " that brings salvation,
. has. appeared unto all men, teaching them that believe in it,
to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present world.m" And Christ
Jesus, the Eternal Word, has for that end lighted every
man coming into the world, viz. to discover, reprove, arid
instruct about faith and practice. But it maybe, and is,
objected by some t
Obj. If this law and light in the conscience had been
enough, what need had there been of scripture ?
Answ. The same argument will hold against God,
Christ, his Spirit and grace ; all which are sufficient, not-
: withstanding the use and benefit of scripture. The case was
this: man's mind being estranged from the light and spirit,
through its wanderings after visible and perishing things ;
and inasmuch as the light became thereby veiled from him,
the Spirit as it were quenched, and the law defaced, God,
in peculiar mercy to the Jews, according to his covenant
with faithful Abraham, superadded, or repeated (as Ursin
terms it) the law inward, by a declaration of it outwardly ;
that both God might not be without an outward witness,
as well as an inward (they having so much lost the feeling
thereof); and likewise more deeply to strike their minds by
their senses (into which their minds were gone) and to meet
them abroad, where they were roving and wandering from
the law and light within.
As it is great vanity and weakness to infer insufficiency to
the light, from the imbecility and darkness that are in men ;
so is it, from God's superadding scripture, and other exter-
1 There is not laiddown in scripture any general rule how to answer before
magistrates; and to act in times of sufferings. ""Johni.a. Titus ii. 11, 12.

10 .OF THE GENERAL RULE
nal assistances, to men in that state; since their blindness
is occasioned through their rebellion to the law and light
within. What! would such have God, his light, and spirit,
appear to, and converse with, people's outward senses?
That cannot be : the one is spiritual, and the other toocar-
,nal for any such thing. Or are they insufficient, because
they converse with men through these exterior things, suit
ed to that weak state ? Or tell me if the most considerable
part of scripture be any more than the declared knowledge
and experience of such as were come to a more improved
state in the teachings of that light and spirit; which is
therefore given forth, that others loitering behind might be
stirred up, and the more prevailed with to follow them, as
they had followed the Lord in the light ofhis spirit? Cer
tainly, it can never be that scripture should impeach the
light of insufficiency, when that very scripture is but the
mind and teachings of the divine light in others, declared
or recorded. Does the declaration jar with, or make weak,
that from whence it came? Or because of God's conde
scension for a time to external mediums, shall they turn the
light and spirit out of the office of rule and judge ? Or is it
to lay down instituted religion, as some ignorantly talk, to
press after that which was before, and ends those tempo
rary things ? The law outward, as a rule, was but as
Moses, till the Son came. " The servant abideth not in the
house for ever." The written law held its place but till
the inward arose in more glory and brightness; or rather,
till people became more capable of being turned to it, and
living with and in it. « In those days" saith the Lord, " I
will write my law in their hearts,"" &c. They who say
otherwise of scripture, do pervert and abuse it; for there
is nothing more clearly laid down in it, from beginning to
end, than the rule and reign of the spirit. " My kingdom,"
said Christ, "is not of this world.0" Again, "The kingdom
of God is within. I will write my law in their hearts, and
place my fear in their inward parts. All thy children shall
.be taught of the Lord, and in righteousness shall they be
established. I will pour out of my spirit on all flesh.P The
grace of God that brings salvation, hath appeared to all
men, teaching,' &c.
Ola. But if the law engraven and delivered to Moses,
was a rule to the Jews why should not the law delivered
by Christ, and written by the apostles, be the rule to Chris
tians ?
Answ, Christ left nothing in writing for the rule of faith
and practice that we hear of ; and.it js not to be thought
"..Isa. liv. 13. "Johniviii.36. 'Joelii.28. ¦> Tit.ii. 11 12. "

6F FAITH -AND PRACTrCE. "11
that he was less faithful in his house than Moses : and
doubtless, had ne intended the rule ofhis followersto have
been a written rule, he would have left it upon record with
all punctuality : this must be believed,, and that done, on
pain of eternal death. Nor did his followers write fn the
method of a rule, as the law was written ; nor did they so
call or recommend what they writ.
But this leads me to my eighth reason why the scriptures
cannot be the rule under the new covenant, &c. for admit
ting the law written by Moses were the rule (a rule, I grant
it was) to the Jew outward; yet Christ, the spiritual leader
of a spiritual Israel, writeth his spiritual law in the heart;
as Moses, the outward Israel's leader, writ the law upon
tables of stone. This was God's promise, and the privi
lege and blessing of the new covenant, that as the outward
Jew had an outward law for a directory, the inward Jew
should have an inward law for his directory : and as the
outward Jew had an outward priest,' at whose mouth he
ought to seek the law ; so the Jew inward, and circumci
sion in spirit, has an inward and spiritual high priest,
whose lips preserve knowledge ; at whose mouth he is to re
ceive the law of life. And this is his rule, even he who is
the ruler ofhis people Israel, who reigneth in righteousness,
and of whose heavenly government there shall be no end.r
The king, ruler, judge, law-giver, high priest, law, rule,
temple, are all spiritual; so the scriptures inform us; "My
kingdom," said Christ, "is not of this world." Again,
" The kingdom of God is within. I will write my law in
their hearts, and place my fear in their inward parts. They
shall be all taught of me ; and in righteousness shall they be
established. The tabernacle of God is with man ; he will
dwell with them. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.
The grace of God hath appeared unto all men, teaching,
&c. A measure of the spirit is given to all men to profit
withal. The inspiration ofthe Almighty giveth understand
ing. Whatsoever may be known of God is manifest within.
Walk in the spirit. If ye walk in the light, &c. Come, let us
walk in the light ofthe Lord. And there needed neither sun
nor moon to shine ; for the glory of God did lighten it, and
the Lamb was the light thereof. As many as walk according to
this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel
of God,s" &c: (b) What rule ? Not that of the old legal
' Mai. ii. 7. Heb. vii. 24, 25, 26, 27. Isa.ix.6, 7. s Luke xvii. SO, 21.
Heb. viii, 10. Rev. xxi. S. Joel ii. 28. Tit. ii. 1 1, 12. Job xxxii. 8. Rom.
i. 19. Gal. v. 16. Uolmi.7. Isa.. ii. 5. Rev. xxi. 2S. Gal. vi. 15, 16.
(i) Galat. vi. 16. vii xav'avi r'urui in this rule ; as it is translated, Phil. iii. 16.
which was spoken of the measure of attainment; and Grotius saith ' in the manu-

J2 O.P THE GENERAL RULE
creation, which then passed away, but the rule of the
xcurn Kritris or new creation, as it may be rendered, and as
Drusius also doth interpret it; which is the way of life
Isaiah spoke of; "an highway there shall be, and it shall
be called the way of holiness ; the unclean shall not pass
over it, and wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err
therein : thero shall be no lion there, nor ravenous beast to
go thereon, but the redeemed shall walk there :" which
way, teacher, guide, ruje, light, spirit, and holy unction,
that directs and, keeps in steady paths of truth, is Christ
Jesus our Lord.
Obj. But do you not turn the scriptures off, for an un
certain and unserviceable writing, and as good as reject and
deny them altogether ? . .
Answ. Some indeed, to render us odious to all protes-
tants, have said as much in our names, as .the consequence
, of our principles ; but not without great injustice to us.
, Tlie, scriptures are uncertain upon their foundation, but
not upop ours. Doth our manifesting their faith concern
ing the scriptures to be grounded upon their own imagina
tions, or human, traditions, make void the scriptures, or
render them uncertain ? By no means ; for we would have
them received upon the spirit's testimony and evidence,
which gave them forth. And though we cannot allow them
to be the rule of faith and life, under the dispensation of the
gospel, which is power and life itself; yet are they to be
reverently read, believed, and fulfilled, under the gospel.
For notwithstanding the law written upon stone was not
Paul's rule, after the Son of God was revealed in him ; yet
the Son of God taught Paul to fulfil the righteousness de
clared by that law. If it be to deny and reject (as some
have enviously said of us) yea, to vilify the scripture, be
cause we cannot allow it to be the rule,.&c. Paul then may
be said to deny, reject, and vilify the written law, at what
time the law of the spirit of life "in Christ Jesus became his
rule., There is a great difference between asserting that
the spirit is the rule, and casting away and vilifying of
scripture. And indeed it is but an old fetch of the devil's,
script, rule is not ; so it must be understood, « let us walk in the same attain
ment;" as alsoin2Cor.x. IS. 15. in which three places that word is only found;
See Erasmus, Vatablus, Zegerus, Cameron, Jac. Capellus and Grotius, on those
places, none whereof can be drawn to the scriptures. Zegerus interprets this
' place of Gal. Vi. 16. thus, « they that have followed this form of life, or rule of
the new creature, having turned away from the invalid ceremonies of the law
peace, &c.' Drusius eSpJains it .from chap. v. 6. « the new creation ' « Faith
.which worketh by ilove.' Grotius. saith, « rule here is a way made al to a rule
thatiiplainly right; such is that way of the new creation, which was foretold
rlsa.-x.lii.; 9. and signifies the state of the new. man,' pf which Paul speaks Coll
iii. 10. Eph,ii, !Q. R,om.vi. 4. r '

OP FAITtt; AND PttA^T-fCfeV IS*
tb pretend honour to the1 letter, that he might the more un-
suspectedly oppose the bringing in of the dispensation of;
the spirit ; which the letter itself testifies of and to. They
that come to be led ofthe spirit, arrive at the end for which
the scripture was given forth : the apostle John did as good
as say the same thing, when he told them to whom he
wrote, "that the anointing which they had received, and-'
abode in them, would lead them into all truth; and that
they needed not that any man should teach them :" to deny '
this to have been the saints' teacher, is to deny as plain a
proposition as is in the whole scripture : and that one age
of Christianity should have one rule, and another age an
other rule ; that age the spirit, and this but the letter, is
more than any man can prove. Yet, did John's so writing-
to the believers invalidate the scripture, Or vilify his own
epistle? I would think none could talk so idly. How thenJ
doth our exalting the light and spirit of Christ, which ful
fils the scriptures (by bringing such as are led by it to enjoy!
the good things therein declared) reject and vilify the scrip
tures ? Does our living up to them, by an higher rule,
make us deny and reprobate them? Erasmus aiid Grotius
think them then to be most valued, when men are witnesses
of their truth in themselves : see them on 2 Pet. i. 19, 20:
I do acknowledge they contain an account of several hea
venly prophecies, godly reproofs, instructions and exam
ples, that ought to be obeyed, and followedi
Obj. If so, then hoW are they not a rule of faith and life ?
Answ. A riile, and the rule, are two things. By the
rule of faith and practice, I understand, the living, spiri
tual, immediate, omnipresent, discovering, ordering, Spi
rit of God :; and- by a rule,- 1 apprehend some instrument,
by and through which this great and universal rule may
cdhvey its directions. Sucha' subordinate, secondary, and
declaratory rule, we never said several parts of scripture
were not : yet we confess the reasori'of our obedience is- not
merely because they are there written (for that were legal)
but because they are the eternal precepts of the spirit, in
meri's consciences, there repeated arid declared, ft is the
testimony ofthe spirit, which is the true rule for believing
arid understandinj* ofthe scripture; therefore not the scrip
ture, but the spirit of truth, must be the rule for our be
lieving and understanding them. Thus held the ancients.*
Tertullian saith', 'Worldly wisdom the Lord calls foolu
ishness. He hath chosen the foolish things of the Worldj.to
tht! cbrifouriding of philosophy; for that is the matter1 of
•Bp. Rob. Sand, de Regui/Cunj. Pr*l'4ta' Scct> 3I-

14 OP THE GENERAL RULE
worldly wisdom. A divine interpreter of the divine nature
and disposing^."'
Justin Martyr, in Exposit. Fid. 'The interpretation ot
the scriptures is to be accommodated to the will of the doc
trine of the spirit ; and not to human reasonings.'
Hieron saith, ' The scriptures must be opened with spiri
tual exposition.1' ¦
Epiphanius saith, 'Only to the children of the Holy
Ghost all the scriptures are plain and clear.'
Nor were the most approved Protestants of any sort (who
have been so reputed in opposition to Popery) of another
mind. It is the substance of the fourth article exhibited
against the Lutherans, in the council of Trent, as an errone-.
ous doctrine they held, < That to understand the scripture,
neither gloss nor comment is necessary ; but only to have
the spirit of a sheep of Christ's pasture.*'
Erasmus tells us, ' What man sets forth by man's device,
may be received by man's wit : but the thing that is set
forth by the inspiration ofthe Holy Ghost, requireth an in
terpreter inspired with the like spirit ; and without the in
spiration of it, the secrets of God cannot be known.z'
Luther giveth us his mind thus : ' The scriptures are not
to be understood, but hy that very spirit by which they
were writ.*'
Peter Martyr, that famous Italian Protestant, teaches us,
'The spirit is the abettor, by which we must assure our
selves for understanding the scriptures, that thereby we
must discern between Christ's words, and a stranger's ;b'
quoting Christ's words, " My sheep know my voice," and
several other places of scripture.
Again, ' The spirit of God revealeth the truth in the
scriptures.0' H. Bullinger, decad. 4. serm. 8. 'Men fetch the under
standing of heavenly things, and knowledge of the Holy
Ghost, from no where else, but from the same spirit.'
John Bradford answered to the archbishop of York thus :
'We know the scriptures, as Christ's sheep, by the same
spirit that wrote and spake them ; being thereby assured,'
&c.d Calvin teacheth thus in his Institutes ; ' It is necessary
the same spirit that spake by the mouth of the prophets,
should pierce into our hearts, to persuade us that thev faith
fully delivered that which was committed to them of God.8'
- Tertul. de Prascrip. Heretic, p. 204. Dell. Confut. of Simps, p 89 90
1 Hieron. torn. 4. 7. Bp. Jewel, p. 532. * Polano. Histor. Counc.Tr p. 150*
•Erasmus on 1 Pet. 1.19. on 1 Cor. ii. » Luther, torn. S. fol. 169 ?Peter'
Martyr Corn loe, p. I. c. 6. « Ibid. p. 2. c. 18. « Book of Martyrs, 3 vol.
p. S9S. " Calvin. Inst. lib. 1. c. S. ' '

OP FAITH AND PRACTICE^ 15
Beza saith, ' That the way of understanding prophecies,;
and referring them to the right scope, must be sought or
fetched from the same spirit which dictated them to the
prophets themselves*:' and more to that purpose.
W. Tindal, called the English apostle by J. Fox, saith,
' It is impossible to understand in the scripture more than
a Turk, for any that hath not the law of God, writ in the
heart, to fulfil it**'
Bishop Jewel says thus against Harding, ' The spirit of
God is bound neither to sharpness of wit, nor to abundance
of learning : flesh and blood is not able to understand the
holy will of God, without special revelation. Without this
special help, and prompting of God's spirit, the scripture is
to the reader, be he never so wise and learned, as the
vision of a sealed book.h'
Dr. Ames, a great father of the Independents, saith upon
occasion of Bellarmin's words, ' The anointing of the Holy
Spirit cloth teach the faithful to understand those things
which they received of the apostles ; therefore to under
stand the scriptures in those things which are necessary to
salvation ;'' with more to that purpose.
Vatablus on Job xxxii. 8. with Drusius, Clarius, and
others, speak to the same effect.
G. Cradock, a famous Independent preacher, preached,
' that the scripture is a speechless thing without the
spirit.*' Ch. Goad, an eminent Separate, in his works stiled B. D.
of K. college, in Cambridge, and an Independent pastor,
thus taught, ' There is no knowledge of Christ, nor of the
scripture, but by revelation.1'
Dr. J. Owen, a man of greatest fame among the present
Independents, saith, ' The public, authentic, and infallible
interpreter of the holy scriptures, is he who is the author
of them ; from the breathing of whose spirit they derive
all their verity, perspicuity, and authority.'"'
So that we see, upon the judgment of many considerable
persons, the scripture is no rule for our believing and under
standing of itself; and therefore not the rule of faith and
practice concerning the things therein declared.
I will give a short instance in Christ's words about rege
neration. He taught (and strange it was, no doubt, to wise
Nicodemus) '• that unless a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God." This is as plain a proposition
' Beza on % Pet. i. 19. e Tindal's Works, p. 319 and 80. " Jewel against
Hariling, p. 532, 534. 'Dr. Ames against Bellarm. I. 1. c. 6. Thes. 32.
*G. C^adpck's; Divine Drops, p. 217. : ' l>. Goad's Refr. Drops, p. 12.
» Exercit. 2. 7. 9. against Quak.

18 OF THE GENERAL RULE
as can be laid down, and may be credited historically : but
what is that to the knowledge and experience of the new
birth ? That they are never'like to be informed of there.
Nor can that scripture be my rule in that heavenly travel,
respecting the many and wonderful trials and exercises
that are to be met with in the way to it; neither can any
other writing whatever. This only is the office of that
Spirit and Word immortal, by which we are begotten again.
What, then, is my rule, to inform, order, strengthen, and
lead through the whole operation, but the same spirit?
All doctrinal scripture was experienced before written, or
they had not been true witnesses who wrote it.
Now that which was their rule, can guide us into the
same experiences; nor are they to be rightly known before
experienced : " If any man will do his will, he shall know
of the doctrine," saith Christ. I read the history of such
things : this saves not : neither can the history be the rule
leading into the mystery. That belongs only to the spirit,
that searcheth out the deep things of God. Consequently
the spirit, and not the scripture, is the rule for so believing
and living.
Obj. But- is not this to make void the Protestants' plea
against the Papists, viz. That the scriptures are the rule of
faith and practice ?
Answ. No such matter : for the question was not, whether*
the spirit of Christ, or the scripture, was the rule; but,
whether the scripture, which is God's tradition, or popish
traditions, were the rule to measure the truth of doctrines
and practices by.? We grant that particular scriptures,
rightly understood, may measure what is agreeable or dis
agreeable to them : that is, such doctrines and practices as
are contrary to that part of scripture, more particularly
relating to our days, are questionable by the scripture;
especially since all parties pretend that what they say and
do is according to scripture. Yet this concludes not the
scripture to be the general and evangelical rule.
Obj. But if God had not revealed those things that are
in scripture, by it to us, how could they have been known
by us ?
Answ. They were known by the light and spirit of Christ
before they were written ; for from being written they are
called scripture. Therefore it is said, " that the prophets
searched diligently what, and what manner of time, the
spirit of Christ, that was in them, did signify, when it
testified before-hand of the sufferings of Christ." " Nor are
they ever the more revealed to the blind and dark mind,
¦ 1 P«t. i. II.

OF FAITH AKD PRACTICE.

17

because they are written. The mysteries of regeneration
are as puzzling to natural wit and earthly wisdom, as be
fore. Therefore well said Epiphanius, ' Only to the chil
dren of the Holy Ghost all the holy scriptures are plain
and easy. Men's going to hammer out principles, without
this infallible guide and rule, hath been the cause of that
great confusion that is over mankind about religion to this
very day.
Obj. But how else could you have known those prophe
cies to be true ; for that is not matter of witnessing, but
foretelling. Answ. That is an extraordinary revelation, not falling
within the ordinary discoveries that are absolutely necessary
to man's salvation ; by which God shews his power and
faithfulness, that he is God, and can foretel, and will bring
to pass : but therefore must there be an extraordinary
light or spirit, and not rather an extraordinary sight and
sense from one and the same light and spirit in them ? Be
sides, that which gives me to believe and savour it to be
from the spirit, and not by imposture, is my rule for believ
ing it. Now that the spirit so doth, both Calvin and Beza,
as before cited, assert for me, viz. ' The same spirit that
spake by the mouth of the prophets, must pierce into our
hearts, to persuade us that they faithfully declared that
which was committed to. them of God.'
Obj; But this light you speak of, could not tell you which
way sin came into the world: that there was an Adam and
Eve, that they fell after that manner, and that sin so entered
the world : that Christ was born of a virgin, suffered death,
and rose again:1' that you ought not {o swear in any case,
&c. if the scriptures had not told you so.
Answ. That is boldly said. Bul consider well : ' Moses,*
says, the vulgar opinion, ' had that account of the creation,
above two thousand years after it, by revelation, which we
find in Genesis.' Now that- there could be no revelation
without this divine light or spirit, which is the life of the
eternal, creating Word, must needs be granted; " for,"
saith the apostle Paul, " the spirit of God only knoweth
the things of God'; and whatever makes manifest is light,0"
And that the spirit and light are one, though two names,
has been sufficiently evidenced already. If then it was this
light of the eternal Word, that delivered those past things
to Moses, and gave that prospect of future things to the
prophets; as no doubt it was, if the scriptures be credible ;
then to say, ' the light or spirit could not do it,' is bias- :
phemous, as well as absurd. Again, to argue, because the
0 1 Cor. ii. 10, II. Eph. v. 13.
Vol. ii. b

18 OP THF, GENERAL RULE
light does not reveal every circumstance of history to each
individual that hath already an account thereof, that there
fore it could not, is unreasonable. Were the history of the
transactions of Christ and his followers wanting, (as before
Moses was that of Adam and his posterity) and that the
Lord saw it needful to acquaint mankind therewith, no
doubt but the light and spirit which revealed the account of
the creation, above two thousand years afterj to Moses, and
foretold several hundred years many of those transactions
of Christ by the prophets, would also have supplied that
want : but inasmuch as an account is extant, and therefore
not needed, that objection is vain. -
Again, it does not follow, because every man has a measure
of light to inform and rule him, that therefore he must needs
know all which that light knows, or is able to reveal to
him. I return that argument thus upon our adversaries :
they, say, ' they have the spirit of God :' then they know
all that the spirit of God knows, or can reveal to them.
If the latter be absurd, then the former. Again, say they,
' The light within did not reveal Christ to the Gentiles,
and that Christ should be born of a virgin, &c. therefore
insufficient.' I return upon them thus: The spirit of God,
given to the children of Israel, Neh. ix. 20. did not ac
quaint them that^ Christ should be born of a virgin, nor
much more of his life and bodily transactions ;, therefore
the spirit of God was insufficient. The like may be con
cluded against the spirit in the prophets : for it is manifest
from I Pet. i. 10, 11, that the spirit had not revealed to all
the prophets the time of Christ's appearance and sufferings.
Was the spirit therefore an insufficient rule to them ? But
that which falls heaviest upon our opposers, is this, That
the scriptures, by their own argument, are a most imperfect
account themselves of what was done, not relating the
hundredth part of things ; therefore as insufficient in not
relating what is behind, as they would weakly render the
light or spirit, in not revealing to every individual those
things which are already past. Nay, they may as well
infer insufficiency to the spirit, or the light within, in that
it does not shew all that shall be to the end of the world
which in their proper seasons there will be a necessity to
know, as to reflect insufficiency upon it, &c. because it did
not foretel things, that are now past unto former ages or
needlessly reveal them over again to us in this age. Neither
is history, or can it be, the rule of that faith and life we
speak of, which are so absolutely necessary to salvation-
which is the faith that God, and not history, gives • and
that works not by history, but by love, and overcome's the

OF FAITH AND PRACTICE. 19
world ; by which millions of historical believers are over
come, and wallow in the spirit and practice of. And the
rule must be answerable to the nature and workings of the
faith: the same in point of practice, which is duty done.
Now history, though it inform me of others' actions, yet it
does not follow that it is the rule of duty to me, since it
may relate to actions not imitable, as in the case of Adam
and Eve in several respects, and Christ's being born of a
virgin, dying for the sins of the world, &c. wherefore this
cannot be the rule of duty. The like may be said of the
Jewish story, that was- the particular concern and trans
action of that people.
Obj. But these things ought to be believed.
Answ. I say so too, where the history has reached, and
the spirit of God hath made a conviction upon the con
science ; which, says Dr. J. Owen, as before cited, ' gives
them authority, verity, and perspicuity.' But where this
history has not reached any people, or they die ignorant of
it, they are not responsible for not believing any such pas
sages, as saith bishop Sanderson.p It is one thing to say,
The scriptures ought to be read, believed, and fulfilled ;
and another thing to say, They are the evangelical rule of
faith and life ; for when I read, and believe, and witness
them fulfilling, I must needs have a rule by which to read,
understand, believe, and witness them : which being the
divine light aud spirit of Christ, it must be that, and not
themselves, that must be my rule for so reading, under
standing, and believing them.
And farther, to prove that the light and spirit within the
heathens was sufficient to discover these things, it is granted
on all hands, that the sybils had divine sights. I mean not
those made in their name by some professors of Christianity,
as is charged upon them, to gain authority upon the Gen
tiles, against which Blundel writes; but those that are ac
knowledged, who prophesied of ' a virgin's bringing forth
a son, and that he should destroy the serpent, and replenish
the earth with righteousness,' as is before cited out of Virgil,
who took it Out of the remains of Cumaea's verses, then
among the Romans.
And for the practical part of the objection, viz. How
should we have known it had been unlawful to swear at all
in any case, if Matt. v. 34, had not been (which is of most
weight in this case, because it is matter of duty, and called
particularly by some an evangelical precept, being a step
above the righteousness ofthe outward law among the Jews)
I. have this to say for proof ofthe light's sufficiency :
p Prelect. 4. §. 21,22.
B 2

20 OF THE GENERAL RULE
There were among the Jews themselves, long before
Christ came, an entire people, that would not swear, to
wit, the Esseni : ' They keep their promises,' saith Josephus,
' and account every word they speak of more force than if
they had bound it with an oath : and they shun oaths worse
than perjury; for they esteem him condemned for a liar,
who without it is not believed.0-'
Philo writes to the same purpose, and taught himself,
' That it was best to abstain from swearing; that one's word
might be taken instead of an oath.r'
And Pythagoras, in his oration to the Crotonian senators,
exhorted them thu;-, ' Let no man attest God by oath, ,
though in courts of judicature; but use to speak such
things that he may be credited without an oath.8"
The Scythians are said to have told Alexander of them-;
selves, ' Think not that Scythians confirm their friendship
by oath : they swear by keeping their word.4'
And Clinias, a Greek, and follower of Pythagoras, rather
chose to suffer the fine of three talents, (which made three
hundred pounds English) than to lessen his veracity by
taking of an oath. Which act was greatly commended of
Basilius, who upbraided the Christians of his time with it ;
thereby (after our adversaries' way of drawing consequences)
preferring the light of the Gentiles before the light of the
Christians : though indeed the light was, and is, always one
in itself. But the Christian did not live up so closely to it
as the heathen did, and therefore took a greater liberty,
and walked in a broader way."
I would now know of our opposers, if they can yet think
the light that preached this doctrine in the mount, was the
same with that light that shined in the consciences of those
Gentiles, so many hundred years before that sermon was
writ or preached, who so plainly believed, practised, and
taught it, yea or nay? Perhaps some will yet stick out;
while the more moderate will submit, and conclude jo-no-.
ranee and folly have made all this opposition ao-ainst'us;
and that of a truth, the voice which cried, Prov. viii. 4 6.
*' Unto you, O men, I call ; and my voice is to the sons' of
men; hear, for I will speak excellent things," was also.
heard by the Gentiles ; and that what concerned the doc
trine of holy living was not hid from them ; I mean, evan
gelically so; provided Christ's heavenly sermon upon the
mount, related by Matthew the Evangelist, may be esteemed-
such: for their writings flow with amens thereunto.
•< losephus's Wars of the Jews, 1. 2, c. 7. - Philo, de spec. le? & deralotr
» Laert, Herm. & Ong. contr. Gels. • Quint. Curt, in vit. Alex. « H Grot™
o$ Mat. y. 34. " «Jrr0CIUS

' OF FAITH AND PRACTICE. 21
> But allowing our adversaries that the voice was then so
low, and the manifestation of the light so small, as it dis
covered not many of those things before-mentioned ; could
that give reasonable men ground to conclude, therefore the
divine wisdom or light was insufficient ; or that the divine
- wisdom or light was not then, and should not. in other ages
become the rule and guide of the children of men ? Yet
such false consequences have been the corner-stone and
foundation of our opposers building against us ; and no
reasonable man, I think, will attempt to clear it from being
a sandy one. OF THE JUDGE OF CONTROVERSY.
I shall explain what I mean by these terms.
A judge, is one that has not only power to determine,
but discerning to do it rightly.
Controversy, is a debate between two parties about
the truth or falshood of any proposition to be determined
by that judge.
From whence I am led to assert, that the judge of con
troversy must be certain and unerring.
And though this may seem strange to some, it is never
theless true in itself: for if the judge be fallible, he may
indeed silence the contending parties by his authority, but
not the controversy by a certain judgment, since he may as
well determine falsly as truly. So that controversy can
never be rightly determined by a fallible judge, therefore he
is no true judge of controversy. Indeed it is absurd, and a
contradiction in itself to think otherwise ; since he that is
uncertain, can never be certain of his decision : and'if not
a certain one, then none to the purpose. Nor ought any
person, no otherwise judged, that is persuaded ofthe truth
ofhis cause, to let fall his belief upon so doubtful a deter
mination ; since he moves not only without conviction, but
against conviction : and, which is worse, he is not ascer
tained of the truth of what he is required to submit to.
Therefore of all people they are most condemnable, who,
notwithstanding they keep so great a stir about religion,
and sometimes use coercive means to compass their designed
uniformity, acknowledge to us, they are not certain of
their own faith.
Since then the judge must be unerring, it will be worth
our while to consider where this infallible judge is to be
found. " There is none good but God," said God himself,
when manifested in the flesh ; that is, originally, or as of
himself: so, truly, there is none infallible but God, as of

22 OF THE GENERAL RULE
himself. Yet as the supreme good is communicated unto
man according to measure ; so (as well says bishop Latimer)
is their infallibility, certainty, or assurance of the truth of
things given to man, according to capacity : otherwise men
would be obliged to believe and obey, and that upon dam
nation, those things concerning which there can be no cer
tainty, whether they be true or false/'
Emmanuel, God with men, as he is their rule, so their
judge : he is the law-giver, and therefore the best inter
preter of any point that may concern his own law : and men
are so far certain, as they are subject to his voice, light, or
spirit in them, and no farther; for, humanum est errare,
man is errable. Nor can any thing rescue him out of error,
or preserve him from the infections of it, but the sound and
certain judgment that God, by the light ofhis spirit, gives
unto him.
Obj. But is not the scripture the judge of controversy ?
Answ. How can that be, since the question most times
arises about the meaning of scripture ? Is there any place
tells us, without interpretation, whether the Socinian Or
Trinitarian be in the right, in their differing apprehensions
ofthe "three that bear record," &c. Also the Houiousiaii
and Arian, about Christ's divinity ; or the Papists or Pro
testants about transubstantiation ? If then things are left
undefined and undetermined, I mean literally and ex
pressly, in the scripture, and that the question arises about
the sense of words, doth the scripture determine Which df
those interpreters hit the mark ? As this is not reasonable
to think, so must it be acknowledged, that if interpretation
decide the matter in controversy, then not the scripture',
but the interpreter must be the judge.
Now this interpreter must either interpret by his own
mere wisdom or spirit, called by the apostle, t Cor. ii. II.
"the spirit of a man," who, by weighing the text, consult
ing the intent of the writer, comparing places together,
gives the judgment which the scripture does not give of It
self; or, from the spirit of God, " which gives understand
ing," as Job xxxii. 8. and as the same apostle saith, in the
same place, " searcheth the deep things of God." If the
first, then a fallible ; if the last, then an infallible judo-e.
I would fain know, whether it was the scripture, or the
Holy Ghost, that presided among the apostles when they
were come together, Acts xv. when they said, " It seemeth
good to the Holy Ghost, and to us," &c. If the Holy
Ghost, then pray give us a plain scripture to prove we are
to have another judge now: if that cannot be done, theii
x Book of Martyrs, vol, 3. p. 475.

OF FAITH AND PRACTICE. 23
we must have the same, and consequently an infallible
judge, viz. the spirit of truth, which leads Christians into all
truth, and is-given of God, by Christ, for that very end.
Obj. It is granted that the spirit is infallible : but how
shall I know that any man determines a thing by this spirit,
and does not rather obtrude his own sense upon lis, under
that specious pretence ?
Answ. By the same spirit : as well said Gualt. Cra-
dock, ' The way to know whether the spirit be in us, is its
own evidence ; and that is the way to know it in others too t
and the man that hath the spirit, may know the spirit iri
another. There is,' saith he, ' a kind of sagacity in the
saints, to this purpose.*' Which is also true in the judgment
of abundance of protestant writers : for as they held that no
man could know the scriptures, but by the same spirit
which indited them ; so, consequently, that the same spirit
only could assure him ofthe truth ofthe said interpretation.
And Peter Martyr, as before quoted, tells us, ' the Holy
Ghost is the author or judge.' Also Dr. J. Owen saith,
* that the Holy Ghost is the only authentic interpreter ofthe
scripture :' and if the only authentic, then the only and in
fallible judge : then the judge of the mind or meaning of
scripture, is both an only and an infallible judge. But to
wave this : does not the very same objection lie against the
sense of scripture, since one says, this is the sense, and
another that? To know God's mind, men must come to
God's spirit, else difficulties of that sort are insuperable.
In short, it were greatly to be wished that all men would
hold themselves unconcerned in disputing about what they
have not received an assurance of from the Holy Spirit';
since they but beat the air, and obtain no solid satisfaction,
neither can they upon any other bottom. God never pros
trates his secrets to minds disobedient to what they already
know. Let all practise what they assuredly know to be
their duty, and be sparing in their search after nice and un
known matters. Weighty and seasonable was, and is the
apostle's saying, " nevertheless, whereunto we have already
attained, let us walk by the same rule :z" where he both
limits us to the present knowledge communicated to us, and
exhorts us to live up to that ; and if any thing be farther
necessary for us, " God in due time will reveal it by his
spirit," that only gives to know, discern, and judge ofthe
things that are of God.
Obj. But how will this determine the controversy, arid
allay the fury of debates that are on foot in the world ?
* G. Cradock's Divine Drops, p. 210. z Phil. iii. 10.

24 OF THE GENERAL RULE
' Answ. Nothing like it, if a man adhere to it ! And if he
does not, there is no way left but the wrath that is to be re
vealed. But most persuasions are agreed about the abso
lute necessaries in religion, from that light and witness God
has placed in man's conscience, viv. ' That God is : that he
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. That the
way of God is a way of purity, patience, meekness, &c.
without which no man can see the Lord.' Nay, they accord
in some considerable matters superadded, as some of them
speak, to wit, ' That God was manifested extraordinarily in
the flesh : that he gave his life for the world : that such as
believe and obey his grace in their hearts, receive remission
of sins, and life everlasting.' Now 1 say, since these
things men generally consent to, let them live up to them,
and forbear wanton scrutinies after things or notions that
gender to strife and contention, and leave not mankind bet
ter, but rather worse than they found them, and the world
would soon be rid of controversy. Holy living, and not
disputing, would be the business of mankind. What more
excellent judgment can be given, than that men quit their
contentions about notions and opinions, and betake them
selves to the practice of that good which God hath already
shewn unto theni ; as speak both the phrophet Micah vi. 8.
and the apostle Paul, Rom. i. 19. And if any thing be re
vealed to one more than another, let the rest judge in the
spirit, or be silent till God manifest more to them, in order
to right judgment.
It is good to " try all things ;" but we must have some
thing to try them by ; and what ought that to be, but the
" Spirit that searcheth," and " the anointing that teaches
all things,*" which is truth itself. Here mankind will live
in love, having at least natural affections (now lost by the
barbarity of some of their cruel religions, or heats for their
opinions) and a judgment of things will be made, not from
the rash, partial, short-sighted, and froward mind of man,
but that eternal light and spirit that never erred : which,
however disgustful to some Protestants in this age, was no
false doctrine in the account of John Philpot and bishop
Latimer, two great founders ofthe reformation in. England.
The first, in his answer to the bishop of Chichester, re
proving his confidence about true faith in Christ, 'These
heretics,' saith he, ' take upon them to be sure of all things
they stand in.'— 'Let him doubt,' saith John Philpot, * of
his faith that listeth ; God give me always to believe that I
am sure of true faith and favour in Christ.0'
MCor.ii. 10. 1 John ii. 20, 27. » Book of Martyrs, vol. S, p. 577.

OF FAITH AND PRACTICE. 25
The second, in his answer to5ir Ed. Baynton, objecting
the uncertainty of man in what he calls truth, thus recorded
by J. Fox, ' Your friends deny not, but that certain truths
are communicated to us according to capacity : but as to my
presumption and arrogancy, either I am certain, or uncer
tain, that it is truth that I preach. If it be truth, why may
not I say so ? If I be uncertain, why dare I be so bold as
to preach it? And if your friends be preachers themselves,
after their sermon, I pray you ask them, whether they be
certain and sure they preach the truth or not ; and send me
word what they -say, that 1 may learn to speak after them.
If they say they be sure, you know what follows : if they
say they be unsure, when shall you be sure, that have so
doubtful and unsure teachers ?c'
Let not Protestants, for shame, judge us for owning a
doctrine, that is confessed to, and confirmed by some of the
worthiest of their own ancestors, viz. ' That an unerring,
certain or infallible judgment, in things necessary to salva
tion, is both possible arid requisite, and that God commu
nicates it, by his spirit, to the souls of men.'
THE CONCLUSION.
To conclude : Emmanuel, a word suited not only to that
appearance, but the whole dispensation of the gospel, im
ports, God nigh to, or with men : " The tabernacle of God
is with men ; he will dwell in them, and walk in them : they
shall be all taught of me, and in righteousness shall they
be established :d" that is, by the spirit of his Son. And
this admits not of any book, or literal rule or judge, to
come between that indwelling spirit of light, life, and wis
dom from God, and the soul, as its rule of faith and prac
tice. And because it is the unutterable goodness of God to
people in these latter days, as the sum of scripture pro
phecy, thus to make known himself; we are incessant in
our cries unto them, that they will turn their minds inward
(now abroad, and taking up their rest in the externals of
religion) that they may hear his heavenly voice and knocks,
and let him in, and be taught of him to know and do his
will, that they may come to be experienced and expert in
the school of Christ; for never man spake and taught, as he
livingly speaks and teaches in the consciences of those who
diligently hear him, and are willing to be taught of him the
knowledge of his ways. The priest was outward, but he is
now inward ; the law outward, but it is now inward. And
' Book of Martyrs vol. 3. p. 457. "Rev. xii. 3, 7. Isa. liv. 13.

26 OF THE GENERAL RULE
now " he is no more a Jew that is one outward, nor that
circumcision which is outward in the flesh ; but he is ajew
who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that ofthe heart,
in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of
men, but of God.e" Which is so far from lessening the
authority ofthe scriptures of truth, that unless this be man's
rale and judge in the reading and believing of them, he can
never understand them rightly, or keep their sayings faith
fully. And indeed, as before 1 have expressed, 1 cannot
but say, that man (whilst unregenerated) setting his wit and
wisdom to fathom and comprehend the intention of the
Holy Ghost in many of those Writings, hath occasioned that
confusion, darkness, and perplexed controversy, that now
so lamentably pesters the world : in Which state, for all the
external imitations of the ancients in some temporary and
figurative parts of worship, I am to tell such, and from the
spirit of the Lord God of all truth, they will never be
accepted. The utmost of that literal knowledge, historical faith, and
outward religion, is but as the old heavens, that are to be
wrapped up as a scroll, and the old wine and bottles, that
belong not to the kingdom of God. Such believers may
flatter on themselves, and at last cry, Lord, Lord; but
alas I they shall never enter into the rest that God hath re
served for his regenerated and redeemed children. For
under such a faith and religion, envy, wrath, malice, per
secution, pride, passion, covetousness, worldly-mindedness,
&c. may and do prevail ; yea, and are cloaked, as with a
secure cover, from the stroke of God's spirit ; insomuch, as
when any are moved of the Lord to decry such fair and hy
pocritical shews of religion, they are reputed rash and censo
rious, and presently a plea must be made on this wise ; 'Do
not we follow the commands ofthe scripture ? Did not such
and such do so and so?' Which at best are but the duties of
sacrifice, and not of obedience : never regarding from what
ground the performance springs, whether it be according to
the rule of the new or of the old creature ; but abuse and
vilify us for making such distinctions : as if the prayers,
preachings, singings, outward baptizings, and suppings,
&c. of men in their own unsanctified spirits, strength, and
will, were required and accepted of God for evangelical
worship. Thick darkness, and a dangerous presumption!
Thus are men out of the way concerning both faith and
practice, while they imagine the first to lie in an assent of
the understanding to such propositions, and in an imitation
of former observations, that were at best but signs of »ood
" Rom. ii. 28, 29.

OF FAITH AND PRACTICE. 27
things to come, and the duties of sacrifice (which is far from
the Emmanuel state) ; and the latter, viz. the rule and
judge, to be the scriptures; which are but an account of
those things that others were ruled to, and directed ih, by
the Holy Spirit, before they were ever recorded or made
scripture; and no other rule or judge can so regulate : for
as the faith and experience, so the rule and judge of that
faith and experience, must be orte. God by his spirit be
gets faith ; God by his spirit rules faith, and governs the life
of his children; " for as many as are children of God, are
led by the Spirit of God.f" The scripture, much of it, is
but a declaration of faith and experience; therefore not the
rule, or judge: for as faith and experience were before
scripture, (because, as I said before, there must be a rule
and judge where there is faith)- therefore the scripture is not
that rule or judge : and before that declaration be answered
or fulfilled by any, they must come to the faith, rule, and
judge, of which that is a declaration. So that faith is
' yielding up to the requirings of God's spirit in us, in full
assurance ofthe remission of sins that are past, through the
Son of his Love, and life everlasting;' from whence daily
flow works of holiness, well-pleasing* to God : which is
more than a mere assent of the understanding to a verbal,
though a true proposition. Again, the life of a true Chris
tian stands not in bodily exercise, which, says the apostle,
profits little : nor in an imitation of the ancients in tempo
rary and shadowy things, which the hypocrite, as well as
the saint, can do ; but in self-denial, and walking in the
spirit, to bring forth the fruits thereof unto all godliness,
which is the pure and spiritual obedience, resulting from
the living spiritual faith of God's elect: and the rule and
judge thereof is their author and begetter, even the spirit
of truth, which alone gives saving understanding, faith, and
obedience, and searcheth the deep things ofGod.s
O ye professors of religion, that you would but seriously
weigh these things, and examine yourselves in God's sight
(for he respects none for their fair outside), if this saving
faith be your faith, and this heavenly life be your life, and
if the Holy Spirit be your ruler and leader ? If not, you
are but legal, formal, and in the oldness of the letter, and
will-worshippers, which obtains not with God : in which
state, not the wisdom from above, but that which is from
below, of the old creature, is your rule: in it you read
scripture, expound it, pray, preach, sing, and perform all
your duties ; and this is not to walk " according to the rule
' Rom. viii. 14, 15. e 1 Tim. iv. 8. Col. ii. 20, 21, 22, 23. Gal, v. 16,
22, 23.

28 OF THE GENERAL RULE, &C.
of the new creature."" but in a legal spirit to make a gospel
profession; the end of which, from' the Lord, I am to tell
you, "will be a bed of sorrow." Therefore resist not the
light and spirit within, but turn at the reproof thereof, that
you may come to walk in the way of life, daily life to your
souls; that so you may be quickened and made alive to God
in all your duties, and live to him, while you live in that
life which is hid with Christ in God ; that being thus born
again, and become renewed in your inward man, you may
perform that pure and spiritual worship, which is of a sweet
savour with the Lord ; so shall he bless you with his hea
venly blessings, and daily replenish your souls with the un
speakable joys ofhis love and salvation. This I heartily de
sire, and through all difficulties incessantly travel for, in
body, soul, and spirit, that the all-wise, good, omnipotent
God may be known, served, and obeyed by you, to your
comfort, and his eternal honour, who alone is worthy to
receive it, now and for ever. Amen.
William Penn.
* Gal. vi. 16. Prov. vi. 23.

A
TREATISE

OATH S|^VV:

CONTAINING
SEVERAL WEIGHTY REASONS
WHY THE PEOPLE CALLED QUAKERS'
REFUSE TO SWEAR.
And those confirmed by Numerous Testimonies
OF
dfttfilek !leto& ami C&rt$tati03
BOTH
FATHERS, DOCTORS, and MARTYRS.

Presented to the King and the Great Council of England in Parliament.

" But I say unto you, Swear not at all. Mat. v. 34.
" Above all things, my brethren, swear not. Jam. v. 22.
" Because of oaths, the land mourneth. Jer. xxxii. 10"
He ought to swear neither this thing nor any thing. Theognis.
It is a great good for a man not to swear at all. Maimonides.
It is not lawful to swear, neither in a just nor unjust cause. Chrysostom

TO THE
KING, AND
GREAT COUNCIL OF ENGLAND,
ASSEMBLED IN PARLIAMENT.
The Cxse of the people called Quakers, relating to Oaths,
farther represented, and recommended to their consideration,
in order to a speedy and effectual redress.
The common benefit ofthe free people of England being
undoubtedly both the first and greatest reason for the an
cient, just, and necessary constitution of Parliaments ; and
being also informed that it is your resolution to employ this
session to the redress of public grievances ; and since we
cannot but repute ourselves a member of this great body
you represent, by birth and English descent, and are not
only involved in the common calamities of the kingdom, but
in particular very cruelly treated in our persons and estates,
because we cannot, for pure conscience, take any oath at
all (though we have again and again tendered our solemn
yea or nay, and are most willing to sustain the same penalty
in case of lying, that is usually inflicted for perjury); to
the end we may not be interpreted to decline the custom out
of mere humour or evasion (though our frequent and heavy
sufferings, by lines and tedious imprisonments, sometimes
to death itself, should sufficiently vindicate us against such
uncharitable censure) we do. with all due respect, present
you with our reasons for that tenderness, and many testi
monies and precedents in their defence ; and we intreat you
to express that care of a member of your own civil body,
which nature and Christianity excite to. We mean, that it
would please you to consider how deeply we have already
suffered in person and estate, the inconveniencies we have
daily to encounter, and those injurious not only to our
selves, but others we commerce with, in that both they and
we, because of our tenderness in this matter, are constantly
at the mercy of such as will swear any thing to advantage
themselves, where they are sure that a contrary evidence
shall be by law esteemed (however true) invalid ; under
which difficulty several of us at this hour fruitlessly labour:
that being sensible of our calamity, you may please to en
deavour, as for others, so for this grievance, both a speedy

A. TREATISE OF OATHS. 51
and effectual redress ; otherwise, besides ordinary cases,
wherein many of us extraordinarily suffer, we may perhaps
prove, in this of oaths, the greatest, if not the only suffer
ers of the kingdom ; a cruelty, we hope, you do not design
against us.
God Almighty, we beseech him with all sincerity of heart,
incline you to justice, mercy, and truth. Amen.
London, Jhe 25th of the third month, 1675.
Subscribed on the behalf of the rest of our friends, by

Alexander Parker,
George Whitehead,
Stephen Urisp,
William Mead,
Gerrard Roberts,
William Welsh

Samuel Newton,
Thomas Heart,
John Osgood,
James Claypool,
• Thomas Rudyard,
Richard Richardson,
and William Penn.

Some inducements offered to answer this request, from a
consideration of the cause and end of an oath, and those
reasons and testimonies given by us against the use and
imposition of it.
The ground or reason of swearing.
This, we think, all will agree to have been the degene
ration of man from primitive integrity, at what time yea and
nay were enough ; for when men grew corrupt, they dis
trusted each other, and had recourse to extraordinary ways
to awe one another into truth-speaking, as a remedy against
falsliood ; else, what need had there been of an oath, or any
extraordinary way of evidence, when every syllable was
freighted with truth and integrity ? It had been a mere
taking of God's holy name in vain : truth then flowed natu
rally, and wanted no such expedient to extort its evidence.
Thus Polybius, though an Heathen, in his story of the
Romans, saith, 'among the ancients, oaths were seldom
used in judicatures themselves; but when perfidiousness in
creased, oaths increased,' or then the use of them first
came in*.
Basilius Magnus saith, ' oaths are an effect of sinf.'
Gregorius Nazianzenus, in his dialogue against swear
ing, saith, ' an oath is nothing else but a certain consumma
tion of mischiefs;};.'
* He lived before Christ two hundred years. H. Grotius on Mat. v. Bishop
Gauden of Oaths, p. 36-. i In Psalm xiv. j: Jamb. 20.

32 , A TREATISE OF OATHS.
Ambrosius saith, ' swearing is only in condescension to a
defect. Chrysostom saith, ' an oath came in when evils increas
ed, when men appeared unfaithful, when all things became
topsy-turvy.' Again,
' To swear is of the devil ; seeing Christ saith, "what is
more (than yea, &c.) is of evil." Again,
'Swearing took its beginning for want of truth or punc
tuality.' Augustin saith, ' an oath is not among good but evil
things, and used for the infirmity of others, which is evil,
from which we pray that we may be daily delivered*.'
Chromatius saith, ' what need we swear, seeing it is un
lawful to lye.' Which shews that lying was the occasion of
oaths, and by leaving off lying, oaths vanish as unprofitable.
Titelmannus saith, that 'ajj oath belongs not to virtue.'
Albertus Magnus saith, 'swearing is by indulgence.'
Ludulphus saith, 'an oath was permitted of infirmity.'
Burgensis cites Jerom, saying, 'our Saviour teacheth,
that an oath' spring from the vices of ment.'
Bishop Gauden also tells us, 'that the evils of men's
hearts and maimers, the jealousies and distrusts, the dissi
mulations and frauds of many Christians, their uncharitable-
ness and insecurities are such, as by their diseases do make
solemn oaths and judicial swearing necessary ; not abso
lutely, morally, or preceptively, but as a remedy or expe-
dientL' ,
Jerom, with many of the fathers, Chrysostom, Theodo- '
ret, and others here omitted, because largely cited here
after, make this the reason why God indulged the Jews in
the use of swearing, 'that they were but in the state of in
fancy, and that they might be kept from swearing by false
gods ;' which the scripture is plain in : " for thou shalt fear
the Lord thy God, and swear by his name : ye shall not go
after other gods, for God is a jealous God, "&c.a" Which
shews, that he dispensed with swearing by hisname, that
he might take them oft' from swearing by false oods because
they Would thereby acknowledge them, and "not 'the true
God ; so that swearing is only better than idolatry.
It will remain, that we give our reasons why we cannot
take this liberty, and swear, as well as other men have
done, and yet do.
1. The first is drawn from the cause and ground of oaths,
viz. perfidiousness, distrust, and falshood : God's instruc-
* Comment, on Hebr. c.6 Horn. 9. on Acts iii. Horn. Psal. v. Ad Pon An-
tioc. On Mat. v. ibid. f °n ?«'¦ xiv. On Mat. v Vit. Chr. d 2 r 19 On
Mat. v., t Of Oaths, p. 17, 23. On Mat. v. 36, 37. ' Deut. vi is 4 lj

A TREATISE OF OATHS. S3
tions to avoid those hateful crimes : the ability he hath given
man to answer his commands ; and man's duty to make that
use of God's gift. For if swearing came in by perfidious-
ness, distrust, dissimulation, and falshood, it is a most just
consequence that it ought to go out with them ; or that as
the rise and increasing of those evils were the rise and in
creasing of oaths, so the decreasing and extirpation of those
evils, should be the decreasing and abolishing of oaths;
otherwise there would be no truth in the rule of contraries,
nor reason in that maxim, cessante ratione legis, cessat lex ;
' that the ceasing of the reason of the law, is the cessation
of the law.' Expedients are no longer useful than to obtain
what they are designed to : means are swallowed up of their
ends: diseased men only want remedies, and lame men
crutches : honesty needs neither whip nor spur ; she is secu
rity for herself; and men of virtue will speak truth without
extortings ; for oaths are a sort of racks to the mind ; alto
gether useless where integrity sways.
This, we presume, no man of reason will deny, viz.
'that swearing came in, and ought to go out, with perfidi-
ousness ;' and hope it will be as easy to grant, at least it will
be very easy to prove, that Gdd hath frequently, both by
prophets and apostles, reproved men for such impieties, and
strictly required truth and righteousness ; as, isa. lix. 3, 4.
Jer. ix. 3, 5. Rom. xii. 19. Gal. v. 19, 20, 21. Col. iii. 8.
9, 10. Josh. xxiv. 14. 1 Sam. xii. 24. 1 Kings ii. 4. Eph.
iv. 25. and by abundance of other places in holy scripture.
And that God should enjoin man any thing that he hath not
impowered him to perform, is unworthy of any man acknow
ledging a God so much as to conceive. It is true, that the
unprofitable servant in the parable is represented to enter
tain so blasphemous a thought ofhis Maker, that he was so
" hard a master, as to reap where he did not sow ;" but the
same parable also acquaints us of the dreadful consequence
of that presumption. The prophet Micah preached another
doctrine, " The Lord hath shewed thee, O man, what is
good : and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do
justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy Godb ?"
For this end hath " the grace of God appeared unto all
men," as speaks the apostle Paul' to Titus, that they should
be taught " to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts ;" which
entering, and over-running the world, made way, among
other expedients, for that of oaths ; so that to live that life
which needs no oath, man is both required and impowered :
and as it is only his fault and condemnation, if he doth not;
so certainly there can be no obligation upon him, who liv-
* Mich. vi. 8.
Vol. ii. c

34 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
eth that life of truth and integrity, to perpetuate ;hat which
rose, and therefore ought to fall, with fahhoodand perlidi-
ousness: the reason ofthe thing itself excuses him : for he
that fears untruth, needs not swear, because he will not
lie; to prevent which, men exact swearing: and he that
doth not fear telling untruth, what is his oath worth ? He
that makes no conscience of that law that forbids lying, will
he make any conscience of forswearing ? veracity is the best
security ; and truth-speaking the noblest tie and firmest tes
timony that can be given. This we declare to you to be
both our judgment and attainment: we speak not boast-
iugly, but with humility, before the great Lord of heaven
and "earth, to whose alone power we do unanimously ascribe
the honour: he hath taught us to speak the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as plainly and
readily without an oath as with an oath, and to abhor lying
as much as perjury; so that for us to swear, were to take
his holy name in vain. Nor are we therein singular ; for
that not only Christian fathers, martyrs, and doctors, but
also Jews and Heathens, have had this sense of the rise of
oaths, as will hereafter fully appear.
II. Our second reason, why we refuse to comply with this
custom, and our superiors ought not to impose it, is this;
it would gratify distrusts, humour jealousies, and subject
truth, and those that love it, to the same checks, curbs, and
preventions that have been invented against fraud ; whereby
the honour of a noble profession, the power of a veracious
example, and the just difference that ought to be made be
twixt trustiness and diffidence, integrity and perfidiousness,
are utterly lost.
How is it possible for men to recover that ancient confi
dence, that good men reposed in one another, if some do
not lead the way, and hold forth to the world a principle
and conversation beyond the necessity of such extraordinary
expedients ? At present, people lie all on a heap ; and the
greatest truth finds no more favour than the greatest fraud :
fidelity must wear the shackles worldly prudence hath made
against the evil consequences of cozenage, and subject her
self to the customs brought up through fraud, or go to gaol.
Be pleased to consider, that trustiness did not all at once
quit the world, nor will it return universally in the twink
ling of an eye; things must be allowed their time for rise,
progress, and perfection : and if ever you would see the
world planted with primitive simplicity and faithfulness,
rather cherish than make men sufferers for refusing to swear,
especially if they offer the same caution to the law with him
that will swear. We dare not swear because we dare not

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 5J
lie, and that it may appear to the world that we can speak
the truth upon easier terms than an oath : for us then to be
forced to swear, is to make us do a needless thing, or to
suspect our own honesty. The first we date not, because as
we have said, it is to take God's name in vain ; and we have
no reason to distrust ourselves, being no ways conscious of
fraudulent purposes. Why then should we swear ? But much
rather, why should we be imposed upon ? It is a saying ascrib
ed to Solon, ' that a good man should have that repute, as not
to need an oath ; that it is a diminution to his credit to be put
to swear*;' It becomes not an evangelical man to swear,
was a primitive axiom ; but more of that anon. In the mean
while please to remember you have a practice among you to
exempt your lords in several cases, placing the value of an
oath in their bare avouchment upon their honour, suppos
ing that men of those titles should have so much worth, as
that their word might be of equal force with a common
man's oath : and if you will please to understand honour in
the sense of the most ancient and best philosophers, to wit,
virtue, your own custom gives authority to our reason, and
makes you to say with us, ' that virtue need not swear, much
less to have oaths imposed upon her, to tell the truth,' the
only use of oaths. It was evangelically spoken of Clemens
Alexandrinus, that ' a good life was a firm oath;' which
was memorably verified by the judges of Athens, who,
though Heathens, forbad the tendering of Xenocrates an
oath, because of their great opinion of his integrity ; which
was three hundred years before Christ, came in the flesh.
111. Our third reason for non-conformity to your custom
is, the fear we have, lest by complying we should be guilty
of rebellion against the discoveries God hath made to our
souls, ofhis ancient holy way of truth ; and consequently
of concealing his goodness to us, and depriving him of that
glory, and the world of that advantage, this honest testi
mony may bring to him and them, tie has redeemed us
from fraud ; it is he only that hath begotten this conscien
tiousness in us, and we dare not put this light under a
bushel ; neither can we deny his work, or him to have the
honour of it. We intreat you, take this tenderness of ours
into Christian consideration.
I V. Oaths have iu great measure lost the reason of
their primitive institution, since they have not that awful
influence, which was, and only can be, a pretence for using
them; on the contrary, they are become the familiar parts
of discourse, and help to make up a great share of the a-la-
mode conversation ; and those who decline their company,
» Bishop Gauden of Oaths, p. 41.
c2

36 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
or reprove their practice, are to go for a sort of nice and
squeamish-conscienced men. These swear without fear or
wit, yet would be thought witty in swearing; fearless, they
cannot. Some are curious in their impiety ; old oaths are
too dull for men of their invention, who almost shift oaths
with their fashions : nay, the most judicial oaths are com
monly administered and taken with so little reverence and
devotion (to say nothing of the perjuries, that through igno
rance or design are so frequently committed) that we can
not but cry out, O the great depravity that is in the world !
how low is man fallen from the primitive rule of life ! well
may the prophet's complaint be ours; for if ever land
mourned because of oaths, with great sadness we say it, this
doth. And what more effectual remedy can any people
propose against the notorious abuse and evil consequence of
swearing, than truth-speaking ? For those that dare not
lie, need not swear; and they that make no conscience of
lying, do not much fear an oath, at least their consciences
are very crazy in taking it. This only reason, were we des
titute of all other allegations, would be a strong dissuasive
from swearing ; for we hold God's honour, and our profes
sion, greatly concerned to prove to so false an age, that
there is a people who are so far from vain and false swear*
ing, that they dare not swear the truth, but whose yea and
nay shall weigh against other men's oaths, and that with a
free offer of sustaining double punishment in case of a mis
carriage. Expedients may last a while, but truth only
shall have the honour of conquering falshood, and virtue
will, and must, be greater than an oath.
V. The omnipresence of God, rightly understood, shews
the uselessness of an oath, and is with us a £[ood argument
against swearing : for what need is there of that man's being
awed into a true evidence by such sort of attestations and
imprecations as make up the common form of oaths, who
knows God to be always present to reside and preside in
his soul, according to that new and everlasting covenant
which he hath made, "that his people should be his temple,
that he would dwell in them, and walk in themc." Did the
children- of men know the power, glory, and majesty of God,
whom the apostle preached nigh to the Athenians, and de
clared to the Ephesians to be "Father of all, and above all,
through all, and in them all"," there would be no oaths, and
but few words, and those uttered with reverence and truth.
VI. We do not find that oaths answer this part of the
end, for which they are imposed, viz. to convince those for
whoso sake they are taken, of the weight and truth of a
'Actsxvii 28. aEph. iv.6.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 37
man's testimony, by force of God's witness joined there
with : for they do not behold God's concurring witness by
such an assistance or avenge of the party, as "the truth or
falsehood of his testimony deserveth ; for the judgments of
God are secret, and rarely so publicly seen to men, per
haps once in an age, that he should give any memorable
discovery of his good will or displeasure in such a case ; but
whenever he doth it, it is not at man's appointment : and
it is an evident sign that God approveth not of that sort of
invocation, because he doth not answer them that invoke
him, according to their wish ; as neither did he, in the old
law and custom of combating, appear on his side that had
the better title or cause, as he promised in the law of jealou
sies,, that their thigh should rot, and their belly swell, &c.e
VII. We look upon it to be no less than a presumptuous
tempting of God, to summon him as a witness, not only to
our terrene, but trivial businesses; such as we should
doubtless account it an high indignity, always to solicit an
earthly prince to give his attendance about. What! make
God, the great God of heaven and earth, our caution in
worldly controversies, as if we would bind him to obtain
our own ends? It is to make too bold with him, and to
.carry an undue distance in our minds towards him that made
us : an irreverence we can by no means away with, and. upon
which Chrysostom is most sharp, as will be seen anon. Be
sides, it is vain and insolent, to think that a man, when- he
pleaseth. can make the great God of heaven a witness or
judge in any matter, to appear by some signal approbation
or judgment, to help or forsake him, as the truth or false
ness ofhis oath requires, when he saith, 'So help me God.'
VIII. Besides what we have hitherto urged in defence of
ourselves against the substance of the oath, wejustly except
against the form of it (which farther adds to its unlawful
ness, and consequently to our vindication) as by the con
tents and kissing ofthe book; swearing by a sign being
heathenish or Jewish. For the Romans held a stone, and
said, ' If I deceive wittingly, then let Diespiter cast me out
of my goods, as 1 this stone :' the heroes swore by lifting
up of tlie sceptre : Caesar swore by his head, his house, that
is, devoted them to the wrath of God, if he wittingly de
ceived, &c. The manner ofthe Jews is from Gen. xiv. 22.
"that Abraham lift up his hand to God, Q^ if, &c. put
ting the hand under the thigh ; on the head ; passing betwixt
beasts divided*," as God did to Abraham, &c. See more
"Numb. v. 21, 22.
* Fcst. ad. Lap. Polyb. 1. 3. c. 25. Alex. :-.b. Alex. I. 5. gen. dier. 10. Cic. 1. 5.
Ep. 1. Arist. 3. Pol. 10. Pliu. in pan ad. Trajan,, c. (ii.

38 A TREATISE OF OATHS,
in Lapid. Sophoc. in antiq. v. 270. Scholiast. Baptist. Han
sen, of passing through fire, swearing by the right hand,
&c. The use of ' So help me God,' we find from the law of the
Almains, of king Clotharius : the laying on ofthe three fin
gers above the book, is to signify the trinity; the thumb
and the little finger under the book, are to signify the dam
nation to body and soul, if they forswear, so help me God+.'
Farther, be pleased to consider that the English custom
has very much overgone English law in this business of
oaths ; they were anciently but solemn attestations, " as the
lord liveth, &c." which are now improved to imprecations,
'So help me God, and the contents of this book ;' though it
was so of old at combat ; but that concerns not our case.
For the kissing ofthe book, that is also novel ; indeed after
they rose from solemn attestations or imprecations, the law
required a sight and touch of the book; the Saxon jurors
were sacra lenentes ; in the first Norman times it was sacris
taclis ; and in latter writs, evange.liis tactis; nay, the priest's
hand was on his breast (in Matthew Paris) not upon the
book. However, Jew and Gentile, superstition and cere
mony, have made up the present form of oaths, which the
true christian man neither wants, nor, we conceive, ought
to perform ; much less impose, where tenderness by sober
consciences is pleaded, and equal caution offered to the
law, for the integrity of yea and nay.
IX. But were we also destitute of this plea, and the
usual oaths of our country the most inoffensively formed,
and best penned that ever any were, we have both the
example and precept of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,
to oppose lo any such practice ; for in all that history deli
vered to us by the four evangelists, we never read him to
have used any farther asseveration, than what in English
amounts to ", verily, verily, or truly, I say unto you."
Thus by his example, exciting us the more readily to obey
his express prohibition of swearing, Mat. v. 33, 34. 35, 36,
37, which runs thus: "Again, ye have heard that it- has
been said by them of old time, thou shalt not forswear thy
self, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths ; but 1 say
unto you, swear not at all ; neither by heaven, for it is
God's throne ; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool ;
neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King;
neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst
not make one hair white or black ; but let your * word be
yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these
cometh of evil." t Liddenbro. cap. 3. §. 7. * Aoy®.,

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 39
He here prohibits even the lesser oaths, as they thought
them that reverenced swearing by the name of the Lord,
which in old time he suffered, by reason ofthe falseness of
their hearts, and great proneness to idols: even as Moses
permitted them to put away their wives, which in the pre
cedent verse also is disallowed by Christ, though with the
exception of fornication ;' but swearing without any excep
tion : he doth not say, Swear not, except before a magis
trate (though he says, put not away thy wife, except for the
cause of fornication) but, "Swear not at all :" why ? because
it is of evil;" which reason reaches the oaths taken before
magistrates, as well as other oaths ; for distrust and unfaith
fulness are the cause of one as well as the other : and there
is equal reason in that respect, that a master should swear
in private to his servant at his entrance, that he will pay
him his wages, as that the servant should swear in public to
a magistrate, that at his departure his master would not pay
him his wages ; both which oaths the certainty of their words,
their yea being yea, and their nay being nay, make vain and
superfluous. Obj. We are not insensible of the common objection that
is made against this allegation of our master's command, ' that
he only prohibited vain oaths in communication :' but if the
words ofthe text and context be considered, every oath will
be proved vain and unlawful; for Christ's prohibition was not
a mere repetition of what was forbidden under the law, but
what the law allowed, as * Rishop Sanderson well observelh ;
' it was not needful that Christ should forbid what was for
bidden in itself, or was always unlawful: which vain
swearing was, and is, by the third commandment, "Thou
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain ;"
therefore Christ exceeded the prohibition of the law.' And
the whole chapter is a demonstration of a more excellent
righteousness than that which either needed or used oaths :
for Christ brings adultery from the act to the thought; in
lieu of revenge, he commands suffering; and extends cha
rity, not only to friends, but enemies ; so in the place coiir.
troverted, in the room of such oaths and vows as ought to
be performed unto the Lord, he introduces yea and nay,
with a most absolute " Swear not at all." This was the ad
vance he made in his excellent sermon upon the Mount ; he
wound up things to an higher pitch of^anctity than, under
the law, or the childish state of the Jews could receive.
" Again," saith he, " ye have heard of old time, thou shalt
not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine
oaths; but I say unto you, swear not at all;" as plain, ge-
* Bishop R. Sandcr5. dc Jur. Oblig- p. Ml.

40 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
neral, and emphatical a prohibition as can be found in holy
scripture. However, persons that usually advocate for the
continuance of oaths under the gospel, tell us, it is not a
' general prohibition, but is limited to swearing, by crea^
tures, either by heaven, earth, Jerusalem, the head, &c.
which is wholly inconsistent with the scope ofthe place, as
we shall make appear from these four considerations :
First, The prohibition reaches as well to serious as vain
oaths, such as men made, if they swore at all, and ought to
make to God only ; for to him alone should they perform
them, and are accountable for them : these very allowed
oaths of old time, are the first prohibited by Jesus Christ ;
" It was said of old, thou shalt not forswear thyself; but 1
say, swear not at all." It is true, it is not particularized
what oaths they were to keep of old ; but in general terms,
that they were not to " forswear themselves ;" and it is
clear that God enjoined them that would swear, that they
should only "swear by His name." Now what can be
hence inferred more evidently, then that men ought not to
swear those oaths under the gospel, which they might
swear, and ought not to forswear, but to perform unto the
Lord, in the law.
Secondly, Christ himself gives the explanation ofhis own
words, chap, xxiii. 16, 17, IS, 19, 20, 21, 22, where he
teacheth us, that " he that swears by the temple, swears by
it, and by Him that dwells therein : and he that shall swear
by Heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by Him that
sits thereon :" so that he that swears by the head, swears by
Him that made it ; and he that swears by the earth, swears
by Him that created it ; which leaves no room for the objec
tion : for it is as if Christ should have said, I not only
command you not to forswear, but to perform ; as it was
said to them of old time ;" but I charge you, not to sWear at
all. I mean, not only that you should not swear by God,
and those oaths that the Pharisees account binding: but also
that you should not so much as swear by those lesser oaths,
as they esteem them, and which they are wont to swear by;
for they are not less, nor more allowable, in that they that
swear by them, swear by him that is the author and maker
of them : wherefore, being of the same nature with the
other, 1 forbid you to swear by them, as well as by those
oaths that were of old time made, and ought not to be
broken, but performed unto the Lord ; for this is one of my
great commandments, which they must keep that will be
my disciples, that is to say, swear not to all.
Our third inducement to believe this to have been the in
tention of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the concurrent testimony

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 41
of the apostle James, which is not only a repetition of his
Master's doctrine, but an addition and illustration, we hope
sufficient to determine the present question with every un
prejudiced reader;. "But above all things, my brethren,"
saith he, " swear not ;" which runs parallel with " swear
not at all." The negative is as general and forcible. He pro
ceeds, " neither by heaven, neither by the earth :" words of
equal import wiih the latter part of Christ's prohibition:
and, as if he had foreseen the cavils of our swearing adver
saries, he adds, " neither by any other oath ;" which though
as clear as the sun, ifyet, for their last shift, they should
tell us that he only meant any other oath of that kind, not
that he prohibited swearing by the name ofthe Lord, it will
not do their business; for that Christ hath already assured
us, " whosoever swears by heaven, swears by Him that sits
thereon;" and the very next words shew, ihat it was not
his design only to prohibit vain, but plainly to exclude all
swearing, ''but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay,
lest ye fall into condemnation ;" else why had he not said ;
but you may swear by the name of God before magistrates?
Why must " neither by any other oath," be added after
such plain prohibition, as, " My brethren, above all things
swear not ?" And why must yea and nay be substituted in the
room of an oath, if it was yet intended by the apostle that
Christians might rise higher in their evidence than a bare
affirming or denying? That is, though their yea be never
so truly yea, and their nay never so sincerely nay, or the
very truth of the matter be spoken, which is the import of
the words ; yet that they ought to swear. What is this but
to contradict the natural tendency ofthe command of Christ
and his apostles? Which is plainly this; If your yea be
yea, it is enough; if your nay be nay, it is sufficient; for
-Christians-ought not to swear ; if they do, they fall into con
demnation, in that they break their master's command, who
hath told them, that " whatsoever is more than yea and
nay, cometh of evil," which is the ground of ail oaths; for
they ought to mean so simply and honestly in what they say,
as that they should never need to swear, in order to tell the
, truth. Our fourth and last consideration, and that which to us
seemeth of great moment to clear up our Lord and Saviour's
sense, and rescue the passage from the violence of objectors,
isthisclause, "for whatsoever is more than yea, yea, and nay,
nay, cometh of evil." This cannot be intended of more
words than yea, yea, and nay, nay, provided they are not
of an higher strain, but of the same degree of speech, im
porting a plain assertion or denial of a thing; for it is not the

42 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
number, but the nature of the words spoken, that is here
prohibited: nor can it be only understood of perjury ; for
every body knows that to be evil in itself, which is more
than that which cometh of, or because of, evil : therefore
it must be understood as well of swearing, as of forswear
ing, which is not evil itself, yet- cometh of, or by reason of,
evil in the world. Nor is there any thing more than yea
and nay besides perjury, which can be intended, but an
oath; and therefore that was intended. Christ doth not
only prohibit evil itself, but that which is evil by superfluity
to evangelical sincerity, and that swearing is (be it of what
sort it will) where-ever yea is yea, and nay is nay. In
short, if what is more than yea and nay cometh of evil,
then, because any swearing, as well as forswearing, is more
than yea and nay, it follows, that any swearing cometh of
evil, and therefore ought to be rejected of Christians.
Nor will our English translation of Asy©* shelter our
objectors; for communication doth not exclude those
many cases that require evidences among men, no, nor
any the least actions of man's life ; on the contrary, they
have a great place in human communication, which is
comprehensive of the various discourses and transactions
of a man's life ; as 2 Kings ix. 11. 2 Sam. iii. 17. Eph.
iv. 29. Col. iii. S. 1 Cor. xv. 33. It is a word of the
same extent with conversation, which takes in all that
can happen between man and man in this world. Thus the
psalmist, " To him that ordereth his conversation aright,"
Psalm 1. 23. So the apostle, " Let your conversation be
as becomes the gospel." Phil. i. 27. Beside^, Aoy©- may be
rendered word, as in John i. I. and the Italian and French
translations have it, " Let your word be yea, yea ; nay,
nay ;" as much as if Christ had said, As I do not only con
demn the act of adultery, which the law did, but also the
conception ofthe mind, and not only murder, but revenge
likewise ; so I do not only condemn forswearing, whiclTis
dore to my hand in the law of God, but prohibit swearing
at all ; for I make that to be unlawful, which the law doth
not call unlawful: therefore when your evidence is called
for, swear not at all, but let your word be yea, vea, and
nay, nay; that is, do not speak untruth; for that is evil:
do not swear, for that comes of evil. To conclude ; people
swear, to the end they may speak truth ; Christ would have
men speak truth, to the end they might not swear; he
would not have his followers upon such base reserves, but
their word to carry the weight of an Oath in it- that as
others ought not to be guilty of perjury, Christians ought
not to be guilty of lying: for such is the advance from

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 43
Moses to Christ, Jew to Christian, that as the Christian
needs not the Jew's curb, so his lie is greater than the
Jew's perjury, because his yea or nay ought to be of more
value than the other's oath.
X. And lastly ; besides these prohibitions, swearing is
forbidden by the very nature of Christianity, and unworthy
of him that is the author of it; who came not to implant so
imperfect a religion, as that which needed oaths, or should
leave fraud, the ground of swearing, unextirpated ; but to
promulgate that gospel which retrieves ancient sincerity,
builds up waste places, restores those breaches oaths enter
ed at, and leads into the ancient holy paths of integrity
they never trod in. He is that powerful Lord, who cureth
the diseases of them that come unto him, and the mystical
serpent exalted, that relieves all that believingly look up
to him : his office is to make an end of sin, that made way
for swearing, and introduce that everlasting righteousness
which never needs it ; the religion he taught is no less than
regeneration and perfection, such veracity as hath not the
least wavering ; sincerity throughout, that it might not only
exceed the righteousness ofthe swearing Jews, but that law
which permitted it till the times of restitution, which he
brought to the degenerated world, who said, " Swear not at
all:" for the law, that permitted oaths, was given by
Moses; 'but grace and truth, that ends them, came by
Jesus Christ, who therefore prohibits them. And not only
is this gospel of Christ, or the holy religion he taught, of
So pure and excellent a nature, but those who will be his
disciples, are obliged to obey it; insomuch that he himself
hath said, " If ye love me, keep my commandments; and if
ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love."
Again, " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command
you : if any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow ine : for I say unto you,
that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteous
ness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case enter
the kingdom of heaven : be ye therefore perfect, even as
your Father which is in Heaven is perfect'." These are the
weighty sayings of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ ; and certainly, he who breaks not the least com
mandment, who can suffer rather than revenge, love ene
mies, and be perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect, is
above the obligation of an oath unto truth- speaking. His
disciples preached not another gospel than their master's,
who prayed, " that those who believed, might be sanctified
throughout, in body, soul, and spirit," which is a perfect
' John xiv. 15. and xv. 10, 14. Mat. xvi. ^1. Mat, v. 20, 48. Mat. v. 19.

44 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
removal ofthe ground of swearing : and they were exhorted
to " press after the mark of, the prize of this high and holy
calling, until thev should all come unto a perfect man, unto
the measure ofthe stature ofthe fulness of Christ Jesus : for
even hereunto," saith Peter, "were we called ; because
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example," that we
should follow his steps, " who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth." And saith John, "as he is, so are
we in this worlds" If no guile be found in our mouths,
then no oaths ; for they came because of guile : and if we
ought to resemble him in this world, then must our commu
nication be yea, yea, and nay, nay ; that is, we must live
the life of truth, and speak the words of truth, which ought
to be of greater force than oaths, that come of evil. If the
righteousness ofthe law ought to be fulfilled in us, we ought
not to swear, because we ought to be so righteous as not to
lie. This is evangelical ; for as he that conceives not a
foul or revengeful thought, needs not to purge himself of
adultery and murder; neither is there any reason that man
should purge himself of lying bv swearing, that doth not
so much as countenance an untrue thought.
The language of the same apostle to the Ephesians farther
explains this evangelical evidence; "But ye have not so
learned Christ, if so be that ye have heard him, and have
been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus ; that ye put
off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which
is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts ; and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind ; and that you put on the new
man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true
holiness: wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man
truth with his neighbour11 :" beyond which, there can beno
assurance given or desired. And if Christians ought never
to lie, it is most certain they need never to swear ; for swear
ing is built upon lying : take away lying, and there remains
no more ground for swearing; truth-speaking comes in the
room thereof. And this not only the Christian doctrine
teaches and requires ; but Christ, "the blessed author of it,
is ready to work in the hearts of the children of men,
would they but come and learn of him, who is meek, lowly,
filled with grace and truth. And we must needs say, it isa
shameful thing, and very dishonourable to the Christian re
ligion, that those who pretend themselves to be the follow
ers of Christ, (for so true Christians ought to be) should so
degenerate from his example and doctrine, as to want and
use scaring asseverations, dispensed with in some of the
• 1 Thes.v. 28. Phi!. iii. 14. Eph.iv.I3. 1 Per. ii. 21, 22. UohnivlT.
h Ephes. iv. 'JO, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25-

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 4.5
weakest times of knowledge, and such horrible imprecations
(never known to ancient Jews and Christians) to ascertain
one another of their faith and truth : religion must needs
have suffered a great ebb, and Christianity a fearful eclipse,
since those brighter ages of its profession : for bishop Gau-
den himself, in his Discourse df Oaths, confesses, 'that the
ancient Christians were so strict and exact, that there was no
need of an oath among them ; yea, they so kept up the
sanctity and credit of their profession among unbelievers,
that it was security enough, in all cases, to say, Christianas
sum, 1 am a Christian.'
But to fortify what we have hitherto urged, in defence of
our judgment and practice ; and to the end it may more fully
appear, that our tenderness in this gretyt case of oaths,
comes not from any sour, sullen, or superstitious humour,
or that we would trouble the world with any new-fangled
opinion ; we shall produce the concurrent testimonies of
several famous and good men, for above these two thousand
years, among Gentiles, Jews, and Christians, enough to
make an oecumenical council: we shall cite them out of the
best editions we have been able to procure, and as truly and
punctually as we can render them digested in order of time.

MEMORABLE TESTIMONIES
AGAINST
SWEARING ;
Collected out of the Writings of Gentiles, Jews, and Christians:
some of which were delivered to the World several Ages before
'.'Swear not at all" was written by Matthew, or spoken by Christ.
Which makes Swearing, among Christians, so much the more
disallowable.
The whole published not only in Favour of our Cause, but for the Instruction
of the World, and to their'just Honour that said and writ them, as durable
Monuments of their Virtue.

I. The Sayings of the Gentiles or Heathens, in dislike
of Oaths.
Our two first testimonies shall be the practice of two
great people, the Persians and Scythians.*
Diodorus Siculus, Lib. 16.
[. ' Among the Persians,' saith Diodorus Siculus, ' giving
the right-hand was the token of truth-speaking : he that
did it deceitfully, was counted more detestable than if he
had sworn.' Which plainly implies, that swearing was
detested among them, as well as that they needed not to
swear, who so much used truth speaking.
Quint. Curt, in Vit. Alex.
II. The Scythians, as it is reported by Q. Curtius, in
their conference with Alexander, upon occasion of an un
expected security, told him, ' Think not that the Scythians
confirm their friendship by oath : they swear by keeping
their word.' Which is not only a proof of their disuse of
common oaths, but swearing at all, even in matters of
greatest importance. Plutarch, Rom. Quest. 28.
III. ' So religious was Hercules,' saith Plutarch, 'that
he never swore but once.' If it was religiously done to
swear but once in a man's life, it had been more reli°-iously
done not to swear at all. How just and severe a censure
* These natiens were many hundred years before Christ.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 47
is this out of an Heathen's mouth, upon the practice of
dissolute Christians ?*
Hesiod, Theogon. p. 88.
IV. Hesiod, in his Theogonia, places an oath amongst the
brood of contention. ' An oath,' saith he, ' greatly hurts
men.' Again presently, ' An oath goes with corrupt judg
ment ;' or an oath flies away together with corrupt judg
ments; that is, when justice appears among men, oaths
vanish ; as his scope in that place shews. t
Sociad. in Stob. 28.
V. It was one part of the doctrine of the Seven Sages,
so famous in Greece, ' That men ought not to swear.'!
Stobceus, Serm. 3.
VI. Solon, the famous law-giver of Athens, and one of
those Seven Sages, exhorteth the people ' to observe
honesty more strictly than an oath.' As if he had said,
Honesty is to be preferred before swearing; as another
saying of his imports, ' A good man should have that
repute, as not to need an oath ; it is a diminution to hi9
credit to be put to swear.' B^bop Gaud, of Oaths, p. 41.
Theognis, ver. 660.
VII. Theognis, the Greek poet, writing of a person
swearing, saith, ' Neither ought he to swear this or any
thing : this thing, (or swearing itself) shall not be.' What
is this less than, swear not at all ?||
Valer. Max. lib. 8. cap. 18. Laert. Hermip. & Orig.
contr. Cels.
VIII. Pythagoras, a grave and virtuous person, being
earnestly intreated of the Crotonian senators for his advice
in things relating to the government, did in his oration,
among other excellent sentences, with more than ordinary,
emphasis, lay this down in the nature of a maxim, ' Let no
man attest God by an oath, though in courts of judicature ;
but use to speak such things, as that he may be credited
without an oath.%'
H. Grot, on Mat. v. 34.
IX. Clineas, a just Greek, and follower of Pythagoras,
out of love to truth, and the respect he bore to his master's
doctrine, that enjoined him to fear and shun an oath, ' chose
* Lived before Christ about 1280 years, being in the days of Gideon, Judg."
viii. t Before Christ SOO years, in the days of Hosea, Joel, and Amos.
\ Before Christ 620 years, in the days of Josiah. || Before Christ 593 years.
§ Before Christ 590 years. These three persons lived in the time of Jeremiah
and Ezekiel.

48 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
to pay three talents,' which amount to about three hundred
pounds, ' rather than take any oath :' whose example Basi-
lius Magnus upbraided the Christians ofhis time with, that
were learning to swear.*
Hierocles. Comment, in Carm. Pythag. p. 28.
X. Hierocles testifies, ' that Pythagoras, in enjoining
them to revere an oath, not only prohibits forswearing, but
requires them also to abstain from swearing.'
And jEschilus makes a sincere beckon to a matter, a
firm oath.t Stobasus, Serm. 114.
XI. Socrates, that worthy Gentile, and great promoter
of virtue among the Athenians, among many excellent sen
tences delivered this, ' That good men must let the world
see, how that their manners or dealings are more than an
oath.' Which both proves, that he saw a more excel
lent righteousness than swearing, truth itself, and believed
it attainable ; for he manifestly exhorts good men to that
integrity, which is a greater caution than an oath. He was
put to death for testifying against the heathen idols, ac
knowledging One only God.:f
Plut. in Lacon. Apoph.
XII. Lysander, the great Spartan captain, thought an
oath of so little value, in comparison of truth, that he be
stowed this contemptuous saying upon swearing, ' Children
are to be deceived with toys, and men with oaths.' Imply
ing, that sincerity is a greater security than an oath. J
Isocr. ad Demon.
XIII. Iscocrates, a Greek orator, in his oration to De-
monicus, advises, ' not to take an oath for money matters.'
Also he teaches, ' that good men shew themselves more
credible than an oath.' §
Plat, de Leg. 12.
XIV. Plato (called divine) forbids swearing in solemn
cases, ' That none swear himself; that none require an
oath of another.' He speaks there how Rhadamar.thus
brought in swearing by the god.* ; but that his art therein
was not agreeable to that time (it seems he accounted'it an
art of policy) ; but that in all actions or causes, laws which
are made with understanding, should take away swearing
from both adversaries. ' For,' saith he, ' it is an horrible
* Before Christ 560 years. + Before Christ 422 years, in the time of
Ahasuerui, Ezra iv. $ Before Christ 422 vears, in the days of Haggai and
Zachariah. |j Before Christ 400 years. § Before Christ 394 years. These
two lived in tlie clays of Malachi.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 49
thing, that when many judgments are done in a city, well
near half the people are forsworn in them — Therefore let
the presidents of judgments not permit any to swear in
actions, not even for persuasion's sake ; but that he per
severe in that which is just, with a fitting speech,' &c*
Valer. Max. 10. Cic. pro Corn- Balb. Diog, Laert.
in vit. Xenocr,
XV. Xenocrates was so renowned at Athens for his vir
tuous life and great integrity, that being called to give
his evidence by oath, ' all the judges stood up and forbad
the tender ;' because they would not have it thought that
truth depended more upon an oath, than the word of an
honest man.t Menander.
XVI. Menander, the Greek poet, saith, ' Flee an oath,
though thou shouldest swear justly.'^
Cherillus in Perseid.
XVII. Cherillus saith, ' Oaths bring not credit to the
man, but the man must bring credit to the oath.' What
serve they for then ? To deceive ? It seems by this, that
credit is better than an oath ; for it is the credit that is the
security, not the oath. Stobceus in Jur. c. 27.
XVIII. Alexides in Olynth. saith, ' A wise man ought
always to give credit, not to swearers, but to the things
themselves.' Then oaths are vain ; for it is not the mere
oath, but the likelihood of the truth of the evidence, from
the consideration and comparing ofthe circumstances, that
turns the scale. <
Simocal. Epist. 33. F.
XIX. Simocatus says, ' Perfidiousness appears securer
than faithfulness; and an oath imposed is a fit engine for
deceit.' Strange ! that faithful yea and nay are stopt, when
perfidiousness with an oath can pass all guards, courts,
and offices.* He manifestly links oaths and perfidiousness,
and gives the praise to faithfulness.
H. Grot, on Mat. v.
XX. Epictetus, a famous and grave Stoick, counselled,
* to refuse an oath altogether.' Quint. 1. 8.
XXI. Quintilian saith, ' That in time past it was a kind
of infamy for grave and approved men to swear ; as if their
* Before Christ 166 years. + Before Christ 337 years.
J Before Christ 336 years.
Vot. II. I)

50 A TREATISE OF OATIIS.
authority should suffice for credit.' Therefore the priests,
or flamens, were not compelled to it ; for then to compel a
nobleman to swear, were like putting him upon the rack.'
Which shews an oath to be an unnatural and extorting
way of evidence, and that they preferred virtue and truth
before an oath. Plutarch, Rom. Quest. 44.
XXII. Plutarch, in his 44th Rom. Qu. upon the Custom
ofthe Romans, holding it unlawful for the Jlamen dialis, or
chief priest, to swear, puts the question, ' Why is it not
lawful for Jupiter's priest to swear ? Is it because an oath
ministred unto freemen, is as it were the rack and torture
tendered unto them ? For certain it is, that the soul as well
as the body of the priests, ought to continue free, and not
to be forced by any torture whatsoever; or for that it is
uot meet to distrust or discredit him in small matters, who
is believed in great and divine things? or rathec, because
every oath endeth with detestation and malediction of per
jury? and considering that all maledictions be odious and
abominable, therefore it is not thought good, that any other
priests .whatsoever should curse, or pronounce any male
diction. And in this respect was the priestess of Minerva,
in Athens, highly commended, for that she would never
curse Alcibiades, notwithstanding the people commanded
her so to do : for I am, quoth she, ordained a priestess to
pray for men, and not to curse them. Or last of all, was it
because the peril of perjury would reach in common to the
whole common-wealth, if a wicked goddess, and forsworn
person, should have the charge and superintendence ofthe
prayers, vows, and sacrifices, made in the behalf of the
city?' Thus far Plutarch, whose morals have the praise
among all the writings of philosophers ; who is also com
mended himself, very highly, for his virtue and wisdom.
See his life. M. Aur. Ant. in Descript. Bon. Vir.
XXIII. M. Aurelius Antoninus, that philosophical Ro
man emperor, in his description of a good man, says, ' That
the integrity of a truly good man is such, that there is no
need of an oath for, him.' Certainly then, he was far from
imposing oaths upon his people, who both by his example
and precept, preferred integrity before an oath.
Libanius.
XXIV. Libanius, a Greek Orator, though otherwise no
admirer of Christians, reckons this amongst the praises of a
Christian emperor. ' He is,' says he, ' so far from being
blacked with perjury, that he is even afraid to swear the

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 51
truth.' It seems, then, they swore not in his. time; and
that Libanius, an enemy to Christians, preferred and ad
mired this precept, " Swear not at all."
Auson. Epist. 2.
XXV. We shall conclude with Ausonius, whose saying
seems to be all contracted, or those other testimonies di
gested into one axiom, that is, ' to swear, or speak falsly, is
one and the same thing.'
These are the reflections upon oaths we receive from
Heathens, who, by the light they had, both discerned the
scope of the evangelical doctrine, " Swear not all," pre-
ceptively laid down by Christ our Lord, Mat. v. 34, and
pressed it earnestly : and, which is more to their honour,
but to the Christian's shame, several of them lived it
sincerely. II. Testimonies from the Jews, in dislike of all Swearing.
H. Grot. Com. on Mat. v. 34.
XXVI. Maimonides, out of the most ancient of the
Jewish rabbies, extracts this memorable axiom, ' It is best
for a man not to swear at all.'
Raimund. p. 135.
XXVII. Raimundus quotes him thus, Maimonides in
Tract, de Juramentis ; ' It is a great good for a man not to
swear at all : the ancient and lawful doctrine of the syna
gogue.'* Joseph;de Bello Judaico, 1. 2. c. 7.
XXVIII. ' The Esseni, or Esseans,' saith Josephus,
' keep their promise, and account every word they speak,
of more force than if they had bound it with an oath ; and
they shun oaths worse than perjury; for they esteem him
condemned for a liar, who is not believed without calling
God to witness.
These Esseans were the most religious of the Jewish
people, though the Pharisees made the greatest noise
amongst the rabble. Philo de Decalogo, p. 583.
XXIX. Philo, that excellent Jew, relates thus much
concerning the same Esseans, ' That whatsoever they said,
was firmer than an oath ; and that to swear, was counted
amongst them a thing superfluous.
Philo Judceus on Com. 3.
XXX. The same Philo himself thus taught, in his Trea
tise on the Ten Commandments : Commandment 3. " Thou
* If it he a great good not to swear at all ; what ia it to impose an oath ?
D 2

52 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
shalt not take the name of God in vain." ' Many ways,'
saith he, ' do men sin against this commandment ; so that
it is better not to swear at all ; but so well accustom thy
self to speak truth always, that thy bare word shall have
the force and virtue of an oath. It is become a proverb,
that to swear well and holily, is a second virtue; for he
that sweareth, is suspected of lying and perjury. It is, saith
he, most profitable and agreeable to the reasonable nature,-
to abstain altogether from swearing. Whatsoever a godly
man speaks, let it go for an oath.'
The wisdom and moderation of this worthy person, reflect
just blame upon those that pillage their neighbours, be
cause they conscientiously refuse an oath : but that men,
who pretend to be the disciples of Jesus Christ, should
commit these cruelties, aggravates their evils, and doubt
less their guilt. How can they ever hope to look their
Lord with comfort in the face, who so severely treat their
fellow-servants ? Certainly Jews and Heathens will one
day rise up iu judgment against such Christians, for their
Unnatural carriage towards their brethren; this is not tp
love enemies, but injure friends. Jews and Heathens are
become names of reproach ; yet, to the rebuke of Chris
tians, as they call themselves, they not only discerned the
rise and ground of oaths, but the evil of using them, even
while they were tolerated ; and both avoided them, and
exhorted others to that integrity which had no need of
them. These testimonies, though they are of weight with us,
and we hope they will have a due impress upon the minds
of many of our readers ; yet because nothing produced out
of Jews and Gentiles may advance our cause with some, or
render it ever the more acceptable, we shall next betake
ourselves to the more Christian ages of the world, for ap
probation of our judgment, who, we are sure, will kindly
entertain us, their liberality being extraordinary to our
cause; and from whom we shall never want votes for
" Swear not at all," while their works are in the world :
may our superiors join theirs with them, and we have rea
son to believe, that our deliverance from the yoke of oaths,
will be the happy issue of this necessary address.
III. Testimonies from Christians, both Fathers, Doctors)
Confessors, and Martyrs, in dislike of all Swearing.
Polycarpus.
XXXI. The first testimony recorded against swearing,
after the apostles' times, was that of Polycarpus, who had
lived with the apostles, and was said to have been disciple

A TREATISE OF- OATHS. 53
to John, not the least ofthe apostles ; for at his death, when
the governor bid him ' Swear, defy Christ,'' &c. he said,
f Fourscore and six years have I served him, yet hath
he never offended me in any thing.' The proconsul still
urged and said, ' Swear by the fortune of Caesar ;' to whom
Polycarpus answered, ' if thou requirest this vain-glory,
' that I protest the fortune of Caesar, as thou sayest, feigning
thou knowest not who I am, hear freely, I am a Christian :'
this good man began his fourscore and sixth year, about
twenty years after James wrote " above all things, my bre
thren, swear not :" and several years before John the
apostle deceased, for he is called his disciple*. See his his
tory and commendation in Eusebius.
We know it is objected by some, that he refused to swear
only because he could not swear by that oath ; which is a
guess, and no confutation of what we alledge : but if that
had been Polycarpus's reason, why did he not rather say,
' The law of God forbids swearing by idols' ? It is certain,
the first Christians would not swear, but thought Polycar
pus's answer security enough to them that demanded their
oath ; he refused all oaths as a Christian ; therefore saying,
he was a Christian, was reason sufficient why he would not
take that oath,
Justin Martyr, Apol. 2. pro Christianis, ad Anton. Pium,
Oper. p. 63.
XXXII. It was some time before his suffering, that
Justin Martyr, who is the first we find writing of it, pub
lished an Apology for the Christians in the year 150, as him
self saith ; and a second after that, wherein he tells us, after
the doctrine of his master, 'That we should not swear at
all, but always speak the truth.' He, (that is, Christ,) hath
thus commanded, "Swear not at all; but let your yea be
3'ea, and your nay, nay ; and what is more than these is of
evil." See his praise and martyrdom in Eusebius, soon
after Polycarpus.* Euseb. Eccl. Hist, lib. 5, c. 1.
XXXIII. 'Under the same emperor,' says Eusebius,
'suffered also Ponticus, of fifteen years of age, and Blan-
dina, a virgin, with all kind of bitter torments; the tor
mentors now and then urging them to swear, which they
constantly refused.'
* Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. 4, cap. 15. t Euseb. lib, 5, ca[ . 16.

54 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
Euseb. ibid. lib. 6, cap. 4.
XXXIV. And in the next emperor's reign, Basilides,
a soldier of authority amongst the host, being appointed td
lead Potamiena to execution, and by her convinced ofthe
truth in Chrht, was, after a while, required to swear ; but
he affirmed plainly, 'It was not lawful for him to swear;
for,' said he, 'lama Christian.' He did not lay the un
lawfulness upon that oath, but upon swearing at all. The
history only says, his companions would have him swear,
upon some occasion or other, not mentioning by what : his
answer was, ' It is unlawful for me to swear ;' and why ?
' because,' saith he, ' I am a Christian.' The consequence
is plain, Christians took no oaths ; therefore not their oathsl
Tert. Apol. pro Christianis advers. Gent. cap. £2.
XXXV. In the same emperor's reign lived Tertullian,
a strict and learned man, who wrote a very notable apo
logy for the Christians, wherein he answers the objections
ofthe heathens, who accused them of not being well-wishers
to the emperor, not Cassar's friends, in that they refused to
sacrifice and swear by the genius, fortune, and health ofthe
emperor (we begin with this, because it is urged by some
against us :) Saith he, * We do swear as not by the genius
of the Caesars, so by or for their safety, which is more au
gust than all genius's or petty gods : for we reverently look
up unto the judgment of God in the emperors, who hath
set them over the nations; and we know that to be in them
which God wills ; and what God wills, that we will to be
safe (that God save it) hoc salvum esse volumus, et pro magna
idjuramento hahemus ; i. e. and that we account for a great
oath, or that we have instead of a great oath ; namely, our
well-wishing to Caesar*;' the thing that was desired, the
substance of the oath; that oath which the Pythagoreans
said was in all reasonable creatures, viz. ' a full resolution
of mind not to transgress the law of God,' which Tertullian
saith here they had respect to ; ' that oath which a just man
svveareth by his deeds,' as Clemens Alexandrinus speakethf.
In like manner Tertullian says to Scapula, ' we do sacrifice
for the health of the emperor; but that way that God
pleases, by pure prayer : ' so,' says he, ' here we do swear
by the health of the emperor, by willing his health ; and I
db work for the health ofthe emperor; for I commend him
to Godi.' Otherwise, if we take the words of this doctrine

"»""« «•"•> '"vvy«, sun to a centurion ot proconsular dignitv See
his hfe f Rigaltius adds, 1 will speak plainly, that the emperor is lord, but
after the common manner. f Tertul. ad Scap c. .1 , -2. Apol c. 33. I do offer
sacrifice by prayer, c. 30.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. t>5
strictly and properly, ivho in the writing is difficult, as Scul
tetus notes; and obscure, as Lactantius says ; we shall both
cross the scope of the place, and accuse him, and the pri
mitive Christians and martyrs of his time, not only of swear
ing, but sacrificing for the health of the emperor ; neither
of which do we ever read they did, nor so much as offered'
to do; had they, doubtless we should have heard of some
'release or favour shewn them on that condescension : be
sides, we shall also make him to contradict himself (which
Scultetus accuses him not of, in this) for in his book de Ido*
lolatrid, he speaks without any obscurity ; saying, ' 1 speak
not of perjury, seeing it is not lawful to swear.' And iri
chap. 23, he proves, ' That he which signs a bill of security
containing and confirmed by an oath, is guilty of swear
ing, as if he had spoken it, and transgresses Christ's com
mand, who hath prescribed not to swear.'* He is before
speaking of the idolatry Christians are obnoxious to in re
gard of employments as school-masters, by reason of heath
enish books and customs ; and merchants or traffickers, of
covetousness and lying ; ' not to speak of forswearing,'
saith he, 'seeing it is not lawful so much as to swear;
which if any should do, he should surely be the servant of
covetousness, in undertaking an unlawful practice for gain,'
as he says lying was : ' but if he should also forswear, so
adding swearing to lying, that then he should be a servant
of servants to covetousness, which is idolatry.' Which if
Christians had committed indeed, it is unlikely that Tertul
lian would have made such a slight and short pretention
with a sentence of eight words. And farther observe, that
both Tertullian and the Martyrs make use of the most uni
versal proof, to make their testimony for God full and com
plete. And though their enemies' trial of them were short
of proving them Christians, and distinguishing them from
Jews : yet, in the wisdom of God, their answer and argu
ment being general and Christian, including the special and
Jewish, proves thein not only true Jews, who were forbid
den by God to forswear, or to swear by idols ; but true
Christians, ' not to swear, because it was unlawful ; for
Christ had forbidden it.' And as his argument, in the
Apology aforesaid, was, ' It is unlawful to swear, much
more to forswear;' so here, ' Christ,' saith he, ' hath
prescribed not to swear;' then sure not to swear and
-subscribe Gentile oaths, So Basilides, ' Because I am a
Christian, it is not lawful for me to swear ;\ then not
your oath : this is the just sense and consequence of it.
And said Polycarp, ' I would have thee to know that I am a
* Tertul. de Idololatria. cap. 11.

56 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
Christian : and the doctrine thereof, if thou wilt appoint a
time, I shall teach thee, (that is, not to swear) ; therefore it
is in vain for thee to bid me swear, and defy Christ.' So
Blandina and Po.nticus were urged to swear (by what, it is not
said, and it matters not) but in vain ; for they were Chris
tians. We do not read that any used the Jewish argument,
the Old Commandment, " Thou shalt not swear by Idols ;"
but the Christian argument, the New Commandment, ' It
is not lawful to swear ; Christ forbad it ; I am a Chris
tian,' &c.
And to this purpose speaks Le Prieur on this place of Ter
tullian, in his annotations (which the publishers desired be
cause ofhis obscurity; see their preface) 'Although,' sayS
he, ' the Christians did believe that * all swearing was for
bidden them, they before all oaths were wary of swearing
by the genius or fortune of the prince.' Here he confesses
they were wary of all swearing, much more that which was
never lawful, to wit, swearing by idols. And thereupon
he brings the example of Polycarpus : but if all oaths, then
of swearing by the health of the emperor ; for that was "an
oath. Ai\d this African writer's intricate sense (as the pub
lisher's terms are) must needs be in this, as in the. other,
all along mystical : and as he says a little before, ' I offer a
sacrifice (oralione) by prayer;' so going along he says, ' we
swear, juramus, (i. e. jure oramus : for so Bruno and Gassio-
dorus derive the word, Jurare dictum est, quasi juste orare;
hoc est, jusle loquif.
Again, Psal. Ixi. ' They swear in God, or to God, who
promise an inviolable obedience of mind to him. Jurare
to swear,' saith he, ' isjr'wre orare, to speak equity, that he
will not decline to another party, from what he hath pro
mised.' Again, ' here swearing is firmly in mind to resolve
to fulfil the goad purpose.' And that this must be Tertul-
lian's sense, not only the scope (for which see Scultetus on
the place) but his explanation of it, by ' willing what God
wills, and that to be to them for a great oath ;' plainly de
clares to sagacious readers ; and such Tertullian's African
-speech requires, as Rigaltius says of his writings, which
have been $ altered by them that could not comprehend
them. But is it likely that a man so severe, who condemned
the very subscribing of a writing wherein an oath was con
tained, and for this reason, ' because Christ forbad to swear
at all;' and thought it needless to, speak of perjury, 'be<
* It is confest by Le Prieur, that the Christians did deny all swearing.
+ Bruno and Cassiodorus on Psalm xiv. and Psalm lxi. This Cassiodurus wasa
Roman senator aud counsellor of Theodoricus, about the year 490
| There are about 2000 corrections in Tertullian's works.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 57
cause it was not lawful to swear ;' should yet allow it in
himself and others to swear even by that which was not
God ? Besides, Suarez reckons him amongst those fathers
who were more especially against swearing.*
Thus are the conspirators against this part of the doctrine
of Christ, and his apostles, primitive fathers and martyrs,
forced out of that sanctuary they betook themselves to, in
the sentence of this intricate doctoi\
Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. 7.
XXXVI. Clemens Alexandrinus, his contemporary, fa
mous for learning and strict living, to help him in his mys
tical meaning of an oath, says, ' he who is once a believer,
why shall he make himself an + unbeliever, as that he hath
also need to swear, and doth not so lead his life, that the
same (to wit, his life) be a firm and definite oath, and shew
the faithfulness of confession in a constant and stable speech.
— Far be it, that he who is approved and discerned in such
piety, should be propense to lie or to swear. — lie who liveth
justly, transgressing in nothing of these things that should
be done, the same sweareth truly and holily by his deeds
and works (mark how this agrees with Tertullian's improper
swearing) the testimony of the tongue is superfluous to him.
: — It sulficeth to add unto his affirming or denying, this, viz.
1 speak truly, that he beget faith in them who perceive not
the stability ofhis answer : for it behoveth him, as I judge,
(saith he) to have a life worthy of credit (or faith) among
those that are without, that au oath be not sought from
him. — Neither doth he swear, as being one who hath de
termined to put for his affirming, yea, for his denying, nay.
' Where is there any need of an oath to him that so lives,
as one that is attained to the height of truth ? He therefore
that doth not swear, is far from forswearing : he that trans-
gresseth in nothing that is covenanted and agreed, he may
never swear,
' Seeing he is fully persuaded that God is every-where,
and is ashamed not to speak truth, and professeth that it is
a thing unbeseeming, and unworthy for him to speak false ;
he is content with this, that God and his own conscience
know it, and therefore he doth not lie, nor do any thing be
sides or against what is covenanted and agreed : by that
means lie neither sweareth, if he be asked, nor denies, so
as to speak false, though he die upon the rack for it.'
Likewise in his 5th, 7th, and 8th books of Strom, also in
*. Suarez, de Juram, c. 2. t Infidelity keeps company with sweating:
and for a Christian to swear, is with Clem. Alex, to turn Infidel again.

58 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
his 3d book of his Pfedagogue with Gentianus Hervetus's
notes on it, ' where he forbids to set two prices, and com
mands but one single one, and to speak truth without an
oath,' &c. Origen in Matth. Tract. 25
XXXVII. Origen, his successor, a man of equal fame
for learning and piety, succeeds him also in this testimony
concerning swearing : ' because,' saith he, ' the Jews have a
custom to swear by heaven ; to the foregoing (prohibition)
Christ added this also to reprove them, because they more
easily swore by heaven than by God ; because he deals alike
unreasonably, who sweareth by heaven, as he that swears
by the temple, or by the altar, in that he who sweareth by
heaven, seemeth to swear by Him that sitteth in that throne;
and doth not escape danger, as he thinks, because he swear
eth not by God himself, but by the throne of God. And
these things he speaks to the Jews, forbidding them to give
heed to the traditions ofthe Pharisees;* otherwise, before,
he manifestly forbad to swear at all.
' The chief priest said unto him, " I adjure thee by the
living God, that thou tell us if thou be the Christ the Sort
ofGod." ' In the law we find the use of adjuring ; " the priest shall
adjure the woman with the adjurations of this curse."
'Also Ahab said unto Micaiah, " I adjure thee that thou
tell me the truth in the name of the Lord." The king ad
jured the prophet, not by command of the law, but by his
own will. And now the priest adjures Jesus by the living
God. But I account, that a man that will live according to
the gospel, must not adjure another : for it is even like that
which the Lord himself forbids in the gospel, " but I say
unto you, swear not at all." For if it be not lawful lo
swear, as to the gospel command of Christ, it is also true,
that it is not lawful to adjure another, or compel hira to
swear.*' Huetius, upon him, addeth, that Athanasius, Chrysostomj
Epiphanius, Hilary, and many more, were of the same mind
with him : and if so, we may without offence add, upon that
respect our superiors seem to carry to their names, that it
must needs be very remote from the doctrine ofthe ancient
church, to fine, imprison, and bitterly treat those who, for
conscience of that gospel-command, do scruple an oath in
this age.
* He makes two prohibitions, as we do : 1. Swear not by God; 2. by 110
-creatures. Ibid. Tract. 35. Mat. xxvi. Numb. v. 19. 1 Kings xxii, 16.
* Orig. against all swearing .with.us; and compelling.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 59
" If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, and put
away thy abominations, then shalt. thou not remove. And
thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth, and judgment,
and righteousness." Origen here tells us, ' That this is a
reproof of them that did not swear in judgment, but. with
out judgment : howbeit, we know,' saith he, ' that the Lord
said unto his disciples, " But I say unto you, Swear not at
all." Perhaps formerly it-behoved them to swear in truth,
judgment, and . righteousness ; that after any had given
proof of his integrity, he might be thought worthy of being-
believed without any oath at al!. But once having yea, he
needs no witness that it is yea; and having nay, he needs
no other evidence to prove that it is nay.*
Thus doth Origen prefer and extol evangelical verity,
wrapt up in solemn yea or nay, above the swearing that
was in truth, judgment, and righteousness under the dis
pensation of the law. '
Socrates Scholast. lib. 4. cap. 22. of his Ecclesiastical
History.
XXXVIII. Gregory Thaumaturgus, so called from his
working of miracles, on Eccles. lib. 46". cap. 8. saith, ' It
is meet to give a diligent heed to the words of the king,
and to flee an oath by all means, especially that which is
taken in the name of God.' See his great praise, his works,
and miracles. Cyprian, lib. 3. Testim. ad Quirin*
XXXIX. Cyprian, a famous father, and faithful mar
tyr (who lived about the middle of the age, in the begin
ning of which Origen flourished) in his third book of Testi
monies to Quirinus saith, ' Who hath desired me to draw
out of the Holy Scriptures certain heads, belonging to the
religious discipline of our sect (for so he called his own,
the Christian religion).' His 12th head amongst them is,
' Not to swear.'
Again, writing of pastors and teachers, he biddeth them
' remember what the Lord taught, and said, " Let your
sayings be yea, yea, and nay, nay+." '
In another place he saith, ' It is unlawful for any man
to compel another to take an oath|.'
Hitherto the Christians, being under most cruel suffer-
1 ings, generally kept faithfully to tho, command of Christ
1 in this point; and we find very little in their writings about
i it, besides a simple and bare asserting of it, as the doctrine
of Christ, " not to swear at all," as well as it was of Moses,
* Orig. on Jer. iv. 1,2. t Cypr. Epist. ad Corn, n, 5,
{ Cyprian de Mortal,

60 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
" not to swear falsly or vainly," for more was no way need
ful, in that it was not contested, but universally so received.
But after that Christian emperors had engaged themselves
in parties, then, it seems, many out of flattery, and to en
gage them to their sect, took liberty to swear, even by the
health of the emperor, as is objected against us by some,
put of Eusebius: but such he did not account religious;
neither that a religious part so to do, much less an august
act ; and least of all, a most august act of Divine worship,
as some would have it ; seeing Stobaeus observes from him,
' that whereas many exhorted that they be honest and faith
ful in an oath, he, for his part, esteemed it not the part of a
religious man, not to avoid even swearing itself.'* And we
believe it will be a hard matter to find any in the Greek
church, especially for the first three hundred years, that
.would allow swearing so large a place in sacred things;
yea, or in latter ages either, even in the Latin church;
nay, of those who have allowed it in some cases, many, or
most of them, have denied it any place at all in the worship
of God, as of itself; accounting it an abatement, rather
than an advancement to Christianity ; which no part of
the true worship of God can be. But some, perhaps, tak
ing Tertullian's word auguslior, or more august, (which,
he says, the safety of the emperor is, in comparison of all
,the geniuses) to be the highest act of God's worship, they
would have us swear by that, after the example of those
mentioned in some Christian emperors' times. Tertullian's
sense we shall easily grant ; for it is so, and we do so, in
that we commend our prince and governors to God, to God
only, with earnest and sincere desires for his and their
safety ; above all such geniuses as Tertullian calls Dcemo-
nia. But we justly deny, upon the score of what we have
made appear to the contrary, even from Tertullian himself
'and others, that he, or the Christians in his time, or for two
hundred years before, or an hundred years after, did swear,
as some would have it; 'least of all, as a most august act of
the worship of God, without which all others are unaccept
able ;' or that those who did swear afterwards, were the
most religious; seeing Eusebius esteems otherwise, and not
he only, but also those very devout men that we have al
ready produced, besides many which might and may be
mentioned : for all that we have yet met with, in those
times, that speak of*it, speak against it; and ofthe follow
ing times, men of greatest renown and authority laboured
with all earnestness to expel oaths the society of Christians,
and cure them of that distemper, by inculcating the doc-
* Euseb. anud. .Slob, de Jhiejur. c. 27.

A TREATISE OF OATHS'. 61?
trine of integrity, that needs no oath ; proving by Holy
Scripture, that it was the plain and absolute law of Christ,
that " Christians ought not to swear at all ;" and, by other
arguments, that the original of oaths was neither from God,
nor good men; but they crept into use through the corrup
tion of times, and mere carelessness of governments; for
when they could not trust one another, they called their gods
to witness; but God, separating Abraham and his posterity
from among them, to himself, the better to draw them from
idols, commanded them to swear hy Him only : as much as
if he would have said ; ' If you will swear, let it be by my
Name, rather than the idols, that so you may, though it be
after a mean manner, acknowledge a real Deity, the only
Lord of all.' But how long was this condescension to last ?
Only till the fulness of time came; which, with other per
missions, removed all swearing; Christ bringing men to the"
truth in the inward parts, as in the beginning, before swear
ing was in being ; " for from the beginning it was not so."
But to show what other fathers' reasons and testimonies
against this heathenish and Jewish usage, indeed bondage,
were at the coming in of the apostaey, we shall begin with
Athanasius, a man that was in great renown in the days of
Constantine the Great, and whose creed is the faith and test
of Christendom at this day.
Athanasius on the Passion o/Christ.
XL. ' The evangelical sentence of the Lord is,' " Let
your yea be yea, and your nay, nay." ' Thus far we, who
are in Christ, may confirm our words with asseverations ;
and with no farther progress let us flee to or approach
oaths, that we allege not God for witness, for corruptible
money's sake ; especially since Moses sets down the law,'
" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in a
vain thing." ' For if any is plainly worthy to name God, he
is also worthy of belief : for, whosoever is meet for greater
things, he will be much more fit for less : on the contrary, if
he be not worthy belief, that he may be credited without an
oath, surely he is not one that is worthy to name God. If
he be not faithful in word, how will God by any means be
the witness of an oath for him, who is destitute of faith, to
which God hath respect ?' Again, " The Lord is nigh to
all that call upon him in truth," ' in which alone the Lord
can be called upon. Wherefore, why do they swear by
God, who are not trusted even in small matters ? Other
wise an oath is a testimony of truth, and not a judge of
businesses; such tnen do swear, not that they may signify
businesses, but that they may confirm the truth, and that

62 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
these may show, that those things which they produce are
without lying. If, therefore, he that swears hath both faith
and truth, what use is there of an oath ? but if he hath no
faith nor truth, why do we undertake such an impiety, that
for poor silly men, and those mortal too, we call to witness
God, that is above men ? For if it be a base part, to call to
witness an earthly king to the lowest judicatures, as one
that is greater than both actors and judges, why do we cite
Him, that is uncreated, to created things, and make God to
be despised of men ? Fie ! that exceeds all iniquity and au
daciousness. What then is to be done? No more but that
our yea be yea, and our nay be nay, and in short that we do
not lie. But if we shall seem to speak truth, and imitate
the true God, some, perchance may thus contradict.
'If an oath be forbidden to men, and a man imitates God
in not swearing, how is it that God is related in the Holy
Scripture to swear? For he swore to Abraham, as Moses
witnesseth : and it is written in the Psalms,' " The Lord
swore, and will not repent," &c.' For these things seem
to be repugnant to the former, and that thereby there is per
mitted to men a liberty of swearing.'
'But this is not so, nor can any think so : for God swear
eth by none ; for how can he, seeing he is Lord and Maker
of all things ? But, if any thing, this must be said, that
his word is an oath, inducing the hearers, by a sure faith
fulness, that what he promiseth and speaketh, shall certainly
be effected ; sith God sweareth not as man ; but his word
to us is as an oath for verity. And speaking to men he is
said to swear : and this also the saints do utter after the
manner of men ; that as they themselves speaking would
have credit to be given them, so likewise they themselves
should give credit to God : for, as a man's word confirmeth
an oath, so also those things that God speaketh, because of
the firmness and immutability ofhis will, are to be reputed
oaths. The same also, that is there written, confirmeth my
saying,' " for the Lord hath sworn, and will not repent ;"
' as a thing not to be retracted by repenting, but certainly
to be effected, according to the engagement of an oathi
This also God doth declare in Genesis, saying;' " I have
sworn by myself:" ' but that is not an oath ; for he swore
not by another, which is proper for an oath, but by himself,
which contains not the estimation of an oath: but this is
done that the sureness of his promise may appear, and how
confidently that ought to be believed, which is spoken, that
sweet Psalmist will witness for me in his Psalm, calling God
to mind, when he saith,' " Where are thy ancient mercies,
O Lord, which thou swarest to David thy servant, in (or

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 63
by) thy truth ?" 'For God sweareth not by his truth : but
because He, who is true, speaketh in his word, that to men,
is for an oath unto belief. So God doth not swear after the
manner of men ; neither must we be induced thereby to take
oaths : but let us so say, and so do, and so approve our
selves in saying and doing, that we need not an oath for the
hearer, and that our words, of themselves, may have the
testimony of truth.: for by that way we shall plainly imitate
God*.' •Hilary, on Mat. v. 34.
XLI. Hilary, a father, very famous in the days of Con
stantius, son of Constantine, (but an Arian ; and, which was
worse, a persecutor, so that this Hilary was banished) in
his commentary on those words in Matthew, "Ye have
heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not for
swear thyself," &c. thus expresseth himself, 'The law set
a penalty forperjttry, that the conscience ofreligion, or fear
of an oath, might restrain the deceitfulness of minds ; for
the rude and insolent people made frequent mention of their
god by a familiar course of swearing : but faith doth re
move the custom of an oath, making the businesses of our
life to be determined in truth, and laying aside the affecting
to deceive ; prescribing the simplicity of speaking and hear
ing, that what was, was ; what was not, was not ; that the
business of deceiving might be apparent between it is, and
it is not ; and what is more, is all of evil : for what is, it is
its property always that so it is : and what is not, it is its
nature that it is not : therefore to them that live in the sim
plicity of the faith, there is no need of the religion (or su
perstition) of an oath ; with whom always what is, is ; what
is not, is not: and by these both all their words and deeds
are in truth.' " Neither by heaven." 'God not only suf
fers us not to make oaths to God, because all the truth of
God is to be held in the simplicity of word and deed ; but
also condemneth the superstition of old disobedience,' &c.
Suarez, de Juram. 1. i. c. 1, 2.
XLII. The next testimony we shall pitch upon in confir
mation of our reasons, and the sense we take our Master's
precept in, " Swear not at all," is afforded us out of the apos
tolical institutions ascribed [to Clemens Romanus, reported
by Suarez, in his book de Juramentis. 'Our master,' saith
Clemens 'hath commanded, that we should not swear; no
not by the true God; but that our word should be more
credible than an oath itself,' which is a plain indication of
* Athanasius will not have it that God ever swore, properly and strictly
taken ; only in a way.of speaking, having the truth, and immutability of the
truest and greatest oath.

64 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
the apostolical doctrine to have been the absolute prohibi
tion of oaths, in that sense wherein they were only reputed
lawful; for if men ought not to swear, no, not by the true
God, then, consequently, by no other oath, as his following
words not only imply, but express, viz. ' That the word of
a Ghristian should be more credible than an oath itself.'
Again, ' He that in the law established to swear well, and
forbad false swearing, commanded also, not to swear at
all*. ' Orthodoxographia, p. 11.
XLII1. There is a tract called, " The Gospel of Nicode-
mus :" we know it is reputed spurious, but that makes
nothing against us ; that disputes the author, and not the
matter; for though Nicodemus never wrote such a book,
certain it is that such a book was written, which is in favour
of Christianity, as then received. In the place cited, Pilate
js made to say, " I adjure you by the health of Cassar, that
these things that you say,'' &c. They answered, " We have
a law, not to swear, because it is a sin." Whoever wrote
it, this benefit cometh to our argument, that theChristiansat
that time thought an oath a sin : for it is not to be doubted,
but that he that gave that answer, knew it to be the doctrine
and practice of Christians ; for he was therein to represent
them. Basilius Magnus, on Psalm 14.
XLIV. Basil, called the Great, another champion of the
like fame, and in the same time of Valens, the persecuting
Arian emperor, by whom he suffered imprisonment and
cruel threatenings (see their praises in Socrates ScholasticttsJ
on the 14th Psalm, with us the 15th, " He that swearetfy
and deceiveth not his neighbour:" so Basil hath it, and
upon it these words :
' Here he seemeth to allow an oath to a perfect man, which
in the Gospel is altogether forbidden;' "But I say unto you,
swear not at all."
' What shall we say then ?'
' That every where the Lord, as well in the old as in the
new law, hath the same consideration of commanding: for
desiring to anticipate the effect of sins, and prevent them by
diligence, and to extinguish iniquity at the first beginnings,
as the old law saith,' " Thou shalt not commit adultery,"
'the Lord saith,' "Thou shalt not lust." 'The old law
saith,' " Thou shalt not kill ;" « the Lord, ordaining perfec-
» This, if that Clemens, should have been first, because, he lived in Paul's
time, but we were not willing to begin our testimonies with a suspicion ; how-
beit it is an ancient writing,!. 6. c. 23.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 65
tion,' " Thou shalt not be angry." ' So also in this place,
the prophet indeed seemeth to assent to an oath ; but the
Lord, to takeaway all occasion of perjury, and willing to
prevent the dangers of swearers, takes away swearing alto
gether: for he names an oath, in many places, the immuta
ble and firm constancyof any thing or purpose.' " I have
sworn, and have steadfastly purposed, to keep the judgments
of thy righteousness :" ' also,' " The Lord hath sworn, and
will not repent." ' Not that David brought the Lord for a
witness ofhis sayings, and to get belief to his doubting; but
that he confirmed the gr^ce ofhis profession by ah immuta
ble and firm decree : so also he could have said here, that
is,' " He that sweareth, and deceiveth not his neighbour,"*
' that it may agree with the saying of our Saviour,' " Let
your word be yea, yea ; nay, nay." ' To things that are,
thou mayest affirm and assent ; but of things that are not,
although all men urge thee, yet thou mayest neverbe drawn
by any means to affirm against the nature of the truth ; is
the thing not done ? let there be a denial : is it done? let it
be affirmed by word. And he that shall not assent to him
so affirming, + let him look to it, and feel the harm of his
unbelief, it is a base and a very foolish thing to accuse
one's self, as one unworthy of being believed, and to betake
and refer one's self to the security of an oath. Now, there
are some speeches which have the forms of oaths, and yet
are no oaths at all, but rather remedies to persuade ; as
Joseph, to make the Egyptians familiar with him, swore by
the health pf Pharaoh (rjJHfl 77 live Pharaoh). And the
apostle, willing to show his love to the Corinthians, said,'
"By the glorifying of you, which I have in Christ Jesus,,
our Lord." 'For he did not depart from the doctrine of
the gospel, who, by a thiug before all most dear unto him,
simply sought belief to the truthL'
Basil refused to swear at the council of Chalcedon |[.
Speaking of Clineas, a Pythagorean, who might have avoid
ed a mulct of § three talents, if he would have sworn, which
he rather suffered, saith, 'In keeping these things, he seems
to have heard that command concerning an oath, that is for
bidden us.' And he upbraided the Christians of his time
with it that would swear.
This Basil the Great, in his 29th canon to Amphilochius,
writes thus : ' Because an oath is altogether forbidden, such
an one as is taken to an evil purpose is much more to be
condemned.' — Again, ' If an oath, simply as such, be prohi-
* Socrat. Eccl. Hist. lib. 4. cap. 21. + Pray mark where Basil layeth the
blame, if a word go not for an oath. j: Joseph swore not. Paul swore not.
|| Ad Nepotes. § Above 3001,
Vol. ii e

66 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
bited, of greater reason when it is to effect some mischievous
end. — The cure consisteth in a twofold admonition ; I. Not
to swear. 2. To suppress the form of oaths.'
Blastaris Syntagma, Tit. E. c. 32.
XLV. There was an ancient law made to this effect, 'It
is forbidden to all, from the bishop and clergymen to the
readers, to take any oath at all.'
Blastaris also brings in this objection, 'But since those
are punished who swear falsely, and those are passed by
who swear well, some may say, therefore it is permitted to
swear.' To which he answers, ' But where shall we dis
pose, or how shall we dispense with, the evangelical pre
cept in the gospel, that forbids taking any oath at all?'
adding, ' But I believe that the gospel endeavoured to root
out that wicked stem (as I may say) which is in sinful men,
and for that cause prohibited an oath, which is the door or
inlet to perjury*.' Gregor. Nyssenus, on Cant. Orat. 13.
XL VI. Gregory. Nyssenus, brother to Basil, spoken of
by Socrates Scholasticus in the same place, and in lib. v.
cap. 9. his works are famous. In his explanation on the
Canticles, he bestows this testimony upon us : ' He, who by
Moses established the beginnings of the law, by himself ful
filled all the law and the prophets, as he saith in the evan
gelists :' " I came not to destroy the law, but fulfil it ;" ' who
taking away anger, abolisheth killing also ; and together
with lust, took away adultery. He also casts out of men's
lives accursed perjuries, whilst, by the prohibition of an
oath, he has put in his sith as it were to security. For it
cannot be, that any should break an oath, when there is no
oath : therefore, saith he,' " You have heard that it was
said to them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear, but shalt
render to the Lord thy oaths ; but I say unto you, swearnot
at all, neither by heaven, &c. but let your yea be yea, and
jour nay, nay ; for whatsoever is more is of the devil."
Thus do they mostly end ; which shews how they understood
Christ's words.
Greg., Nazianz. in his Dialogue against Swearing,
Jamb. 20.
XLVII. Gregory Nazianzen, a great man in the church,
also speaketh to the same purpose, in his dialogue against
swearing, saying,
B. What oath dost thou leave to us ?
A. I wish I might leave none, and that there were never
* Basil, Mag. can. '29.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. '67
any more. But thou sayest, We have heard that God him
self sometimes swore : the Holy Scriptures record that : but
is there any thing better than God ? Surely nothing is found
better than he : if therefore nothing be better than he, it
should follow that he never swears.
B. Why therefore do they record that he swore ?
A. When God saith any thing, that is the oath pf God.
B. And how doth he swear by himself?
A. How ! he should not at all be God, if he should lie.
B. Thou speakest strangely.
A. No wonder; that is the natureof God peculiarly, that
he cannot lie : there is none that can deny this.
B. But what wilt thou say to me of the old covenant ?
Surely, it doth not prohibit an oath, but requires a true
one ?
A. No wonder; at that time only it was prescribed in
the law concerning murder ; but now it is not lawful for
any cause, so much as to smite or beat : then the end of an
evil deed only came into judgment ; but now that also which
moveth to the end. This is my judgment : for now we have
made a long progress ; wherefore a wise man Will abstain
from oaths.
B. What then ? Dost thou give to some, as infants, a kind
of first food, that they may at length receive a succeeding
kind of meat ?
A. Thou judgest right and wisely.
B. But Paul also swore, as they say ?
A. Who said so? O what a vain jangler was he that said
it ! Quoth he, " God is my witness," and " God knoweth :"
those words are not an oath, but a certain asseveration in
such great things, constant and inviolable.
B. Wilt thou allow the same also to me ?
A. I wish that to thy power thou wouldest plainly be
come a Paul, and so thou wouldest have a right rule of thine
actions. B. What if I use an oath unwillingly, but to free me
from danger ?
A. Let another allow thee that*.
B. What if an oath be written, and not pronounced with
the voice ?
A. And what is the meaning of a writing? Surely,
amongst all other obligations, a writing doth more bind
and oblige us.
B. What if we be drawn by necessity to give an oath ?
A. Why didst thou not rather die ? For surely, thou
shouldst rather die than do that.
* See Tertullian before, to whom this agrees.
Eg

68 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
* B. What if the booksof the Holy Scriptures be not used?
A. What ! is religion placed in a * leaf ? Is God absent by
this means ? It is evident that thou fearest (paper or) parch
ment, and I fear God more: thisis a frequent disease to many,
and usual ; neither is it otherwise than as if a man beat the
master, and disgrace him, and make his servant a free man,
and do him honour, (what a notable reproach that should
be?) or as if a man should preserve the king's image, and in
the mean time destroy the king.
B. It is even as thou sayest; but I would have thee say,
what is more to be shewn.
A. Many use to say, '1 swore with my tongue, but my
mind is free from swearing.' Any thing may be more cun
ningly excused than an oath : let him not suffer any colour
to be made for himself; for this is an oath : and much mis
chief comes from deceit itself; let us see what an oath is:
nothing else but the very meaning (or mind) of those things
which we set down. — Thou wouldest have me add what re
mains : surely an oath is nothing else but a certain con
summation, as it were, of mischiefs : O dangerous flame !
B. But Plato doth some such thing : he is religiously
aware that he swore not by any God.
A. Truly I know what thou art about to say : there, was
a certain plane-tree, by which alone he made oath : but he
did not swear rightly neither by that; for he had an under
standing in something ; but what a just and religious oath
should be, that he could not understand. And what was
this, tell me now ? A certain shadow of an oath, a declara
tion without a name ; an oath, no path, as the philosophers
swore by a strange and unknown god. Lastly, it is nothing
else, but to make oath by any thing. Here let our speech
be at an end. Thou threatenest that thou wilt leave me
athirst sooner than I would.
A. If an oath seem a small thing to thee, truly I cannot
condemn thee : but if it is in the number of horrible things,
I will also dare to produce a mighty thing: I do adjure, by
a very oath itself, that thou abstain from, and beware of,
oaths, and thou hast the victory.
B. I wish I had. What fruit gets he that often sweareth?
Laughter. What more? That when he speaks truth, he
shall not be believed.
In another place he saith, that to swear by creatures, is
to swear with regard to God himself + : so Christ himself
saith, Mat. v. 25. and chap, xxiii. 16, 23.
* Mark how Gregory Naz. speaks of the Scripture, in comparison of God's
omnipresence with the mind and sense, and regard men ought to have of it.
t Greg Nae. on Cant. Horn. 18.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 69
Ccesarius, Num. 43.
XLVIII. Caesarius, brother to Gregory Nanzianzeiij in
his Spiritual Sentences, hath this sentence, 'Flee all swear
ing, or every oath :' how then shall we get belief? as well
by speech, as by virtuous actions and carriages, that gain
belief to our speech. Perjury is a denying of God : what
need of God in this matter ? Interpose and put, in ure thy
actions. Epiphan. adv. Here's, lib. i. Ord. 19. §. 6.
XLIX. Epiphanius, whom Socrates Scholasticus, lib. 6.
cap. 9. calls a man of great fame and renown, and a1 virtu
ous and godly person, iii his first book against heresies (not
accounting denying to swear an heresy, but rather the con
trary, as may appear by his words, which are these) 'In the
law, as well as the gospel, it is commanded not to use an
other name in swearing : but in the gospel he commandeth
not to swear, neither by heaven nor earth, nor other oaths ;
but let yea yea, and nay nay, be as an oath, (as Petavius
translates it) for what is more than these is of eviL There
fore I suppose that the Lord ordained concerning this, be
cause of some men's allegations, that would swear by other
names; and first, that we must not swear, no not by the
Lord himself, nor by any other oath ; 'for it is an evil thing
to swear at all. Therefore he is evil that compels not only
to swear by God, but by other things,' &c.
Ambros. de Virgin, lib. 3.
L. Ambrose, soon after, being a layman, or citizen of
Milan, was by the people, against his will, chosen bishop of
that city, for his great worth and godliness, whose writings
are ofgreat account ; and speaking of the inconveniency oc
casioned by an oath, saith, ' Wherefore not without cause
doth the Lord in the gospel command not to swear, that
there may be no cause of forswearing, that there may be no
necessity of offending.'
' He that sweareth not, certainly he never forsweareth ;
but he that sweareth, sometimes he must needs fall into per
jury, because all men are subject to lie. Do not therefore
swear, lest thou beginnest to forswear*.'
' Therefore the Lord, who came to teach the little ones,
to t inspire novices, to confirm the perfect, saith in the gos-
i pel,' "Ye must not swear at all ;" ' because he spoke to the
I weak.' ' Lastly, he spoke not only to the apostles, but to the mul-
! • * Exhortat. ad Virgin.
f Ambrose on Mat. v. He was for inspiration and perfectioi .

70 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
titude ; for he would not have thee to swear, lest thou
shouldest forswear.'
'And he added,' " not to swear neither by heaven nor by
the earth," &c. namely, by those things that are not subject
to thy power.
" The Lord sware and shall not repents" ' He may swear,
who cannot repent of his oath. And what did the Lord
swear?' " That Christ is a priest for ever :" ' Is that uncer
tain ? Is that impossible ?' " The Lord hath sworn," Can
it any way be changed ?'
' Do not therefore use the example of an oath, because
thou hast not power to fulfil an oath.'
Also, in his Commentary on the Hebrews, he saith, ' Be
cause mankind is incredulous, God so condescendeth to us,
that he even sweareth for us*.'
So that he shews that not to be an argument for swearing
to be desired, seeing it is only in condescension to a de
fect; not to be encouraged from it to swear, or to require.
it. Chrysost. on Gen. Horn. 15.
LI. Chrysostom, in those days very famous in the church,
and therefore stiled the golden doctor, in his 15th Homily
on Genesis, saith ; ' A Christian must flee oaths by all
means, hearing the sentence of Christ, which saitK,' "It
was said to them of old, " You shall not forswear; but I
say unto you, swear not at all." ' Let none say therefore,
I swear in a just business. It is not lawful to swear; nei
ther in a just, nor unjust thing.'
t ' To swear is of the devil ; seeing Christ saith,' " for
what is more, is evil," ' or ofthe evil one.'
' Swearing took not its beginning from the will, but from
negligence only. Thou hast heard (saith he) the wisdom
of Christ, saying, That not only to forswear, but also, in
any manner to swear, is devilish, and all a device of the
evil one.'
' If to swear is found to be devilish, how are they to be
punished who forswear ?'
' If to swear truly be a crime, and a transgressing of the
commandment, where shall we place perjury ?'
Speaking of a Christian, (so called ; for he that dare do
» Psalm clx. * Ambr. Com. on Heb. c. 6. Oaths founded on defect,
not tp be encouraged'; then not to be imposed. t Id. Horn. Psal. v. AA
Pop. Antioch. Horn. 19. The reason of oaths. Against the dispraise of soli
tary life, 1. 1. Of compunction of heart, 1. I. Against the Jews, Horn. 34.
Agreeing with Eusebius before. Chrys. calls swearing and compelling to swear
at all, an error ; then we are orthodox. See his great praise in Soe. Scho.J.6.
c. 3. He was of the race of senators. Remember Tertullian's case by this,
Homil. 28. Eclog,de Juram. Horn. 5. ad pop. Antioch.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 71.
such things, we cannot call a sincere. Christian) whom he
saw compelling a certain honest, ingenuous, modest, and
faithful matron, to go into the Jews' synagogue, there to be
sworn about some business in controversy betwixt them,
she desiring help, and imploring to be freed from this
wicked force, &c. ' 1 (saith he) kindled with zeal, arose ;
and not suffering her to be farther drawn into this prevari
cation, rescued her; and enquired of him that had drawn
her to it, whether he were a Christian or not ; Who con
fessing he was, I severely urged and upbraided him with
his folly and extreme madness, to go about to draw any
body, he professing himself to be a worshipper of Christ, to
the Jews' dens, who had crucified him. And going on in
speaking, I taught him, out of the holy gospel, that it is not
lawful to swear al all, nor to incite any to swear, after that ;
not one that is a believer, or initiated ; no, nor one that is
not initiated ; to be drawn to that extremity. After I had
spoken much, and a long time of it, I delivered his mind
from the error of opinion, &c.'
Be pleased to observe how Chrysostom, a zealous and
famous man, both for his books and the persecution that he
suffered, being patriarch, or prime overseer of the church at
Constantinople, one ofthe four ofthe chiefest in the world,
uses no distinction of private and public oaths, the common
talk of our imposers ; for here he labours against drawing
any to swear at all, even in judicature, because it was not
lawful to swear so at all, no not as the Jews swore, much
less as the Gentiles.
Again, ' Let none say to me, What if any lay on me a
necessity of swearing? and what if he do not believe?'
'Certainly where the law is violated, one must not make
any mention of necessity : for there is one unavoidable ne
cessity, not to offend God. Moreover, this I say, that in
the mean time" we may cut off superfluous oaths, those I
mean, which are made rashly, and without any necessity,
amongst friends and servants : and if thou take away
these, in the other thou shalt need me no more : for that
mouth which hath learned to fear and flee an oath, if any
would compel it ten thousand times, it will never admit of
falling into that custom, &c.
'But if thou fear nothing else, at least fear that book,
which thou takest in thy hands, bidding another to swear;
and when thou turnest it, and market what Christ hath
there commanded concerning oaths, * quake and forbear.'
' What doth it say, then, of oaths ?'
' Answer,' " But 1 say unto you swear not at all." ' Dost
• Chrysost. exhorts to be right Quakers, by trembling, and not swearing.

72 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
thou make that law an oath, which forbids to swear ? O
injurious, 0 unjust thing ! for thou dost as if a man should
take for his companion, a law-giver that forbids to kill, and
command him to be made a murderer. As therefore, when a
fight is begun, although we are often reviled, yet we endure
it well, and we say to him that doth it, That patron of thine
hath hurt me, he holds my hands ; and this serves us for
solace. After the same manner, if thou wilt exact an oath
of any, restrain thyself, and withhold ; and say to him that
is about to swear, What shall I do to thee, sith God hath
commanded neither to swear, nor to compel to swear; he
now withholdeth me? This is enough for the lawgiver's
honour, for thy security, and his fear who should swear*.'
* 'Do thus much for me therefore, that they that come hi
ther may say, That is not to be seen in any city, which is at
Antioch; for they that inhabit that city, had rather their
tongues should be cut out, than an oath should proceed out
of their mouth,' &c.
'What is it?' "Thou shalt render unto the Lord thy
oaths :" * That is, in swearing thou shalt speak true :' " But
I say unto you, Not to swear at all :" ' and then to put off
the hearers, that they should not swear by God, he saith,'
" Neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God ; nor by
the earth, for it is his footstool," &c. for he said not, ' Be
cause the heaven is fair and great, nor because the earth is
vile ; but because that is the throne of God, and this his
footstool ; by all which he drives them to the fear of God.'
' Obj. What then, if any require an oath, and impose a
' necessity of swearing ?'
' Ans. Let the fear of the Lord be more forcible to thee
than all necessity or compulsion : for if thou wilt always ob
ject such-like occasions, thou wilt keep none of those things
which are commanded : for thou mightest also say it con
cerning thy wife ; what if she be a scold ? What if,she be
nice and curious ? And of thy right eye ; what if I have a
delight in it, and be inflamed with the love of it, &c. ? And
so thou wilt trample upon all things that are commanded.
But in the laws which men command, thou darest alledge
no such thing ; as, What if this or that, &c. ? and if thou
wilt keep the law of Christ, thou wilt not suffer any com
pulsion to hinder thee from the observation thereof; for he
that heard the blessedness that is before, in the same sermon,
and shews himself such an one as Christ commandeth, he
shall suffer no such compulsion from any, seeing he is ve»
nerable and admirable with all men.'
* He differs much from those that punish us for not swearing. Qn Mat,
Homil, 17. *

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 73
' Obj. What then shall we say is beyond yea and nay ?'
' Answ. Without doubt an oath, not perjury; sith this is
altogether manifest, and none needs be taught that it is of
evil ; and not so much superfluous, as altogether contrary.
Now, that is superfluous which is added needlessly, and too
much ; which surely is an oath.'
' Obj. Why then shall this be said to be of evil ? And if
it was of evil, how was it commanded in the law?'
'Answ. Thou wilt say that also concerning thy wife ;
how is it now adultery, which was sometime suffered? What
then shall we say to these things; but that many of those
things which were then spoken, the weakness of them that
received the law required : for it is a thing very unmeet for
God to be worshipped with the smell of sacrifices, even as
it is not congruent for a philosopher to stutter and babble :
therefore such a divorce is now called adultery ; and an
oath now comes of evil, when the increasings of virtues are
come to their perfection. But if these things had been the
laws of the devil from the beginning, they had never come
to such proficiency ; for unless those things had gone before,
those other had never been so easily received. Do not
therefore desire the virtue of those things, whose use is now
past. They were available indeed then, when the time re
quired, yea, if thou pleasest, now also ; for now their virtue
is shewn in that same thing also, wherein we most accuse ;
for that they now appear such, is their great praise : for,
unless they had nursed us up well and profitably, and had
made us fit for the receiving of greater things, they would
not now seem to us to be such. For as the nurse's teat,
when it hath done all its office, and brought the child to the
measure of the stronger age, seems to be unprofitable ; and
the parents, who formerly judged the teat to be necessary
for their child, do afterwards pursue it with very many
scorns, and usually do not only make it uncomely in words,
but also besmear it with certain bitter juices of herbs, that
when they cannot bridle the. eager unseasonable desire of
the child about it, they may quench it at least with those
things : so also Christ said,' " It was of evil," ' not that he
might show the old law to be of the devil, but that he might
recall them more vehemently from the old vileness : and
these things he said unto his disciples ; but unto the stupid
Jews, and them that persist in the same impiety, as with a
certain bitterness, he so compassed their city, they being
captivated with fear, as that he made it inaccessible : and
because he could not hereby restrain them, but that they
again desired to see it, as children running back to the teat,
he took it quite away ; destroying it, and scattering them,

74 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
most of them, far away from it ; as men usually shut up
calves from their dams, that they may gain them to be
weaned from their accustomed food of milk.'*
' But if the Old Testament were of the devil, he would
not have forbidden images to be worshipped ; but on the;
contrary, have brought in and commanded such a worship
as this; for the devil would have such a thing to be done.
But now we see that the law did the contrary : and for that
cause also the way of swearing was in times past permitted,!
lest men should worship images, and swear by them ;'
" Swear," ' saith he,' "by the true God." ' So the law
brought not a mean good to men, but a very great one, if it
sought to bring them to solid meat.'
' Obj. What evil therefore hath swearing ?'
' Answ'. Much evil, without question : but now, at this
time, after so great manifestations of power ; not then, by
any means.':];
' Obj. Thou wilt say ; How can it be, that the same is
sometimes good, sometimes not ?'
' Answ. I will also produce against thee, How is it that
the same thing is sometimes good, sometimes not good ?
Doth not all that is in the world proclaim the same ; as,
educations, arts, fruits, and all other things ?'
' Therefore first weigh that in our own nature : for to be
carried in one's arms, is a good part in the first age ; after
wards a very pitiful thing. To use chewed meats in the
beginning of one's life is good; afterwards very full of in
decency and loathsomeness : to be fed with milk, and to
flee to the nourishment ofthe teats, at the first is profitable
and wholesome ; but afterwards hurtful and noisome. Thou
seest how the same things are sometimes good, according
to the times, and sometimes appear to be of another nature:
for it is a comely thing for a child to wear a child's vesture,
but shameful for a man. Wouldest thou also learn, on the
contrary, how those things are not fit for a child, which are
for a man? Give a man's vesture to a child, and great
laughter will follow thereupon, and greater danger in going,
making him reel this way and that way : commit unto him
the care of civil businesses and affairs, either to traffic, or
sow or reap, and again it will be very ridiculous. But what
do 1 speak of these ? Even manslaughter itself, which Christ
calls evidently a work of the devil, sometimes in due season
done, hath been praised ; as Phineas killed a man, and it
* This is true Christian doctrine. With Christians it ought to be sn. What,
evif is it then to hale men back again upon penalties ? t The reason why
God admitted oaths. No ordinance of God or man originally, but corruption
insensibly brought it ; and God only suffered it by a true Deity till the limes
of reformation. \ His reason, our reason.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 75
was reputed to him for righteousness ; Abraham also was
not only an homicide, but a parricide; and Peter slew two,
but it was a spiritual work : so we must not only consider
the actions, but the time, cause, will, and difference of per
sons, and all other circumstances.'
Again, in his Imperfect * Work, cap. 5.
' It hath been said,' [" Thou shalt not forswear, but
shalt perform to the Lord thy oaths : hut I say unto you,
" Swear not at all," &c.J ' Behold the fourth command,
which covetous men account the least, because they do not
account it a sin to swear ; without which the command of
the law cannot stand ; for unless swearing itself be forbid
den, false oaths cannot be takeaaway, because out of swear
ing springs up forswearing ; for whosoever swears often, at
one time or other swears falsely ; for this reason Solomon
gives that admonition,' " Accustom not thy mouth to swear
ing ; for there is much danger therein." ' For as he that
accustoms himself to talk much, must needs at one time or
other utter unseasonable words; and he that useth frequently
to strike with his hand, cannot but sometimes strike unjust
ly ; so he that accustoms himself to swear in things con
venient, oftentimes forswears himself, even against his
will (custom prevailing in him) in things superfluous : for
we can accustom ourselves to any thing when we will;
but we cannot turn off that custom when we will. And
what the judgment of God is against them that swear,
Solomon teacheth :' " A man," ' saith he,' " that swears
much, a wound shall not depart from his house." ' If then
a wound depart not from them that swear, how shall it at
length depart from them that forswear ? Tell me, my friend,
what dost thou get by swearing ? for if thy adversary did
believe that thou wouldest swear well, he would never
force thee to swear at all ; but because he thinks thou wilt
swear falsely, therefore it is that he compels thee to swear;
and when thou hast sworn, he doth not sit down as satisfied
in the truth of thine oath, but goes away full of revenge, as
it were in condemnation of thy perjury.'*
' An oath never has a good end ; for some will judge thou
hast sworn for covetousness ; and some too, that thou hast
forsworn : but they that are willing to suppose well of thee,
although they do not believe thou hast sworn falsely, yet
they are not able to affirm thou hast sworn in truth : but
no man can maintain thou hast done religiously. By swear
ing therefore thou comest into reproach with thy enemies,
* Much regarded and observed by venerable antiquity, said James on the
Father, part 2. page 3$. Act, Mon. v. I. p. 701.

78 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
and into suspicion with thy friends. But thou wilt say per
haps, ' Obj. What shall I do ? he neither doth nor will believe
me, unless I swear.
' Answ. Be content rather to lose thy money than thy
salvation ; set more by thy soul than by thy estate : if thou
shouldest lose any part of thy estate, thou mayest live not
withstanding; but if thou losest God, whereon wilt thou
live ? Dost thou not know, that what thou partest self-
denyingly with for the fear of God, thou receivest a greater
reward for it, than if thou hadst given alms ; because, the
more we bear the cross, the more worthily are we crowned
for it ? Behold, my friend, I advise thee not to force any
man to swear : if thoU thinkest he will swear well, avoid
it; or if thou thinkest he will swear amiss, avoid it so much
the rather: for although he swear well, yet thou, as far as
relates to thy conscience, art become the cause of his per
jury, because thou compellest him to take an oath with this
intention, not barely that he should swear, but that he
should forswear; for if thou hadst thought he would have
sworn honestly, thou wouldest not have forced him to swear
at all. Oh foolish man, that compellest another to swear!
thou knowest not what thou dost : he, although he forswear
himself, yet does it with advantage; but thou, without any
advantage, art found a partaker of his perjury. He that
does not stick at lying, does not fear swearing; for he that
tells a lie, goes beyond the truth in his heart ; and he that
swears falsely, passes over God in his words : What then is
the difference between passing over God, and going beyond
the truth, seeing God is truth itself?'
' This is the only difference, that when we lie, we pass
over the truth in our heart. ; but when we forswear, we pass
over God in words ; for, to men we give satisfaction by
words ; to God, by conscience. God himself, who forbid
forswearing, even he afterwards commanded not to swear;
he therefore that is not afraid to set light by the commands
of God in swearing, will not be afraid to do the like in for
swearing. But what wouldst thou have? Doth he fear
God, or doth he not fear him ? If he be one that fears
God, he will not lie, though he be not sworn ; but if he be
one that does not fear God, he cannot speak truth, though
he be sworn. Hear, ye clergymen, who bring the Holy
Gospels for men to swear upon; how can ye be secure from
that oath, who sow the seed of perjury ? He that brings the
fire by which an house is burnt, is he a stranger to the
burning? Or who reaches a sword, whereby a man is slain,
is not he an accessary to the slaughter ? So he that gives

A TREATISE OF OATHSr 77
the opportunity of forswearing, is a partaker of the perjury :
if it were well done to swear, ye said rightly, that we gave
them the Gospel to swear, not to forswear; but now ye
know, that it is a sin even to swear well, how can ye be
acquitted that give the occasion of sinning against God ?
Let the fire cease, and there is no burning ; take away the
sword, and the man is not slain: so take away swearing,
and there is no forswearing. Be these things spoken of
them that swear by God: But as for them that swear by
the elements, their iniquity is more detestable ; for heaven
and earth, and the rest of the elements, God made for his
own service; not for men to swear by: for, behold in the
law it is commanded, that they should swear by none but
God : he therefore that swears by heaven, or by the earth,
or whatsoever it is he swears by, makes a god of it; there
fore every one commits idolatry, who swears by any thing
besides God, if it were at all lawful to swear,- because he
does not perform his oaths to the Lord his God, but to the
elements : and so he commits a double sin ; first, in that he
swears; and secondly, in making a god of that by which he
swears,' &c.
Again, in chap. 23. Homil. 43. on these words, " Wo
unto you, blind guides, who say, Whosoever shall swear by
the temple, it is nothing ; but whosoever shall swear by the
gold of the temple, he is a debtor." ' Many Christians,'
saith he, ' now-a-days do so unwisely understand many
things ; for lo, if there shall be any cause, he seems to do a
small matter who swears by God; but he that swears by the
gospel, seems to have done some greater thing. To whom
it may be said, Fools! The holy scriptures are for G°dj
not God for the scriptures ; for God is greater, which sanc-
tifieth the gospel, than the gospel, which is sanctified of
God.' Again, Horn. 9. on Acts of the Apostles. Chap. 3.
' To this conduces not a little, not to swear, and not to
be angry ; for in not being angry, we shall not have an
enemy ; and cast off a man's oath, and withal thou shalt
cast off those things that concern wrath, and shalt extin
guish all anger. For wrath and an oath are dike the wind.
We set forth sail ; but there is no benefit of the sail, if there
be no wind : so if we do hot cry out, nor swear, we cut the
sinews of wrath. Come, tell me for what cause an oath
was introduced, and why it was allowed? Let us tell its
original, and whence it sprung up again, and how, and by
whom ; and by our declaration we shall gratify your atten*
tion : for he that doth justly, must necessarily be also studi
ous of wisdom ; and he that is not yet such, is not worthy

78 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
to hear a discourse : for Abraham made covenants, and sa
crificed sacrifices, and offered offerings ; and as yet there
Was not an oath. Whence then came in an oath; when
evils increased, when all things became topsy-turvy, when
they inclined to idolatry ; then verily, when they appeared
unfaithful, they called God to witness, as giving a surety
for security of their words ; for an oath is a suretiship,
where their behaviours have no trust or credit. Where
upon, first, he that swears is taxed, if he have no credit
without an oath, and the greatest security: and because
men so little trust one another, they seek Goo for a surety.
not man. Secondly, He is in the same crime who receives
an oath, if he draw God to be a surety for contracts, and
say, that he will not trust except he have him. O, mon
strous thing ! O, shameful disgrace ! Thou ! a worm, dust,
and ashes, and a vapour; darest thou snatch thy Lord,
who art such an one, for a surety, and compellest to accept
him ? Tell me if a fellow-servant should say to your chil
dren, striving among themselves, and not trusting one
another,' ' Unless the common master become a surety,
there is no trusting ;' ' would not many stripes be inflicted,
that he might learn that he should make use of him as a lord
in other things, not in these ? What do I speak of a fellow-
servant ? for if one would have a more venerable man,
would not the case have disgrace in it?' ' But I shall,'.
' saith he,' ' therefore neither compel him, because this is
also amongst men.' ' He may say thus,' ' Sometimes thou
mayest not receive a surety to thine.' ' What then ?' ' And
I shall lose,' ' saith he,' ' what is given.' ' I would not
say this ; but do not thou endure that God be reproached.
Therefore he who compels, hath a more unavoidable punish
ment than he who swears. Likewise he also who swears
when none requires ; this also is harder, that one swears
for an halfpenny, for a little commodity, for unrighteous
ness. And these things are so dangerous, when there are
no perjuries ; but if perjuries are committed, then all thing*
are confounded, and both he that swears, and he that re
ceives an oath, are the cause.'
' Obj. But there are some things that are not known, say
they.' ' Answ. But foreseeing these things, thou must do nothing
rashly ; but if thou shalt do any thing negligently, take the
penalty of the inconvenience in thy own hand : better to
suffer loss than otherwise. For, tell me, thou halest a man
to an oath ; what dost thou seek ? Wouldest thou have him
to forswear ? But this is extreme folly ; for the loss will
turn upon thy own head : it were better to lose thy mean^,

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 79
than that he should be lost : wherefore thou dost this fo
thy own damage, and to God's dishonour : such is the soul
of a beast and of a wicked man !'
' Obj. But I expect that he may not forswear.'
' Answ. Therefore believe him without an oath also.'
' Obj. But there are many,' say they, ' who without an
oath dare defraud, who with an oath do not do it.'
' Answ. Thou deceivest thyself, O man ! A man who
hath learned to steal and to wrong a man, will also trample
upon an oath often : but if he hath a reverence in swearing,
much more in doing unjustly.'
' Obj. But thou wilt say,' ' He suffers this unwillingly.'
' Answ. Therefore he is worthy of excuse. But what
shall I say of oaths of the courts that are left ? for there
thou canst say no such thing ; for there, for sixpence, both
oaths and perjuries are made: for, because a thunderbolt
doth not come down from above, and all things are not
overturned, thou standest, and wilt bind God: why ? That
thou mayest get herbs and shoes for a small price, thou
callest Him to witness. Do we therefore think we do not
sin, because they are not punished ? This is the Lord's
mercy, not our desert. Swear by thine owti child ; swear
by thyself; say,' ' So let the officer keep from my sides:'
' but thou art afraid of thy sides : is Gon more vile, more
contemptible than thy head? say,' ' So may I not be blind?'
* But Christ so spareth us, that he forbids us to swear even
by our own head. But we do so despise the glory of God,
that He is drawn every where. Ye know not what God is,
and with what a mouth he ought to be invocated. More
over, when we speak of any virtuous man, we say,' ' Wash
thy mouth, that so thou mayest be heedful.' ' But now
we vainly distract that honourable name, which is a Name
above every name, which is wonderful in all the earth,
which the devils hearing do tremble at ! O most contempt
ible custom which hath done that! Lastly, if thou shalt
impose upon any a necessity of swearing in the holy house,
how horrible an oath dost thou enjoin, if thou dost so ?
Ought not one even to dread when God is named? But
even among the Jews this Name was so reverend, that it
was written on the plate of the mitre ; and none might bear
those letters ofthe Name of God, but only the high priest:
and now also we so bear his name tenderly. If it was not
lawful for all simply to name God, how great audacious
ness is it to call him to witness ? Tell me now, how great
madness is it ? Behold, I say and testify to you, amend
those court oaths, and show me all those that do not obey.
Behold, even in your presence, I will command them that

80 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
are set apart for the ministry, the house of prayer, and
admonish and show, that it is not lawful for any to swear.
Let him therefore be brought to me, whosoever he be, be
cause these things also ought to be done before us, because
ye are children. O shame ! for it is confusion that ye have
need to be instructed in some things. Darest not thou that
art initiated, touch the holy table-? But, what is yet worse-,
thou, which art initiated, darest thou touch the holy table,
and that which it is not lawful for all the priests to touch,
and so swear? But being gone out, thou wouldest not
touch the head of thy child ; but touchest thou the table,
and dost not dread nor fear ? Bring such to me, I will in
flict a just punishment ; and with joy will send both away
with this commandment,' ' Do as you list ; * I impose this
law, Not to swear at all. What hope is there of salvation,
when you so contemn and despise all things ?' ' Hast thou
therefore received letters and badges that thou shouldst
lose thy soul ? What so great thing hast thou gained, as
that which thou hast lost ? Hath he forsworn ? Thou hast
lost both thyself and him. But hath he not forsworn ? even
thou hast lost, who hast driven him to transgress the com
mandment. Let us expel this disease from the soul : let
us drive it now from the court, and from all merchants, and
tradesmen's shops. It was a greater labour to us, do not
you think, that worldly things are corrected by the trans*
gressings of divine laws.' " But he doth not believe,"
' saith he ; for I have also heard this of some,' ' Unless I
swear many oaths, they will not believe me:' ' Thou art
the cause of these things, who swearest so promptly and
easily. But if this were not, but it were manifest to all that
thou Wouldest not swear, believe me, more credit would be
given to thy very beck, than those who swear abundance of
oaths. Whom therefore do you more believe, me that do
not swear, or them that do swear?'
' Obj. But,' says he, ' thou art a prince and a bishop.'
' Answ. What then, if I shall show thee that it is not
this only ? Answer me in truth now : if I had sworn always,
and at every season, what privilege would my principality
have? No; thou seest that it is not for this. What gainest
thou then ? tell me now. Paul hungred ; and do thou
choose rather to hunger than to transgress any of God's
commandments. Why art thou so unbelieving ? Shalt thou
choose to do and to suffer all things, that thou mayest not
swear, and shall not he reward thee ? But he feeds daily
* Men never could plead conscience for not being believed without an oath:
many have, to be credited without one. This was Chrysostom's exhortation
Now it is said, How can we trade without an oath ?

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 81
forswearers and great swearers, and will he give thee up to
famish, because thou hearkenest to him ? Let all men
know, That none may swear that are of this congregation ;
and hereby we may be assured, and by this sign be distin
guished from the Greeks, and from all men, and not only
by the faith (or Christian profession.) Let us have this
mark from heavenly things, that we may shine with it every
where, as the king's flock. We are now known by the mouth
and the tongue, as the Barbarians, and they that know to
speak Greek ; for we are discerned from the Barbarians by
the tongue. Tell me now, how are parrots known ? Is it
not that they speak like men ? And we also may be known,
if we speak like the apostles, and speak as the angels. For
if any one say, " Swear," ' let him hear, that Christ hath
commanded, " even not to swear." ' This sufficeth to bring-
in all virtue. It is a certain gate of godliness, a way bring
ing ou unto the love of wisdom (or philosophy.) It is a
certain exercise (or mastery.) Let us keep these things,
that we may attain both present and future good things, by
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ; with whom, to the
Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory, dominion, and ho
nour, now, and for ever and ever. Amen.'
' These precepts were because of the Jewish deprava
tion : but those perfect ones, to despise and relinquish
riches, stand manfully, lay down thy life for preaching;
despise all earthly things,, have nothing to do with this
present life ; do good to them that unjustly afflict thee ; if
thou be defrauded, bless thou ; if any slander thee, honour
thou him ; be over all things : it was fit to hear these, and
such like things; but now we discourse concerning an oath.
And it is even as if when a man should come to philosophy,
he should draw him away from those his teachers, and make
him spell with letters and syllables.
' Consider now, what a confusion it would be for a man,
that hath a weighty scrip, and a staff, and a gown, to go to
the grammar-school with boys, and to learn the same things
that they do ! Would it not be a matter of much laughter ?
But more from you : for there is not so great a difference
betwixt philosophy and the elements of speech, as between
the Jewish matters and ours ; even as much as is between
angels and men. Tell me now, if any should call down an
angel from heaven, and tell him, that he must stand and
hear our sermons, as if he must be thereby instructed, would
it not be a ridiculous and confused thing? And if it were a
ridiculous thing to be yet instructed by these, tell me now
how great condemnation, and how great confusion were it,
not to give attention to those former ? And how then is it
Vol. ii. F

82 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
not confusion, that a Christian must be instructed that he
must not swear ? But let us repress our affections, that we
be not more laughed at. Let us now discourse concerning
the Jewish law to-day : What is that ? will he say.' "Do
not use thy mouth to swear, nor be familiar with the holy
Name." 'Why?' " For as a servant, if he be continually
scourged, shall not be clear from marks, so neither he that
sweareth." ' Consider the wisdom of that wise man : he
said not, Do not use thy mind, but thy mouth ; because he
knew it to be all ofthe mouth, and which is easily amended,
&c. The punishment here that is opposed to it, tells us,
that it is not perjury, but swearing, that is here to be
removed; therefore to swear is a, sin. Verily the soul
is full of such wounds and scars. But if thou swear because
he doth not believe ; say thou, Believe ; or if thou wilt not,
swear by thyself; and I do not say, that thou art contrary
to the law-giver : far be it ; for, saith he,' " Let your word
be yea, yea, and nay, nay," ' that herein I may condescend
to you, and bring you to this, that I may free you from this
tyrannical custom. Will you learn why they allowed them
of old to swear, not to forswear ? It was because they
swore by idols. You must not be confounded in these laws,
in which they that were weak were conversant. For if I
now take a Greek, I do not forthwith enjoin him this ; but
now I admonish him, that Christ must be known : but a
believer, and one who hath learned him, and heard, if he
should use the same indulgence and liberty as the Greek,
what profit and advantage would there be ?'
' Christ hath made a law, that none swear. Tell me now
what is done about this law; lest perchance, coming again,
as the apostle saith,' " I do not spare*."
We hope none will dispute whether Chrysostom was
against all swearing, or that he understood Christ's doctrine
as we do : yet nobody can promise for them that endeavour
to squeeze swearing out of Christ's "Swear not at all."
We have been the larger in this authority, partly because he
excellently disputes it, and partly because our case needs
it ; and lastly, to show Christians their apostacy, that they
may reform.
Jerom. Libr. Epistol. Part 3. Tract. 2. Of Obedience,
Knowledge, and Revenge.
LI I. ' Thou saidst, if I mistake not, That on this ac
count thou mayest justly render evil for evil, and oughtest
to swear with them that swear, because the Lord sometimes
swore, and rendered evil for evil.'
* Horn. 10. p. 101.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 83
' First, I know that all things are not fit for us, that are
servants, Which are agreeable to the master, &c. I know
the Lord oftentimes swore, who hath forbidden us to swear.
Nor must we rashly speak evil of, or blaspheme in this,
that he forbad another what he did himself; because it
may be said, The Lord swore as Lord, whom none forbad
to swear. It is not lawful for us as servants to swear; be
cause we are forbidden by the law of our Lord to swear.
But, lest we should suffer an offence by his example, since
the time he forbad us to swear, neither did he himself ever
swear,' Sfc. Upon Zachary, Book 2. Chap. 8.
" And love ye not a false oath."] — ' As to the Lord's
commanding in the gospel,' " But I say unto you, swear
not at all; but let your word be yea, yea; nay, nay;"
' he that shall never swear, can never forswear : but he
that sweareth, let him hear that which is written,' " Thou
shall not take the name ofthe Lord thy God in & vain thing;
for all these things I hate, saith the Lord," ' according to
the words of Malachi, saying,' " And ye did all that I
hate." In precepts which belong to life, and are clear, we
ought not to seek an allegory, lest we seek a knot in a rush,
as says the comic. On Jeremy 4. Book 1. Chap. 3.
" And thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth and
righteousness, and judgment," &c. ' And how doth the
gospel forbid us to swear ? But here it is said, for a con
fession, thou shalt swear, and for the condemnation of idols,
by which Israel swore. Lastly, Offences are taken away,
and he sweareth by the Lord ; and what is said in the Old
Testament,' " The Lord liveth," ' is an oath to the con
demning of all the dead, by whom all idolatry sweareth.
And it is also to be minded, that an oath hath these compa
nions, truth, judgment, and righteousness : if these be
wanting, it is not swearing, but forswearing.'
Also on Matt. Book 1. Chap. 5.
" But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by hea
ven," &e.
' The Jews had always this custom of swearing by the
elements, as the prophet's speech often reproves them. He
that sweareth, either reverenceth or loveth him by whom
he sweareth. In the law it is commanded, that we must
not swear but by the Lord our God.'
' The Jews, swearing by the angels, and the city Jerusa
lem, and the temple, and the elements, did worship the
carnal creatures with the honour and observance of God.
f2

84 A TKEATISE OF OATHS.
* Lastly, consider, that here the Saviour forbad not to
swear by God, but by heaven, &c* And this was allowed
by the law, as to little ones, that as they offered sacrifices
to God, lest they should sacrifice to idols, so also they
were suffered to swear by God : not that they did this
rightly, but that it was better to yield that to God than to
devils. But the truth of the gospel doth not receive an
oath, since every faithful word is for an oath.'
Those of after-times, that in some respect allow of an
oath, ground most upon the authority of Augustin; as he
from the larger acceptation of the words swear and oath,
which he extends to that which Nazianzen (as before) calls
but a firm faithfulness joined to his words ; which yet he
will not admit of, but to a Paul, a planter of churches,
speaking, by the Spirit of God, to them he had begotten in
the gospel, in danger to be seduced by false apostles, and to
slight him, and seek a proof of Christ speaking in him;
compelled by them to seem a fool in glorying, and so driven,
and no otherwise, to seem a swearer too,' yea, even to an
Augustin, and so to compel him (even Augustin) to say, 'It
is a hard question; I have always avoided it.' But though
he durst not condemn it altogether, out of reverence to the
apostle, who he thought used it, because of the form of
speech ; yet to show that he did little encourage men to
practise it, as any act at all of the worship of God, much
less an august act, he saith, ' That false swearing is deadly;
true swearing, dangerous; no swearing, safe: God only
swears safely, who cannot be deceived.'
Augustin de Sermone Domini, Serm. 28.
LIII. And Augustin himself confesseth, ' That it was
usual to allege Christianity for not swearing;' bringing in
one saying, ' It is not lawful for a Christian to swear when
an oath is required of him: I am a Christian; it is not
lawful to swear.' And on Psalm lxxxviii. as allowing the
unlawfulness, he saith, ' It is well that God hath forbidden
men to swear, lest by custom of it (inasmuch as we are apt
to mistake) we commit perjury. There is none but God
can t safely swear,' &c.
And in that very book, which is alleged for it, he saith,
' I say unto you, swear not at all, lest by swearing ye come
to a facility of swearing ; from a facility to a custom ; and
from a custom, ye fall into perjury.' But if any think that
book makes most for them, let them consider the author
* This between the two stars seems a self-contradiction ; but doubtless he
intends it of the second prohibition, as a farther reason why oaths were per
mitted, f If men cannot swear safely, then it is more dangerous to swear
than not to swear ; and it is better for people, nay, they are bound to refuse it.
De mendac. It is-obscure and intricate.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 85
hath retracted it ; for what cause, let himself speak in the
end of his book of" Retractions:" for surely, that which we
have here cited out of it, agreeth with his other works,
which contain much more to this purpose.
' Where,' says he, ' wouldest thou choose to walk? Upon
the brink of a precipice, or far from it ? I think far from
it. So he which swears, walks in the border, and walketh
with unsure feet, because human : if thou stumblest, down
thou goest; if thou fallest, down thou goest.'*
We would fain know, if a most august act of God's wor
ship be nighest the pit's brink, or farthest from it? For
there all ought to choose to walk ; in whose way they that
walk, walk safely ; their place is sure, and their footsteps
shall not slide ; but the wicked's feet are " in slippery
places," where, Augustin says, ' Swearers walk.'
Consider what he saith on those words of Christ in Matt.
v. ' It is the righteousness of the Pharisees, not to for
swear : this he confirmeth who forbiddeth to swear,t which
belongeth to the righteousness ofthe kingdom of heaven : for,
as he which doth not speak, cannot speak a lie, so he cannot
forswear which doth not swear.' He goes on to excuse Paul,
and says, ' That an oath is not among good things, but among
£ evil things, and used for the infirmity of others, which is
evil, from which we pray, that we may be daily delivered.'
But there is this to be said for Augustin, and some others
after him, that he and they write not clearer in a point so
constantly maintained : his horizon was then overcasting
apace. Apostacy, as a mighty torrent, did not only swell
and beat against the simplicity of the Christian doctrine and
discipline; but, like an unruly and impetuous sea, broke
down the banks of primitive society, and made way for all
sorts of superstition, worldly interest, and fraud ; that, to
say no more than he did, was to incur, perhaps, tlie censure
of the grandees of his age, who had joined earthly policy
to Christian religion, and cast off the blessed yoke of their
self-denying Lord, to swim in the delicious liberty of the
world : a time full of such circumstances as seemed to con
spire the return of oaths, that were not dead, but retired
only : for as men grew false and distrustful, truth became
burdensome, and yea and nay no security with them ; and
therefore they disclaimed, or rather exiled them their go
vernment; old Judaism or Gentilism pleased them better.
It was harder living that watchful life that was sufficient to
* De Verb. Jacobi, Ante omnia nolite jurare, serm. 21. + If it belongs
to the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, not to swear, then what will
become of those that not only break that commandment of, " Swear not at all,"
but teach men so to do ; nay, punish men for not obeying such anti-evangelical.
doctrine? t Then ceruinly they are to be rejected of true Christians.

86 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
credit a yea or a nay, than to take an oath, that dependeth
upon the saying of -so many words only: this was con
siderable, and mane swearing then, and continues it grate
ful to our very times. But sad it is, that oaths rode thus
in state, while integrity went barefoot, and evangelical
yea and nay were turned off for non-sufficient, and that
too not without fines, prisons, and a great deal of reproach.
However, we must acknowledge, that the gravity and
Christian care of this person, and other his contemporaries,
appeared in not only dissuading, but deterring those ages
from the brink (for so he calls " Swearing at all,") and
turning their faces after the woman, now on her flight into
the wildnerness ; during all which time, the witnesses,
though fewest in number, and mystically clothed in sack
cloth, forbore not to prophesy, even in this particular.
And we hope, having no certain knowledge to the con
trary, that most of them were at least men fearing God, and
serving him according to what they knew, and in that man
ner they were persuaded was most acceptable to him. And
as Irenaeus said ofthe poets and philosophers, ' These men,
every one seeing that which was connatural, from part of
the Divine-sown reason, spoke excellently, and were right
and consistent with themselves ; they are ours.' Iren. lib,
5, cap. IS. So we sincerely declare of men differing from
lis, that as we desire the good of all, so we can own the
good in all, and the truth in all, and receive it from them,
though in other respects our adversaries ; and would have
all to do the like with us and each other : and howbeit
our adversaries may have hard thoughts of some of the
persons our matter leads us to instance, as men interested
in the doctrine and practices of those darker times they
lived in, and of us for making use of such for authorities;
yet we hope they would also judge it an hard and very
cruel thing to repute them utter cast-aways. And though
we know that men differ within themselves, and all of them
more or less from the truth, yet since there may be some
truth and sincerity, we cannot but acknowledge and em-!
brace it : and we hope, the reasons and authorities of others
they bring, and the concessions and confessions of others
they make, may, and indeed ought to be, of weight in that
point, at least to shew that it is no new, strange, or unreason*
able thing for us to refuse oaths. And though some might,
with a mixture of superstition and will- worship, undertake
and maintain that strictness and preciseness, which some
ofthe holy ancients by the spirit of truth were led to prao
tise (the ancient histories of whom, from eye-witnesses, as
the word signifies, of some of them, we in a great part

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 87
believe) ; and some later more enlightened and zealous
men, taking offence thereat, but especially at the hypocrisy
and abomination palliated by such fair pretences, have
strained much in opposition to that evangelical doctrine;
yet is the doctrine nevertheless a truth in itself.* Nor can
we believe that all that were accounted heretics, were out
ofthe Catholic or Universal Church ; for the word catholic
signifies universal, containing all that are in the church
(that is, in God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) in
all times; and those were not all of the same mind in all
things, as may be read in the Holy Scriptures, and also in
Eusebius, and other ecclesiastical histories, where men are
commended for holiness and virtue, yet at much difference
in some things. Synesius, though he believed not the re
surrection, was chosen to minister, and afterward was made
a bishop ; the charity of Christians was so great in that
age. And some, accounted heretics, suffered martyrdom,
that are commended or excused by Eusebius ; one in par
ticular that died with Polycarpus, and another called As-
clepius, both Marcionites.* See also the beginning of his
eighth book concerning the divisions among them that
afterward suffered for the testimony of the universal or
catholic truth: nor can we receive their judgment, that
branded those with the name of heretics, Pelagians, &c.
who denied swearing in those declining ages, and suppres
sed their works under that name and aspersion only ; not
allowing them to speak for themselves to us of latter times. +
We see how unjustly we ourselves are aspersed in al
most every doctrine we hold, and that under pretence of
serving God ; particularly, with seeking to work our sal
vation by out own power ; and when they have made us
this belief, they bestow Pelagianism upon it, (for fathers
have right to name their own children) ; whereas, of all
other people, we especially disclaim our own ability, and
wait to be renewed and guided by the Spirit of Christ, and
to be found in his righteousness; and therefore, on the
other hand, reputed fanatics, enthusiasts, &c. and mocked
for being moved by the spirit, following the light, &c. But
let their example or authority be as it will, or however
they were in other respects, the doctrine ofthe ancient pri
mitive fathers, and practice of that church, as also the doc
trine of famous men among themselves, neither of which
sort dare they condemn for heretics, do sufficiently defend
* Euseb.. Pam. Socr. Schol. Evagr. &c. + 1 Thes. i. 1. Phil. iii. 15.
Soe. 1.6. 13. Evagr. 1. 1. c. II. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. S. c. 28. 1.4. <.-. 15.
f Pelagius, a Britain, Anno 400, wrote notable books, i.iitli Gonnadius, whi
lived soon after him.

S8 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
them from the aspersion of heresy in that particular : and
so we shall come to our remaining testimonies, it being not
our business to maintain every one of their principles we
cite, but to prove this doctrine of " Swear not at all," to
have had the voice of several ages to confirm it.
The ancient Waldenses, reputed to have continued un
corrupted with the grossness ofthe apostacy, ever since the
apostles' times, (see their history in P. Perin, S. Moreland,
and Bp. Usher de Succes.) we have good cause to say,
denied the taking of any oath in what sense the primitive
Christians and fathers refused, and that was altogether.
Sure it is, their enemies charged them with it for above
three hundred years, and wc cannot find they then denied
the charge : we suppose none will attempt to prove they
did; though one of our adversaries joins with theirs, tra
ducing them for perjurers, and with them abuses that
worthy and learned man, Bishop Usher, who defends them
from that improbable and contradictory aspersion, of lying
and forswearing, and yet of denying to swear ; who says,
' that they were as far from lying and forswearing, as their
enemies were from modesty and truth, which did appear,
in that they were charged by them, not to swear at all :'*
peruse that part of his book de Successione, where he treats
of them ; and where also you may read of their succession,
how that the Syrians and Armenians came out of the east
into Thracia, thence in process of time into Bulgaria and
Sclavonia, thence into Italy and Lombardy, and were
called by several names, of several people, or at several
times, as Manichees, Waldenses, Albigenses, Cathari or
Puritans, Patrins, Publicans, Humiliati, &c. who were
charged with denying swearing; and how that several of
the better sort of the clergy, and of the nobler laity (who
refused the present use ofthe Baptism and the Lord's Sup
per) were burnt, under the name of Manichees. Suarez
also reckons up the Catharists, Alba, Bagnald, and others,
which Prateolus and Castro relate, the Waldenses, the
Anabaptists, &c. And which Jansenius also, out of Au
gustin, Epist. 89. the Pelagians out of Hilary Syracusanus,
Epist. 88. Bernard, Homil. 69, on Cant. ' The fathers,'
says he, ' seem to favour this opinion, especially Basil,
Horn, in Psalm xiv. Chrysostom, Horn. 19, 78, ad popul.
and xvii. on Mat. And Theophylact on Mat. v. Origen
Tract. 35. Mat. Tertullian de Idololat. Clem. Rom. 1. 6.
Constitut. Apost.' Maldonat, on Mat. v. 34. saith, ' The
Anabaptists, the Wickliffites, some Syracusans, a kind of
Pelagians, denied Swearing; and that Origen was not far
» See Baronius. Ann. 1310.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 89
off that opinion.'* Here the heretics, as accounted, and
the fathers, are reckoned up together, as holding the same
opinions : sure in this they were not heretics; for then the
fathers should be condemned with them, and called here
tics too, as well as they; or else these men are partial and
contradictory. Augustin, on Jam. v. of the words of the apostle, thus,
Serm. 30. ' Perhaps it is meet for the Lord alone to swear,
who cannot forswear.' And so he goes, on to shew how
hard it is for men to avoid perjury.
In serm. 3. ad competentes : 'Let them not only abstain
from perjury, but from swearing ; because he doth not lie
who saith, ' A man swearing much, shall not depart from
iniquity, and the plague shall not depart from his house."
Eccles. xxiii.
Hut if it were an august act of the worship of God, he
would, on the contrary, have exhorted at least, if not com
manded them to swear; which we never read any command
for, but in opposition to idols, even in the time of the old
Testament writings, as the testimonies before alledged de
clare ; and in the time of the new, no command at all; but,
on the contrary, a prohibition by the Lord himself, and an
other by his apostle; nor any example ; for that of Paul's
was but an asseveration, as by the testimonies already pro
duced, and to be alledged, appears : for besides those ofthe
fathers and other doctors, of late Bp. Ro. Sanderson, in his
''Oxford Lectures," shows, this is sometimes used in the
form of an oath, which is no oath ; and so he defendeth
Joseph from breaking God's command, that is, not to have
sworn so; and therefore not to have sinned, but to have
used an asseveration ; as if he had said, "As sure as Pha
raoh liveth, ye are spies:" so may Paul be defended
against the breaking Christ's command ; as if he had said,
" As sure as ye," or, as some Greek copies have it, " We,
rejoice in Christ Jesus :" for ri, which they translate, I
protest by, hath sometimes the same signification that »au,
yea, hath, as may be seen in Scapula ; for he says, n (trans-
¦ lated, I protest by) i9 a particle, sometimes of granting and
affirming; sometimes it is put for verily, indeed; and he
interprets tai by the same word, which is translated, yea,
which Scapula saith is also sometimes used in swearing, and
cites Aristophanes andXenophon for it : and that »i is used
also in composition for affirming, as in n^vl®', profusus, la
vishing ; which cannot signify swearing.
» John Walden against John WicklifF and the Waldenses. Reiner. Rub,
Capitan. W. Widford, Gui. Carmel. Voss. histor. Pelag. 1. 5. p. 2. Bp. Ushetf
de Success. De Juramcntis, 1. 1. c. 1,2.

90 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
And how easily might the transcriber, through that com
mon use, alter a letter, being ofthe same signification;
seeing in that very verse, in some copies, there is not only in
another word an alteration of a letter, hy^iea-i & v^iem, our
and your, but in another word five letters, airoMa-xu & a-rto&i-
ia-xoflis, referring to the verse before ; yea, a whole word of
seven letters added, <*3sfcp«». And of about thirty Greek co
pies there are not two of them that agree, but they inter
fere, some in one place, some in another ; insomuch that
there are thousands of various readings, which many ofthe
ancient fathers diversely follow, some one, some another.
See the (various lections) varios lectiones grosc. nov. test, in
Bp. Walton's Polyglot, vol. 6. also the preface, and Beza's
Epistle therein : and consider how hard a thing it is to con
strue, limit, and lay the interpretation of the sayings of
Christ and his apostles, and the weight of a doctrine, and
that as men would avoid penalties too, upon a letter (which
yet alters not the signification) upon the credit of the trans'
cribers, especially in Paul's Epistles, wherein Peter says,
" many things are hard to be understood, and wrested by
the unlearned," which he must needs intend in such learn
ing as he himself had ; and that was not of worldly acade
mies, but from the Holy Spirit. And these words which are
joined with that particle, are not such words as men use in
swearing, but for a ground of his fidelity, and a remedy
against their incredulity, and questioning of the weight of
his assertions, amongst whom other teachers were preferred,
and who compelled him to speak "as a fool," he says,
" even to commend himself." So that it is not strange, if
to them, and not to other churches, he used such forcible
asseverations, from the testimony that they had of him, of
the truth and work of Christ, in him, and the record thereof
upon his soul, and his joy therein, that he spoke the truth
to them, and did not lie ; so that he brings his persecutions
against their imperfections, to gain belief; which cannot
amount to more than a voluntary condescension for the
time being, and cannot prove or countenance a compulsory,
promissory, formal, ceremonial oath to be exacted or taken
up for the future.
But mark, that the word oath, or swear, used both
by Christ and the apostle James in their prohibition, is
never used by Paul in his asseverations, neither doth he
ever apply it to the brethren : but speaking to them ofthe
oath that was in old time, and of men (indefinitely) that use
to swear, he "saith, " Men swear ; and to them an oath is
for confirmation;" that is, as among the Jews and Heathen;
he doth not say to us, or to you ; or we, or ye swear, who

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 91
are not in strife ; which, if it had been true, it might have
stood the present oath-advocates in stead. So that such ds
will have it that Paul swore, must bring the word swear, or
oath, to prove it : but if they could, his example then were
not enough to invalidate to us now the commandment of
Christ for the abolishing of swearing; no more than his
shaving his head at Cenchrea, because he had a vow ; or
bin purifying himself in the temple, and offering with the
four Jews that had a vow ; or his circumcising of Timothy,
because of the Jews; can warrant us to the observation of
those legal rites and ceremonies, which so long since are not
only dead, but deadly, as the fathers and Bp. Sanderson dis
tinguish about them. And those that would therefore bring
in swearing and vows, might, under the same colour, bring
in sacrificing and circumcising too.
LIV. Isidorus Pelusiota, who, as Evagrius Schol. writes,
lived at the same time with Cyril, and that the fame ofhis
sayings and doings was spread far and near, and rife in
every man's mouth, that he led on earth the life of an an
gel, and wrote many notable works, amongst which are his
Epistles, in one whereof he writes against swearing thus ;
' If thou art ofthe flock, and art ordered under a good shep
herd, deny the nature of wild beasts, and obey his voice,
that fbrbiddeth to swear at all. Moreover, not to swear, is
not to require ah oath of another. Now, if thou wilt not
swear, neither require thou an oath of another, for two causes,
either because he who is asked loves truth, or on the con
trary, to lie: if the man speaks truth usually, he will always
speak truth without an oath ; but if he is a liar, he will lie,
though he swear : therefore, for both these causes, one ought
not to require an oath*.'
LV. Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia, about or not long
after that time, upon these words, " But I say unto you,
swear not at all t," paraphraseth thus ; ' The law (saith he)
given by Moses, received a growth, proficiency, or perfec
tion, by the grace ofthe doctrine of the gospel. In the law
it was commanded, not to forswear; but in the gospel not
to swear ; which very thing heretofore the Holy Ghost did
premeditate that Solomon should command or teach, saying,'
"Let not thy mouth use to swear." And again, "Asa
servant beaten continually, is not lessened from the pale
ness of his stripes, so every one that sweareth, shall not be
purged from sin." ' Wherefore it is not meet for us to
swear at all : for what need is there for any of us to swear,
seeing that it is not at all lawful for us to lie ; whose words
*'L. I. c. 15. Ep. lib. I. Epist. 155. Not to require an oath by any
means of another man. f On Mat. v.

92 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
ought always to be so true, so very faithful, that they may
be"accounted for oaths. And therefore the Lord not only
forbids us to forswear, but even to swear; that we may not
seem to speak truth only when we swear; that we may not
think that those whom he hath appointed to be true in all
their speech, may have liberty to lie without an oath : for
this is the cause of an oath, because that every one who
sweareth, doth but swear to this end, that he will speak that
which is true, and therefore the Lord would have no dif
ference to be between their oath and their word: because
as in an oath there ought to be no perfidiousness, so in our
words there ought to be no lie, in that both perjury and
lying are condemned by the punishment ofthe judgment of
God, seeing the scripture saith,' " The mouth which lieth,
killeth the soul :" ' Therefore whosoever speaketh truth,
sweareth; because it is written,' "A faithful witness doth
not lie." And therefore Holy Scripture (not without cause)
often relates, that God hath sworn, because whatsoever is
spoken of God, who is true, and cannot lie, is counted for
an oath, because all which he speaks is true. Now we find
God sometimes swearing; but it is for the perfidiousness of
the Jewish infidelity, who think that all truth consists in the
credit of an oath ; therefore also God would swear, that
they who would not trust God speaking, might trust him
when he swore : therefore our Lord saith,' " Ye have heard -
it said of old, Thou shalt not forswear; but I say unto you,
Swear not at all," &c.
LVI. Theodoret, on Deut. vi. p. 57, 'Why doth the law
command, that they should swear by God ?' Lest they should
swear by false gods : for he said the same by the prophet,
" If thoutakest the names of Baalim out of thy mouth, and
shalt swear, The Lord liveth with truth :" ' And here when
he had said,' "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and him
only shalt thou serve, and shalt cleave to him, and shalt
swear by his name," he subjoined, " Ye shall not walk
after other, or strange gods, which are of the gods ofthe
nations, which are round aboutyou*." Lyra saith the same.
LVII. Ordinary Gloss on Mat. v. 37. hath this sentence,
' A faithful speech ought to be accounted for an oathr.'
LVI II. Johannes Damascenus, Parallel, lib. 3. cap. 16.
bringeth a testimony of one Nilus against swearing. There
was one named Nilus in Egypt, a martyr, mentioned by
Eusebius: another, bishop of Constantinople, spoken of by.
Socrates, both very famous. The words are these : ' It is
not profitable to swear, but very pernicious, and execrable,
and abominable : wherefore hereafter make an end of
* On Deut. vi. a smart and true answer. (• Rubanus

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 03
swearing, nor commit such a thing, as that thy tongue use
oaths.' In the same place he alledgeth testimonies out of
J. Chrysostom, Horn. 13. ad populum Antiochenum.
L1X. Cyril, whom Evagrius Scholast; stiles renowned,
in his Commentary on Jeremy the ivth, " And shall
swear, the Lord liveth, in truth, and in judgment, and
in righteousness," saith. 'Let us look, who swear, how
we do not swear in judgment, but without judgment; so
that our oaths are by custom, rather than judgment : we
are lashed, therefore; and the word, reproving that same
thing, saith, " And if he shall swear, the Lord liveth, in
truth, in righteousness and judgment:" ' for we know it is
said in the gospel by the Lord unto his disciples, " But I
say unto you, that you swear not at all." ' But let us con
sider also this saying; and, if God grant, both shall be re
warded. For, perhaps, it first behoveth to swear in truth,
in judgment, and in righteousness; and after one hath made
proficiency, he maybe made worthy not to swear at all,
but may have yea, not needing witnesses that it is so ; and
may have nay, not needing witnesses that it is verily not so*.'
And says Cyril farther, 'Let none, because he hears that
God swore to Abraham, Use to swear : for as that which is
called wrath in God, is not wrath, nor doth it signify pas
sion, but a punishing power, or some such-like motion ; so
neither is swearing, swearing: for God doth not swear;
but shews the certainty, that what he saith shall come to
pass, certainly : for the oath of God is his own word, filling
the hearers, and making every one believe, that what he
hath promised and said, shall surely come to passt.'
LX. Cassiodorus on Psalm xciv. saith, ' Hence it is, that
men are forbidden to swear, because by their own power
they cannot perform their promises^:.' This Cassiodorus
was famous about the year five hundred.
LXI. Olympiodorus was also famous about the same
time, who on Eccles. viii. saith thus, ' Keep the mouth of
the king, and do not study concerning the word ofthe oath
of God, but go far from the face of it,' viz. of an oath ;
that is, refrain and depart from it, and do not at all endure
to take an oath into thy mouth ||.
LXII. Isidorus Hispalensis was famous about that time,
and lived with him they called St. Gregory, who disliked the
bringing in the title of Universal Bishop, and also the use of
swearing: his words are these, 'Many are slow to believe,
which are moved at the belief of the word : but they do griev
ously offend, who compel them to swear that speak to them§.'
*OnJer.iv. t Cyril. See Catena 65. Graec. Patr. on Luke i. p. 23
i On Psalm xoiv. agreeth with Augustin. || On Eccles. viii. § Chap. xixi_

94 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
LXIII. Antiochus, said to be a man famous for holiness
and learning, living in Palestine about the time of Heraclius
the emperor, which was about the year six hundred
and fourteen, in his Pandects of Scripture, Horn. 62, con
cerning swearing, saith thus in the Greek (which see, for
the Latin translation is in some things imperfect) ' The
old law, as giving laws to children, which for their age
were not capable of more holy doctrine, not unseasonably
commands, to swear nothing to their neighbour in deeeit :
but us our Lord and Saviour commanded) not to swear at
all, neither out of season, nor in season ; for he saith unto
us,' " Let your yea be yea, and your nay nay ; for whatso
ever is more, is of evil."
'And saith he, to the first people of a stiff neck, 'Lcomr
manded, thou shalt not forswear, but shalt perform thy vows
unto the Lord, as to them that were hard-hearted and diso
bedient to me : but to you that believe in me, to whom I
have given power to become the sons of God, that are born
again ofthe Holy Spirit^ I command not to swear at all,
neither little nor great oaths ; that a difference may plainly
appear, who are bastards, and who true sons." ' Let us
therefore, dear friends, fear him, who hath vouchsafed us so
much honour, even the Lord and Father, with all fear ; as
sincere ingenuous servants let us keep his commandments,
not to swear at all, lest he say,' as in Isaiah i. " I have
nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled
against me :" 'Let us not be slighters and despisers of this
commandment of the Lord ; for those things that are said
and done without an oath, are more credited by men, and
more pleasing to God.'
LXIV. In the next century, Beda, an Englishman, the
most famous of those days^and stiled venerable, in his expo
sition upon these words, "Before all things, my brethren,,
swear not," &c. saith, 'Because he desires entirely to draw
out the deadly poison of the tongue in his hearers, he, who
forbad to grieve in adversities, forbad to detract or slander
any man, or to judge his neighbour, which are open sins;
he adds this also (seeming light to some) that he may take
away the custom of swearing. For that this also is not to
be esteemed a light matter, plainly appears to them that
carefully consider that sentence of the Lord, where he
saith,' " Of every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account in the day of judgment*."
["That ye fall not into condemnation."] 'Therefore,'
saith he, ' I restrain you from the fault of swearing, lest by
swearing frequently true things, ye fall sometimes also into
* Beda in Ep, Jam. c. 5.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 95
forswearing; but stand so far from the vice of forswearing,
that you will not swear neither, but by the greatest neces
sity. But he also falls under the judgment of guilt, who al
though he never forswear, yet sweareth true oftener than
there is need; namely, he offends in the very idleness of
superfluous speech; and he offendeth the judge, which
forbad both every unprofitable word and oath.'
From this chief man among the English of that time, it is
manifest that this was the doctrine they then held, as farther
appears from II. Spelman, that learned English knight, in
his book of British Councils, Canons, &c. in the Exceptions,
or Select Collections of Egbert, archbishop of York, article
19. ' That no priest whatsoever may swear an oath ; but let
him speak all things simply, in purity and truth*' And in
the same author and council, article 18, the chiefs of monas
teries, priests, and deacons, should say (without swearing)
when they were to purge and clear themselves, only thus,
" I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not."
And in p. 259, in England, at the council of Berghamsted,
about the year seven hundred and fifty, article 17, * that a
bishop's or a king's word or affirmation, without an oath,
is irrefragable.' This agrees with Blastaris's Canons afore-mentioned ; and
at this day, in some countries, as in Germany, the electoral
archbishops of Cologne, Mentz, and Triers, and many no
blemen in their station, speak without an oath, upon their
honour, &c.
Certainly, then, it is much below the nobility of true
Christians, in their spiritual station, to swear ; as Chrysostom
and the ancients have well observed.
LXV. Haimo lived about eight hundred and forty, who
on the revelations saith, ' That is lawful only for God and
angels to swear ; but to men it is forbidden.'
LXVI. Ambrosius Ansbertus, Gallus Presbyter: 'See
ing the Lord prohibits the faithful from every oath, saying,
" Swear not at all, neither by heaven, &c. but let your yea,
be yea, and your nay, nay ;" ' what abounds more than them
is from the evil one. Men are often deceived by an oath ;
but He, who is the truth, never is deceived; for he would
not have prohibited men from an oath, if he had not known
sin to be in it.'
LXVII. Theophylact, archbishop of the Bulgarians,
whom some place in the ninth century, others after ; to be
sure very famous, being as it were their apostle ; in his
comment on Mat.' v. saith, ' To swear, or adjure more to
yea or nay, is of the devil. Moreover,' says he ' if thou
t Spelm. Brit. Council, p. 260.

96 A TKEATISE or OATHS.
shouldst say, That the law alsO given to Moses was evil,
because it ' commandeth to swear; learn, that then it was
not evil to swear ; but after Christ it is evil ; as also to be
circumcised ; and, in brief, whatsoever is * Jewish : for it is
convenient for a child to suck, but not at all for a man.'
LXVIII. Bernard : 'The truth needs not an oath.' De
modo bene vivendi, Ser. 32. De perjurio : 'A faithful word
holds the place of an oath : as he cannot lie who doth not
speak, so he cannot forswear who doth not undertake to
swear :' grounded on Mat. the vth.
LXIX. Paschatius Ratbertus, on Mat. v. " Ye have
heard," &c. ' In this place, as also every where iu those
things, the perfection in righteousness is renewed; for what
every one swears by, he either worships, loveth, or fears it :
therefore, by the law it was lawful for the carnal people
to swear by God; and this was allowed as to little ones,
that as they offered sacrifices to God, lest they should offer
them lo idols, so also it was permitted them to swear by
God : not that they did this well, but because it was better
to give it to God than to devils.'
LXX. Otho Brunfelsius on Mat. v. " But let your word
be yea," &c. ' That it is the duty of a Christian man to be
sure in his words; that, being unsworn, he surpass any
Jew or Heathen swearing by all his holy things ; namely
in these bare words only, yea, yea ; nay, nay. Such faith
fulness and constancy is commended in good men by profane
authors. Read Seneca, Cicero, Valerius Maximus.
' But thou wilt say,' " I shall not be trusted, unless I
swear :" ' even so it is permitted by the popes, to swear
good words in a good cause. But such distrust ought not to
reign in the faithful : but if we trust not words, what should
an oath do? It is a proverb,' " None is less trusted than he
which shall often swear." ' Moreover, who gave power to
popes to break the command of God ?'
LXXI. Druthmarus on Mat. v. ' Lest the Jews should
swear by idols' names, the Lord suffered them to swear by
his own name.'
' The Lord taught us perfection, that such trust is to be
among Christians, that there should be no need to interpose
the name of God for witness.'
LXXII. Jansenius on Mat. v. ' If all Christians were
such as they ought to be, it would certainly be needless both
to require and take an oath — 1 think this more Christian ;
and not to swear at all, nor compel to swear, more spiri-
* He makes oaths Jewish, at least in opposition to evangelical; because itt-
perfect, and permitted to the Jews, in condescension.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 97
tual. — -Yea and amen are the same, 2 Cor. i. not swearing,
but affirming : so Christ swore not.
See Bernard, Horn. 69. in Cant, de more bene vivendi,
Serm. 32.
LXXIII. Albertus Magnus on Mat. v. ' Swearing is by
indulgence.' Thomas Aquinas cites Rabanus on Mat. v.
LXXIV- Alex, de Ales citeth Hug. cardinal, saying
' The Lord forbad swearing, lest any should desire to swear
as a good thing ; also that none might fall into perjury.
LXXV. Remigius on Rom. i. ' Who never swears, never
forswears.' LXXVI. Ruffinus on Psalm xiv. " Not to swear at all,
is of perfect men." See also Smaragdus on Mat. v. Titel-
mannus on'Psalm xiv. Brugensis on Mat. v. Ludolphus
Carthusianus, Vita Christi, part 2, cap. 12. Rupertus, de
Operibus Spiritus Sancti, fol. 453. Baptista Folengius on
Psalm xv. Nic. Lyra, and ordinary Gloss on Mat. v.
LXXVII. Euthymius Zigabenus, on Mat. v. p. 43. saith
thus, " Again, ye have heard, that it hath been said to them
of old time, Thou shalt not forswear, &c. But I say unto
you, Swear not at all, &c."J 'Now the old law saith,'
" Thou shalt not forswear, but shalt offer to the Lord thine
oaths ;" 'which he added, that he might put fear into the
swearer, that he shall not forswear, knowing that God,
which knows all things, undertakes the oath.' [" But I say
unto you, Swear not at all."] ' For he that easily swear
eth, sometimes perchance may forswear, by the custom of
swearing ; but he that swears by no means, will never for
swear. Besides, thou that swearest, so be thou do not for
swear, thou observest the worship of God ; but swearing
by no means, thou dost promote it : and the other is the
part of mean and imperfect philosophy ; but this of that
which is the highest and perfect. The other,' " Thou shalt
not forswear," ' is written in the book of Exodus ; but
this,' " Thou shalt restore to the Lord thine oaths," ' in the
book of Deuteronomy; but in other words. Now he com
manded this, lest they should swear by gods of a false
name.' Again,
' Not to swear, and not to require an oath, come to the
same thing. For, how canst thou induce thy brother unto
that which thou avoidest thyself, if so be that thou art a
lover of thy brother, and not rather of money ?'
" Nor by heaven, for it is the throne of God," &c.
< Lest they should think, that he forbad to swear by God
only, in saying, by God, he adds also other kind of oaths, by
which the Jews did then swear : for he that sweareth by
Vol. ii. o

98 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
these things,, sweareth again by God, who fills these things,
and rules them; for they have these things in honour for
Him, and ndt for themselves : for he saith by the prophet,'
" Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool ;" 'the
prophe.t. manifesting by this, that God filleth all things:'
" Do not I fill heaven and earth ?" 'David also saith,'
" The city ofthe great king."
"Neither by thy head."
' Therefore thou shouldst not swear the meanest oath ; I
say even by thy own head, lest thou proceed to greater, or
by any other manner ; for the creature is also the posses
sion of God.' And again, ' The oath is made by God,
who hath it (the creature) in his power: for although it
(the head) be made thine, yet it is not thy work; which is
manifest from this, that thou canst not make one hair white
or black.'
" But let your words be yea yea, and nay nay," &c.
'Let your speech be, when ye affirm, yea, and when you
deny, nay ; and use only these for, or instead of, oaths to
confirmation, and no other than yea and nay. What are
adjoined besides these, he calleth an oath*.'
Quest. 'But if an oath be of the devil, how did the old
law permit it ?'
Answ. ' Because the sacrifices of living creatures were
also of evil, and by the deceit of idols, yet the law permitted
them, because of the infirmity of the Hebrews. For whereas
they were gluttons, and smell-feasts, they loved the sacri
fices of idols ; and whereas also they were unbelieving,
they also loved an oath ; and that they should not after
wards either sacrifice to idols, or swear by idols, the law per
mitted them to sacrifice and to swear, and if there were any
thing else of that kind, they transferred all unto God. Now
it was come to pass, that in process of time he would cut
off these things also, by a more sublime law, to be brought
in ; because it is good for infants to be suckled ; but for men
it is very unfit : there we allow this to them that live after
the manner of infants ; but we withdraw or prohibit them
that are manly from itt.'
Quest. ' What then is to be done, if any require an oath;
yea ; compel to swear ?
Answ. "Let the fear of God be more forcible than this
compulsion or necessity ; and choose rather to suffer all
things, than to transgress the command, sith in every pre
cept, force, and violent danger will often meet with thee :
and unless thou esteemest the command of God every where
* See Bibliotheca veter. patrum; t They all agree in the reason of suf
fering Oaths under the law, viz. the Jews' weakness.

A TREATISE OF OATHS.

more forcible, all things will depart from thee ypw£ smjpig
performed. In the following passages, ?*%* Lord saith,<
" The kingdom of heaven suffereth viole»ce^na5^&e,*v:T«wJ-
lent take it by force." >§!*-£
LXXVIII. Oecumenius, a famous GreekNwi
ann. one thousand and seventy, writes on Jam. v?"
' But some will sav,' " If any be forced to swear, what
is to be done ?" ' We say, that the fear of God shall be
stronger than the force of him that compels. But some
may doubt, how it comes to pass, that grace doth not com
mand this, as did the old law, affording praise to him that
did swear by the name of the Lord ? We say, The old
law, leading the Jews not to swear by devils, appointed to
swear by God, as it commanded them to sacrifice, drawing
them from the sacrifice of idols, or devils. But when it had
sufficiently taught them to have a religious respect to God,
then it rejected sacrifices, as unprofitable ; seeking not a
sacrifice by beasts, but a broken spirit; that is, a sweet
whole burnt-sacrifice, inflamed by the fire of love.'
" That ye fall not into hypocrisy," (so some copies have
it ; for the words in Greek are sometimes alike). ' Hypo
crisy,' he saith, ' or condemnation, which follows them that
swear without sparing ; and, through the customs of oaths,
are carried out to forswear. The word hypocrisy signifies
thus much ; that which being one thing, appears another.
How then falleth he into hypocrisy that sweareth ?' Answer.
' When he that is believed for the oath's sake to be true,
and yet transgression following, is declared to be a liar,
instead of a true man, not producing yea in certainty. He
forbids to swear by God, because of perjury; but by hea
ven, and other oaths, that men should not bring these
things into the honour of God ; for all that swear, do swear
by the greater.'
LXXlX. Anselmus, bishop of Canterbury, about ann.
one thousand and ninety, on that place of Matt. v. thus,
p. 38. " Thou shalt not forswear," &c] ' Moses, seeing
that he could not take away swearing, takes away perjury.'
And again, ' Because men have in great reverence those
things by which they swear, lest they should make the
creatures gods themselves, he commands them to render
their oaths to God, and not to swear by creatures. But the
Lord removes them more perfectly from perjury, when he
forbids them to swear at all,'
LXXX. The ancient Waldenses, we have good cause to
say, denied the taking of any oath, in what sense the. primi
tive Christians and fathers refused, and that was altogether;
G 2

100 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
to be sure their enemies charged them with it, for above
three hundred years; and we cannot find that they then
denied the charge : we suppose none will attempt to prove
that they did ; for they were well known in the world as to
this particular.*
LXXXI. And bishop Usher pleads for them, against the
Papists, who were swearers. t
LXXXII. Likewise a people of Albi, in France, ann.
one thousand one hundred and seventy-six, held it was un
lawful to swear.
LXXXIII. The " Plowman's Complaint," containing,
as abundance of mournful applications to God, so many
notable and serious reprehensions of the lapsed, erroneous,
and cruel nature of men : among others, it hath this notable
passage to our purpose, ' Lord, thou givest us a command
of truth, in bidding us, yea yea, and swear for nothing ;
but; Lord, he (pope) that calls himself thy vicar on earth,
hath broken the commandment, so makes a law to compel
men to swear.'i Who was the author of this, is not cer
tainly known ; but to be sure it was embraced of the
Wickliffians, as worthy of their patronage ; and remem
bered and recorded by John Fox, as not unworthy to keep
company with Protestant Martyrs.||
LXXXIV. John Wickliff, our countryman, and, in his
time divinity professor of Oxford, (famous for his learning
and godly courage, in oppugning the doctrines and prac
tices of Rome, in the time of Edward the Third, and
Richard the Second, about the year one thousand three
hundred and seventy) was accused, among other things,
' for maintaining, that all oaths, which be made for any
contract or civil bargain, betwixt man and man, are un-
lawful.'§ LXXXV. We will bring in here a passage out of the
" Plowman's Tale," as it lies in Geoffry Chaucer's works,
not impertinent to our purpose, whose learning, honour,
and wit, were 'great in the time he lived, which was about
one thousand three hundred and sixty, John Wickliff's
contemporary. These wollen make men to swear,
Against Christ's commandment;
And Christ's members all to tear,
On rood as he was new yrent ;
* Vide Baron. Anno. 1310. John Walden adv- Wickliff and Waldens.' Reiner
Rub. Capitan. f W. Woodford. De Success. 1. 6. Baron. Anno 1310. n.S.
± I. Fox Mart. v. 1. p. 527. || Men honoured by Protestant!.
§ J. Fox Mart. v. 1. p, 554 to 5SS. ** Geoff. Chauc. works, fol. 8S.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 101
Such laws they make by common assent,
Each one it throweth as a ball ;
Thus the poor be full shent;
But ever falshood foul it befal.
He hath expressions not less disliking oaths, in his
?' Parson's Tale," where he makes the parson to say, 'After
those then cometh swearing, expressly against the command
ment of God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who saith, by
St. Matthew's words,' " Ye shall not swear in all manner,"
' or on no account.'
LXXXVI. William Swinderby, priest, and a zealous
follower of John Wickliff, also lived in the time of Richard
the Second, as appears by his appeal to that king from the
unjust sentence ofthe bishop of Hereford, in which, to this
part ofthe charge exhibited, " That no man ought to swear
for any thing; but simply, without an oath, to affirm or
deny," he answers thus, ' Whereas Christ's law forbids
swearing, the pope's law justifieth swearing, and compels
men thereunto. Methinks, '.saith he, ' there is no need to
comfort or encourage the people in swearing.*
LXXXVII. Walter Brute, also an early dissenter from
the Roman Church, and intimate of William Swinderby,
being charged, among other things, with saying, ' That it
is hot lawful for Christians, for any cause, to swear by the
Creator, neither by the creature ; thus answered for him
self, and indeed it comprehends much of our belief in this
matter : ' As concerning oaths, I believe and obey the doc
trine of Almighty God, and my master Jesus Christ; which
teacheth, that Christian men, in affirmation of a truth,
should pass the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees,
the Old Testament, or else he excludes them from the
kingdomof God ; for Christ says,' " Unlessyour righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye
cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven ;" ' and as concerning
oaths, Christ saith,' " It hath been said by them of old time,
thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the
Lord those things that thou knowest : but I say unto you, thou
shalt not swear at all, neither by heaven, nor yet by the
earth, &c. but let your communication be yea, yea; and
nay, nay : for whatsoever shall be more than this, proceed-
eth of evil :" ' therefore as the perfection of the ancient
men ofthe Old Testament was, not to forswear themselves,
so the perfection of Christian men is, not to swear at all,
because we are so commanded of Christ, whose command
ment must in no case be broken.' Thus much of W.
Brute, t
» J. Fox, Mart. vol. i.p. 614,613. t Ibid. p. 623, 3jD.

102 A TREATISE OF OATHSi
LXXXVIII. John Purrey, John Edward, John Becket,
John Clements, Richard Herbert, and Emmot Willie, with
many more in the time of Henry the Fourth, through fears
and hopes deserted their profession, and revolted, as John
Fox tells us, from their faith, which was the religion then
professed of those called Wickliffians or Lollards, the true,
poor, persecuted Christians of that time : and ofthe fifteen
articles by them abjured, this was one ; ' Item, That neither
the * pope, nor the prelate, neither any ordinary, can com
pel any man to swear by any creature of God, or by the
bible book.'
LXXXIX. William Thorp, whom John Fox calls, i the
constant and blessed servant of God, and good man and
servant of Christ,' &c. refused to swear upon a bible, when
the archbishop tendered the oath to him, for he thought it not
lawful to take or give an oath thereon. ' A book is nothing
else,' says he, ' but divers creatures, of which it is made;
and such swearing is ever unlawful, as witnesseth Chrysostom
plainly, blaming them greatly, that bring out a book to
swear upon ; charging clerks, that in no wise they constrain
any body to swear well, when that thing is sooth (or true)
that they swear for. And also full many men and women
now say, That it is well done to swear by God, and by our
lady, and by other saints, to have them in mind : others say,
That they may not swear, when they may otherwise be
believed : but since all these sayings are excuses, and sin,
methinks, sir,' saith he, ' that this sense of Chrysostom may
be alleged well against sll such swearers.'
XC. Elizabeth Young, who was brought to examination
in the Marian days, before the ' Catholic Inquisitors of
heretical pravity,' as they then called themselves, and comr
manded to swear, this language was used to her :
Dr. Martin. ' Thou shalt be racked inchmeal, thou
traitorly whore and heretic, but thou shalt swear before a
judge before thou go.'t
Eliz. Young. ' Sir, I understand not what an oath is,
and therefore I will take no such thing upon me.'
Dr. Martin. ' She refuseth to swear upon the Four
Evangelists, before a judge : for I myself, and Mr, Hussey,
have had her before us four times, but we cannot bring her
to swear.'
Then said the bishop, ' Wilt thpu not swear before a
judge ?' &c.
* J. Fox. Marti vol. i. p. 587. If they could not, it was then, held none
could ; so that then it was denying all tenders. Ibid p. 701 , 702.
t Ibid. vol. iii. p. 190,911.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 103
Eliz. Young. ' My lord, I will not swear that this hand
is mine.' ' No!' said the bishop, 'And why?'
Eliz. Young. ' Christ saith, That whatsoever is more
than yea, yea ; or nay, nay, cometh of evil.'
Then Dr. Cook brought her to a book, commanding her
to lay her hand thereon.
Eliz. Young. ' No, my lord, I will not swear.' And so
she persisted, till God delivered her out of their hands.
John Huss, Jerom of Prague, Walter Brute, William
Swinderby, William Sawtry, William White, William
Thorpe, &c. are recorded by those of other nations, both
High and Low Dutch, ' to have refused all swearing, as
well by God, as by creatures, in any case, private or public'
Though such as admit of oaths in some cases, labour, as
John Fox in England, and the Calvinists abroad, to eclipse
and mutilate their testimony; as if they were one while
only against book-swearing, as being a creature ; another
while only against swearing in private cases; another
while, as J. Fox relates in John Burrell, ' That it is not
lawful to swear, but in case of life and death,' &c. But
most evident it is, that they were against all swearing, or,
swearing at all ; else why should they so frequently allege
Chrysostom, who, though he accounted swearing by crea
tures a more execrable sin than to swear by God, yet con
stantly counted swearing at all a sin in Christians, as cleav
ing to that which Christ had abrogated, being only
permitted to the Jews for the hardness and blindness of
their hearts, their unbelief, and propensity to follow the
course ofthe Heathens, and swear by their gods ? Let it
not be forgotten, that Chrysostom not only inveighs against
them that bring forth the book to swear by, because it is a
creature, but that he also upbraided them with impudence
and audaciousness, that dare to make use of that law to ad«
minister an oath by, that so strictly forbids an oath.
Ridiculous it is, to make them deny swearing only in pri
vate cases, and to be ready to swear in case of life arid
death : for where is there any shadow of such a law ? And
how should those honest men invent one ? Christ's law we
read, Matt. v. The doctors Chrysostom and Jerom's judg
ment, whom they had mostly in their mouths, we have
repeated here at large, in which is not the least restriction.
These good men then must needs be understood to take the
law of Christ either to have forbidden swearing in any case,
and then not to swear in case of life ; or not to forbid
swearing at all, and then they not only might swear to save
their lives, but liberties and estates, and ought so to do.
But we hope there can be no room left for this objection.

104 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
XCI. The Lollards of Kille, in Scotland, were against
all swearing, as both Spotswood, in his Chronicle, doth
relate,* and the book called, ' The History of the Reform
ation ofthe Kirk of Scotland.'
XCII. Michael Sadler (an eminent man, called a lord)
was cruelly tortured and put to death by some Papists,
under the emperor of Germany : his brethren were also
executed with the sword, and his wife and sisters drowned,
ann. 1527. One article alleged against him was, that he
had said, ' That men should not swear to, or before, a
magistrate. '+
XCIII. The Christian Protestants in the valley of Pied
mont, who were cruelly tortured to death by the Papists,
about ann. 1655. One article- alleged against them was,
'That they believed it was not lawful to swear any thing,
be it true or false. 'J
XCIV. Gerard Sagareld, of Parma, and his followers,
' denied all oaths, and vows.' So did several in Germany,
mentioned by bishop Usher, in his book ' De Successione.'
In Germany, swearing is well nigh excluded, and need not
much to be required.||
XCV. Erasmus. ' Now ye shall hear another thing:
commandment was given unto your elders, none otherwise,
but if they had made an oath, they should perform it, and
not be forsworn ; for now they are bound to God, and not
toman only:§ wherefore among the Jews, only perjury is
punishable ; but he that deceives his neighbour without any
oath made, he goes unpunished; but yet the law of the
gospel condemneth him ; the which, that ye may be the
more remote from perjury, doth utterly condemn all manner
of oaths ; that it is not lawful to swear, neither by God,
'nor by those things which seem to the common sort to be
things of less religion, that is,' " neither by heaven, because
it is the seat of God ; nor by the earth, because it is his
footstool ; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the
Great King;" that is to say, " of Him that hath made all
things." ' Neither as the Heathen swear, by the head of
another man, whereof thou hast no authority ; but it is con
secrated to God, that hath made all things as he would; for
thou canst not make one hair black, nor the contrary : and
because all things are consecrated to God, the Maker, thou
oughtest to be fearful to swear by any thing. And what
needeth any oath among them, where no man, because of
their simplicity, can distrust ; nor no man can desire to de*
ceive, though they might do it ? Such is their sincerity and
perfectness, specially in those things of the which they de»
* Spots. Hist. p. 61. + W. C. Albrid. p. 193, 194, 195.
t Marl. Hist. p. 217,218. [I J. Fox. Mart. v. 2. p. 480- § Comm. on Mat.v,

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 105
clare themselves to be despisers. Therefore among you,
plain and simple speech ought to be more holy and more
sure, than the devout and solemn oath among the Jews :
for among you, whose hearts and mouths ought to agree,
there is no other use of speech, but to express your minds
each to other. In your bargains, ye need no oath, ye need
no execration, or cursing, or such like, to bind the pro-
miser, or to assure him to whom the promise is made : two
words be sufficient, nay and yea, whereby thou deniest that
which thou dost not promise, and whereby thou dost per
form that which thou didst promise, by plain word, that
thou wouldst do : for there is no man less bound by his sim
ple and bare word, than the Jew swearing by all holy
things ; and he whom thou makest thy promise unto,
doth trust thee as much as if thou hadst made a solemn
oath. If there be any more besides these, it must needs
come of evil and sin : for he that sweareth, either he think-
eth evil of him to whom he sweareth ; or else, he that re-
quireth the oath, doth distrust: but none of these ought to
be in ydu, whom I would have perfect in all points. There
fore when I utterly forbid swearing, I do not abolish the
law which doth utterly prohibit perjury; but I make the
law more full, and I withdraw men farther from that, which
the law doth punish.'
' Let your mind be pure and plain, and let your heart
and your mouth go both together.' " Let no man with
feigned words deceive his neighbour :"* ' but especially,
my brethren, swear not, lest by little and little you accus
tom yourselves to forswear. Among Jews and Heathens,
for fidelity's sake, there is an oath put ; but among Christ
ians, which ought neither to distrust any man, nor to
deceive, it is a vain thing to swear. Whosoever is accus
tomed to swear, iscousin-german to the peril of forswearing.
Be you afraid not only to swear by God in human affairs,
and light matters, but also abstain from, all kind of swearing,
that you swear neither by heaven, neither by earth, or any
other thing, that the common people esteem for t holy and
religious. Whosoever dare be bold to lie without swearing,
he dare do the same also when he sweareth, if he list. To
be brief: he that is a good man, will believe a man without
swearing; and he that is naught, will not trust a man
though Tie swear : but among you that are furnished with
evangelical plainness, there is neither place fo distrust, nor
to imagine deceit: but let your plain communication be
regarded for no less true and steadfast, than any manner of
' * Comm. on Jam. v. t Then not by God ; for the common people
esteemed Him sacred.

106 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
oath of the Jews or Pagans, how holy soever it be. As
often as you confirm any thing, confirm it with all your
heart; and perforin indeed the thing that you speak: as
often as you deny any thing, deny it with your whole heart;
neither let any thing else be in your heart than your mouth
speaketh, that there be no counterfeiting in you, seeing you
are disciples ofthe truth.'
Thus far, we hope, is put altogether out of question,
whether many learned and Christian men have not flatly
denied the use of baths to true Christians : and though we
need not the contribution that is afforded us by several school
and other Roman doctors, yet to evidence a kind of succes
sion, and universality of testimony to this doctrine, we think
it not improper to mention some of-them.
The judgment of Schoolmen, and others, in this point.
XCVI. T. Aquinas, Non juror e omnino, &c. " Not to
swear at all," &c. ' The Lord had taught before, ' Wrong
is not to be done to our neighbour, as in forbidding anger,
with murder, lust, adultery, putting away of one's wife;
and now he teacheth consequently, that we must abstain
from the wronging of God, when he doth not forbid only
forswearing a,s evil, but also an oath, as the occasion of
evil; from whence he saith, " Hear thou again, for it was
said of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself:"* and
lest that they might make to themselves the creatures gods|
he commandeth, to render the oaths to Gon, and not to
swear by the creatures : from whence it follows,' " Render
to God," &c. ' that is,' " If one shall happen to swear by
the Creator, not by the creature ;" ' whence he saith in
Deuteronomy,' " Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and
by his name shalt swear;" ' and this was allowed by the
law, as to children, that as they did offer sacrifice to idols,
they should not offer them to idols ; so they were permitted
to swear by God, not that they might do this rightly, but
that it might be better to give this to God, than to devils.
Chrysostom upon Matthew ; ' for no man sweareth fre
quently, that sometimes may not forswear; as he that makes
it a custom to speak many things, sometimes he speaks unfit
things.' Augustine against Faustus : ' The Lord was more
willing that we not swearing might come short ofthe truth)
than swearing the truth, to come nearer to perjury ; whence
it follows,' " I say unto you, Swear not at all." Augustin
on the words of the Lord in the mountain, in which he
confirms the righteousness of the Pharisees, which is " not
to forswear ; for he cannot forswear that doth not swear,"
* Gloss, on Mat. v. p. 2g.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 107
. XCVII. Cajetan: "Again ye have heard."] ' He per
fects another precept of the old law concerning perjury,
(because it was said to them of old time,' " Thou shalt not
forswear*.") Exod. xx. " Thou shalt not take the name of
thy God in vain :" and Levit. xix. " Thou shalt not for
swear in the name of the Lord ; but shalt render to the
Lord thy oaths." The first part of this precept (namely,
" Thou shalt not forswear") ' is negative, forbidding evil
in its kind; for perjury is evil of itself, therefore by no
means can it be excused. But the second part (namely,*
" Thou shalt render to the Lord thy oaths") ' is affirmative,
and doth not signify to fulfil the oaths which thou, hast
promised, us it appears, and thereupon nothing follows of
fulfilling of promises, but it signifies that the oaths to God
are to be rendered ; that is, that swearing must be by the
Lord, not by the creatures : for these words are not in the
law, but the sense of them is,' Deut. vi. " Thou shalt swear
by the name of the Lord thy God ;" ' Where swearing is
not commanded, but is but regulated, that it should be by
the name of God, and not by the name of the creatures : for
the law commandeth, that this act of religion, which is to
swear, should be exhibited to God, and to no creatures or
idols whatsoever.' " But I say unto you]. He perfecteth
both the precepts, adjoining two precepts; the one nega
tive, the other affirmative' (" not to swear at all") lo a
negative precept, wherein two things are contained, that
is, not to swear, and not at all ; he forbids us to swear at
all, by all means, as well in expressing God, as not in ex
pressing God ; suppose by heaven and earth, and by the
rest of the creatures : and in this he perfects the precept
concerning not swearing, npt only by taking away an oath,
but the occasion of forswearing ; for it is impossible to in
cur forswearing without an oath : and also the precept of
performing the oath to God, by taking away the care of
performing ; for where nothing is sworn, there is no need
of any care of performing the oath to God.'
XCVIII. Alphonsus de Avendano, ' It is to be noted
out of Cajetan, that in this the Lord perfected the command
of not swearing, by taking away not only forswearing but
the occasion of forswearing; because, without an bath, it
is impossible to incur perjury t. An oath was npt necessary
by the first intention of nature; for if men had continued
in the truth, they had not lied; and because Christ came,
that he might bring back men to this first innocency, an
oath was not necessary, supposing that men ought to return
unto it : then to men that live according to the simplicity
* On Mat. v fol. ISc + Comment, on Mar. v.

108 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
of the gospel, an oath is not necessary, and therefore not
good.' Reasons for avoiding Oaths, from the same Author.
First, ' Lest by swearing they fall into perjury ; for which
cause swearing is of an ill report amongst the saints, as in
Ambrose, Psalm xviii.'
Secondly, ' For reverence of the name of God.'
Thirdly, 'For the mutual confidence which one Christian
should have of another ; which ought to be so great, that
every one should be sure, and not possible to be deceived
in the least thing, although he should speak in a single
assertion ; and for the authority ofthe saints, which do seem
to forbid all oaths to Christians, and that the truth of the
gospel receives no oath, as good and desirable of itself,
seeing every one is of evil.'
Lastly, out of Cajetan. ' The Lord perfecteth this pre
cept of not forswearing, by taking away not only perjury,
but the occasion of it, and taking away the care : for where
there is no swearing, there is no need of care of rendering.'
' O ! how sincere and true would the Lord make his
Christians, that all affirmations should be included in three
letters only ; all denials in other three, that the truth should
be so familiar to us, as to be included in the compendium
of three letters.'
XCIX. Franciscus de Mendoca, Olysiponensis, Dr.
Theol. in Eburens. Academia, Sacr. lit. Interpres, in 4 lib,
Reg. Tom. 3. ' Speak,' saith he, ' of me,' &c. in the He
brew it is »J/ i. e. testify, from the verb njjf which not only
signifieth to speak, but also to bear testimony, as it is to be
seen Exod. xx. n. 14. Deut. xix. n. 15. Job xvi. n. 9. el
passim alibi, and many other places; as if there were no
difference with the Hebrews of speaking and testifying, nor
without cause ; for there ought to be so much veracity of
good men, that their simple speech may be accounted sworn,
and their private conference be accounted a public testi
mony; which was to be accounted the fidelity of Cato, who
was believed in a court case even unsworn ; which also S.
Jerom, in his Epistle to Celantia, inculcates ;' " Let there
be," ' saith he,' " so much love of truth in thee, that what
soever thou sayest, thou mayest think to be sworn." ' The
same Jerom to that of Mat. v. Swear not, &c.' " The
gospel truth," ' saith he,' " doth not receive an oath, sith
every faithful speech is for an oath." ' To which opinion
is agreeable the doctrine of Philo Alex, in his book of the
Decalogue,' " It will be most profitable," ' saith he,' " and
most agreeable to the rational nature, to abstain altogether

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 109
from swearing; and be so accustomed to truth, that one's
single word may have the force of an oath." ' The like
relateth Josephus, in the second book of the Jewish War,
chap. 7. De his Essenis, most sinceie worshippers of truth
(vericultoribus) : the Hebrew elders also, when they would
make their innocency appear about the man killed by an
unknown person, testified with an oath, as the Rabbins,
Solomon, and Moses, in Lyran, affirm, Deut. xxi. Never
theless, they are brought in by the scriptures, asseverating
it only with simple speech ;' " And they shall say," ' saith
he,' "our hands have-not shed this blood, nor our eyes
seen it." ' Because the simple and naked speech of a wise
man, is equivalent to an oath ; which St. Bernard vehe
mently commended in Comite Theobaldo, in Epist. 38, to
the same,' " And indeed," ' saith he,' " in other princes,
if at any time we take a word of lightness or falseness, we
account it neither new nor wonderful: but with Count
Theobald, we do not impatiently hear yea and nay, to
whom, as it is said, simply to speak is tp swear ; and a light
lie is accounted an heavy perjury; for among very many
ensigns of virtue, which do very much ennoble your dig
nity, and make your name renowned and famous through
out the world, the constancy of truth is especially praised
in you." ' 3. Certainly God himself hath (tantundem) so
much, to speak nakedly, and to swear by himself holily :
for that he promised with an oath an offspring to David,
which should sit on his throne, is read no where in the
scripture : and yet Abner, 2 Kings iii. n. 9, acknowledges
an offspring sworn to David,' " The Lord do so to Abner,"
' saith he,' " and add these things to him, unless as the
Lord hath sworn to David, so I do with him." ' And in
Psalm Ixxxviii, God himself saith,' " Once have I sworn
in my holiness, if I lie to David," &c. ' Also the land of
Canaan is no where found in the Holy Scriptures promised
to the ancient fathers with an oath ; but God promised it
simply to Abraham, Gen. xii. 13 and 17, to Isaac, Gen.
xx vi. to Jacob, Gen. xxviii. Yet Moses, in Deut. i.'
" Possess," saith he, " the land, for which the Lord sware
to your fathers/' Philo Alex, in the book of Abraham, at
the end looses the knot notably ; " That therefore the
simple promise of God in those places is called an oath,
because it hath the force of an oath."
C. Jacobus Faber ;. ' It is the part of a spiritual man, not
only not to swear in a vain thing, but also not in any serious
thing; for you which are such, are true : unto true men it
is sufficient that a true man gain belief, if he say, that the
Lord hath commanded yea, yea, in affirming ; nay, nay, in

no

A TREATISE OF OATHS.

denying* : but if with incredulous and evil men a speech
, also be had concerning a serious and necessary matter, why
shall one swear for their badness, that he may gain belief
with them ? Who ever spake more seriously than our Savi
our ? Who more necessary things ? Yet he never used other
speech than that,' " Verily, verily, I say unto you," ' or
'some other such-like, which was a true form or manner to
them, that swore not. Therefore, that now some swear,
to gain belief concerning some profitable and necessary
things, which they think is to be given rather to the oath
than to the person ; perhaps also- there is a danger when
an oath is required in judgment, lest he that exacteth it,
sin : for if it be manifest, that he that is called into judgment
be verily good and true, it is enough to hear of him yea, or
nay ; but if that be not evident, or that it be evident that
he is bad, perhaps that is required of him which ought not
to be required. What then ? It is lawful to adjure : for the
Lord made answer to an adjuration, but he did not swear;
and adjurations are' found in the new law: but if any one,
being adjured of another, speak the truth, by answering
yea, or nay, or by declaring the thing required, neither the
one nor the other offendeth ; but if he speak a falsity, he
offends, and incurs the offence of a false testimony ; but
perchance he sinneth less, than if by swearing he had also
fallen into the guilt of perjury : for, as he that (being ad
jured) answereth in truth, doth not swear : so he that an-
swereth in falseness, doth not forswear, but he is a false
witness : but he also who hath adjured, is altogether guilt
less ; for there is no doubt but he hath required that which
was lawful to require. And although it is not my purpose
to contradict the ordinances of judgment, yet I may think
this to be more Christian, both not to swear at all, neither
to compel to swear, to be more spiritual : butyet, if the bad
ness of men would permit it, although you would have this
sentence ofthe Lord concerning not swearings to-be applied
to the believers common and daily custom of speaking (for
he speaks to his disciples) which is very true, especially if
the old law, which the Lord declares,' " Thou shalt not
forswear, but shalt render to the Lord thine oaths," ' was
given concerning common and daily speech ; but afterwards
the Lord amendeth another thing, which was written in the
old law, that the law might be perfect, and that he might
shew he hath fulfilled it; and it may be fulfilled of others,
as Matthew shows.'
CI. Suarez. He affirmeth, ' Christ did not swear; be
cause that which he could not lawfully do, he could not.
* On Mat. v. p. 23, 24.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. Ill
simply do : but he could not lawfully swear, therefore he
could not at all : but that he never swore, is proved, be
cause that he himself commanded or counselled,' " Not to
swear at all; but simply to speak, yea, it is; nay, it is not,"
&c. ' therefore ought to go before for an example. It is
spoken of him only sometimes that he said amen, or truly,
or verily, which we have before showed to be no particle of
swearing*.' ' It is not only commanded in the new, but also in the
old Testament,' " Not to swear," as Hos. iv. Zach. v.
quoted by Tertullian, lib. de Idololat. cap. 11. saying, " I
am silent about perjury, seeing that indeed " it is not law
ful to swear."
' And those very words of Christ "Swear not at all,"
signify this; seeing he subjoins,' "Neither by heaven,"
&c. : ' As if he had said, not only greater oaths, but also
these, which seem less, you are to take heed pf : and it is
apparent from the reason which he adjoins, saving,' " Nei
ther by heaven." ' If therefore Christ forbiddeth to swear
by heaven, because God dwells therein, much more he for
biddeth to swear by God, &c.+ Now he forbiddeth all
manner of swearing by the creatures, and every oath by
God himself, as Greg. Nyssen rightly argues, and Christ
himself hath plainly so declared, Mat. xxiii.'
' Lastly, The following words of Christ are apposite,'
" Let your word beyea and nay ;" 'for by themhedeclareth,
that he before forbad the addition of any oath. 2dly. Jerom.
answers, " Swearing was permitted to the Jews, as to chil
dren ; but evangelical verity receives not swearing, seeing
every faithful word is for an oath." The same doctrine
and exposition doth Chrysostom follow. Theophylact, after
Christ,' "It is an evil to swear, as to be circumcised, and
in brief, whatsoever is Jewish." ' Beda, also Castro and
Driithrnarus confess, and Bernard himself denies not, that
it .is the counsel of Christ,' " Not to swear" : and precepts
are not contrary to counsels.'
Libr. 1. cap. 14. 282. ' Whether an oath be an explicit
act of religious virtue ?'
' There may be a reason of doubting, because every act
of religion is principally intended for the worship of God:
but an oath is not made primarily, and of itself (per se)
for the worship of God ; but for confirming, &c. as Heb. vi.
from whence it seems plainly to follow, that an oath is not
an act of religion.'
' It may be declared by reason, because,
'First, It is impossible that man can bring God for a wit-
* De qusst,jur, Christ, p. S06. t Horn, 18. in Cant.

1 12 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
ness, although he would never so fain : therefore the name
of God is taken in vain, as often as it is taken to swear:
therefore it is evil in itself (per se.)
' Secondly, Grant this were possible, to bring God for a
witness; it seems disorderly to bring the person of God to
confirm men's businesses, covenants, or words ; because it
is disorderly to order things of an higher order to those that
are inferior : much more is it disorderly, to mix the sacred
authority of God to the profane (or common) words, and
businesses of men.'
' Thirdly, Though in some case an oath might be used
without inconvenience, yet it is so exposed to dangers, that
it can scarce be done without crime : but in the law of grace,
because ofthe perfection of it, not only sins are to be for
bid, but also those things which do morally and nearest en
tangle into sin : for he that loveth danger, shall perish in
it.' He quotes Clemens Romanus, lib. 6. Constitut. Apost.
as before; 'Our master commanded, that we should npt
swear, no, not by the true God ; that our word should be
counted more firm and credible than an oath itself.* He
quotes also Greg, Nazianzen, as before, upon these words,
" But I say unto you," &c] ' He forbiddeth all manner
of swearing by the creatures, even with respect to God :
hence it follows the more forcibly, as I said, that he forbad
all swearing by God himself, as Gregory Nanzianzen
rightly argues, as before, on Cant. Homil. 18. And Christ
himself plainly so declared, Mat. xxiii.' " He that sweareth
by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God," &c.
'Lastly, The words withstand, which Christ subjoins,'
" Let your words be," &c] ' For by them he declares, that
he had before forbidden the adding of any oath : therefore
Jerome answered, that oaths, &c. were permitted to the
Jews, as to children.'
He uses many other arguments, and quotes many authors,
as may be seen at large in his book concerning swearing.
- CH. Jo. Major Hadingtoniani, on Mat. v. not to swear
at all : ' That precept was given to the disciples (the basis)
ofthe first church.'
CIII. Joac. Camer. and P. Loseler Villerius's marginal
note upon Mat. v. 37. ' Whatsoever you vouch, vouch it
barely; and whatsoever you deny, deny it barely, without
any more words.'
CIV. Bible, imprinted Ann. 1559. in quarto, What is
more is of evil.] Marginal note, ' From an evil conscience,
or from the devil.' * Const. 6 and 11.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 113
CV. Marlorat, On Mat. v. saith, 'Some men, not bad,
hold against swearing.'
Maldonat, on Mat. v. reckons up several against swear
ing. CVI. Peter Charron, doctor of law in Paris, in his Book
of Wisdom, chap. 37. ' An oath, what is it but a symptom
and shameful mark of distrust, infidelity, ignorance, human
infirmity, both in him that requires it, that gives it, that or
dains it ?' And alluding to Christ's words, he saith, ' Quod
dmplius est a malo? What is more, is from the devil.'
CVII. Beza, on James v. 12. 'That which you have
to say or affirm, speak or affirm it simply, and without an
oath; and that you have to deny, deny it simply and flatly.'
CVIII. Folio Bible, printed Ann. 1578. Marginal note
on Mat. v. 34. ' Swear not at all, Let simplicity and truth
be your words, and then you shall not be so light and ready
to swear.'
CIX- Lodovicus Soto Major ; ' In the gospel, this parti
cle (amen) is often used by Christ our Lord, confirming his
words by it, as Hierom also notethf : yet it is not to be
thought (that none be deceived) that Christ our Lord swore,
or would have to swear, as often as he useth this word or
form of confirming; but rather so to have been willing more
to confirm, and persuade, and commend those things which
he taught, and especially by reiterating or repeating this
Word, as he often useth : for neither is this doubling of the
word for nought, that Christ our Lord sometimes useth it in
the gospel, but rather it hath a great emphasis and increase,
that is, great moment and weight to persuade and gain be
lief, as Augustin rightly teacheth and explaineth in his 41st
tract upon the Gospel of John, expounding those words of
Christ, saying,' " Amen," ' or' " Verily, verily, I say to you,
he that doth sin, is the servant of sin :" although therefore
that it be not a swearing, yet it is a certain greater confirm
ation and asseveration of those things which are spoken;
yet nevertheless it is not swearing ; for otherwise, is it
likely that Christ the Lord, who himself dehorts others
from swearing at all, for danger of forswearing, should him
self swear so often ? For he not only forbad his to swear,
Mat. v. but also at the same time, and that very whole
somely, commanded that they should use in their speech a
simple affirmation and denial, without any oath, saying,'
" Swear not at all," &c. for this much more becomes the
simplicity, sincerity, piety, and modesty of Christians; for
nothing is more simple, brief, and effectual to persuade (the
badness and naughtiness of men being removed) than a sin-
* Comm. on 1 Tim. i. p. 210.
Vol. ii. h

114 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
gle affirmation or denial, although there were no danger of
perjury.' In this sense, in a manner, do almost all the graver au
thors interpret that place of the gospel, or command of
Christ, of " not swearing at all :" but especially Augustin,
lib. 4. ofthe Lord's words in the mount, cap. xxx. andxxxj.
and in his book De Mendacio, cap. xv. and Epist. 154. to
Publicola, and often elsewhere ; for which interpretation,
or understanding, votes also Philo Judaeus, in his book ofthe
Decalogue, torn. 2. p. 129, where treating of an oath, he
thus congruently writeth ; ' Men sin in this respect many
and divers ways ; therefore it will be most profitable, and
most agreeable to the reasonable nature, to abstain altoge
ther from swearing, and so to accustom to truth, that simple
speech may have the force of an oath,' &c. which things
Philo in the same place pursues to the same sense, very con
gruently in the gospel, that which also he confirms in his
book of Special laws, torn. 2. page 127, and afterwards, 'If
therefore, as I said before, Christ the Lord, for the danger
of perjury, and also for the reverence or religion of an
oath, commands his not to swear at all, though otherwise it
be true which they affirm ; if, I say, there be so much reve
rence of an oath, how great is the perfection ? It is not
likely, nor agreeable to reason, that the Lord Christ, the
pattern of true and solid virtue, every action of whom is our
instruction, did swear so often ; that is, should swear as
often as he used this form,' " Verily, verily, I say unto
you," &c. ' For how can every moral action of his, or in
his conversation, be our instruction or example, if he so fre
quently and every where seems to do that, which he so
vehemently and earnestly commanded his, even his chosen
disciples, that is, his apostles, that they should not do at all?
Yet Augustin, in his book of the apostle's words, Ser. 50,
seems by his authority to create some scruple and ado for
us, inasmuch as he seems to censure, and say, that it is a
kind of perjury when any wittingly and willingly (that is,
with certain reason and will, or of set purpose) useth this
word verily, to confirm any thing : yet if we diligently
mark and weigli the words of St. Augustin there, he intends
no other than what we intend, acknowledge and confess,
and is necessarily to be confessed; namely, that he who,
from a false opinion and persuasion, and an erroneous con
science, as divines call it, thinketh and believeth that he
sweareth in very deed in using this word, as if this word
were an adverb of swearing, that sometimes he happens in
a manner to forswear, if that which he affirms in this man
ner be false ; yet this is accidental and adventitious, name-

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 115
ly by the intention of him that sweareth of his own will, or
rather error or ignorance, and not by the force and propriety
ofthe word amen, or verily: seeing, as we have said even
now, that it is npt a word or note of swearing, but rather of
confirming, as we confess : and the same St. Augustin
teacheth elsewhere, but especially in Tract 41. on the Gos
pel of John, on those words of Christ the Lord,' " Verily,
verily," &c. 'where moderating his words, he saith thus,'
" Verily, verily, is, if we may so say, in a certain manner, a
swearing of Christ." 'Now these words of Augustin are
to be weighed ; he declareth (not simply, but with an ad.di-
tament and caution) Verily, verily, to be (if it be lawful to
say it) after a manner, a swearing of Christ ; for so he de
clares plain enough, that verily, verily, is not properly
swearing, or a note of swearing, but only improperly, and
after a certain manner, viz. so far forth as Christ the Lord
doth familiarly use this word as swearing ; although in very
deed, and properly, it be not an adverb of swearing, but ra
ther of affirming and asserting simply, and in goocl faith, to
gain abetter persuasion ofthe matter or doctrine ; for Christ
never seems to have sworn, if we will speak truly and pro
perly of swearing, but always used a simple speech ; though
sometimes, per amplificationem, he hath used this, even re
peated, for the greater persuasion ofhis heavenly doctrine,
that by this means he might give his an example of not
swearing rashly, and every where, as we have already said,
to whom he plainly commanded, saying, " Swear not all,
&c. but," &c. so great is the religion of swearing, and the
danger of forswearing.'
The Approbation and Commendation of the Doctors of
Paris.
' We have carefully read these Commentaries on the
Epistles of St. Paul, and Timothy, and Titus, wherein the
most learned author, according to the great learning where
in he excels, largely and elegantly opens the more hidden
senses of the apostle ; and we have thought them worthy to
be printed for public profit.' Act. Par. 16 Feb. 1610. F.
Coeff. F. J. Tourn, &c.
CX. Lodovicus Pius, emperor, who in his prologue
saith, ' That from his youth, by Christ's inspiration, he had
the desire ofthe worship of God.' Capitul. Addit. 4. Tit.
96. Of not swearing : ' That every one beware of swear
ing; because forswearers, as also adulterers, shall not in
herit the kingdom of God*.'
CXL King Luitprandus; the Law ofthe Lombards;
* Linenbrog. Cod. leg. antiquar.
ii 2

116 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
Tit. 28. Law 2. ' If he that enquires concerning theft, be
lieve not the witnesses, the witnesses may confirm it with an
oath ; except they be such persons as the king, or judge,.
may trust without an oath*.'
CXII. The emperor Lotharius, Ofthe Law ofthe Lom
bards, Tit. 3. Law 10. ' Of those that enforce payment of
tithes, we will not have them to be constrained with an
oath, for fear of forswearingt.
CXIII. Of the Law of the Visigoths. L. 2. Tit. 1. Law
23. which was ancient : 'Let none come easily to an oath :
for the true search of justice rather commendeth this, that
the scriptures in all things may intercur, and the necessity
of swearing may altogether suspend itself L'
Thus much against swearing, from several Roman doctors,
and others.
We shall in the next place produce the judgment of those
men, who run not so high in their censures of oaths, as the,
persons that we have hitherto cited, but that believe it is,
not unlawful in any case to take an oath ; and from them
we doubt not to make appear, that it is best not to swear at
all ; so far are they from pleading for swearing, or punish
ing those that conscientiously refuse it.
CXI V. William Tindall saith, ¦ Our dealing ought to be
so substantial, that our words might be believed without an
oath : our words are the signs of the truth of our hearts, in
which there ought to be pure aud single love toward thy
brother.' Again he says, ' Swearing can only be allowed
in charity, where yea and nay have lost credence : how
ever, that no judge or other ought in any case to compel
any man to 'swear against his will.'
Peter Martyr, who deserves well of the English protes-
tants, confesseth, ' That Christians ought to live so charita
bly and uprightly, as not to need an oath; and that they
may not b@ called upon to swear.' Again, ' Let us so live,
that there may be no need for us to swear, either by God,
or any other thing at all : and this, (says he) is that same at
all, which Christ spoke of.'
N. Zegerus upon Mat. v. 34. tells us, ' That the most
ancient writers from thence concluded all oaths, forbidden^
and that the bare word of Christians ought to be more sa
cred and firm, than the most religious oaths ofthe Jews.'
CXV. H. Grotius, a great and learned man, 'excludes
all oaths, not only such as are used in common conversation,
but sutfh as relate to trade or pecuniary matters ; allowing
some others, for avoiding infamy, for preserving a friend,
and for a great service to their country, as not morally ne-
* Lindenbrog. Cod. leg. antiquar. t Ibid. i Ibid.

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 117
necessary, and by precept, but only by consequence and
remedy;' concluding, ' that it is best to live so, as not to
needan oath* :' and so both many of those oaths imposed
upon us, are laid aside by him ; and he also gives many cau
tions, shewing that it is best not to swear at all, if it may
possibly be avoided : but in answer to his latter interpre
tation ; all oaths are forbid that are performable to the
Lord. Now unless the vain inconsiderate oaths, such as
are used in common traffic, are only those that are to be
performed to the Lord, solemn oaths, such as the law al
lowed, are also prohibited. Besides, the yea and nay of a
true Christian, is as capable of all those good services as an
oath, if the sanctity ofhis faith and profession be allowed :
and if any prejudices come to a man's friend, country or
self, because his yea and nay is rejected, it will never lie at
his door, who offers all Christ permits him, and his con
science will dispense with ; but on the distruster's side; es
pecially, when he that in conscience cannot swear, offers as
large caution as he that swears, and is willing to undergo
equal punishment, in case of untruth, that the other by law
sustains for perjury. And those that will have it to relate
to rash, and not judicial oaths, quite cross the text ; for
Christ prohibits not only vain and superfluous oaths, as now
called, such as were always unlawful, even under the* law ;
but such as were allowed in the times ofthe law, rendering '
them also, by evangelical verity, under the gospel, vain,
superfluous, and unlawful : for well said Bp. Sanderson,
"No need to forbid, by a new command, things that of
themselves were always unlawful.' Otherwise we must
read Christ's words thus, " Ye have heard by them of old
time, thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform
unto the Lord thine oaths ; but I say unto you, Swear not
at all, except before a judge+;" as if swearing before a
judge under the law, were not an oath performable to the
Lord ; and such itself the place most expressly forbids ; or
thus, " Of old it was said, thou shalt not forswear thyself,
but let your yea be yea, and your nay nay ; that is, perform
to God thy oaths in truth and righteousness : but I (who say
more that what was said of old) say unto you, swear not at
all, but perform thine oaths to God in truth and righteous
ness :" the incoherence of which must needs be obvious to
every considerate person : yet it is the only reading that can
be left upon those interpretations. We say, that what God
dispensed with under the law, he resolved to remove under
the gospel, and to wind up things to an higher pitch of truth
* On Mat. v. and De Jur.Bell. ac Pac. p. 2. l. 2C ad 47.
+ De luram. Prajlect. 5.

118 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
and righteousness ; from adultery in the act, to adultery in
the thought; from revenge to sufferance; from true swear
ing, to no swearing at all ; whereby all abuse of oaths, and
perjury, come to be removed with the oaths themselves, by
working out of man's heart that fraud and falshood that
brought them in, and implanting evangelical verity in the
room thereof, which speaketh the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth to his neighbour, and makes a
like matter of conscience to tell a lie, as to forswear. And
it is known to Almighty God, and we most heartily desire it
may be known and believed by you, that we have no other
end nor inducement to this so general refusal we are found
in, throughout the nation.
CXVI. Bp. Usher is so tender in this point, that, set
aside his vindication ofthe Waldenses, in his Sum of Chris
tian religion, he makes it necessary to the taking of an oath,
that it be considered, First, ' If the party we deal with,
(really) doubt ofthe thing we affirm or deny:' thereby
making distrust the cause of swearing; and implying,
that not custom, but real diffidence, should only continue
swearing; consequently not to continue where distrust is
done away.
Secondly, ' It is to be weighed if the party's doubt,
' whereof we speak, be weighty, and worthy of an oath :'
which, we fear, is seldom thought upon ; custom prevailing
even to trifles, as well as most excessive vain swearing in
common conversation.
Thirdly, ' If the question be weighty, whether,' said the
bishop, ' the doubt may be ended with truly or verily ; or,
doubling it, verily, verily, as Christ did for you, by his ex
ample we ought to forbear an oath?' Mat. v. 37. Wherefore
should it not, especially among Christians ?
Fourthly, ' Whether there be not yet any other fit means
to try out the matter before we come to an oath.'
This is our case ; and we make it our sober request, that
it would please you to consider this particular; for doubts
less, an expedient may very easily be found, without bring?
ing us under the bondage of an oath.
CXVII. Jer. Taylor, chaplain in ordinary to king
Charles I. and late bishop of Down and Connor, in his book
called eniaytoz, A Course of Sermons, London, printed
1673, Serm. of Christian Simplicity, fol. 228, thus, ' Our
blessed Lord would not have his disciples to swear at all,
(not in public judicature) if the necessity of the world
would permit him to be obeyed. ' If Christians will live
according to their religion, the word of a Christian were a
sufficient instrument to give testimony, and to make pror

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 119
mises, and to secure a faith ; and upon that supposition,
oaths were useless, and therefore forbidden ; because there
would be no necessity to invoke God's name in promises or
affirmations, if men were indeed Christians, and therefore
in that case would be a taking it in vain : but because
many are not, and they that are in * name, oftentimes are
in nothing else, it became necessary that men should swear
in judgment, and in public courts. But consider who it was
that invented and made the necessity of oaths, of bonds, of
securities, and all the artifices of human diffidence and dis
honesty : these things were indeed found out by men ; but
the necessity of these was from him that is the father of all
lies, from him that hath made many fair promises, but
never kept any ; or if he did, it was to do a bigger mischief,
to flatter the more ; for so does the devil.'
'See Jew's Antiquity, chap. 12. page 52. Concerning
the Pythagoreans, the Esseni, and concerning the just man
at Athens, which they would not have to swear; and what
the Scholiast on Aristophanes, lib. 12. p. 286. saith of
Radamanthus.' CXVIII. Lastly, Bp. Gauden, in his Discourse for So
lemn Swearing, says thus much against it.
1. ' That dissimulations, frauds, jealousies, &c. gave rise
to oaths.'
2, ' That the ancient Christians and fathers, that they
might not be short of the Esseni, who would not take an
oath, refused to swear, saying to the Heathens,' " Christia
nas sum, 1 am a Christian ;" ' to each other, yea, yea, nay,
nay; thereby keeping up the sanctity and credit of their
profession :'
3. ' That as Christians, truly such, we should possibly
need no swearing ; for an oath is not,' says he, ' moral or pre
ceptive, but an expedient or remedy only against falseness.'
Lastly, ' That neither a true Christian, and good man,
need be compelled to swear, in order to the awing him in
true-telling  Nor is ill men's swearing of much credit ;'
with more to that purpose; what need then is there of
either's swearing ?
The substance of all which is this ; oaths rose with fraud ;
men growing false and jealous, swearing, or a.wing by oaths
into true evidence, became an expedient; and during this
* Viz. All their reverend fathers ip God, archbishops, bishops, deans,
and the judges of tlie land, justices of the peace, and all other officers
termed ecclesiastical, or eivil, judges, priests, and people, (no Christians, else
would they suffer Christ's doctrine to be obeyed) who not only enforce oaths
on strangers, but, having the like diffidence, one father in God of another, one
judge and justice of another, impose them op their brethren and fathers with
equal distrust.

120 A TREATISE OF OATiis.
imbecil and imperfect state of mankind, Almighty God, that
hath been ever wont to stoop to man's weakness, conde
scended to yield' the Jews that custom, provided that they
refrained from common and idolatrous oaths ; and when
they were called to swear, they did it by the name of the
true God, thereby manifesting their acknowledgment of
him : but Christ, who is the restorer of breaches, the builder
df waste places, the bringer back of the captivity of his
people (where oaths were first wanted, and learned) and
the setter up ofthe kingdom of God (which stands in righ
teousness) redeems into true speaking, which fulfils the law,
by taking away the occasion of an oath ; and such as are
the true, humble, and faithful followers of this worthy
Leader, need no oath to compel them into truth, to whom
truth is natural, being freed by it, John viii. 32. from fraud
and falseness, and consequently from swearing, which took
occasion by it to enter the world. Now we 'profess our
selves, in the fear of Almighty God, to be such as have thus
learned Christ Jesus ; and for the reverence and holy love
we bear to his righteous commandment, we cannot take an
oath in any case.
Obj. It is true, and you say well, oaths only serve till
true-speaking comes ; and you say, it is come to you : but
how shall we know that ?
Answ. We intreatyou to try us : no man can be justly
condemned before he be guilty ; nor reputed guilty in the
sight of men till discovered. You will have as easy a way
to catch us at lying, as others at forswearing; and if you
find us such, inflict the same punishment for our lie, which
was enacted for their perjury.
Be pleased to consider,
1. The rise of oaths.
2. The prohibition of Christ.
3. The judgment of so many good Heathens.
4. The belief and practice of so many primitive Chris
tians, celebrated fathers, godly martyrs, and learned pro-
testants. 5. The caution they use, who in any sense allow of an
path. 6. That it is matter of faith ; and what is not of faith, is
sin : and that we cannot alter our minds without convic
tion, unless we should turn hypocrites; and what security
can or will you have from our oaths, who must first make
us to break the tie of our own conscience before we can
take them ? It cannot be thought we should keep with you,
when you make us break with ourselves.
7. Consider what express Scripture we haye for it, and

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 121
that in the judgment and martyrdom of many good and
famous persons.
8. Be pleased to weigh the great perjury that is now in
our world, and daily numerous oaths belched forth by some,
to show they dare be bold with sacred things ; by others,
to vent passion ; by too many (as they impiously think) to
grace their matter; whilst others have so great doubt of
their own credit, that they swear, to drive what they say
home : and not a few use it merely to fill up vacant places,
being barren of better matter. We think, that instead of
taking advantage against us for not swearing, in so for
swearing an age, we should rather receive encouragement
for speaking that truth without an oath, which others are
compelled to by oath, if yet they speak it. False speaking-
necessitated to the use of oaths, say many. But oaths now
proving not the remedy, but the disease, what better expe
dient can be used, than to come back to truth-speaking,
which pndeth oaths in their first cause, or occasion at least:
however, that such as are not sick should be obliged to take
the potions of the sick, only to keep them company, seems
unreasonable. 9. Be pleased to consider the perishing difficulties we
meet withal in our commerce in the world, particularly as
creditors, executors, merchants, shipmasters, apprentices,
&c. Men making us pay, because of our tenderness in this
matter. O the oppression that is exercised in petty courts
and sessions upon many hundreds of us, who know not
which way to right ourselves, an oath still being required
in the case ; the refusal of which, for conscience sake, ex
poses us to great losses, both of estate, liberty, and some
times life, by tedious and cruel imprisonments!
10. But the loss and trouble is not always our own : our
neighbours frequently become sufferers against our wills :
first, In that we can perform no office in common with them,
however otherwise able to discharge it. Secondly, Nor
can we serve them in the capacity of witnesses, which qua
lification goes a great way towards the maintenance of jus
tice ; and all because our solemn word will not be received
instead of an oath : relieving us here is a double benefit,
for our neighbours share with us in it ; and it manifestly
tends to the preservation of society. And whatever any
may please to think of us, we are as willing and ready to
contribute all honest assistance to the maintenance of jus
tice, and answering the ends of government, according to
our ability and conscience, as any sort of men that live
under it.
11. And lastly, Weintreatyou farther to consider, that

122 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
our caution is as large as the man that swears : for though
you make a difference between him that tells an untruth
and him that forswears, in favour of the former ; yet we
cheerfully submit ourselves to the punishment of the per
jured, if we break our word ; do you but please to take us
into equal privilege with the swearers: if there be any
damage, we conceive it is done to us, who sustain the same
punishment for an untruth, which is the only due of per
jury ; and if you condescend to yield us the kindness of the
one, we offer our persons to answer the just severity ofthe
other. We will add here, out of " Hooft's History of the Nether
lands," a precedent not impertinent to our purpose, fol.
464, 465, translated out of Latin as follows :
CXlX. ' In this assembly of the states,' saith Hooft,
' there was something attempted towards the oppression of
the Menists, as appears by a certain letter, written from
Dort, the last of March, by the lord St. Aldegonde, to the
minister Caspanus Heidanus, which was thus worded :'
' The cause ofthe Menists hath, since the receipt of your
and Tallin's letters yesterday, been treated of with the
most illustrious prince : and verily, I find it more difficult
than I had hoped [for ever may and will such cursed hopes
meet with such wise repulses from prudent rulers] : for he
had at Middleburgh given me great hopes, that we should
seclude from the freedom of burgesses, or at least not so
solemnly receive, those that refused an oath. Now he
allegeth, that such a thing cannot be concluded without a
new convulsion in the churches ; because the states will
never suffer that such a law be made as they judge no ways
conducing to the common good of the. republic. Yea, he
avers, that this was the only cause formerly which brought
their consistories so far into the displeasure of the states;
that it differed very little, but they had been all at once
voted down, and laid aside by the council. That they [the
clergy] were now again about the same thing, and that in
such a season, that no doubt many would pour in cold water
out ofthe popish hodgepodge. That his settled judgment
was, that this would turn to great disadvantage, and break
ing down of their churches.
' And when I [saith Aldegonde] fervently urged, that
we could easily reject those that broke the band of all
human society, upon pretence of civil and political order;
and when 1 added,' saith he, ' how much danger and
peril church and state were threatened with by such a con
clusion of the council, in itself ungodly, he answered me
sharply enough, that those men's yea must pass for an

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 123
oath ; and that we must not urge this thing any farther, or
we must confess, that the Papists had reason to force us to
a religion that was against our consciences ; and that the
North-Hollanders would not at all allow of it.
' In short,' saith he, ' I scarce see any thing we can
get done in this point ; which verily [ye may believe him
upon his protestation] is the greater smart to me, the more
1 observe that the minds of many honest men, by the pre
tending of I know not what unseasonable stumbling-blocks,
will be thereby imbittered, yea, I could almost say, wound
ed, to see them less affected to those, that to their uttermost
seek to advance the cause ofthe church.
' The prince,' saith he, ' partly in the name of the
state, and partly of himself, chid me, as if we were about
to set-up in our clergy a dominion over the conscience;
and as if they endeavoured, by their laws arid constitutions,
to subject all others to them : and he praised the saying of
a monk that was lately here, who answered to the objection
[of the persecuting spirit of the Romish church,] that our
pot had not gone so long to the fire as theirs, whom we
did so much revile upon that account. — And that he clearlv
saw, that before two ages passed, the church dominion
would upon both sides stand on even ground.'
To which Hooft adds, ' By this we may observe, of what
consequence the prince and states then held liberty of con
science to be.'
And that what we have hitherto said may not be thought
a thing impracticable, we shall present you with the judg
ment and edicts of foreign governments.
Here follow two Letters ofthe Grave of Nassau, and Prince
of Orange, to the Magistrates ofthe City of Middleburgh,
in behalf of the Menists there.
CXX. A Copy of the first Letter.
' Forasmuch as a supplication hath been presented unto
his Excellency in behalf of certain inhabitants of this city
of Middleburgh, complaining thereby, that the magistrates
of the said city had lately caused their shops-to be shut,
and consequently prohibited their trade, which is yet the
only means they have to maintain their families; the said
prohibition proceeding from their not having yet taken the
usual oath, as others : the said inhabitants farther remon
strating, how that they now, for a certain long term of years,
have, without taking the said oath, freely borne all civil
burthens, contributions, and taxes, equally with other bur*

124 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
gesses and inhabitants ofthe said city, without ever having
been in any default ; and therefore ought at present still to
remain unmolested, seeing they do therein not desire any
thing else, than to live in the liberty of their consciences,
upon which account this present war against the king of
Spain hath been by his subjects taken up, and all ceremo
nies contrary thereunto resisted; in which such advance is,
through the help of God, made, that the aforesaid liberty
of conscience is preserved ; and therefore it would be an
unequal thing to deprive the supplicants thereof, who have
helped to acquire the same, by bearing taxes, contributions,
and other burdens, not without great peril of their bodies
and lives; consonant to which they have presented a request
to the aforesaid magistrates, but got for answer, that they
must regulate themselves according to the policy and order
of the aforesaid city: whereby (saith the petition) the
aforesaid magistrates seem to endeavour by 'the oath, not
only totally to ruin and expel out of these lands the peti
tioners, with their wives and children, residing in Middle
burgh ; but consequently innumerable others, in Holland
and Zealand, who have, (according to his Excellency's
proclamation,) placed themselves under his Excellency's
protection ; by which no man can be any ways benefited, —
but all these lands receive great and considerable damage,
because thereby the traffic thereof would be every where
greatly diminished : intreating therefore, and humbly beg
ging his Excellency, that looking upon their case with com
passion, he would take due course about it; especially
seeing that the aforesaid petitioners do proffer, that their
yea passing for an oath, the transgressors thereof should
be punished as oath-breakers.
' Therefore, his Excellency having considered the pre
mises, and having maturely deliberated upon the same,
hath, with the previous advice of the governor and council
of Zealand, ordered and appointed, orderelh and appointeth
hereby, That the aforesaid petitioners' yea shall be re
ceived by the magistrates of the aforesaid city instead of an
path, provided that the transgressors thereof shall be pu
nished as oath-breakers and perjured persons. His Excel
lency charging and commanding the magistrates of Middle
burgh, and all others whom this may concern, no farther
to oppress the petitioners contrary to their consciences,
concerning the oath ; but suffer them to open their shops,
and enjoy their trades, as they formerly have done: all
by provision ; and until such time as there shall be, in more
tranquillity of affairs, with ripe deliberation, regard being

A TREATISE OF OATHS. 125
had thereunto, ordained therein as shall be found con
venient. ' This done under his Excellency's name and seal, in
the city of Middleburgh, upon the 26 Jan. 1577.
' GuiLLIAUME DE NASSAU,
' By my Gracious Lord, the Prince, subscribed,
' De Baudemont.'
CXXI. A Copy of the Second Letter.
The Prince of Orange, Grave of Nassau, Lord and Baron
of Bueda, Diest, Sfc.
Honourable, Honest, Worshipful, Wise, Discreet, Dear,
and Singular,
' Forasmuch as certain housekeepers there inhabiting,
being, as they say, Menists, have, by way of complaint,
divers times signified to us, how that you are daily molest
ing them, and depriving them of the means of gaining in
rest and quietness their livings for them and their families;
forbidding them to open their shops, under the pretence
that they should refuse to take an oath in the same form as
other burgesses ; upon which we have taken ripe delibera
tion: and forasmuch as the aforesaid people do proffer to
bear equally all burdens with other citizens, and even in
the case of arms (which mostly moves them to contribute)
do you such performances at their charges, as yourselves, or
they that shall have the orders, shall find in all reason and
equity fit to be done, and they will bear it.
' We therefore conceive that ye do very ill, not to per
mit them to live in peace and quietness, according to the
mind of their conscience, according to the act which we,
with the advice of the governor and council, formerly
afforded them, which, they say, they have exhibited to you :
and yet, notwithstanding, we find that you have hitherto
refused to give heed unto it, and to our precedent letters,
and so we are constrained for this last time to write this,
by which we plainly declare unto you, that it concerns not
you to trouble yourselves in particular with any man's
conscience, so long as nothing is treated or done that
might extend to any man's scandal ; in which case we will
neither respect nor bear any man.
' And therefore we charge and order you expressly, to
desist all farther molestation or hindrance of the said
Menists in their merchandize or handicrafts to gain their
livelihood for their wives and children; suffering them to
open their shops, and work as they have in times past done ;

126 A TREATISE OF OATHS.
until such time as there shall be otherwise ordered by the
generality (who are thereunto qualified :) and therefore
take heed that ye do nothing against this, and the act to
them granted, or- to further any fines from them upon that
account ; provided nothing be by them attempted, which
might tend to the scandal of any man : and they shall bear
all civil and equal burdens, as other men. Herewith, &c.
' subscribed by copy,
' De Baudemont.'
CXXII. Also by the treaties of peace, between the
states general of the United Provinces, and the kings of
England, Spain, &c. Ann. 1674, there is a special article
therein contained, ' That all their ship-masters of merchant
ships shall carry along with them a sea-brief, according to
the form thereby prescribed :' in which it is expressly
declared, ' that such master shall come before the magis
trates, and by his solemn oath testify, that such ship,
whereof he is master, doth properly belong unto the sub
jects of the said states general ; unto which sea-brief,'
under .the seal of the city, entire faith and credit is given.'
And although by the said treaties, the master was to
give his oath, yet the magistrates in Holland do take the
solemn affirmation of such as cannot swear, instead of an
oath, and insert it so accordingly in their sea-briefs ; and
then it runs thus : ' These are to certify, &c. that A. B.
hath before us solemnly affirmed and declared, that the
ship C. D. whereof he is master, doth properly belong and
appertain to the subjects of the states general of the
United Provinces,' &c.
Which can be sufficiently evidenced, if required.
This was the care, this the condescension, of other go
vernments, for the relief of persons under our circumstances:
and we take liberty to affirm, that the trade and wealth of
the United Provinces are owing more to the ingenuity and
industry of those indulgent dissenters, than to them of the
national religion, who would have slugged and tyrannized
all into poverty and vassalage.
Have regard to our suffering condition, we beseech you;
and show yourselves both natural to a member (be we
reputed the meanest) of your own civil. body, and so far
lovers of Him who said, " Swear not at all," as not to con
tinue us sufferers for not acting against his command, at
least, our sense of it, and therein of our own consciences:-
but make some provision for us, as well as other countries
have done before you, as in your wisdom you shall
think meet ; that all those, who are of the society of the

A treatise of oaths. 127
people called Quakers, and known of themselves to be so,
shall not be molested for the future upon the account of
swearing, but their solemn yea or nay shall be taken in
lieu thereof, and their untruth, or breach of word, punish
able as perjury.
God, we know, who delights in mercy, and in all acts of
tenderness to the sons of men, will favour so natural, so
generous, and so Christian an enterprize; and the pro
posers, promoters, and effectors of this happy deliverance
from the heavy clog of swearing, under which we and our
families have so long groaned, will not, we dare believe,
go without their rewards at the hands of the Almighty ;
whom, in what manner soever he shall deal with us, we do,
from the bottom of our souls, humbly and heartily implore,
that it would please him so to dispose your hearts, as you
may best discharge that high trust reposed in you, to the
honour of his great name, and the prosperity of this famous
kingdom, the most certain foundation of true felicity to
yourselves ; and which will give, as a good example to
others, so the clearest reputation to you and your posterity.
This performed in the name, and for the service, ofthe
people called Quakers, by
William Penn,
Richard Richardson.

THE
GREAT CASE
OF
LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE
once more briefly debated and defended,
BY THE AUTHORITY OF
REASON, SCRIPTURE, AND ANTIQUITY :
Which may serve the place of a general Reply to such late
Discourses as have opposed Toleration.
The Author William Penn.

Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.
Mat. vii. 12.
Render unto Caesar the things that are Cssar's, and to God, the things that
are God's. Mark xii. 1 7.

To the Supreme Authority of England.
Toleration, for these ten years past, has not been more
the cry of some, than persecution has been the practice of
others, though not on grounds equally rational.
The present cause of this address, is to solicit a conver
sion of that power to our relief, which hitherto has been
employed to our depression ; that after this large experience
of our innocency, and long since expired apprenticeship of
cruel sufferings, you will be pleased to cancel all our bonds,
and give us a possession of those freedoms, to which we are
ent led by English birth-right.
This has been often promised to us, and we as earnestly
have expected the performance ; but to this time we labour
under the unspeakable pressure of nasty prisons, and daily
confiscation of our goods, to the apparent ruin of intire
families. We would not attribute the whole of this severity to
malice, since not a little share may justly be ascribed to
mi'-- intelligence.
For it is the infelicity of governors to see and hear by
the eyes and ears of other men ; which is equally unhappy
for the people.

TO THE SUPREME AUTHORITY OF ENGLAND. 129
And we are bold to say, that suppositions, and mere con
jectures, have been the best measures that most have taken
of us, and of our principles ; for whilst there have been none
more inoffensive, we have been marked for capital of
fenders. It is hard that we should always lie under this undeserved
imputation ; and, which is worse, be persecuted as such,
without the liberty of a just defence.
In short, if you are apprehensive that our principles are
inconsistent with the civil government, graut us a free con
ference about the points in question, and let us know what
are those laws, essential to preservation, that our opinions
carry an opposition to ? and if upon a due enquiry we are
found so heterodox as represented, it will be then but time
enough to inflict these heavy penalties upon us.
And as this medium seems the fairest, and most reason
able; so can you never do yourselves greater justice, either
in the vindication of your proceedings against us, if we be
criminal ; or if innocent, in disengaging your service of
such as have been authors of so much misinformation.
But could we once obtain the favour of such debate, we
doubt not to evince a clear consistency of our life and doc
trine with the English government; and that an indulging
of dissenters in the sense defended, is not only most Christ
ian and rational, but prudent also; and the contrary (how
plausibly soever insinuated) the most injurious to the peace,
and destructive of that discreet balance, which the best and
wisest states have ever carefully observed.
But if this fair and equal offer find not a place with you,
on which to rest its foot ; much less that it should bring us
back the olive-branch of toleration ; we heartily embrace
and bless the providence of God; and, in his strength,
resolve by patience to outweary persecution, and by our
constant sufferings seek to obtain a victory, more glorious
than any our adversaries can achieve by all their cruelties.
Vincit qui patitur.
From a prisoner for conscience sake, W . x»
Newgate, the 7th of the 12th month,
called February, 1670-

Vol. ii

THE PREFACE.
Were some as Christian as they boast themselves to be,
it would save us all the labour we bestow in rendering
persecution so unchristian as it most truly is. Nay, were
they those men of reason they character themselves, and
what the civil law stiles good citizens, it had been needless
for us to tell them, that neither can any external coercive
power convince the understanding ofthe poorest ideot, nor
fines and prisons be judged fit and adequate penalties for
faults purely intellectual ; as well as that they are destruc
tive of all civil government.
But we need not run so far as beyond the seas, to fetch
the sense of the codes, institutes, and digests, out of the
Corpus Civile, to adjudge such practices incongruous with
the good of civil society; since our own good, old, admira
ble laws of England have made such excellent provision
for its inhabitants, that if they were but thought as fit to
be executed by this present age, as they were rightly
judged necessary to be made by our careful ancestors, we
know how great a stroke they would give such as venture
to lead away our property in triumph (as our just forfeiture)
for only worshipping our God in a differing way from that
which is more generally professed and established.
And indeed it is most truly lamentable, that above others
(who have been found in so unnatural and anti-christian
an employment) those that by their own frequent practices
and voluminous apologies, have defended a separation from
the Papacy, should now become such earnest persecutors
for it; not considering that the enaction of such laws as re
strain persons from the free exercise of their consciences in
matters of religion, is but a knotting whipcord to lash their
own posterity ; whom they can never promise to be con
formed to a national religion. Nay, since mankind is sub
ject to such mutability, they cannot ensure themselves from
being taken by some persuasions that are esteemed hetero
dox, and consequently catch themselves in snares of their
own providing. And for men thus liable to change, and no
ways certain of their own belief to be the most infallible,
as by their multiplied concessions may appear, to enact any
religion, or prohibit persons from the free exercise of theirs,
sounds harsh in the ears of all modest and unbiassed men.
We are bold to say, our protestant ancestors thought of
nothing less, than to be succeeded by persons vain-glorious
of their reformation, and yet adversaries to liberty of con
science: for to people in their wits it seems a paradox.

preface. 131
Not that we are so ignorant as to think it is within the
reach of human power to fetter conscience, or to restrain its
liberty, strictly taken ; but that plain English of liberty
of conscience we would be understood to mean, is this;
namely, ' The free and uninterrupted exercise of our con
sciences, in that way of worship we are most clearly per
suaded God requires us to serve him in, without endanger
ing our undoubted birthright of English freedoms :' which
being matter of Faith, we sin if we omit ; and they cannot
do less that shall endeavour it.
To tell us we are obstinate, and enemies to govern
ment, are but those groundless phrases the first reformers
were not a little pestered with : but as they said, so say we.
The being called this, or that, does not conclude us so :
and hitherto we have not been detected of that fact, which
only justifies such criminations.
But however free we can approve ourselves of actions
prejudicial to the civil government; it is most certain we
have not suffered a little, as criminals, and therefore have
been far from being free from sufferings; indeed, in some
respect, horrid plunders: widows have lost their cows,
orphans their beds, and labourers their tools. A tragedy
so sad, that methinks it should oblige them to do in England
as they did at Athens: when they had sacrificed their
divine Socrates to the sottish fury of their lewd and comical
multitude, they so regretted their hasty murder, that not
only the memorial of Socrates was most venerable with
them, but his enemies they esteemed so much theirs, that
none would trade or hold the least commerce with them ;
for which some turned their own executioners, and without
arty other warrant than their own guilt, hanged themselves.
How near a-kin the wretched mercenary informers of our
age are to those, the great resemblance that is betwixt their
actions manifestly shows.
And we are bold to say, the grand fomenters of perse
cution are no better friends to the English state, than were
Anytus and Aristophanes of old to that of Athens ; the case
being so nearly the same, as they did not more bitterly envy
the reputation of Socrates amongst the Athenians for his
grave and religious lectures (thereby giving the youth a
diversion from frequenting their plays) than some now
emulate the true dissenter, for his pious life and great
industry. And as that famous common-wealth was noted to decline,
and the most observing. persons of it dated its decay from
that illegal and ingrateful carriage towards Socrates (wit
ness their dreadful plagues, with other multiplied disasters),
i 2

132 PREFACE.
so it is hot less worthy observation, that heaven hath-not
been wholly wanting to scourge this land, for, as well
their cruelty to the conscientious, as their other multiplied
provocations. And when we seriously consider the dreadful judgments
that now impend, the nation (by reason ofthe robbery,
violence, and unwonted oppression, that almost everywhere
have not only been committed upon the poor, the widow,
and the fatherless; but most tenaciously justified, and
the actors manifestly encouraged) in mere pity and con
cern for the everlasting welfare of such as have not quite
sinned away their visitation (for some have) we once
more bring to public view our reasons against persecution,
backed with the plainest instances both of scripture and
antiquity ; if but one may be persuaded to desist from
making any farther progress in such an anti-protestant and
truly anti-christian path, as that of persecuting honest and
virtuous Englishmen, for only worshipping the God that
made them, in the way they judge most acceptable with
him. But if those who ought to think themselves obliged to
weigh these affairs with the greatest deliberation, will
obstinately close their eyes to these last remonstrances, and
slightly overlook the pinching case of so many thousand
families, that are by these severities exposed for prey to
the unsatiable appetites of a villainous crew of broken in
formers, daubing themselves with that deluding apprehen
sion of pleasing God, or at least of profiting the country ;
(whilst they greatly displease the one, and evidently ruin
the other) as certain as ever the Lord God Almighty de
stroyed Sodom and laid waste Gomorrah by the consuming
flames of his just indignation, will he hasten to make deso
late this wanton land, and not leave a hiding-place for the
oppressor. Let no man therefore think himself too big to be admo
nished, nor put too slight a value upon the lives, liberties,'
and properties, of so many thousand freeborn English fami
lies embarked in that one concern of liberty of conscience.-
It will become him better to reflect upon his own mortality
and not forget his breath is in his nostrils, and that every
action of his life the everlasting God will bring to judg
ment, and him for them.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 133

CHAP. I.
That imposition, restraint, and persecution for conscience sake,
highly invade the divine prerogative, and divest the Al
mighty of a right, due to none besides himself, and that in
Jive eminent particulars.
The great case of Liberty of Conscience, so often debated
and defended (however dissatisfactorily to such as have so
little conscience as to persecute for it) is once more brought
to public view, by a late act against dissenters, and bill, or
an additional one, that we all hoped the wisdom of our
rulers had long since laid aside, as what was fitter to be
passed into an act of perpetual oblivion. The kingdoms are
alarmed at this procedure, and thousands greatly at a stand,
wondering what should be the meaning of such hasty reso
lutions, that seem as fatal as they were unexpected. Some
ask what wrong they have done ? others, what peace they
have broken ? and all, what plots they have formed to pre
judice the present government, or occasions given to hatch
new jealousies of them and their proceedings? being not
conscious to themselves of guilt in any such respect.
For mine own part, I publicly confess myself to be a very
hearty dissenter from the established worship of these na
tions, as believing Protestants to have much degenerated
from their first principles, and as owning the poor despised
Quakers, in life and doctrine, to have espoused the cause of
God, and to be the undoubted followers of Jesus Christ, in
his most holy, strait, and narrow way, that leads to the
eternal rest. In all which I know no treason, nor any prin
ciple that would urge me to a thought injurious to the civil
peace. If any be defective in this particular, itis equal both
individuals and whole societies should answer for their own
defaults ; but we are clear.
However, all conclude that union very ominous and un
happy, which makes the first discovery of itself by a " John
Baptist's head in a charger." They mean that feast which
some are designed to make upon the liberties and properties
of free-born Englishmen : since to have the entail of those
undoubted hereditary rights cut off, for matters purely rela
tive of another world, is a severe beheading in the law :
which must be obvious to all, but such as measure the jus
tice of things, only by that proportion they bear with their
own interest. A sort of men that seek themselves, though
at the apparent loss of whole societies ; like to that barba
rous fancy of old, which had rather that Rome should burn
than it be without the satisfaction of a bonfire. And sad it

134 THE GREAT CASE OF
is, when men have so far stupified their understandings
with the strong doses of their private interest, as to become
insensible of the public's. Certainly such an over-fondness
for self, or that strong inclination to raise themselves in the
ruin of what does not so much oppose them, as that they
will believe so, because they would be persecuting, is a
malignant enemy to that tranquillity, which all dissenting
parties seem to believe would be the consequence of a tole
ration. In short we say, there can be but two ends in persecu
tion ; the one to satisfy (which none can ever do) the insa
tiable appetites of a decimating clergy (whose best argu
ments are fines and imprisonments); and the other as
thinking therein they do God good service : but it is so
hateful a thing upon any account, that we shall make it ap
pear, by this ensuing'discourse, to be a declared enemy to
God, religion, and the good of human society.
The whole will be small, since it is but an epitome of no
larger a tract than fourteen sheets ; yet divides itself into
the same particulars, every of which we shall defend against
imposition, restraint, and persecution, though not with that
scope of reason (nor consequently pleasure to the readers)
being by other contingent disappointments limited to a nar
row stint. The terms explained, and the question stated.
First, By liberty of conscience, we understand not only a
mere liberty of the mind, in believing or disbelieving this or
that principle or doctrine ; but ' the exercise of ourselves
in a visible way of worship, upon our believing it to be in
dispensably required at our hands, that if we neglect it for
fear or favour of any mortal man, we sin, and incur di
vine wrath.' Yet we would be so understood to extend
and justify the lawfulness of our so meeting to worship
God, as not to contrive, or abet any contrivance destructive
ofthe government and laws of the land, tending to matters
of an external nature, directly or indirectly ; but so far only
as it may refer to religious matters, and a life to come, and
consequently wholly independent of the secular affairs of
this, wherein we are supposed to transgress.
Secondly, By imposition, restraint, and persecution, we
do not only mean the strict requiring of us to believe this to
be true, or that to be false ; and upon refusal to incur the pe
nalties enacted in such cases ; but by those terms we mean
thus much, ' any coercive let or hindrance to us, from
meeting together to perform those religious exercises which
are according to our faith and persuasion.'

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 135
The question staled.
For proof of the aforesaid terms thus given, we singly
state the question thus ;
Whether imposition, restraint, and persecution, upon
persons for exercising such a liberty of conscience as is be
fore expressed, and so circumstantiated, be not to impeach
the honour of God, the meekness of the Christian religion,
the authority of Scripture, the privilege of nature, the
principles of common reason, the well being Pf government,
and apprehensions ofthe greatest personages of former and
latter ages ?
First, Then we say, that imposition, restraint, and perse
cution, for matters relating to conscience, directly, invade
the divine prerogative, and divest the Almighty of a due,
proper to none besides himself. And this we prove by these
five particulars :
First, If we do allow the honour of our creation due to
God only, and that no other besides himself has endowed
us with those excellent gifts of understanding, reason, judg
ment, and faith, and consequently that he only is the object
as well as the author, both of our faith, worship, and ser
vice; then whosoever shall interpose their authority to
enact faith and worship in a way that seems not to us con
gruous with what he has discovered to us to be faith and
worship (whose alone property it is to do it) or to restrain
us from what we are persuaded is our indispensable duty,
they evidently usurp this authority, and invade his incom
municable, right of government over conscience : for ' The
inspiration ofthe Almighty gives understanding: and faith
is the gift of God,' says the divine writ.
Secondly, Such magisterial determinations carry an evi
dent claim to that infallibility, which Protestants have been
hitherto so jealous of owning, that, to avoid the Papists;,
they have denied it to all but God himself.
Either they have forsook their old plea; or if not, we
desire to know when, and where, they were invested with
that divine exellency ; and whether imposition, restraint,
and persecution, were ever deemed by God the fruits of his
spirit. However, that itself was not sufficient; for unless it
appear as well to us that they have it, as to them who have
it, we cannot believe it upon any convincing evidence, but
by tradition only ; an anti-protestant way of believing.
Thirdly, It enthrones man as king over conscience, the
alone just claim and privilege ofhis Creator ; whose thoughts
are not as men's thoughts, but has reserved to himself that
empire from all the Caesars on earth : for if men, in refer-

136 THE GREAT CASE OF
ence to souls and bodies, things appertaining to this and the
other world, shall be subject to their fellow-creatures, what
follows, but that Caesar (however he got it) has all, God's
share, and his own too ? and being lord of both, both are
Cffisar's, and not God's.
Fourthly, It defeats God's work Of grace, and the invisi
ble operation of his eternal spirit, (which can alone beget
faith, and is only to be obeyed, in and about religion and
worship) and attributes men's conformity to outward force,
and corpora] punishments. A faith subject to as many revo
lutions as the powers that enact it.
Fifthly and lastly, Such persons assume the judgment of
the great tribunal unto themselves ; for to whomsoever men
are imposedly or restrictively subject and accountable in
matters of faith, worship and conscience ; in them alone
must the power of judgment reside : but it is equally true
that God shall judge all by Jesus Christ ; and that no man
is so accountable to his fellow-creatures, as to be imposed
upon, restrained, or persecuted for any matter of conscience
whatever. Thus, and in many more particulars, are men accustomed
to intrench upon divine property, to gratify particular in
terests in the world ; and (at best) through a misguided
apprehension to imagine ' they do God good service,' that
where they cannot give faith, they will use force ; which
kind of sacrifice is nothing less unreasonable than the other
is abominable : God will not give his honour to another;
and to him only, that searches the heart and tries the reins,
it is our duty to ascribe the gifts of understanding and faith,
without which none can please God.
CHAP. II.
They overturn the Christian Religion ; 1 . In the nature of
it, which is meekness ; 2. In the practice of it, which is
suffering ; 3. In the promotion of it, since all farther dis
coveries are prohibited ; 4. In the rewards of it, which are
eternal. The next great evil which attends external force in mat
ters of faith and worship, is no less than the overthrow of
the whole Christian religion ; and this we will briefly evi
dence in these four particulars : 1. That there can be no
thing more remote from the nature ; 2. The practice ; 3.
The promotion ; 4. The rewards of it.
First, It is the privilege of the Christian faith above the
dark suggestions of ancient and modern superstitious tradi
tions, to carry with it a most self-evidencing verity, which

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 137
ever was sufficient to proselyte believers, without the weak
auxiliaries of external power. The Son of God, and great
example of the world, was so far from calling his Father's
omnipotency in legions of angels to his defence, that he at
once repealed all acts of force, and defined to us the nature
ofhis religion in this one great saying ofhis, " My kingdom
is not of this world." It was spiritual, not carnal; accom
panied with weapons as heavenly as its own nature, and
designed for the good and salvation ofthe soul, and not the
injury and destruction of the body : no gaols, fines, exiles,
&c. but ' sound reason, clear truth, and strict life.' In
short, the Christian religion intreats all, but compels none.
Secondly, That restraint and persecution overturn the
practice of it. I need go no farther than the allowed mar-
tyrologies of several ages, of which the scriptures claim a
share ; begin with Abel, go down to Moses, so to the Pro
phets, and then to the meek example of Jesus Christ him
self; how patiently devoted was he to undergo the contra
dictions of men ! and so far from persecuting any, that he
would not so much as revile his- persecutors, but prayed for
them : thus lived his apostles, and the true Christians ofthe
first three hundred years. Nor are the famous stories of our
first reformers silent in the matter ; witness the Christian
practices of the Waldenses, Lollards, Hussites, Lutherans,
and our noble martyrs ; who, as became the true followers of
Jesus Christ, enacted and confirmed their religion with their
own blood, and not with the blood of their opposers.
Thirdly, Restraint and persecution obstruct the promotion
of the Christian religion : for if such as restrain, confess
themselves 'miserable sinners, and altogether imperfect,' it
either follows, that they never desire to be better, or that
they should encourage such as may be capable of farther
informing and reforming them : they condemn the Papists
for inCoffining the scriptures and their worship in ah un
known tongue, and yet are guilty themselves of the same
kind of fact.
Fourthly, They prevent many of eternal rewards: for
where any are religious for fear, and that of men, it is slav
ish, and the recompence of such religion is condemnation,
not peace : besides, it is man that is served; who having
no power but what is temporary, his reward must'needs be
so too : he that imposes a duty, or restrains from one, must
reward ; but because no man can reward for such duties, no
man can or ought to impose them, or restrain from them.
So that we conclude imposition, restraint and persecution,
are destructive of the Christian religion, in the nature,
practice, promotion and rewards of it, which are eternal.

THE GREAT CASE OF

CHAP. III.

They oppose the plainest testimonies of divine writ that can be,
which condemn all force upon conscience.
We farther say, that imposition, restraint and persecution
are repugnant to the plain testimonies and precepts of the
scriptures. 1. " The inspiration of the Almighty gives understand
ing." Job xxxii. 8.
If no man can believe before he understands, and no man
understand before he is inspired of God; then are the im
positions of men excluded as unreasonable, and their perse
cutions for non-obedience as inhuman.
2. " Wo unto them that take counsel, but not of me."
Isa. xxx. 1.
3. " Wo unto them that make a man an offender for a
word, and lay a snare for him that reproves in the gate,
and turn aside the just for a thing of nought." Isa. xxix.
15, 21.
4. " Let the wheat and the tares grow together, until the
time of the harvest, or end of the world." Matt. xiii. 27,
28, 29.
5. " .And Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know
that the princes ofthe Gentiles exercise dominion over them,
and they that are great exercise authority upon them ; but
it shall not be so amongst you." Matt. xx. 25, 26.
6. " And Jesus said unto them, Render unto Cassar the
things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are
God's." Luke xx. 25.
7. "When his disciples saw this, (that there were non
conformists then, as well as now) they said, ' Wilt thou that
we command fire to come down from heaven and consume
them, as Elias did ? but he turned and rebuked them, and
said, Ye know not what spirit ye are of; for the Son of
man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."
Luke ix. 54, 55, 56.
, 8. " Howbeit, when the Spirit of truth is come, he shall
lead you into all truth." John xvi. 8. 13.
9. " But now the anointing which ye have received of him,
abides in you ; and you need not that any man teach you,
(much less impose upon any, or restrain them from what
any are persuaded it leads to) but as the same anointing
teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie." 1 John
ii. 27.
10. " Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves; but rather
give place unto wrath" .(much less should any be wrathful

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 139
that are called Christians, where no occasion is given.)
" Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him ; and if he
thirst, give him drink; recompence no man evil for evil."
Rom. xii. 19, 20, 21.
11. " For though we walk in the flesh," (that is, in the
body, or visible world) " we do not war after the flesh ; for
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal." 2 Cor. x. 3.
(but fines and imprisonments are ; and such use not the
apostles' weapons thatemploy those.) " For a bishop, 1 Tim.
iii. 3. (saith Paul) must be of good behaviour, apt to teach,
no striker ; but be gentle unto all men, patient,in meekness
instructing, (not persecuting) those that oppose themselves,
if God peradventure will give them repentance to the ac
knowledging ofthe truth." 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25.
12. Lastly, We shall subjoin one passage more, and then
no more of this particular; " Whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them." Matt. vii. 12.
Luke vi. 31.
Now upon the whole, we seriously ask, Whether any
should be imposed upon, or restrained, in matters of faith
and worship ? Whether such practices become the gospel,
or are suitable to Christ's meek precepts and suffering doc
trine ? And lastly, Whether those, who are herein guilty,
do to us as they would be clone unto by others ?
What if any were once severe to you ; many are uncon
cerned in that, who are yet liable to the lash, as if they were
not. But if you once thought the imposition of a directory
unreasonable, and a restraint from your way of worship un
christian, can you believe that liberty of conscience is
changed, because the parties, in point of power, are ? Or
that the same reasons do not yet remain in vindication of an
indulgence for others, that were once employed by you for
yourselves ? Surely such conjectures would argue gross
weakness. To conclude : Whether persecutors at any time read the
scriptures, we know not ; but certain we are, such practise
as little of them as may be, who with so much delight re
ject them, and think it no small accession to the discovery
of their loyalty, to lead us and our properties in triumph
after them, ,

140 THE GREAT CASE OF

CHAP. IV.
They are enemies to the privilege of nature/ I. as render
ing some more, and others less, than men ; 2. As subvert
ing Ike universal good that is God's gift to men ; 3. As
destroying all natural affection. Next, they are enemies
to the noble principle of reason, as appears in seven great
instances.We farther say, that imposition, restraint, and persecu
tion, are also destructive of the great privilege of nature
and principle of reason. Of nature, in three instances :
First, If God Almighty " has made of one blood all na
tions," as himself has declared, and that he has given them
both senses corporal and intellectual, to discern things
and their differences, so as to assert or deny from evidences
and reasons proper to each ; then where any one enacts the
belief or disbelief of any thing upon the rest, or restrains any
from the exercise of their faith, to them indispensable, such
an one exalts himself beyond his bounds, enslaves his fel
low-creatures, invades their right of liberty, and so perverts
the whole order of nature.
Secondly, Mankind is hereby robbed of the use and bene
fit of that instinct of a Deity, which is so natural to him,
that he can be no more without it, and be, than he can be
without the most essential part of himself. For to what
serves that divine principle in the universality of mankind,
if men be restricted by the prescriptions of some indivi
duals ? but if the excellent nature of it ' inclines men to
God, not man ; if the power of accusing and excusing be
committed to it ; if the troubled thoughts and sad reflections
of forlorn and dying men make their tendency that way
only,' (as being hopeless of all other relief and succour
from any eternal power or command), what shall we
say, but that such as invalidate the authority of this hea
venly instinct, (as imposition and restraint evidently do)
destroy nature, or that privilege which men are born with,
and to.
Thirdly, All natural affection is destroyed : for those who
have so little tenderness, as to persecute men that cannot
for conscience-sake yield them compliance, manifestly act
injuriously to their fellow-creatures, and consequently are
enemies to nature ; for nature being one in all, such as ruin
those who are equally intituled with themselves to nature,
ruin it in them, as in liberty, property, &c. and so bring the
state of nature to the state of war ; as the great Leviathan
ofthe times, as ignorantly as boldly, does assert.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 141
But, secondly, We also prove them destructive of the no
ble principle of reason, and that in these seven particulars :
1. In that those who impose, or restrain, are uncertain
ofthe truth and justifiableness of their actions. In either
of these, their own discourses and confessions are pregnant
instances, where they tell us, that they do not pretend to be
infallible, only they humbly conceive it is thus, or it is not.
Since then they are uncertain and fallible, how can they im
pose upon, or restrain others, whom they are so far from
assuring, that they are not able to do so much for them
selves ? What is this, but to impose an uncertain faith upon
certain penalties ?
2. As he that acts doubtfully is damned, so faith in all
acts of religion is necessary : now in order to believe, we
must first will ; to will, we must judge ; to judge any thing
we must first understand : if then we cannot be said to un
derstand anything against our understanding; no more can
we judge, will, or believe against our understanding: and
if the doubter be damned, what must he be that conforms
directly against his judgment and belief, and they likewise
that require it from him ? In short, that man cannot be said
to have any religion, that takes it by another man's choice,
not his own.
3. Where men are limited in matters of religion, there
the rewards which are entailed on the free acts of men are
quite overthrown ; and such as supersede that grand char
ter of liberty of conscience, frustrate all hopes of recom-
pence, by rendering the actions of men unavoidable. But
those think, perhaps, they do not destroy all freedom, be
cause they use so much of their own.
4. They subvert all true religion; for where men be
lieve, not because it is true, but because they are required
to do so, there they will unbelieve, not because it is false,
but so commanded by their superiors, whose authority their
interest and security oblige them rather to obey, than dis
pute. 5. They delude, or rather compel people out of their
eternal rewards ; for where men are commanded to act in
reference to religion, and can neither be secured of their
religion, nor yet saved harmless from punishment, that so
acting and believing disprivileges them for ever of that re-
compence which is provided for the faithful.
6. Men have their liberty and choice in external mat
ters ; they are not compelled to marry this person, to con
verse with that, to buy here, to eat there, nor to sleep yon
der ; yet if men had power to impose or restrain in any
thing, one would think it should be in such exterior mat-

142 THE GREAT CASE OF
ters : but that this liberty should be unquestioned, and that
ofthe mind destroyed, issues here, ' That it does not un-
brute us, but unman us : ' for take away understanding,
reason, judgment, and faith, and, like Nebuchadnezzer, let
us go graze with the beasts ofthe field.'
Seventhly and lastly, That which most of all blackens the
business, is persecution: for though it is very unreasonable
to require faith where men cannot choose but doubt, yet,
after all, to punish them for disobedience, is cruelty in the
abstract :, for we demand, ' Shall men suffer for not doing
what they cannot do ?' must they be persecuted here if they
do not go against their consciences, and punished hereafter if
they do ? But neither is this all ; for that part that is yet
most unreasonable, and that gives the clearest sight of per
secution, is still behind, namely, ' The monstrous arguments
they have to convince an heretic with :' not those of old,
as spiritual as the Christian religion, which were, ' to admo
nish, warn, and finally to reject;' but such as were employed
by the persecuting Jews and heathens against the great Ex
ample of the world, and such as followed him, and by the
inhuman Papists against our first reformers, as clubs, staves,
stocks, pillories, prisons, dungeons, exiles, &c..in a word,
ruin to whole families ; as if it were not so much their de
sign to convince the soul, as to destroy the body.
To conclude : There ought to be an adequation and re
semblance betwixt all ends, and the means to them ; but in
this case there can be none imaginable : the end, is the
conformity of our judgments and understandings to the acts
of such as require it ; the means are fines and imprison
ments, and bloody knocks to boot.
Now, what proportion or assimilation these bear, let the
sober judge : the understanding can never be convinced, nor
properly submit, but by such arguments as are rational, per
suasive, and suitable to its own nature; something that can
resolve its doubts, answer its objections, enervate its propo
sitions. But to imagine those barbarous Newgate instru
ments of clubs, fines, prisons^ &c. with that whole troop of
external and dumb materials of force, should be fit argu
ments to convince the understanding, scatter its scruples,
and finally convert it to their religion, is altogether irra
tional, cruel, and impossible. Force may make an hypo
crite ; ' it is faith grounded upon knowlege, and consent,
that makes a Christian.' And to conclude, as we can never
betray the honour of our conformity (only due to truth) by
a base and timorous hypocrisy to any external violence un
der heaven; so must we needs say, unreasonable are those
imposers, who secure not the imposed or restrained from

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 14^

what may occur to them, upon their account; and most in
human are those persecutors that punish men for not obeying
them, though to their utter ruin.

CHAP. V.
They carry a contradiction to government : 1. In the nature
of it, which is justice. 2. In the execution of it, which is
prudence. 3. In the end of it, which is fidelity. Seven
common, but grand objections, fairly staled, and briefly
answered. We next urge, that force, in matters relating to conscience,
carries a plain contradiction to government, in the nature,
execution, and end of it.
By government we understand, an external order of
justice, or the right and prudent disciplining of any so
ciety by just laws, either in the relaxation or execution of
them. First, It carries a contradiction to government in the
nature of it, which is justice, and that in three respects.
1. It ,is the first lesson that great Synteresis, so much
renowned by philosophers and civilians, learns mankind,
' To do as they would be done to;' since fie that gives what
he would not take, or takes what he would not give, only
shews care for himself, but neither kindness nor justice for
another. 2. The just nature of government lies in a fair and equal
retribution : but what can be more unequal, than that men
should be rated more than their proportion to answer the
necessities of government, and yet that they should not only
receive no protection from it, but by it be disseised of their
dear liberty and properties ? We say, to be compelled to pay
that power that exerts itself to ruin those that pay it, or that
any should be required to enrich those that ruin them, is
hard and unequal, and therefore contrary to the just nature
of government. If we must be contributaries to the main
tenance of it, we are entitled to a protection from it.
3. It is the justice of government to proportion penalties
to the crime committed. Now granting our dissent to be a
fault, yet the infliction of a corporal or external punish
ment, for a mere mental error (and that not voluntary) is
unreasonable and inadequate, as well as against particular
directions of the scriptures, Tit. iii. 9, 10, 1 1. For as cor
poral penalties cannot convince the understanding; so
neither can they be commensurate punishments for faults
purely intellectual ; and for the government of this world

144 THE GREAT CASE OF
to intermeddle with what belongs to the government of
another, and which can have no ill aspect or influence upon
it, shows more of invasion than right and justice.
Secondly, It carries a conWndiction to government in the
execution of it, which is prudence, aud that in these in
stances :
1. The state of the ease is this, that there is no republic
so great, no empire so vast, but the laws of them are re
solvable into these two series or heads : ' of laws funda
mental, which are indispensable and immutable ; and laws
superficial, which are temporary and alterable :' and as it
is justice and prudence to be punctual in the execution of
the former, so, by circumstances,, it may be neither to exe
cute the latter, they being suited to the present conve
nience and emergency of state ; as the prohibiting of cattle
out of Ireland was judged of advantage to the farmers of
England, yet a murrain would make it the good ofthe
whole that the law should be broke, or at least the execu
tion of it suspended. That the law of restraint, in point of
conscience, is of this number, we may farther manifest, and
the imprudence of thinking otherwise : for first, if the
saying were as true as it is false, ' No bishop, no king,'
(which admits of various readings; as, ' no decimating
clergy, or no persecution, no king,' we should be as silent
as some would have us ; but the confidence of their asser
tion, and the impolicy of such as believe it, makes us to
say, that a greater injury cannot be done to the present
government. For if such laws and establishments are fun
damental, they are as immutable as mankind itself; but that
they are as alterable as the conjectures and opinions of
governors have been, is evident ; since the same funda
mental indispensable laws and policy of these kingdoms
have still remained, through all variety of opposite ruling
opinions and judgments, and disjoined from them all.
Therefore to admit of such a fixation to temporary laws,
must needs be highly imprudent, and destructive of the es
sential parts of the government of these countries.
2. That since there has been a time of connivance, and
that with no ill success to public affairs, it cannot be prud
ence to discontinue it, unless it was imprudence before to
give it ; and such little deserve it that think so.
3. Dissenters not being conscious to themselves of any
just forfeiture of that favour, are as well grieved in their
resentments of this alteration, as the contrary did oblige
them to very grateful acknowledgments.
4. This must be done to gratify all, or the greatest part,
or but some few only : it is a demonstration, all are not

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 145
pleased with it ; that the greatest number is not, the empty
Eublic auditories will speak : in short, how should either
e, when six parties are sacrificed to the seventh? That
this cannot be prudence, common maxims and observations
prove. 5. It strikes fatally at protestant sincerity : for will the
Papists say, Did Protestants exclaim against us for perse
cutors, and are they now the men themselves ? Was it an
instance of weakness in our religion, and is it become a
demonstration of strength in theirs? Have they transmuted
it from antichristian in us, to Christian in themselves ? Let
persecutors answer.
6. It is not only an example, but an incentive to the
Romanists to persecute the reformed religion abroad : for
when they see their actions (once void of all excuse) now
defended by the example of Protestants, that once accused
them, (but now themselves) doubtless they will revive their
cruelty. 7. It overturns the very ground of the Protestants' re
treat from Rome: for if men must be restrained, upon pre
tended prudential considerations, from the exercise of their
conscience in England ; why not the same in France, Hol
land, Germany, Constantinople, &c. where matters of
state may equally be pleaded ? This makes religion, state-
policy ; and faith and worship, subservient to the humours
and interests of superiors : such doctrine would have pre
vented our ancestors' retreat ; and we wish it be not the
beginning of a back-march ; for some think it shrewdly
to be suspected, where religion is suited to the government,
and conscience to its conveniency.
8. Vice is encouraged : for if licentious persons see men
of virtue molested for assembling with a religious purpose to
reverence and worship God, and that are otherwise most
serviceable to the commonwealth, they may and will infer,
it is better for them to be as they are; since not to be de
mure, as they call it, is halfway to that kind of accomplish
ment which procures preferment.
9. For such persons as are so poor-spirited as to truckle
under such restraints, what conquest is there over them,
that before were conscientious men, and now hypocrites ?
Who so forward to be avenged of them, that brought this
guilt upon them, as they themselves ? And how can the im-
posers be secure of their friendship, whom they have taught
to change with the times ?
10. Such laws are so far from benefiting the country,
that the execution of them will be the assured ruin of it, in
the revenues, and consequently in tlie power of it : for
Vol. ii. k

146 THE GREAT CASE OF
where there is a decay of families, there will be of trade ;
so of wealth, andintheend, of strength and power : and
if both- kinds of relief fail, men, the prop of republics ;
money, the stay of monarchies ; this, as requiring merce
naries ; that, as needing freemen ; farewell the interest of
England ! It is true, the priests get (though that is but for
a time) but the king and people lose, as the event will
show. 11. It ever was the prudence of wise magistrates to
oblige their people ; but what comes shorter of it than per
secution ? What dearer to them than the liberty of their
conscience ? What cannot they better spare than it ? Their
peace consists in the enjoyment of it : and he that by com
pliance has lost it, carries his penalty with him, and is his
own prison. Surely such practices must render the govern
ment uneasy, and beget a great disrespect to the governors
in the hearts of the people.
12. But that which concludes our prudential part shall be
this, that after all their pains and good-will to stretch men
to their measure, they never will be able to accomplish
their end: and if he be an unwise man, that provides means
where he designs no end, how near is he of kin to him that
proposes an end unobtainable. Experience has told us,
I. How invective it has made the imposed on. 2. What
distractions have ensued such attempts. 3. What reproach
has followed to the Christian religion, when the professors
of it have used a coercive power upon conscience. And
lastly, That force never yet made either a good Christian,
or a good subject.
Thirdly and lastly, Since the proceedings we argue
against are proved so destructive to the justice and pru
dence of government, we ought the less to wonder that
they should hold the same malignity against the end of it,
which is felicity, since the wonder would be to find it other
wise ; and this is evident from these three considerations :
1. Peace (the end of war and government, and its great
happiness too) has been, is, and yet will be, broken by the
frequent tumultuary disturbances that ensue the disquieting
our meetings, and the estreating fines upon our goods aha
estates. And what these things may issue in, concerneth
the civil magistrate to consider.
2. Plenty (another great end of government) will be con
verted into poverty, by the destruction of so many thousand
families as refuse compliance and conformity, and that not
only to the sufferers, but influentially to all the rest; a de
monstration of which we have in all those places where the
late act has been any thing considerably put in execution.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 147
Besides, how great provocation such incharity and cruel
usage, as stripping widows, fatherless, and poor, of their
very necessaries for human life, merely upon an account
of faith or worship, must needs be to the just and righteous
Lord of heaven and earth, the scriptures, and plenty of other
histories, plainly show us.
3. Unity (not the least, but greatest end of government)
is lost : for by seeking an unity of opinion, by the ways in
tended, the unity requisite to uphold us as a civil society,
will be quite destroyed. And such as relinquish that, to
get the other, besides that they are unwise, will infallibly
lose both in the end.
In short, we say that it is unreasonable we should not be
entertained as men, because some think we are not as good
Christians as they pretend to wish us ; or that we should be
deprived of our liberties and properties, who never broke
the laws that gave them to us. What can be harder, than
to take that from us by a law, which the great indulgence
and solicitude of our ancestors took so much pains to intail
upon us by law ? An. 18 Ed. m. stat. 3. ; also stat. 20.
Ed. m. cap. 1. Again, Petition of Right, an. 3. Car. and
more fully in Magna Charta. Farther, peruse 37 Ed. m.
cap. 8. 28. ; 42 Ed. in. cap. 7.
And we are persuaded, that no temporary subsequential
law whatever to our fundamental rights, (as this of force
on conscience is) can invalidate so essential a part of the
government, as English liberty and property : nor that it is
in the power of any on earth to deprive us of them, till we
have first done it ourselves, by such enormous facts as those
very laws prohibit, and make our forfeiture of that benefit
we should otherwise receive by them : for these being such
cardinal and fundamental points of English law-doctrine,
individually, and by the collective body of the people,
agreed to, and on which, as the most solid basis, our se
condary legislative power, as well as executive, is built;
it seems most rational that the superstructure cannot quar
rel or invalidate its own foundation, without manifestly
endangering its own security : the effect is ever less noble
than the cause; the gift than the giver; and the super
structure than the foundation.
The single question to be resolved in the case, briefly
will be this ; whether any visible authority (being founded
in its primitive institution upon those fundamental laws,
that inviolably preserve the people in all their just rights
and privileges) may invalidate all, or any, ofthe said laws,
Without an implicit shaking of its own foundation, and a
clear overthrow of its own constitution of government, and
k 2

148 THE GREAT CASF. OF .
so reduce them to their statu quo prius, or first principles?
The resolution is everv man's, at his own pleasure. Read
Hen. in. 9, 14, 29; 25 Ed. in. ; Cook's Instit. 2, 19, 50,
51. Those who intend us no share or interest in the laws of
England, as they relate to civil matters, unless we corre
spond with them in points of faith and worship, must do
two things ; First, it will lie heavy on their parts to prove,
that the ancient compact and original of our laws carries
that proviso with it; else we are manifestly disseised of our
free customs.
Secondly, They are to prove the reasonableness of such
proceedings to our understandings, that we may not be
concluded by a law we know not how to understand : for
if I take the matter rightly (as I think I do) we must not
buy or sell, unless of this or that persuasion in religion;
not considering civil society was in the world before the
protestant profession ; men, as such, and in affairs pecu
liarly relative to them in an external and civil capacity,
have subsisted many ages under great variety of religious
apprehensions, and therefore not so dependent on them as
to receive any variation or revolution with them. What
shall we say then, but that some will not that we should
live, breathe, and commerce as men, because we are not
such modelled Christians as they coercively would have us?
They might with as much justice and reputation to them
selves forbid us to look or see unless our eyes were grey,
black, brown, blue, or some one colour best suiting theirs:
for not to.be able to give us faith, or save our consciences
harmless, and yet to persecute us for refusing conformity,
is intolerably hard measure.
In short ; that coercive way of bringing all men to their
height <-.f persuasion, must either arise from exorbitant
zeal and superstition, or from a consciousness of error and
defect, which is unwilling any thing more sincere and re
formed should take place ; being of that cardinal's mind,
who therefore would not hearken to a reformation, at the
sitting of the council of Trent, because he would not so
far approve the reformers' judgment (for having once con
descended to their apprehensions, he thought it would for
ever enslave them to their sense) ; though otherwise he
saw, as much as any man, the grand necessity of a reforma
tion, both ofthe Roman doctrine and conversation.
Some grand Objections in the way must be considered.
Obj. 1. ' But you are a people that meet with designs to
disaffectthe people, and to ruin the government.'

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 149
Answ. A surmise is no certainty ; neither is a may-be,
or conjecture, any proof : that from the first we have be
haved ourselves inoffensively, is a demonstration ; that our
meetings are open, where all may hear our matter, and
have liberty to object or discuss any point, is notorious.
Ignorant calumnies are sandy foundations to build so high
a charge upon : let us be fairly heard in public conference,
how far we can justify our principles from being deservedly
suspected of sedition or disloyalty, and not overrun us with
mere suppositions. We declare our readiness to obey the
ordinance of man, which is only relative to human or civil
matters, and not points of faith, or practice in worship: but
if accusations must stand for proofs, we shall take it for
granted that we must stand for criminals ; but our satisfac
tion will be, that we shall not deserve it, otherwise than as
prejudice seeks to traduce us.
Obj. 2. ' But you strike, at the doctrine, at least the
discipline, ofthe church; and consequently are heretics.'
Answ. This story is as old as the reformation : if we must
be objected against out of pure reputation, let it be in some
other matter than what the Papists objected against the
first Protestants; otherwise you do but hit yourselves in
aiming at us ? To say you were in the right, but we are in
the wrong, is but a mere begging of the question ; for
doubtless the Papists said the same to you, and al! that
you can say to us. Your best plea was conscience, upon
principles the most evident and rational to you : do not we
the like? What if you think our reasons thick, and our
ground of separation mistaken ? Did not the Papists har
bour the same thoughts of you ? You persuaded as few of
them, as we of you : were you therefore in the wrong ?
No more are we. It was not what they thought of you, or
enacted against you, that concluded you : and why should
¦ your apprehensions conclude us ? If you have the way of
giving faith beyond what they had, and have the faculty of
persuasion, evidence as much; but if you areas destitute of
both, as they were to you; why should fines and prisons,
once used by them against you, and by you exclaimed
against, as unchristian ways of reclaiming heretics (sup
posing yourselves to be such) be employed by you as ra
tional, christian, and convincing upon us? To say we
deserve them more, is to suppose yourselves in the right,
and us in the wrong, which proves nothing. Besides, the
question is not barely this, whether heretics or no heretics?
but whether an heretic should be persecuted into a dis
claiming ofhis error ? Your old arguments run thus, as I
well remember.

150 THE GREAT CASE OF
1. Error is a mistake in the understanding.
2. This is for want of a better illumination.
3. This error can never be dislodged, but by reason and
persuasion, as what are most suitable to the intellect of
man. 4. Fines, gaols, exiles, gibbets, &c. are no convincing
arguments to the most erring understanding in the world,
being slavish and brutish.
5. This way of force makes, instead of an honest dis
senter, but an hypocritical conformist; than whom nothing
is more detestable to God and man.
This being the Protestants' plea, we are not to be dis
liked by Protestants, for following their own avowed
maxims and axioms of conscience in defence of its own
liberty. In short, either allow separation upon the single princi
ple of My conscience owns this, or disowns that;' or never
dwell in that building which knew no better foundation
(indeed good enough) ; but, accusing your forefathers of
schism and heresy, return to the Romish church. What
short of this can any say to an anti-liberty-of-conscience
Protestant ?
Obj. 3. ' But at this rate ye may pretend to cut our
throats, and do all manner of savage acts.'
Answ. Though the objection be frequent, yet it is as
foully ridiculous. We are pleading only for such a liberty
of conscience as preserves the nation in peace, trade, and
commerce; and would not exempt any man, or party of
men, from not keeping those excellent laws, that tend to
sober, just, and industrious living. It is a Jesuitical moral,
' To kill a man before he is born :' first, to suspect him of
an evil design ; and then kill him, to prevent it.
Obj. 4. ' But do not you see what has been the end of
this separation ? Wars, and revolutions, and danger to go
vernment ; witness our late troubles.'
Answ. We see none of all this ; but are able to make it
appear, that the true cause of all that perplexed disturbance,
which was amongst the Homoousians and Arians of old,
and among us of latter years (as well as what has modernly
attended our neighbouring countries) took its first rise from
a narrowness of spirit, in not tolerating others to live the
free men God made them, in external matters upon the
earth, merely upon some difference in religion.
And were there once but an hearty toleration established,
it would be a demonstration of the truth of this assertion.
On this ground empire stands safe ; on the other, it seems
more uncertain.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 151
But these are only the popular devices of some to traduce
honest men, and their principles; whose lazy life, and
intolerable advice, become questioned, by a toleration of
people better inclined.
Obj. 5. ' But what need you take this pains to prove-
liberty of conscience reasonable and necessary, when none
questions it ? All that is required is, that you meet but
four more than your own families ; and can you not be
contented with that ? Your disobedience to a law so favour
able, brings suffering upon you.'
Answ. Here is no need of answering the former part of
the objection : it is too apparent throughout the land, that
liberty of conscience, as we have stated it, has been severely
firosecuted, and therefore not so frankly enjoined. The
atter part I answer thus : if the words lawful or unlawful
may bear their signification from the nature of the things
they stand for, then we conceive that a meeting of four
thousand is no more unlawful than a meeting of four : fol"
number, singly considered, criminates no assembly ; but
the reason of their assembling, the posture in which and
tlie matter transacted, with the consequences thereof.
Now if those things are taken for granted to be things
dispensable (as appears by the allowance of four besides
every family) certainly the number can never render it un
lawful : so that the question will be this, whether if four,
met to worship God, be an allowable meeting, four thou
sand, met with the same design, be not an allowable
meeting? It is so plain a case, that the matter in question resolves
it. Obj. 6. ' But the law forbids it.'
Answ. If the enacting any thing can make it lawful, we
have done : but if an act so made by the Papists against
Protestants, was never esteemed so by a true Protestant ;
and if the nature ofthe matter will not bear it ; and lastly,
that we are as much commanded by God to meet four thousand
as four; we must desire to be excused, if we forbear not the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.
Obj. 7. 'But the reason ofthe prohibition ofthe number
is' (for you see they allow all that can be said to four thou
sand to be said to the family and four) ' that tumults may
arise, and plots be made, and the like inconveniences hap
pen to the government.'
Answ. Great assemblies are so far from being injurious,
that they are the most inoffensive : for, first, they are open,
exposed to the view of all, which of all things plotters are
the shyest of. But how fair an opportunity it were for

152 THE GREAT CASE OF
men so principled to do it in those allowed meetings of but
four besides the family, is easy to guess, when we consider,
that few make the best and closest council ; and next, that
such an assembly is the most private and clandestine, and
so fitted for mischief and surprize.
Secondly, Such assemblies are not only public and large,
but they are frequented, as well by those that are not of
their way, as by their own. From whence it follows, that
we have the greatest reason to be cautious and wise in our
behaviour, since the more there be at our meetings, the
more witnesses are against us, if we should say or act any
thing that may be prejudicial to the government.
Lastly, For these several years none could ever observe
such an ill use made of that freedom, or such wicked de
signs to follow such assemblies; and therefore it is high
incharfty to proceed so severely upon mere suppositions.
' To this we shall add several authorities and testimonies
for farther confirmation of our sense of the matter, and to
let imposers see, that we are not the only persons who have
impleaded persecution, and justified liberty of conscience,
as Christian and rational.
CHAP. VI.
They reflect upon the sense and practice ofthe wisest, great
est, and best stales and persons of ancient and modern
times ; as of the Jews, Romans, Egyptians, Germans,
French, Hollanders, nay Turks and Persians too : and
Cato, Livy, Tacitus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Jovianus,
Chaucer, Dominicus Soto, Malvetzey, Grotius, Raleigh,
Doctor and Student, French and Dutch Protestants in
England, Dr. Hammond, Dr. Taylor, a nameless but
gteat Person, Lactantius, Hilary, Jerom, Chrysostom,
Polish and, Bohemian kings, K^ing James, and King
Charles the First.
A brief collection of the sense and practice of the greatest,
wisest, and learnedest common-wealths, kingdoms, and
particular persons of their times, concerning force upon
conscience. 1. Though the Jews, above all people, had the most to
say for imposition and restraint, within their own dominions,
having their religion instituted by so many signal proofs of
divine original, it being delivered to them by the hand of
God himself, yet such was their indulgence to dissenters, that
if they held the common received Noahchical principles tend
ing to the acknowledgment of One God and a just life, they

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE, 153
had the free exercise of their distinct modes or ways of
worship, which were numerous. Of this their own rabbies
are witnesses, and Grotius out of them.
2. The Romans themselves, as strict as they were, not
only had thirty thousand. gods (if Varro may be credited)
but almost every family of any note had its distinct Sacra,
or peculiar way of worship.
3. It was the sense fof that grave, exemplary common
wealth's- man, Cato, in Sallust, that among other things
which ruin any government, want of freedom of speech, or
men's being obliged to humour times, is a great one:
which we find made good by the Florentine republic, as
Guiccardine relates.
4. Livy tells us, ' It was a wonder that Hannibal's army,
consisting of divers nations, divers humours, differing
habits, contrary religions, various languages, should live
thirteen years from their own country under his command,
without so much as once mutinying, either against their
general or amongst themselves.' But what Livy relates
for a wonder, that ingenious marquis Virgilio Malveteey
gives the reason of; namely, ' That the difference of their
opinion, tongues, and customs, was the reason of their
preservation and conquest :' for, says he, ' it was impossible
so many contrary spirits should combine ; and if any should
have done it, it was in the general's power to make the
greater party by his equal hand ; they owing him more of
reverence than they did of affection to one another. 'This,'
says he, ' some impute to Hannibal ; but how great soever
he was,' I give it to the variety of humours in the army.
For,' adds he, 'Rome's army was ever less given to mutiny
ing when joined with the provincial auxiliaries, than when
entirely Roman.' Thus much, and more, in his public dis
courses upon Cornelius Tacitus.
5. The same best statist ofhis time, C. Tacitus, tells us
in the case of Cremtius, that it had been the interest of
Tiberius not to have punished him ; inasmuch as curiosity
is begotten by restriction of liberty to write or speak, which
never missed of proselytes.
6. Justin Martyr I will forbear to quote in less than his
' Two whole Apologies,' dedicated to Adrian and Antoninus
Pius, as I take it.
7. Tertullian ad Scapulam, that learned and judicious
apologist, plainly tells us, ' That it is not the property of
religion to compel or persecute for religion :' she should
be accepted for' herself, not for force; that being a poor
and beggarly one that. has no better arguments to convince;
and a manifest evidence of her superstition and falsehood.

154 THE GREAT CASE OF
8. Of this we take the nine months reign of the emperor
Jovian us to be an excellent demonstration ; whose great
wisdom, and admirable prudence in granting toleration,
expressly saying, ' He would have none molested for the
exercise of their religion,' calmed the impetuous storms of
dissention betwixt the Homoousians and Arrians ; and re
duced the whole empire, before agitated with all kind of
commotions during the reigns of Constantine, Constantius,
and Julian, to a wonderful serenity and peace, as Socrates-
Scholasticus affirms.
9. That little kingdom of /Egypt had no less than forty
thousand persons retired to their private and separate ways
of worship, as Eusebius, out of Philo Judaeus and Josephus,
relates. 10. And here let me bring in honest Chaucer, whose
matter (and not his poetry) heartily affects me : it was in a
time when priests were as rich and lofty as they are now,
and causes of evil alike.
* The time was once, and may return again,
(For oft may happen that hath been beforn)
When shepherds had none inheritance,
Ne of land, nor fee in sufferance,
But what might arise of the bare sheep,
(Were it more or less) which they did keep,
Well, ywis, was it with shepherds tho' :
Nought having, nought feat'd they to forgo,
For Pan (God) himself was their inheritance,
And little them serv'd for their maintenance,
The shepherd's God so well them guided,
That of nought were they unprovided;
+ Butter enough, honey, milk, and whay,
And their flock fleeces them to array.
But tract of time and long prosperity,
(That nurse of vice, this of insolency)
Lulled the shepherds in such security,
That not content with loyal obeysance,
Some gan to gap for greedy governance,
And match themselves with mighty potentates,
X Lovers of lordships and troublers of states.
• The primitive state of things, observed by a poet, more than 800 years
old ; by which the clergy may read their own apostacy and character.
t Time and prosperity corrupted them, and then they grew statesmen.
\ It was now they began to persecute; they hated any that were more
devout than themselves : devotion was counted disaffection ; religious assem
blies, conventicles ; primitive-spirited Christians, upstart heretics : thus the
tragedy began, Cain slaying Abel about religion.

}

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 155
Then gan shepherd swains to look aloft,
And leave to live hard, and learn to lig soft,
Though under colour of shepherds same while
There crept in wolves full of fraud and guile,
That often devour'd their own sheep,
And often the shepherd that did them keep.
* This was the first source ofthe shepherd's sorrow,
That nor will be quit, with bale nor borrow.
11. Who.knows not that our first reformers were great
champions for liberty of conscience? as Wickliff in his re
monstrance to the parliament ; the Albigenses to Lewis
the 11th and 12th of France : Luther to the several diets
under Frederick and Charles the Fifth ; Calvin to Francis
the First ; and many of our English Martyrs, as the poor
" Plowman's famous Complaint," in " Fox's Martyr-
ology," &c.
12. The present affairs of Germany plainly tell us, that
toleration is the preservation of their states; the contrary
having formerly almost quite wasted them.
13. The same in France : who can be so ignorant of
their story, as not to know that the timely indulgence of
Henry the Fourth, and the discreet toleration of Rich lieu
and Mazarin, saved that kingdom from being ruined, both
by the Spaniards and one another ?
14. Holland, than which what place is there so improved
in wealth, trade and power, chiefly owes it to her indulgence
in matters of faith and worship.
15 Among the very Mahometans of Turkey and Persia,
what variety of opinions, yet what unity and concord is
there ? We mean in matters of a civil importance.
16. It was the opinion of that great master of the "sen
tences," Dominicus a Soto, ' That every man had a natu
ral right to instruct others in things that are good : and he
may teach the gospel-truths also, but cannot compel any to
believe them; he may explain them : and to' this, (says he)
every man has a right,' as in his 4 Sent. dist. 5. art. 13. pag.
115. 7.
17. 'Strifes about religion,' said judicious and learned
Grotius, ' are the most pernicious and destructive, where
provision is not made for dissenters : the contrary most
nappy; as in Muscovy.' He farther says, upon the occasion
of Campanella, ' That not a rigid, but easy government, suits
best with the northern people.' He often pleads the relax
ation of temporary laws to be reasonable and necessary ; as
« He truly maketh their avarice the cause of their degeneration ; for it is
the root of all evil.

156 THE GREAT CASE OF
in the case of the Curatii andHoratii, and Fabius Vitulanus ;
and others stinted to time and place, as the Jewish laws,&c.
Polit. Maxims, p. 12, 18, 78, 98.
18. The famous Raleigh tells us, ' That the way for ma
gistrates to govern well, and gain the esteem of their peo
ple, is to govern by piety, justice, wisdom, and a gentle and
moderate carriage towards them : and that disturbance at
tends those states, where men are raised, or depressed by
parties.' See his observations and maxims of state.
19. If I mistake not, the French and Dutch Protestants
enjoy their separate ways of worship in London, if not in
other parts of these lands, without molestation : we do the
like in remote countries, but not in our own.
20. This must needs be the meaning ofthe learned doc
tor to his inquisitive student, in their judicious dialogue
about the fundamental laws of the kingdoms, when he says,
' That such laws as have not their foundation in nature,
justice and reason, are void, ipso facto,' and whether per
secution or restraint upon conscience be congruous with
either, let the impartial judge. Lib. i. chap. 6.
21. Doctor Hammond himself, and the grand patron of
the English church, was so far from urging the legality of
restriction in matters relating to conscience, that he writ,
argued, and left upon his dying-bed, his sense to the con
trary ; as the author of his life might have been pleased to
observe, but that interest stood in the way ; the doctor ex
horting his party, ' not to seek to displace those then in the
university, or to persecute them for any matter of religious
difference.' 22* That a person of no less ability in the Irish protestant
church, did the same, ¦ I mean Dr. Jer. Taylor, his whole
discourse of ' Liberty of Prophecy,' is a most pregnant
demonstration. 23. It was the saying of a person once, too great to be
named now, ' That liberty of conscience is every man's na
tural right; and he who is deprived of it, isa slave in the
midst of the greatest liberty : aud since every man should
do as he would be done to, such only do not deserve to have
it, that will not give it.'
24. Lactantius reflects upon persecutors thus, ' If you
will with blood, with evil, and with torments defend your
worship, it shall not thereby be defended, but polluted.'
Lib. 5. cap. 20.
25. Hillary against Auxentius saith, ' The Christian
church does not persecute, but is persecuted.'
26. Jerom, thus ; ' Heresy must be cut off with the svrord
of the spirit.' Proaein. lib. 4.

LIBERTY. OF CONSCIENCE. 157
27. Chrysostom saith, ' That it is not the manner of the
children of God to persecute about their religion, but an.
evident token of antichrist.' Relig. Uris. pag. 192.
28. Stephen, king of Poland, declared his mind in the
point controverted, thus; ' I am king of men, not of con
science ; a commander of bodies, not of souls.'
29. The king of Bohemia was of opinion, ' That men's
consciences ought in no sort to be violated, urged, or con
strained.' 30. And lastly, let me add (as what is, or should be now,
of more force) the sense of king James and Charles the First,
men famed for their great natural abilities and acquired
learning, that no man1 ought to be punished for his religion,
nor disturbed for his conscience; in that it is the duty of every
man to give what he would receive. ' It is a sure rule in divi
nity, 'said king James/thatGod never loves to plant his church
by violence and bloodshed.' And in his Exposition on Rev.20.
he saith, 'That persecution is the note of a false church.' And
in the last king's advice to the present king, he says, ' Take
heed of abetting any factions : your partial adhering to any
one side, gains you not so great advantages in some men's
hearts, (who are prone to be of their king's religion) as it
loseth you in others, who think themselves and their profes
sion first despised, then persecuted by you.'
Again, ' Beware of exasperating any factions, by the
crossness and asperity of some men's passions, humours, or
private opinions employed by you, grounded only upon their
difference in lesser matters, which are but the skirts and
suburbs of religion ; wherein a charitable connivance, and
Christian toleration, often dissipates their strength, whom
rougher opposition fortifies; and puts the despised and op
pressed party into such combinations as may most enable
them to get a full revenge on those they count their perse
cutors ; who are commonly assisted by that vulgar commi
seration which attends all that are said to suffer under the
notion of religion.'
' Always keep up solid piety, and those fundamental
truths which mend both hearts and lives of men, with im
partial favour and justice. Your prerogative is best shewn
and exercised in remitting, rather than exacting the rigour
of laws ; there being nothing worse than legal tyranny.'
Now upon the whole, we ask, what can be more equal,
what more reasonable, than liberty of conscience ; so cor
respondent with the reverence due to God, and respect to
the nature, practice, promotion, and rewards of the Chris
tian religion, the sense of the divine writ, the great privi
lege of nature, and noble principle of reason, the justice,

158 THE GREAT CASE OF
prudence, and felicity of government, and, lastly, to the
judgment and authority of a whole cloud of famous' wit
nesses, whose harmony in opinion as much detects the un
reasonableness and incharity of persecutors, as their savage
cruelties imply an high contempt of solid determinations r
of which number I cannot forbear the mention of two, whose
actions are so near of kin to one another, and both to inhu
manity, as the same thing can be to itself.
The first is a great iord of Buckinghamshire, but so
hearty a persecutor of the poor Quakers, that rather than
they should peaceably enjoy the liberty of worshipping God,
(and to supply the county-defect of informers) he has en
couraged a pair of such wretches, that it had been a disgrace
for the meanest farmer to converse with ; one having been
prisoner in Aylesbury, for theft, and said to have been burnt
in the hand ; and the other of a complexion not much less
scandalous and immoral.
To give an undeniable testimony of their merit, once for
all, I shall briefly relate a most notorious piece of perjury.
They, suspecting a religious assembly to be at a certain
place in the same county, came ; and finding one in reality,
repaired to one they call Sir Thomas Clayton, and a jus
tice ; where they deposed, ' That not only a meeting was at
such an house, but one Tho. Zachery and his wife were
there ;' who at the same time, as at the trial upon indict
ment for perjury at Aylesbury was proved by sufficient wit
nesses from London, were then at that city ; yet fined not
only for being there, but for the speaker also, though none
spoke that day.
Upon the prosecution of these men, as perjured men, and
by the law disprivileged of all employ, and never to be
credited more in evidence, several delays were made, much
time spent, and not a little pains bestowed, all in hopes of
an exemplary success, which proved so, but the wrong way;
for the very last sessions, when the matter should have re
ceived an absolute decision, and the attendants have been
dismissed (especially on the score of the witnesses, that
came from London the second time, upon no other account)
a letter was reported to have been writ from the aforesaid
lord, in favour of those informers, to this purpose, ' That
since Sir Tho. Clayton was not present, the business could
not well be determined ; but if the court would undertake
the ending of it, he besought them to be favourable to those
honest men.' If this be true, as said, it is a most aggra
vated shame to nobility ! What ! to protect them from the
lash of the law, who went about to destroy truth, the life
of it ! It is a dishonour to the government, a scandal to the

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 159
country, and a manifest injury to an inoffensive and useful
inhabitant. The other is as well known by his cruelty, as by his name,
and he scarce deserves another ; however, he is understood
by that ofthe Reading knight-errant, and always in armour
for the devil; a man whose life seems to be whole Bonner
revived. Hogestrant, the popish inquisitor, could not hate
Martin Luther more than he does a poor dissenter; and
wants but as much power, as he has will, to hang more than
he has imprisoned. The laws made against Papists he in
flicts upon the Quakers ; and makes it crime enough for a
premunire, to have an estate to lose.
The single question is not, ' Were you at such a meet
ing ?' (which the act intends) but, 'Will you swear?'
(which it intends not.) And women escape him as little for
this, as those of his own tribe do for some things else. Bat
what of all things most aggravates the man's impiety, is the
making a devilish snare of a Christian duty; since such as
have come to visit the imprisoned, have been imprisoned
themselves for their charity. So that with him it seems a
current maxim, that those must not come to see prisoners,
and not be such themselves, who will not take the oath of
allegiance to do it.
To relate the whole tragedy, would render him as bad,
as the discourse big; and the latter not less voluminous,
than the former odious. But three things I shall observe :
First, that he has crowded seventy-two persons (of those
called Quakers) men and women, immodestly into jail, not
suffering ,them to enjoy common conveniences. And for his
diversion, and the punishment of little children, he pours
cold water down their necks.
Secondly, His imprisonments are almost perpetual. First,
he premunires them, without any just cause of suspicion ;
then imprisons them ; and lastly plunders them, and that by
a law enacted against Romanists : which, if all be true that
is said, is more his concern than theirs, if without offence it
may be supposed he has any religion at all.
Thirdly, Some have been there about eight years ; and
should be eighteen more, were he as sure to live (being
more than seventy) and enjoy his power, as doubtless he
hopes to die before those good laws overtake him that would
make an example of such an oppressor. In short, wives,
widows, poor and fatherless, are all fish for his net ; and
whether over or under age, he casts none away, but seems
to make it his privilege to correct law, by out-doing it.
When we have said all we can (and we can never say too
much, if enough) he is still his own best character.

160 THE GREAT CASE OF
Such are the passions, follies, and prejudices, men de
voted to a spirit of imposition and persecution are attended
with. Non enim possumus qua: vidimus, et audivimus, non loqui.
In short, what religious, what wise, what prudent, what
good-natured person, would be a persecutor ? Certainly it
is an office only fit for those, who being void of all reason, to
evidence the verity of their own religion, fancy it to be true,
from that strong propensity and greedy inclination they find
in themselves to persecute the contrary. A weakness of so
ill a consequence to all civil societies, that the admission of
it ever was, and ever will prove their utter ruin, as well as
their great infelicity, who pursue it.
And though we could not more effectually express our
revenge, than by leaving such persons to the scope of their
own humours ; yet being taught to love and pray for our
persecutors, we heartily wish their better information, that
(if it be possible) they may act more suitably to the good
pleasure ofthe eternal just God, and beneficially to these
nations. To conclude ; Liberty of conscience, as thus stated and
defended, we ask, as our undoubted right by the law of God,
of nature, and of our own country. It has been often pro
mised ; we have long waited for it ; we have writ much, and
suffered in its defence, and have made many true complaints,
but found little or no redress.
However, we take the righteous holy God to record;
against all objections that are ignorantly or designedly
raised against us, that
1st. We hold no principle destructive of the English go
vernment. 2d. That we plead for no such dissenter (if such a one
there be )
3d. That we desire the temporal and eternal happiness of
all persons (in submission to thedivine will of God); heartily
forgiving our cruel persecutors;
4thly, and lastly, We shall engage, by God's assistance,
to lead peaceable, just and industrious lives amongst men',
to the good and example of all. But if, after all we have
said, this short discourse should not be credited, nor an
swered in any of its sober reasons and requests, but suffer
ings should be the present lot of our inheritance from this
generation; be it known to them all, that meet we must,
and meet we cannot but encourage all to do (whatever we
sustain) in God's name and authority, who is Lord of hosts,
and King of kings ; at the revelation of whose righteous

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 161
judgments, and glorious tribunal, mortal men shall render
an account of the deeds done in the body. And whatever
the apprehensions of such may be concerning this discourse,
it was writ in love, and from a true sense of the present
state of things, and time and the event will vindicate it
from untruth. In the mean while, it is matter of great sa
tisfaction to the author, that he has so plainly cleared his
conscience, in pleading for the Liberty of other men's,
and publicly borne his honest testimony for God, not out of
season to his poor country.
POSTSCRIPT.
A few brief observations upon the late Act, and the usual
terms of Acts of this Nature.
That which we have to say, relates either to the terms
ofthe act, or the application of them to us. As to the terms
of the act, they are these ; ' Seditious conventicles, sedi
tious sectaries, and meetings under colour or pretence of re-
ligion, p. 1.
1. Seditious, from Sedition, imports as much as ' turbu
lent, contentious, factious, which sows strife and debate, and
hazards the civil peace of the government.'
2. Conventicle, ' is a diminutive private assembly, de
signing and contriving evil to particular persons, or the
government in general.' See Lamb, p. 173. In Tertullian's
sense, it is ' an assembly of immodest and unclean per
sons ;' at least it was so taken in those days, and objected
against the Christians as their practice, whom he defends.
Ter. Apol.
3. Sectaries, ' must be such as disjoin or dismember them
selves from the body of truth, and confess to a strange and
untrue opinion. If any subject of this realm, being sixteen
years of age, or upwards, shall be present at any assembly,
or conventicle, on pretence of religion, &c,' which can sig
nify no more than thus much, that true it is, some may meet
and assemble to worship God, and upon a religious account,
that are dissenters ; such we censure not ; but those who,
under colour or pretence of any exercise of religion, con
spire, &c. they are to be suspected and prosecuted.' — This
being the true explanation of the terms of the act, we pro
ceed to shew how unreasonably they are applied to us.
1. Words are but so many intelligible marks and charac
ters, set and employed to inform us of each other's concep
tions, and. therein of the nature of those things they stand
for. Now because we take the act to mean what it speaks,
and that the law concludes no man guilty upon conjectures,
V6l. ii. l

162 THE GREAT CASE OF
but from the detection of some fault; we affirm ourselves
altogether unconcerned in that word, seditious, because it
was never our practice, in words or actions, ' to disturb the
government, or suggest principles that might hatch conspi
racies, or feed the vulgar with disaffection to their rulers ;'
but before the king's coming in, at his coming in, and ever
since, notwithstanding our frequent suffering, ' we have
made it our business to heal animosities, preach forgiveness
and charity amongst men,' and that they would, by an hearty
repentance, turn to God, rather than hunt after revenge
upon one another : therefore we assert, we have not done
one thing that may be proved seditious, in the sense above-
mentioned. 2. That we are strangers to conventicles is most evident ;
for where the parts that render it such are wanting, there
can be no conventicle : but that they are in our assemblies,
appears; first, ' Becatrse our meetings are not small. 2.
Neither are they private or clandestine ; but in the view of
all people. Nor are they riotous, licentious, or otherwise
immodest, or immoral; but on purpose to dissuade persons
from such impieties.' So that we are clear in the interpre
tation ofthe law, 13 H. 5. cap. 8. 19, and 19 H. 7. cap. 13,
and in the sense ofthe famous father Tertullian.
3. Sectaries, is a word, that whosoever has but confidence
enough to conceit himself in the right, by consequence wants
none to suppose the contrary in the wrong, and so to call
him a Sectary. But this is but a mere begging ofthe ques
tion ;for to say those are Sectaries, does not conclude them
such ; nor does the act speak so plainly of dissenters. But
granting it did, yet they must be seditious ones, or else all
will be in vain. Where we may observe, that purely to be
a Sectary is not what the act strikes at, but to be a seditious
one: for a man may differ in judgment about matters of
faith, from the national religion, and yet correspond with
the government in matters civil. So that the act upon the
whole aims not at Sectaries simply, but they must be such
as are enemies to the civil constitution to be rendered se
ditious ones, from which we have sufficiently cleared our
selves. 4. ' That we meet under colour and pretence, and not
really, to worship God,' we deny, and none can prove. It
were high incharity to affirm positively, ' this or that peo
ple meet only under a colour of religion.' Yet unless the
act had so expressed itself, we conceive their authority lame
and imperfect that persecute us by it. It will help but little
to say, the king, lords, and commons, by the following words,
' In other manner than according to the liturgy ofthe church

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 163
of England,' meant, that such meet under a pretence that
did not conform to that worship ; since the precedent words
say, ' under colour or pretence of any exercise of religion in
other manner,' &c. So that they are only struck at, who
are not sincere dissenters ; but that are such, with design
to carry on another end.
Obj. But may some say, ' It is granted, you have very
evidently evaded the force of the act, so far as relates to
these recited expressions. But what if a bill be ready, for
an explanatory and supplementory act to the former, wherein
this scope for argument will not be found ; because your
meetings will be absolutely adjudged seditious, riotous, and
unlawful.' To which we answer, That as the granting of the first,
which none reasonably can deny, is a manifest impeachment
of such as have violently prosecuted people for being pre
sent at religious assemblies (almost to their utter undoing)
so shall we as easily answer the second, which amounts to
the force of an objection, and briefly thus :
First, It is not more impossible for mankind to preserve
their society without speech, than it is absolutely requisite
that the speech be regular and certain. For, if what we
call a man, a lion, a whale, to-day. we should call a woman,
a dog, a sprat, to-morrow ; there would be such uncertainty
and confusion, as it would be altogether impossible to pre
serve speech or language intelligible.
Secondly, It is not in the power of all the men in the
world to reconcile an absolute contradiction, to convert the
nature of light into that of darkness, nor to enact a thing to
be that which it is not : but that those endeavour to do, who
think of making our religious meetings routs and riots.
For, 1. They offer violence to our common propriety of lan
guage ; it being the first time that ever a religious and peace
able assembly would be enacted a rout or riot. Nature,
reason, the law of the land, and common practice and obser
vation, give a clear contrary definition of rout and riot. 2.
They endeavour to reconcile contradictions ; for they would
have a thing that, which by nature it cannot be : for that
which is peaceable cannot be riotous ; and what is religious
can never be seditious. For any to say, ' our meetings are
not religious,' is not only a poor evasion, but great incha-
rity : for that is properly a religious assembly, where per
sons are congregated with a real purpose of worshipping
God, by prayer or otherwise, let the persons met be esteemed
doctrinally orthodox, or not. Can any be so ignorant or so
malicious, as to believe we do not assemble to worship God,
to the best of our understanding ? If they think otherwise
l 2

164 THE GREAT CASE, &C
they must, and do,*assume unto themselves a power beyond
the arrogancy of the pope himself, that never yet adven
tured to tell man his thoughts, nor the purposes and intents
of his heart ; which he, or they, must do, that definitively
judge our assemblies (void of sword or staff, drum or mus
ket, tumult or violence, and circumstantiated with all the
tokens of Christian devotion) a rout or a riot. And truly,
if Protestants deny the legality of those acts or edicts which
were contrived and executed in order to their suppression, by
the respective kings and parliaments that owned the Romish
faith and authority, where they either did or do live, let
them not think it strange, if we on the same terms (namely,
scruple of conscience) refuse compliance with their laws of
restraint. And as the first reformers were no whit daunted
at the black characters the Romanists fastened on them, nei
ther thought their assemblies, in a way of professed separa
tion, the more unlawful for their representing them such ;
no more are we surprised or scared at the ugly phrases
daily cast upon us by a sort of men, that either do not know
us, or would not that others should : for we are not so easily
to be braved, menaced or persecuted out of our sense, reason,
and privilege.
They say, ' Losers have leave to speak;' at least we take
it ; none being greater losers, than such as, for dissenting
from national institutions in point of faith or worship, are
deprived of their common rights and freedoms, and hinder
ed as much as may be from reverencing the God that made
them, in that way which to them seems most acceptable to
him. To conclude; we say, (and by it let our intentions in our
whole discourse be measured) that we have not defended any
dissenters, whose quarrel or dissent is rather civil and po
litical, than religious and conscientious : for we really think
such unworthy of protection from the English government,
who seek the ruin of it; and that such as are contributors
to the preservation of it, (though dissenters in point of faith
or worship) are unquestionably intituled to a protection
from it.

SEASONABLE CAVEAT
AGAINST
POPERY,
Or, a Pamphlet, -entitled,
AN EXPLANATION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
BELIEF,
BRIEFLY EXAMINED,
BY WILLIAM PENN.

But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines [the commandments of
men. Matt. xv. 9.
Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth;
men of corrupt minds, reprobates concerning the faith. 2 Tim. iii. 8.

To the English Protestant Reader.
We hope it may not be too late to militate for truth
against the dark suggestions of papal superstition. — Nor can
we think that it should be esteemed heterodox, for a dis
senting Protestant (whilst almost gasping for his own li
berty) to vindicate that of reformation, from the quaintest
stratagems, and most unwearied endeavours, of Romish
emissaries, to put both it and us into their inquisition.
We know they have so far mastered their ancient fierce
ness, and masked their sanguine looks with those more mo
dest and familiar, that though we need not more reason
than before, we need more skill and caution, or else we may
too fatally experience the force of that vulgar proverb ;
' Laugh in thy face, and cut thy throat.'
They are grown so complaisant, as none seem more exas
perated at persecution than themselves, (whilst the very fa
thers of it) decrying the fierceness of some countries (whose
incendiaries they were, and still are) and imputing all the
blood of poor Protestants to some unwarrantable civil score,
(therein abusing the civil magistrate with the execution of
their own conspiracies) : nay, for all their venerable esteem
of the pope's infallibility, they have not stuck to censure

166 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
his roaring bulls (though procured by their own means) and
all that might express their new tenderness ; that many,
unacquainted with their practices, are ready to believe them
what they say themselves to be; 'whose moral is to have
two strings to their bow, to be ambo-dexter, and furnished
with meanings to suit the compass of all occasions.'
In short, I premise three things :
First, That I cordially believe a great number of Roman
ists may be abused zealots, through the idle voluminous
traditions of their church ; whom I rather pity, than dare to
wrong. Secondly, That I design nothing less than incensing of
the civil magistrate against them (were such a thing possi
ble) : for I profess myself ' a friend to an universal tolera
tion of faith and worship.'
Thirdly, That the pamphlet answered, being but one
sheet, I confine my examination to a narrow compass : and
the rather, because a more considerable discourse is under
my present enquiry ; which, if Providence so order it, may
speedily be made public.
However, let this go for preface to that larger tract ; in
which the Romanists may see both their ignorance in the
marks of a true church, and their little share or interest in
those they attribute to her as such.
W. P.
Penn, Buckinghamshire,
the 23rd of 'the Ilth
Month, 1670.

A Seasonable Caveat against Popery.
Though to argue against a tribe of men, that esteem all
reason carnal, and Scriptures imperfect, might rightly be
judged a mere beating of the air, and a task only to be en-
terprised by such as are desirous of no success ; yet to pre
vent those who may be deceived, and if possible to reclaim
such as are ; and lastly, to clear mine own conscience, (most
of all in mine eye) I shall descend to consider the un
sound, as well as untrue, confessions of the Romanists in the
pamphlet under examination.

AGAINST POPERY. 167

I. Of the Scriptures.
Papist. 'We believe the Holy Scriptures to be of Divine
Inspiration, and infallible authority; and whatsoever is
therein contained to be the word of God.' Page 1.
Answ. Certainly these men must either think we are
wholly ignorant of their principles, or we must needs con
clude they have forsaken them. It is so manifest that they
have robbed the scriptures of their authority, that the pope
has all; and they have then only any, when he is pleased
to stamp his probatum est upon them. That this is true,
how frequent do we find the Romanists in their reflections
upon the Protestants on this occasion, 'That they had not
known the scriptures to be such ; nay, they might have been
as an idle tale to them, had they not been received, believed,
and delivered down, as divine writ, by their church !' As if
the ground of believing this to be true, and that to be false,
had been as much that of true faith, as we know it, by sad
experience, to be the cause of that stupid superstition,
and brutish zeal, which reign amongst the abused Ro
manists. Besides, if the scriptures be infallible, as they
confess, why are those doctrines and practices retained in
the Romish church which most expressly oppose the sense
of scripture, upon the single edicts of the pope ; as that of
prohibiting priests to marry, and flesh to be eaten upon cer
tain days ? Of which the truly catholic apostle give this
definitive judgment, they are " the doctrine of devils." Nor
are their practices, in lieu thereof, less diabolical ; since their
fasts are most usually kept with 'excessive treats of wine
and sweetmeats ;' and their priests are notoriously allowed
to frequent stews, or, to keep as many strumpets as their
purse or lust shall please ; though it be a most cardinal
offence, by marrying, to have one honest woman. But those
who travel Italy are not unacquainted with the pope's gain,
or taxes on such places, for which they have his broad-seal,
or open licence.
Perhaps some will say, ' These are but minute matters,'
(however good old Paul might zealously stile them doctrines
of devils) and therefore we will instance in something more
important.' What think the Papists of their images ? ''Tis
true, that they say they do not adore them now ; but we
know what esteem their first erectors put upon them, and
the high value the Romish church places upon the inventors :
and it is as impossible we should give our eyes the lie, when
we behold them macerating their breasts and knees before
those unsensible stocks and stones, as Romanists are wont

168 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
to think us most absurd in crediting our senses ; as if that
proverb were of no moment, ' Seeing is believing, or rather
convincing.' Alas, their popes, cardinals, friars, nunneries, holy-days,
with other points more doctrinal yet to be examined, whence
came they ? What scripture ever authorized such practices
in the Christian church ? Paul told the churches, " He had
not been wanting to declare the whole counsel of God unto
them ;" and yet were they wholly ignorant of these things,
and that for above three hundred years after.
Therefore we infer, that since there is that manifest jar
betwixt this piece of their profession, and their present prac
tice, as well as doctrine, they have either relinquished their
former faith, or play the wretched imposters with the peo
ple. I wish the first, but fear the last.
Papist. ' But since in the scripture there are some things
hard to be understood, which the unstable wrest, to their own
destruction ; we therefore profess, for the end of controver
sies, to submit our judgment to that ofthe church in a free
general council.'
Answ. A poor shift to invalidate scriptures, and entitle
their own traditions to the honour of a rule, and as what
most aptly should decide all controversies.
Peter's words, applied to render this pretence more plau
sible, are miserably misapplied. The apostle only says, that
Paul had writ to them concerning "the long-suffering of
God, that it was salvation ;" (the present subject han
dled by Peter) and that in those epistles Paul had " some
. things hard to be understood." But what were those things?
•Not those in controversy betwixt us and the Papists, nothing
being more notorious. And who were they that wrested them,
but'the unlearned and unstable, not in the wisdom of this
world, (that being science, falsely so called!) but wicked
and ungodly men? as the profuse Atheist of the times in his
frequent abuse of the scripture, by his scurrilous misinter
pretation of it. For as the wise man said, "To fear God,
is wisdom," (or true learning) and to depart from iniquity,
that is a good understanding;" and as Jesus Christ said,
S'They that do my will, shall know of my doctrine." How
then can the Papists infer from hence, that the scriptures are
imperfect, in the more fundamental points of faith and wor
ship ? Can it be the word of God, and yet wanting suf
ficiency ?
A free general council is a monster, in the Romish church !
How dare they talk such language here in England, who
know the severity of \the Jesuits and popish faction against
it beyond the seas ? What meant those ill resentments

AGAINST POTERY. 169
against White and Serjeant of England, and Welch of Ire
land in Rome, if this latitudinarian or new kind of popery
.had not disgusted? Nor can I take it for an instance of
their return ; but as the next best step to the exorbitancy
of popish infallibility.
What should a council be called for ? That principles
should be received or disowned? Then must a general
council give faith, and understanding; or else men must be
concluded to believe against their belief, by plurality of
votes: a thing ridiculous, with half-witted people. If God's
grace, and the scripture record, be not sufficient, reason and
experience tell us that general councils are much more in
sufficient. Besides, this were to usher in all kind of im
piety : for whatever interest in the general council (as that
of Trent) concludes as requisite to be received or done, that
must indispensably be obeyed : so that the moral or doc
trinal good or evil of an act, or principle (in and from a
man's own judgment) shall not be obliging; but he must be
bound against his own sense, reason, and faith.
The Sense of Antiquity, and their Own Authors.
Their pretence of using tradition for a. necessary supply
to the defects of the scriptures, is a mere juggle ; since they
only evade the clearness of the one, to shroud their defective
doctrines under the abused antiquity ofthe other. For it is
well known, that by their ' Expurgatory indices,' they have
endeavoured fo purge the works ofthe first fathers, of such
matteis as might make to the overthrow of their supersti
tious doctrines. This is evident out of Junius, in the case
of Bertram, elder than Theophylact, Oecumenius, &c.
Bellarmine himself sticks not to allow it, but shifts it off to
an Arian.
This may be farther seen, in the collection Binius made
of the fathers, pag. 28. 2 edit. an. 1611. In short, whole
sentences are put out, and whole sentences put in. Much
might; be said of this, but in my other discourse I shall en
large. And what they mean by a free general council, we may
read in the council of Trent, whose simony and cheats outdo
all precedents  Besides, these men little dream of one
Turrecremata, that in so many words tells us, ' The pope is
the foundation, rule, aud principle of faith :' (which is God's
gift) 'for to him it belongs,' says that doctor, ' to be the mea
sure, rule, and science of things that are to be believed, and
of things which are necessary to be believed unto life eter
nal.' Turrecrem. lib. 2. cap. 107. This is the sting. Con
sider the pope's interest; and what that is, such will be his

170 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
impositions : horrible slavery, and most unpardonable idola
try ! For as he can make a new creed, or symbol of faith, so
he can multiply new articles one upon another, says, Aug.
Triumphus extravag. de Urb. Qu. 59. Art. 2. Salmeron
Prolog, in com. in Epist. ad Rom. part 3. p. 176.
II. Of the Blessed Trinity : of Prayer to Saints and
Angels.
Papist. < We humbly believe the sacred mystery of the
blessed trinity, one eternal almighty and incomprehensible
God, whom only we adore and worship, as alone having
sovereign dominion over all things ; to whom we acknow
ledge, as due from men and angels, all glory and service,
and obedience ; abhorring from our hearts (as a most de
testable sacrilege) to give our Creator's honour to any crea
ture whatsoever.'
Answ. These fine words look newly stamped out of the
Jesuits' mint. Were they as plain, as they are filled with
equivocation, the Romanist would deceive us all in our
opinion of him, concerning the point in controversy. Ob
serve his cunning.
His words ofthe Trinity are modest, neither highly Atha-
nasian, nor yet Socinian, as some phrase it, but calculated to
both meridians. Yet how men can own God, and deny the
express rules of his spirit, as most precisely mentioned in
the scriptures of truth, is to me a paradox. But how much
the progenitors ofthe Romanists have been injurious to the
Christian faith, by their multiplied obscure phrases about
the Trinity, is not unknown to some.
He thinks to clear himself of imagery, but. plainly catches
himself in his own reservations. What honour does he give
to God ? ' That which is due to him, as having sovereign
dominion over all things.' He does not say that none is
due to saints or angels. 'They abhor to give their Crea
tor's honour to any creature ;' but do they deny to give any
divine honour to images, or the representations of saints
and angels ? Of this they are silent, but we know they do
it. Papist. ' And therefore we solemnly protest, that by the
prayers we address to angels and saints, we intend no other
than humbly to solicit their assistance before the throne of
grace : nor that we hope any thing from them as original-
authors, but from God through Jesus Christ, our only Me
diator and Redeemer.'
Answ. It were endless to bring the contradictions of their
own authors, to the sense these words seem to import;

AGAINST POPERY. 171
and yet they are so laid as to admit of various constructions;
an art they are greatly masters of.
First, What ground have they to believe that such solicit
ations have such effects ? The scriptures are silent in the
case ; nor was it the practice of several ages after that of
the apostles. So that it is neither warrantable by the scrip
ture, nor the most unspotted tradition.
Nor do we say, that the Papists ever held those images to
have any virtue simply from within themselves, but that
God was the original author : yet their own words imply,
they may be mediate authors of benefit to us.
And what is it but to contradict themselves, to say, ' They
own but one Mediator, Christ Jesus ;' and yet to allow a
mediating power to saints and angels, at the throne of
grace ? if people will be phrased out of their religion, they
may. But such deserve to be Papists, who have so mean an
opinion of their own understandings, as to embrace these"
crossing confessions for sincere articles of faith.
The Sense of Antiquity.
, Images of old were not admitted to be in churches (so
called ;) Simon Magus being their most notorious founder,
and by whose example they were first reverenced. The
Gnosticks, and Carpocratians, are charged with this popish
veneration, as heretics, Thdodoret,lib. 1. August. Hceret.
Fabul  Irceneus de H ceres, lib. 1. cap. 23. ' It is forbidden
to us to use that deceitful art,' said Clemens Alexandrihus,
more than 1300 years ago, lib. 6. Strom. The pictures of
what was worshipped were prohibited to be painted on the
walls, or that there should be any images in churches (so
called.) Thus in the council of Eliberis, Placuit picturas in
ecclesid esse non debere ; ne quod colitur, aut adoratur, in
parietibus depingatur, Con. 36. So August, de Morib. Ec
cles. lib. 1. cap. 24.
III. Of Justification of Merits.
Papist. 'We firmly believe that no force of nature, nor
dignity of our best works, can merit justification ; but we
are justified freely by grace, through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus.'
Answ. The Roman catholic is so far from firmly believing
what he says, that upon his own avowed principles he be
lieves nothing firmly. Can any sober person think, that to
be justified for the sake of works, is to be justified by
grace? If so, contradictions are most reconcileable, and
darkness may not unaptly be termed light. This is the very
case that Paul of old strenuously argued against the merilo-

172 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
rians of his time, " If of grace, then not of works ; if of
works, then not of grace."
It is to mock the world to say, ' That Romanists. expect
to be justified by grace,' who have for ages impleaded that
doctrine, as dangerous and heretical. Bellarmine, in his
discourse of this point, is most plain, and more modern au
thors follow his steps. But they say,
Papist. ' All other merits (according to our sense of that
word) signify no more than actions done by the assistance
of God's grace, to which he has promised a reward. — Thus
we believe the merit or rewardableness of holy living (both
which sjgnifv the same with us) arises not from the self-value
even of our best actions, as they are ours, but from the grace
and bounty of God.'
Answ. Methinks these men are run to a narrow strait,
who venture to reconcile merits and grace : they cannot
wholly be divorced from merits, and yet would they fain
espouse grace ; and by seeking to wed both, they do not a
little manifest their own palliated designs : for either they
must confess themselves, and all their ancestors most igno
rant persons, that theycould never find any distinction be
twixt merit and grace before ; or else they would retain the
force of their meritorious opinions, under their more general
concession of God's grace : a way of evading, they are not
a little skilled at.
Nor is there less difference betwixt merit and rewarda
bleness, as they phrase it, than betwixt the middle and the
end. Grace and merit, as stated by Calvinists and Papists,
are taken for ' faith without works,' and ' works without
faith ;' like the two poles : doctrines the most opposite.
Now rewardableness is neither; but something in the mid
dle ; and indeed the most true : for grace is a free gift,
requiring nothing: merit is a work proportioned to the
(wages: rewardableness is a work without which God will
not bestow his favour, and. yet not the meritorious cause;
' for that there is no proportion betwixt the work, that is
finite and temporary ; and the reward, which is infinite and
eternal : in which sense both the creature obeys the com
mands of God, and does not merit, but obtain only, and God
rewards the creature, and yet so as that he gives too. But
the Papists are very far from this medium ; and their shuf
fling this doctrine of merit betwixt grace and rewardable
ness, only shews how unwilling they are to venture it in the
plain field, and not that any thing of resemblance is betwixt
it and them, they being of three distinct natures and signifi
cations. Besides, it is wretched to think by what ways the abused

AGAINST POPERY. 173
Romanist's fancy to merit justification ; not by keeping the
moral law (as we shall shew anon); not by'fulfilling the
evangelical precepts ; but by their vain repetitions ' of their
Ave Maria's, beads, fasts, feasts, holy days, adoration of
images, frequenting of masses, praying' to the dead ; invok
ing the Virgin Mary for her intercession ; signing them
selves with the cross ; abstaining from flesh, and priests
from marriage ; by perpetrating some notorious fact for the
good of their church, whether by killing a prince, or blow
ing up a state.' These, and the like practices (strange and
exotic to the primitive and Christian faith and worship) are
the grand motives to justification ; and sometimes they have
gone so high, as to deserve a canonizing; at Rome itself.
Thus briefly have I given an account of their merits of jus
tification. IV. Ofthe Holy Eucharist.
Papist. ' In the holy eucharist, or most venerable sacra
ment ofthe body and blood of our Lord ; we acknowledge
that there are, as in all other sacraments, two things: the
visible sign, which is the forms of bread and wine, to which
no Catholic may, or doth, direct his worship. There is also
invisible grace signified, the body of our Lord ; whom, being-
present, we worship with all possible reverence for so great
a blessing, warranted herein by our blessed Lord himself in
two ofthe gospels.'
Answ. Above all other instances, this is the most preg
nant for defence ofour assertion ; namely, That either these
men have relinquished their old doctrine, or else they go
about to put the trick upon us. We hear no word at all of
fransubstantiation herein, the most sacred of their myste
rious absurdities, but what we are at great pains to observe
and collect. Perhaps they are ashamed of it, and willing it
should pass under some more general phrase, and less offen
sive. However, by that expression of the ' body of our
Lord, whom being present we adore,' we guess their mean
ing ; but how incoherent with their own words, as well as
reason, may easily appear.
First, They acknowledge that it is a sacrament, or sign.
If so, it is impossible that it should be, at the same time,
both the sign, and the thing signified : for if the very body
of Christ be present corporally, (as they use to assert) it
cannot be sacramentally so, but really and corporally there;
which is destructive of the nature of a sacrament, which is
but the representative, or image, of something mystical,
thereby resembled and signified.
Secondly, If this doctrine were true, their Lord would be

174 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
made by their priest • for till he says the words, there is no
real presence : and so the creature (and sometimes a sad one
too) makes his Creator ! which is nothing short of wretched
blasphemy. Thirdly, The lord they adore and reverence they eat; and
He that made heaven and earth, is comprehended of the
creature. Fourthly, I know but of one gospel, perhaps they know
of two, because they seem to own principles so contrary to
the true one ; but let that other be accurst ! If they would
have us understand by their expression, two ofthe evange
lists, then it is not unlikely but we may ken their meaning ;
and what they refer to must be Christ's benediction of the
bread and wine, and the giving them both to his disciples,
saying, " Take, this is my body ;" and " take, this is my
blood." But what then? Can any think that Christ gave
his body with his body ? That it was the giver and the
gift ? That it was the body blessing, and the body blest ?
Did the same body hold the same body in its own fingers ?
And was it eaten by the disciples, and yet without them?
And was it no bigger than a small piece of bread, and yet of
the proportion of a man ? And was it insensible, and broken
with their mouths, and yet whole and sensible out of them;
and all at the same instant of time.
Lastly, Could every one of the twelve eat the very whole
body, and yet that very body be visible with them? And all
this while one and the same body ? But methinks I hear
echoing from some popish zealot, no small anathema, for
offering to affront so sacred a mystery with so many carnal
cavils, and vain interrogatories !
To whom I shall answer once for all, in this point, that I
stand amazed, how any man of sense can be a Papist ; when
the only demonstration of his religion, must be his not un
derstanding it.
Many fond absurdities unmentioned (for brevity) might
have been observed : for reason never triumphed more over
any opinion, than this senseless one of transubstantiation ;
which may be one very good argument why so much perse
cution has ever attended the disbelief of it.
The Sense of Antiquity, and their Own Authors.
Antiquity knows it not. For eight hundred years after,
Christ it was never heard of; and when started, with great
disgusts entertained.
The council of Lateran was the first that undertook to
impose it : and the decrees, as to this point, were wholly

AGAINST POPERY. 175
abortive ; for they are not to be found as conciliary. This
was above twelve hundred years after Christ.
, Tertullian against Marcion, lib 4. cap. 40. Just. Mart.
against Tryphon the Jew. Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 2. in
Pash. and Pope Gelasius himself renounced and disclaimed
it, attributing only to it, ' The nature of a bare figure, as
retaining the substance and nature of bread and wine.' And
many of their doctors, Scotus, Bellarmine, Biel, &c. assure
us of its novelty.
But how far are such from the spirituality of the mystery
and knowledge ofthe true heavenly bread and wine that de
scended from above, (the anti-type) who ignorantly affirm
the certainty of such a transubstantiation, as renders that
very visible elementary bread and wine, at the same time,
the very invisible, spiritual, and glorified body of Christ ?
By which they make him a glorified, crucified, visible, invi
sible, spiritual, elementary Christ, all at the same time ! but
more of this in my larger tract.
V. Of Communion in One Kind.
Papist. ' We humbly confess, that from the beginning of
Christianity, the holy communion was administered fre
quently in both, and sometimes in each kind, according to
several circumstances.'
Answ. We may know him to be a Papist, by his frequent
confessions : and methinks it should not only prevent peo
ple from being seduced by them, but reduce those of their
own way to an utter abhorrence of so much allowed apos-
tacy. flow many times has he confessed this, that, and the other
thing, not to be of primitive practice and institution ? If
the ancient Christians did commune in both kinds, upon
what better reasons or motives was it so severely prohibited
by Romanists ? Is the blood of less virtue than the body ?
Even that which the scripture frequently commemorates
after this manner, ' The blood of cleansing ; and saved by
faith in his blood.' But they proceed further, and say,
Papist. ' Hence the holy church, following the piety of
Christians, who insensibly became accustomed to receive it
almost universally in one kind, upon great motives did after
wards ordain to have it in one, as now administered ; though
the receiving of it so is not matter of faith.'
Answ. Three things are very observable from this part of
their confession.
1. ' That because it was sometimes received in one kind
according to circumstances, it insensibly became received by

176 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
holy church but in one kind.' More nonsense and falshood
could not well be in so many words. [Nonsense,] for what
consequence can the latter words be to the former ? If in
each kind, then not any one more than the other : or why
not blood, and not bread : as well as bread, and not
blood ? But among the Papists, the people only partake
ofthe wafer. [Falshood,] for they neither have, nor can
they give one instance of that slippery or heedless way of
receiving it, as in each kind ; but whenever it was taken, for'
three hundred years together, it was in both kinds.
And what were those circumstances, that we can hear of
none of them ? Horrible cheats, and idle impostures, to
delude the unlearded and unstable ! Nor is itless impudence
for them to say, ' That the church received it but in one kind
upon any such score.' The conclusion can never be right,
where the premises are false.
2. 'That upon great motives, it was afterwards ordained
to be received but in one kind :' which great motives they
keep to themselves. Either they must think us such fools
as to credit them hand over head, and so needed not to men
tion them ; or else, they doubting their great motive to be
downright'dissuasives with all sober and, intelligent people,
chose rather to be silent, than more particular.
3. ' That the so receiving it is no matter of faith ;' which
is to notorious an untruth, as their own annals expressly tell
us, that Boniface the 8th, and John the 22nd, (if I mistake
not; for I was, when I met the pamphlet, destitute of such
books) highly contradicted one another : one threatening
the priests to turn them out, if they did not administer it in
both kinds; and the other, to excommunicate them, if not
burn them, in case they did. Which as it shews the eager
ness ofthe popes, so there is a choice piece of infallibility to
be observed : ' two infallible popes accusing each other of
gross fallibility.
Papist. ' Neither do we believe religious communicants
are hereby bereaved of any benefit in obeying the church's
order ; since our belief instructs us, that our blessed Lord
is equally present in one kind, as in both.'
Answ. To say that religious communicants are not be
reaved of any benefit by receiving it in one kind, would
imply, that irreligious communicants, the receivers of both
kinds, have the advantage. If so, methinks it is natural to
believe, that religious communicants, in both kinds, have
the most benefit. But what church is it that gives those
orders ? ' A free general council of Christians, where men
may speak without being in danger of their lives ?' No, but
a cabal of persons, picked, With a probalum est stamped

AGAINST POPERY. 177
upon them, out of the pope's closet, or conclave of cardi
nals, before they be admitted into the assembly of judges;
as most of the council of Trent notoriously were (often
cited by the author of this pamphlet). So that in plain
terms, ' The church is what the pope and his cardinals will
have it:' to whose interest most councils have sacrificed
their privileges, and thereby brought universal bondage
upon whole kingdoms and states.
That belief which instructs them, ' That Christ is equally
present, and therefore no need of receiving in both kinds,'
must needs be built upon the sandy foundation of papal
tradition ; not that of scripture, reason, or antiquity. For
if that very specifical and numerical virtue which is in the
bread, be in the wine* then Christ is implicitly charged, by
the Romanists, of an unnecessary matter. . But if there be
some virtue signified by the wine, more than by the bread,
* It is horrid sacrilege to rob the sign, much more the thing
signified. It is a supper ; and at supper there should be
to drink, as well as to eat. There can be no body without
blood ; and the drinking of his blood shews a shedding of
his blood for the world, and a participation of it'
Besides, the sign is incomplete ; and the end of that
sacrament or sign not fully answered, but plainly maimed ;
and what God hath put together, they have put asunder.
So that the falseness and unscriptural practice of these men
are very manifest.

The Sense of Antiquity, and their own Authors.
Of their dismembering this sign or figure, their own
council of Constance is very plain, ' That whereas some
presume to affirm, that Christian people ought to receive
the sacrament of the eucharist under both kinds of bread
and wine,' &c.
(Hence the council decrees against this error) : ' And
that though Christ did so administer it, and although in
the primitive church it was received,' (confessions very
large of the author, and example) ' we command, under ex
communication, that no priest communicate to the people
under both kinds of bread and wine.' C. C. Sess. 13. So
says Aquin. Com. in 6 John, lect. 7.
And said pope Gelasius, ' Let them receive in both kinds,
or neither.' Thus popes against councils, and doctor against
doctor : yet will the foolish Romanists (to say no more)
vaunt ofthe unity and infallibility of both.
Vol. II. m

178 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT

VI. Of the Sacrifice of the Altar.
Papist. ' The holy sacrifice indeed of the altar, we clearly
believe ought to be celebrated in both kinds, as now it is,
according to the divine institution, as being done in com
memoration of the Lord's Messed passion on the cross,
wherein the body and blood were separated.'
¦•'^Answ. Whether it be fair for the papists to sacrifice at
the.art'ar.ln. both kinds, and refer to Christ's words, Luke
xxi. 9, as a divine institution, and yet deny both kinds to
the people,- as no matter of faith, or of eminent regard ;
let the sober judge. Is the passage of divine institution
for the sacrifice, and not for the sacrament ? But it plainly
manifests the exorbitant power they ascribe to their church
above the scriptures ; since with them an order of her's
may, and ought, to break what themselves call a divine
institution. Papist. ' Whatsoever, therefore, propitiatory power cur
holy religion attributes to this commemorative sacrifice; it
is by virtue ofthe sacrifice ofthe cross, as being by this ap
plied to us : so that we still humbly acknowledge the ground
of our salvation to be derived from our Lord's blessed
passion.' Answ. Their affront to God, and juggle withmen, in
this very matter, are most detestable ! For notwithstanding
the scriptures expressly tell us, that we have an High
Priest that " needs not sacrifice once a year," but " who
hath offered one sacrifice ; and that, by the will of God we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all ; and that by one offering he perfected
them that are sanctified," Heb. x. 10, 11, 14; yet do they
daily sacrifice him afresh, as if his first were insufficient, or
their daily sins required a new one. But what man, en
dued with the least share of common sense, can be so stupid
as to imagine, that Christ is sacrificed by every popish
priest, when he offers up a bloodless fleshless wafer?
What greater irreverence can be shewn to the bitter passion
ofthe Lord Jesus Christ ? Making such a may-game ofhis
most dreadful agony and cruel death, as the Jews did with
a crucified child !
This is so much worse than the Aaronical priesthood,
as that was before Christ, and so typical of his coming, and
of divine authority ; and this after his coming; whose own
words and the apostle's (whom these men pretend to saint,
and own) bear record, " That once for all, and by one offer-

AGAINST POPERY. 179
ing of himself," &c. And consequently void of all com
mission, as well as precedent.
The cheat they put upon men is plainly this, that whilst
with fine words they seem originally to ground their salva
tion upon Christ's sacrifice of the cross, they craftily attribute
to their daily sacrifice of him, no small share of merit, as
so many mediate and secondary causes ; which must needs
be obvious to every unbiassed reader. Their curious
thets seem only to serve the place of so many covt
malignity of their sophistical doctrines.

VII. Of Prayer in Latin.
Papist. ' We freely acknowledge that it is no way's"
manded by the church, that the people should pray in a
language they understand not.'
Answ. I perceive the man is still upon his free acknow
ledgments. Certainly if what he so often confesses not to
have been the practice of the primitive church, and to be
unwarrantable from her example, were but abstracted, there
would remain a very abrupt and narrow faith for the Roman
ists to explain.
But he is too equivocal upon the word church. If by it
he would have us understand the ancient Christian church,
it is true, that no prayers were made in an unknown tongue ;
for the scriptures, of divine authority with her, expressly
condemn it, as irregular, and unprofitable.
" Let such keep silent," said the apostle Paul, 1 Cor. xiv.
28, and Peter never contradicted him. But if by the church
he understands the Roman, he is either careless of his own
reputation (that whilst he makes the moral law the ninth
head ofhis confession, commits so great an error against it,
as to obtrude a lie) or else he trusts to our ignorance of her
present practice ; for that she is guilty in this particular,
and the point defended too, I recommend the reader to the
following authorities :
Papist. ' Nay, there is given them all possible encourage
ment to increase their devotions, by ordaining and publish
ing most excellent prayers in vulgar languages for their use.
There is an express command of our holy mother the church,
in the council of Trent, that pastors, in the time of divine
service, should expound to the people's capacities,' &c.
Answ. I shall return my answer in these four particulars.
First, That all possible encouragement is not given
where more may : but that more may, view Spain, France,
and Italy, where prayers are in Latin, unknown to many
m 2

180 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
millions of souls. And let us remark it, for a more infallible
truth than any the pope's chair can afford us, that the great
depth of the policy and security of that religion, lies in the
ignorance and stupidity ofthe people.
Secondly, No thanks to the Romanists, that the people
have any where so much privilege, at any time to under
stand what they say : for this is only owing to the light of
Reformation ; for that having given a discovery of the gross
darkness of popish practices, they were necessitated to move
somewhat from their ancient customs ; which is no better
than a lame excuse made by a thief caught in the fact. Had
there been no Luther in Germany, nor Zwinglius in Swit
zerland, we could not expect, nor ever believe, that the
council of Trent would have allowed of that liberty ; when
to cloud the people, and to lock up their understandings in
the pope's arcanum, is the Dianian project ofhis conclave.
' It is worth our observation, that those very books of de
votion are never doctrinal, I mean explanatory of their
principles (those they hide) ; but filled with elegant phrases,
and rare cuts of imagery, suited to the affectionate passions
and voluntary humilities of a sort of people, whose judg
ment goes always in the rear of their affections, and that
make their religion of shews and compliments.
Fourthly, But I deny that they have the nature of prayer
in them; and therefore the people are almost as much to
seek in their own language, as a strange one. Prayer is
the gift of God : no man can be said to pray, who has not,
first, a deep sense ofhis own wants : second, ofthe reason
ableness of the thing prayed for : third, enough |of faith to
obtain : fourth, a due reverence of that God to whom he
makes his supplication; "for the prayers ofthe wicked are
an abomination to the Lord," says the divine writ (or are
no prayers at all, in a religious sense). But if these books
of devotion were prayers, then might the wicked as well
pray as the righteous ; for the prayer is equally exposed to
the use of both. It is not words that make the prayer;
wherefore said the apostle, " I will pray with the spirit,"
(there is the most essential part of prayer ; but this he
might do with none but himself;) "and I will pray with the
understanding also :" (by this he meant, not in an unknown
tongue) : it was the subject of his discourse in his four
teenth chapter in his first epistle to the Corinthians. But
the church of Rome has otherwise learnt, than had that
good apostle.
In short, we need the less wonder at the unparallelled
villainy which reigns throughout the papacy, when we con
sider how cardinal a practice it is for the people not to

AGAINST POPERY. 181
understand how to be better. Their late proselytes forgot,
or else never heard, how criminal it was to have an English
Testament about one hundred and fifty years since. But
rather than not, the papists would turn half protestants, to
fetch back protestants to be whole papists again. But such
might deserve to be begged, had they but as much of reli
gion, as sometimes fools use to have of estate. What shall
I say ? They are fit to believe any thing, whose debauch
eries have hardened them against any belief: when sin has
banished all fear of God, interest steps in its place ; and
that religion which most promotes it, must with such be
the best; wherein the papist has only the advantage of all
others upon earth.
The Report of Antiquity and their own Practice.
However in protestant countries they are willing to
bring their devotion into vulgar languages, yet that it is
matter of necessity, and not of choice, view Italy, France,
Spain, &c. where they retain their Latin service, as benefi
cial to the people; which is a language that generally they
understand not.
Origen was against it, lib. 8. cont. Cels. So Chrysost.
Horn. 1. in 8 Johan. August, de doct. Christi, cap. 5.
Ambrose upon 1 Cor. xiv. Thus also their own doctors :
Aquin. in I Cor. xiv. Cassander, Liturg. cap. 18. So
that they err from scripture, fathers, and their own doctors.
VIII. Of Prayer for the Dead.
Papist. ' Our faith teaches us to exercise Christian
charity, by humbling ourselves before the divine throno of
God's mercy, to beg forgiveness ofthe debts and trespasses
of .those middle sort of Christians (as St. Austin and the
council of Florence call them) who had not brought forth
sufficient fruits of repentance, dying in the communion of
the faithful : which indigent condition of theirs, relievable
by the churches, or the prayers of the faithful surviving,
speaks what the ancients call purgatory.'
Answ. How much the Romish faith teaches the holders
of it. to exercise Christian charity, the martyrologies of
these thousand years may testify. But they would have
you know, they do not intend such persons as were active
in those bloody massacres : for the single merit of their
horrid murders is supererogatory, or more than sufficient
to deliver them from the fiery furnace of a cleansing purga
tory. They took a shorter cut to heaven; for instead of
travelling the main continent, they (blown with the fresh

182 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
gale of their own cruelty) sailed through the main sea of
protestant blood.
But what authorities have these men for their assertion ?
First, St. Austin; and secondly, the council of Florence.
To these I will speak in the close of this head. Are these
all ? No ; for says he :
Papist. ' We are warranted herein by the practice under
the law, recorded in the Maccabees; which being in no
sort reprehended by our Lord, or his apostles, amongst the
rest of the Jews' unlawful practices, was and is justly pre
sumed to have been allowed by him, as many ofthe fathers
understood him in the mount ; and by them, as is hinted by
St. Paul : whereupon it hath been continued ever since,.
as even grave-stones, and all other Christian monuments,
do witness.'
Answ. I must confess I do not wonder that so little rea
son should induce a Romanist to believe ; than which,,
nothing scares him more. But I cannot otherwise than
admire, that any protestant should make such poor instances
a ground ofhis return to popery.
First, His story of the Maccabees is not cited; nor does
he very plainly refer us.
Secondly, He knows the protestants deny it the credit
due to other scriptures; and the papists cannot but be
conscious to themselves of insufficiency to prove its canon.
Thirdly, It is preposterously silly to say, that because
Christ did not particularly condemn the practice of praying
for the dead, (suggested to have been used by the Macca
bees) therefore it was a laudable custom : since I may with
equal reason argue, that because Christ never mentioned
the Maccabees, nor did particularly own the canon of their
writings, therefore there was no such people ; and their
writings (if any) of no authority.
Fourthly, The fathers' sense (if theirs) of these scrip
tures, Mat. v. 29; 1 Cor. xv. 29. must needs be nonsense
in the abstract, with all but papists, who notoriously deny
themselves the use of sense: although I am of opinion, the
fathers are much abused by the author of this confession,
pr else we should have had their names in capitals. How
ever, we will compare these passages with this opinion.
¦ First, " If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and
cast it from thee ; for it is profitable for thee, that one of
thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body
should be cast into hell fire." Mat. v. 29. Ergo what ?
' That there is a purgatory after this life,' says the Roman
ist. O, stupendous folly and weakness ! Is there any thing
plainer, than that Christ preached a present practical doc-i

AGAINST POPERY. 183
trine ? as that which stood every man upon in this world ;
viz. the denial of his lusts, and circumcision of his corrup
tions. In short, since Christ was in the world when he
spake it ; since it was to people in the world, and a Work
then to be set about ; it is most evident the passage has no
relation to a state after this life (I mean for purgation)*
Nay, the strongest argument, that is well conceivable for
the contrary, may easily be deduced from hence : for if such
as pluck not out their right eyes here, (that is, purge not
themselves of their iniquities, by unfeigned repentance)
shall be cast into hell fire ; then there is no middle state
called purgatory. But that such persons as pluck not out
their right eyes (that is, mortify not their members of cor
ruption) here, are to be cast into hell fire, the text proves :
therefore there is no middle state. The contrary, of heaven-,
may be affirmed ; for contrariorum eadem est ratio.
Secondly, " Else, what shall they do that are baptized
for the dead ? If the dead rise not at all, why are they then
baptized for the dead ?" I Cor. xv. 29.
This scripture is as much to the purpose as the former ;
and were I not used so frequently to meet with the like in
coherences, it would amaze me to read such disjoined mat
ter, and unnatural consequences ; things in their own
nature so remote and opposite. What relation has the
resurrection to the soul's entering purgatory, or that popish
middle state ? Who are they that are baptized ? And who
those for whom they were baptized ? And how have either
any relation to prayers for the dead, and souls in purga--
tory ? But the, Romanist thinks, however, that God is not
offended at this charitable practice : hear what he says.
Papist. ' Neither can we discern how possibly this may
be conceived offensive to God; whose justice herein, we
hope, we do humbly appease, by an exercise of brotherly
compassion.' Answ. It is no wonder at all that blind men do not see ;
and such as error has hoodwinked for generations, we can
not think should discern truth, till they dare trust their
eyes, ears, and understandings, to answer the end for which
God gave them.
There can be nothing conceived more offensive to God,
as well as unreasonable with men, than that a mortal
creature (indebted himself more than ever he can discharge)
should be able to appease the displeased justice of an infi
nite God ! The arrogancy of this saying only fits the size
and measure of a meritorious papist. But the man, fearing
this retort, would anticipate its force by an half confession
and solution, thus :

184 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
Papist. ' There is no law of God which assures us, in
rigour of justice, of God's acceptance of the acts of another
man for my sins : yet this hinders not but that they may
prevail, by way of suffrage and impetration, for our pardon.
Answ. If he could have given but one place of scrip
ture, it would have helped the matter: but we take leave
to say, we wjll not be wise, (in this case) above what is
written, and quod non lego, non credo. 1 shall return this
short answer to this evasion. It is a poor shift from the
force of the objection ; for not only in the strictest, but
largest sense too, God only, out of his free gift and mercy
in Christ Jesus, is author of our remission and forgiveness.
Since there can scarcely be a more absurd position, than
that a man, unable to relieve himself, should be the occasion
of relief to others in the same condition, whether by ap
peasing divine justice, or by suffrage only; a word incon
gruous, and inapplicable in this place.
Besides, what need is there for praying for souls in pur
gatory ? That they should be saved ? That is held for
granted before they go thither. Is it that they should be
delivered thence ? That is the consequence ofthe opinion.
Or would they, that God should forbear his hand, and
mitigate his rigour ? (Which seems the most natural
consequence of their opinion). If so, they are the
greatest enemies: for their holding that the end ofthe
chastisements of purgatory is to prepare them for heaven ;
by how much the less they are chastised by those fiery
afflictions, by so much the less they are purged, and conse
quently the more unfit for heaven. [So that since heaven is
soonest attainable, as their souls come to be the soonest and
most effectually purged, they in charity ought to pray, that
God would mend his fire, add fuel to his flames, and double
his fiery tortures, that they may be the sooner purged, and
more refined for heaven.
Thus, while the Romanists are arguing for purgatory,
they confute themselves by not understanding it.
I shall conclude my sense of this point, with the authority
of scripture, reason, and antiquity.
First, " Then shall the dust return to the earth, as it
Was, and the spirit unto God who gave it." Eccles. xii. 7.
Gen. iii. 9. (then not to purgatory.)
Secondly, " For there is no work, nor device, nor know
ledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."
Eccles. ix. 10. (then none in purgatory.)
Thirdly, " And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God,
and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit." Acts vii. 59.
(no purgatory still, but a certain immutable state.)

AGAINST POrERY. 185
That it is against all Reason, I offer these Considerations :
1. INo man can merit for another : nor is it possible a
poor indebted man should pay another's" debt (it may be
greater than his own) and not be able to pay his own.
2. The repentance ought to be where the sin is. But the
sin is here ; therefore should the repentance be here also.
3. Where there is a cessation from sinning, there is a
cessation from repentance. But there a cessation from
sinning; therefore is there a cessation from repentance.
4. Whatever attends the soul, after separation from this
mortal life, is immortal and eternal : this none can deny.
But purgatory is a state that attends the soul after this
mortal life ; and therefore, say I, it is an immortal and
eternal state. And if it be, it is either for something or
nothing. If for nothing, God makes things in vain : if for
the souls of men and women ; then they are never to be
ransomed thence. But since the Romanists hold a redemp
tion from thence, their confession of the temporariness of
that state proves it a mere fiction : for when the soul is
withdrawn from this visible mortal life, which stands in
time, it is centred in an invisible and immortal state, beyond
the wings and reach of time.
In short, this world is the stage on which all men do act
for eternity; and every ventureof theirs brings its true
weight of eternal life or death. Death is the consumma
tion of all; and when we cease to work, we enter upon
reward. But if purgatory were in being, the greatest work
were to be done there : which, because it is absurd to
affirm, we conclude, that after death we cease from all our
labours, and enter upon our recompence of everlasting
happiness or misery.
I shall subjoin some authorities from antiquity.
The Sense of Antiquity, and their own Authors.
The doctrine of praying for the dead, we know, was too
old a practice ; yet not so old as the apostle. But how ?
As for souls in a third place (for that these Romanists mean
by their purgatory, however modest they seem by their
half expressions)? Nothing less! however the superstition
of the papists has driven them into so foul an apprehension :
but the ancients, believing there would be a general day of
judgment, prayed that God would show such mercy in that
day. Gregory the First is said to be its father. Certain
we are, that superstition was both its mother and ,its
nurse : for that this fond purgatorian opinion is-altogether
new, read both their own authors and the fathers. Polyd,

186 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
cap. 1. De inven. rerum. Alphons. a Castro, lib. 8. verb.
indul. lib. 12. lib. Purgat. So Sextus Senensis, Medina,
Cassander, and Bellarmine himself.
That the fathers disowned it, in the sense asserted by
the Romanists, and particularly their great saint Austin, let
them peruse these places : Just. Martyr, resp. ad quest. 75.
Cyprian, ad Demetrian. sect. 16. 22. and in serm. de lapsis.
Greg. Nazian. orat. 15. in plag. grandinis. August. Enchirid.
cap. 68, 69. Again, de Dogmat. Eccles. 6. cap, 79. But,
above all, that the Romanists should pray for those, to
whom they pray to intercede for them, is most absurd ! yet
this is frequent. But for this time, enough.
IX. Ofthe Moral Law : Of Obedience to Civil Magistrates.
Papist. ' We farther do firmly believe, and highly reve
rence the moral law, being so solemnly delivered to Moses
upon the mount, so expressly confirmed by our Saviour in
the gospel, and containing in itself so perfect an abridg
ment of our whole duty both to God and man.'
Answ. We may take his belief to be as hearty, as his con
fessions are sincere. I know not what to say more truly,
than that his whole discourse is an irony : we are to mea
sure it by contraries, especially when the fruits give the
tree the lie.
How far the Roman Catholics reverence the moral law,
is best seen by considering how many laws they have made
to destroy it.
1. That of images. For though God did expressly enjoin
Moses, " That the Israelites should not make to themselves
the likeness of any thing in heaven or in earth,'' (whence the
primitive Christians abhorred painture) or, when they had
so done, that " they should not bow down unto it ;" yet how
many edicts are there in being, that require them to be set
up in their churches, as laymen's calendars, to whom daily
homage is performed ? They are the splendid ensigns ofthe
popish pageantry religion.
2. In not only dispensing with disobedience in children,
but in exciting them to it, if they apprehend some service
to their church, be it to make a friar, &c.
3. In those frequent bulls for massacres, that can no
more be denied than light at noon-day ; by which people
have been stirred up, upon the promise of forgiveness of
sins, redemption from purgatory, and eternal salvation, or
dreadful denunciation of eternal damnation, to enterprize
that work of murdering many hundred thousands of men,
Women, and children, without any legal presentment, trial,

AGAINST POPERY. 187
or conviction. But the consideration of these things is too
much out of fashion in England ; since many embrace them
upon their present disguises, and not in their true san
guinary appearances.
4. The breach of the moral law is signally manifest in
their dispensations of public stews, especially at Rome;
where the pope's revenue is not a little greatened by those
ungodly licences. And it is too fatally known, that by such
immoral courses, they have crept into the most cabinet
counsels of princes; and not only rendered themselves
masters of their secrets, but insinuated their projects by
the force of effeminate temptations; which, if denied, might
easily be proved in the case of Henry the Fourth of France,
and others.
5. That religion hath proved the greatest thief in nature :
its popes, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, deans, chapters,
and whole orders of friars, have near engrossed the greatest
share ofthe wealth of Europe, I mean of those countries
where yet they are regent. Before Constantine, how mean
and meek were Christian ministers ! but in his time, and a
few ages after, to what a strange degree of exorbitant
pride and avarice did the clergy mount, when it could dare
entitle Peter's chair to the whole world ! Kingdoms and
empires must be given and taken with a ' We will,' or
' We grant,' &c. View those countries; and the universal
poverty of them impute to those swarms of locusts and
caterpillars, who both corrupt and beggar them. This is a
theft, though less sharking, yet more criminal.
6. They notoriously break the moral law, in that great
command, " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbour;" which comprehends all truth-speaking. For
as no witness is bound to answer, farther than by interroga
tories he is provoked; so is it utterly impossible that ever
truth should be told, or men sin in lying (whilst one ofthe
greatest sins) if the Romish maxims were but once prac
tised : some of which I shall touch upon in the sequel of
this chapter.
As to that part of their confession which may relate to
f their keeping of promise, and paying subjection to the civil
magistrates of what religion soever, and much more to
those under whom they live ; I purposely overlooked it,
because it is well known, that they have been so far from
yielding obedience to the magistrates of any religion, that
they have not stuck to assassinate those of their own, to
whose power they owed their civil and religious protection.
And truly, if such double cords of duty cannot tie the hands
pf men from murdering their natural and religious princes

188 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT
(as Henry the Third and Fourth of France, both kingsef
their country, and therein of their religion ; because a
little refractory to the sinister designs of an insolent cler
gyman or two) I flunk it needless to give their plainer
English of obedience, who so excellently render it in the
paraphrase of their life.
I speak not this to incense the powers against them : for
it is my real belief, that neither are all of them such, nor
would I take the burden off my own shoulder, to lay it on
theirs (being a professed abettor of an universal toleration) :
but this being matter of fact, as they cannot deny it, so
should I gladly hear of their confession of these impieties;
and that they disown the like practices, not by fine glosses,
but an amendment of life, and reformation of doctrine ;
which would really entitle them to that verity they do but
hitherto fictitiously attribute to themselves.
The Sense and Opinion of their own Authors.
First, Vasquez teacheth, ' That not only an image of
God, but any creature in the world, reasonable or unrea
sonable, may without danger be worshipped with God, as
his image. That we ought to adore the relics of saints,
though under the form of worms.' De Adorat. lib. 3. disp.
1. cap. 2.
Secondly, They teach, ' That children may disobey their
parents, in being nuns or friars : and this girls may do at
twelve, and boys at fourteen years of age.' But the council
of Trent enlarged the parent's authority to sixteen. This
wretched doctrine was taught and decreed by pope Clement
the Third. Thomas Aquinas, and after him his scholars,
taught the same. Cap. cum virum de regular. Aquin. 2. 2.
qu. 88. art. 9. lib. 1. cap. 101. also in case the parents were
heretics. Thirdly, < If a nobleman be set upon (says cardinal
Toilet) and may escape by going away, he is not obliged to
do it ; but may kill him that intends to strike him with a
stick.' Instruct. Sacerd. lib. 5. cap. 6. num. 15.
Fourthly, ' If a man be beastly drunk, and then commits
fornication, it is no sin.' Lib. 14. cap. 13. n. 4. Also,
' That a man may lie with women, to satisfy his carnal
desire, or for his health-sake.' Lib. 5. cap. 10. 13. 'A
man may bed with his intended wife ; nay, it is good to do
so if the marriage be deferred ;' says Emanuel Sa. Aphor.
tit. debitum conjugate 6.
Fifthly, They instruct how to be an honest thief. ' It is
lawful to deceive or rob a brother, when to do so is neces
sary to preserve a good name. For no man is bound to

AGAINST POPERY. 189
restore stolen goods.' Thus Navar, cardinal Cajetan, and
Tolet ; who farther add, ' That this is a doctrine taught by
many, and which may be followed with a safe conscience.'
Tolet. Instruct. Sacerd. lib. 5. cap. 2. Manual, cap. 18. n. 7.
Sixthly, How just they may be to their promises, how
subject to the supreme magistracy, and of how eminent ser
vice to human societies, may best appear out of these fol
lowing maxims.
' If a man swear he will take A. C. to wife, he may
secretly mean, if hereafter she please me.' Instruct. Sacerd.
lib. 4. cap. 21, 22.
' If a man swear he will give a thief twenty crowns, he
may secretly say, if I please to do it ; and then he is not
bound.' Of this rare invention Vasquez vaunts not a little,
as being gathered out of August, and Aquin. In. 3. torn. 4.
qu. 93. art. 5. dub. 13.
' There are two distinct tribunals (says Becanus) and the
ecclesiastical is the superior : and therefore if a secular
prince gives his subjects a safe conduct, he cannot extend
it to the superior tribunal; nor, by any security given,
hinder the bishop, or the pope, to exercise their jurisdic
tion.' Theol. Schola. That this is so, let us call to mind,
that the pope, and other of his ecclesiastics, did prevail at
Constance, for the burning of their prisoners, J. Huss, &c.
to whom safe conduct was given.
In short, ' If a man have taken an oath of a thing lawful
and honest, and in his power ; yet, if it hinders him from
doing a greater good, the pope can dispense with it.' Thus
Canus, bishop ofthe Canaries. Relict, de pcenitent.
' The pope's denunciation against an excommunicated
prince, disengages his subjects from their obedience.' This
was once our case, as in Henry the Eighth's time, Concer.
Eccl. in Angl. fol. 336.
Nay, ' Even before the sentence be denounced, though
the subjects are not bound to it, yet lawfully they may deny
obedience to an heretical prince.' Thus Greg, de Valentia,
torn. 3. disp. 1. qu. 12. punct. 2.
To conclude, the ingenuity of Panormitan and Mosconius
outdoes all :
The first affirming, ' That the pope hath power to dis
pense iu all the laws of God.' Cap. proposui de concess.
prebende, n. 20.
The second, with as much zeal, asserting ' That the pope
can dispense above law, and against law; for- the pope's
tribunal and God's is but one : and therefore every reason
able creature is subject to the pope's empire ;' as maybe
seen in his discourse of the Majesty of the Church militant,
and in lib. 1. de summo Pontif.

190 A SEASONABLE CAVEAT

X. Of Ecclesiastical Hierarchy.
Papist. ' We firmly believe that, according to divine
ordination in the catholic church, there is an hierarchy,
consisting of bishops, priests, and'ministers. He gave some
apostles, and some prophets, and others evangelists, and
others pastors and doctors, to the consummation of the
saints, unto the work of the ministry, unto the edifying.of
the body of Christ, until we all meet in the unity of faith,
and the knowledge ofthe Son of God,' &c.
It is a great truth, that bishops, pastors, teachers, &c.
were given by Christ Jesus, for the work of the ministry;
but what then ? Can Romanists make use of this to justify
their most injurious and tyrannical hierarchy? Do the
scriptures of truth tell us, that ever God gave lordly, proud,
and voluptuous popes, cardinals, primates, archbishops,
deans, chapters, friars, nuns, &c. for the edifying of the
church, and body of Christ ? The primitive bishops were
to be "blameless;" not living in all manner of uncleanness:
" gentle, no strikers, no brawlers," nor persecutors of their
brethren, as are the popes of Rome : " apt to teach ;" not
by roaring bulls to excommunicate : " to eat and drink such
things as were set before them ;" not racking and grinding
the faces of the poor, the widows, and the fatherless, and
extorting their labours, togreaten their revenues, to live in
idleness, pomp, and lust : " the husband but of one wife ;"
not condemners of marrying of one honest woman, and dis
pensers with as many whores as lust may require ; cardinal
and eminent points and practices amongst the Romanists.
In short, the Romish hierarchy is so far from being suited
within the order of the gospel, by them quoted in their
confession ; that the whole design of their lordly popes,
cardinals, archbishops, bishops, Jesuits, and other friars of
many sorts, (esteemed of the religious tribe) is but to over
balance the civil power, and render themselves masters of
f the swords and purses of princes and commonwealths, to
maintain them in idleness, plenty, and pleasure ; and to
blind the understandings of them they abuse, that they may
abuse them as the Philistines did Sampson, when they had
put out his eyes, to answer their own wicked ends with the
greater security.
To conclude, If we would not receive a thief, until he
has repented ; let the papist first recant his voluminous
errors ; not known in scripture, nor ever heard of for three
hundred years together after Christ.
But above all, Let us have good testimony of his hearty
sorrow, for that sea of blood shed in England, France,

AGAINST POPERY. 191
Holland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Savoy, Switzerland, and
Germany, of many hundred thousands of poor protestants,
that for pure conscience could not conform to their most
exorbitant practices, as well as new doctrines, imposed upon
them : such inhuman and barbarous inventions and cruel
ties, as no age could ever parallel ; and are the only de
monstrations of their wicked wits, that lived in that ; and
that not only upon the parties themselves, but their poor,
little innocent babes : for that English Protestants should so
far neglect these weighty considerations, as to be gulled and
cheated out of the religion purchased them by their martyred
ancestors ; and persuaded to embrace that old, bloody,
apostatized church again, with all her slavish, as well as
ridiculous superstition, is a crime so offensive to God, and
intolerable to men, as the time hastens, " that the very
stones in the street will rise up in judgment against them."
Thus while some protestants (and those chiefly concerned
in these affairs) are mostly busied in persecuting dissenters ;
I hope it will not be ill resented, that one of them has, in
the mean time, undertook (though with much brevity) an
enervation of the Romanists' faith, at least a detection of
their craft, their horrid cozenage, and present way of in
fatuation amongst the people.
But we must once more declare, it is not our purpose
to bring them under persecution ; but to present the people
with such an information, as may prevent them from ever
having power to persecute others.
A Questionary Postscript.
I here subjoin these following queries; which if the
Romanists will frankly answer, and with that grave sincerity
that becomes so weighty an affair; we may easily know
whereabouts they are.
I. Whether we ought to believe and accept any princi
ple, as fundamentally true and orthodox, that is not
laid down, and avouched to be such by evident scrip
ture, and the most pure and primitive tradition ?
If they say we ought, let them tell us out of what scripture
we may read it : but if we ought not  Then,
II. Whether the doctrine of papal infallibility; of tran
substantiation ; of the sacrifice ofthe mass; of images;
of auricular confessions ; of indulgences ; of prayers
for the dead; of purgatory; of prayers in Latin; of
their whole ecclesiastical government, and pretended
religious orders ; be allowed or recommended, as mat-

192 POSTSCRIPT.
ter of Christian faith, and discipline, by scripture and
antiquity ?
If they are not to be found there, why should any be so
absurd as to receive them ? If they are taken thence, let
them assign us the places, both in scripture and primitive
antiquity ; for the first three hundred years after Christ
(and in some particulars much more) are wholly silent in
the matter, any farther than to furnish us with pregnant in
stances against those idle dotages, and gross superstitions.
But, III. Whether in case they could not be conformed to,
they would allow a toleration, were they powerful ?
IV. Whether in case they should say yes, we ought to
believe them ? since it is one of their most sacred
maxims, „' Not to keep faith with heretics ;' as was
seen in the case of those ofthe Alpine vallies, J. Huss,
&c. and. in that they have in all ages brought so great a
deluge of blood upon the European world.
V. Whether it be the interest of the English nation to
subject herself to a yoke ? Considering the incomparable
bloody massacres of that sort of men in several reigns,
with the spiritual tyranny she would bring upon herself,
which must end in the draining of her people to enrich
the papacy, who make it a fundamental maxim, ' That
the enriching ofthe church (or rather the impoverishing
of the people) is the securing of it :J for seculars (the
laity) being impoverished, as of old, the church-party
will have the treasury, and consequently the triumphing
power in their hands ; which brings to the ancient arro-
gancy of popes, viz. setting their feet upon the necks
of princes.
VI. And lastly, Whether the design of popery be not an
utter destruction of all true and solid religion, and the
introduction of formality and superstition, to the inse-
curing of civil authority, and putting the people's judg
ment into the priests' inquisition ? Since the most igno
rant and careless, or the most vicious and profane, are
generally found to be their proselytes; their religion
(by reason of its latitude in point of indulgence) being
an open sanctuary for refuge to all loose and debauched
livers.

THE
PROPOSED COMPREHENSION
SOBERLY AND NOT UNSEASONABLY
CONSIDERED.

Published in the Year 1672.

Although the benefits wherewith Almighty God has
universally blessed the whole creation, are a sufficient check
to the narrowness of their spirits, who would unreasonably
confine all comforts of life within the strait compass of their
own party (as if to recede from their apprehensions, whereof
themselves deny any infallible assurance, were reason good
enough to deprive other dissenters of nature's inheritance,
and, which is more peculiar, England's freedoms) ; yet since
it fares so meanly with those excellent examples, that many
vainly think themselves then best to answer the end of their
being born into the world, when by a severity, which least
of all resembles the God of Love, they rigorously prosecute
the extirpation of their brethren ; let it not seem unreason
able, or ill-timed, that we offer to your more serious
thoughts the great partiality and injustice-that seem to be
the companions of a comprehension, since you only can be
concerned at this time to prevent it, by a more large and
generous freedom.
First, then, liberty of conscience (by which we commonly
understand the free exercise of any dissenting persuasion)
is but what has been generally pleaded for, even by the
warmest sticklers for a comprehension, and without which
it would be utterly impossible they should be comprehended,
The question then will be this, ' What ground can there be,
why some, and not all, should be tolerated ? It must either
respect conscience or government : if it be upon matter of
mere religion, what reason is there that one party should
be tolerated, and another restrained; since all those rear
sons, that maybe urged by that party which is compre
hended, are every whit as proper to the party excluded ? For
if the former say they are orthodox ; so say the latter x
too. If the one urge, it is impossible they should believe
without a conviction; that the understanding cannot be
forced ; that mildness gains most ; that the true religion
never persecuted ; that severity is most unworthy of her;
Vol. ii. n

194 THE PROPOSED COMPREHENSION.
that sound reason is the only weapon which can disarm the
understanding; that coercion doth rather obdurate than
soften ; and that they therefore choose to be sincere dis
senters, rather than hypocritical conformists; the other
party says the same. In fine, there can be nothing said for
liberty of conscience, upon pure conscientious grounds, by
any one party in England, that every one may not be inte
rested in; unless any will undertake to judge that of five
sorts of dissenters, two are really such on conviction, and
three upon mere design. But if such sentence would be
looked upon as most arrogant and unjust, how can it be rea
sonable, that those whom some endeavour to exclude should
be thus prejudged ; and such as are comprehended, be there
fore so only from a strong opinion of their reality ? We may
conclude then, that since liberty of conscience is what in
itself comprehenders plead, and that it is evident, to affirm
this, or that, or the other party orthodox, is but a mere
begging of the question, what may be urged for one is
forcible for any other; conscience (not moveable but upon
conviction) being what all pretend themselves alike con
cerned in.
But they say, ' That such as are like to be comprehended,
are persons not essentially differing ; that it were pity to
exclude them whose difference is rather in minute matters,
than any thing substantial ; whereas you err in fundament
als.' But how paradoxical soever such may please to think it,
that we should therefore plead the justice of taking those in,
some unkindly would have left out, we know not ; however,
we believe it most reasonable to do so : for certainly the
reason for liberty or toleration should hold proportion with
the weighty cause of dissent, and the stress conscience puts
upon it. Where matters are trivial, they are more blamea-
ble that make them a ground for dissent, than those who
perhaps (were that all the difference) would never esteem
them worth contending for ; much less that they should
rend from that church they otherwise confess to be a true
one. So that whoever are condemnable, certainly those who
have been authors and promoters of separation upon mere
toys and niceties, are not most of all others to be justified.
Had they conscientiously offered some fundamental discon
tent, and pleaded the impossibility of reconciling some doc
trines with their reason or conscience, yet promising quiet
living, and all due subjection to government, they might
have been thus far more excusable, that people would have
had reason to have said ; certainly small matters could not
have induced these men to this disgraceful separation, nor
any thing of this life have tempted them to this so great

THE PROFOSED COMPREHENSION. 195
and troublesome alteration. But to take pet at a ceremony,
then rend from the churchj set up a new name and model,
gather people, raise animosity, and only make fit for
blows, by a furious zeal kindled in their heads against a few
ineptios, mere trifles ; and, being utterly vanquished from
these proceedings, to become most earnest solicitors for a
comprehension ; though at the same time of hot pursuit
after this privilege, to seek nothing more than to prevent
others of enjoying the same favour, under the pretence of
more fundamental difference ; certainly this shows, that had
such persons power, they would a.s well disallow of a com
prehension to those who are the assertors of those ceremo
nies they recede from, as that for mere ceremonies they did
at first zealously dissent, and ever since remain more unjus
tifiably fierce for such separation. And truly, if there were
no more in it than this, it would be enough for us to say,
that some in England never rent themselves from the church
at all, much less for little matters : that they never endea
voured her exile, but she found them upon her return,
which they opposed not; nor yet since have any ways
sought to install themselves in her dignities, or enrich them
selves by her preferments. We appeal then to all sober men,
if what is generally called the episcopal party of England,
can with good conscience and true honour, disinherit those
of their native rights, peace and protection, and leave them
as orphans to the wide world, indeed a naked prey to the
devourer, who from first to last have never been concerned,
either to endeavour their ruin, or any ways withstand their
return ; whilst, it may be, some of those who have been the
most vigorous in both, and that for circumstantial, and not
essential differences, may be reputed more deserving of a
comprehension than we are of a toleration.
But it will be yet said, ' You are inconsistent with go
vernment; they are not: therefore you are excluded, not
out of partiality, but necessity.' What government besides
their own they are consistent with, we leave on the side of
story to tell, which can better speak their mind than we are
either able or willing to do. But this give us leave to say
in general, if any apprehend us to be such as merit not the
care of our superiors, because supposed to be destructive of
the government, let us be called forth by name, and hear
our charge ; and if we are not able to answer the unbiassed
reason of mankind, in reference to our consistency with the
peace, quiet, trade, and tribute of these, kingdoms, then,
and not before, deny us all protection. But that men should
be concluded before heard, and so sentenced for what they
really are not, is like beheading them before they are born.
n2

196 The proposed comprehension.
We do aver, and can make it appear, that there is no one
party more quiet, subject, industrious, and, in the bottom
of their very souls, greater lovers of the good old English
government, and prosperity of these kingdoms among the
comprehended, than, for aught we yet see, may be found
among those who are like to be unkindly excluded. How
ever, if such we were in any one point, cure rather than kill
us ; and seek the public good some cheaper way than by our
destruction. Is there no expedient to prevent ruin ? Let
reason qualify zeal, and conscience opinion.
To conclude, if the public may be secured, and con
science freely exercised by some, for the same reasons it may
by all. And since liberty of conscience is liberty of con
science, and the reasons for it equivalent, we see not in the
whole world why any should be deprived of that, which
others for no better reasons are like to enjoy.
Let it not then be unworthy of such to remember, that
God affords his refreshing sun to all ; the dunghill is no
more excepted than the most delightful plain ; and his " rain
falls alike both upon the just and unjust ." he strips not man
kind of what suits their creaturely preservation : Christians
themselves have no more peculiar privilege in the natural
benefits of heaven, than Turks or Indians. Would it not
then be strange, that infidels themselves, much less any sort
of Christians, should be deprived of natural privileges for
mere opinion, by those who pretend to be the best servants
of that God, who shows them quite another example, by the
universality of his goodness as Creator ; and believers in
that Christ, who himself preached the perfection of love,
both to friends and enemies, and laid down his life to con
firm it when he had done. If men should love their ene
mies, doubtless they ought at least to forbear their friends :
and though some differences in judgment about religion be a
sufficient reason to excommunicate.aman the air ecclesiasti
cal, yet nothing certainly of that sort ought to disprivilege
men of their air natural and civil to breathe freely in : and
let that good our superiors have observed to be the fruit of
our toleration, not be weakened or blasted, by an untimely
comprehension of some, to the exclusion of the rest ; since
the reason holds the same for the less formidable separatists,
that may not be however any whit less conscientious.
We will omit to mention, how much more suitable it
were to state-matters, that all parties should be kept upon
an equal poize ; a thing most true in itself, and most secure
to the public magistrate ; and will conclude at this time,
that though we no ways design a misrepresenting of any,
much less their exception, and least of all their persecution;

the proposed comprehension. 197
yet a comprehension, either respecting the persons and their
qualifications, or their separation, and the grounds and rea
sons of it, we seriously believe, can never be consistent
with that conscience, honour, wisdom, and safety, that
ought to be the mark those who are concerned in it should
take their aim by. But if a comprehension should at last
be compassed, it is not doubted by many wise men, but it
will be found as impracticable as other acts more seemingly
severe have been, and at last will necessitate to that well-
ordered universal toleration of_all) who both profess and
practise peace, obedience, industry, and good life ; which
will best please Almighty God, and rejoice the hearts of all
good men. From real friends, to King and Country.

A
LETTER TO THE
COUNCIL AND SENATE
OF THE
CITY OF EMBDEN.

Published in the Year 1674.

The King of kings, and Lord of lords, who is God of all the
families ofthe earth, incline your hearts to justice, mercy,
and truth.
The noise of your severe treatment of several persons
that are inhabitants of your state, reproachfully termed
Quakers, hath reached these parts, and filled several with
compassion and surprize : compassion, to hear of the mise
ries of men innocent and upright, against whom you have
nothing to object, but the pure exercise of their conscience
to God :* surprize, that you, a protestant state, should em
ploy your civil power to deter, punish, and grievously afflict
men for answering the convictions of their consciences, and
acting according to the best of their understandings. Me
thinks you should not be oblivious of your own condition in
the loins of your ancestors, who, you think, with great rea
son and justice strenuously advocated the cause of liberty of
conscience against the pope's bulls and the Spanish inquisi
tion : how did they antichristian all force on conscience or
punishment for non-conformity? Their own many and
large apologies, and particularly their demands at the diets
of Norimberg and Spire, are pregnant proofs in the case ;
and your practice doth not lessen the weight of their rea
sons ; on the contrary, it aggravates your unkindness, let
me say, injustice.
Protestants (and such you glory to be thought) got their
name by protesting against impositions ; and will you turn
» Our account says, some were cruelly beaten by order ; others banished;
some put in a dungeon, and fed with bread aud water only ; several fined greater
sums of money, it is thought, than they had to pay.

A LETT3R, &C 199
imposers? They condemned it; and will you practise it?
They thought it a mark peculiar to the beast ; and can you
repute it the care of a Christian magistracy ? I mean, that
persons must not live under your government, Unless they
receive your mark in their forehead or right hand ? Which
in plainer terms is, to submit their consciences to your edicts,
and to ask your leave what religion they should be of. Re
member, that "Faith is the gift of God;" and, that " what
is not of faith is sin." Nothing can be more unreasonable,
than to compel men to believe against their belief, or to
trouble them for practising what they believe, when it
thwarts not the moral law of God.
You doubtless take yourselves to be Christians, and would
esteem it no little injury to be otherwise represented ; yet
what more unchristian, than to use external force to sway the
consciences of men about the exercise of religious worship.
Christ Jesus, the Lord and Author of the Christian reli
gion, censured his own disciples, that would have had fire
from heaven to destroy those that conformed not to what
their blessed Master taught. Are you sure of your religion ?
Are you better Christians ? Or, have you more Christian
authority than they, that were the chosen witnesses of
Jesus ? However, remember they called but for fire from
heaven ; and can you kindle fire on earth to devour them ?
Them, I say, that are of your own people, merely for their
religious dissent from you ? Doubtless, if that was then
thought no fit argument to induce men to conformity by him
that was wiser than Solomon, it reflects greatlyupon your
modesty and prudence, that you should find out new ways,
or rather old exploded ones, to effect so ill a design. Be
sides, you do not say you know all you ought to know, or
that there is nothing farther to be revealed : have a care,
therefore, that you persecute not angels, by being harsh to
that which you call strange : think not ill, much less speak,
and least of all act that which is so, against what you do
not perfectly understand. I am well persuaded, that those
you inflict such severe penalties upon, mean well in what
they believe (to be sure much better thail you think they
do," or else you are extremely to blame) ; and that the rea
son of their present distance from you, is not to introduce or
insinuate dangerous or exotic opinions ; but to live a life of
more holiness, purity, and self-denial, than before. They
do not think that you walk up to your own principles; and
have reasoii to believe that the power of godliness is much
lost among you ; and having long lain under a decay and
languishing of soul for want of true spiritual nourishment,
they have now betaken themselves to that heavenly gift and

200 A LETTER, &C.
grace of God in themselves for divine satisfaction, even that
holy anointing that is able to teach them all things neces
sary for them to know, as the blessed apostle speaks ; and
they find the joys of the Holy Ghost in so doing. And I
am persuaded they are not less peaceable, sober, just, and
neighbourly than formerly, and altogether as consistent with
the prosperity of civil society ; and I am sure, it is both
found and confessed among us here, by some men of quality,
learning, and virtue. Farther, be pleased to consider with
yourselves, that you justify the ancient persecutions of the
Christians and first reformers, whose superiors thought as
ill of them, as you do of these men ; nay, you show the Pa-
Eists what to do in their dominions to your own brethren.
•o as you would be done by. If you would have liberty,
give it;, you know that God's witness in your hearts dictates
this to you, as an immutable law.
Could you give faith, it were more excusable for you to
punish such as should resist. But since that is impossible)
the other is unreasonable ; for it is to afflict men for not
being what they cannot be, unless they turn hypocrites : that
is the highest pitch your coercive power can arrive at; for
never did it convert or preserve one soul to God : instead
thereof it offers violence unto conscience, and puts a man
either upon the denial of his faith and reason, or being de
stroyed for acting according to them : but what greater dis-
Siroportion can there be, than what lieth between the intel-
ect of man, and prisons, fines, and banishments? They
inform no man's judgment, resolve no doubts, convince no
understandings : the power of persuasion is not to be found
in any such barbarous actions, no more than the doctrine of
Christianity. This course destroys the bodies and estates
of men,* instead of saving their souls : were they in the
wrong, it would become you to use God's weapons, his
sword ofthe spirit, that saveth the creature, and slayeththe
evil in him. This course tends to heart-burnings and de
struction ; I am sure it is no gospel argument.
I beseech you, for the sake of that Lord Jesus Christ that
suffered so patiently for his own religion, and so sharply
prohibited making other men to suffer for theirs, that you
would have a care how you exercise power over men's con
sciences. My friends, Conscience is God's throne in man,
and the power of it his prerogative: it is to usurp his au
thority, and boldly ascend his throne, to sit lords over it.
Were their conversation scandalous, and destructive to the
good of your state, you were to be held excusable : but
verily, no man of mercy and conscience can defend your
* And property, which they repute themselves guardians of, is htreby lost.

a Letter, &c. 201
practice upon poor men so peaceable and inoffensive. Ga*
maliel will rise up in judgment against you, if you perse
vere in this course. Do not you help to fill the catalogue
of persecutors, in much love I entreat you ; but as becomes
Christian men and true Protestants, leave men to their par
ticular persuasions of affairs relative of the other world,
which have no ill aspect on the affairs of this; but vice hath
an evil consequence as to both : therefore punish vice, and
affect truth and righteousness, and bend notyour civil power
to torment religious dissenters ; but to retrieve good life,
lamentably lost amidst the great pretences that are made to
religion. Doubtless magistracy was both ordained of God,
and elected by men, to be " a terror to evil-doers," and not
to them that do well, though of different judgments. You
oppugn the Roman church for assuming infallibility to her
self, and yet your own practice maketh you guilty of the
same presumption, or worse : for either you do exercise
that severity upon an infallible knowledge, or you do not ;
if you do, you take that to yourselves your principles deny
to any church whatever, which is a contradiction ; if you
do not, you punish people for not conforming to what you
yourselves deny any certainty about : and how do ybu know
but you compel them to that which is false, as well as that
which is true ? Verily, this dilemma is not easily avoided,
as well as that this inhuman practice will stain your pro
fession, infame your government, and bring a blot upon
your posterity.
Remember that they are men, as well as yourselves, born
free, and have equal plea to natural and civil common pri
vileges with yourselves : the different persuasion of their
consciences about things relating to another life, can no
ways render them unfit for this ; it neither unmans nor un-
civilizes them. They have the same right to their liberty
and property as ever, having by no practice of theirs in the
least forfeited any of those human advantages, the great
charters of nature and scripture have conferred upon them :
and the opulency of your neighbours, and prosperity of their
affairs, prove to you that indulgence is not inconsistent with
policy ; howbeit, you have now tried the sincerity of their
procedure, by what you have already inflicted, and they
sustained : let the time past suffice, and make them not sa
crifices for their conscientious constancy. If they are in the
wrong, it is more than they know : will you persecute men
for being what they must be, if they will be true to them
selves ? This were great violence; rather commiserate, than
thus violently compel them. I beseech you, seek some
eheaper way to accommodate yourselves, than by their d^-

202 A LETTER, &C
struction, who are so very remote from seeking yours. O !
the day will come, wherein one act of tenderness about
matters of conscience, shall find a better reward, than all
the severity by which men use to propagate their persua
sions in the world : and there is great reason for it, since
the one flows from the Saviour, the other from the destroy
er, of men. In fine, let your moderation be known unto
all men; for the Lord is at hand, whose reward is with
him ; and he will recompense every man, family, state, king
dom, and empire, according to the nature of their works
committed in this mortal body : at whose bar it shall never
be laid to your charge, that out of fear of taking God's of
fice out ofhis hands, and of being unmerciful to tender con
sciences, you admitted men of differing judgments to dwell
quietly among you. Truly, you cannot be too tender in
this point.
Imitate the God of nature and grace, by being propitious
to all ; his sun shineth on all, his rain falls on all, he gives
life and being to all ; his grace visits all, and inj times of
ignorance he winketh : and though such you may repute
ours, I hope you cannot think you wink at it, who make
such broad tokens of your displeasure. O ! bow forbearing
and merciful is he towards you ? Have you so lately
escaped the wrath of enemies, and can you already thus
sharply treat your friends ? Had he entered into judgment
with you, what had become of you ? Let his goodness to
you prevail with you to express clemency to others, that so
the great God of the whole earth, even the God of the
spirits of all flesh, who respects not the persons ofthe rich,
poor, or powerful in judgment, may shew you mercy in the
day ofhis righteous judgments. Amen.
Your friend, with the greatest integrity, in the universal
principle of love and truth,
W. PENN.
London, December the
14th, 1674.

Wisdom Justified of her Children,
FROM THE
IGNORANCE AND CALUMNY
OF
H. HALLYWEL,
IN HIS BOOK, CALLED
in Account of Familism, as it is Revived and Propagated by
the Quakers.
BY WILLIAM PENN.

Put all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake; yea, the time
cometh, that whosoever killeth you, shall think he doth God service. But be
of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John xv. 21. and xvi. 2. 33.

Published in the Year 1673.

To the Justices of the Peace in the County of Sussex.
A certain person in your parts hath lately troubled him
self and the world with a book, entitled 'An Account of Fa
milism, as it is revived and propagated by the Quakers f
and this dedicated to Sir J. Covert, knight and baronet, &c.
How ill he spent his time in writing it, and how unadvised
he was in publishing it, an impartial perusal of this small
discourse will briefly, yet abundantly manifest.
I come not to you for protection, (a thing he and his cause
wanted), but for impartiality and justice : truth is sufficient
to patronize and defend her own cause from the lash of
envy, without the weak auxiliaries of human force ; she
gives sanctuary to all that take to her for refuge, but is all-
sufficient to her own relief from the deepest pressure, and
most inveterate prosecutions of her implacable enemies.
And though the evil disposition of the world to receive
her apologies, seems to conspire with the indefatigable en
deavours of her adversaries to traduce her ; yet her own
purest innocency and unwearied patience have ever in the
end broke forth, to such a clear conviction of her opposers,

204 TO THE JUSTICES.
as hath proved at once both their confutation and their
shame. And let it seem no riddle to you, that I write so assured
of truth on our side. There is no objection our adversary
has made to the contrary, which we shall not easily remove.
Our meanness in quality, breeding, literature, and fortunes
in the world, (badges of reproach with him) will receive an
ample parallel from the best persons and times, and is so far
from making to overthrow, that if the scripture and other
story be to be credited, they tell us, " that not many wise,
learned, or noble :" not that they are excluded ; but, as
persons stumbled at the cross of Christ, and the simplicity of
the gospel, through the power that greatness and pleasure
have with them, they exclude themselves.
But since great and rich men have souls to be saved as
well as poor, it is equally their concern to inform themselves
of that way which most assuredly leads to the rest that is
eternal. I confess the variety of sects in the world to be a
great discouragement, especially when we consider with
what confidence each party pleads the truth and divine ori
ginal ofhis own persuasion : but men are not to be satisfied
with pretence, but evidence : education is too short, nor will
tradition reach far enough, to ascertain any man of the ve
rity ofhis persuasion.
Could the two first have done, there had been no need of
relinquishing the Roman church, which was neither wanting
in pretences, nor an education prejudiced enough against all
reformation : and if tradition had been all-sufficient, the di
rection of God's unerring grace, and the necessary convic
tions of men's reasons, might have been spared.
For if men are to believe what is recommended for. true,
because recommended, and not because true, we are to be
lieve we know not what ; and shall be to seek so far for a
reason for the hope that is in us, that in reality we can have
no other answer to give, than that such or such told us so,
and therefore we believe it : but if the ground of our faith
ought to be more sure and better founded, it will stand us
greatly upon to examine, what is the reason we have to ren
der for oiir faith and hope in God, and that belief we have
of holy scripture ? If we err here, our building is insecure ;
and the danger is, that we should not only one day lose our
faith, but, which is worse, our souls too. This necessarily
brings a man to a more inward search and testimony, some
divine principle in man, planted by God himself, which
gives to believe " that God is, and that he isa rewarder of
them that fear him."
This the best Heathens, as well as Jews and Christians,

TO THE JUSTICES. 205
have highly venerated, and many are the testimonies they
have left upon record, to the divine original, and excellent
use of it, both to know God and ourselves : and truly it
was this holy principle in all ages that hath attended man
kind with those checks, reproofs, and directions, by which
he hath had any discerning of what should, from what should
not, be done. This is that which hath given him the cer
tain sound and true relish of what God has ever required at
his hand, as said the prophet Micah, " God hath shewed
thee, O man, what is good, and what he requires from thee ;
to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God,"
Mich. vi. 8. In the Psalms thus, " Thou givest thy mouth
to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit : thou sittest and
speakest against thy brother : these things hast thou done,
and I kept silence : thou thoughtest I was altogether such
an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in
order before thine eyes, saith the Lord." And the apostle
Paul tells us, " Whatever may be known of God is mani
fested within." And what can that be by which God so
manifesteth himself, but what Moses called " the word nigh
in the heart," that the children of Israel were to obey ; that
Job calls "Light," which the wicked rebel against, not
loving the ways thereof : the like doth Christ, in John, when
he complained, that men would not bring their deeds to be
examined by it. In all ages hath the Almighty, more or
less, pleaded his own cause in the consciences of all people
by this divine principle of light, however variously denomi
nated : and whatever faith or hope man has, not grounded
upon the discoveries, convictions, and directions of this, it
is a by-rote faith, hope, aud religion.
Therefore I beseech you, to whom this discourse is more
particularly dedicated, to consider of us, not by tradition,
education, religions established by human laws, or imperial
decrees ; but by that understanding which this ' Immortal
law and everlasting foundation of virtue,' as Heathen Plu
tarch calls it, will afford you to judge us by.
It has been man's venturing to wade into the holy scrip
tures without this divine principle, that has caused so many
fearful miscarriages about religion. Something in man
prompts him to religion; but man, being not wholly guided
by that which so inspires him with religious desires, hastily
spoils all with the intermixture ofhis own fancies and con
ceits : and because he is assured that what first inclined him
was right, he sticks not to style his own inventions ortho
dox; and then, impatient of contradiction, with a fury as'
great as his ignorance, endeavours the overthrow of whatever
stands in his way, and refuses to receive his mark in his

206 t'o the justices.
forehead, or in his right hand. This has occasioned so much
trumpery in religion ; ceremonies, show, and mere formality,
have swallowed up the greatest part of it : now were men
brought to God's heavenly gift in themselves, it would re
claim and leaven the mind, chain the affections, and bring
religion into holy and self-denying living, and erect an holy
regimen in the heart and soul, by which the heavenly image
would be renewed, and man become as one born again ;
without which translation, there can be no entering into
God's heavenly kingdom.
This the first Protestants made to be the reason of their
revolt from Rome : for though it is true, that they charged
the Papists with making God's tradition (the holy scriptures)
void by their numerous dark traditions; yet that which
begot that holy loathing of Rome's superstitions, idolatries,
and will-worship, was God's grace in their hearts ; and
their best argument against Rome's assaults was this, 'The
scripture which 1 believe from the testimony of the spirit of
God in me, and which I can only understand from the illu
mination thereof) owns no such thing, and therefore I reject
it.' Such as converse with Luther and his followers, Zuinglius
and his followers, will find this to have been the foundation
of their whole work. And our own martyrology is full to
our purpose, particularly Tindal, Tims and Philpot.
I omit to mention a whole cloud of witnesses, because I
intend not to dwell here ; only this I would be at, and I
entreat you all to weigh it, whether any thing can give to
understand aright, and enable to practise those things of
God, which it is necessary for man both to know and do, but
God's light, grace, or word in the heart : what else can
give us to relish the divine authority ofthe scriptures them
selves, or to believe the things therein treated of to be unde
niable truths ? Indeed, the want of this has been a great
occasion of Atheism ; man making, practising, and enacting
that for religion, of which people have had no assurance in
themselves : but if they should speak their hearts, it is more
probable they do not believe it ; but instead thereof deride
it, and so, under a shew of religion, live as men without
God in the world.
To prevent which, and to bring men to the true under
standing of what God expects from them, in order to that
great account they are to give unto him at the revelation of
his righteous judgments, " when he will judge the secrets of
all men by Jesus Christ," we do exhort all to Christ's pure
unerring light in the conscience, (John viii. 12 1 John i.
5, 6, 7.) which is sufficient to daily understanding and duty;

TO THE JUSTICES. 207
that what they believe and profess in matters of so high im
portance, they may be convinced in their very conscience, by
the good understanding the inspiration of the Almighty
gives, ofthe truth and necessity thereof; and not suffer them
selves to be carried away with the torrent of fathers, coun
cils, synods, doctors, scholars, national constitutions, &c.
(big, and most times untrue, and too often empty words)
without that inward conviction and testimony of God's good
spirit in your own consciences ; the old protestant, and only
primitive ground of true faith and obedience.
I know, and shall always acknowledge, that in the time of
ignorance the .Almighty winked; and that in every age he
has expressed his regard to those under the various forms of
religion ever in the world, who have been sincere-hearted,
and of sober and conscientious conversation: but I must
also tell you, that by how much the more needless and un
warrantable customs, will-worship, and human religion
built upon the dark and uncertain conjectures of men, are
receded from, and the minds of people engaged in a diligent
attendance upon that divine principle which only can clear
up their understandings, and give them an experimental
knowledge of the true God, and that way of worship and
service which may be most acceptable with him, by so much
more certain will they be ofthe truth of their religion ; in
asmuch as they have, over and above all external record,
the assurance of unquestionable convictions in their own
consciences. Thus, God, who made heaven and earth, knows, we came
to receive that knowledge of him, which we now expose our
selves to all hardships to maintain.
We professed God ; but, like our neighbours, in works
we denied him. We worshipped him after man's conceiv
ings ; insomuch that I may say, we worshipped the unknown
God in a false way. No doubt but we were stocked with
the common talk of religion; but the cross of Christ we
Were strangers to. His blood we extolled, whilst by wicked
works we trod it under foot : and believed ourselves saved
by it, who were uncleansed from sin. The whole end of his
coming we esteemed the top of all love ; but never knew
enough of it, truly kindled in our hearts, whereby to work
such faith and resignation as could give us victory over the
world. Thus were we, Jews-like, children of God, whilst
we crucified the Son of God ; and of the seed of Abraham,
whilst the serpent's seed reigned ; heirs of the kingdom, yet
not born again ; free, yet the bondslaves of vanity. O ! at
this time of day it was that God found us out, and broke in
upon our souls with his righteous judgments for sin, and

208 TO THE JUSTICES.
laid judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plum
met, within us; the book of conscience was opened,
and great fear surprised us, and deep sorrow fell upon
us, which brought that sudden and strange change, that
made us both the derision of profane, and wonder of sober
men. The author of the ' Account of Familism,' for want of
more skill, and seriousness, calls it the hypochondria : as if
it had been only a flux of melancholy overpowering the
strength of reason, and carrying the understanding captive
at the impetuosity of its fancies. But having been thus made
sensible ofthe terrors of the Lord for sin, and being brought
into a true understanding of that religion and worship
which most please God, some of us were constrained, and in
conscience bound, to go forth into the world, and publish
these tidings of judgment for sin, and conversion through
righteousness, wrought by the mighty power of God in the
conscience, that all might be awakened to try their works,
faiths, worships, and whole religions, whether they were of
God or men ; or whether they had been doing their own
wills, or the will of God ; that so they might be brought to
experience God to be a God nigh at hand, reconciled in
Christ, blotting out sin, and renewing a right spirit within ;
by which their religion might not longer stand in the tradi
tions of men, or on the education of parents, but upon the
convictions and operations of God's grace in the conscience.
And thus is all that Christ did without, brought nigh and
home to the very soul. The seed of the woman is known to
bruise the head ofthe serpent; Christ, the Light, and Lamb
that taketh away the sins of the world, not only to take
away the sins past through remission, but cleanse from the
nature, root, and ground of sin, by his holy blood, which
sprinkles all consciences that wait and walk in the light
(the just man's path) from dead works, to serve the living
God in uprightness forever.
For this cause are we brought out into the world ; and
behold the vessel we are embarked in, our lading, and the
country we make for ! the vessel, truth ; the lading, faith
and good works ; our souls, the passengers; and the coun
try, the land of everlasting rest.
This I could not but present you with, that no endea
vours of our enemies may be able to lodge a false character
of us and our principles with you: though I must faithfully
tell you, that I should wrong my own reason, as well as
your judgment, and speak against my conscience too, if I
should let in one thought of this man's ability to do us any
great mischief with you : for, out of no insult, but in real

wisuom justified, &c. 209
truth, I take him for a very unskilful pilot on our coast, a
man unacquainted with our concerns ; and a most incompe
tent person for an antagonist.
Accept (for I can ask no excuse for) my plainness. I
have not fawned ; I never, could, and now much less : these
matters not only deserve, but require, the greatest plain
ness. And men that believe they shall have to do with
God, after they have left having to do with men, ought to
act with greatest circumspection and sincerity. Remember
your original, remember your end ; and know assuredly
that, but 'Breath is in your nostrils; and for every deed
done in this mortal body, whether it be good, or whether it
be evil, will God, the righteous judge, require an account
from you before his great .tribunal ;' where may you all be
able to answer with joy !
I am your faithful friend,
William Penn.

Wisdom Justified of her Children, from the Ignorance and
Calumny of H. H ally wel.
CHAP. I.
His Epistle considered.
The adversary we have to do withal begins his dedica
tory epistle thus, ' The daily and numerous increase ofthe
heretical generation of Quakers in these parts, made me a
little more than ordinarily inquisitive into their doctrines
and persiiasions ; which I found not only destructive of civil
government, but of religion itself.'
It is natural with ignorance to be proud, and envy to
slander. His enquiry has been at our adversaries' doors,
not ours. They that read him, and those books that lately
came out, may know his informers without farther cost : but
book-robbery, though to untruth, is an old priest-trick.
If his sort of rendering us inconsistent with government
could incense the civil magistrate to our destruction, we
know very well traducers would not be wanting. Truth
has never been persecuted under its own name : heresy is
an old blot the devil has cast upon it, that it may become
suspected with the simple ; and Christians were of old wor
ried in beast-skins: such coverings the present heathen
Vol. ii. o

210 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
spirit has provided for us. But as we cannot but bless the
name of Almighty God, that he has brought us to the know
ledge ofhis good old way of " Truth in the inward parts;*"
so do we affirm it to be neither averse from government, nor
destructive of religion ; right government being according
to it ; and pure religion being " to keep ourselves unspotted
from the world,+" and to do, or suffer, which we have ever
done ; and God knows, to that is the tendency of our holy
principle, to wit, moderation, justice, industry, temperance,
and upright conversation. But the true English of this
wicked suggestion is no more than this ; the Quakers and
their persuasion are inconsistent with will-worshippers,
hirelings, men-pleasers, persecutors, and oppressors : they
give the world an alarm for these things, and round their
ears with the necessity of walking in so strait and narrow a
Way, as gives great disquiet to the libertine, and brings the
priest's qualification into great question, and his trade
into absolute danger.
No wonder then so many hard names are cast upon us, to
deter such as are unacquainted with us ; and beget scruples
in them that are well-disposed to us. However, this con
tentment this paragraph gives, that notwithstanding all this
opposition^ We daily and numerously increase, for which my
soul is greatly glad, and my knees bow to the God and Fa
ther of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he would continue to
prosper and speed his own great work of redemption in the
earth. But he goes on :
' For what else can be expected from them, who deny the
scripture to be the word of God, and rule and guide in mat
ters of salvation ?'
Answ. We do not deny the scriptures to be the word of
God, and rule and guide in matters of salvation, out of any
undervalue of them ; but from that reverent regard we have
to Christ, the great and eminent word, " who was with God,
and was God, by whom all things were made ; who is the
way, truth, and life, the great prophet, judge, law-giver,
and priest to his people, whose lips preserve knowledge.^"
He is the new Covenant rule and judge; and without him
we can never understand, nor believe the scriptures as we
should do : nay, so far are they from being a rule, &c.
that a thousand cases may happen wherein they cannot be a
direction to us. Nay, they may be burned, drowned, torn,
lost, mistranslated, added to, diminished ; men may be rob
bed of them, imprisoned from them ; but none of all this
can or ought to be said of the great gospel rule : God has
ever beenT sufficient to his people in every age; and since
* Jer. 34. Heb, viii, 10. + Jam. i. 27. i John sir. Acts vii. 37.

HER children. 211
they only are children of God, who are led bv the spirit of
God, and that it is the spirit of God alone which leads into
all truth, it follows that the law of the spirit of life, writ in
the heart, and not a law writ on paper (a state less excel
lent than the Jews'j whose law was written upon stone) is
the great evangelical rule of living : yet are the scriptures
an holy declaration of the word of God, and of the rule and
guide in matters of salvation : and we reject for ever that
spirit which leads into those principles and practices, that
in the least contradict the standing and permanent truths
therein mentioned : for they were written by holy men of
God, being inspired thereto, and contain godly reproof, ad
monition, exhortation, and prophecies, for the edification of
the church, and perfecting the man of God to every good
word and work, through faith in Christ Jesus; and as such,
many directions, precepts, and rules, are therein laid down :
yet they all refer to the grace, light, spirit, word, or anoint
ing within, as that by which man ought to be ruled, go
verned, and ordered, to God's glory and his own comfort,*
as they first were who gave them forth ; for they were wit
nesses of the truth of what they writ. So that they are an
holy declaration of the way of God, and that holy principle
which leads to it, and in it; without which the book is
sealed, the scriptures are unknown ; and consequently not
the scriptures, but that holy key of David, is the rule, how
far, and which way, we are both to understand, interpret,
believe, and practise them.
This may be enough to shew the disingenuity of our ad
versary in representing us to his knight : for because we
cannot give that title and office due to Christ himself, from
him to his bare declaration, he would insinuate that we re
fuse all conformity to the holy examples and testimonies
therein related and expressed, as if we were a most dissolute
crew of libertines.
But he tells us, ' that this person (whose name I suppose
we shall prove he has made too bold with) so well knowing
our obstinate and perverse humour, in the discharge of his
trusts committed to him under his most sacred majesty, he
could do no less than present him with this treatise; that going
under the name and protection of so worthy and accomplish
ed a person, it may in some measure obtain its desired effect,
by putting a stop to the growing evil, and confirming those
who are not seduced in the truth of their profession.' A
most nonsensical expression.
* Tit. ii. 11, 12w John iii, 19, 20, 21. Rom. viii. IS, 14. 1 John ii. 27.
Read ' Quakerism, a new nick-name for old Christianity,' from pag. 24^10 pag.
202. Also ' Reason against Railing.'from pag. 24, to pag. 47.
o 2

212 WISDOM JUSTIFIED- OF
Artsw. But 1 am willing to hope better things of hint,
than that he should go upon the priests' message, or turn
their knight-errant. But what is the matter that the Qua
kers are so perverse ? They cannot say ' right worshipful,'
because they think that of right belongs to God ; nor ' most
sacred majesty,' that being fit for no mortal man : neither
can they lie artd flatter with- 'your most obliged and affec
tionate servant,' for they are more obliged to God than man,
and to one man more than another. He either knew not,
forgot, or slighted the rebuke of Paulinus to Sulp'itius Seve
rus, who said, ' It becometh not Christ's freemen to sub
scribe themselves servant,' &c. But it is nothing with such
as our adversary to cog, lie, and flatter : it is one part ofhis
manners. •
I would fain know what rule he had for all this? Did
the holy prophets and apostles teach him any such trash ?
Will he prate of scripture for a rule, and yet bridle his flat-'
tering tongue no better ? The customs of the Heathens
have entered the profession of Christianity; and that old
spirit, under this new trim, goes off for a very good Chris
tian. ' O ! but the Quakers are obstinate in other cases, for all
this !'
AnsW. Why so ? Because they will by all means stand
to their principles ; they will nPt play the sycophants ;
threats do not fright them^ nor promises gain them; they
love their conscience above their conveniency; and seek to
please God rather than men. Perhaps, this sort of men the
knight has found them, but could have wished them more
pliant to the laws, it may be, that he might have some co
lour to be kind '. must therefore this busy-body intitle his
name to all his own follies, lies, and slanders against us ?
What can any moderate person think, but that the patron
of such discourse has been an eminent persecutor, whose
^protection is so plainly called for to a book that without
doubt would have him so ? For my part, I think the knight
ought to repute that ignorant and disingenuous discourse so
far from being a testimony how much the author is his most
obliged and affectionate servant, that for interesting his
name and power therein, he should hereafter look upon him
as an enemy to him, his name, and family.
Before I conclude, give me leave to ask him, why he
sought for protection?, Is his national cause, defended by
princes, parliaments, navies, armies, the learned, rich and
powerful clergy, both universities, the generality of the
gentry and commonalty, so weak and gasping ? Or are the
poor, despised, traduced, and trodden-down Quakers so po-

' HER CHILDREN. 213
tent and terrible, that a book of eight sheets dare not peep
out against them, but a big title must be got to recommend
and patronize it ? But how worthy soever the knight be,
that will not hinder my proceeding to show the unworthiness
ofthe book, and therein ofthe author, as well to his patron
as the despised Quakers. CHAP. II.
Containing an answer to his first chapter, in which he pretends
an agreement to be between the Quakers, and other, ancient
and modern heretics.
The comparison examined, and proved defective.
Our adversary, that he may the better prejudice his
•reader against us, introduceth his discourse with a compa
rison of us to the most noted and odious of the reputed an
cient and modern heretics; doubtless hoping, that what he
wants of argument to render us such, may be supplied by
that ill opinion men have of those he brings us into parallel
with. The first man he thought fit to pitch upon is Simon
Magus, a man famous for his wicked sorceries, with whom
he wickedly yokes that faithful minister of God, George
Fox, 'because,' saith he, ' Simon Magus gave out that he
was God the Father ; and George Fox, before the justices
at Lancaster, that he was equal with God.'
Answ. There is no believing a decimating, persecuting
priest against a Quaker, till he makes more conscience of
telling lies, who hath given too many demonstrations ofhis
desire to have us run down at any rate, to be credited by
those who love truth more than partiality.
George Fox denies the words ; they were never so spo
ken by him ; much less were they ever intended in that way
our adversary takes and improves them. For though there
be not an equality, yet there is an unity, as testifieth the
scripture; " Let the same mind be in you, that was also in
Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it hot
robbery to be equal with God.*" And " He that sanctifi-
eth, and they that are sanctified, are all of one ; for which
cause, he is not ashamed to call them brethren. t" Again,
" They that are joined to the Lord are one spirit ;" and,
" He that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is
righteous. :£" To deny this, is to deny the most heavenly
benefit we have by Christ, namely, that unity and fellow
ship we have with the Father and with the Son. That it
was an unity, not an equality, especially in the sense he
* Phil. ii. 6. +Heb^ii. J 1 John iii. 7.

214 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
takes the word, the faithful narrative of that proceeding,
printed in the year 1654, will farther testify.
How great then must this man's miscarriage be$ who to
render a good man an impostor, turns forger himself! but
God will reward him.
The next pair he pitches upon to prove his assertion, is
Menander and James Naylor (p. 3.) ' The one for affirming
himself to be sent from the invisible regions to be the saviour
of mankind : and James Naylor for asserting himself to be
Christ, and accepting hosannahs and divine worship in the
streets of Bristol.'
Answ. What Menander was, I know not ; and it is hard
believing a character of any man, when it is given by his
enemy: but sure I am that James Naylor never asserted
himself to be the Christ of God ; neither did he ever deny
him that appeared at Jerusalem to be the Lord's Christ, as
his writings plentifully declare, especially one paper written
by him to the then parliament, when a prisoner in Bride
well.
* Christ Jesus, the Emanuel (of whose sufferings the scrip
tures declare) him alone I confess before men ; for whose
sake I have denied whatever was dear to me in this world,
that I might win him, and be found in him, and not in my
self; whom alone I seek to serve in body, soul, and spirit,
night and day, according to the measure of grace working
in me ; even to that Eternal Spirit be glory, and to the Lamb
for ever. But to ascribe this power and virtue to James
Naylor, or for that to be exalted or worshipped, to me is
great idolatry. So having an opportunity given (with rea
diness) I am willing, in the fear of God the Father, and in
honour to Christ Jesus, to take off all offences from every
simple heart without guile or deceit.'
His third comparison lies betwixt Photinus, who is said to
have denied the Trinity, and G. Fox, as guilty ofthe same
error in his account, p. 4.
Answ. I can find no such place in the book so called :
either our adversary sets up for a new controvertist, or he
dishonestly shunned giving us the page : but I am willing
to believe, that he took it as he found it in some other ad
versary ; for any thing reported or printed against a Qua
ker, is ground enough for an envious priest to accuse him.
But what if G. Pox denied the unscriptural expressions,
viz. the Trinity of distinct and separate persons ? must it
necessarily follow that he denied the " Three that bear re
cord in heaven, the Father, Word, and Spirit ?*" We justly
renounce those barbarous school terms, as not suited to God's
- * I John v.

HER CHILDREN. 215
heavenly manifestations, but the dark conceits of some
popish doctors.
His fourth comparison is made between Socinus and James
Naylor, in that the one denied the ' Satisfaction of Jesug
Christ, and looked upon his passion only as an example.'
The other, in that he affirmed the end for which Christ did
suffer, was to be a living .example to all generations.'
Love to the lost, p. 50.
Answ. He has not truly delivered the opinion of Socinus,
whose books show, however mistaken about Christ's divi*
nity, that he ever esteemed his death and passion to have
niore in it than a bare example: nor has he faithfully dealt
with J. Naylor in this quotation ; for first, I find not the
words as cited; and next, the word only is by himself omit
ted, which alone renders the passage heterodox. Suppose
then that J. Naylor writ, ' That Christ was in his suffering
a living example to all generations ;' is there no difference
between Christ's being in his death and passion only our
example, which he charges upon Socinus, and Christ's being
our living example in suffering, which he attributes to J.
Naylor? How can there be a comparison, where there is so
great a disparity? The first is denied by all that own
Christ : the last is owned by all that do not deny Peter,
who thus writ to the scattered brethren, " For even here
unto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps." 1
Pet. ii. 21.
His fifth comparison he makes between the Valentinians
and the Quakers. ' The former,' he says, ' arrogated to
themselves a knowledge beyond Christ and his apostles; the
latter impudently throw away the written word of God, and
delude the credulous vulgar, with new-fangled revelations;'
which he thinks he has proved by two instances: i. That
Tho. Holbrow, a Quaker, to one that urged scripture, an
swered, ' What dost thou tell me of scripture, which is no
more to me than an old almanack?' 2. That Fox and
Hubberthorn, in a book called Truth's Defence, say, ' The
scriptures are no standing rule, and it is dangerous for ig
norant people to read them.*'
Answ. To the first I say, there is great difference between
one that was no Quaker, and one that was, or is a Quaker :
we have examined the matter, and by all we can find, both
thatsayingis not true as charged,and itisof anancienterdate
than the coming of any of our friends into those parts;
therefore not the saying of a true Quaker. To the second
I return thus much, It is true there is such a book, and it
* Page 4, 5, 6.

216 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
was written by G. Fox andR. Hubberthorn ; but he has not
given us so much as one page to direct us to the passage :
so that either people must read till they find it, or else take
his perversion for our assertion. Unworthy man ! does he
think us such wretches, that we deserve not common jus
tice? Methinks justice should not be denied where so little
mercy is shown.
But to answer the instance. Our judgment about the
scriptures being the rule, we have already delivered : and in
what sense it is dangerous to read them, their own book will
declare. ' It is dangerous,' say G. Fox and R. Hubberthorn, ' to
read the scripture in order to make war against the saints,
to give carnal expositions upon them, and meanings con
trary to them, and to make a trade of them ; but blessed is
he that doth read and doth understand them.' If this prove
that slight to scripture our adversary would suggest them to
be guilty of, then let us be condemned : but God's witness
in every unseared conscience will acquit them, and judge him
for corrupt citation, and bard speeches, who dares to cry
thereupon, 'Are not these as impudent heretics as the Va-
lentinians ?' whom he represents to have arrogated to them
selves a knowledge above Christ and his [apostles : which,
how true soever it may be of them, I am sure is false enough
of us ; for those hideous consequences he makes, are not
deducible from any unperverted saying to be cited out of
' Truth's Defence.'
And lest any should think we deny, with the Papists, the
perusal ofthe scriptures to ignorant people, from what our
adversary says, know that they spoke of such ignorant and
unlearned persons, as, in reading, " wrested them to their
own destruction." Now unless it be not dangerous to read
to destruction, they are not chargeable with blame in that
matter. But who are the knowing and learned ? The Jewish doc
tors, and Greek philosophers ? No, but fishermen, and poor
mechanics, discipled in Christ's school ; for the excellency
of whose knowledge Paul reputed his Gamaliel-acquisitions
but dross and dung : so that their knowing and learned are
many times the ignorant and unlearned we speak of, " whose
wisdom God will confound, and whose understanding he will
biing to nought."
His last comparison of us in this chapter, is with Marcus,
an old heretic. The agreement he makes betwixt us ' lies
in our mutual pretences to inspiration and prophecy.' For
¦as he reports him to have ' abused many silly women, under
colour of conferring on thein the gift of prophesying, and

HER CHILDREN. 217
that he had a familiar spirit, by which he brought himself
into credit with his deluded followers ;' so he tells us that,
' he has had it confidently affirmed, that about the first rise
ofthe Quakers, in the North of England, several persons,
by gloves, and ribbands, and divers charms, were really be
witched by them. And doubtless many of their quaking fits
were real possessions by the devil. t'
Answ. What Marcus was, is nothing to us : if he has
done amiss, he has answered for it by this time. I confess
I am not over fond ofthe characters left us of ancient here
tics, knowing what kind of creatures the best Protestants
are with Papists ; and what fearful monsters several sober
separatists are reputed among some Protestants : but this I
know, if what he hath said of several ancients be no truer
than what he hath said of us, he has grossly abused their
doctrines and their memories.t
For the witchcraft of gloves, ribbands, and charms, it
is scarce worthy my notice ; his folly in mentioning it being
a sufficient reproof and confutation to himself. A story fit
for none, at this time of day, to report or believe, but a
man of his size. I thought they had been worn out by this
time. But let the sober reader judge, which savours most of
Satan's design, this idle, yet scandalous, story, or our' fear
ing and trembling at the word of the Lord, and those ter
rors that broke in upon our souls, because of sin and ini
quity ?' It is but the old spirit of. mockery, that actuated
the Jews and Heathens against the Christians, and Papists
against Protestants, and too many Protestants of several
sorts, against some more reformed separatists.
For had the reverent fear of God possessed our adversa
ry's heart, in the writing of this discourse, there had been
no room for such irreligious scoffs against an inoffensive
people. But the devil, because he would be God, calls
God the devil, and Christ Beelzebub; light, darkness; and
the power of God the power of Satan ; and the fear and
trembling brought by the one, the possessions and witch
crafts ofthe other. Certainly such men live in a dry land,
they see not when good cometh. But what will not an en
raged tithing priest do to destroy us, who, he knows, are
discoverers of such deluders?
* Page 6. + Page 7..

218 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF

CHAP. III.
His pretended agreement between the authors of familism and
the Quakers considered. His objections answered.
I now come to consider the reason ofthe title of his book,
and what ground he had to name us the revivers and propa
gators of familism, with the most weighty objections he
makes against us ; if in truth I may repute the strongest of
them such ; and that with what brevity, truth, and faithful
ness I can.
' The great authors of this doctrine of familism,' he says,
' were David George and Henry Nicholas ; but more espe
cially the latter, as having more improved and disseminated
the pernicious errors introduced by the former.' He be
stows many severe expressions upon them, more, I think,
than becomes a man of any charity to give. I am not their
advocate ; but so much spleen, and so little reason, against
dead men, can be neither Christian, nor manly. What he
says they held, and how far we are concerned in it, it is our
business to enquire. §. 1. Of Christ' s Ministration.
And first he tells us that H. N. should say, ' That not
only the law of Moses, but the ministration of Christ and
his apostles, were only temporary things, instituted to bring
men to the perfect reign of the spirit ; and then like horn
books and piimers to grown understandings, to be thrown
away,' p. 10, 1 1. And that this is the full sense of the Qua
kers,' says our adversary, p. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. 'hear John
Crook, a Quaker ; ' We believe, by the same gift of grace,
that there are several ministrations, and several operations,
according to 1 Cor. 12. and all by the same spirit ; as before
and after the law by Moses, and after by John the Baptist,
and Christ and his apostles.; And by this spirit were the
scriptures given forth, and the holy men of God did speak,
prophesy, preach, and pray, as they were moved; and to
, answer the service God had for them to do, they were to
wait, as Christ commanded his disciples, to receive the pro
mise ofthe Father^  And therefore as it was the practice
ofthe people of God, in old time, to wait for the moving of
this spirit, that they might speak as it gave them utterance
in the evidence and demonstration thereof; so do this peo
ple, called Quakers, now.' Upon which our adversary dares
to observe, ' that we, with the familists, deny the ministra
tion of Christ to be the ministration of the spirit ;' and conse
quently charges us with a blasphemous derogation from the

HER CHILDREN. 219
honour of our blessed Saviour, who said to his apostles,. John
xvi. 14. " He shall receive of mine, and shew it unto you."
Answ. If our adversary's weakness has run him into this
strange parallel, he is to be pitied ; but if his envy, he is
severely to be rebuked. Will any man that has sense or
honesty say> it is all one to affirm that Christ's ministration
is ' an horn- book that time casts off with infancy;' and that
it is ' a waiting to receive the same spirit Christ commanded
his apostles to wait for, as the promise of the Father, and
the peculiar gift of his own ministration ?' Does not J.
Crook expressly draw a parallel between the holy men of
God of oldj and the Quakers of our time ; that as they then,
so the Quakers now, wait to be taught, moved, and ordered
by the same eternal Spirit, through which all come to be
baptized into one body ? How was that then no spiritual
ministration, when we desire to be conformed unto the
spirit and holy example thereof; not making this a new, but
reviving that old and durable ministration of the spirit?
Therefore ' blasphemous derogations will return to our ad
versary, as unduly charged upon us, with a charge upon him
of base der6gation from the truth of our belief.
But he thinks that Humph. Smith has made much for him
in thus querying; p. 15. ' Whether should people be led in
these days by Moses, according to his outward ministration,
or the person of Christ, (limiting him to his visible appear
ance) or the spirit of truth, which he promised to pour out
after his ascension?' which contains the substance of what
he quotes out of Humph. Smith, and to which he thus an
swers : ' There is no sober Christian can read this passage
without anger and disdain, to see such wicked wretches
scoff, and fleeringly insult upon the sacred person of our
Lord Jesus : the whole history of whose life and death, in
the letter of it, they esteem no better than one of iEsop's
fables.' Answ. But our adversary will not so easily escape the
hand of the just God, " whose is vengeance," for these un
godly defamations, as he well knows he may do ours : anger,
disdain, and lies, become him, and it is little to be wondered
that he should be guilty of them all against a Quaker. If
H. Smith had asserted ' that Moses could not. be our leader,
neither the visible person of Christ, but the spirit of truth,'
he had not exceeded the warrant of scripture, nor the very
judgment of this reviler. It is not two pages [off that he
quoted John xvi. 14. " He shall receive of mine, and shall
shew it unto you :" which, if I understand any thing, im
ports thus much ; ' That those things which they knew not
whilst Christ was with them, after his ascension the Holy

220 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
Ghost should reveal unto them,' as these two preceding
verses fully prove. " I have yet many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now; howbeit, when the
Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, and
he will shew you things to come." Nay, Christ himself
says in the 7th verse, " Nevertheless I tell you the truth ;
it is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you." And in the xivth
chap, verse 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, he speaks thus, " I will pray
the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, and
he will abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth:"
so that the personal ministration was manifestly transient
and temporary ; but that ofthe Spirit was to abide for ever.
But I would not any should think it to be less Christ's mi
nistrations because the ministration of the Spirit ; for the
Lord is that Spirit, as his own words manifest : again, " I
will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Yet a
little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me :
because I live, ye shall live also ; for he that dwelleth with
you, shall be in you At that day you shall know that I am
in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." And that
this Comforter is Christ, in his spiritual coming and appear
ance, let it be farther observed, that the same word for Com
forter (na-faxtoT©') in John xvi. 7. is the word used by the
same apostle in the first verse of the 2d chapter of his first
epistle, for advocate, when he says, " We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
In short, the dispensation of his visible appearance was
but temporary : " It is expedient for you that I go away."
But his ministration, who so appeared, then disappeared,
and after re-appeared, is a spiritual and unalterable minis
tration, " Lo, I am with you to the end of the world," Mat.
xxviii. 20. , And truly thus much our adversary (p. 13.) in
contradiction to himself, grants us, that ' the ministration of
Christ was indeed the ministration of the Spirit.' Now
what scoffs, fleerings, or insults against the sacred person of
our Lord Jesus any can see in this doctrine, to incite a so
ber Christian to anger and disdain, I leave to any but such
au angry disdainful enemy to judge.
I cannot forget this horrible He of us, concerning the
scripture, stolen probably out of an Anabaptist's lying dia
logue lately printed against us. Prelatics and sectaries can
sometimes agree against Quakers. iEsop's fables have more
worth in them than all the books that ever were written
against the Quakers : I do not at all doubt but there are
twenty fables in iEsop, that, well considered, would have
taught them more discretion, and (it should have been their

HER CHILDREN. 221
own fault if not) more honesty too, than any or all of them
have shown in their utmost endeavours against us. But
that we have ' no mbre regard to, nor belief in, the holy
scriptures of truth, than in iEsop's fables,' is a story more
profane and fabulous than any fable in iEsop ; and God will
recompense with a vengeance this defamer of an innocent
people, unless diverted by his unfeigned repentance.
^. 2. Of Revelation.
He tells us, ' The second thing wherein the Familists and
Quakers are all one, is the pretence of immediate revelation.
Dav. Geo. and H. N. both pretended to receive their doc
trine from the angel Gabriel. And W. Gibson, the Quaker,
says, p. 16. that the gospel which they preach they have not
received it from men, nor from books, nor from writings, but
by the revelation of Jesus Christ in them ; and then denies
the scriptures ofthe Old and New Testament to be the re
vealed will of God.'
Answ. After what manner D. G. and H. N. received
their commission I know not ; but sure I am that W. Gibson's
assertion is sound. Take away revelation, and the gospel
ceases of course; Christ is put beside the dignity of his
prophetical and priestly office ; the promises of God will
be broken ; and the most excellent part of the scriptures,
God's traditions, made void. Who was it said, " A prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up like unto me, Deut. xviii.
18. Him shall ye hear in all things." " There is a spirit in
man ; and the inspiratipn of the Almighty giveth under
standing." Job xxxii. 8. "As for me, this is my covenant
with him, saith the Lord, My Spirit that is upon thee., and
my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart
out of thy mouth, nor out ofthe mouth of thy seed, nor out
of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from hence
forth and for ever," Isa. lix. 21. " I will reveal unto them
the abundance of peace and truth," Jer. xxxiii. 6. "I
thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babes.-— And no man knoweth tlie
Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
him." Matt. xi. 25, 27. " No man can come unto me,
except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him." John
vi. 44. " But God hath revealed them unto us by his
Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God. For the things of God knoweth no man,
but the Spirit of God." 1 Cor. ii. 10, II. chap, xiv, 30.
" If any thing should be revealed to another that sitteth
by, let the first hold his peace. For when it pleased God

222 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
to reveal his Son in me. — Fori neither received the gospel
of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ." Gal. i. 12. 16. " If any be otherwise
minded, God will reveal it to him." Phil. iii. 15. As I said:
before, so again, who uttered these excellent sayings, and
for what end ? If no inspiration, no understanding; if no
revelation, no knowledge : and if the Spirit cease to teach,
(as it can never teach, but by inspiration or revelation)
then the administration of Christ and his apostles is ceased
indeed: and so not tlie Quakers, but their adversary over
turns the gospel ministration, as begun and preached by
Christ and his apostles. And be it known to all the world,
we think revelation no disgrace to our cause. Parrots may
learn scripture, but can never experience it. And those
know little better, who know not by experience : they are
unprofitable canters indeed, who confidently talk of what
they never felt; and idle boasters, who buoy up themselves
unto the reputation of ministers and Christians, with a loud
talk of their travels, trials, inspirations, and experiences,
whom they plainly mock in their posterity ; concluding all
blind, because themselves cannot see. In short, let it be
the character of the despised Quakers, (and we glory in it)
that all the councils, synods, universities, doctors, scholars,
and the most unanimous decrees, learned books, and what
ever the power and art of the spirit of man can produce,
will never be able to give, or rule, that true faith which
overcomes the world : for " that which may be known of God
is manifest within man :" and though outward records may
testify of and direct to that unerring light and spirit, by
which man comes both to know God, and to be made con
formable to his heavenly image ; yet nothing below the
discoveries, convictions, and effectual operations of the
Eternal Spirit, can give man the certain knowledge of God,
nor that daily ability by which alone he may be enabled to
obey him.
Pag. 16, 17, 18. But he opposeth to us ' Miracles and
reason ; insinuating that we have no more of the last than
the first, and therefore not to be believed.' To the first, I
say, we pretend to no other religion, than what was pro
fessed and practised by the apostles, and therefore need no
new miracles after that manner to confirm that which has
been confirmed by miracles already ; especially to those
who believe those miracles : and to deny revelation where
there are no miracles, is to discard many .of the prophets,
and to deny the pouring forth of the spirit upon the primi
tive Christians. But, above all, hear the man's interpreta
tion of Deut. xviii. 22. " When a prophet speaks in the

HER CHILDREN. 223
name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to
pass ;,\ "that is, saith this horrible perverter of holy scrip
ture, ' if he do no miracle;' whereas the verse intends no
such thing. Is this to rant over the Quakers for ideots, as
if he were some doctor of the chair, that where the scrip
ture speaks of prophecy, he should render it miracle; as if
he that is a prophet, is a worker of miracles, and that
miracles and prophecy are equivalent? But (argumentum
ad hominem) let us see how it will hold. ' He that is a true
prophet must necessarily work miracles : but the priests of
England cannot work miracles ; therefore the priests of
England are all false prophets.' A true conclusion, yet
false premises : a paradox. Now for the reasonableness
of our doctrine : ' he thinks a very mean capacity can find
none in it ; for how should there be any reason in what
they teach, when they themselves,' says he, ' deny the use
of reason,' (pag. 18.) But none have less than they which
pretend to so much. This man dares svy agger for reason,
and yet cries out, heresy, as soon as he sees it. His reason
is, the authority qf his church ; the say-so of some univer
sity doctor ; finally, the works of some learned men : and
offer never so much reason and conscience against them,
and your reason is sophistry, and conscience, enthusiasm.
The justest separation in the world is with such but schism ;
and, which is the last stratagem, such persons must be
enemies to Caesar. But I may say of those men, as Heraclitus
said of their forefathers, ' If blind men were to judge of
sight, they would say blindness were sight.' God is the foun
tain as well of reason as light : and we assert our principle
not to be without reason, but most reasonable ; whence it
is frequent with us, in our reproof of cruel men, to say
' they are unreasonable,' whether it be to man or beast,
making good what the prophet saith, " For his God doth
instruct him to discretion, and doth teach them." Again,
" Come and let us reason together." And Tertullian will
have the first verse of John thus rendered : " In the begin
ning was reason, and that reason was with God, and that
reason was God ; by that were all things made," &c. And
this seems no foreign interpretation ; for in the 10th verse
of Jude we have " sensual men npt having the Spirit,"
called «>>y* {*>*, unreasonable creatures ; according to which
the apostle speaks, ini/Mi ireis airo^oyUu «<rSvn Aoyov, " to him
that asks reason, be ready to give it."
Thus much (to overlook our own translation in Paul's
second epistle to the Thessalonians, where he calls such
" Unreasonable men that have not faith,") concerning rea
son : so that it te very evident by our adversary's denying,

<

224 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
and the Quakers' asserting an 'unerrable principle to be in
man, and the refusal of the one, and the readiness of the
other, to be governed thereby, that not the Quakers, but
their enemies, are unreasonable, both in their faith and
practice. §. 3. Of Forms of Prayer.
Our adversary spends two or three pages in proving the
necessity of ' bodily worship ;' and he doth it so lamely,
that if it were so much my judgment to deny it, as it is to
practise it, I know nothing he has said to incline me to it.
This he makes an introduction to that agreement, he says,
there is between D. G. H. N. and the Quakers, in their
mutual renouncing both bodily worship and visible ordi
nances.' For bodily warship, I need say no more, than that
our public meetings judge him guilty of great dishonesty.
For his visible ordinances, we shall proceed to consider
them. The first is concerning a form of prayer: hear him.
' With the like silly and weak confidence they exclaim
against forms of prayer, when as our blessed Saviour taught
his disciples a form.' Matt. vi. 9. " After this manner
therefore pray ye," &c. ' And lest,' says he, ' we should
think that this was only a pattern, Saint Luke, chap. xi.
expresses it, " When ye pray, say, Our Father," &c. ' that
is, do it in these words. Moreover, John taught his dis
ciples ; and one of Christ's disciples desired that he would
teach them : where we are told, first, that John delivered a
form of prayer to his disciples. 2. That Christ's disciples
besought him that he would also give them some form of
his making.'
Answ. But can this man have the vanity to plead the
necessity ofthe use of this form, much less of those that are
of men's invention and appointment, from those quotations?
Has his religion brought him no farther? Can he believe
that Matthew writ by the Holy Ghost, and yet imply au
absolute reproof in his so much more commending Luke's
account, which, he thinks, requires the express words, and
not others like them ? But let it be considered, that this
was a time of infancy; and that it was before the more full
pouring out of the Spirit is certain ; and that they knew
not gospel-prayer, as afterwards, is undeniable. Besides,
it is either sufficient, or it is not: if insufficient, it reflects
on Christ. Besides, who can supply its defect ; If suffi
cient," why do you use any other ? Whatever it is upon our
principles, you must confess it to be ' a setting of your posts
by God's posts ;' your invention by his institution. It is
mere deceit to attempt the defence of the popish English

HER CHILDREN. 225
mass-book from Christ's prayer. Prove your forms to be
of divine institution, and that God by his Spirit now
requires them, and the debate will end; otherwise, we
reject the allusion, as improper and incoherent. The Spirit
is not confutable to set forms; though in times of ignorance
he hath administered comfort in them to those who were
sincere, and knew no better : but forms are not therefore
to be perpetuated ; for that were to obstruct the more free
operation of the Spirit, and our expression by it : it is. at
best but a state of weakness to be condescended to, but
never to be pleaded for: God's Spirit will be unlimited;
as well as the words, he prompts us to, must never by
another be confined §. 4. Of Baptism.
He says, We ' both deny baptism (by which I understand
Water) ; because Christ, finding it among the Jews, adopted
it into his religion ; a ceremony neither burdensome nor
offensive, and the only door set open under the gospel for
salvation.' #For which he brings three scriptures : Matt.
xxviii. 19. " Go, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father," &c. To the same purpose by
Mark, chap, xvi, ver. 15, 16. And Christ's saying, John
iii. 5. " Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
Answ. If baptism was ever Jewish, as our adversary
grants, then because Christ came to end all Jewish cere
monies, water-baptism can bear no evangelical perpetuity.
And if it should be objected, that it was used after the
pouring forth ofthe Holy Ghost, I answer, so were circum
cision, -vows, purification, forbearing to eat things stran
gled, and blood : and the common practice of Christendom,
so called, sufficiently tells us what is become of those
observations. Using and instituting are two things. The
apostles condescended, where they never commanded.
In the two first scriptures, which contain a commission,
there is no water mentioned : that there is " a baptism of
the Holy Ghost,*' I hope, all will grant : that such a bap
tism admits of no outward water, is plainly implied : and
that it was the baptism of the Holy Ghost (and therefore
not pf water) which Christ intended, I will briefly prove.
First, This commission .was some ofthe last words Christ
spoke : that it is to be fulfilled, is certain : that they could
not do it without power, is clear: that neither of those
chapters mentions any such endowment, must be granted.
Whither then must we go to fetch that account here
Vol. ii. P

226 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
omitted? I would desire my reader to turn to the first
chapter of Luke's Acts ofthe apostles, where we shall find
Christ's last words to his constant followers thus left upon
•-riiecord : " And being assembled together with them, he
c'omtBajtJded them that they should not depart from Jerusa
lem, " but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith
he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized, with
water,, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not
many days hence. When they therefore were come to
gether, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto
them, it is not for you to know the times or seasons, which
the Father has put into his own power : but ye shall
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you,
and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part
ofthe earth. And when he had spoken these things, while
they beheld he was taken up, and a cloud received him out
of their sight."* Now if the promise ofthe Father was the
pouring out of the Holy Ghost, and if the pouring out of
the Holy Ghost be the baptism ofthe Holy Ghost, and that
the baptism of the Holy Ghost was that which qualified
them to be his witnesses, as the whole place fully proves ;
then, " Go, and teach all nations," &c. in Matthew, and,
" Go ye into all the world," in Mark, must not have been
spoken before these words in the Acts, at least not to take
place till they themselves had been baptized with the Holy
Ghost; and consequently the baptism mentioned in that
commission, must not have been a water-baptism, as John's
was, but that of the Holy Ghost, which they were to be
baptized with : so that the order of the words, at least in
execution, if not in expression, must have been this, " John
indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with
the Holy Ghost not many days hence: then go ye and
teach all nations, baptizing them in (or rather into) the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost : and lo, 1 am
with you always, unto the end of the world." Nor is this
incredible, when we consider, that without their so baptiz
ing, it had been utterly impossible for them to have
" turned them from darkness to light, and from the power
of Satan unto God." And doubtless they might as well
baptize with the Holy Ghost, as " reconcile by the Word:"
for where the one was, the power ofthe other could not be
wanting. For the third scripture, though water be mentipned, yet,
what water? will 'be. the question. That it is not meant of
' * Actsi. 4, 5, 6, 7,8,9.

HEB CHILDREN. 227
outward water, I offer several reasons. 1. To be born of
water and ofthe Spirit, is no more than to be born of water,
or of the Spirit, mu being here explicative : for wereit
otherwise, and that by water were understood
water, this absurdity would inevitably follow,, tha
of man, which is spiritual and internal, could in/
generated by water external and elementary : bJ
is excellently unfolded, by that notable pasd
apostle Paul in his epistle to Titus, chap. iii. 5.
works of righteousness which we have done, but accoT
to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing ofthe Holy Ghost ;" where we not only have
" the washing of regeneration," to parallel " being born
again of water," (which, say we, must be as spiritual as the
new birth it produceth) but also " the renewing ofthe Holy
Ghost," to answer " being born again of the Spirit :" that
as the washing of regeneration, or renewing of the Holy
Ghost, are synonymous, or expressions to the same purpose;
so being born again of water, or being born again of the
Spirit, are equivalent.
But if our adversary will have this water to be material,
in honouiv of his baptism, let him never refuse the like
liberty to us in construction of that great water-baptist's
own words: " But he shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost and with fire," that is, material fire. Matt. iii. 11.
My judgment is, if that were the Church of England's bap
tism, he had never been her son ; though such sons are
ready to christen many with that fiery baptism. But if
such an interpretation be absurd, let him not esteem his
own rational : and if it must be the Holy Ghost or fire,
then let it be water or Spirit; for indeed they are but so
many words intimating the various operations of one Divine
Power. In short, John was but a forerunner, therefore not to be
perpetuated: he was the water, but Christ the great spiri
tual, Baptist: the former to decrease, the latter to increase:
and the least in Christ's kingdom, which is not of this world,
is greater than John ; not than his private state, but out
ward administration.
Paul, whose commission was larger than any priest's in
England, tells us, " He was not sent to baptize (with water)
but to preach:" and instead of enjoining the practice of it
upon others, " he thanks God that he baptized but very few
himself:" which surely he had never done^ if it had been
part of his commission, or the durable baptism of the
gospel : for he had just reason to suspect some disaffected
would make that ill use of his liberty, ' that it was to ingra
in 2

228 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
tiate and set Op himself, being conscious that he had no
authority for what he did.' This he farther gives us to
believe in that pertinent passage to our purpose : " There
is one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all." If more baptisms than one,
then more "bodies, spirits, lords, faiths, gods, and fathers of
all* " who were above all, and through all, and in them
all."* unto whom Paul wrote. If this be absurd, and that
there is but one baptism, I hope it will not be denied to be
that ofthe Holy Ghost; which is both most suitable to
the evangelical ministration, and the peculiar baptism of
Christ Jesus our Lord. I shall touch upon one passage
more. " The like figure whereunto, even baptism, also doth
now save us ;" as our modern translation has it. From
which, though our adversary would infer, that ' Water-
baptism is to be used, as co-assistant with the answer of a
good conscience, to salvation,' (page 28, 29.) I doubt not
unanswerably to maintain our forgegoing assertion.
This verse admits of various readings in ancient copies,
and divers interpretations by learned men. We shall a
little examine the matter, that he may see we shall not
refuse learning, where it may perform the office of an
honest servant, not an usurper. Tn (some have ifo or »;
the modern Greek o/Wo») «« iyuis (Augustin has it vos, and
our old books, saith Zegerus) ' auriromt (which Vatablus
makes the truth relative to the type, flood. And saith
Grotius, ' Vox av-mwa est communis utrique relato, i. e. tarn
Jiguros tribuitur quam rei perfiguram stgnificatce ; (signifying
type and antitype, or the thing signified by the type).'
Erasmus hath it, ' cui nunc simile sive respondens baptisma.
(So that baptism may answer as the thing typified, not
another type.) 'Avt/tkotov, says Dr. Hammond (a famous man
ofthe English church) is certainly best rendered antitype:
yet there be two different senses, sometimes contradictious ;
thus Zenophon and Hesychius. .Then destruction was by
outward water, now salvation by inward ; otherwise pro
or in lieu of another, as AtBivams, he that supplies the con
sul's place. So « ivrirv-noi /SiwT/o-^a (as in an old copy in
Oxford) is the ark inward, supplying the place of the ark
outward. Nm* e-«£s< /Sato-nay**, which Cappellus understands to
be Baptismum internum, quo fimus mortis Sf resurrectionis
Christi par ticipes. Hujus interni baptismi typos aliquot
habemus in V. T. imprimis autem arcam diluvii, et arcum
Noce.' By inward baptism we are made partakers of Christ's
death and resurrection. Of this inward baptism we have
* 1 Con i. 15, 16, 17. Eph. iv. 5,6. Pag, 28,39.

HER CHILDREN.

several types in the Old Testament, of which Noah's ark
was one. Grotius refers us to these scriptures for an apos
tolical exposition, Rom. vi. 3, 4. Ephes. iv. 5. Gal. iii. 27.
Col. ii. 12. all which refer to man's being " baptized into
Christ's death, his putting on of Christ, and to the one
Lord, one faith, one baptism." And indeed Beza showed
them the way, who will have it, that the baptism which
answered to Noah's ark, was not material water, but the
power of Christ within, which preserves us cleansed, and
enables us to call on God with a good conscience. Nor is
Dr. Hammond of a different judgment in this case, who not
only will have anrirvw rendered antitype, but the baptism
that is that antitype, answering to Noah's ark, to be ' the
inward washing of men's consciences from pollution, and
delivering them from the deluge of sin and destruction.'
Not only from all this do I conclude the baptism men
tioned in that place to be the antitype, or truth, answering
to the outward and typical salvation of Noah's ark, but for
those reasons which were with me before my perusal of
these authors, and which I shall now briefly offer. First,
If ayrlrvsnn ftd-arto-iut were but a type or figure, one type
would answer another, which is not proper. Secondly, It
were both to suppose, that the gospel were a state of
figures, (which is the substance of all) and of such figures
too, as are less demonstrative or significant : for, what is
that sprinkling, baby-baptism (for dipper, or dipped, I sup-
£ose our adversary to be neither) to the wordft deluge and
roah's ark. Thirdly, The baptism in the text must be
such an one as hath, efficacy enough in it to save, which
outward water cannot do: besides the word <r<b£u, or saveth,
hath relation to Noah's ark, wherein the eight souls were
saved; therefore the antitype, or truth answering to that,
as type. Fourthly, It is such a baptism as saves by the
power of Christ's resurrection, answerable to Rom. vi. 3, 4.
" Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into
Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death ? That like as
Christ was raised up from the dead, by the glory of the
Father; even so we also should walk in newness of life."
Fifthly, And this the parenthesis in the verse undeniably
proves, being an illustration ofthe baptism intended, '.' not
the putting away ofthe filth ofthe flesh? but the answer of a
good conscience towards God," or, as some have it, inter*
rogatio, Imgi-ntM,. inquisition, or inquiry, alluding to the
oracle Urim and Thummim, by which men have boldness
and access tp God ; so as to render the verse, " Cui etiam
ex adverso oppositus, nos servat baptismus, non is quo carnis
sordes abjiciuntur, sed is quo fit ut bona conscientia Deum

230 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
interroget per resurrectionem Christi."* i. e. ' To which the
directly opposite baptism also now saveth us, not that by
which the filth of the flesh is cast off, but that by which it
is effected, that a good conscience may ask God by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.' From all which two things
result ; First, that the verse ought to be thus rendered, ' An
swerable to which figure, baptism now also saveth us, not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the account of a
good conscience to God, by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.' And indeed the most disputable part of this
verse is abundantly confirmed on our side, by the simplicity
of the ancient English, French, and Spanish translators.
And I wonder that any man of common sense, not greatly
abused by prejudice or custom, can think that the baptism
mentioned should be that of water, when the middle ofthe
verse provides this material distinction, " Not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh (the effect of outward water)
but the answer of a good conscience to God," (the fruits of
the Holy Ghost alone) to that very end that people should
not think so ; I mean, that it was a water-baptism.
Secondly, It may not be improper for us to observe, that
if one verse hath such variety of copies, readings, transpo
sitions, and senses ; as hath been noted, beside what we
could yet produce ; they are at a miserable pass for an
universal, constant, ana unerring rule, who esteem the
present scripture such, exclusive of the Spirit, which time,
¦ variety of transcribers, translators, interpreters, and exposi
tors, have rendered so uncertain. But if we had been un
provided of all this to our defence, what has our adversary
to do to charge us with a discontinuance of water-baptism,
till he had first cleared "his own opinion from popish inno
vation and invention ? What scripture, or pure antiquity,
has he for infant baptism, one ofthe unscriptural and sense
less ceremonies of his religion, about which such as he make
more stir than about that ofthe Holy Ghost ? A man may
guess what a Christian he. is, and how well he is versed in
Christ's doctrine, who can call a little water, shed by a
priest's hand, ' the door into God's kingdom.' How much
is this short of the Romish priest's making his God, who
says, ' The bread is Christ after consecration,' since Christ,
who is God over all, blessed for ever, saith, " He is that
door," which H. Hallywel will have his infant water-
baptism to be. * Jacob Capell. Saltn. Sac. Ling. Profess, in loe,

HER CHILDREN. 231
§, 5. Of the Supper.
But he saith of us and the familists, ' By the same dia
bolical spirit, wherewith. they are possessed, they lay aside
the sacrament of the Lord's supper, as a thing too carnal'
(page,30, 31). In opposition to which he produceth Matt.
xxvi. 26, 27. how that Christ " took bread* and blessed it,
and brake it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, Take,
eat, this is my body : then he took the cup, and gave thanks,
and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it." St. Mark^
chap. xiv. repeats the very same, and says, they all drank
of it : but St. Luke, chap. xxii. 19. and St. Paul, 1 Cor.
xi. 24. added these words, " Do this in remembrance of
me," which import both a commission and direction to use
and continue them.'
Answ. It is granted that Christ, eating the passover with
his disciples, did familiarly represent that flesh and blood
which he gave for the world, that whosoever eat thereof
should have life eternal abiding in them. Nor is this
strange ; for it. was his familiar way of opening his deepest
mysteries, and recommending the most excellent of all his
commandments; witness his discourse concerning the bless
ed unity of Christ and his members, by the similitude of a
vine and its branches ; and both his washing his disciples;
feet, and requiring them to follow his example. John xiii.
5. 14.
That this practice was enjoined his disciples, is not war
ranted from Matthew, Mark, or " in remembrance of me,"
as our adversary observes : but that they should be Paul's
also, as he affirms, is both an abuse of the scriptures, and
them that read them : for these are the apostle's words^
'' As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup," &c.
which amounts to no more than this, ' When ye do eat this
supper, do it worthily ;' so that there is no command to do
it, though as often as they did do it, they were exhorted to
do it discerningly : " as pften as you do it," and ' do it often,'
are differing sayings.
And that Luke's words do not perpetuate it, especially
as now used, I shall prove. First, if it be but a sacrament
or sign, as saith our adversary, then can it not of right con
tinue longer than till the thing signified shall come. " Do
this till," that is, ' When that is come, till the coming of
which the sign was to be used, there remains no longer any
institution.' Now between all types and antitypes, shadows and sub
stances, parables, and morals, there must needs be some
resemblance, or else the end of their being used will be lost

232 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
to them for whose sakes they were appointed : for instance,
Christ is called a door, because no man comes to the Father,
but through him : a lion, from his strength and dominion :
a lamb, because of his innocency: a vine, because of that
excellent fruit he brings forth : and lastly, he calls himself
by the name of bread, because of that inward strength and
nourishment such receive that feed spiritually upon him :
wherefore the substance shadowed out by this outward
bread and wine, is no other than Christ, as the bread that
came down from above, and that flesh and blood which all
were to eat and drink of that would have eternal life, men
tioned at large John vi. So that admitting of "a command,
it must be thus read, ' Do this till I come, who am the
heavenly bread, and flesh and blood, that give eternal life
to them that feed thereon;' which bread the apostle very
well understood, when in the foregoing chapter to the
Corinthians he thus delivered himself, " I speak to wise
men, judge ye what I say : the cup of blessing, which we
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? For
we being many are one bread, and one body ; for we are
all partakers of that one bread," 1 Cor. x. 15, 16, 17. And
this Christ himself intimated in the following verse to that
passage out of Matthew, " But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day
when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."
And I query if that was not made good on the day of Pen
tecost, when scoffingly, yet truly (like Caiaphas in another
case) several spectators said of the disciples, " They were
full of new wine ?" Acts ii. 13. Which was the beginning
ofthe restoration of that kingdom of God to Israel, that the
disciples a little before so weakly queried after.
In short, The Father's kingdom is within, Luke xvii. 20.
What was that fruit then that was to be drank anew in that
kingdom? . Certainly it came trom himself, the true vine,
and must be of a spiritual and inward nature, like to the
kingdom. To conclude, If bread and wine be but a sign ; and if
things signified ought to resemble their signs; and if spiri
tual bread and wine mostly answer those visible signs ; and
if they are to be had in the kingdom of God; and if the
kingdom of God be within ; and that they who eat not that
bread, and drink not that wine, have no life in them; then,
because the apostles had life eternal in them, and we a
measure ofthe same in us, Christ, the heavenly bread and
flesh, and wine and blood, was then, and is now, come ;
and consequently, the shadows of those good things (as to
any institution) were and are at an end : and as there is

HER CHILDREN. 233
but one Spirit, and one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
God and Father, one heavenly kingdom, one holy body ; so
but one bread, and but one cup, and but one communion
and fellowship, and that is with the Father and the Son, by
the Holy Ghost.
But here, as in the case of water-baptism, it will be
objected, ' Why were they then afterwards used ?'
Answ. The practices of good men, though in things tem
porary, are many times too greedily received, and too long
doted upon, by those who desire to he reputed their follow
ers. Any thing once becoming customary is hard to be left:
several Jewish ceremonies the HolyGhost thought fit tobe dis
pensed with for a season, that were never to be perpetuated.
But what has our adversary, and the several sorts of Pro
testants in the world, to do with baptism and the supper,
and deny that qualification and commission the apostles
had ? They will never stand our enquiry about their call ;
which they know we have great cause to scruple, indeed to
deny ; for all must, or should know, that was either imme
diate, or mediate and successive., If immediate, then they
must necessarily confess to a commission upon inspiration,
and then Quakers. If mediate and successive, then either
beside the church of Rome, or through the church of Rome :
not beside the church of Rome, because she cannot prove
any regular ordination, or uninterrupted succession, either
as to faith or discipline. If through the church of Rome,
then they own the ordination of a church they renounce,
and grant her the keys, whom they have writ against for
these six-score years, under the name of Whore of Babylon,
and Mother of Harlots, and all abominations of the earths
Can that which you account a corrupt fountain, bring forth
clean streams ? Will men seek ordination at the hands of
that church they resolve to employ it against? Has she
"forfeited her religion, and not her power? When did ever
God make over his authority by such an entail? If men's
errors and vices do not unminister them, it will follow, that
they may be ill Christians, but very good ministers. For
shame! never renounce the Roman church as false, if her
ordination must be true: for what has power to make a
minister, must be allowed to have power both to instruct
and conclude him in what he is to minister: wherefore
never let any own her to have heaven's keys of church-
authority, and then deny her as heretical : for wherever any-
church or people are truly such, that church or people
have thereby forfeited all right thereunto : and as the con
trary opinion has long enriched the pope's coffers, so the
unwary concessions of some certain Protestants thereto,

234 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
have too evidently given away a great share of that good old
cause. I have dwelt longer upon these particulars than my adver
sary's weakness could deserve at my hands ; but their infor
mation has induced me to it, who are assaulted by the en
vious endeavours of our several adversaries, that daily seek
how to misrepresent us, and pur most evangelical principles.
CHAP. IV.
His third chapter examined, which consists of the holiness of
times, places, things and persons under the gospel.
§. 1. Of the Sabbath-Day.
His accusation is, ' That the Familists and Quakers put
no difference between one day and another, the Sabbath no
more than another day; that many times they follow their
usual trades on a Sunday.' Page 34, 31, 38, 39.
Answ. What the Familists did is nothing to us (if they
did so). But sure I am he has abused the Quakers; for it
is well known, that in what country soever they live, they
follow the practice of the apostles, in assembling together
on the first day of the week : they do it constantly and re
verently. Who most profane that day, the Quakers, or the
sons and daughters of the church of England ? Their feasts,
drunkenness, wantonness, gaming, and other recreations, as
they call them, are so many demonstrations, to help every
common understanding to a resolution in, the point. And to
say, ' That we many times follow our usual trades on that
day,' is a plain untruth, the whole world knows better,
though we do not judaize ; for worship was not made for
time, but time for worship : nor is there any day holy of it
self, though holy things may be performed upon a day.
But he tells us, ' Yes ; for the fourth commandment being
as moral as the rest, and that requiring a sabbath-day, the
sabbath-day is perpetuated also.'
Answ. But this hurts us not, since the jewish-sabbath is
not observed by the church of England  But if a sabbath-
day be moral, because mentioned in the fourth command
ment; then, because the Jew's seventh-day sabbath is there
particularly mentioned, their sabbath must be only moral,
and consequently unalterable.
But says he, ' No; for that the apostles, and succeeding
church of God, may very reasonably dispose of us in matters
of this nature ; and it is obligatory from the ten command
ments, every one of which, is moral, and binds all Christians
still; and therefore the church of England (though these re-

HER CHILDREN. 235
hellions Quakers disown their mother) doth make it part of
her ljturgy.'
Aksw. If it be as moral as all the rest, (as it must be if it
be moral, because of its being there) they could no more dis
pense with it, than with any other commandment ; to call
that day moral, and make it alterable is ridiculous. It is
true the apostles met upon the first day, and not on the
seventh ; but as that released us from any pretended mora?
lity of the seventh, so neither did it confer any morality upon
the first : yea, so far were they from it, that not one speaks
any such thing ; but Paul much the contrary : " Let no man
judge you in meats or in drinks, or in respect of an holy-
day, or of new moons, or of the sabbath-days, which are a
shadow of things to come, but the'body is of Christ." Col.
ii. 17, 18. The outward sabbath was typical of the great
rest ofthe gospel ; which such come to, who cease from their
own work, and in whom the works of God's new creation
come to be accomplished.
And though I should acknowledge the other commands
to be moral, yea, and times too, both respecting God's wor
ship, and the creature's rest ; yet there is no more reason for
the morality of that day, because amongst those command
ments, than for the ceremoniousness and abrogation of seve
ral moral precepts, because scattered up and down among
the ceremonial laws recorded in Leviticus.
I grant the apostles met on that day ; but must it there
fore be moral ? Certainly, the scriptures' silence in this par
ticular must either conclude a great neglect against those
holy men, in not recommending and enjoining more express
ly both water, bread, wine, and holy days, in their several
epistles to the churches; or warrant us in our belief con
cerning the temporariness of, those things. Let not our
adversary reproach us for not believing that to be durable,
which was wearing off and vanishing in those days ; but so
berly consider, that the practice ofthe best men, especially
in such cases, is no institution, though sometimes it may. be
an example. But I perceive he makes bold, like an irreve
rent son, with hjs ghostly fathers, who, through his reflec
tions upon us, severely rebukes them. Has he so quickly
forgot the ' Book of Sports,' and who put it out? when not
to profane this sabbath with dancing, riots, and revels, had
been enough to render a man an enemy to Caesar, and a
schismatical Puritan to the church? If he be not satisfied
with this, I refer him to Calvin's Institutes, Bp. Ironside,
and Dr. Peter Heylin, concerning the non-morality of the
sabbath ; and a great wonder it is, that John Calvin ana*
Peter Heylin should of one opinion in any thing.

236 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
. 2. Place of God's Worship.
He is very angry with us for denying a more than ordi
nary sanctity to places, and says, ' That we esteem a church
no more than a stable ; that the Jews, Heathens, and Turks
have their synagogues, temples, and mosques to pray in :
that Christ went to a prayer-house, Luke vi. 12. and Acts
xvi. 13. Where Paul and others went out to a river's side,
where an oratory was reported to be.'*
Answ. We value the true church more than a stable ; but
we value a good stable before a false church, as such.
But I suppose he means by church, an house ; and then I
must tell him, that I esteem a stable better than no house,
but a good house better than a stable. But why is a
stable such an ill-favoured place? Has he forgot that
the head of the true church first lodged in one, when there
was no room for him in a whole synagogue, yet room enough
for a company of cavilling murdering Scribes and Pharisees ?
There is no doubt but the Jews had synagogues enough, for
it was out of them the apostles were to be haled, because of
their testimony against those that were in them. It is true
the Heathens had temples, and the Turks have their mosques.
I like the comparison and the proof very well ; for I take
some of your steeple-house guests to be as good Christ
ians, as some ofthe worst sort of them. It was the old hea
thenish spirit which, under the cloak of Christianity, both
erected those stately edifices, instituted that pompous wor
ship, and exacted those vast revenues, that have burthened
the world these many ages ; whilst the pure apostolical spi
rit and religion have been as driven into a sackcloth and wil
derness estate.
That Christ went to a prayer-house, and that Paul and
the church met in an oratory by the river side, is a pretty
rattle for children, and may pass as unquestionably with
those whp are willing to be cheated, as the story of St.
Dennis's body, that went a mile without his head, and St.
Winifred's head a great way Avithout her body, to a Papist.
But he affirms, ' That the first Christians had distinct
places to meet in, and that they called them churches.' Pag.
47,48,49. Answ. Christ went not to the synagogue, or the temple to
eat the passover : it is certain that the twelve met in an up
per room, upon their return from Christ's ascension : and it
is said, " When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they
were all with one accord in one place," (Actsii. 1, 2,3,4.)
at what time that excellent glory appeared; but here is no
mention made of either temple or synagogue : one would
* Pag. 34, 42j 43, 44, 45.

HER CHILDREN. 347
have thought those conventicles (for so they were then
called, and since) should not have borne away the glory and
honour of that holy solemnity from those cathedral and ca
nonical places : what sullen separation did the false Jew
then, as well as the false Christian now, repute the like
practice ! Certainly this ran retrograde to the grain and hu
mour of that age ; and the poor apostles were therefore
esteemed as great fanatics, and as much reproached as any
of the Quakers in this. I must also confess, they continued
daily with one accord in the temple, Acts ii. 46, but they
broke not bread there ; that was done ««T Zmot, that is, ' in
the house,' if he will have it so instead of ' from house to
house,' to be sure, it was not ' from church to church,' as
he would have the house called ; for then we should under
stand the following verse thus, "and the Lord added to
the church daily such as should be saved," that is, ' to the
house.' But I see no reason why he should fall so hard with his
criticisms upon xaT Zixei, and let x«0' ipigm in the same verse
alone : for, as Valla and Erasmus well observe, jm? o«o», is
as well rendered per singulas domos, or domesticalim, i. e,
' from house to house,' as x*9' t/Mgm per singulos dies, sive
quotidie, i. e. 'daily, or from day to day.'
But he will needs have it that the apostle, 1 Cor. xi. meant
by church the house, when he said, " Have ye not houses to
eat and drink iri, or despise ye the church of God ?*" His
reason is, if it maybe thought one, ' because the apostle, in
the 18th verse, says, "When ye come in the church;" and
in the 20th verse, " when ye come together into one place;"
so that the word church signifies the place.'
Answ, " When ye come together in the church," signifies
ho more than in the, ' congregation or assembly,' or among
yourselves as a church ;' (observe well the margin) : and to
make the church allude to place in the 20th verse, is a base
wresting of our adversary's; for there is no Greek word
there for place.
But he thinks he has one argument more, ' from Paul's
greeting Priscilla and Aquila, and the church that is in their
house,' Rom. xvi. 3, 5. And again, sending salutation
* Vatabl. Ecclesiam vel congregationem.
Clarius. llle conventus in ecclesiam non ea causa sit : hoc quod facitis in con-
temptum ecclesix Dei redundat, et eoruin pudoremqui minus habent.
Zeger. Coniunditis eos qui non habent quod offerant et ntanducent.
Carnerdn. Dei ecclesia hie privatis ajdibus non opponitur; Dei ecclesiam
contemnere est pudore afficere tenuiores, qui magnam Ecclesix partem consti-
tuebant. Locus loco opponitur grammatice, non logicfe, i. e. church or congregation i
The church is ndt opposed to private houses. To despise the church, is to
make ashamed the poor of it.

238 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
from them ;' " Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the
Lord, with the church in their house." 1 Cor. xvi. 29.
' Answ. If this be to prove an house to be a church, I never
saw the like. It seems we must read, after his dialect,
thus, ' Greet Priscilla and Aquila, and the house that is in
their house.' But in contradiction to all this, he tells us in
the next page, ' By the church, at such a man's house, must
be meant the whole congregation of the saints assembled
at such a man's house;' and truly, reader, I think so too.
But if the saints met to make the church, then the house is
not the church, nor indeed can an house meet together in an
house. But now I will tell this defamer of us, That though we
have no stately basilicos, or palace-churches, as some call
them, beautified with painting, images, flags, carved and
engraved work, and built to the east in imitation ofthe hea
then idolatrous temples ; yet, like unto the apostles and
primitive Christians, ' we assemble from house to house,'
and, if he will have it so, there are several convenient pub
lic places on purpose to meet and perform divine worship
in. %. 3. Of Tithes.
His next section, and, as became a careful greedy hire
ling, by much the largest of any in his book, is employed in
the defence of the priests' maintenance, the sine qua non of
their calling. From page 51 to 69, his first argument is,
' That God will have a rent and tribute paid hirn. That
thus he dealt with the children of Israel, from whom he
reserved a tithe to himself; and that in Abraham's time
tithes to Melchizedeck were paid, after whose order Christ
was made a priest.'
Answ. The tithes that were paid Melchizedec, were but
of the spoils Abraham took from his enemies ; and that not
by compulsion, but choice. Melchizedeck was king of
Salem : king of peace, priest of the Most High God : he
freely administered bread and wine to Abraham to refresh
him ; and when he had done, prayed, and praised God for
him, without bargain or hire : whereupon Abraham gave
him the tithe of all, as a token ofhis thankfulness.
Now let the priests of England prove themselves to be of
Melchizedeck's offspring, men of peace, priests of the Most
High God, and let them but minister to us of the living
bread and wine, and wrap up all with such prayers and
praises to God for us as he will accept ; and when all this
is done, if we refuse them the tithe of our spoils, let us be
recorded for ungrateful men : but whilst priests and men of

HER CHILDREN. 239
contention, hirelings, that seek gain from their quarter, pre
pare war against them that put not into their mouths, are
not priests of the Most High God's anointing, and who, in
stead of giving us bread and wine, oppress us unto death
for a four-penny easter-reckoning, and in lieu of prayers
and praises to God for us, anathematize, whip, imprison,
and banish us for impostors, heretics, men inspired by
Satan, and such like, let it not be wondered at that a poor
Quaker hath a testimony against such a priest; and that he
rather chuseth to die (unjustly his prisoner) than pay tithes
to him, that is an usurper ofthe name, authority, and office
of a true evangelical minister.
And for his instance of the land of Canaan, it brings no
obligation upon us. England is no Canaan, neither as to
its acquisition, nor distribution : when the Saxons came into
England, God reserved no such rents. And if it be well
argued of the apostle, (Heb. vii. 12.) " that because the Jaw
is changed, the priesthood is also ;" then certainly it is no
ill, consequence, that the ' way of maintenance' must be
changed too, at least as to institution.
', But,' says our adversary, in the apostle's words, 1 Cor.
ix. 14. " The Lord hath ordained, that they which preach
the gospel should live of the gospel."
Answ. We are contented with this, but the priests are
not. They cannot prove themselves ministers ofthe gospel,
unless by that never-failing argument of human law and
force, if yet that can prove them such. Besides, here is no
stint or method, what or how ? it is left lo God's witness;
but that they dare not leave themselves with: earthly pow
ers must first make them ministers, and then get them main
tenance. But there is not a word of Paul's " working with
his own hands," nor Christ's explanation of " the laboured
is worthy of his hire ;" to wit, " that he should eat what is
set before him, and, (Melchizedeck like,) bless the house, if
"Worthy :" nor do I hear of so much as one itinerary
preacher; who, to be sure carried no tithes upon his back,
as the priests of our days do into their barn : they sued, ex
communicated, imprisoned none unto death for hire's sake.
He that minds God more than his belly, shall never want
for his belly; for the authority of him in whose name he
goes, makes sufficient way for his subsistence, without the
force of imperial decrees ; " The cattle upon a thousand
hills are the Lord's." The primitive Christians paid no
tithes that we read of; yet they forbore not to administer
freely to the necessities of those who were faithful labourers
and travellers amongst them. The law that settled that
maintenance, was " the law in the heart, and the witness of

240 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
God in the conscience," to which Paul particularly desired
to be made manifest. It is true, about four hundred years
after Christ, the then Christians began to lay up the tithe
of their substance, towards the maintenance of such mem
bers and ministers of the church as wanted. But this was
out of their own free will, not as settled maintenance, nor
by compulsion, as our countryman, Jo. Selden, a learned
antiquary, tells us.*
But our adversary says that, ' Christian emperors, kings,
princes, and other nobles, by the all-wise Providence inspir
ing their hearts, have given houses, lands and tithes, for the
maintenance ofthe ministers ofthe gospel, and secured such
possessions. And therefore, such are sacrilegious, and rob
bers of God, who withhold them : such tenths being as much
the ministers', as the ninths are the people's.
Answ. I perceive the priest allows inspiration for tithes,
though we are Familists, Quakers, and Fanatics, for abett
ing the doctrine of inspiration in the worship of God. O
mercenary, O hireling and irreverent saying ! that God
should be more concerned for carnal than spiritual things,
and inspire men about tithes, and not about divine worship.
Who but a dark and mercenary priest could have, uttered so
impious an expression ?
I grant, that when Austin came into England, he desired
tithes of Ethelbert, as I take it, king of Kent: but the king's
care of his people, and the aversion of their humour to all
encroachments, disappointed the monk. However, time
bringing forth murder and adultery, they brought forth
tithes. t For Offa killing Ethelbert, gave a tenth of his
goods to pacify his ghost. And Edgar, being greatly in
love with Ethelwald's wife, to obtain his end, murdered
him ; upon which the pope sending forth his bull, Edgar, to
appease him, confirmed to the church the tenth of all the
fruit of his field and cattle, to them and their successors.
And as murder and whoredom introduced them, so the cun
ning and covetousness of the clergy have continued them :
for when the heptarchy became a monarchy, the priests
evermore would thrust in for a share with the conqueror;
and this wrong way came tithes to be the priest's_rightj as
he calls it.
But let this pretended Protestant answer me, if he dare:
Was the church then degenerated or no ? Was it not a
time of popery ? Did not the first martyrs except against
her ? Was it lawful for princes to give away other men's
i
» Gratiau. Caus. p. 16. R. C. Dec. Selden, c. 6. p. 80j 81,
+ Selden, p. 67,

HER CHILDREN. 24 [
goods, upon the account, and for the pretended expiation,
of their sins?
Could the giving of them atone? Is it not acknowledging of
the pope's power to absolve ? Is it not a buying or bribing
off the guilt of sin against Almighty God, by gifts to a mor
tal man, and those extorted from poor people too ? Is this
protestant doctrine ? But, above all, is this instituting
tithes upon inspiration ? Hell her own self was the foun
dress of these things.* He may remember that there is bet
ter antiquity for that voice, which the ancients report to have
been heard that day Constantine conferred those large en
dowments upon the church, than for the institution of tithes
and rich benefices; I mean that voice through the heavens,
'This day is poison poured into the church.' Since which
time it has been observed by the best princes, wisest coun
sellors, and most moderate clergymen, t ' That the enrich
ment and impowering of church- officers, has been the canker
ofthe church, and the moth ofthe state.'
It is not my business to write an history : but I recom
mend to the inquisitive reader, Wickliff's Remonstrance ;
the Plowman's Complaint; Chaucer's Plowman's Tale;
Walter Brute, and W. Thorpe's Examination, in the Mar
ty rology ; Pareus; History of the Waldenses; and Jo.
Selden, men that ought not to pass for, or be reputed, fana
tics, especially by such who call themselves protestants.
I shall only say, first, That they were the people's wholly.
Secondly, It is now the people's labour, more than the
priests' land, that brings the increase : and men ought not
to be constrained to pay those they never hired; nor to
labour for those that profit them not. Thirdly, They were
given to expiate murder and adultery, and uphold an idola
trous clergy, upon protestant principles ; and therefore to
be removed, as were the high places and groves, idola-
trously dedicated among the Jews. Fourthly, Because it
is most reasonable for a man to believe according to his
own conscience, and not according to another man's con
science. ' It is unrighteous to persecute a man for not
maintaining that religion, which in his conscience he be-*
lieves to be false ; as well as that it is the badge of a false
religion to persecute for maintenance.' Fifthly, Though
they may have been confirmed by some princes, yet, consi-*
dering the end to which they were given, to wit, for the
maintenance of a certain sort of religious order, now ex
ploded, whose successors these are not, (and so the ancient
constitution broken) we cannot see any reason why they
* Bp. Jewel on Hagg. Hodie venerium infusum in Eccl.
+ Cobham, Bernard, Tindal, Frith, Charl. V. Emp.
Vol. ii. q

242 wisdom justified of
should remain ; unless any thing commanded is to be
obeyed, because commanded, and not because in itself
lawful. Two things I cannot but observe. .First, that he affirms,
' the clergy of England have not a tenth ; much complain
ing that every one snips from them;' cujus contrarium
verum ; for they not only snip, but slice, from every body
else. I commend to his perusal a pamphlet, intituled,
' Omnia comesta a Belo,' where he will find a very particu
lar account of the revenues of archbishops, bishops, arch
deacons, deans, canons, prebends, parsons, vicars, petty-
canons, singing-men, choiristers, organists, gospellers, epis-
tlers, vergers, chancellors, and their attendants, delegates,
registers and their clerks, gentlemen apparitors, inferior"
apparitors, proctors, &c. I doubt not but fifteen hundred
thousand pounds a year will be the most modest accompt
that computation will admit of; which is but double the
revenue that former monarchs have had for the maintenance
of their family, crown and dignity, their civil-justice, armies,
navies, and costly embassies. If all this be to resemble
Christ Jesus and his apostles, the scripture has given us a
very wrong account of him and them.
The, second thing I would observe is this, that he has
the ignorance and confidence to argue from the super-
excellency of Christ's ministration to that of Moses; ' that
the maintenance ofthe ministers of the gospel should pro
portionality exceed the maintenance ofthe priests under the
law.' Answ-. But certainly he is one ofthe first men that made
this wild interpretation ofthe glory of the latter house ex
celling the glory of the former ; as if Christ's house were
outward, or his glory either! Would we have one outward
temple figure cut another? as if Christ should bring in
another levitical law to excel that of Moses ! Certainly
the New Jerusalem, after this man's rate of disputing, must
be an outward structure of material sapphires, emeralds,
jaspers, &c. But there is a Pope and a Mahomet in his
belly, whether he knows it or no : for these fleshly conceits
first set them to work upon their pompous worship, neglect
ing the holy, pure, self-denying and spiritual religion of
Christ Jesus and his apostles, who neither practised nor set
up, any shadowy and ceremonial worship, nor settled them
selves in splendid livings, to lead easy, quiet, and voluptuous
lives. " Freely they received, freely they gave;" not as
our adversary ridiculously understands it, ' that they gave
their miracles,' but sold their preaching :' the spirit of a
pompous antichrist indeed, who pleads for state under a

HER CHILDREN. 243
self-denying gospel! Christ's kingdom is not of this world;
and yet our adversary pleads for the grandeur of a worldly
worship, ministry, and maintenance: we may allow him
therefore and his tribe to be worldly Christians, but not
true followers of that Jesus, Avho said, when he was in the
world, " I am not of the world;" which leads me to the
the next section concerning the ministry.
§. 4. Of Ministers of the Gospel.
In defence of the church of England's ministry, he tells
us, (p. 70, 71, 73, 74.) ' That they have, first, the testimony
of their own conscience, that they are furnished to that
office. Secondly, The outward call ofthe church, by impo
sition of hands, and prayers.'
Answ. If the ministers ofthe church of England have the
testimony of their conscience, it must be either a true or a
false testimony. If a false, then not truly called, upon our
adversary's principles : if true, then infallibly so; and con
sequently, both every man hath an infallible witness in his
own conscience; and the preparation and call of this wit
ness is the inward call to the ministry. Now how this can
be without revelation and inspiration 1 know not. But it
seems, ministerial qualification must be judged of by the
witness in the conscience, which is the overthrow of the
priests' cause and doctrine : but I deny that the priests act
upon this inward testimony ; for they are afraid of being
made manifest to the conscience : and when we urge this
inward manifestation, they cry out with our adversary, en
thusiasm, familism, quakerism ! but if this must be the
alone judge of qualification, let him for shame give over
vilifying our public labourers, and incensing Our superiors
against usj (who honestly plead conscience in the case,)
for refusing then ational priesthood, which Ave believe,
in the presence of God, angels, and men, to be not so qua
lified. For covetousness, bargaining, stealing their neigh
bours' words, preaching their experience, not their own,
not knowing experimentally whereof they affirm, nor turn
ing people to righteousness, but persecuting them that love
it, and daubing sinners with untempered mortar, are alto
gether inconsistent with it.
For the ' laying on of hands,' it is well known to be a
Jewish ceremony; and we read that Saul and Barnabas
preached, before the apostles laid hands upon them. Besides,
it is not every body's hands will serve ; they must be men
inspired, upon our enemies' concessions, and not every foul
fist.- Nor did it give authority ; but, as many other Jewish
Q 2

244 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
ceremonies, it was made use of to express that mission
which had a more inward and spiritual ground. They were
named apostles from one of the meanest offices that belonged
to (he temple ; not lord primates, lord archbishops, lord
bishops, may it please your grace, may it please your lord
ship, right reverend fathers in God, &c. These things came
from the pope, and thither they will. and must return.
To conclude: because our adversary tells us, that the
church, from the days of the apostles, has had a successive
npostleship and ministry to confer, whether he will or no,
be must imply, ' that there has been a true apostolical
church ever since;' which is to give the lie to the Holy
Ghost, that prophesied of a falling away, and a great
apostacy. 2 Thes. ii.
Secondly. That if the ministry of the church of England
be lawfully descended, and are successors of the apostles,
and so piimitive ministers, they must be apostolically qua
lified : but they are not so apostolically qualified, either as
to the work of God in themselves, the gift of the Holy
Spirit, daily information, the effect of their ministry, that
patience, meekness, plain-dealing, perseverance, godly hos
pitality, continual labour, and self-denying conversation;
consequently not lawfully descended, nor true successors
ofthe apostles and primitive ministers.
Nor do we think it such ' an intolerable presumption, for
mechanics and tradesmen to preach the gospel,' as he would
have it: for we well remember, that those who believed
i! nd followed the Son of God, were reproached by the
Scribes and Pharisees, the learned and national teachers of
the Jews, for illiterate persons ;* crying out in that day,
' Have any of the rulers, or of the pharisees, believed on
him ? but this people, who know not the law, are accursed.'
It was that generation that called him and his disciples
so often, ' This fellow ; away with this fellow ; this pesti
lent fellow,' after the rate our adversary doth treat us, as
we may have occasion anon to observe. In short, Peter
and John were found unlearned. Ouzelius, in his animad
versions on Minutius Felix, saith, ' That as the gentiles did
object to the Christians their rude style, ill-bred language,
and their being destitute of all address or civil salutation,
calling them rustics and clowns ; so did the Christians, by
way of irony and contempt, term them the well-bred, the
eloquent, and the knowing :'+ This he proves by ample
testimonies out of Arnobius, Lactantius, Isidorus, Pelusiota,
Theodoret, and others.
* John vii. 48, 49. Mat. xi. 24. 26. 61. 71. + John ix. 29. Acts xxii.
22. chap. xxiv. 5.. chap, i v. 13.

HER CHILDREN. 213
In the constitutions of Clemens* Romanus* (as supposed)
it is enjoined, ' Abstain from all the books of the Gentiles.'
Also the council of Carthage had an express canon against
' reading heathen authors :' then Aristotle, and all that
philosophy, which fits priests at both universities.
Gratian hath also such like passages as these, by way of
complaint : ' We see that the priests of the Lord, neglecting
the gospels and the prophets, read comedies or play-books,
and sing love-verses,' &c.
Cardan tells, ' That Gregory, though a pope, burnt se
veral lascivious Latin authors, as Caecilianus Affraniu^,
Naevius Licinius,' &c. Nor had Plautus, Martial, and
Terence, now school-books, escaped him, could he have
helped it. In like manner Gregory Nazianzen, the father,
suppressed several Greek authors, as Diphilus, Apollodorus,
Philemon, Alexis, Sappho, &c.
And Petrus Bellonius,T that inquisitive traveller, when
at Mount Athos, where lived six thousand KaXolieai in monas
teries, did not so much as find (no nor in all Greece) one
man acquainted with the conversation of these poets : for
though they had several manuscripts of divinity in their
libraries, yet not one poet, historian, or philosopher. That
they anathematized such priests as studied poesy, or tran
scribed books not treating of religion.
And Dominicus a Soto i strongly pleads not only the
liberty of every man's teaching any good that he knows,
but that ' it is his duty to teach it.'
Machiavel assures us, ' the first promoters of Christianity
commanded all poets and historians, which treated of the
Gentiles' vain conversation and worship, to be burned.'
Farther, concerning the illiterateness, meanness, and
novelty, which the Gentiles objected against the Christians,
see ' Dr. Cave's Primitive Christianity.'
By all which it appears, that the Quaker-preachers are
nevertheless orthodox for being ignorant in human sciences ;
since the most orthodox preachers have been generally
such, and that both before and after the coining of Christ.
In short, That ministry which is experimental and pow
erful, for the turning of many from darkness to light, and
from the power of Satan unto God, is the only true and
evangelical ministry ; and such an one we both own and
enjoy, blessed be the name of our God for ever !
* Const. Clem. Rom. lib. 1. Cone. Cartli. dist. 37. Cap. Episc. Jac. Laur.
de lib. gent. p. 40, 41. Card, de Sa]). lib. 2. f Pet. Bell. nbs. I. I.e. SS.
Ibid 40. 1 Dom. Sot. iu 4. Cent. dist. j. q. I. Art. IU. |. Ijl. Mach.
disp. lib, 2, c. 5.

246 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF

CHAP. V.
His fourth Chapter considered: Quaker y (as he calls it) no
Sadducism, as he would suggest. His measures of us
wrong. His great ill-will to the Quakers puts him upon flinging
any thing upon them that he thinks will stick ; at least that
he would have to do so.* We must this turn be, with
all, Familists, Sadducees; but the fierce will ofthe man has
precipitated him into a strange mistake : hear him.
' H. N. owns no other immortality than the continuance
of his doctrine; nor judgment-seat of Christ, nor heaven,
nor hell, but what are in this life. The Quakers,' says he,
' do the like ; for T. Foster says, in a book called ' A Guide
to the Blind,' that the second appearance of Christ is in
spirit, to end sin, and finish transgression.'
Now if this proves the agreement, I never saw the like;
taking for granted what he represents H. N. to have held ;
in which I know he belies him. Is there no difference be
tween saying, ' that Christ's second appearance is in the
Spirit,' and denying 'immortality, eternal judgment, heaven
and hell ?' O, hideous consequence and comparison ! But
why is it such false doctrine to say, that Christ's second
coming is spiritual ? Shall he ever come so fleshly as before ?
Is not he glorified ? After what manner was it he promised
to come, when he said, " Some standing here shall not taste
of death, till they see the Son of man come in his kingdom."
Matt. xvi. 28. " I will not leave you comfortless; I will
come to you : yet a little while and the world sees me no
more; but ye see me, because I live, ye live also. He that
is with you shall be in you," John xiv. 17, 18. And when
the apostle Paul said, " Though I have known Christ after
the flesh, yet henceforth I know him so no more : Avhen it
pleased God to reveal his Son in me." I ask, if this was
not both a second and a spiritual appearance ? Certainly it
must be another appearance from the former, therefore, a
second : and it must be a spiritual one, because it is unrea
sonable to believe that Christ, as to his bodily appearance,
could be all this to his disciples and followers; therefore,
his second appearance is spiritual.
And for judgment, immortality, heaven and hell in this
life, were not our adversary a senseless novice in these mat
ters, his own doctors would teach him, ' That there shall
be no other judgment, immortality, heaven or hell hereafter,
than what every one has some measurable sense or earnest
» Page 75, 76,77, 78.

HER CHILDREN. , 217
of in this life.' From hence he is so unjust to u ;. and II. N.
too, as to give out to the world, ' We both deny all future
immortality, judgment, heaven or hell.' I have declared
the utihost of the thing, and doubt not but time will make
him greatly ashamed ofhis undertakings.
' But G. Fox, the Sadducee,' says he, ' holds, the soul is
a part of the essence and being of God ; therefore his con
clusion is unquestionable ;'* or to that purpose.
I am very ready to think the devil grievously angrywith
that good man : and indeed he has reason for it, (if I may
say that the devil can have reason for any thing he does)
for he hath shrewdly brow-beaten his cause in the world,
and a great instrument has God made him of noble, and
valiant, and durable acts among the sons of men: and
Ave shall so much the more respect and honour him, by how
much untoward spirits seek to bear him down in the minds
of people. But to answer our adversary : How comes it he
ne ver quotes when he cites, I mean, page his references ? Does
he think we are bound to peruse a folio to defend any pas
sage from his random reflections ? What is he for a man,
that he treats us so a la negligence ; with this contemptuous
neglect ? Does he conceit people beholden to him for his
slanders Avithout proof, or that any thing against a Quaker
is evidence enough ? But I will tell the man, he mistakes
G. F. for the purport of his words is to show, ' that the life
God breathes into the soul of man, by which man comes to
live to God, is something of the Divine Being; not that the
soul, as a created capacity, without that inspiration, is a
part of God, or of his Divine Being: and so far candour
(that keeps the eye clear) would have let him see, had not
prejudice, and a desire of misrepresenting and running us
down, hurried him beyond the bounds of all moderation:
nor is he alone in the matter; for many learned rabbies,
and modern orthodox divines (as they are called and re
puted) have affirmed the same. Let it be truth for their
sakes, if not for his.
In short, were we of the mind he would have people to
think Ave are, of all men none would be so miserable : what!
suffer in this world, because of our faith and hope in the
life of the other ; and yet deny the very end of that hope,
faith, and eternal life, which alone bears us over the trou
bles of this temporal one ? i am persuaded all moderate
persons will think better of in.
* Page 82.

248 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
CHAP- VI.
He endeavours, in his Fifth Chapter, to prove us inconsistent
with the good of Civil Magistracy. Our adversary's Rea
son loo slwrt for his Envy. Swearing not lawful.
Had not this chapter been found among the rest, I might
perhaps have taken him for some zealous churchman, vexed
only at the increase of the poor Quakers, on a mere religious
score. But when I see him wilfully mistaken, and purposely-
characterizing them enemies to government, and that to the
insecurity of civil magistrates, I perceive what he would be
at, and that nothing will serve him below our throats.
He has muliplied words unnecessarily; these two, ' Hang
them,' would have both explained and perhaps gratified his
mind better.
¦ He delivers it as a fundamental ofthe Quakers' religion,
' That they testify against proud and lofty magistrates, who
rule not for God, but for themselves :' to which, as a dan
gerous doctrine, he opposeth the apostle Peter's exhorta
tion : " Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for,
the Lord's sake, whether to the king, as supreme, or unto
governors, that are sent by him for the punishment of evil
doers, and for the praise of them that do well;" crying out,
* Is not this a doctrine fitted to stir up sedition and rebel
lion ? and that such are only magistrates in our account
that are righteous in our esteem. If a magistrate be wicked,
obedience,' says he, 'is still due to him.'*
Answ. True ; but not to that which is wicked ; for that
Avere to open a door to all the impiety a Nero could be
guilty of. But what contradiction is there betwixt the
apostle's language and the Quakers' ? Can any sober per
son think the apostle Peter exhorted the churches to believe
evil magistrates to be good ones? or prove lofty magis
trates, who rule not for God, fit to be obeyed therein ?
This were to understand, as if the apostle meant, that such
as rule not for God, punish evil-doers, and praise them that
do well; a contradiction ! If ogr faith be dangerous, the
scripture must be in question. Must a reproving of evil be a
disowning of magistracy ? It seems then that magistrates
are not to be reproved, let their practices be never so exor
bitant. Is there no difference between our dislike of the
unjust act of a Julian, and our rebellion against just autho
rity ? If showing men their evils be disrespect; and a
reprehension of them as unchristian be rebellion ; we must
read religion backwards. But God deliver all magistrates
from such counsellors, and us from such enemies.
* Page 90,01,92.

HER CHILDREN. 249
But that which is very remarkable, is the contradiction
he gives himself, and the injustice he shows to us; who in
one page says, ' We would destroy all magistrates, not of
our own opinion :' and in the very next gives it for our
judgment, though with great dislike, ' That magistrates
ought not to impose opinions in matters of religion ;' as if
we were such wretches as to deny that power unto magis
trates, which we -would tyrannically use ourselves.
But he thinks he has enough against us in this expression,
' All governors ought to be accountable to the people, and
to the next succeeding rulers, for all their actions, which
may be inquired into upon occasion.' ' This,' says our ad
versary, with a great rant, ' borders upon treason, respecting
his majesty the king of England.'
Answ. But what if he was not then in England, but a
sort of people that held this very principle, and who had
sworn to God, before angels and men, to maintain it, and
broke their solemn oaths ? Was it not argumentum ad
hommem, to such a generation ? And does not our adver
sary know, that there are elective governments in the world,
and annual choice of officers in our own country, that are
accountable both to the people and their successors ?
But since he has brought the king of England's name on
the stage upon this occasion, I shall briefly tell him and the
world two things, and let men relish them as they please.
First, That it is not for the interest or honour of his govern
ment, for any to be over-officious in the enlarging his prero
gative beyond those bounds, which the excellent fundamen
tal laws of England have circumscribed the whole govern
ment with. No prince's crown in Europe stands more firm
than his, upon English law : the law gives both right and
might. It has been the part of such as dare not trust their
lives and actions with the law, to whisper unlimited power
into the ears of princes ; but their ultimate aim was not
their sovereign's greatness, but their own protection. We
are no sycophants ; yet we fear God, and honour the king.
Secondly, It is not our business to meddle with government;
but to obey, or suffer, for conscience-sake : can our adver
sary ask more ? Several of us have been the faithful ser
vants both of him and his father ; and God knows, our
kindness is not changed with our religion, though it admits
not of our former way of showing it. And this I may truly
say in general, that not only our principle leads to no such
nice and busy meddlings, but we are actually unconcerned
in any such things : we speak not this out of fear or flattery ;
the truth has placed us far above both ; but knowing the
world will never be good till every one ineiids one ; and

250 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
that God's grace has therefore universally appeared, and yet
doth, in the hearts of men ; it is both our desire, duty, and
practice, to endeavour after that holy, righteous, and inno
cent life it leads to, and that as well for others as ourselves.
Of Swearing.
But he says (page 93) ' inasmuch as we refuse to swear
before a lawful magistrate, we contradict the word of God,
and throw away the greatest tie any prince hath upon his
subjects ;' insinuating as if we had been dabbling with the
Jesuits in this matter.
Answ. It is strange that such an illiterate sort of ' me
chanics, and rustic rabbies,' as he is pleased to call us,
should hold such correspondence with one of the most
learned classes in the world ! But as there is more differ
ence between us and the papists, than the protestants and
the papists, by how much the protestants have many things
that are popish, and we have not ; so have I ever found
these silly thread-bare slanders to be the refuge of shallow
heads and Aveak causes. But I would have all know, as I
have elsewhere said, ' The ground of SAvearing is either
through distrust of honesty in him that swears, or weakness
in him to whom the oath is made.' The first takes in all the
swearing that is noAv in the world ; the last, those oaths
God condescended to make to the Jews. So that it is either
an extraordinary way of evidence, to awe witnesses into
truth ; or an extraordinary way of promising, to Avork belief
in the incredulous.* Now incredulity and dishonesty, are
both unchristian : for as none are Christians, but those who
are " buried with Christ by baptism, and are raised up unto
newness Pf life ;" so in that pure law of the spirit of life,
" Swear not at all," is recorded. And so far is this from
contradicting the word of God, that the great Word of God
hath so enjoined us, for all our adversary's paraphrase upon
it, to wit, ' Swearing in communication ;' for the swearing
prohibited was such as the law allowed, as Bishop Sanderson
Avell observes, ' It was not needful that Christ should forbid
what Avas forbidden in itself, or was always unlawful ;
which swearing in communication was and is, as by the
third commandment, " Thou shalt not take the name ofthe
Lord thy God in vain."t
Christ brought forth a righteousness that needed it not ;
for that grace, faith, and truth, Avhich came by Jesus Christ,
take away the necessity of an oath. Consequently, so far as
any are in that incredulity or dishonesty which need it, so far
* See bishop Gaudeu of swearing, * The foundation of swearing now is the
wickedness of men,' p. 3G. t Bishop R; Sanderson, De Jur. OMig. p. 141

HER CHILDREN. 251
they are not the followers and disciples of Christ, nor qua
lified with his evangelical righteousness. Indeed it is a
shameful thing, and very dishonourable to the Christian
religion, that they who pretend themselves to be of a Christ
ian society, should be so un-Christ-like, to want and use
the scaring and affrighting asseverations dispensed with in
some ofthe weakest times of knowledge, by which to assure
one another of their faith and truth. In such cases, where
is their evangelical link and tie of unity ? Certainly a true
Christian's yea should be yea, and his nay, nay ; that is, in
answer to all questions, whether it relate to matter of evi
dence or promise, they should speak the truth, and mean
and do what they say, which is enough.
This truth is so natural, that it is familiar with some to
say, ' I had rather take his word than the other's oath;'*
which shows how much honesty is more credible than swear
ing. This made the primitive Christians not only refuse to
swear by the fortune of Cassar, but to swear at all, telling
their judges in their answers, ' It was unlawful for a Christ
ian to swear.' And bishop Gauden himself assures us,
' that they were so strict and exact, that there was no need
of an oath among thein : yea, they so kept up the sanctity
and credit of their profession among unbelievers, that it was
security enough in all cases to say, Christianus sum, I am a
Christian:', and that if any urged them farther, ' they re
peated this, as the only satisfaction they would give;' the
veracity of their word. And that he might farther show,
how dishonourable and needless a thing it was for good and
holy men, and true Christians, to swear, he brings in the
whole body of the Essenes, with several wise heathens and
Christian fathers : indeed it Avas a primitive maxim, Non
oportet, ut vir qui evangelice vivit, juret omnino : ' It behoves
not, that a man of an evangelical life should swear in any
case.' And this doctrine was closely followed by Chrysostom,
Theophylact, and several other ancient Christian doctors.
Nor were the heathens wholly insensible of the truth of
this matter, as bishop Gauden farther informs us out of
Polybius, ' that the better and simpler ages of the world
rarely used any oaths at all, no not so much as in judicature;
but after perfidy and lies increased, oaths increased, as a
remedy to restrain those mischiefs.' To which let me add,
that some of the ancient sages, Socrates and Xenocrates,
knew, urged, and also practised a life beyond an oath.
* As the thief in Essex, who, robbing a Quaker in company with another,
and using them fairly, desired them not to stir, till they were got clear of the
road: upon which, said the other man, ' I'll swear.' ' You swear! you'll swear
through an anvil and back again; will the other promise?' Thieves know
honesty, though they dp not practise it.

252 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
So that if those who are truly discipled, redeemed, and
renewed by the power and spirit of Christ Jesus, need no
oath ; nay, that it is a questioning of their veracity, and an
affronting of their profession, to offer them one ; and if ' the
lying, familiar swearing, forswearing, and fraudulent deal
ing of wicked men, make their oaths of little or no credit,'
as saith the bishop, out of Lactantius and Austin ; certainly
it will be much better to prevent swearing, and punish
lying with the penalty due to forswearing ; which suggests
an unanswerable return to that familiar objection, ' But
how do we know that ye are those honest men ?' For we
have not only the same answer the ancient Christians had to
give, with this severe rebuke, ' That ye are the reproach of
Christianity, Avho under that good name act those vile im
pieties the nobler heathen judged, and the loosest have not
out-done;' but we have this farther to offer; 'Dispense
with our consciences in not swearing, and punish our un
truth, when ye find it, as severely as ye do their perjury.'
What more can be desired, since truth-speaking fulfils the
law, and punishing false-speaking satisfies it ?
CHAP. VII.
Ofthe Light Within.
It is matter of sad complaint, that a man should write of
so excellent a subject as the light within, and show so much
darkness in treating of it. Pag. 99, 101, 102, 103.
But lest he should say, that our uncertain and various
expressions, for such he esteems them, put him besides all
faith in it, we shall endeavour to make their consistency, both
with themselves, and the scriptures of truth, appear.
He quotes Thomas Foster, in his l Guide to the Blind,* p. 1.
thus, " God is the light," p. 7. as a man forgetting himself.
' Christ within is man's true light to walk by :' and in p. 9,
as doubting Avhether that would hold water, says, ' The
Spirit of Christ in man is the true light and guide ; and this
light enlightens every man that comes into the world.' But,
says he, if James Naylor may be judge, our friend Thomas
(he Avas so, though thou art an enemy, and a mocker of his
memory) is very much mistaken : for in his book, called
' A Door opened to the Imprisoned,' p. 2, 3. he says, ' That
the light of the world is God's love to the Avorld ; and this
light is not given to any till they come out of the Avorld.'
And that George Whitehead, in ' The Seed of Israel's Re
demption,' p. 20. says, ' That the light within, is a measure
ofthe Lord's life and light.'
Answ. To the first quotation there can be no cavil ; for

HER CHILDREN. 253
it is plain scripture, " God is light," 1 John i. 5. And it
was the apostolical message so to preach, " That God is
light, and in him is no darkness at all." John i. 9.
The second is also most true ; for Christ is man's true
light, " That was the true light which enlightens every
man," &c. And that it was for man to walk by, both Christ
and his apostles prove. " I am the light ofthe world ; he
that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life." John viii. 12. Again, " If ye walk in*
the light, as He is in the light," &c. 1 John i. 7. God is
light, and Christ is light : and since there is no knowledge
of God or Christ but by tlie manifestation of light; and that
none know the Father but those to whom Christ, the light
reveals him ; therefore Christ is man's true light, without
which man can never know either God or Christ.
For his third quotation, I see no contradiction in it to
the two former, unless Christ can be without his Spirit; for
if the Spirit of Christ dwell in any man, Christ dwells in
that man. This language the apostle used to the Romans
chap. viii. 9, 10, 11. " If the Spirit of God be in you."
Again, " If the Spirit of Christ be in you." Yet again, " If
the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus dwell in you :" all
which are synonymous, or to one and the same purpose.
For shame! thou a scholar, a Grecian, a disputant, that
makest such sorry cavils ! Might not the Jews and Heathens
have made the same exceptions against the apostle ? But
it is an old devil-trick to be-saint and extol the holy ancients
whilst they hug the spirit that murdered them, and with it
persecute the truth in this age: so cunning is the devil,
and so blind is the world. But let us see how much more
honest he is in his next quotation, than rational in the three
former. That the ' Light ofthe world is God's We to the world,'
I find in James Naylor's book : but that the ' Light is not
given to any till they come out of the world,' is a direct
lie to our principle, and a putting an absolute forgery
upon his book : for he says, ' f hat God has given his light
to the world ; that therein is his love manifested, that such
as follow it in its leadings out of the world, have the nature
of sons : but sonship is that which cannot be had whilst in
the world's nature ; therefore they are to come out of the
world's ways, to follow the light, which visits man in the
world's Avays, in order to bring him out of them ; and here
the true sonship is received :' so that the sonship, and not
the light, is that which cannot be had in the world. Now
what contradiction can this be to our dishonest adversary's
honest friend Thomas, who said, ' That the light enlight-

254 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
ened every man that comes into the world ?' Sure I am it
is a plain instance of our adversary's disingenuous and in
jurious practice.
For G. Whitehead's words, the substance of them is to
be found in John i. 14. 16. " The Word was full of grace
and truth ; and of his fulness have all we received, and
grace for grace."
But he says, ' H. N. teaches that every godly man is God
incarnate, and Christ incarnate ; and that this is the doc
trine ofthe Quakers,' says he, ' I prove, First, because T.
Foster, in his ' Guide to the Blind,' pag. 13. saith, ' The
light which is Christ within, is not natural, but sufficient to
salvation.' Now I appeal to the whole world, what affinity
there can be between H. N.'s words and Thomas Foster's.
Is ' God incarnate,' or ' Christ incarnate,' to be found in his
assertion ? Nor will I pass my word for his right quotation
of H. N. What he quarrels at here, I know not. Would
he not have Christ manifested within ? or would he have him
natural, in opposition to spiritual ? or would he have his
light and spirit insufficient to salvation ? If he intends any
of these, he crosses express scripture, blasphemes against
God, and frustrates the very end ofthe gospel : if none of
them, why was this passage cited? But he thinks G. F. has
made much for his purpose, who, in his ' Great Mystery,'
p. 207, 208. saith, ' Christ is not distinct from the saints;
and he that eats the flesh of Christ hath it within him.'
And what of all this? Is Christ divided from his saints ?
Was he not in them of old, the hope of glory ? " He that is
with you, shall be in you. And at that day he shall know,
that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you."*
For the other part, I wonder he cited it : certain it is,
" That unless men eat the flesh of Christ, they have no life
in them." Now how a man can be said to eat any thing,
and not have it within him, is a distinction past my under
standing. But George Fox saith, p. 206, ' If there be any Christ
but he that was crucified within, he is a false Christ ; and
he that hath him not within, is a reprobate.'
Answ. Our return to this will be very short. First, By
Christ crucified within, he does not deny that he Avas once
crucified without (as the same page proveth) as our adver
sary would insinuate. Secondly, There can be no false
doctrine in it, unless the owning of Christ being crucified
within through wicked works, necessarily should imply our
denying that he was ever crucified Avithout ; from the danger
of which consequence the scriptures of truth sufficiently
* Col. i. 27. John xiv. 17, 20. John vi. 53, 54.

HER CHILDREN' 255
secure us. Heb. vi. 6. " Seeing they crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh." Also Rev. xi. 18. Thirdly, And
that such are reprobates in Avhom he lives not, remember
that unanswerable passage, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. " Examine your
selves, whether you be in the faith ; prove your own selves,
know you not your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in
you, except you be reprobates ?"
But says our adversary, ' Richard Stubbs, a quaker, told
Eliz. Wetherly, that the Jesus who was born of the Virgin,
and died at Jerusalem, was a false Christ, and an antichrist.'
But this needs no long answer ; for it is an absolute untruth,
raised by the devil within, and his envious emissaries with
out, to bring us, the poor despised people of God, into
irtfamy, with all who have any reverence for the name of
Christ, and God will plead our innocency in this man's con
science, by that holy light which he blasphemously saith,
' leads down to hell and the devil, carrying man, like an
ignis fatuus, into bogs and ditches, causing him at last to
fall into the pit of everlasting destruction.' For this I
would have all the world to know, that God, who is " the
searcher of the heart, and the trier of the reins, who alone
showeth unto man his thoughts,"* is the great Spiritual
Light, John i. 1. And it is as such, that he setteth man's
sins before him, as saith the apostle, " Whatsoever makes
manifest is light," Ephes. v. 13. And saith the same apos
tle, " Whatsoever may be known of God, is made manifest
within men ; for God hath showed it unto them." Rom. i. 19.
Such as bring their deeds unto this light, may know whether
they are " wrought in God or no."t And for this end hath
the eternal Word enlightened every man that cometh into
the world, that he may come to the light, and walk and grow
up in it : for as all have given unto them, out ofhis fulness,
grace for grace,:]: so from his fulness of light, hath he given
all men light for light ; not a mere natural capacity, or crea-
turely understanding, but that divine light or grace, which
is able to teach, sanctify, and govern the soul to God's
glory, and its own everlasting happiness : in the Word, by
whom all things were made, was life, and that life was the
light of men : and as it was then, so is it noAv, the condem
nation of the world, that " Men love darkness rather than
light, because their deeds are evil." Some, Avith the Pha
risee, prefer their forma], literal, and ceremonial religion ;
and others, their pleasures, pastimes, and worldly honour
,and profit, before this inward, pure light, and law of the
spirit of life, the leaven ofthe kingdom, and truth in the
inward parts, which frees from sin, and brings into the hea
venly liberty of the sons of God. And we do testify in the
* Psalm vii. 9. Jer. xi. 20. Amos iv. 13, + John iii. 21.

256 AVISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
name of God, that it is only by this measure of that divine
fulness, which above one thousand six hundred years ago
was manifested in theflesh, that any man or woman can
ever come to a right sight, sense, relish, and enjoyment of
the blessed ends and effects of his gracious appearance,
heavenly gospel, mighty miracles, holy life, death, and suf
ferings, his powerful resurrection, glorious ascension, and
constant mediation and intercession. And that all know
ledge, faith, and worship, not grounded upon this internal
sight, sense, and operation of this divine measure of grace,
light, and truth in the inward parts, are but historical and
pharisaical; making up but the Jew outward, and. Christian
outward, who are not children ofthe free woman, nor heirs
according to the promise. And if for this blessed testimony
we must be thus abused, defamed, and set at nought by the
black-robed rabbies of "this world, as the prophets, and
t hrist himself were, God will be our abundant recompence ;
who is the author of that good reformation begun, and
will, I hope, be the finisher of it, to his own immortal
honour, and our unutterable rejoicing, world without end !
CHAP. VIII.
On some of our Adversary' s Lies and Slanders.
His next chapter, containing a short account of the
Quakers' pretences to immediate revelation, hath been
already effectually considered; only I shall take notice of
two or three particulars.*
First, ' That he would have the sadness and dejection of
thoje that turn quakers, and the zeal and fluency of those
that preach among them, to be the effect of the hypochon
dria.' Answ. This shows what an easy religion our adversary
lives in, who yet knows not the terrors of the Lord: how
unfit is he to warn men ? Had he ever known God's word
to be as a sword, an hammer, an axe, a consuming fire, and
everlasting burnings against sin and iniquity, the pangs of
a new birth, and how hard it is to become a true disciple
through the daily cross, he would never have made such a
frothy, dark, and envious construction of our serious con
victions : but God's fire will one day burn up his peaceable
habitation; and in that day of alarm, he and the rest of his
jovial crew shall know the meaning of these words, " They
that pierced him shall see him, and all the kindreds of the
earth shall wail because of him."
But whatever disease we have, his frequent and senseless
« Pag. 107, 108, 109, 1 10, HI.

MER CHILDREN. S57
scoffs at us, and our holy way, show that the spleen is very
prevalent in him.
For his reflection on Edward Burroughs^ it will do him
no harm ; his soul is with God, and his memory shall out
live his enemies' hate. And for this ranting scribbler, he is
not worthy to carry his books after him.
For his ' Gentle-man of Newcastle,' who affirmed, 'some
Quakers came to Kendal church, and said, they had a com
mission from the Lord to pull down the steeple-house; and
another in sermon-time to pull down the hour-glass,' I must
tell him, that we know no such thing ; and if it Were a fair
adversary, he would have told us who this gentleman was,
and who the Quakers, that we| might have informed ourselves
of the truth of the matter ; though we have great cause to
conclude it a downright forgery. For the other, it is alto
gether as likely to come of the same stock :
That ' the wife of one Williamson should call Ja. Milner
the eternal son of God, at Appleby,' is an arrant falshood ;
for we have particularly inquired, and can find no such
thing. That ' a woman at Weighton in Yorkshire, of that goat-1
ish herd (as he is pleased to call them) yvent naked up to
another woman's husband's bed, and bid him open his bed
to her, for the Father had sent her,' is a slander hatched in
darkness : we deny it in the name of the Lord God : and I
charge this disingenuous man, if he has any regard to his
reputation, or those he belongs to, to prove, if he can, the
truth of this story.
And that he should at last call this, 'a taste ofthe Qua
kers' deluded dreams, melancholic fancies, impostures, injec
tions, everlasting errors and deceits,' is the top of what im
pudence and forgery man can well be guilty of against his
neighbour. But why our goatish herd, above all others?
unjust and uncivil man ! Look at home, for shame ! How
often are Quakers brought to ecclesiastical courts for un
cleanness ? We know they are too often summoned there for
tithes : it would be almost endless to tell the stories of
both priests' and people's wickedness that follow them : one
would think that no church of England man, that knew any
thing of the present age, or that thought we did, could be
lieve that forging one unclean lie against the Quakers,
should invalidate their religion, who believes his own to be
true, notwithstanding those numerous incests, adulteries,
fornications, concupiscences, murders, lies, perjuries, dissi
mulations, thefts, injuries, and such like, that have been,
and daily are, committed by his dear fellow-communicants,
the sons and daughters of the church of England. Let him
Vol. ii. r

258 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
therefore draw in his horns, and leave off pushing at us
with his forgeries and defamations ; and repent of this un
godly Avay of dealing with us, that he may find mercy to his
soul.
CHAP. IX.
Of Perfection.
I perceive the man would fain say something of every
controverted head held by the Quakers, though as little to
the purpose as may be. There is but one thing comment
dable in his whole chapter, and that is its brevity. He
stumbles at the very entrance, and never recovers himself
to the end.
' The Quakers talk much of perfection from sin in this
life ; and that they have already attained to it.' Quote, he
scorns ; his word is credit enough ; at least he would have
it so : but to let him go on. ' This,' says he, 'is the Phari
see's litany, . " God, I thank thee ! I am not as other men
are." The Antinomian litany ; the doctrine of Dell, Salt-
marsh, Town, and all Antinomians and Familists : and that
malice and railing perpetually make up the greatest part of
the Quakers' speaking to the people.' But what of argu
ment can be found in such mere assertion and reflection, I
leave with sober men" to judge. He neither understands
Antinomians, Familists, nor Quakers. And truly I am
ready to think him some raw, unfledged, under-graduate^
who by this essay aims at giving such a proof of his abilities,
as may induct him to some fat benefice ; or else one that
thought we deserved no larger testimony of his ability, ho
nesty, and discretion, in his endeavours against us.
In short ;. a perfect principle we plead for, and press the
necessity and benefit of man's conformity to it: that though
it be a little leaven, it is able to leaven the whole lump :
that this grace brings salvation from sin, by the power it
gives them that obey it to mortify sin : else what a riddle
would those scriptures make, that speak of " Sanctification
throughout, in body, soul and spirit?" That " He that is
born of God sins not. Old things are done away, behold
all things are become new. I write unto you, young men,
because ye have overcome the wicked one. Be ye perfect,
as your heavenly Father is perfect. Unto a perfect man.
Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spi
rit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The God
of all grace make you perfect,*" &c. Wherein not only a
* lThcs.v.2S. 1. John v. 18. Chap. ii. 13. Mat. v. 48. "Eph. iv. IS.
8 Cor. vii,!.- I Pet, v. 10.

HER CHILDREN. 259'
perfection from sin, but the going forward to a perfect man
in Christ, is exhorted to, and prayed for ; therefore not un
obtainable. To conclude : We do not teach people the perfection of
our persons, but the principle of God, and our experience
of its converting and translating power. Christ is stronger
than the devil ; and for this, was and is he manifested, ' To
end sin, and destroy the Avorks ofthe devil;' a doctrine
the church of England teaches in her baptism. Nor do Ave
say, that every man is perfect from sin as soon as he is con
vinced of sin : no, there is a great war, a long wilderness
to travel through, many enemies to subdue, and difficulties
to surmount ; and those enemies are mostly those of a man's
own house. We therefore exhort all to wait for " God's
arising, that his enemies may be scattered;" that witnessing
a victorious state over hell and death, by the power of
Christ Jesus, such may obtain "the new name which is'
written in the Lamb's Book of Life," and promised to all
that , overcome : which is far from that ungodly ranterism
he would fasten upon us and our principles: and I doubt
not but time, patience, and our blameless conversation, shall
dispel those mists which malice and ignorance may have
raised, to darken and blemish the reputation of our prac
tice, persons, and principles in the world.
CHAP. X.
His ninth and tenth chapter, of the ways and arts that the
Quakers use in gaining proselytes, with the advantage their
way has over other heresies, honestly considered, and briefly
confuted.
1 The first artifice,' he says we use, ' is, to come in sheep's
cloathing. Now what is this sheep's cloathing,' says he,
' but only the innocence and purity of the Christian doc
trine ? When as their main purpose is to devour credulous
souls.' p. 117.
Answ. If we have the sheep's cloathing, and if the sheep's
cloathing be the purity and innocence of Christian doctrine*
then is our doctrine innocent, pure and Christian. And
since he avers the doctrine ofthe church of England to be
so remote and opposite, this character must necessarily im
ply, that her doctrine is hurtful, impure, and antichristian.
But what have we seduced people to? Drunkenness,
whoredom, perjury, wantonness, idleness, or any such un
seemly or irreligious practice ? Let him tell me who of us
are less serious, less moral, or worse livers than Ave were
before. But the truth of the matter is this : Our way. of
n 2

260 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
devouring people's souls, as he calls it, is that which hin
ders the hireling priests from devouring the people's pockets,
and endangering their souls too ; who " teach for hire, and
divine for money," and make religion but a stalk to pre
ferment, who have the shell without the substance, " the
form without the power :" from sHch, in obedience to God's
Spirit, we have turned away ; and because we have dared
no longer to put into their mouths, their covetous spirit
has swelled, (not withstanding their pretences)andtheirsheep-
skin burst, and an arrant wolf has come forth ; no true sheep,
but a sheep-fleecer, and a sheep-sucker of their blood,
Avhose innocency and patience have plainly proved them
such. But the wolf's and the fox's skin have been always
good enough for us! Any thing to disguise, and make the
dogs fasten and worry to death ! Our conscience they call
enthusiasm; andour solemn confession, collusion and equi
vocation ; our perseverance is reputed obstinacy ; our plain
ness, singularity; our industry, worldly-mindedness; and
our retired living, penuriousness ; our rebukes of evil, they
will have to be censoriousness; andour disregard of com
pany, pride, and sullenness. Whatever God by his light
has made conscience to us, there are a sort of men that have
so little conscience, as to construe it all backwards; ren
dering us, instead of honest conscientious men, ' a pack of
fraudulent cheating fellows :' but we cannot help it; if men
will rage, they must : their shame, and our patience, will
the more appear.
He says, 'Our second stratagem is, to bring the people
out of love with their pastors, who have the care of them.'
Answ. I know not a Quaker in the world that would not
administer both food and raiment to the worst persecutor,
as a necessitous creature : but I hope they would suffer
unto death before they would contribute either to him as
a priest : no ; God's witness in our consciences never said
amen to their ministry. They have the scriptures, true :
but the " word of reconciliation, that brings to God," and
of which they declare, they want. I know that some of
them can talk well ; so can some mountebanks and come
dians. Do they witness the truth of what they speak?
Their heads know, but do their hearts feel the operation of
that truth they will sometimes in words declare ? Have they
travelled the way, and traced the many anxious steps of
that new birth, which is the only door into the heavenly
kingdom ? But alas ! Oxford and Cambridge make them,
and their parents and patrons prefer them : a good round
maintenance is mostly their aim on all hands: tell them of
the necessity of an inward work ; that it is the Spirit of God

HER CHILDREN. 26l
that only makes a man a minister of God, and that the
anointing, which true Christian men receive, is sufficient to
their instruction, and presently the cry is ' Donat.ism, Pela-
gianism, Familism, Brownism, Jesuitism, Quakerism,' or
any other name that begets jealousy, undervalue and ha
tred. In short, we do believe, that the settled ministers of
the world are so far from being beneficial to people, that,
on the contrary, they exercise their minds with a sort of
unexperienced, unauthorized preaching; leading from the
secret strivings, discoveries, and conduct of that Spiritual
Minister ofthe everlasting covenant, which is able to bring
man into that way of holiness, without which no soul shall
ever see the Lord : and this is the true reason why we are
turned unto God's Minister, Christ Jesus, who says,
"Learn of me:" of whom God said, " This is my beloved
Son, hear him ;" and reject the ministry of man.
* Our third artifice,' by which he says we gain our prose
lytes, is ' denying all human learning, and use of reason :
that we are the most sottish and ignorant sect that ever ap
peared in the world : yet, for our own turn, we will be
nibbling at it, as G. W. in mentioning a moth-eaten manu
script, mentioned by Beza in his annotations.'*
Answ. We have already said enough to defend Christi
anity from the absolute necessity of human learning, either
to understand or vindicate it : and so false is his assertion,
'That since prophecy has ceased in the church, secular learn
ing hath been of greatest use and benefit to religion,' that
there is nothing more true than the contrary, as it is com
monly understood, promoted, and practised in the world.
I would fain know, how many rabbies, Greek and Latin
philosophers, yielded themselves proselytes to the Christian
religion, though they had his presence, ministry, miracles,
death, and resurrection amongst them, who was and is the
author and master of it? If such learning be so great a
friend to truth, how comes it that the greatest things have
fallen to the share of poor and illiterate men ; and that such
have been most apt to receive, and boldest to suffer for it ?.
Why not rabbies, rather than fishermen, which was before
the pouring out ofthe spirit of prophecy ? and for what rea-
son should so many learned academies, since the pretended
ceasing of it,+ be overrun with such foul idolatries, gross
? Page 120,121.
4- But why is it ceased ? Because ceased to you, sons of the night ? Did
not Christ promise to be with his to the end ? Either that is not so, or his being
with them endues them not with the spi rit of prophecy : was it not apostolical,
and in the first churches ? Why not now ? Is it less wanted ? Is Christ not that to
hit church he was ? A blind argument indeed! Because the priests of man's
making have it not, therefore none have it. " 1 will pour out my Spirit upon
thee, and upon thy seed, and thy seed's seed unto all generations." isa. v. 9»

262 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
superstitions, and flagitious living, as 1200 years past will
witness. Nay, on the occasion of any reformation, with
whomis there more to do, and who harder to be broughtto
yield, than universities have been ? Scripture and story give
it clear against him.
Not that I would be thought to oppose all sorts of learn
ing, neither : it has been man's erring from his divine
guideT that has made way for those numerous theses, dis
tinctions, books, and controversies, the world for ages hath
been infested with. Such are the obscure, unintelligible, and
unprofitable metaphysics of the heathen, too greedily re
ceived, and mischievously increased, by fathers, councils^
school-men, and our modern universities, to the corrupting
of Christian doctrine, and disputing away the benefit of
Christian life. An unbounded curiosity and fancy have been
the womb that hath brought forth so much troublesome and
unprofitable matter, which began with a degeneration of
philosophers; true philosophy, in the beginning of it, being
no more than ' the way of holy living, by the mortification
of passions.' But learning, as religion, failing by corrupt
tion of men, is now degenerated into quite another thing;
Socrates taught proper speech, and good life, and such a
course of learning as turned to daily practice and profit ;
severely forbidding all curiosities and niceties, as what
turned not to good life, which he reputed the best science ;
and Plato would have the poets banished out ofhis common
wealth, as corrupting it with fables : thus was learning, as
religion, once pure and simple. In short, all right learning
is to be divided into these two, true knowledge, and proper^
language.* This knowledge relates, first, to God, and that
is only to be received from the Spirit of God : and, se
condly, the things of this life ; and therein the spirit of man-
has a large field to act in, to the enlargement of its own
understanding, and benefit ofthe whole creation, as subject
to God's grace ; as knowing the nature and order of things
in the creation, building, improvement of land, medicine,
chirurgery, traffic, navigation, history, government, with
many other honest, useful, and profitable arts and inven
tions, for the help and good of mankind. And if man had
* These men were only versed in their own tongues : they were many of
them mechanics and tradesmen : answering, among the Gentiles, to the pro
phets and apostles among the Jews and Christians (though far short of them.)
So that learning and philosophy, like to religion, are now so changed, the an-r
cients would be at a loss to know them ; another thing has possessed itself of the
name of each : for to be a philosopher, or lover of wisdom, which was ' to es-i
chew all evil ;' and learning, which was ' to unlearn every ill thing,' as Socrates/
•aidj are now turned to dark and unprofitable contests, elaborate and unservice-i
able studies, to stufi" men's heads. . • .

HER CHILDREN. 263
kept iri God'g counsel, the many superfluous and unneces
sary arts and inventions that are in the world, had never
been^brought forth by him ; and time will work them out,
as it brought them in ; so that what is plain, honest, ser
viceable, and of good report, shall be preserved for the good
of the creation.
As for language, it must be granted that there is a pro
priety and decency in language : but as men have followed*
the outside of religion, and left the substance behind, so
have they done with learning : they have neglected matter,"
the most beneficial partjof learning, and devoted themselves
to an excess of fine speaking ; of which bishopWilkins, in his
' Real Character,' complains not without a cause, when he
says, f That this grand imposture of phrasing hath eaten out
all solid learning.'
Yet language is very convenient for men's converse with
books and nations of a different tongue ; however, we ut
terly deny them to be absolutely necessary to the true know
ledge of the mysteries of God's kingdom. So that the true
English of the Quakers denying all reason and learning, is
this ; we refuse to commend or practise unnecessary studies^
nice controversies, voluminous and intricate disputations,
obscurity of language, affectedness of style, excess of ele
gancy ; believjng, that learning, as well as religion, stands
in need both of great purging and reducing : and that those
subjects and employments which are most serviceable and
beneficial to mankind, and agreeable to God's grace, di
gested into easy and familiar methods, and treated on in the
plain and ordinary way of speaking, best deserve man's
time and regard. And for his reflection upon G. Whitehead,
it no farther deserves our notice, than that he flung a great
er upon Beza, whose learning he makes a little too bold
with. To say no more of his moth-eaten manuscript than
this, that the best copies he has had for his rule, have been
near a-kin to such moth-eaten-manuscripts ; and if such a
manuscript was the holy scripture, as I believe it was, he
was too bold and irreverent, as well as unwary and foolish,
in calling it a moth-eaten-scripture, thereby implying it to
be a moth-eaten-rule ; not that I take it to be his rule, who
has so fearfully erred and strayed from the holy precepts and
exhortations of it.
The fourth thing by which he reports us to proselyte peo
ple is, ' To deceive and associate first with women, therein
imitating the devil.'
Answ. First, we deny it, as being like the rest ofhis idle
stories, and those that not only in the primitive times by the
Heathen, but in several ages since, and degrees of breaking

264 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
forth of truth and reformation from apostate generations,
have been by them fastened upon the sincere professors
thereof; as Waldenses, Lollards, Hugonots, and Protest-
Ants themselves, in their first day, as well as more modern
dissenters. We must take our share ; it is no new nor
strange thing.
But supposing it to be true, that our endeavours are first
directed towards the women, I see no evil in our beginning
to undeceive, where the devil began to deceive. If they are
so easy tp be persuaded, why not to good as well as to evil ?
But these idle shifts, and pitiful evasions, deserve rather to
be disdained than considered.
Lastly, (page 125, 126, 127.) 'For our pretending to
higher degrees of holiness, and cracks and boasts of inspi
rations, with our bewitching language, which is nothing but
canting, and scripture phrase fitted to feminine fancies ; by
which,' he says, ' we have the advantage of all other here*
fiies ;'* I return thus much :
Answ. It is our faith, that God, who made heaven and
earth, will judge thesecrets of all men by Jesus Christ ; so
that it is not only my duty, but my interest, to speak the
truth of my conscience in this matter. We dare pretend to
no higher degree than we have attained ; but we must make
a difference between what we were whilst under the minis
try of man, and what we are since our being turned to God's
, powerful word in the heart, Christ's ministry : we should be
false to God, injurious to our neighbour, and smother and
belie our own convictions if we should not say, ' That we
have found our Judge near us, our Guide, Lawgiver, and
Rule very nigh unto us; and those infirmities, temptations,
and corruptions, God has, by this heavenly grace, given us
power against ; by which we have known that mortification
of sin, and conformity to the will of God, which the utmost
pf our former profession could never free us from. And if
this plain and Christian confession must be called by all
those hard names our adversary finds for our honest intenr
tions, we must, as we haye done, recommend our cause to
God, and his holy witness in all consciences, and him to be
judged by him ; to whom we desire to stand and fall in all
We say, do, and take in hand ; to whom alone we owe the
honour of our experiences and preservations,
* Rainerius the monk, and a terrible enemy to the poor WaldenseSj made the
same complaints against them. * They used," says he, ' to teach first what the
disciples of Christ ought to be, and that none are his disciples, but they that imi
tate his life : and that the popes, cardinals, &c. because they live in pride, ava-
lice, an4 luxury, &c. are not the lawful successors of Christ, in that they walk
not up to hin commandments. ' Thus,' says the monk, « they win upon the peo
ple.' P. P. Pet. Hist, Wald.

HER CHILDREN. 265
, However, the irreverence of the man deserves both our
notice, and the reproof of all that read him : what I Is scrip
ture-language become a cant ; and a sober and seasonable
use of it, canting fitted to feminine fancies ? But we think
it not more his folly, contradiction, and blasphemy, to speak
with that contempt ofthe holy scriptures, and his pretended
rnle, than an advantage he gives our cause, to tell the world,
' That of all others, the Quakers speak and preach the
scripture-dialect.' But it is the mother-tongue of such
frothy minds so to profane; and for all their pretended
respect to the holy scriptures, the spirit and life that ber
long unto them, are made but matter of jeer and mockery :
they would not be thought to undervalue Christ, the scrip
ture, nor his religion, but with the height of formality seem
to reverence and applaud them all, yet persecute to the
death those that are his holy offspring by the spirit of rege
neration ; which shows their esteem of Christ, scripture,
and religion, to be but a kind of blindfold respect ; and that
indeed their very spirits turn within them against that
which is truly Christ-like, scriptural, and religious. The
devil ever understood his interest better, than to persecute
truth under that name ; yet for all his fair pretences to
saintship, he constantly became a fierce devourer of those
that have been the children of the truth c and I may truly
say to this opposer, that for all his religion, learning, churchy
communion, and that stir he maketh against us, as a crew
of heretics and impostors, he knows not what spirit he is of,
who has writ a book rather to abuse than inform us, and in
stigate the civil magistrate to destroy us, than by solid ar
gument to refute or reclaim us. He that has but half an
eye may see his aim was not so much our conversion, as
disgrace, and, if possible, our utter ruin ; but till our ad
versary's labours prove as dangerous to us, as his design (no
doubt) was wicked, we have little cause to dread the suc
cess ofhis attempts.
And that he may see a little of himself, if he thinks him-i-
self worth looking upon, let him be pleased to take a view
of some of those many reviling, scoffing, rude, and con
temptuous epithets he i-\; pleased to bestow on us, an entire.
body of people : 'Heretical generation of Quakers; slaves
to pride, covetousness, ldst ; possessed by the devil, and a
diabolical spirit ; apostates, fanatics, spiritualists ; black,
impure hearts and mouths ; bewitched with their sorceries
and inchant ments ; impertinent cavilling fellows ; rebellious
Quakers ; cheats, and mountebanks ; a beastly and quaking
generation; jugglers; quaking and impudent heretics; a

266 WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF
sottish sect; illuminadoes; their cheats and impostures;
enthusiastical heretics ; a goatish herd.'*
And of our principles thus,t ' Their light leads to hell
and the devil, and carries a man like an ignis fatuus, caus
ing him to fall into the pit of everlasting destruction : who
are led by this are made obnoxious to all the impostures
and injections of the devil, and to lie under everlasting er
rors and deceits.'
To all which I have no other answer than what it is to
itself; for it contains that charge against its author, that I
shall leave him to clear himself from, both to God and the
whole world ; only I cannot be so wanting of civility to the
person he dedicated his book to, as not to let him know, that
it is unworthy of his quality and repute amongst men, to
have his name used to the protection of so much rudeness,
irreligion, and abuse.
I cannot think so meanly of him, as that the endeavours
of so scurrilous an author should excite him to any severity
against that poor people he has so basely wronged : for
such a thing were not only beneath that place he holds
amongst men, but Avould be to entitle himself to all our ad
versary's shameful miscarriages, and encourage him to per
sist in what it greatly behoves him to repent of, which God
grant, for his mercy sake : which is my whole answer to his
ill treatment of us, and the worst wish I have for him.

A CONCLUSION.
To those to whom the Discourse is dedicated.
Since then it is so evidently proved, by scripture, rea
son, and undoubted precedents, that it is no new or un
wonted thing, for national churches to be deceived,* not
withstanding they have been endowed with power, learning,
nobility, wealth, and worldly glory ; and that it hath pleased
Almighty God, in the most signal reformations that have
been wrought upon the world, to employ a sort of plain,
simple, and illiterate people ; let not our meanness, plain-
* Epistle, p. 6,7,29,32,33,35,40,41, S3, 77,94, 106,111,117, 121,110,
109. t Bishop Sanderson highly honours and characterizes the light ;
he calls it ' The eternal law of righteousness, and a rule sufficient to good life.'
Seehis bookin Latin, entitled, De Oilig. Jur. firomhs. J I entreat you to
read a piece of Dr. Cave's, called' Primitive Christianity,' in which the poverty,
simplicity, meanness, manner, and place of worship, maintenance, ministry, ob
jected novelty, &c. of the ancient Christians, are related.

HER CHILDREN. 267
ness, and simplicity, be any argument with you against us,
in the mouths of that decimating tribe, whose trade it is to
oppose that reformation, which, in conscience, can neither
own nor pay them ; the old enemies of God's appearance in
the world, who therefore dread a free and universal preach
ing, because the engrossment of it to themselves has proved
so profitable. Be Gamaliels at. least, I beseech you, and
fight not their battles : " If we are not of Godj we cannot
stand:" and if of God, they must fall. Leave us there
fore with our spiritual weapons to decide this controversy,
Avithout interposing your worldly power. It is strange that
We "should be such ignorants, and heretics too, Avhilst they
bless themselves with the name of learned and orthodox,
and yet dread the consequence of being' left by you to a
fair field with us. Are not their universities, bishops, and
doctors, enough to silence such illiterate whifflers, as our
adversary is pleased to call us, without the argument of
your carnal sword ? Certainly they ill deserve fifteen hun
dred thousand pounds a year, if at last you must do the bu
siness for them : what less can we expect from the worst of
persons and causes ? But as this employment is below the
dignity of their office, who are public magistrates, and much
too narrow for that universal influence it should have for
public good, so remember that great saying of the late king,
to the then prince of Wales :
' Always keep up solid piety, and those fundamental
truths which mend both hearts and lives of men, with impar
tial favour and justice. Your prerogative is best shown and
exercised in remitting, rather than exacting the rigour of
laws, there being nothing worse than legal tyranny.' Again,
' A charitable connivance, and Christian toleration often
dissipates what rougher opposition fortifies :' which had
been the saying and counsel of king James before him. It
is a sure rule in divinity, ' That God never loves to plant
his church by violence and bloodshed.' And in his exposi
tions on Rev. xx. he saith, ' That persecution is the note of
a false church.'
' Heresy must be cut off with the sword of the Spirit,'
saith Jerom. ' The church doth not persecute, but is per
secuted,' saith Hilary. ' If you will Avith blood, with evil,
and with torments defend your worship, it shall not thereby
be defended, but polluted,' said Lactantius. 1 will conclude
with Chrysostom; 'It is not,' saith he, 'the manner ofthe
children of God to persecute about their religion, but an
evident token of Antichrist.'*
* Jer. Proam. lib. 4. Hilar, contr. Auxent . Lact.lib. 5. cap. lO.Relig. Uris.
page 192.

26S WISDOM JUSTIFIED, &C
So let your moderation be known unto all men. The
Lord is at hand. I am A friend to all men,
Who would have vice punished, conscience tolerated, and
righteousness established, whose end is peace and assurance
for ever.
W. PENN.
the 16th ofthe 5th month, 1673.

ENGLAND'S
PRESENT INTEREST
CONSIDERED, WITH
HONOUR TO THE PRINCE,
AND
SAFETY TO THE PEOPLE,
In Answer to this One Question,
What is most Jit, easy, and safe, at this juncture of affairs, to
be done, for quieting of differences, allaying the heat of con
trary interests, and making them subservient to the interest
of the government, and consistent with the prosperity ofthe
kingdom ?
Submitted to the Consideration of our Superiors.
Lex est Ratio sine Appetitu,

Published in the Year 1675.

THE INTRODUCTION.
There is no law under heaven, which hath its rise front
nature or grace, that forbids men to deal honestly and
plainly with the greatest, in matters of importance to their
present and' future good: on the contrary, the dictates of
both enjoin every man that office to his neighbour ; and
from charity among private persons, it becomes a duty in
dispensable to the public. Nor do worthy minds think ever
the less kindly of honest and humble monitors; and God
knows, that oftentimes princes are deceived, and kingdoms
languish, for Avant of them. How far the posture of our
affairs will justify this address, I shall submit to the judg
ment and observation of every intelligent reader.
Certain it is, that there are few kingdoms in the world
more divided within themselves, and whose religious inte
rests lie more seemingly cross to all accommodation, than
that we live in ; which renders the magistrate's task hard,
and giveth him a difficulty next to invincible.

270 INTRODUCTION
Your endeavours for an uniformity have been many;
vour acts not a few to enforce it; but the consequence,
whether you intended it or no, through the barbarous prac
tices of those that have had their execution, hath been the
spoiling of several thousands ofthe free-born people of this
kingdom, of their unforfeited rights. Persons have been
flung into gaols, gates and trunks- broke open, goods dis
trained, till a stool hath not been left to sit down on : flocks
of cattle driven off, whole barns full of corn seized, threshed
and carried away; parents left without their children, chil
dren without their parents, both Avithout subsistence.
But that which aggravates the cruelty, is, the widow's
mite hath not escaped their hands ; they have made her cow
the forfeiture of her. conscience ; not leaving her a bed to
lie on, nor a blanket to cover her. And, which is yet more
barbarous, and helps to make up this tragedy, the poor
helpless orphan's milk, boiling over the fire, has been flung
to the dogs, and the skillet made part of their prize: so
that .had not nature in neighbours been stronger, than
cruelty in such informers and officers, to open her bowels
for their relief and subsistence, they must have utterly pe
rished. Nor can these inhuman instruments plead conscience or
duty to those laws, who have abundantly transcended the
severest clause in them ; for ' to see the imprisoned,' has
been suspicion enough for a gaol ; and ' to visit the sick,'
to make a conventicle : fining and distraining for preaching,
and being at a meeting, where there hath been neither ; and
forty pounds for twenty, at pick and choose too, is a mode
rate advance with some of them.
Others, thinking this way too dull and troublesome, alter
the question, and turn, ' Have you met ?' which the act inT
tends, to, ' Will you swear?' which it intendeth not: so
that in some places it hath been sufficient to a prcemunire,
that men have had estates to lose ; I mean such men, who
through tenderness, refuse the oath ; but by principle, like
the allegiance, not less than their adversaries.
Finding then by sad experience, and a long tract of time,
that the very remedies applied to cure dissention, increase
it ; and that the more vigorously an uniformity is coercively
prosecuted, the Avider breaches grow, the more inflamed pern
sons are, and fixed in their resolutions to stand by their
principles, it should, methinks, put an' end to the attempt :
for besides all other inconveniences to those. that give them
trouble, their very sufferings beget that compassion in the
multitude, which rarely misses of making many friends, and
proves often a preparation for not a few proselytes, So

INTRODUCTION. 271
much more reverend is suffering, than making men suffer for
religion, even of those that cannot suffer for their religion,
if yet they have any religion to suffer for. Histories are full
Of examples : the persecution ofthe Christian religion made
it more illustrious than its doctrine. Perhaps it will be de
nied to English dissenters, that they rely upon so good a
cause, and therefore a vanity in them to expect that success.
But Arianism itself, once reputed the foulest heresy by the
church, was by no artifice of its party so disseminated, as by
the severe opposition of the Homoousians.
Contests naturally draw company ; and the vulgar are
justified in their curiosity, if not pity, Avhen they see so
many wiser men busy themselves to suppress a people, by
whom they see no other ill, than that, for nonconformity in
matters of religion, they bear injuries and indignities
patiently. To be short : If all the interruptions, informations, fines,
plunders, imprisonments, exiles and blood, which the great
enemy of nature, as well as grace, hath excited man. to, in
all ages, about matters of faith and worship, from Cain and
Abel's time to ours, could furnish us with sufficient pre
cedents that the design proposed by the inflictors of so
much severity was ever answered; that they have smothered
opinions, and not inflamed, but extinguished contest ; it
might perhaps, at least prudentially, give check to our ex
pectations, and allay my just confidence in this address:
but since such attempts have ever been found unprosperous,
as well as that they are too costly, and have always pro
cured the 'judgments of God, and the hatred of men ; to
the sufferers' misery; to their countries, decay of people and
trade; and to their own consciences an extreme guilt;' I
fall to the question, and then the solution of it: in Avhich,
as I declare, I intend nothing that should in the least
abate of that love, honour, and service that areg due to
you; so, I beseech you, do me the justice to make the
fairest interpretation of my expressions : for the Avhole of
my plain and honest design is, to offer my mite for the
increase of your true honour, and my dear country's
felicity. The Question.
'What is most fit, easy, and safe, at this juncture of
affairs, to be done, for composing, at least quieting, differ
ences ; for allaying the heat of contrary interests, and mak
ing them subservient to the interest of the government, and
consistent with the prosperity of the kingdom ?'

272 encland's present

The Answer.
I. An inviolable and impartial maintenance of English
rights. II. Our superiors governing themselves upon a balance,
as near as may be, towards the several religious interests.
III. A sincere promotion of general and practical re
ligion. I shall briefly discourse upon these three things, and en
deavour to prove them a sufficient, if not the only best
answer that can be given to the question propounded.

ENGLAND'S
PRESENT INTEREST CONSIDERED.

CHAP. 1.
Of English Rights.
I. Of English Rights, in the British, Saxon, and Norman
times. Particularly of Liberty and Properly. Of Legis
lation. Of Juries. That they are fundamental to the
Government, and but repeated and confirmed by the Great
Charter. The Reverence paid them by Kings and Par
liaments, and their Care to preserve them. The Curse and
Punishment that attended the Violators. More, general
Consideration of Property, Sfc. The Uncertainty and
Ruin of Interests, where it is not maintained: divers Pre
cedents : that it is the Prince's interest to preserve it invio
lably : that it is not justly forfeitable for Ecclesiastical
Non-conformity ; and that where the Property is sacrificed
for it, the Government is changed from Civil to Ecclesias
tical, from the Parliament- House to the Vestry.
There is no government in the world, but it must either
stand upon will and power, or condition and contract : the
one rules by men, the other by laws. And above all king
doms under heaven, it is England's felicity to have her
constitution so impartially just and free, that there cannot
well be any thing more remote from arbitrariness, or more
zealous of preserving the laws, by which its rights are
maintained.

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 273
These laws are either fundamental, and so immutable ;
or more superficial and temporary, and consequently alter
able. By superficial laws, we understand such acts, laws, or
statutes as are suited to present occurrences, and emergen
cies of states ; and which may as well be abrogated, as they
Avere first made, for the good ofthe kingdom : for instance,
those statutes that relate to victuals, clothes, times and
places of trade, &c. which have ever stood, whilst the rea
son of them was iri force ; but when that benefit, which did
once redound, fell by fresh accidents, they ended according
to that old maxim, Cessante ratione legis, cessat lex.
By fundamental laws, I do not only understand such as
immediately spring from synteresis (that eternal principle
of truth and sapience, more or less disseminated through
mankind,) which are as the corner-stones of human struc
ture, the basis of reasonable societies, without which all
Avould run into heaps and confusion; to wit, Honeste vivere,
alterum non Iwdere, jus suum cuiq ; tribuere, that is, ' To
live honestly, not to hurt another, and to give every one
their right,' (excellent principles, and common to all na
tions) though that itself were sufficient to our present pur
pose ; but those rights and privileges which I call English,
and which are the proper birth-right of Englishmen, and
may be reduced to these three :
I. An ownership, and undisturbed possession : that what
they have is rightly theirs, and no body's else.
II. A voting of every law that is made, whereby that
ownership or propriety may be maintained.
III. An influence upon, and a real share in, that judica
tory power that must apply every such law ; which is the
ancient, necessary, and laudable use of juries : if not found
among the Britons, to be sure practised by the Saxons, and
continued through the Normans to this very day.
That these have been the ancient and undoubted rights
of Englishmen, as three great roots, under whose spacious
branches the English people have been wont to shelter
themselves against the storms of arbitrary government, I
shall endeavour to prove.
I. An Oisnership and undisturbed Possession.
This relates both to title and security of estate, and li
berty of person, frpm the violence of arbitrary power.
It is true, the footsteps of the British government are
very much overgrown by time. There is scarcely any thing
remarkable left us, but what we are beholden to strangers
for : either their own unskilfulness in letters, or their de-
Vol. II. s

274 England's present
populations and conquests by invaders, have deprived the
world of a particular story of their laws and customs, in
peace or war. However, Caasar, Tacitus, and especially
Dion, say enough to prove their nature and their govern
ment to be as far from slavish, as their breeding and man
ners were remote from the education and greater skill ofthe
Romans.* Beda and M. Westminster say as much.t
The law of property they observed, and made those laws
that concerned the preservation of it.
The Saxons brought no alteration to these two funda
mentals of our English government ; for they Avere a free
people, governed by laws, of which they themselves were
the makers : that is, there was no law made without the
consent of the people ; de majoribus omnes, as Tacitus ob-
serveth ofthe Germans in general.:}: They lost nothing by
transporting themselves hither ; and doubtless found a
greater consistency between their laws, than their ambition.
For the learned collector of the ' British Councils, '§ tells
us, that Ethelstan, the Saxon king, pleading with the peo
ple, told them, ' Seeing 1, according to your law, allow
what is yours, do ye so with me.' Whence three things are
observable. First, that something was theirs, that nobody
else could dispose of. Secondly, that they had property by
their own law ; therefore had a share in making their oavii
laws. Thirdly, that the law was umpire between king and
people ; neither of them ought to infringe ; this, Ina, the
great Saxon king, confirms. ' There is no great man,'
saith he, ' nor any in the whole kingdom, that may abolish
written laws.'|| It was also a great part of the Saxon oath
administered to the kings, at their entrance upon the go
vernment, ' To maintain and rule according to the laws of
the nation. '**
Their parliament they called micklemote, or wittange-
mote. It consisted of king, lords, and people, before the
clergy intenvoA'e themselves with the civil government.
And Andrew Horn, in his ' Mirror of Justice,' tells us,
' That the grand assembly of the kingdom in the Saxon
time, was to confer ofthe government of God's people, hoAV
they might be kept from sin, in quiet, and have right done
them, according to the customs and laws. 'if
Nor did this law end with the Saxon race : William the
Conqueror, as he is usually called, quitting all claim by
conquest, gladly stooped to the laws observed by the Saxon
kings, and so became a king by leave ; valuing a title by
* Cesar's Com. Tacit, in Vit. Agrip. Dion. I. 6 + M. West. Anno 416.
I. 1. c. 17. } Hist. Germ. § Concil. Brit. p. 397. || LI. Ins. Lamb.
** Mirror, c. 1. §. 2. ff Ibid, c, 1. §. 2,3- Just. c.4. §. 11.

»

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 275
election, before that Avhich is founded in power only. He
therefore, at his coronation, made a solemn covenant, ' To
maintain the good, approved, and ancient laws of this king
dom, and to inhibit all spoil and unjust government.'*
And this Henry the First, his third son, among other his
titles, mentioned in his charter to make Ely a bishoprick,
calls himself, ' Son of William the Great, who by hereditary
right (not conquest) succeeded king Edward (called the
Confessor) in this kingdom. 't
An ancient chronicle of Litchfield speaks of a council of
lords that advised William of Normandy, 'To call together
all the nobles and wise men throughout their counties of
England, that they might set down their own laws and cus
toms ;' which was about the fourth year of his reign : which
implies that they had fundamental laws, and that he in
tended their confirmation.
And one of the first laws made by this king, which, as a
notable author saith, ' may be called the first magna charta
in the Norman times, (by which he reserved to himself
nothing of the freemen of this kingdom, but their free-ser
vice) in the conclusion of it, saith, ' That the lands of the
inhabitants of this kingdom Avere granted to them in inherit
ance of the king, and by the common council of the whole
kingdom :'J Avhich law doth also provide, ' That they shall
hold their lands and tenements well or quietly, and in peace,
from all unjust tax and tillage;' which is farther expounded
in the laAVs of Henry the First, chap. 4. ' That no tribute or
tax should be taken, but what was due in Edward the Con
fessor's time.' So that the Norman kings claim no other
, right in the lands and possessions of any of their subjects,
than according to English law and right.
And so tender were they of property in those times, that
when justice itself became importunate in a case, no distress
could issue without public warrant obtained : nor that
neither, but upon three complaints first made. Nay, when
rape and plunder Avere rife, and men seemed to have no
more right to their own than they had power to maintain,
even then was this law a sufficient sanctuary to the oppressed,
by being publicly pleaded at the bar against all usurpation ;
though it were under the pretence of their conqueror's right
itself; as by the case of Edwin of Sharnbourn, in ' Camden's
Britannia,' plainly appears.
The like obligation fo maintain this fundamental law of
property, with the appendant rights ofthe people, was taken
by William Rufus, Henry the First, Stephen, Henry the
Second, Richard the First, John, and Henry the Third :
» M. Paris in vit. Gulielm. + Spicileg. $ LI. Gulielm. 55,
S 2

276 England's present
which brings me to that famous law called Magna Charta,
or 'The Great Charter of England,' of which more anon ;
it being my design to shoAV, that nothing of the essenlial
rights of Englishmen was thereby, de novo, granted, as in
civility to king Henry the Third it is termed ; but that they
were therein only repeated and confirmed. Wherefore I
shall return to antecedent times, to fetch down the remaining
rights. The second part of this first fundamental is, liberty of
person. The Saxons were so tender in the point of impri
sonment, that there \Aas little or no use made of it : nor
would they so punish their bond-men ; vinculis coercere
rarum est.
In case of debt or damage, the recovery thereof was
either by a delivery of the just value in goods; or, upon the
sheriff's sale of the goods, in money ; and if that satisfied
not, the land was extended : and when all was gone, they
were accustomed to make their last seizure upon the party's
arms, and then he was reputed an undone man, and cast
upon the charity of his friends for subsistence : but his per
son was never imprisoned for the debt ; no, not in the king's
case.* And to the honour of king Alfred be it spoken, ' he
imprisoned one ofhis judges for imprisoning a man in that
case.' We find among his laws this passage, Qui immerentem
paganum vinculis constrinxerit, decern solidis noxam sarcito :
' That if a man should imprison his vassal or bond-man un
justly, his purgation of that offence should not be less than
the payment of ten shillings :'t a sum very considerable in
those days, more than ten pounds now.
Nor did the revolution from Saxon to Norman drop this
privilege : for besides the general confirmation of former
rights by William, surnamed the Conqueror, his son Henry
the First particularly took such care of continuing this part
of property inviolable, that, in his time, no person Avas to
be imprisoned .for committing of mortal crime itself, unless
he were first attainted by the verdict of twelve men ; that
is, a jury, which was to be ofthe neighbourhood.:!
Thus much for the first of my three fundamentals, right
of estate and liberty of person : that is to say, I am no man's
bond-man, and what I possess is absolutely mine own.
1 LJl Edw. + LI. Alf. cap. 1. and 31. i LI. Gulielm. cap. 42, 49, 55.
LI. Hen. i. cap, 5.

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 277
II. A voting of every Law that is made, whereby that Owner
ship or Property may be maintained.
This second fundamental of our English government was
no incroachment upon the kings of more modern ages, but
extant long before the great charter made in the reign of
Henry m. even as early as the Britons themselves; and
that it continued to the time of Hen. in. is evident from
several instances.
Caesar, in his Commentaries, tells us, ' That it was the
custom of the British cities to elect their general or com
mander in chief, in case of Avar.'* Dion assures us, in the
life of Severus the emperor, ' That in Britain the people
held a share in power and government ;' which is the mo-
destest construction his words will bear. And Tacitus, in
the life ofAgrippa, says, ' They had a common council ;
and that one great reason of their overthrow by the Romans,
was, their not consulting with, and relying upon, their com
mon council. 't Again, both Beda and Mat. Westminster
tell us, ' That the Britons summoned a synod, chose their
moderator, and expelled the Pelagian creed.' All Avhich
supposes popular assemblies, with power to order national
affairs. And indeed, the learned author of the ' British Councils*
gives some hints to this purpose, ' That they had a common
council, and called it kyfr ythen'
The Saxons were not inferior to the Britons in this point;
and story furnisheth us with more and plainer proofs. They
brought this liberty along with them, and it was not likely
they should lose it, by transporting themselves into a coun
try where they also found it. Tacitus reports it to have
been generally the German liberty; like unto the concio of
the Athenians and Lacedaemonians.
They called their freemen Frilingi ; and these' had votes
in the making and executing the general laivs of the king
dom. In Ethelbert's time, after the monk Austin's insinuations
had made his followers a part ofthe government, the com
mune concilium was tarn cleri quam populi, ' as well clergy
as people.'4^ In Ina's time, suasu <$• insiitulo episcoporum,
omnium senatorum 8? natu majorum sapienlum populi ;
' bishops, lords, and wise men ofthe people.' Alfred after
him reformed the former laws, consulto sapienlum, ' by the
advice of the sages of the kingdom.' Likewise matters of
public and general charge, in case of war, &c. we have
granted in the assembly, rege, baronibus, Sf populo; 'by the
„' Lib. 5, 6. + Cap. 12. } Concil. Brit. 162. LI. Sax. Lam.

ft

278 England's present
king, barons, and people.' And though the Saxon word
properly imports ' the meeting of wise men,' yet all that
would come might be present, and interpose their like or
dislike of the present proposition : as that of Ina, in magnd
servorum Dei frequeniid. Again, Commune concilium seni-
orum Sf populorum totius regni ; ' the common council of
the elders or nobles, and people of the whole kingdom.'*
The council of Winton, ann. 855. is said to be in the pre
sence of the great men, aliorumq, fdelium infinitd multi-
tudine; ' and an infinite multitude of other faithful people;'
which was nigh four hundred years before the great charter
was made.
My last instance of the Saxon ages shall be out of the
Glossary of the learned English knight, H. Spelman : ' The
Saxon wittangemote, or parliament,' saith he, ' is a conAren-
tion of the princes, as well bishops as magistrates, and the
free people ofthe kingdom :'+ and that the said wittangemote
consulted of the common safety in peace and war, and for
the promotion ofthe common good.
William of Normandy chose rather to rely upon the peo
ple's consent, than in his own power to obtain the kingdom.
'le SAVore to them to maintain their old laws and privileges ;
they to him obedience, for his so governing of them : for as
a certain author hath it, ' He bound himself to be just, that
he might be great; and the people to submit to justice, that
they might be free-'^: In his laws, c. 55. 'We, by the common
council of the whole kingdom, have granted the people's
lands to them in inheritance, according to their ancient laws.'
Matters of general expense upon the whole body of the
people Avere settled by this great council, especially in the
charge of arms imposed upon the subject. The law saith it
tohave been done by the commune concilium of the kingdom. §
So William Rufus and Henry the First were received by
the common consent of the people. And Stephen's words
were, Ego Stephanus, Dei gratia, assensu cleri 8f populi in
regno Anglice electus, fyc. 'I Stephen, by the grace of God,
and consent of the clergy and people, chosen king of Eng
land,' &c. So king John was chosen, tarn cleri quam populi
unanimi consensu Sf favor e ; 'by the favour and unanimous
consent of the clergy and people : and his queen is said tp
have been crowned de communi consensu Sf concordi volun-
tate archiepiscoporum, comilum, baronum, cleri Sf populi
totius regni, i. e. ' by the common assent and unanimous
good will of the archbishops, bishops, counts, barons, clergy
* Ll. Sax. Lam. p. 1. Concil. Brit. 19. Ingulph. + Spelm. Gloss.
tit. Gemote, f. 261. ( Ll. Gulielm. 3. 55. § Ibid, e c. 58. Spicileg,
W. Malms. C. Hist. p. 101.

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 279
and people ofthe whole kingdom.'* King Edward the First
also desired money of the commune concilium, or parliament,
' As you have given in my time, and that of my progenitors,
kings,' &c.
All which shows, that it was antecedent to the great
charter; not the rights therein repeated and confirmed, but
the act itself.
And king John's resignation of the crown to the pope,
being questioned upon some occasion in Edward the Third's
time, it was agreed upon, ' That he had no power to do it,
without the consent of the dukes, prelates, barons, and
commons, 't
And, as paradoxical as any may please to think it, it is
the great interest of a prince, that the people should have
a share in the making of their own laws ; where it is other
wise, they are no kings of free-men, but slaves, and those
their enemies for making them so. Leges nulla alid causa nos
tenent, quam quod judicio populi receptee sunt; ' The laws,'
saith Ulpian, ' do therefore oblige the people, because they
are allowed of by their judgment.' And Gratian, in Dec.
Distinct. 4. Turn demum humanos leges habent vim suam,
cum fuerint non modo instiluloz, sed etiam frmatw approba
tion communitatis :' ' It is then,' saith he, ' that human laAvs
have their due force, when they shall not only be devised,
but confirmed by the approbation ofthe people.'
1. It makes men diligent, and increaseth trade, which ad
vances the revenue : for where men are not free, they will
never seek to improve, because they are not sure of what
they have, and less of Avhat they get"
2. It frees the prince from the jealousy and hate of his
people ; and consequently, the troubles and danger that
follow; and makes his province easy and safe.
3. If any inconvenience attends the execution of any laAv,
the prince is not to be blamed : it is their own fault that
made it.
I shall now proceed to the third fundamental, and by plain
evidence prove it to have been a material part of the go
vernment before the great charter was enacted.
III. The People have an influence upon, and a great share
in, the Judicatory Power.
That it was a British custom, I will not affirm, but have
some reason to suppose : for if the Saxons had brought it
with them, they would also have left it behind them, and in
* Cart, moder. feeder, mag. sigil. Anno I. Job. ex Vet. Rrjj. in Arch, Can.
luar. Archiepiscop. Hot. Cart. Ann, 5 Job.. Memb. 5. n. 29.
t Rot. Par. 40. Ed. 3. u. 78.

280 England's present
all likelihood there would have been some footsteps in
Saxony of such a law or custom, whjch we find not. I will
not enter the lists with any about this : this shall suffice me,
that we find it early among the Saxons in this country ; and
if they, a free people in their own country, settling them
selves here as a new planted colony, did supply what was
defective in their own government, or add some new free
dom to themselves, as all planters were wont to do, which
are those first and corner stones, their posterity, with all care
and skill, are to build upon, that itself will serve my turn to
prove it a fundamental : that, is, such a first principle in our
English government, by the agreement ofthe people, as
ought riot to be violated. I would not be understood of
the number, but of the Avay of trial ; I mean, that men
were not to be condemned, but by the votes ofthe freemen.
N. Bacon thinks that in ruder times the multitude tried
all among themselves ; and fancies it came from the Grecians,
who determined controversies by the suffrage of 34, or the
major part of them.
Be it as it will, juries the Saxons had ; for in the laws of
king Etheldred, about three hundred years before the en
trance of the Norman duke, we find enacted, In singulis
cenluriis, &c. thus englished, ' In every hundred let there
be a court, and let twelve ancient freemen, together with
the lord of the hundred, be sworn, that they will not con
demn the innocent, or acquit the guilty.'* And so strict
were they of those ages, in observing this fundamental way
of judicature, that Alfred put one ofhis judges to death for
passing sentence upon a verdict (corruptly obtained) upon
the votes of the jurors, three of twelve being in the nega
tive. If the number was so sacred, what was the constitu
tion itself?
The very same king executed another of his judges, for
passing sentence of death upon an ignoramus returned by
the jury ; and a third, for condemning a man upon an
inquest taken ex officio, when-as the delinquent had not put
himself upon their trial. More of his justice might be men
tioned even in this very case.
There was also a law made in the time of Etheldred,
when the Britons and Saxons began to grow tame to each
other, and intercommon amicably, that saith, 'Let there
be twelve men of understanding, &c. six English and six
Welsh, and let them deal justice, both to English and
Welsh.'-r Also in those simple times, if a crime extended but to
* Ll. Sax. Lam. Anno C 75. f Ll. Etheld. eap. 3. Lamb, Ll. Ina
Ll. Canut.

interest considered. 281
some shameful punishment, as pillory or whipping (the last
whereof, as usual as it has been with us, was inflicted only
upon their bondmen) the penance might be reduced to a
ransom, according to the nature of the fault; but it must
be assessed in the presence of the judge, and by the twelve,
that is, the jury of Frilingi, or freemen.
Hitherto stories tell us of trials by juries, and those to
have consisted, in general terms, of freemen : but per pares,
or by equals, came after, occasioned by the considerable
Saxons neglecting that service, and leaving it to the inferior
people, who lost the bench, their ancient right, because
they were not thought company for a judge or sheriff: and
also from the growing pride ofthe Danes, Avho slighted such
a rural judicature, and despised the fellowship of the mean
Saxon freemen in public service. The wise Saxon king per
ceiving this, and the dangerous consequence of submitting
the lives and liberties of the inferior (but not less useful)
people to the dictates of any such haughty humour ; and,
on the other hand, of subjecting the nobler sort to the suf
frage of the inferior rank, did, with the advice of his wit
tangemote, or parliament, provide a third way, more equal
and grateful, and by agreement with Gunthurn, the Dane,
settled the law of peers, or equals ; which is the envy of
nations, but the famous privilege of our English people :
one of those three pillars the fabrick of this ancient and
free government stands upon.
This benefit gets strength by time, and is received by the
Norman duke and his successors ; and not only confirmed
in the lump of other privileges, but in one notable case for
all ; which might be brought to prove, that the fundamental
privileges, mentioned in the great charter, 9 of Hen. an.
were before it. The story is more at large delivered by
our learned Selden : but thus, ' William having given his
half brother Odo a large territory in Kent, with the earl
dom, and he taking advantage at the king's being displeased
with the archbishop of Canterbury, to possess himself of
some ofthe lands of that see, Lanfrank, that succeeded the
archbishop, informed hereof, petitioned the king for jus
tice, secundum legem terraz, according to the law ofthe land:
upon which the king summoned a county court, where the
debate lasted three days, before the freemen of Kent, in the
presence of lords, and bishops, and others skilful in the law,
and the judgment passed for the archbishop, upon the votes
ofthe freemen.'*
By all which it is, I hope, sufficiently and inoffensively
manifested, that these three principles, viz.
* Spicileg. 197,

282 England's present
1. That English men have the alone right of possession and
disposition of what is theirs;
2. That they are parties to the laws of their country, for
the maintenance thereof;
3. That they have an influence upon, and a real share in,
the judicatory power, that applies those laws ;
have been the ancient rights of the kingdom, and common
basis of the government; that which kings, under all revo
lutions, have sworn to maintain, and history affords us so
many precedents to confirm. So that the great charter,
made in the 9th of Hen. in. was not the nativity, but resto
ration, of ancient privileges from abuses ; no grant of new
rights, but a new grant, or confirmation rather, of ancient
laws and liberties, violated by king John, and restored by
his successor, at the expense of a long and bloody war;
which shewed them as resolute to keep, as their ancestors
had been careful to make, those excellent laws.
And so I am come to the great charter, which is compre
hensive of what I have already been discoursing, and which
I shall briefly touch upon, with those successive statutes that
have been made in honour and preservation of it.
I shall rehearse so much of it as falls within the conside
ration of the foregoing matter, (which is a great deal in a
little) with something of the formality of grant and curse ;
that this age may see with what reverence and circumspec
tion our ancestors governed themselves in confirming and
preserving of it.
' Henry, by the grace of God, king of England,&c. To all
archbishops, earls, barons, sheriffs, provosts, officers, unto
all bailiffs, and our faithful subjects, who shall see this pre
sent charter, greeting : Knowye, that we, unto the honour of
Almighty God, and for the salvation of the souls of our pro
genitors, and our successors, kings of England, to the ad
vancement of holy church, and amendment of our realm, of
our mere and free will have given and granted to all arch
bishops, &c. and to all freemen of this our realm, these li
berties underwritten, to be holden and kept in this our
realm of England for evermore.'*
Though in honour to the king, it is said to be out of his
mere and free will, as if it were his mere favour, yet the
qualification of the persons he is said to grant the ensuing
liberties to, shows, that they are terms of formality, viz. to
all freemen of this realm. Which supposes there were free
men before this grant; and that character also implies they
must have had laws and liberties : consequently this was
not an infranchising of them, but a confirming to freemen
* 9 Hen. in.

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 283
their just privileges they had before. The words of the
charter are these :
' A freeman shall not be amerced for a small fault, but af
ter the quantity ofthe fault ; and for a great fault, after the
manner thereof, saving to him his contenements or freehold :
and a merchant likewise shall be amerced, saving to him his
merchandize ; and none of the said amercements shall be
assessed, but by the oath of good and honest men ofthe vi
cinage.'* ' No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, nor be dis
seised ofhis freehold or liberties, or free customs, or be out
lawed or exiled, or any other Avays destroyed ; nor we shall
not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judg
ment ofhis peers, or by the laAV ofthe land. We shall sell
to no man, we shall deny or defer to no man, either justice
or right.'t
I stand amazed, how any man can have the confidence to
say, ' These privileges were extorted by the barons' wars,'
when the king declares, that what he did herein, was done
freely : or that they were new privileges, when the very
tenor of the word proves the contrary : for freehold, liber
ties, or free customs, are by the charter itself supposed to
be in the possession of the freemen at the making and pub
lishing thereof. For observe, no freeman shall be taken or
imprisoned: then he was free: this liberty is his right.
Again, no freeman shall be disseised of his freehold, liber
ties, or free customs ; then certainly he was in possession of
them : and that great doctor in the laws of England, chief
justice Coke, in his proem to the second part of his Insti
tutes, tells us, ' that these laws and liberties were gathered
and observed amongst others, in an entire volume, by king
Edward the Confessor; confirmed by William, surnamed
the Conqueror ; which were afterwards ratified by Henry
the First; enlarged by Henry the Second, in his constitu
tions at Clarendon; and after much contest, and blood
spilt, between king John and the barons concerning them,
were solemnly established at Running-Mead, by Staines :
and lastly, brought to their former station, and published
by this king Henry the Third, in the 9th year of his reign.'
And though evil counsellors would have provoked him to
void his father's act and his own, as if the first had been the
effect of force, the other of non-age ; yet it so pleased Al
mighty God, who hath ever been propitious to this ungrate
ful island, that in the 20th year ofhis reign, he did confirm
and complete this charter, for a perpetual establisment of
liberty to all freeborn Englishmen, and their heirs for ever :
* Cap. H, + Cap. 29.

284 England's present
ordaining, Quod contravenientes per dominum regem, cum
convicli fuerint, graviter puniantur, i.e. 'That whosoever
should act any thing contrary to these laws, upon conviction,
should be grievously punished by our lord the king.' And
in the 22d year ofhis reign, it Avas confirmed by the statute
of Marleb. cap. 5. And so venerable an esteem have our an
cestors had for this great charter, and so indispensably ne
cessary have they thought, it to their own and posterity's
felicity, that it hath been above thirty times ratified and
commanded, under great penalties, to be put in execution.
Here are the three fundamentals comprehended, and
expressed to have been the rights and privileges of English
men. I. Ownership, consisting of liberty, and property. In
. that it supposes Englishmen to be free, there is liberty :
next, that they have freeholds, there is property.
II. That they have the voting of their own laws : for
that Avas an ancient free custom, as I have already
proved, and all such customs are expressly confirmed
by this great charter: besides, the people helped to
make it.
III. An influence upon, and a real share in, the judicatory
power, in the execution and application thereof.
This is a substantial part, thrice provided for in those
sixteen lines of the great charter before rehearsed : ' 1 . That
no amercement shall be assessed, but by oath of good and
honest men of the- vicinage. 2. Nor shall we not pass upon
him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment ofhis peers.
3. Or by the law ofthe land :' which is synonymous, or a
saying of equal signification, Avith lawful judgment of peers :
for law of the land, and lawful judgment of peers, are the
proprium quarto modo, or essential qualities, of these chap
ters of our great charter; being communicable omni soli et
semper, to all and every clause thereof alike.
Chief justice Coke well observes, in his Second Institutes,
thai per legem terra;, or by the law of the lind, imports no
more than a trial byprocess, and writ originally at common
laAv; Avhich cannot be without the lawful judgment of
equals, or a common jury : therefore per legale judicium
parium, by the lawful judgment of peers, and per legem
terra;, by the laAv of the land, plainly signify the same pri
vilege to the people. So that it is the judgment ofthe free
men of England, which gives the cast, and turns the scale,
in English justice.
These being so evidently proved by long use, and seve
ral laws, to have been the first principles, or fundamentals,
of the English free government, I take leave to propose

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 285
this question : May the free people of England be justly
disseised of all, or any, of these fundamentals, Avithout their
consent collectively ?
Answ. With submission I conceive, not ; for which I
shall produce, first, my reasons, then authorities.
I. Through the British, Saxon, and Norman times, the
people of this island have been reputed and called freemen
by kings, parliaments, records, and histories : and as a son
supposes a father, so freemen suppose freedom. This qua
lification imports an absolute right : such a right as none
has right to disseise or dispossess an Englishman of: there
fore an unalterable fundamental part ofthe government.
II. It can never be thought that they entrusted any repre
sentatives Avith these capital privileges, farther than to use
their best skill to secure and maintain them. They never
so delegated or impoAvered any men, that dejure, they could
deprive them of that qualification : and a facto ad jus, non
valet argumentum : for the question is not, what may be
done ? but, what ought to be done? Overseers and stew
ards are impowered not to alienate, but preserve and im
prove, other men's inheritances. No owners deliver their
ship and goods into any man's hands to give them away, or
run upon a rock ; neither do they consign their affairs to
agents or factors without limitations. All trusts suppose
such a fundamental right in them that give them, and for
whom the trusts are, as is altogother indissolvable by the
trustees. The trust is, the liberty and property ofthe peo
ple ; the limitation is, that it should not be invaded, but in
violably preserved, according to the law of the land.
III. If salus populi be suprema lex, the safety ofthe peo
ple the-highest law, (as say several of our ancient famous
lawyers and law-books ;) then, since the aforesaid rights are
as the sinews that hold together this free body politic, it
follows, they are at least a part of the supreme law, and
therefore ought to be a rule and limit to all subsequent
legislation. IV. The estate goes before the steward ; the foundation
before the house ; people before their representatives ; and
the Creator before the creature. The steAvard lives by pre
serving the estate; the house stands by reason of its foun
dation ; the representative depends upon the people, as the
creature subsists by the power of its Creator.
Every representative may be called, the creature of the
people, because the people make them, and to them they owe
their being. Here is no transessentiating, or transubstan
tiating of being, from people to a representative ; no more

286 England's present
than there is an absolute transferring of a title in a letter of
attorney. The very term representative is enough to the contrary ;
Avherefore as the house cannot stand without its foundation,
nor the creature subsist without its Creator, so there can be
no representatiA'e without a people, nor that people free,
(which all along is intended, as inherent to, and inseparable
from, the English people} without freedom ; nor can there
be any freedom Avithout something be fundamental.
In short, I would fain know of any man how the branches
can cut up the root ofthe tree that bears them ? How any
representative, that has not only a mere trust to preserve
fundamentals, the people's inheritance, but that is a repre
sentative that makes laws, by virtue of this fundamental
law, viz. that the people have a power in legislation, (the
2d principle proved by me) can have a right to remoAre or de
stroy that fundamental ? The fundamental makes the peo
ple free ; this free people makes a representative : can this
creature unqualify its creator ? What spring ever rose
higher than its head ? The representative is at best but a
true copy, an exemplification ; the free people are the ori
ginal, not cancellable by a transcript : and if that funda
mental which gives to the people a power of legislation, be
not nullable by that representative, because it makes them
what they are; much less can that representative disseise
men of their liberty and property, the first great funda
mental, that is, parent of this other ; and which entitles to
a share in making laws for the preserving ofthe first invio
lable. Nor is the third fundamental other than the necessary
production of the two first, to intercept arbitrary designs,
and make power legal : for where the people have not a
share in judgment, that is, in the application, as well as
making of the law, the other two are imperfect ; open to
daily invasion, should it be our infelicity ever to have a
violent prince. For as property is every day exposed, where
those that have it are destitute of power to hedge it about
by law-making; so those that have both, if they have not a
share in the application ofthe law, how easily is that hedge
broken down.
And indeed, as it is a most just and necessary, as well as
ancient and honourable custom, so it is the prince's interest :
for still the people are concerned in the inconveniences with
him, and he is freed from the temptation of doing arbitrary
things, and their importunities, that might else haA*e some
pretence for such addresses, as well as from the mischiefs

interest considered. 287
that might ensue such actions. It might be enough to say,
that there are above fifty statutes now in print, besides its
venerable antiquity, that Avarrant and confirm this legale ju
dicium parium suorum, or the ' trial of Englishmen by their
equals.' But I shall hint at a few instances : the first is, the earl
of Lancaster, in the 14th of Edw. n. adjudged to die with
out lawful trial of his peers : and afterwards Henry, earl of
Lancaster, his brother, was restored. The reasons given
were two : 1. ' Because the said Thomas was not arraigned
and put to answer. 2. That he was put to death without
answer, or lawful judgment of his peers.' The like pro
ceedings were in the case of John of Gaunt, p. 39. Coram
Rege. And in the earl of Arundel's case, rot. pari. 4 Edw.
in. N. 13. Also in Sir John Alee's case, 4 Edw. in. Nf 2.
Such was the destruction committed on the Lord Hastings
in the Tower of London, by Richard in. But above all,
the attainder of Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, who was
attainted of high treason, as appears, rot. pari. 32 Hen.vin.
of which, saith chief justice Coke, as I remember, ' Let ob
livion take away the memory of so foul a fact, if it can : if
not, however, let silence cover it.'
It is true, there was a statute obtained in the 11th of
Henry vnth, in defiance ofthe great charter, which autho
rized several exactions, contrary to the free customs of this
realm ; particularly in the case of juries, both assessing and
punishing by justices of assize, and ofthe peace, without the
fining and presentment of twelve freemen. Empson and
Dudley were the great actors of those oppressions ; but they
were hanged for their pains, and that illegal statute repealed
in the first of Henry the vnith, ch. 6.
The consequence is plain ; that fundamentals give rule to
acts of parliament; else why was the statute ofthe 8th Edw.
iv. ch. 2. of liveries and information, by the discretion of
the judges, to stand as an original, and this of the 11th of
Henry vnth, repealed as illegal ? For therefore any thing
is unlawful, because it transgresseth a law. But what law
can an act of parliament transgress, but that which is funda
mental ? Therefore trial by juries, or lawful judgment of
equals, is by acts of parliament confessed to be a funda
mental part of our government. And because chief justice
Coke is so generally esteemed an oracle of the law, I shall
in its proper place present you with his judgment upon the
whole matter.
V. These fundamentals are unalterable by a representa
tive, which were the result and agreement of English free
men, collectively; theancienter times not being acquainted

288 England's present
with representatives : for then the freemen met in their own
persons. In all the Saxon story we find no mention of any
such thing; for it was the king, lords, and freemen: the
elders and people. And at the council of Winton, in 855.
is reported to have been present, ' The great men of the
kingdom, and an infinite multitude of other faithful peo
ple.'* Also at that of king Ina, ' The common council of
the elders and people ofthe whole kingdom :'t that is, the
most or generality ofthe freemen of the kingdom; for all
might come that pleased. It is not to be doubted but this
continued after the Norman times; and that at Running-
Mead, by Staines, the freemen of England were personally
present at the confirmation of that great charter, in the
reign of king John. But as the ages grew more hti mane,
and free with respect to villains and retainers, and that the
number of freemen increased, there Avas a necessity for a
representative ; especially, since fundamentals were long
ago agreed upon, and those capital privileges put out of
the reach and power of a little number of men to endanger.
And so careful were the representatives of the people, in
the time of Edward the Third, of suffering their liberties
and free customs to be infringed, that ' in matters of extra
ordinary weight they would not determine, till they had
first returned to, and conferred with their several counties
or boroughs that delegated them.'^: Thus the Pari. Rolls
ofhis time.
Several Authorities in confirmation of the Reasons before
mentioned.
So indubitably are these fundamentals the people's right,
and so necessary to be preserved, that kings have succes
sively known no other safe or legal passage to their croivn
and dignity, than their solemn obligation inviolably to
maintain them. ' So sacred were they reputed in the days
of Henry the ind, that not to continue or confirm them,
Avas to affront God, and to damn the souls ofhis progenitors
and successors ; and to depress the church, and'deprave the
realm : that the great charter, comprehensive of them,
should be allowed as the common law of the land, by all
officers of justice ; that is, the lawful inheritance of all com
moners : that all statute laws or judgments whatsoever,
made in opposition thereunto, should be null and void : that
all the ministers of state, and officers of the realm, should
constantly be sworn to the observation thereof.' And so
deeply did after-parliaments reverence it, and so careful
*Ll.Sax. Lam. , t Concil. Brit. 219. Ingulph.
1 Coke 4 lnst. fol. 14 . n. 34.

INTEREST CONSIDERED: 289
were they to preserve it, that they both confirriied it by
thirty-two several acts, and enacted copies to be taken and
lodged in each cathedral ofthe realm, to be read four times
a year publicly before the people : as if they would have
them more obliged to their ancestors for redeeming and
transmitting those privileges, than for begetting them : and
that ' twice every year, the bishops, apparelled in their pon
tificals, with tapers burning, and other solemnities, should
pronounce the greater excommunication against the infrin
gers of the great charter, though if Avere but in word or
counsel;' for so saith the statute. I shall, for farther satis
faction, repeat the excommunication or curse pronounced
both in the'days, of Henry the (Third and EdAvard the First.
The Sentence of the, Curse given by the Bishops, with the
king's consent, against the breakers ofthe great charter.
' In the year of our Lord 1253, the third day of May, in
the great hall ofthe king at Westminster, in the presence,
and by the consent, of the lord Henry, by the grace of God,
king of England, and the lord Richard, earl of Cornwall,
his brother; Roger Bigot, earl of Norfolk, marshal of Eng
land ; Humphrey, earl of Oxford ; John, earl Warren ;
and other estates of the realm of England ; we Boniface,
by the mercy of God, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of
England, F. of London, II. of Ely, S. of Worcester, E. of
Lincoln, W. of Norwich, P. of Hereford, W. of Salisbury,
W. of Durham, R of Exeter, M. of Carlisle, W. of Bath,
A. of Rochester, T. of St. David's, bishops, apparelled in
pontificals, with tapers burning, against the breakers of the
church's liberties, and of the liberties and other customs of
this realm of England, arid namely these Avhich are con
tained in the charter of the common liberties of England,
and charter of the forest, have denounced sentence of ex
communication in this form : By the authority of Almighty
God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, &c. ofthe
blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of all apostles, and of
all martyrs, of blessed Edward king of England, and of all
the saints of heaven; we excommunicate and accurse, and
from the benefit of our holy mother, the church, we se
quester, all those that hereafter willingly and maliciously
deprive or spoil the church of her right; and all those that
by any craft or willingness do violate, break, diminish, or
change the church's liberties, and free customs contained in
the charters of the common liberties, and of the forest,
granted by our lord the king, to archbishops, bishops, and
other prelates of England, and likewise to the earls
Vol. ii t

290 England's present
knights, and other freeholders of the realm ; and all that
secretly and openly, by deed, word, or counsel, do make
statutes, or observe them being made, and that bring in cus
toms, to keep them, when they be brought in, against the
said liberties, or any of them, and all those that shall pre
sume to judge against them ; and all and every such person
before mentioned, that wittingly shall commit any thing of
the premises, let them well know, that they incur the afore
said sentence, ipso facto.
The sentence ofthe Clergy against the breakers ofthe articles
before-mentioned.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
Amen. Whereas our sovereign lord the king, to the honour
of God, and of holy church, and for the common profit of
the realm, hath granted for him, and his heirs for ever, these
articles above-written, Robert, archbishop of Canterbury,
primate of all England, admonished all his province once,
twice, and thrice, because that shortness will not suffer so
much delay as to giA'e knowledge to all the people of Eng
land, of these presents in writing : we therefore enjoin all
persons, of what estate soever they be, that they and every
of them, as much as in them is, shall uphold and maintain
these articles granted by our sovereign lord the king, in all
points : and all those that in any point do resist or break, or
in any manner hereafter procure, counsel, or in any wise
assist to resist or break those ordinances, or go about it, by
word or deed, openly or privily by any manner of pretence
or colour ; Ave, the aforesaid archbishops, by our authority
in this writing expressed, do excommunicate and accurse,
and from the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and from all
the company of heaven, and from all the sacraments of holy
hurch, do sequester and exclude.
We may here see, that in the obscurest times of popery,
they were not left without a sense of justice, and a care of
freedom : and that even Papists, whom many think no friends
to liberty and property, under dreadful penalties, enjoin an
inviolable observance of this great charter, by which they
are confirmed. And though I am no Roman Catholic, and
as little A'alue their other curses pronounced upon religious
dissenters, yet I dare declare ingenuously, I would not, for
the world, incur this curse ; as every man deservedly doth,
that offers violence to the fundamental freedoms thereby re
peated and confirmed. And that any church, or church
officers, in our age, should have so little reverence to law,
excommunication, or curse, as to be the men that either

interest considered. 291
Vote or countenance such severities as bid defiance to the
curse, and tear this memorable charter in pieces, by dis
seising freemen of England of their freeholds, liberties, and
properties, without juries, or merely for the inoffensive ex
ercise of their conscience to God in matters of religion, is a
civil sort of sacrilege.
I know it is usually objected, ' That a great part of the
charter is spent on the behalf of the Roman church, and
other things, now abolished ; and if one part of the great
charter may be repealed, or invalidated, why not the
other?' But to this I answer, That the true fundamentals in the .
charter are not the less firm or forcible, or inviolable for
that ; because they do not stand upon that act, though if
was in honour of them, but the ancient and primitive insti
tution of the kingdom. If the petition of right Avere re
pealed, the great charter were nevertheless in force ; it not
being the original establishment, but a declaration and con
firmation of that establishment. But those things that are
abrogable, or abrogated in the great charter, were never a
part of the fundamentals, but hedged in by the clergy, and
allowed by the barons upon present emergency. Besides,
that which I have hitherto maintained to be the common
and fundamental law of the land, is so reputed, and farther
ratified, by the petition of right, 3 Car. i. which was long
since the church of Rome lost her share in the great charter.
Nor did it relate to matters of faith and worship, but tem
poralities only; the civil interest, or propriety, of the
church. But with what pretence to mercy or justice, can
the protestant church retain the English part ofthe charter,
without conforming to Rome, and yet now cancel the Eng
lish part itself to every free-bornEnglishman that will not
conform to her ' But no more of this at this time ; only
give me leave to remind a sort of active men in our times,
that the cruel infringers of the people's liberties, and vio
lators of these noble laws, did not escape with bare excom
munications and curses ; for such was the venerable esteem
our ancestors had for these great privileges, and deep soli
citude to preserve them from the defacings of time, or usur
pation of power, that king Alfred executed forty judges, for
warping from the ancient laAVS of the realm. Hubert de
Burgo, chief justice of England, in the time of Edw. i. was
sentenced by his peers in open parliament, for advising the
king against the great charter. Thus the Spencers, both.
father and son, for their arbitrary rule and evil counsel to
Edw. n. were exiled the realm. No better success had the
actions of Tresilian and Belknap : and as for Empson and
t2

292 England's present
Dudley, though persons of quality, in the time of king
- Henry the Seventh, the most ignominious death of our
country, such as belongs to theft and murder, was hardly
satisfaction enough to the kingdom, for their uncharteral
proceeding. I shall choose to deliver it in the Avords of
chief justice Coke, a man whose learning in the law hath,
not without reason, obtained him a venerable character of
our English nation.
' There, was,' says he, ' an act of parliament made in the
11 th year of king Henry the Seventh, which had a fair flat
tering preamble, pretending to avoid divers mischiefs ; which
were, first, to the high displeasure of Almighty God. Se
condly, the great let of the common law. And, thirdly, >
the great let of the wealth of this land. And the purven of
that act tended, in the execution, contrary, ex diametro,
viz. To the high displeasure of Almighty God, and the
great let, nay, the utter subversion of the common law,
and the great let of the Avealth of this land, as hereafter
shall appear ; the substance of AAhich act follows in these
words :'
" That from henceforth, as well justices of assize, as
justices ofthe peace, in every county, upon information for
the king before them made, without any finding or pre
senting by twelve men, shall have full power and autho
rity, by their discretion, to hear and determine all offences,
as riots, unlawful assemblies, &c. committed and done
against act or statute made, and not repealed, &c."
' By pretext of this law, Empson and Dudley did commit
upon the subject insufferable pressure and oppressions ;
and therefore this statute Avas justly, soon after the decease
of Hen. vn. repealed at the next parliament, by the statute
of 1 Hen. viii. chap. 6.'
' A good caveat,' says he, ' to parliaments, to leave all
causes to be measured by the golden and strait metewand
ofthe law, and not to the uncertain and crooked cord of
discretion.' He goes on,
' It is almost incredible to foresee, when any maxim, or
fundamental law of this realm isaltered, (as elsewhere hath
been observed) what dangerous inconveniences do follow:
which most expressly appears by this most unjust and
strange act of the 11th of Hen. vn. For hereby not only
Empson and Dudley themselves, but such justices of peace
(corrupt men) as they caused to be authorized, committed
most grievous and heavy oppressions and exactions : grind
ing the faces of the poor subjects by penal laws (be they
never so obsolete or unfit for the time) by information only,
without any presentment or trial by jury, being the ancient

interest considereo. -293
birthright of the subject ; but to hear and determine the
same by their discretions; inflicting such penalty as the
statutes, not repealed, imposed. These and other like op-
firessions and exactions, by the means of Empson and Dud-
ey, and their instruments, brought infinite treasure to the
king's coffers ; whereof the king himself, at the end, with
great grief and compunction,, repented, as in another place
we have observed.
< This statute of the 11th of Hen. vn. we have recited,
and shewed the just inconveniences thereof; to the end that
the like should never hereafter be attempted in any court of
parliament ; and that Others might avoid the fearful end of
those two time-servers, Empson and Dudley, qui eorum ves-
tigiis insistant,.exitus perhorrescant.' Thus much chief jus
tice Coke.
I am sure, there is nothing I have offered in defence of
English daw-doctrine, that riseth higher than the judgment
and language of this great man ; the preservation and pub
lication of whose labours became the care of a great parlia
ment. And it is said of no inconsiderable lawyer, that he
should thus express himself in our occasion, ' The laws of
England were never the dictates of any conqueror's sword,
or the placita of any king of this nation ; or/ saith he, ' to
speak impartially and freely, the result of any parliament
that ever sat in this land.'
Thus much for the nature of English rights, and the rea
son and justice for their inviolable maintenance. I shall
now offer some more general considerations for the preser
vation of property, and therein hint at some of those mis
chiefs that follow spoiling it for conscience sake, both to
prince and people. t
I. The reason of the alteration of the law ough to be
the discommodity of continuing it ; but there can never be
so much as the least inconveniency in continuing that of
liberty and property ; therefore there can be no just ground
for infringing, much less abrogating, the laws that secure
them. II. No man in England is born slave to another ; neither
hath one right to inherit the sweat of the other's brow, or
reap the benefit ofhis labour, but by consent ; therefore no
man should be deprived of his property, unless he injure
another man's, and then by legal judgment.
III. But certainly nothing is more unreasonable, than to
sacrifice the liberty and property of any man (being his na
tural and civil rights) for religion, where he is not found
breaking any law relating to natural and civil things. Re
ligion, under any modification, is no part of the old English

294 England's presrnt
government. Honeslemvere, allerum non Icedere, jus suum
cuique tribuere, are enough to intitle every native to Eng
lish privileges. A man may be a very good Englishman,
and yet a very indifferent churchman. Nigh three hundred
years before Austin set his foot on English ground, had the
inhabitants of this island a free government. It is want
of distinguishing between it and the modes of religion,
which fills every clamorous mouth with such impertinent
cries as this, ' Why do not you submit to the government?'
As if the English civil government came in with Luther, or
were to go out with Calvin. What prejudice is it for a
popish landlord to have a protestant, tenant ; or a presby-
terian tenant to have an episcopalian landlord ? Certainly,
the civil affairs of all governments in the world may be
peaceably transacted under the different liveries pr trims of
religion, where civil rights are inviolably observed.
Nor is there any interest so inconsistent with peace and
unity, as that which dare not solely rely upon the power of
persuasion, but affects superiority, and seeks after an earthly
crown. This is not to act the Christian, but the Caesar ;
not to promote property, but party, and make a nation
drudges to a sect.
Be it known to such narrow spirits, we are a free people
by the creation of God, the redemption of Christ, and care
ful provision of our (never to be forgotten) honourable an
cestors : so that our claim to these English privileges rising
higher than the date of Protestancy, can never justly be in
validated for non-conformity to any form of it. This were
to lose by the reformation ; which God forbid ! I am sure
it was to enjoy property, with conscience, that promoted it.
Nor is there a much better definition of Protestancy, than
' Protesting against spoiling property for conscience.' I
must therefore take leave to say, that I know not how to
reconcile what a great man lately delivered in his eloquent
speech to the house of lords. His words are these :
' For when we consider religion in parliament, we are
supposed to consider it as a parliament should do, and as
parliaments in all ages have done ; that is, as it is a part of
ourlaAvs; apart, and a necessary part, of our government:
for as it works upon the conscience, as it is an inward prin
ciple of the divine life, by which good men do govern all
their actions, the state hath nothing to do with it : it is a
thing which belongs to another kind of commission, than
that by which we sit here.'
. I acquiesce in, and honour, the latter part of this distinc
tion, taking it to be a venerable truth ; and would to God
mankind vyould believe it, and live it : but how to agree it

interest considered. 295
with the former, I profess ignorance : for if the government
had nothing to do with the principle itself, what more can
she pretend over the actions of those men, Avho live that
good life ? Certainly, if religion be an inward principle of
divine life, exerting itself by holy liA-ing, and that, as such,
it belongs not to the commission of our superiors, I do
with submission conceive, that there is very little else of re
ligion left for them to have to do with : the rest merits not
the name of religion, and less doth such a formality deserve
persecution. I hope such circumstances are no necessary
part of English government, that cannot reasonably be re-^-
puted a necessary part of religion y and I believe he is too
great a divine andlawyer, upon second thoughts, to ^repute
that 'a part of our laws, a part, and a necessary part
of our government,' that is, such a part of religion as is nei
ther the ' divine principle,' nor yet the actions immediately
floiving from it ; since the government was most complete
and prosperous many ages without it, arid hath never known
more perplexed Contests and troublesome interruptions, than
since it hath been received and valued as a part of the Eng
lish government : and God, I hope, will forbid it, in the
hearts of our superiors, that Englishmen should be de
prived of their civil inheritance for their nonconformity to
church formality : for ' no property out ofthe church,' (the
plain English of public severity for nonconformity) is a
maxim that belongs not to the holy law of God, or common
law of the land.
I V. If liberty and property nyust be the forfeit of con
science for nonconformity to the prince's religion, the prince
and his religion shall only be loved as the next best acces
sion to other men's estates, and the prince perpetually pro
voked to expose many of his inoffensive people to beggary,
for what is no fault at common law.
V. It is our superiors' interest, that property be preserved,
because it is their own case : none have more property than
themselves. But if property be exposed for religion, the
civil magistrate exposes both his conscience and property to
the church, and disarms himself of all defence upon any
alteration of judgment. This is plainly for the prince to
hold under the prelate, and the state to suffer itself to be rid
by the church.
VI. It obstructs all improvement of land and trade ; for
who will labour that hath property, or hath it exposed to
an unreasonable sort of men, for the bare exercise of his
conscience to God? And a poor country can never make a
rich and powerful prince. Heaven is therefore heaven, to
good and wise men, because they are to have an eternal
propriety therein.

296 England's present
VII. This sort of procedure, hitherto opposed, on the
behalf of property, puts the whole nation upon miserable
uncertainties, that are followed with great disquiets and dis
tractions ; which certainly it is the interest of all govern
ment to prevent : the reigns of Henry viii. Edward vi.
Q. Mary and Q. Eliz. both with relation to the marriages
ofthe first, and the religious revolutions of the rest, are a
plain proof in the case.
King Henry voids the pope's supremacy, and assumes it
himself. Comes Edw. vi. and enacts Protestancy, with an
oath to maintain it. 1 Q. Mary. ch. 1. this is abrogated;
Popery solemnly restored ; and an oath enforced to defend
it : and this queen repeals also all laws her father made
against the pope, since the 12th of Hen. viii. Next fol
lows Q. Elizabeth, and repeals her laws, calls back Protes
tancy, ordains a new oath, to un-oath queen Mary's oath :
and all this under the penalty of losing estate, liberty, and
sometimes life itself; which, thousands, to avoid, lamenta
bly perjured themselves, four or five times over, within the
space of twenty years. In which sin, the clergy transcended :
not an hundred for every thousand, but left their principles
for their parishes. Thus hath conscience been debauched
by force, and property tossed up and down by the impe
tuous blasts of ignorant zeal, or sinister design.
VIII. Where liberty and property are violated, there
must always be a state of force : and though I pray God
that Ave never need those cruel remedies, whose calamitous
effects we have too lately felt, yet certainly, self-preserva
tion is of all things dearest to men ; insomuch that being
not conscious to themselves of having done an ijl thing,
they, to defend their unforfeited privileges, cheerfully ha
zard all they have in this world : so very strangely vindic
tive are the sons of men, in maintenance of their rights.
And such are the cares, fears, doubts, and insecurities of
that administration, as render empire a slavery, and domi
nion the worst sort of bondage to the possessor. On the
contrary, nothing can give greater cheerfulness, confidence,
security and honour to any prince, than ruling by law ; for
it is a conjunction of title with power, and attracts love, as
well as it requires duty.
Give me leave, without offence (for I have God's evi
dence in my own conscience, I intend nothing but a re
spectful caution to my superiors) to confirm this reason,
Avith the judgment and example of other times. The go
vernors of the Eleans held a strict hand over the people;
Ayho, despairing of relief at home, called in the Spartans,
and by their help freed all their cities from the sharp bond
age of their natural lords.

interest considered. 297
The state of Sparta Avas grown powerful, and oppressed
the Thebans : they, though but a weak people, whetted by
despair, and the prospect of greater miseries, did, by the
Athenians, deliver themselves from the Spartan yoke.
Nor is there any other considerable reason given for the
ruin of the Carthaginian state, than avarice and severity.
More of this is to be found in Ralegh's History of the
World, 1.3. who, hath this witty expression in the same
story, 1. 5. of a severe conduct.: " When a forced govern
ment,' saith he, ' shall decay in strength, it will suffer,
as did the. old lion, for the oppression done in his youth;
being pinched by the wolf, gored by the bull, and kicked
also by the ass :' the senseless mob.
This lost Caesar Borgia his new and great conquests in
Italy. No better success attended the severe hand held over
the people of Naples, by Alphonso and Ferdinand. It was
the undue severity of the Sicilian governors, that made the
Syracusians, Leontines, and Messenians, so easy a conquest
to the Romans. An harsh, answer to a petitioning people
lost Rehoboam ten tribes. On the contrary, in Livy, Dec. 1.
1. 3. we find, that Petilia, a city of the Brutians in Italy,
chose rather to endure all extremity of war from Hannibal,
than upon any condition to desert the Romans, who had
governed them moderately, and by that gentle conduct pro--
cured their love ; even then, when the Romans sent them
word, ' they were not able to relieve them, and wished them
to provide for their own safety.'
N. Machiavel, in his Discourses upon Livy, p. 542. tells
us, ' That one act of humanity was of more force with the
conquered Falisci, than many violent acts of hostility:'
which makes good that saying of Seneca, Milius imperanti
melius paretur ; ' They are best obeyed, that govern most
mildly.' IX. If these ancient fundamental laws, so agreeable Avith
nature, so suited to the dispositions of our nation, so often
defended with blood and treasure, so carefully and fre
quently ratified by our ancestors, shall not be, to our great
pilots, as stars or compass for them to steer the vessel of
this kingdom by, or limits to their legislature ; no man can
tell how long he shall be secure ofhis coat, enjoy his house,
have bread to give his children, liberty to work for bread,
and life to eat it. Truly, this is to justify what Ave condemn
in Roman Catholics. It is one of our main objections, that
their church assumes a power of imposing religion, thereby
denying men the liberty of walking by the rules of their own
reason and conscience, and precepts of holy writ : to whom
we oppose both. We say, the church is tied to act nothing

298 England's present
contrary to reason ; and that holy writ is the declared law of
heaven ; which to maintain, power is given to the true
church. Now let us apply this argument to our civil affairs,
and it will certainly end in a reasonable limitation of our
legislators, that they should not impose that upon our un
derstandings, Avhich is inconsistent with them to embrace;
nor offer any the least violation to common right. Do the
Romanists say, ' Believe as the church believes ? Do not
the protestants, and, which is harder, legislators say so
too ? Do we say to the Romanists at this rate, ' Your obe
dience is blind, and your ignorance is the mother of devo
tion ?'.. Is it not also true of ourselves ? Do we object to
them, ' This makes your religion uncertain, one thing to
day, and another to-morrow ?' Doth not our own case sub
mit us to the like variation in civils ? Have we not long
told them, that, ' under pretence of obeyingthe church, and
not controuling her povver, she hath raised a superstructure
inconsistent with that foundation she pretends to build
upon ?' And are not we the men in civils, that make our
privileges rather to depend upon men than laws, as she doth
upon councils, not scripture? If this be not popery in tem
porals, what is ?
It is humbly beseeched of superiors, that it would please
them to consider what reflection such severity justly brings
upon their proceedings ; and remember, that in their ancient
delegations, it was not to define, resolve and impose matters of
religion, and sacrifice civil privileges for it; but, to maintain
the people's properties, according tothe ancient fundamental
laws of the land, and to add such statutes only, as were
consistent with, and preservative of, those fundamental laws.
Lastly, To conclude this head : my plain and honest drift
has been, to show that church government is no essential
part ofthe old English government, and to disentangle pro
perty from opinion ; the untoward knot which the clergy
for several ages have tied, which is not only the people's
right, but our superiors' interest to undo ; for it galls both
people and prince. For, Avhere property is subjected to
opinion, the church interposes, and makes something else
requisite to enjoy property, than belongs to the nature of
property ; and the reason of our possession is not our right
by, and obedience to, the common law, but conformity to
church law, or laws for church conformity. A thing dan
gerous to civil government, since it is an alteration of -old
English tenure, a suffering the church to trip up and sup
plant the state; and a making people to owe their protec
tion not to the civil but ecclesiastical authority. For Jet
the church be my friend, and all is well; make her my

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 299
foe, and I am made her prey, let magna ckarta say what
she will forme: my horses, cOws, sheep, corn* goods, go
first, my person to gaol next, for all that: behold, some
church trophies matte at the conquest of a peaceable dis
senter !
This is: that anxious thing: may our superiors please to
Weigh it in the equal scale of " doing as they would be done
by :" let those common laws that fix and preserve property,
be the rule and standard of their legislation and administra
tion. Make Englishmen's rights as inviolable as English
church rights : disentangle and distinguish them : and let
no man sustain civil punishments for ecclesiastical faults,
but for sins against the ancient, established church govern
ment only ; that the natures of acts and rewards may not
be confounded. So shall the civil magistrate preserve law,
secure his civil dignity and empire, and make himself be
loved of Englishmen ; whose cry is, and the cry of whose
laws hath ever been, ' property rather than opinion; civil
rights not concerned with ecclesiastical discipline, nor for
feitable for religious nonconformity.'
But though an inviolable preservation of English rights
of all things best secureth to our superiors the love and
allegiance ofthe people; yet there is something farther,
that, with submission, I offer to their serious consideration,
ivhich in the second place concerns their interest, and the
people's felicity : and that is their disagreement about reli
gion, notwithstanding their unanimous cry for property; a
prudent management of which may turn to the great quiet,
honour, and profit ofthe king and kingdom.
CHAP. II.
Of our Superiors governing themselves upon a Balance, as
near as may be, towards the several Religious Interests.
1 1. Of a Balance respecting Religious Differences. Eight
prudential Reasons why the Civil Magistrate should em
brace it. Three objections answered. A comprehension
considered, but a Toleration preferred, upon Reason and
Example.
To perform my part in this point, being the second branch
of my answer to the question, I shall not at this time make
it my business to manifest the inconsistency there is between
the Christian religion, and a forced uniformity; not only
because it hath been so often and excellently done by men
of wit, learning, and conscience, and that 1 have elsewhere
largely delivered my sense about it ; but because every free
and impartial temper hath of along time observed, that such

300 England's present >
barbarous attempts were so far from being indulged, that
they were most severely prohibited by Christ himself; who
instructed his disciples, " to love their enemies," and not to
persecute their friends for every difference in opinion : that
the tares should grow with the wheat : that his kingdom is
not of this world : that faith is the gift of God : that the
will and understanding of men are faculties not to be worked
upon by any corporal penalties : that Truth is all-sufficient
to her own relief : that error and anger go together : that
base coin, only stands in need of imposition to make it
current, but that true metal passeth for its own intrinsic
value; with a great deal more of that nature. I shall there
fore choose to oppose myself, at this time, to any such seve
rity, upon mere prudence ; that such as have no religion (and
certainly they that persecute for religion, have as little as
need to be) may be induced to tolerate them that have.
First, However advisable it may be, in the judgment of
some worldly-wise men to prevent, even by force, the aris
ing of any new opinion, where a kingdom is universally of
another mind ; especially if it be odious to the people, and
inconsistent Avith the safety ofthe government; it cannot be
so, where a kingdom is of many minds, unless some one
party hath all the wisdom, wealth, number, sober life, in
dustry, and resolution on its side ; .which I am sure is not
to be found in England. So that the wind hath plainly
shifted its corner, and consequently obliges to another
course: I mean, England's circumstances are gieatly
changed, and they require new expedients, and another
sort of application.
Physicians vary their medicines according to the revolu
tion and the mixture of distempers. They that seek to tie
the government to absolute and inadequate methods (sup
posing them once apt, which cruelty in this case never was)
are not friends to its interest, whatever they may be to thejr
own. H our superiors should make it their business so to
prefer one party, as to depress or deprive the rest, they
insecure themselves, by making their friends their enemies,
who before were one another's. To be sure it createth
hatred between the party advanced, and those depressed.
Jacob's preferring Joseph, put his brethren upon that con
spiracy against him.
I will allow that they may have a more particular favour
for the church party, than for any other persuasion, but not
more than for all other parties in England : that certainly
Avould break the balance ; the keeping up of Avhich, will
make every party to owe its tranquillity to (heir prudence
and goodness, which will never fail of returns of love and

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 301
loyalty. For since we see each interest looks jealously
upon the other, it is reasonable to believe, they had rather
the dominion should lodge where it is, while impartial
in their judgment, than to trust it with any one sort of
themselves. Many inquisitive men into human affairs have thought,
that the concord of discords hath not been the infirmest
basis government can rise or stand upon : it hath been ob
served, that less sedition attended Hannibal's army, that
consisted of many nations, than the Roman legions, that
were of one people. It is marvellous hoAV the wisdom of
that general secured them to his designs : Livy saith, ' That
his army for thirteen years, that had roved up and down
the Roman empire, made up of many countries, divers lan
guages, laws, customs, religions, under all their successes of
war and peace, never mutinied.' Malvetzy, as Avell as
Livy, ascribes it to that variety, well managed by the
general. By the like prudence Jovianus and Theodosius Magnus
brought tranquillity to their empire, after much rage and
blood for religion.
In nature we also see, all heat consumes, all cold kills ;
that three degrees of cold to two of heat, not only allay the
heat, but introduce the contrary quality, and overcool by a
degree : but tAVo degrees of cold, to two of heat, make a
poize in elements, and a balance in nature.
The like in families : it is not probable that a master
should have his work so well done, at least with that love
and respect, who continually smiles upon one servant, and
severely frowns upon all the rest ; on the contrary, it is apt
to raise feuds amongst servants, and turn duty into revenge,
at least contempt. In fine, it is to make our superiors'
dominion less than God made it, and to blind their eyes,
stop their ears, and shut up their breasts, from beholding the
miseries, bearing the cries, and redressing the grievances of
a vast number of people under their charge, vexed in
this world, for their belief and inoffensive practice about
the next.
Secondly, It is the interest of governors to be put upon
no thankless offices ; that is, to blow no coals in their own
country, especially when it is to consume their people, and,
it may be, themselves too : not to be the cat's foot, nor to
make Avork for themselves, or fill their own hands with
trpuble, or the kingdom with complaints. It is to forbid
them the use of clemency, wherein they ought most of all to
imitate God Almighty, " whose mercy is above all his Avorks; '-'
and renders them a sort of extortioners to the people,

ENGLAND S PRESENT
the most remote from the end and goodness of their office.
In short, it is the best receipt that their enemies can give,
to make them uneasy to the country.
Thirdly, It not only makes them enemies, but there is
no such excitement to revenge, as a raped conscience. He
that hath been forced to break his peace, to gratify the
humour of another, must have a great share of mercy and
self-denial to forgive that injury, and forbid himself the
pleasure of retribution upon the authors of it : for revenge,
in other cases condemnable of all, is here looked upon by too
many to be the next way to expiation. To be sure, Avhether
the grounds of their dissent be rational in themselves, such
severity is unjustifiable with them ; for this is a maxim with
sufferers, ' Whoever is in the wrong, the persecutor cannot
be in the right.' Men, not conscious to themselves of evil,
and harshly treated, not only resent it unkindly, but are bold
to show it.
Fourthly, Suppose the prince, by his severity, conquers
any into a compliance, he can upon no prudent ground
assure himself of their fidelity, whom he hath taught to be
treacherous to their own convictions. Wise men rarely
confide in those whom they have debauched from trust
to serve themselves : at best it resembleth but forced
marriages, that seldom prove happy to the parties. In
short, force makes hypocrites, it is persuasion only that
makes converts.
Fifthly, This partiality, of sacrificing the liberty and pro
perty of all dissenters to the promotion of a single party, be
they good or ill men, as it is the lively representation of
J. Calvin's horrendum decretum; so the consequences of
the one belong unto the other ; it being but that ill-natured
principle put into practice. Men are put upon the same
desperate courses, either to have no conscience at all, or to
be hanged for having a conscience not fashionable : for, let
them be virtuous, let them be vicious, if they fall not in
with that mode of religion, they must be reprobated to all-
civil and ecclesiastical intents and purposes. Strange !¦ that
men must either deny their faith and reason, or be destroyed
for actirig according to them, be they otherwise never so
peaceable. What power is this, or rather what principle ?'
But that men are to be protected upon favour, not right or
merit; and that no merit out ofthe public church-dress
should find acceptance, is severe. We justly blame that
father, that narrows his paternal love to some one of his
children, though the rest be not one jot less virtuous than
the favourite: such injustice can never flow from a soul

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 303
actuated by reason, but a mind governed by fancy, and en
slaved to passions.
Sixthly, Consider, peace, plenty, and safety, the three
freat inducements to any country to honour the prince, and
ove the government, as well as the best allurements to
foreigners to trade with it and transport themselves to it,
are utterly lost by such partiality ; for instead of peace,
love, and good neighbourhood, behold animosity and con
test ! One neighbour watches another, and makes him an,
offender for his conscience : this divides them, their fami
lies and acquaintance ; perhaps with them, the tpwns and
villages Avhere they live: and most commonly, the sufferer
hath the pity, and the persecutor the odium, of the multi
tude. And truly when people see cruelty practised upPn
their inoffensiA'e neighbours, by a troublesome sort of men,
and those countenanced by a law, it breedeth ill blood
against the government. Certainly, haling people to gaols,
breaking open their houses, seizing of their estates, and that
without all proportion ; leaving wives without their hus
bands, and children without their parents, and their fami
lies, relations, friends, and neighbours, under amaze and
trouble, is almost as far from the peace of a well-governed
kingdom, as it is from the meekness of Christianity.
Plenty will be hereby exchanged for poverty, by the de
struction of many thousand families within this realm, whp
are greatly instrumental for the carrying on of the most
substantial commerce therein ; men of virtue, good con
trivance, great industry ; whose labours not only keep the
parishes from the trouble and charge of maintaining them
and theirs, but help to maintain the poor, and are great
contributors to the king's revenue by their traffic. This very
severity will make more bankrupts in the kingdom of Eng
land in seven years, than have been in it upon all other
accounts in seven ages : which consequence, how far it may
consist with the credit and, interest of the government, I
leave to better judgments.
This sort of great severity that hath been lately, and still
is, used amongst us, is Jike to prove a great check to that
readiness, which otherwise we find in foreigners to trade
with the inhabitants of this kingdom ; for if men cannot call
any thing their own, under a different exercise of conscience,
from the national way of religion, their correspondents may
justly and prudently say, ' We will not farther concern our
selves with men that stand upon such ticklish terms : what;
know we but such persons are ruined in their estates, by
reason of their non-conformity, before, such time as we shall
be reimbursed, for money paid, or goods delivered : nay, we

304 England's present
knoAv not how soon those who are conformists, may be non^
conformists, or what revolutions of councils may happen,
since the fundamental lows, so jealous of the people's pro
perty, are little valued by some of their own magistrates ;
for though we are told of very worthy and excellent laws
in England, for the security of the people's rights, yet Ave
are also told, that they all hang at the church's girdle ; in
somuch as no church conformity, no property; which is, no
churchman, no Englishman. So that in effect the rights of
their country depend upon the rights of their church ; and
those churches have taken their turn so often, that a body
knows not how to manage one's self securely to one's own
affairs, in a correspondence with any of them. For in king
Henry the Eighth's days, popery Avas the only orthodox
religion, and Zuinglius, Luther, Melancthon, Oecolam-
padius, &c. were great heretics. In Edward the Sixth's
time, they were saints, and popery was idolatry. A few
years after, queen Mary makes the papists holy church, and
protestancy heresy. About six years completes her time,
and queen Elizabeth enters her reign, in Avhich protestants
are good Christians, and the church of Rome the whore of
Babylon. In her reign, and that of king James, and king
Charles the First, sprung the puritans, who divided them
selves into presbyterians, and independents; the bishops
exclaiming against them for schismatics, and they against
the bishops for papistical and antichristian. In the long
parliament's time, the presbyterian drives out the bishop.
Oliver Cromwell defeating them, and sending the presby
terian to keep company Avith the bishop, confers it mostly
upon the independent and anabaptist, who kept it through
the other fractions of government, till the presbyter and
bishop got it from them : and the bishop now from the pres
byter : but how long it will rest there, who knows ?' Thus
a foreigner may justly argue.
Nor is my supposition idle or improbable, unless mode
ration take place of severity, and property the room of
punishment for opinion ; for that must be the lasting se
curity, as well as that it is the fundamental right of English
people. There is also a farther consideration, and that is, the ren
dering just and very good debts desperate, both at home
and abroad, by giving opportunity to the debtors of dis
senters to detain their dues. Indeed it seems a natural
consequence with all, but men of mercy and integrity:
'• What should we pay them for,' may they say, ' that are
not in a capacity to demand or receive it, at least to compel
us?' Nay, they may plead a sort of kindness to their credi-

interest considered. 305
tors, and say, ' We had as good keep it ; for if we pay it
them, they will soon lose it ; it is better to remain with us,
than they should be pillaged of it by informers;' though
want should in the mean time overtake the right owners
and their families.
Nor is it unworthy of the most deliberate thoughts of our
superiors, that the land already swarms with beggars ; and
that there is hardly so ready a course to increase their
number, as the severe prosecution of dissenters, both by
making them such, and those that their employs have kept
from begging all this while : so that though they immedi
ately suffer, the kingdom, in the end, must be the loser.
For besides a decay of trade, &c. this driving away of flocks
of sheep, and herds of cattle, seizing of barns full of corn,
breaking open of doors and chests, taking away the best
goods that those instruments of cruelty can find, sometimes
all, even to a bed, a blanket, Avearing apparel, and the very
tools of trade, by which people honestly labour to get their
bread, till they leave men, women, and children, destitute
of subsistence, will necessitate an extreme advance of the
poor's rate in every parish of England, or they must be
starved. O that it would please them that are in authority,
to put a stop to this inhuman usage, lest the vengeance of
the just God break forth farther against this poor land!
Safety, another requisite to an happy government, must
needs be at an end, where the course oppugned is folloAved,
by tempting people to irregular methods to be easy, or to
quit the land. And truly it is but some prudent prince's
proclaiming liberty of conscience within his territories, and
a door is opened for a million of people to pass out of their
native soil; which is not so extremely improved, that it
should not want two or three hundred thousand families
more than it hath, to advance it ; especially at this time of
day, when our foreign islands yearly take off so many in
habitants from us, who, from necessity, are made unable to
stay at home. And as of contraries there is the same rea
son, so let the government of England but give that
prudent invitation to foreigners, and she maketh herself
mistress of the arts and manufactures of Europe. Nothing
else hath preserved Holland from truckling under the Spanish
yoke, and being ruined above threescore years ago, and
given her that rise to wealth and glory.
Seventhly, Nor is this severity only injurious to the af
fairs of England, but the whole protestant world : for
besides that it calls the sincerity of their proceedings against
.the papists into question, it furnisheth them Avith this sort
of unanswerable interrogatory : ' The protestants exclaim
Vol. ii. u

ENGLAND % PRESENT
against us for persecutors, and are they now the very men
themselves ? Was severity an instance of weakness in our
religion, and is it become a valid argument in theirs? Are
not our actions (once void of all excuse with them) now
defended by their OAvn practice? But if men must be re
strained upon prudential considerations from the exercise
of their consciences in England, Avhy not the same in France
and Germany, -where matters of state may equally be
pleaded ?' Certainly, whatever shifts protestants may use
to palliate these proceedings, they are thus farcondemnable
upon the foot of prudence.
Eighthly, Such procedure is a great reflection upon the
justice of the government, in that it enacts penalties inad
equate to the fault committed; viz. That I should lose my
liberty and property, fundamental civil privileges, for some
error in judgment about matters of religion: as if I must
not be a man, because I am not such a sort of religious man
as the government would have me ; but must lose my claim
to all natural benefits, though I agree with them in civil
affairs, because 1 fall not in with the judgment of the go
vernment in some points of a supernatural import, though
no real part of the ancient government. Perhaps, instead
of going to the left-hand, I go to the right : and whereas I
am commanded to hear A. B. I rather choose to hear C. D.
my reason for it being, ' the more religious influence the
latter hath over me, than the former ; and that I find by
experience, I am better affected, and more religiously edi
fied to good living.' What blemish is this -to the govern
ment ? What insecurity to the civil magistrate ? Why may
not this man sell, buy, plough, pay his rents, be as good a
subject, and as true an Englishman, as any conformist in the
kingdom ? Howbeit, fines and gaols are very ill arguments
to convince sober men's understandings, and dissuade them
from the continuance of so harmless a practice.
Lastly, But there is yet another inconvenience that will
attend this sort of severity, that so naturally follows upon
our superiors making conformity to the doctrine and wor
ship of the church of England, the sine qua non, or inlet to
all property, and ground of claim to all English civil privi
leges ; to wit, that they make a rod, for aught they know,
to whip their own posterity with; since it is impossible for
them to secure their children to the English church : and if
it happen that any of them are never so conscientiously
of another persuasion, they are liable to all the miseries
that may attend the execution of those laws. Such a king
must not be king, such lords and commons must not sit in
parliament : nay, they must not administer any office, be it

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 307
never so inferior, within the realm, and they never so vir
tuous and capable to do it : their very patrimony becomes a
prey to a pack of lewd informers, and their persons exposed
to the abuse of men, poor or malicious.
But there are three objections that some make against
what I have urged, not unfit to be considered. The-first is
this : ' If the liberty desired be granted,,what know we but
dissenters may employ their meetings to insinuate against
the government, inflame people into a dislike of their supe
riors, and thereby prepare them for mischief?'
Answ. This objection may have some force, so long as
our superiors continue severity ; because it doth not only
sharpen and excite dissenters, but it runs many of them into
such holes and corners, that if they were disposed to any such
conspiracies, they have the securest places and opportuni
ties to effect their design. But what dissenter can be so
destitute of reason, and of love to common safety, as to
expose himself and family, by plotting against a govern
ment that is kind to them, and gives him the liberty he
desires, and that he could only be supposed, in common
sense, to plot for ?
To be sure, liberty to worship God, according to their
several professions, will be, as the people's satisfaction, so
the government's greatest security : for if men enjoy their
property, and their conscience, which is the noblest part of
it, without molestation, what should they object against, or
plot for ? Mad men only burn their own houses, kill their
own children, and murder themselves ? Doth kindness, or
cruelty, most take with men that are themselves? H. Grotius,
with Campanella, well observed, ' That a fierce and rugged
hand was very improper for northern countries.' English
men are gained with mildness, but inflamed by severity.
And many that do not suffer, are apt to compassionate them
that do. And if it will please our superiors to make trial
of such an indulgence, doubtless they will find peace and
plenty to ensue. The practice of other nations, and the
trade, tranquillity, power, and opulency, that have attended
it, is a demonstration in the case, and ought not to be
. slighted by them that aim at as high and honourable
things for their country. And if we had no other instance
than our own ' intervals of connivance,' they were enough
to satisfy reasonable men, how much more moderation con
tributes to public good, than the prosecution of people for
their religious dissent ; since the one hath ever produced
trade and tranquillity; the other, greater poverty and
dissension.
u 2

308 England's present
The second objection, and by far the more weighty, runs
thus :
Obj. ' The king and parliament are sworn to maintain
and protect the church of England, as established, &c.
therefore to tolerate other opinions is against their oath.'
Answ. Were the consequence true, as it is not, it were
highly unreasonable to expect impossibilities at their hands.
Kings and parliaments can no more make brick without
straw than captives : they have not sworn to do things
beyond their ability ; if they have, their oaths are void.
Had it been in his and their time and choice, when the
church of England had been first disturbed with dissenting
opinions, it might have reflected more colourably a kind of
neglect upon them : but since the church of England Avas no
sooner a church, than she found some sort of dissenters, and
that the utmost policy and severity of queen Elizabeth, king
James, and king Charles the First, were not successful
toAvards an absolute uniformity, Why should it reflect upon
them, that the church of England hath not yet rid herself
of dissenting parties ? Besides, it is notorious, that the
late wars gave that opportunity to differing persuasions
to spread, that it Avas utterly impossible for them to hin
der, much less during the several years ofthe king's exile;
at what time the present parliament Avas no parliament,
nor the generality of the members of it scarce of any au-
i thority. Let it be considered, that it was the study of the age to
make people anti-papistical and anti-episcopal, and that
power and preferment went on that side. Their circum
stances therefore, and those of their ancestors, are not the
same; they found the kingdom divided into several interests;
and it seems a difficulty insuperable to reduce them to any
one persuasion ; wherefore, to render themselves masters of
their affections, they must necessarily govern themselves
towards them on a balance, as is before expressed ; other
wise, they are put upon the greatest hazards, and extremest
difficulties to themsehes and the kingdom, and all to per
form the uncharitable office of suppressing many thousands
of inoffensive inhabitants, for the different exercise of their
consciences to God — It is not to make them resemble Al
mighty God, the goodness of whose nature extends itself
universally, thus to narrow their bowels, and confine their
clemency to one single party.— It ought to be remembered,
that oplimus Avent before maximus of old ; and that power
without goodness, is a frightful sort of a thing.
But secondly, I deny the consequence, viz. 'That the

interest considered. 309
king is therefore obliged to persecute dissenters, because he,
or the parliament, hath taken an oath to maintain the church
of England :' for it cannot be supposed or intended, that by
maintaining her, they are to destroy the rest ofthe inhabi
tants. Is it impossible to protect her without knocking all
the rest on the head? Do they allow any to supplant her
clergy, invade her livings, possess her emoluments, exercise
her authority? What should she have ? Is she not church
of England still, invested with the same power, bearing the
same character ? What grandeur- or interest hath she lost
by them ? Are they not manifestly her protector ? Is she
not national church still ? And can any of her children be
so insensible, as either to challenge her superiors with want
of integrity, because they had not performed impossibilities ;
or to excite them to that harshness, which is not only de
structive of many thousands of inhabitants, but altogether
injurious to their OAvn interest, and dishonourable to a pro
testant church ? Suppose dissenters not to be ofthe visible
church, are they therefore unfit to live ? Did the Jews treat
strangers so severely, that had so much more to say than
herself? Is not the king lord of wastes and commons, as
well as inclosures ? Suppose God hath elected some to sal
vation, dpth it therefore follow he hath reprobated all the
rest ? And because he was God of the Jews, was he not
therefore God ofthe Gentiles ? Or were not the Gentiles
his people, because the Jews were his peculiar people ?
To be brief, they have answered their obligation, and con
sented to. severe laws, and commanded their execution, and
have not only preferred her above every interest inEngland,
but against them, to render her more powerful and univer
sal ; till they have good reason to be tired with the lament
able consequences of those endeavours, and conclude, that
the uniformity thereby intended, is a thing impracticable,
as well as mischievous.
And I wonder that these men should so easily forget that
great saying of king Charles the First, whom they pretend
so often, and Avith so much honour, to remember, in his ad?
vice to the present king, where he saith,
' Beware of exasperating any factions, by the crossness
and asperity of some men's passions, humours, or private
opinions, employed by you, grounded only upon their dif
ferences in lesser matters, which are but the skirts and
suburbs of religion, Avherein a charitable copnivance, and
Christian toleration, often dissipates their strength, Avhom
rougher opposition fortifieth, and puts the despised and op
pressed party into such combinations, as may most enable
them to get a full revenge upon those they count their per-

310 England's present
secutors; who are commonly assisted with that vulgar com
miseration, which attends all that are said to suffer under
the common notion of religion.'
So that we have not only the king's circumstances, but his
father's counsel, upon experience, who yet saw not the end
of one half of them, defending a charitable connivance, and
Christian toleration of dissenters.
Obj. 3. But it may be farther alledged, ' This makes way
for popery, or presbytery, to undermine the church of Eng
land, and mount the chair of preferment ; which is more
than a prudential indulgence of different opinions.'
Answ. And yet there is not any so probable an expedient
to vanquish those [fears^ and prevent any such design, as
keeping all interests upon the balance ; for so the protestant
makes at least six parties against popery, and the church of
England at least five against presbytery : and hoAV either of
them should be able to turn the scale against five or six, as
free and thriving interests as either of them can pretend to
be, I confess I cannot understand. But if one only interest
must be tolerated, which implies a resolution to suppress
the rest, plain it is, that the church of England ventures her
single party against six growing interests, and thereby gives
presbytery and popery by far an easier access to supremacy;
especially the latter, for that it is the religion of those parts
of Europe, which neither want inclination nor ability to
prosper it. So that besides the consistency of such an indul
gence with the nature of a Christian church, there can be
nothing more in prudence adviseable for the church of Eng
land, than to allow of the balance propounded : in the first,
no person of any real worth will ever the sooner decline
her; on the contrary, it will give her a greater reputation
in a country so hating severity : and next, it gives her op
portunity to turn the scale against any one party that may
aspire to her pulpits and endowments ; and she never need
to fear the agreement of all them to any such design ; epis
copacy being not more intolerable than presbytery in power,
even to an independency itself; and yet between them lies
the narrowest difference that is among the dissenting inter
ests in this kingdom.
But this seems too large and yielding, and therefore to
find a medium, something that may compass the happy end
of good correspondence and tranquillity, at least so to for
tify the church of England, as that she may securely give
law to all other religious interests, I hear a comprehension
is pitched upon, and diligently pursued by both episcopa
lians and presbyterians, at least some of each party.
But if it becomes wise men to look before they leap, it

interest considered. 311
will not be unadviseable for them to weigh the consequences
of such an endeavour.
For, in the first place, there is no people I know in Eng
land, that stands at a greater distance from her doctrine, as
it is maintained by her present sons, than the presbyterians,
particularly about absolute reprobation, the person of
Christ, satisfaction and justification : and he must be a
stranger in the religious contests of our times, that knows
not this.
2. In the next place, none have governed themselves with
a plainer denial, and more peremptory contempt of episco
pacy, and the whole discipline and worship ofthe church of
England, than the presbyterians have ever done : let them
put me to prove it, if they please, even of their ' most reve
rend fathers.'
3. Who knows not that their reciprocal heats about these
very things, went a great way towards our late lamentable
civil wars? Now if the same principles remain with each
party, and that they are so far from repenting of their tena-
ciousness, that on the contrary they justify their dissent
from one another in these matters, how can either party have
faith enough to rely upon each other's kindness, or so much
as attempt a comprehension ? What must become of the
labours of bishop Whitgift, R. Hooker, bishop Bancroft, bi
shop Laud, &c. in rebuke of the ' Presbyterian Separation,'
and the names of those leading dissenters, as Cartwright,
Dod, Bradshaw, Rutherford, Galaspee, &c. so famous
among the present presbyterians, and that for their opposi
tion to the church? This considered, Avhat reason can
any render, why the episcopalians should so singularly
provide for, and confide in, an interest that hath already
been so destructiA'e to theirs ? On the other hand, Avith what
prudence may the presbyterians embrace the other's offer,
Avho, to be sure, intend it not in stark kindness to them,
and who, they must needs think, cannot but owe reyenge,
and retain deep grudges for old stories? But,
4. The very reason given for a comprehension, is the
greatest that can^e urged against it ; namely, ' The sup
pression of other dissenting persuasions.' I will suppose a
comprehension, and the consequences of it, to be an eradi
cation of all other interests, the thing desired: hut if the
two remaining parties shall fall out, as it is not likely that
they will long agree, what can the presbyterian have to
balance himself against the ruling power of episcopacy ?
Or the episcopalian to secure himself against the aspirings
of presbytery ? They must all become episcopalians, or
presbyterians, else they will mix like iron and clay, which

312 England's present
made ill legs for the image in Daniel : nor is it to be
thought, that their legs should stand any better upon a
comprehension. But some are ready to say, ' That their difference is very
minute :' Grant it ; are they ever the more deserving for
that ? Certainly, forbearance should carry some propor
tion with the greatness of the difference, by how much it is
easier to comply in small than great matters. He that dis
sents fundamentally, is more excuseable than those that
sacrifice the peace and concord of a society about little cir
cumstances ; for there cannot be the same inducement to
suspect men of obstinacy in an essential, as circumstantial
non-conformity. Besides, how far can this accommodation extend with se
curity to the church of England? Or, on what better terms
will the presbyterians conform to her discipline and formal
acts of devotion, than those upon which Peter du Moulin
offered to preach the gospel at Rome ? viz. • That if the
pope avouIq give him leave to preach at Rome, he would
be contented to preach in a fool's coat.' I question if the
presbyterian can go so far ; I am sure he could not ; and as
sure, that Peter du Moulin hoped, by preaching there in a
fool's coat, to inculcate that doctrine which should un-mitre
the pope, and alter his church ; the very thing the church
of England fears, and fences against. For Peter du Moulin
intended to preach in a fool's coat no longer, than till he
had preached the people wise enough to throw it off again.
So the presbyterians; they may conform to certain ceremo
nies (once as sinful to them, as a fool's coat could be ridi
culous to Peter du Moulin) that they may the better intro
duce their alterations both in doctrine and discipline.
But that Avhich ought to go a great way with our superiors
in their judgment of this matter, is not only the benefit of a
balance against the presumption of any one party, and the
probability, if not certainty, of their never being overdriven
by any one persuasion, Avhilst they have others that will
more than poise against the growing power of it ; but the
conceit itself, if not altogether impracticable, is at least very
difficult to the promoters, and an office as thankless from
the parties concerned.
This appears in the endeavours used for a comprehension
of Arrians and Homoousians under one orthodoxy, related
not only in our common ecclesiastical history, but more
amply in the writings of Hilary, an enemy to the Arrians,
and Mariana's Spanish history. Their public tests, or com
prehensive creeds, Avere many, Nice, Arimiiium, Sirmium,
&c. in order to reconcile both parties, that neither might

interest considered. 313
stigmatize the other with the odious crime of heresy: but
the consequence of all this convocation and prolix debate
Avas, that neither party could be satisfied, each continuing
their former sentiments, and so grew up into stronger fac
tions, to the division, distraction, and almost destruction of
the Avhole empire ; recovered a little by the prudent mode
ration of Jovianus, and much improved, not by ' a compre
hension,' but restoration of a ' seasonable liberty of con
science,' by Theodosius Magnus.
Also in Germany, about the time of the reformation, no
thing seemed more sincere than the design of union between
the Lutherans and Zuinglians : for Luther and Zuinglius
themselves, by the earnest endeavours of the Landgrave of
Hesse, came together; but the success was so small, not
withstanding the Grave's meditation, that they parted
scarcely civil: to be sure, as far from unity as controversy
is. Luther and cardinal Cajetan met for a composure of the
breach betwixt the protestants and the pope, but it was too
yvide for those conferences to reconcile : no comprehension
could be practicable. A second essay to the same purpose,
was by Melancthon, Cassander, and others ; the consequence
of it was, that the parties were displeased, and the heads
suspected, if not hated of their followers. Nor had Bucer's
meeting with Julius Pflugg any better success.
And how fruitless their endeavours have been, that with
greatest art and industry have, of a long time, endeavoured
a reconciliation of Lutherans and Calvinists, is Avell known
to those that are acquainted with the affairs of Germany ;
and such as are not, may furnish themselves from the pub
lic relations given by those that are employed about that
accommodation : where, besides a dull and heavy progress,
the reader may be a witness of their complaint, not only
that both parties are too tenacious, but that the mediators
suffer detraction for their good endeavours ; each side grudg
ing every tittle they yield, and murmuring as if they were
to lose their religion. And if persons so disinterested, and
worthy in their attempts, have had no better issue, I cannot
see how those who seem compelled by Avorldly interest, more
than conscience, to seek and propagate a comprehension,
especially when it determines in the persecution ofthe re
jected persuasions, can, with any reason, expect from God,
or good men, any better success.
Lastly, There is nothing any man, touched with justice
and mercy, can allege for a comprehension, that may not
much better be urged for a toleration ; for the church is less
in danger when she knows the Avornt, than where the danger

314 England's present
is hid : five enemies without doors being not so mischievous
as one within. But they are also men, and Englishmen, as
Well as those of other persuasions : their faith is as Chris
tian, they believe as sincerely, live as conscientiously, are as
useful in the kingdom, and manage their dissent with as much
modesty and prudence, the church of England herself being
in great measure judge, as those on whose account a com
prehension may be desired : to be sure they are English
men, and have an equal claim to the civil rights of their
native country, with any that live in it ; whom to persecute,
whilst others, and those no better men in themselves, are
more than tolerated, is, as I have already said, ' The unrea
sonable and unmerciful doctrine of absolute reprobation put
in practice in civils : from which the Lord deliver us.'

CHAP. III.
A sincere promotion of general and practical religion.
III. Of general and practical religion. That the promotion
of it is the only way to take in, and stop the mouth of, all
persuasions, being the center to which all parties verbally
tend, and therefore the station for a prudent magistrate to
meet every interest in : the neglect of it pernicious : in
stances : that it is the unum necessarium to felicity here and
hereafter.
I am now come to the last, which, to be sure, is not the
least part of my answer to the question propounded, viz.
' The sincere promotion of general and practical religion ;'
by which I mean the ten commandments, or moral law,
and Christ's sermon upon the mount, with other heavenly
sayings, excellently improved, and earnestly recommended,
by seA'eral passages in the writings of his disciples, which
forbid evil, not only in deed, but thought; and enjoin pu
rity and holiness, as Avithout which, no man, be his pre
tences what they will, shall ever see God. In short, gene
ral, true and requisite religion, in the apostle James's defi
nition, is, ' To visit the widow and fatherless, and to keep
ourselves,' through the universal grace, 'unspotted of the
world.' This is the most easy and probable way, to fetch
in all men professing God and religion : since every per
suasion acknowledges this in words, be their lives never so
disagreeable to their confession. And this being the unum
necessarium, that one thing needful, to make men happy
here and hereafter, Avhy, alas ! should men sacrifice their
accord in this gieat point, for an unity in minute or circum-

interest considered. 315
sfantial things, that perhaps is inobtainable, and if it were
hot, would signify little or nothing, either to the good of
human society, or the particular comfort of any, in the
World which is to come ?
No one thing is more unaccountable and condemnable
among men, than their uncharitable contests about religion !
indeed about words and phrases ! whilst they all verbally
meet in the most, if not only, necessary part of Christian
religion : for nothing is more certain, than if men would but
live up to one half of what they know in their own con
sciences they ought to practise, their edge would be taken
off, their blood would be sweetened by mercy and truth,
and this unnatural sharpness qualified. They would quickly
find work enough at home, each man's hands would be full
by the unruliness of his own passions, and1 in subjecting of
his own will ; and instead of devouring one another's good
name, liberty, or estate, compassion would rise, and mutual
desires to be assistant tp each other, in a better sort of liv*
ing. Oh ! hoAV decent, and how delightful would it be, to
see mankind, the creation of one God, that hath upheld them
" to this day, of one accord, at least in the weighty things of
God's holy lave !
It is want of practice, and too much prate, that have
made way for all the incharity and ill-living that is in the
world. No matter what men say, if the devil keep the
house. Let the grace of God, the principle of divine life
(as a great man lately called it in his speech) but be hear
tily and reverently entertained of men, that teach us to
deny all ungodliness, and converse soberly, righteously,
and godly, in this present evil world, and it is not to be
doubted but tranquillity, at least a very amicable corres
pondence, Avill follow.
Men are not to be reputed good by their opinions or pro
fessions of religion ; nor is it that which ought to engage
the government, but practice ; it is this that must save or
damn. Christ, in his representation ofthe great day, doth
not tell us, that it shall be said to men, ' Well said, or well
talked,' but " Well done, good and faithful servant :" nei
ther is the " Depart from me," directed to any, but the work
ers of iniquity. Error is now translated from the significa
tion of an evil life, to an unsound proposition ; as philosophy
is from the mortification of evil desires, and well-living, to
an unintelligible way of wrangling. And a man is more bit
terly harrassed for a mistaken notion, though the party
holding it thinks it not so, and the party charging it denies
an infallible judgment (so that it may as well be true as
false, for all them) than for the most dissolute or immoral

316 England's present
life. And truly it is high time that men should give better
testimony of their Christianity : for cruelty hath no share
in Christ's religion ; and coercion upon conscience is utter
ly inconsistent with the very nature of his kingdom. He
rebuked that zeal which would have ' fire come down from
heaven, to devour dissenters,' though it came from his own
disciples ; and forbad them to pluck up the tares, though
none had a more gentle or infallible hand to do it with.
He preferred mercy before sacrifice ; and therefore Ave
may well believe, that the unmerciful sacrifices some men
now offer, I mean 'imprisoning persons, spoiling of goods,
and leaving whole families destitute of subsistence,' as well
as disinheriting them of all civil privileges in the govern
ment, are far from being grateful to him, who therefore came
into the world, and preached that heavenly doctrine of for
bearing, and loving of enemies, and laid down his mostj in
nocent life for us, whilst we were rebels, that by such peace
able precepts, and so patient an example, the world might
, be prevailed upon to leave those barbarous courses. And
doubtless, very lamentable will their condition be, who, at
the coming of the great Lord, shall be found ' beaters of
their fellow-servants.'
In vain do men go to church, pray, preach, and style them
selves believers, Christians, children of God, &c. whilst
such acts of severity are cherished among them ; and any
disposition to molest harmless neighbours for their con
science, so much as countenanced by them. A course quite
repugnant to Christ's example and command. In short, the
promoting of this general religion, by a severe reprehension
and punishment of vice, and encouragement of virtue, is the
interest of our superiors, several ways :
1. In that it meets with, and takes in, all the religious
persuasions of the kingdom ; for all pretend to make this
their corner-stone. Let them be equally encouraged to
square their building by it. ' Penal laws for religion, is a
church with a sting in her tail ;' take that out, and there is
no fear of the people's love and duty. And what better ob
ligation or security can the civil magistrate desire ? Every
man owns the text ; it is the comment that is disputed. Let
it but please him to make the text only sacred and neces
sary, and leave men to keep company with their own mean
ings or consequences, and he does not only prudently take
in all, but suppresseth nice searches, fixes unity upon mate
rials, quiets present differences about things of lesser mo
ment, retrieves humanity and Christian clemency, and fills
the kingdom with love and respect to their superiors.
2. Next, a promotion of general religion, Avhich, being in.

interest considered. 317
itself practical, brings back ancient virtue. Good living will
thrive in this soil ; men will grow honest, trusty, and tem
perate ; we may expect good neighbourhood and cordial
friendship ; one may then depend more upon a word, than
now upon an oath, flow lamentable is it to see people afraid
of one another ; men made and provided for of one God,
and that must be judged by that one eternal God, yet full
Of diffidence in what each other says, and most commonly
interpret, as people read Hebrew, all things backward !
3. The third benefit is, that men will be more industrious,
more diligent in their lawful callings; Avhich will increase
our manufactures, set the idle and poor to work for their
livelihood, and enable the several counties with more ease
and decency to maintain the aged and impotent among them.
Nor will this only help to make the lazy conscientiously
industrious, but the industrious and conscientious man
cheerful at his labour, when he is assured to keep Avhat he
works for ; and that the sweat of his brow shall riot be made
a forfeit for his conscience.
4. It will render the magistrate's province more facile,
and government a safe as well as easy thing. For, as Taci
tus says of Agricola's instructing the Britbns in arts and
sciences, and using them with more humanity than other
governors had done, that it made them fitter for govern
ment ; so if practical religion, and the laws made to main
tain it, were duly regarded, the very nature of men, noAv
wild and froward by a prejudiced education and cross and
jealous interests, would learn moderation, and see it to be
their greatest interest to pursue a sober and amicable con
versation; which would ease the magistrate of much of his
present trouble, and increase the number of men fit to
govern ; of which the parliament-times are an undenia
ble instance. And the truth is, it is a piece of slavery to
have the regiment of ignorants and ruffians; but there is
true glory in having the government of men, instructed in
the justice and prudence of their own laws and country.
Lastly, It isout of this nursery of virtue, men should be
drawn to be planted in the government ; not Avhat is their
opinion, but what are their manners and capacity? Here the
field is large, and the magistrate has room to choose good
officers for the public good, Heaveri will prosper so natu
ral, so noble, and so Christian an essay ; which ought not
to be the least consideration with a good magistrate ; and
the rather, because the neglect of this practical religion hath
been the ruin of kingdoms and commortwealths, among
Heathens, Jews and Christians. This laid Tarquiri low,
and his race never rose more. How puissant were Lace-

318. England's present
daemon and Athens of Greece, till luxury had eaten out
their severity, and a pompous living, contrary to their ex
cellent laws, rendered their execution intolerable ? And
was not Hannibal's army a prey to their own idleness and
pleasure ; which, by effeminating their natures, conquered
them, when the whole power of Rome could not do it ?
What else betrayed Rome to Caesar's ambition, and made
way for the after-rents and divisions of the empire; the me
rit, as well as conquest and inheritance, of a well-governed
people for several ages, as long as their manners lasted ?
The Jews likewise were prosperous, while they kept ' the
judgments and statutes of their God ;' but when they be
came rebellious and dissolute, the Almighty either visited
them from heaven, or exposed them to the fury of their
neighbours. Nothing else sent Zedekiah to Babylon, and
gave him and the people a victim to Nebuchadnezzar and
his army.
' Neglect of laws, and dissolute living,' Andrew Home,
Avho lived in the time of Edward the First, as before cited,
tells us, ' was the cause of the miserable thraldom and deso
lation the Britons sustained by invaders and conquerors.'
And pray, Avhat else hath been the English of our sweeping
pestilence, dreadful fires, and outrageous factions of late
years ? Hundreds of examples might be brought in this
case ; but their frequency shall excuse me.
Thus have I honestly and plainly cleared my conscience
for my country ; and answered, I hope, modestly, and
though briefly, yet fully, the import of the question pro
pounded, with honour to the magistrate, and safety to the
people, by an happy conjunction of their interests. 1 shall
conclude, That as greater honour and wisdom cannot well be attri
buted to any sort of men, than for our superiors, under their
circumstances, to be sought to by all persuasions, confided
in by all persuasions, and obeyed by all persuasions, and to
make those persuasions know that it is their interest so to
do, as well as that it is the interest of our superiors they
should, and to which the expedients proposed naturally
tend ; so, for a farther inducement to embrace it, let them
be constantly remembered, that the interest of our English
governors is like to stand longer upon the legs ofthe Eng
lish people than of the English church ; since the one takes
in the strength of all interests, and the other leaves out all
but her own : and it may happen that the English church
may fail, or go travel again ; but it is not probable that the
English people should do either ; especially Avhile property

INTEREST CONSIDERED. 319
is preserved, a balance kept, general religion propagated,
and the world continues.
May all this prevail with our superiors to make the best
use of their little time : remembering, in the midst of all
their power and grandeur, that they carry mortality about
them, and are equally liable to the scrutiny and judgment
ofthe last day, with the poorest, peasant; and that they have
a great stewardship to account for ; so that moderation and
virtue being their course, they, for the future, shall steer,
after having faithfully discharged that great trust reposed in
them, by God and this free people, they may, with com
fort to their souls, and honour to their names and actions,
safely anchor in the haven of eternal blessedness : so prays,
with much sincerity, An English Christian man,
And their true friend,
William Penn.

A Corollary.
That the people are under a great dissatisfaction : that
the Avay to quiet differences, and render contrary interests
subservient to the interest ofthe government, is,
First, To maintain inviolably the rights of it, viz. liberty
and property, legislation and juries, Avithout neglect. That
slighting and infringing them hath been the injury of prince
and people, and early or late the ruin of the contrivers of
so ill designs; and when all has been done, the onlv expe
dient has been, to come back again to English law. This
takes in all, pleases all, because it secures and profits all.
Sacrificing privileges for the sake of conformity, makes a
breach upon the civil government, alienates the people's
affections from their prince, lodges property in the church,
so as none can come at it, but through obedience to her
rites, for she at this rate has the keeping of it ; a thing un
known, as well as unsafe, to the ancient English govern
ment. 2dly, That the prince govern himself upon a balance to
wards all religious interests : that this best poizes parties
to his security, renders him master of an universal affection,
and makes him truly and safely prince of all his country :
but the contrary course narrows his justice and mercy,

320 ENGLAND'* PRESENT INTEREST CONSIDERED.
makes the government to shine but upon one part of the
kingdom; to be just but to one party, and disinherit the
rest from their ^birthright : that this course ends in great
disadvantage to the peace, plenty, and safety of prince and
people. 3dly, and lastly, Instead of being uncharitable, severe
and cruel for modifications, let the debate about them sleep,
and general and practical religion be promoted, that which
receives an amen in every man's conscience, from the prin
ciple of divine life (as the lord keeper well called it) in
every breast ; that all agree in the most Aveighty doctrines ;
and that nothing will sooner sweeten men's blood, and mol
lify their natures, than employing that time and pains they
bestow on fruitless contests, in living up tp what they both
know, believe, and accord in : that this leaves men to keep
company with their own comments, and makes the text only
sacred, and holy living necessary, not only to heavenly but
earthly places, I mean preferments : whence virtue becomes
the door to favour, and conscience (now smothered in the
crowd of sinister interests) the noble rule of living.
God Almighty, if it please him, beget noble resolutions
in the hearts of our superiors to use these plain and safe ex
pedients ; that charity may supplant cruelty, contest yield
to good life, and present distances meet in a just and kind
neighbourhood. Great and honourable is that prince, and free and happy
that people, where these things take place.
William Penn.

A
LETTE R
TO THE
PRINCESS AND COUNTESS,*
AT
HERTFORD IN GERMANY.

Published in the Year 1676.

Jesus be Avith your spirits ; the immaculate Lamb of
God, and glorious light ofthe world, his pure Spirit redeem
you from the evil and ignorance that are in it, and replenish
you with his everlasting righteousness, whose end is peace
and assurance for evermore.
Noble of this world, but more noble for your enquiry after
the truth, and love to it, the fame whereof hath sounded to
the ears of some pf us in this island, whom God hath made
both his certain witnesses and messengers, through many
and great tribulations, eternal, heavenly praises to his holy
and powerful name, who lives and reigns over all principa
lities, and powers, and thrones, and dominions for ever.
1 have had you, worthy women, often in my remem
brance, with that honour which is not of this ivorld ; even
then, when my soul has been in its purest retirements, not
only from all visibles, but from their very ideas in the mind,
and every other imagination ; resting with the Lord in his
own sabbath, which is the true silence of all flesh indeed,
which profits above the formal Christian's bodily exercise.
And in these heavenly sequestrations of soul, and true resig
nation unto the divine will of my Father, have I taken a
most clear prospect of you, and every circumstance that
may be fit for me to know ; your education, your quality,
yours dignity, the envy ofthe clergy ,the fury ofthe rabble,
and the strength and poAver of temptation, arising from all
these considerations, if possible to smother your blessed be
ginnings ; and, as so many bands of soldiers, employed and
commissioned of their great prince of darkness, to watch,
* Princess. Elizabeth of the Rhine, and Anna Maria de Homes, countess of
Homes.
Vol. n. x

322 a letter to the
and hinder Jesus from rising in you. In a weighty sense of
all which, my heart opens itself unto you in God's counsel,
after this manner : Be faithful to that you know, and obe
dient to that which God by the light of his Son makes mani
fest in your own consciences. Consult not aAvay the pure
and gentle strivings ofthe Holy Ghost : drown not his still
voice with the crowd of careful thoughts, and vain contri
vances : break not the bruised reed, neither quench the
smoking flax in yourselves. O ! if you truly love Jesus,
hear him : and since it hath pleased God in some measure,
as with Paul, to reveal his blessed Son in you, consult not
with flesh and blood, that are below the heavenly things ;
for that inherits not the kingdom of God : but, with sincere
Mary, from a deep sense of the beauty, virtue, and excel
lency of that life that is hid with Christ in God, wait out of
all cumber, free from that running, willing, sacrificing spirit
that is in the world, in the pure obedience, humiliation,
godly death, or silence, at the feet of Jesus, choosing the
better part, which shall never be taken from you : and Jesus
will be with you, he will shed his peace abroad in the midst
of you, even that which flows from the crystal streams of
life, that arise from under the throne of God. Prepare,
prepare to meet the Lord ; for assuredly Jesus is risen, the
faithful and true witness; and he is come, in ten thousands
ofhis saints, to judge this fallen Christian world. He that
Avas dead, during the " Times, time, andhalf a time," is now
alive, and lives for ever : nor shall hell, death, or the grave
get the dominion any more; but life and immortality shall
spring as the morning without clouds. The set time of the
Father is come ; and all faces shall gather paleness, yea, and
all knees shall smite and bow, and tongues shall confess to
this his appearance : some to joy, others to misery ; ages
and generations have not known him ; the earth has been
covered with violence, oppression, uncleanness, rewards,
gifts, blood, wrath, malice, pride, covetousness : yet God
professed, and Christ confessed : a glorious church, a pom
pous worship, and as much religion (such as it was) as the
world could hold : but O the idolatry ! O the false witness !
O the blasphemy and lying ! O the profaneness of those,
and these days! And why? Because their hearts thirsted
after their carnal pleasures, more than after the living God.
Their care was, and is, after what they shall eat and drink,
and put on, the old heathen life, and not after the kingdom
of God, and the righteousness of it; that Jesus, the true
Saviour, the immaculate Son of God, who by doing his Fa
ther's will faithfully and patiently, even unto death, left us
an example, that we should follow his steps, and not live

PRINCESS ELIZABETH, &C. 323
unto ourselves. And this is the abominablest idolatry, that
ofthe soul to any other object, than the Lord and God of
the soul. This is to set up something as God, over all that
is called God, debasing, slighting, grieving, and quenching
the Holy Spirit in the mean while. O how few think of this
detestable idolatry ! here is the first commandment broken ;
how then can people expect to have eternal life ? But all
the commands are broken : for God did not only prohibit
idolatry, which is worshipping another God, but worship
ping the true God vainly, falsely, with a Aain mind, after
an unprofitable manner, which is an unsanctified frame of
soul. And how has Christendom taken God's name in vain,
and worshipped God in vain ! What good is come of the
ages of worship ? What lusts are overcome ? What evil
repelled ? Have not all manner of abominations reigned ?
Has not the truth been held in unrighteousness ? And have
not generations blessed God with their mouths, wherewith
they have presently cursed men ? Have not violence, ava
rice, oppression, cruelty, pride, passion, wrath, envy, vain
sports, pleasures, and delights, filled the earth, under all the
profession that has been made of Christ and God ? Has he
that has named the name of Christ, or that has called him
self by that name, departed from iniquity ? O, no ; it may
be truly said, that such have sought the Lord in vain. Why ?
Because not as Jacob's seed, who was a plain good man, but
of rebellious Esau's stock. " You ask, and you have not :"
Why? Says James. " Because you ask amiss." They sought
in a wrong nature, to feed the lusts of the same. Though
they ask, they never receive ; and though they knock, it will
never be opened unto them : such can never find : for all
worship towards God must stand in the name and nature of
Jesus, or will never pierce the heavens. It will be in vain,
it will profit nothing. So that this command is also broken.
To say nothing of the frequent use of the name of God about
every trivial thing in common conversation : O God ! O
Lord Jesu ! and such like ; for which, among other things,
the Lord God will pour out the vials ofhis wrath upon the
nations : O blessed are they that fear always, and remember
that severe saying of Jesus, " That every idle word that
men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day
of judgment," Mat. xii. 36.
Next, the true sabbath is neglected ; for the gospel day
is the spiritual sabbath, the day of redemption, deliverance,
and salvation : they have sinned away this day, doing their
own works, when they should have been at the true fast,
the mystical abstinence, and humbled into the grave, doing
the works of God : yet talk of being freed from under the
x 2

324 LETTER TO THE
law, and under grace, Avhile they live without law, grace,
Christ and Godwin the world, being led, not by the Spirit
of God, (no, that is enthusiasm, fanaticism, familism, qua-
kerism, &c.) but by their own wills, lusts, interests, and
un regenerate appetites.
Rebellion has covered the earth : for there has not been
an " honouring of their father and their mother ;" for they
have rejected the commands of their Father, casting his
laAv behind their backs, not glorifying him as God their
Father, when they knew him : and they have disregarded
the advice of their mother, the true primitive church, that
was redeemed with the precious blood of the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sins ofthe Avorld, and thatAvashed her
and purged her, not leaving in her either spots or wrinkles:
for so he presented her to God his Father : so that she put
off her old conversation, which was after the fashions and
customs of this world, that she might be adorned with the
robes of righteousness; fine linen, white, the mark of inno
cence ; fitly trimmed for the delight of her beloved, her
Jesus, her king, her lawgiver, her maker, and her husband
too, in whose chaste embraces she lives, his unspotted dear
spouse for ever. Now, what is a church, hut the redeemed
flock, family, houshold or people of God ? If then the
church of Christ must be pure, the members that constitute
that church must be pure: not by a vain and fictitious im
putation, but a solid and real purgation, redemption, and
salvation unto righteousness. For faith in Abraham Avas a
righteous act of obedience in his soul; therefore God im
puted righteousness unto him : and blessed are his spiritual
offspring for ever, whose faith overcomes, and is not over
come of, the world. For those are false faiths, forced and
imaginary conceits, that cleanse not, which true faith doth;
that works by that love, which conquers the world, and
loves God above all ; the higlnvay to eternal life. So here
the world hath been in the breach of another command,
they have dishonoured their father and mother, and there
fore have their days been few in the land of the living to
God. But the Christian world, so called, hath been defiled by
cruelty, even to blood: " Thou shalt not kill," saith the
Lord : little did some ofthe Jews think that they broke this
laAv, when they " killed the prophets, and stoned them that
were sent unto them :" but what said their children ? did
they speak after the same note ? No : " Had we lived in
the days of our fathers, we would not have done as they
did:" and alas! they did worse. Where it is worth ob
serving, that when the devil hath persecuted holy men to

PRINCESS ELIZABETH, &C. 325
death, and finds that the way (to Avit, death) by which he
hopes to bury all with them, is the way by which their doc
trine and endeavours shine more conspicuously and convinc
ingly to others, he turns proselyte too, and says, ' These were
good men also,' and puts his followers upon settjng up the
lamentation for the loss of those pious men ; which, alas !
he murdered; and of their words, and exterior forms,
patches he up a visible religion ; and then sits^ he as God,
or like God, in the hearts of men and women. So that he
will be visibly for religion, when he can no longer hinder.
But this is to make him the greater deceiver, and to pass the
more unquestioned and unsuspected.
This lamentation for the murdering of the prophets, ad
miration of their works, and building and adorning of their
sepulchres, baffled the judgment of weak and simple people;
but especially deceived the multitude, and rendered the
crucifixion of Jesus more easy and tolerable. .Stephen fol
lowed, then James, and soon after that time the bitter per
secution of the Christians : but by that time kings received
Christianity, ease and plenty flowed in. Who so pompous,
magnificent, gaudy, worldly, as Christian bishops, their
churches, officers, and people ? Self-denying Jesus lost in
the crowd ; the true life of religion expired,; and zeal ex
tinguished; divisions arisen, and one bishop against another,
even to death : nothing but flattery, hypocrisy, and con
formity could well tell how to live in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th,
8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th cen
turies, and so to our days. Now the rivers of blood spilt by
Jews and Heathens, become a great swelling sea, by Christian,
or rather anti-Christian persecutions: now it is that aU
councils and synods are convened in design, held in faction,
and broke up in self-interest. No liberty of conscience in
those days ; no one must dare to buy or sell, civilly or spi
ritually, but they must first have the mark of that church
and state : O monstrous degeneracy ! here is Christ again
crucified in the streets of Sodom and Egypt, in the hearts
and lives of the sons and daughters of men. So that here
are not only thousands of martyrs of Jesus, but Jesus, the
Lord, once more martyred, the true and faithful witness :
and they have, in all ages, hired and set soldiers, who are
killers by profession, to watch against his rising. Now is
the church in the wilderness, the place of obscurity and
shelter : this was the winter season, the time of sackcloth
and ashes: now all were merry, sending gifts one to another,
in their revels and masquerades over the slain witness ofthe
Lord : here is the bloodiest, and therefore the Avoefullest,
of all murders.

326 LETTER TO THE
But this is not all; they proceed to the next command
ment, " Thou shalt not commit adultery." And this they
have fearfully broken ; for Christendom, so called, hath com
mitted adultery most notoriously ; and consequently broken
God's holy laAv : for alas ! alas ! has she not forsaken the
everlasting fountain, the spring of immortal life, that is
pure for ever, and hewn out to herself cisterns that will hold
no water ? Has she not deserted her first love, and her
first works? And has she not flung herself into the em
braces of. another lover, whereby she has divorced herself
from toe-Jiving God, and joined to an apostate spirit, by
whom numerous is her unclean issue, and many are her
abominations that she has brought forth, even such of them
as were neither known to jew or heathen ? This is she that
hath " committed fornication" with all the powers upon the
earth, Avhom she hath beAvitched to her cup, and her bed.
But the day of the terrible vengeance of God is come,
and coming, in Avhich she and her gallants and merchants
shall come to judgment : and the remnant of the true wo
man's seed, that has been sojourning as poor pilgrims in the
desolate wilderness with her, are come forth leaning on the
breast of her Beloved, to whom she has been, though a
poor and banished, yet a faithful spouse, during this long
and tedious reign of Antichrist, the whore, beast, false
prophet, and dragon, which is the devil : and because her
dear husband is " King of kings, and Lord of lords," and
has all power in heaven and earth, and that it becomes her
to be, if his wife, a glorious queen; therefore hath he or
dained that she shall no more sit as one desolate and for
saken, clothed in sackcloth, which is the garment of heavi
ness; but shall be crowned with the stars, clothed with the
sun, and the moon shall be under her feet ; that is, the
changeable World, with all its temporary glory, shall be her
foot-stool. Then needs must she be exalted above the
'' Avhorish woman," whose highest throne was but the true
and heavenly woman's foot-stool. In this day Judah shall
dwell safely, and Israel shall be glad.
But we must not stop here; for the priests have been like
troops of thieves by the highway-side, that have robbed by
consent, and ' like priest, like people :' for first, it has been
the practice of the clergy, of all lands, to insinuate them
selves, by their policy and flatteries, into the favour of the
firinces of this world, and thereby procured to themselves
arge taxes on the people ; not only to their better main
tenance, but to fheir being upheld in worldly pomp and
grandeur, and the amassing of base treasures to them and
their temporal kindred, for Avhich there is neither precept

^

PRINCESS ELIZABETH, &C. 327
nor example in holy scripture, unless it be, that the false
prophets were wont to prepare war of old against such as
refused to " put into their mouths ;" that is, to incense the
civil magistrate against them, as enemies to the government,
his religion established by law. O ! but the false Christian
has herein transcended all former ages ! How many millions
have they got, not for feeding, but starving, the souls of
millions? And that which greatly aggravates their sin, is
their forgery, alleging the authority of heaven by a mere
counterfeit commission; impiously using God's
palliate their design ; and, by the credit his ex'
has with the works of his hands, to obtain to
almost infinite wealth.
But this is not all the robbery I charge Chri^iridom with ;.
for they have, both priest and people, been conT%3fi|ra.6^jAiSltV
the grand robber, the devil, in robbing God of Ms^haaaai^
and prerogative, which is the hearts and affections of the
sons and daughters of men : for when the great Creator
made his first settlement upon man and woman, he gave
them the earth here, and the heaven hereafter, for. their
inheritance, and that to them and their heirs for ever. Pro
viding always, that they gave this acknowledgment to their
great Lord, that their hearts should be his; a small and
reasonable chief-rent : but they rebelled, and so forfeited
their right, and came under the curse, from whence Christ
came to deliver their offspring : some were restored ; it was
his work to do so, and to build upon the waste places. But
not many ages after, an appstacy comes ; not as at unawares,
or by chance; it was foreseen, its beginnings, continuings,
and end. During this apostacy, the devil has sat as God,
and therefore is called the " God of this world, and prince
ofthe power ofthe air, that rules," — Where? in the saints?
in the sanctified ? no such matter! Where then ? " In the
hearts of the children of disobedience, that obey not the
truth as it is in Jesus."
Thus hath God been robbed ofhis honour, propriety, and
prerogative, and they have been given to another than the
only true and living God. Some have made over their hearts
to worldly honour and preferment : others to earthly riches :
others to pleasures : others to uncleanness : others to their
outward and temporal comforts : O ! many ways there are
to forget the Lord.
But the robbery ends not here ; man loseth his own soul:
and what can he give, in the dreadful day of account, in
exchange for his poor soul ? People have sold their birth
right for a mess of pottage : they have robbed themselves
of their own peace, and of their eternal inheritance with

328 LETTER TO THE
God, when time shall be no more. Which leads me to the
next commandment, as amply broken as any ofthe rest, viz.
" Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."
For alas ! there has been no true one borne by Christendom,
since the primitive days : and how should she ? since she
has slain the faithful and true witness, and crucified him in
her streets : nay, and done her endeavour to root out all
his friends and brethren, yea, if possible, to extinguish the
very life of the Son of God in all that live upon the earth.
Nor could she compass all these tragical designs, had she
not made use of false witnesses. For she has been induced
to hire people to SAvear lies, in all ages, against the wit
nesses of JesUs, as the Jews did to Jesus and his disciples. -
When did she imprison, banish, kill, but under the notion
of schismatic, heretic, blasphemer, enemy to God, Christ,
and holy church, with the like pretences ? Is not this to give
false witness against innocent neighbours ? But this is not
all which proves the breach of this commandment ; the
whole life of Christendom does it too amply and too lament
ably : for are they not false witnesses, who affirm things
they never saw, and make profession of things they do not
know ? If so, Avhen did Christendom see, taste, and handle
of the word of eternal life, which she verbally professeth,
which is as a fire, an hammer, an axe, a two-edged sword,
the word of regeneration, of reconciliation, and of pa
tience, an holy light and lamp to the soul ? Which brings
me to the last head, being the substance and matter of it,
viz. ' The blasphemy and lying of Christendom, so called.'
This great beast rose out of the filthy sea, the corrupt
ages of this world, long after the primitive times ; hath
heads, Avhich is, perfection of wit and policy; and ten horns,
that is, mighty power : has had, and yet hath, the name of
blasphemy writ upon all his heads ; that is, a profession of
God in words, whilst, he is denied in Avorks ; the grand de
structive atheism of the world : it is the blasphemy of all
blasphemies, to call God Father, when born of the devil :
what ! to intitle the pure God to such an impure offspring ?
To live in the vanities, and pleasures, and lusts of this
world ; and yet to say, " Is not God our Father, and is not
the Lord on our side ?" No, he is of purer eyes than to
behold iniquity, much more than to own the children of sin,
or to have communion with them : " What hast thou to do
to take my name into thy mouth: that hatestto be reformed?
Though thou criest I will not hear, and though thou callest
I will not answer. Behold, I will make them known to be
of the synagogue of Satan, that say, they are Jews, and are
not." And this is the greatest of all lies, the lie that is in

PRINCESS ELIZABETH, &C 329
the " right hand," the place of greatest strength and esteem ;
religion and worship : to say they are Christians, and are
not : to profess Christ in the history, and crucify him in the
mystery: to confess to his outward coming, and resist his
inward appearance in themselves : to keep the day of his
external birth, while they make merry OA'er him, slain and
crucified in their own heathenish hearts ; rebelling against
his light in their own consciences, which is Christ's day to
them, and Christ is God's everlasting day : O what Will be
the end of such! " Ye uncircumcised in heart and ear, ye
do always resist the Holy Ghost, as did your fathers, so do
ye :" and yet ye call yourselves the seed of Abraham, and
children of God, but love and choose a murderer and
Barabbas, rather than Christ, the Son of the living God.
Oh ! Avhat more abominable lie can be told than this ? And
will not all such be shut out, among them that work and
make a lie, if they embrace not the day of their visitation,
and come to the truth, and by it be made free from every
evil way ?
This is that " great iniquity" which has profaned the
" holy place :" that " cursed abomination," which stood so
long till it hath made desolate the place which God hath
sanctified for himself, the hearts of the sons and daughters
of men ; the first and last living temple of God : every
beast of prey, every unclean bird, has taken up their dwel
ling there ; insomuch that God has been like a stranger
to the noblest part ofthe workmanship ofhis own hands.
And though the Lord has not left himself Avithout wit
nesses in any age ; yet they were so few, and most of them,
though accepted according to their day and work, yet so
short as to the main work, that a remnant can say, when
the Lord first opened the eyes of their understanding, the
world lay in a great heap of wickedness, vanity, and con
fusion ; all following the desires of their own hearts, to
gratify the lusts of the same, living vainly and wantonly
upon the earth: yea, the whole earth looked like one great
wilderness, full of briars and thorns, birds and beasts of
prey. And when God poured out of the spirit of judgment and
of burning upon us, not only making us sensible ofhis holy
terrors in and for ourselves, but of that day of fiery trial he
would suddenly overtake the world withal ; " our faces ga
thered paleness, and our knees smote together ; our hearts
fainted ; our lips quivered, and our bellies trembled : and
all that we might rest in the day of trouble."
But Avhile we were under the lightning and thunders, and
great earthquakes, Avars, and rumours of wars, such as had

330 LETTER TO THE
not beeri since the foundation of the world, as to us; (for
the " Sun became darkened, and the moon was turned into
blood, and none of the stars of the night appeared," while
our agonies took strong hold upon us, and Ave were in the
extremity of our pains) O the gazing-stock that we were
made to all, yea, spectacles to God, angels, and men : some
said, we were bewitched : others, that we were strongly
possessed of the devil : all astonished : parents beating
and disowning of their children: children insulting over
their parents : masters evilly entreating of their servants :
servants abusing of their masters : the husband using vio
lence to the wife : the wife becoming strange and unnatural
to her own husband : and all most cruelly vexed, abused,
and tormented by the magistrates, through the wicked and
unwearied instigation of the priests of all sorts, by gaols,
dungeons, whippings, stocks, pillories, plunders, &c. O the
calamity ! O the bitter distress of that day ! And though
we were but few in that day, and very low, poor, and even
despicable in our own eyeS ; yet were Ave exceeding strong
and valiant in the " Lord Jehovah ; our everlasting
strength." For our inward man daily renewed, and we
greatly loved one another : but never till now did we truly
know what Christ was, either in conception, birth, re
proaches, sufferings, death, resurrection, or ascension, a
mystery to the whole Christian world at this day, who are
not turned to the light of Jesus in their own consciences.
And as in the holy watch Ave kept, not being staggered at
.the reproaches of the men of this world, but with Moses,
choosing them, rather than the treasures and pleasures of
Egypt, where our dear Lord lay crucified ; we exceedingly
grew in the grace and favour of God, and we were very
tender by any wandering thought, much more by any evil
act, to grieve this Holy Spirit, or babe of righteousness,
born in ourselves, whom we desired should reign, being
overcome with joy that he was born that brought life with
him to our immortal souls. And after Ave had staid at
*' Jerusalem," the city of our God and King, to receive his
instructions, commission, and authority, abroad we went,
upon the " Pourings out ofhis Holy Spirit." And we went,
in the name and power of our God, to declare of his judg
ments, and to tell ofhis terrible day, to call all to repentance,
and to prepare to meet the Lord, to make ready the way of
our God; who was coming to lay "judgment to the line,
and righteousness to the plummet;" to examine, sift, and
winnow the sons and daughters of men ; to judge in righ
teousness ; who will not be deceived by vain shows of
religion; for he is a jealous God of his honour, and his

PRINCESS ELIZABETH, &C 231
glory will he give to no man, neither will he acquit the
guilty, or punish the innocent.
But after this breaking-forth of ours, and publishing our
message to the world, especially to professors, the scribes
and pharisees take the alarm : finding their call, qualifica
tion, and credit, and, which is most of all in their eye, their
maintenance, brought in question, and their whole kingdom
shaking; man-made ministry being proved insufficient,
forced maintenance antichristian, and that no man could
know, much less preach, divine things without divine reve
lations and inspirations ; and that no man Avas a true
Christian, much less a true minister, that was not born of
water and the Spirit, fire and Holy Ghost ; they raged
greatly, dispatched their Sauls to Damascus, to the rulers
of the nation, crying, ' Help, help, or religion is lost, and
the kingdom of Christ will go down ; behold great deceiv
ers and seducers, and false prophets ; antichrists are risen,
as was prophesied of, to come in the last days : now they
are come, bestir yourselves, make laws, catch them, whip
them', imprison them, banish and burn them.'
And truly, they lay in wait for blood, and several of us
were tried for our lives, for blasphemers, haled out of their
synagogues, for our pure testimony's sake, some crying,
' Knock the rogues down :' ' they are witches,' said others ;
* Devils,' said others; ' We have a laAv, and by our law
they ought to die.'
They never wanted false evidence to produce, as well as
that we were frequently made offenders for our true and
savory words, whether in reproof or exhortation uttered,
with our lives in our hands, in obedience to the heavenly
vision. No justice, no mercy: if we escaped the multitude,
the magistrate had the stocking, imprisoning, or whipping
us : if we escaped the magistrate, the multitude, at the insti
gation of the priests, foil like so many greedy wolves, or
hungry tigers, upon us, beating, and kicking and dragging
pf us, till some part of our flesh has been like a jelly, often
breaking our heads and bones ; and some they have mur
dered by the like barbarous usage : not daring all this while
either to fly the place, or return them one railing accu
sation : committing our lamentable cause to God alone to
plead our innocency, having no helper in the earth.
Nor Avere these things all our sufferings, or the depths of
our tribulations,: by no means, for the sharpest of our trials
were from men of a religious profession, whose hearts con
trived mischief, and their tongues and pens uttered it with
all manner of slander and contradiction; insomuch that
when we were not in the hands of the magistrates or mul-

332 LETTER TO THE
tjtude, we were almost perpetually employed in disputations
and conferences, personal or by writings : on which occa
sion, the Avorld loving its own, we had great difficulty and
wrong; such perversions of our words and sayings, such
flouts and jeers, such interruptions and noises, as would
have been abhorred of sober heathens.
However, Ave bore it all, through the holy patience of
Jesus; and in the end of these encounters Avith Ephesian-
like-beasts, we rarely missed of some gained to the faith :
and finding, at long run, that they could neither wrangle,
slander, nor persecute us out of that testimony we had borne
for the living God, and perceiving that the multitude began
to flag, and Avould no longer be the instruments of their
cruelty, taking notice of our great increase, notwithstanding
all these oppositions ; as also seeing that some of their oavii
kindred and acquaintance were converted, whom they al
ways confessed to be more religiously addicted than them
selves, and that this change augmented both their virtue,
and their tender love to their kindred ; many gave over this
way of proceeding, and some moderate respite we had for a
time ; but persecution by fits ; that is, at any time the
clergy has prevailed Avith the civil magistrate : and because
most, if not all, other ways of nonconformity hide and slink,
using their politics for self-preservation ; and that we cannot
desert our standard or testimony, (since it were to be acces
sary to the prevalency of darkness) therefore hath suffering
been our lot above all other nonconformists; as our nation
can witness.
But blessed be the name ofthe everlasting God, who hath
been as a " pillar of fire by night, and a pillar of cloud by
day," and a " rock in a Aveary land," and a pure spring by
fhe Avay-side; and has sustained us by the invisible cordials
of his own love, life, peace, and joy ; and in the ark ofhis
eternal. testament preserved us, making good to us what he
promised of old, that the " old lions should be hungry, and
the young lions should lack their food, and the youth should
faint ; but they that waited upon the Lord, and trusted in
their God, should renew their strength ; and no good thing
would be withheld from them : they should Avalk, and not
be weary ; they should run, and not faint." Yea, he often
compassed us about with many and precious promises ; and
so great was our resolution for the Lord, that, with
Habakkuk, we could say; " Though the fig-tree shall not
blossom ; neither shall fruit be in the vines \ the labour of
the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the
flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no
herd in the stalls ; yet we will rejoice in the Lord, Ave will

PRINCESS ELIZABETH, &C 333
joy in the God of our salvation : the Lord God is our
strength, and he will make our feet like hind's feet, and he
will make us to walk upon the high places ;" and that hath
he done many a time to our astonishment ; for he hath given
us power from on high " to bind kings in chains, and nobles
in fetters of iron, to tread upon the necks of our enemies,
and to possess the gates of them that once hated us." O,
I could write a volume of the judgments and mercies and
faithfulness of the Lord ; who hath kept us, increased us,
confirmed us, protected us, and comforted us to this very
day: for which thousands are the souls and spirits, that day
and night, in white linen, the raiment of the first resurrec
tion, bow and reverence, honour and praise, glorify and
exalt Him, that aits upon the throne, and the Lamb who is
worthy for ever !
But much of that wonderment, suffering and reproach is
over ; the rigour of our enemies abated ; and the blessed
Light and Truth in the conscience, becomes valuable in the
esteem of many, and the sincere followers of it greatly re
spected ; and that by persons of very great quality. And
though the laAVS, oaths, and other customs of our country
restrain men of authority from entirely falling in with us,
or conferring any secular employments upon us ; yet have
they, with great importunity, sought to us in their OAvn per
sonal and family concerns, and reposed all trust and con
fidence in us. And blessed be the Lord, Avho hath kept us
in the Avay of integrity, and that has so marvellously turned
the hearts ofthe great ones ofthe earth, insomuch that we
pan say, Avhen those that would be thought as the heavens
have sought our destruction, the earth, mere Avorldly great
•men, have often helped the woman, and saved us from
the raging envy of the scribes and pharisees : blessed be
the name of the Lord our God ; who is a God like unto
him ?
And farthermore this know : noAv that God hath made
this passage in the land of our nativity, and cast his firm
anchor of hope in the souls of many thousands in this island,
he Avill suddenly break in upon the nations about us; and
all these distresses, that now are in the bowels of Europe,
are to prepare the way of the Lord. God will thin the
people : he will pinch, pine, and wither countries ; and
into confusion shall Europe run more and more: and Avhen
their distress is complete, then shall they cry early and
earnestly after the Lord. And welcome, O beauteous, shall
the feet of them be, that bring glad tidings to the weary,
and the distressed; and when Europe is brought so low,
as to see " there is no helper in the earth," then shall

334 LETTER TO THE
heaven be in request ; and to heaven shall her inhabitants
look ; and from thence shall he come into their hungry
souls, whom they have looked for.
And this is the word ofthe Lord, that lives in my soul to
you ; " The Lord, whom you look for, shall suddenly come
to his temple," even your hearts. O prepare, prepare j
make ready ; watch unto his appearing in you, to make you
a fit habitation for his holiness to dwell in. Let him have
your whole hearts ; let the mangers be for the beasts, and
not for the Babe of Glory, whose very birth brings " Glory
to God on high, peace on earth, and good-will toAvards
men." Yet sorrow goes before, and will gird all nations ; for in
that day, when they " shall see him whom they have pierced^
all kindreds, tribes, and families, shall mourn, as one would
sorrow for one's first-born, and be in bitterness as for one's
only child." And with such shall it be well ; for to them it
will be not only a day of visitation, but redemption.
But woe unto the idol shepherds, in that day, who have
fed themselves, and not the flock ; who have run, and God
never sent them ; and cried, 'Thus said the Lord,' and God
never spake to them ; and that have preyed upon the flock,
and prepared war against those, that in conscience could
not put into their hireling mouths; that have been the
great emissaries of the false prophet ; and to all that com
mit sin with greediness, and will have none ofthe Lord, nor
of the knowledge of his ways ; but, with the priests and
rulers of this world, that have drunk deep draughts of the
blood ofthe saints, and martyrs of Jesus : from the eyes of
such shall repentance be hid in that day, and their tongues
will be scorched with the heat thereof; and they will utter
blasphemies against' the Most High, and their end will be
eternal perdition.
" And behold, I stand at the door, and knock," saith the
Lord God ; " I am ready to be revealed." It shall not be
said, " The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the chil
dren's teeth are set on edge :" but thus saith the Lord,
" Every soul shall bear his own burden ; and for the ini
quity that he hath done, shall he die; unless he die to sin
by unfeigned repentance : for my swift witness, who is
faithful and true, is arising, and by him will I plead with all
flesh." " Wherefore, wo to all the inhabitants of the earth, that
have cast my law behind their back, and grieved my Holy
Spirit : that have taken counsel, and not of me, and that
have forgotten me days without number: that have lived
wantonly upon the earth, and consumed their days in plea-

PRINCESS ELIZABETH, &C 335
sures : that have multiplied sacrifices unto me, but have not
hearkened unto my Avord : that serve me with their lips, ,
while their hearts are far from me : that offer unto me in
cense, and yet oppress the Holy One of Israel with their
iniquities : my soul loaths your assemblies, and your sacri
fices are an abomination unto me."
" O repent, repent : turn unto me ; (why will you die ?)
that I may give you life: obey the light of my Son in your
hearts, and ye shall yet live before me."
" And all you that separate yourselves from the multi
tude, in whom my Spirit has been stirring, but have
quenched it with your own stirrings, and have made a fire
of the sticks that you have gathered ; and that compass
yourselves about in the sparks of the fire that you have
kindled, which is not the fire that comes from heaven),
behold ! this shall you have at my hand ; you shall all lie
down in sorrow."
" Wherefore, hear and live : my sacrifice is in mine own
Spirit : whose motions do thou wait for, in the silence of all
flesh ; and give up thyself, in obedience unto the same, and
I will touch thy heart with a coal from my own holy altar ;
and a living sacrifice shalt thou offer unto me on my sab
bath-day, in which thou shalt rest from thy own Avorks, and
therein shall my soul be delighted, and thou shalt rejoice
before me : for with me the Lord is everlasting wisdom,
strength, and refreshment."
This is the ancient way of the Lord ; this is the path of
our God. To you I write, worthy and great women, that
you may walk in it, and be of that number, which at this
day, (wherein one cries, " Lo here," another, " Lo there")
may lay hold on the skirt of the true Jew, the spiritual cir
cumcision, revealing himself, it may be but as " a day of
small things" at first, in your souls, that you may see him,
the only rock to build upon, that your peace may be great
in the Lord, when troubles are round about you. For by
that shall the begotten of God be known, and eminently
discovered in the days of universal calamity : tranquillity,
patience, faith, and perseverance, shall conspicuously shine
in their very countenances.
Something rose in my heart, to write of my own convince
ment to you, with what entertainment 1 received from
kindred, acquaintance, rulers, &c. the many circumstances
belonging to my conversion and travail ; Avhich, though
inferior to your quality, might not be ungrateful or un
serviceable to you. But I see it is not to be this season ;
besides, I have been very large already, yet all along in
obedience to the love and life of my God in my soul, being

236 LETTER, &C.
herein acted beside all regard to worldly method, phrase,
or contrivance, unworthy of them that take in hand to
write of divine things at the will and appointment of God.
I commit and commend you to the word of Jesus, nigh in
your hearts ; in the holy Avatches of it to be kept and pre
served, that the evil-one touch you not : and that this holy
word, which is Christ, the Son of the living God, may be
brought forth in you, have room in your hearts to live and
grow, till you are replenished therewith. A great mystery
it is, but very true, and to the children of light very plain,
' That he that brings us forth into the regeneration, is
brought forth in us : the church is born of Christ, and
Christ is born of the church:' wherefore the apostle wrote
to the Galatians, that he " travailed in birth agairi, till
Christ Avas formed in them:" and what is this virgin church,
but so many virgin members, that, being overshadowed by
the Holy Ghost, conceives, and in the fulness of time brings
forth, this glorious man-child, that is to rule the nations.
Wherefore, in that pure virgin life, live ; where the sweet
overshadowings of the holy life of Jesus are felt, that you
may continually bring forth fruits to the honour and glory
of the name of the Lord ; which is the way to your eternal
peace. I have but one thing more, and I take my leave of you
at this time ; and that is, Remember the poverty, simplicity,
self-denial, patience, and the cross of Jesus, I beg of you, by
all that is dear and sacred to you : shrink not at his baptism,
neither so much as temper with any latitude, that would
evade his bitter cup. Let not his vinegar and gall be un
pleasant, nor his crown of thorns troublesome : nor, last of
all, let not his nails and spear be terrible to you : for they
that will not forsake him in his agonies, but be the compa
nions ofhis tribulations, and cheerfully lay doAvn their life,
and die with him to the world ; they, and none else, shall
rise Avith him in the newness of life, and ascend Avith him to
his Father, by him to be glorified, with that glory which he
had with his Father before the world began.
Unto which kingdom God Almighty conduct you, through
this earthly pilgrimage. Amen.
Yours, in that love and life which reigqed before sin
or death had a being,
W. P.

A
SUMMONS, OR CALL,
TO
CHRISTENDOM;
In an earnest Expostulation with her, to prepare for that
great and notable Day of the Lord, that is at the Door.

Published in the Year 1675.

Awake, O Christendom ! Awake, and come to judg
ment ; for the great and notable day ofthe Lord is drawing
apace upon thee : prepare to meet him, thou and thy
children, for the hour ofhis judgment hasteneth upon you,
as travail on a woman with child, in all which your Avorks
shall be tried, and that by fire : for " the day of the Lord
shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, and all that do
wickedly, shall be as stubble." Yea, " by fire and by
sword will the Lord God Almighty plead Avith all flesh ;"
with all fleshly worshippers and workers, who live after the
flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof: and with the spirit of judg
ment, and the spirit of burning, that is, Avith spiritual judg
ment and burning, will he visit all ranks and regions upon
the earth : yea, his holy terrors shall take hold ofthe rebel
lious, and anguish and distress shall fill the souls of the
guilty. The faces of nations shall gather paleness, and
their knees smite together, because ofthe anger of God that
is kindling against them, and his fierce wrath that is reveal
ing from heaven against all the ungodly, but more especially
against the children of the " Mystery of iniquity:" it is in
this day that the kindreds of the earth shall mourn with a
great lamentation.
O Christendom ! Thou hast long sat as a queen, that
should never knoAV sorrow : great have been thy pretences,
and large thy profession of God, Christ, Spirit, .and scrip
tures : come, let me expostulate with thee and thy children,
in the fear and presence of him that shall bring every word
and Avork to judgment. God is pure, and the pure in heart
only see him : now, are ypu pure ? Do you see him ? God
, isa Spirit, and none can worship him aright, but such as
Vol. ii. y

338 A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM.
come to his Spirit, and obey it : Do you so ? Christ is the
gift of God : Have you received him in your hearts ? Does
he rule there ? Then have you eternal life abiding in you :
if not, you are not true Christians. The Spirit of Truth
leadeth into all truth ; and the children of God are. born of
it, and led by it. But are you led into all the holy ways of
truth, born of this eternal Spirit ? Then yoii follow not the
spirit of this world ; nor do your own wills, but the Avill of
God. You profess the holy scriptures ; but what do you
witness and experience ? What interest have you in them ?
Can you set to your seal they are true, by the work of the
same Spirit in you, that gave them forth in the holy ancients ?
What are David's roarings and praises to thee, that livest
in the, lusts of this world ? What are Paul's and Peter's ex
periences to thee, that walkest after the flesh?
O you, that are called Christians, give ear a little unto
me, for 1 am pressed in spirit to Avrite to you : read with
patience, and consider my words ; for, behold, Avhat I have
to say unto you concerneth your eternal good.
" God hath so loved the world, that hp hath sent his only-
begotten Son into the world, that those that believe on him,
should have eternal life." And this Son is Christ Jesus, the
true light, that lighteth every one coming into the world ;
and they that abide not in him, the light, dwell in darkness,
in sin, and are under the region and shadow of death: yea,
dead in sin, and see not their own states, neither perceive
the sad conditions of their own souls. They are blind to
the things of God's kingdom, and unsensible of true and
spiritual life and motion, what it is to live to God ; and, in
that state, are alienated from God, without true judgment
and living knowledge, and under the curse. For in Jesus
Christ, the light of the world, are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge, redemption and glory; they are
hid from the worldly Christian, from all that are captivated
by the spirit and lusts of the Avorld : and whoever would see
them (for therein consist the things that belong to their
eternal peace) must come to Christ Jesus, the true light in
their consciences, bring their deeds to him, love him and
obey him ; whom God hath ordained " a light to lighten
the Gentiles, and for his salvation to the ends of the earth."
Light and salvation are joined together; and none can
come to salvation, but as they come first to the light, and
submit to the manifestation of it, which leadeth to salvation.
For " the nations of them that are saved, shall walk in the
light of the Lamb, Christ Jesus." Light and justification
are also joined together : " If we walk in the light, as God
is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth

A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM. 339
us from all sin." And light and life eternal are joined to
gether : " For in the Word (that Avas with God in the
beginning, and was God, by Whom all things were made,
that were made) was life, and the life was the light of men."
And this is the testimony of Jesus, " I am the light ofthe
world ; he that followeth me shall not abide in darkness,
but have the light of life :" yea, it is eternal life to believe
in him, in Christ, the light ; to receive, embrace, and to
follow him. And " that was the true light," saith the same
beloved disciple, "Avhich lighteth every man thatcometh info
the world." Now this light shineth in darkness, in the
children of darkness, in their dark hearts, in their black
souls, and defiled consciences ; but in this darkness they
comprehend it not : neither can man know the nature and
benefit of it, whilst he rebelleth against it : for the virtue
and excellency of it is shut up and hid from the children of
disobedience." To as many as received him of old, gave he
power to become the children of God ; and they that did
his will, knew his doctrine to be of God, and of power and
efficacy to their salvation.
But this is the great condemnation of the world at this
day, that though God hath sent his Son, a light, into the
hearts of all men and Avomen, to manifest and reprove their
evil deeds, and to save them ; yet they love darkness, they
love the lusts and imaginations of their vain hearts, better
than this holy light, that is given unto them for salvation :
they choose Barabbas rather than Jesus. Yea, they have
set up other lights, than Christ Jesus, God's great light ;
and other prophets than Christ, God's great prophet ; and
other priests than Jesus, the High Priest of the new cove
nant : but they are dark lights, false prophets, and blind
priests. "All that came before me," saith Christ, "are
thieves and robbers :" and all that pray, preach, sing, wor
ship, &c. and not by the light and spirit of Jesus, they go
before Christ, before Christ cometh, before he prepareth
their hearts, and toucheth their lips, with a coal from his
heavenly altar; and perform worship in their OAvn will,
time, and power, and stay not for his leadings. And there
fore all such rob Christ of his office, who is the leader of
the true Christians ; their heavenly high priest, to anoint
them, and offer up their sacrifice to God for them ; and pro
phet, to let them see and knoAv, by his light in their hearts,
what they ought to do, according to the new and everlasting
covenant; "I will write my law in their hearts, and put my
spirit in their inward parts, and they shall be all taught of
me, saith the Lord."
Now this is the question to the whole world called Chris-
y 2

340 A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM.
tians : Do you see with this divine light ? Have you search
ed your hearts with it ? And are you anointed by this High
Priest with his holy unction, that leadeth into all truth ?
Doth this heavenly prophet give you vision, and reveal the
Father to you ? Is he your eye, your head, your wisdom ?
Do you live, move, and have your life and being in him, in
praying, preachings and singing, yea, in your whole conver
sation ? Are you renewed into his life and image ? And
have you heard his voice, and seen his shape ? Are you wit
nesses of his holy rebukes, his pure judgments, the shame
and death of his cross ? Is he the fountain of your know
ledge ? The author of your faith ? O consider ! are you
of those that have spoke with Jesus ? That have been taught
in the school of his holy cross ? Students in his heavenly
academy ? O have you drank of his cup, and been baptized
with his baptism ? Tell me, in the fear of the Lord God,
you that call yourselves Christians, doth he go before you,
and lead you, as a master teacheth his disciples, and a cap
tain leadeth his soldiers ? And do you follow him in all the
weighty things of this life ? And doth he order your minds,
and rule your affections ? If not, you are thieves and rob
bers ; for you rob Christ of his office. For God hath ap
pointed him to be the leader and ruler of all people; yea, it
is God's decree ; and those that he leadeth not, in their
thoughts, words, and works, shall never come to God : for
all must come to God by him, that is, by his light and spi
rit ruling in their hearts, which sanctifieth, regenerateth,
and converteth the soul to God.
And the cause of the confusion and contention that is
about religion in Europe at this day, is, that men have de
serted this true light and holy spirit, and so are degenerated
from the life and poAver of pure and unspotted religion, and
have attempted to comprehend Christ's doctrines with
out Christ's light, and to know the things of God, without
the Spirit of God. And being thus miserably erred, by
wicked works, from the One Spirit of Truth, they have wan
dered into the fallible conceits and opinions of men. And
in this state one party hath contended against another : from
words they have fallen to blows, and the strongest hath op
posed the weakest. And not knoiving what spirit they were
of, have called light darkness, and darkness light ; putting
the sheep's skin upon the wolf, and the wolf's skin upon the
poor sheep of Christ, endeavouring by carnal Aveapons to
enforce their opinions, and, to extort conformity, by worldly
' laws and punishments, to their persuasions. All this is out
of the light, life, and doctrine of Christ Jesus, and in the
spirit of darkness, confusion, strife, and bloodshed, Avhich

A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM. 341
are of the devil. All which Babel must and shall come
down, by the light, power, and spirit of Jesus, now rising
in the world ; and hell, death, and the grave, shall not be
able to hinder it : for the set time, the appointed time ofthe
Father, is come, and the judgment is begun.
O ye, that are called Roman Catholics, tell me, are you
truly catholic, that is, of an universal spirit ? Then you will
not persecute, but love all, and be tender to all. Are you
truly Roman, and successors of that ancient, apostolical
church ? Then you walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit; yea, the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in you, and ypu
are led by the Spirit of God, and can call him Father in
truth and righteousness, and the Word of God in the heart is
your teacher, and not the traditions of men ; for so the Ro
mans of old time were instructed. O consider, if you are
true successors, you must follow them in the same nature,
spirit, and life; for in that only standeth the Christian suc
cession, to wit, in Christ : and every branch, person, or
church, that abideth not in this great vine, is rejected for
the fire. Therefore deceive not yourselves, as the Jews of
old did, with crying, " The temple ofthe Lord, the temple
ofthe Lord;" and saying, "We have Abraham to our fa
ther, and to us belong the fathers, covenants, law, priest
hood, and chair of Moses :" for, as the apostle said of old,
so say I to you ; " His servants you are, to whom you obey ;"
and " He that committeth sin, is of the devil." So that
Christ's successors are they that take up his cross, folloAV
him, and that abide in his holy doctrine, that keep his com
mandments, and themselves unspotted from the Avorld. And
those that follow the " lust ofthe eye, the lust of the flesh,
and pride of life," are not of Christ, nor of the Father, but
ofthe world ; subjectsto the prince of the power ofthe air,
and successors of Sodom, Gomorrah, Egypt, Tyre, Sidon,
and persecuting Jerusalem ; and not of the harmless, self-
denying, holy, suffering spouse of Christ Jesus, that is
ruled in all things by her husband, her head, her Lord. O
search and try, with the light of Jesus, if you are not dege
nerated from primitive simplicity and purity ? For great
are the abominations of all sects, that Aoav like a deluge
throughout your countries ! Repent, and turn to the ancient
apostolical spirit and life, that you may enter into the rest
of God.
O you that call yourselves Evangelics, or Gospellers, are
you evangelical ? Are you saved from the lusts, and plea
sures, and dead worships ofthe world, by the mighty power
of God, which is the gospel, and led by an evangelical spi
rit ? If not, you are not yet redeemed, you are not yet un-

A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM;
der grace, which is the gospel state : for you are not taught
by'it, but rebel against it ; how then are you true gospellers,
men of gospel-liberty, men of deliverance and redemption ;
to whom immortality js-brought to light, (as it is to all that
truly know and receive thfe blessed gospel ): that are yet sub
jects and servants to sin ? How can you sing the song ofthe
Lamb, that are not yet delivered by the Lamb ; but, by your
vain conversations, crucify the Lamb, and do despite to the
Spirit of grace, and that every day ? The true gospellers
are those that receive the angel's message, who is the great
preacher of the everlasting gospel, viz. " Fear God, give
glory to his name, for the hour of his judgment is come ;
and no more worship the beast." Do you fear God, in truth
and in sincerity? Then are you fearful of offending the
Lord, and tender of God's glory; then are your hearts kept
clean, then are you wise to salvation ; and so you can glo
rify God indeed : otherwise, your prayers and praises are
not evangelical in God's sight.
But tell me, Oye Gospellers, is the hour ofhis judgment
come to you ? Is it begun at your houses yet ? How^do you
feel it ? Hath it broke your hearts ? Hath it contrited your
spirits ? Have ye known the godly sorrow ? The chastise
ments of the Lord, and rebukes ofthe Almighty ? Hath his
pure eternal word divided yet betAvixt your soul and spirit,
the joints and marrow? HaA'e you ever been weary and
heavy laden Avith sin ; hath it been a burden to you ? ' Did
you ever cry out, in the agony of your spirits yet, " Men
and brethren, what shall Ave do to be saved ? O ! who shall
deliver us from the body of sin here, and the wrath to
come !" (the travail ofthe holy ancients) : if not, yon are
yet strangers to Christ and his kingdom : and if you die in
that state, where he is gone, you shall never come. " For
Sion," God's city, " must be redeemed through judg
ments, and her converts through righteousness: yea, the
house of God cannot escape it :" wherefore said one of old,
'"' If judgment begin at the house of God, where shall the
sinner and ungodly appear ?" O wo to them that live with
out the judgments of the Lord ! Wo to them that cast his
reproofs behind their backs, and live in earthly pleasures,
fatting up themselves in lusts and pleasures, as for the day
of slaughter, and treasuring up wrath against the day of
wrath. 0 the ancient saints lived not thus ; they Avrought
out their salvation with "fear and trembling ;" yea, they
gave all diligence, to make their calling and election sure :
Avhich way do you work out yours ? Habakkuk, that holy
prophet, " his lips quiA'ered, and his belly trembled, that
his soul might rest in the day of trouble :" is this your state ?

A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM. 343
Or, are you not rather worshippers of the beast at this day,
lovers of the worldly, sensual, voluptuous life, Avalking in
the lusts of the eye, the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of
life ; like rebellious Israel of old, " forgetting God days
without number?" But this know, that "all that forget
God shall be turned into hell."
O! what is become of the fatherly visitation made to your
progenitors, those good beginnings sown in persecutions and
martyrdoms ? Have you answered the loving-kindness of
God therein ? Have you advanced in the way of righteous
ness ? Are you become an holy nation, and a peculiar peo
ple of God, zealous of good works ? But have you not be
taken yourselves to the wisdom and learning of this world
to make ministers, and deserted the Spirit of the Lord, and
fled to the power and policy of this world, to defend and
protect you, and not to the name ofthe Lord, which hath al
ways been the strong tower of the righteous ? Nay, are you
not divided one against another, and turned persecutors for
religion yourselves, denying that liberty to others, you took
for yourselves ? Ah ! Avhere is the royal law of " doing as
you Avould be done unto ?"
Thus have you decayed and degenerated into a worldly
clergy, and a carnal people ; holding and maintaining re
formed words, in an unreformed spirit. Yea, are not the
same evils, pride, passion, malice, wars, bloodshed, persecu
tion, deceit, fleshly lusts, wantonness, vain pleasures and
sports, yea, all manner of worldly-mindedness, to be found
in you, that were in the persecutors of your fore-fathers, and
against which your most serious and best ancestors faith
fully testified ? So that the difference now is about words
and sentences, and not about the life, nature and spirit of
' pure and undefiled religion :' and men are to be known
now by their denominations and subscriptions to certain hu
man creeds, man-made faiths and forms, and not by the
spirit and image of Christ Jesus, by the nature of the true
sheep, and by that holy unction, that was the bond of the
heavenly fellowship ofthe saints of old.
And you, that are called reformed, with the rest of the
subdivided sects, Avhat better are you for your names ? Are
\e regenerated yet? Are you reformed from the lust of the
eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life; from the
devil, and all his works ? Are you born of the incorrupti
ble seed, that liveth and abideth for ever? And are you
come out of the corruptible things, and doth Christ lead
you ? Is the government of your souls upon his shoulders ?
Tell me, is it the new birth, that which is born of God
.through many tribulations, the new man created in Christ

344 A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM.
Jesus, that calleth God Father in your prayers, and that
maketh mention of him in your preachings? Or is it the
first birth, of the earth, earthly, the old man, the corrupt
and unregenerated nature, that which is born of the flesh,
that is to say, of the seed of the evil-one, the father of all
the fleshly lusts, inventions, imaginations and traditions of
men, that taketh pleasure in the vain and wicked sports and
pleasures of this apostate world, that forget God, and turn
his grace into Avantonness ; reproaching, nicknaming, and
persecuting the children of regeneration, with scornful
names, and cruel punishments, calling God Father, as the
Jews did ; and crucifying Christ afresh by a vain conversa
tion, at the same, time.
O you degenerated Christians of all sorts, yea, all the
several sects in Christendom, that have deserted your first
love, and degenerated from the life and power of primitive
godliness, with the light of Christ Jesus in your hearts, exa
mine yourselves. " God hath lighted your candle," search
and try yourselves : see how it standeth with you as to your
eternal condition, before you go hence, and be no more in
this world. Consider, are you in the true faith of Christ,
or not ? For without true faith none can please God ; and
without pleasing him, no man can be saved. The devils
believe, yea, and tremble too ; that is more than thousands
called Christians do, and so far they are short ofthe very
devils. Have you faith ? Let us try it, in the name of God.
What is it for faith ? Doth it overcome the world ? Doth
it live, and depend, upon God ? Can it forsake country and
kindred? Turn out Ishmael ? Offer up Isaac ? Live a pil
grim, a stranger in the world ? Doth it work by that love,
which can forsake all for Christ's name sake ? Doth it fight
against the devil ? Resist his fiery darts ? Overcome his
assaults and temptations ? And, finally, purify the soul to
God's use ? Is this your faith, O you carnal, outside Chris
tians ? No such matter ; for you shall live in the flesh, ful
filling the lusts thereof; and your care is, what you shall
eat, drink, and put on, and how you shall get the mammon,
friendship, and glory, of this Avorld. Examine youselves,
and piepare, for the day of the Lord hasteneth upon you.
And have a care, lest you partake of the plagues that God
hath prepared for Babylon ; she that calleth herself the
" Lamb's bride," and is an harlot, committing fornication
throughout all nations and sects; that is, those who, by a
lying spirit, have had their hearts seduced from God and his
holy fear, yet in Avords professed to be his people ; who call
themselves Jews, but are not; Christians, and are not, but
of the synagogue of Satan ; being strangers to the circum-

A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM." 345
cision in spirit, and the baptism that is with fire, and
with the Holy Ghost : with fire, to consume the fleshly na
ture ; andwith the Holy Ghost, to beget the heavenly nature
in man. O the downfall of this great city, and the desola
tion of this false church through all the sects in Christen
dom, is come, and coming ! yea, in one day shall it be ac
complished, even in the day of the appearance of Christ,
who is the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, who, by the
" brightness of his coming," and by the " breath of his
mouth," in the hearts of nations, shall reveal, and destroy,
this great antichrist, this man of sin, in man, that sitteth in
the place of God, yea, exalted above all that is called God,
requiring conformity to all his inventions and injunctions,
upon pain of life, liberty, and estate : nor are any suffered to
buy or sell in this great city, but such as will " receive his
mark." Wo to you all, in the name of the Lord, that call God
your Father, and are not born of him ; that name his name,
and hate to be reformed : that call Jesus Lord, and not by
the Holy Ghost ; who take his pure name into your mouths,
and depart not from iniquity. 1 say to you, on God's be
half, as God said to the Jews of old ; " Your prayers, your
sacrifices, and your solemn assemblies, &c. in an unconverted
state, are abomination to the Lord." No matter for your
names, your pretences, your creeds, if you live without God
in the world ; that is, without his holy awe in your hearts,
without a divine sense of his presence in your souls, and
know not that godly sorrow^ that worketh unfeigned repent
ance, the only way to eternal life. Your worship God loath-
eth : a dog's neck, swine's blood, yea, to bless an idol, or kill
a man, is altogether as acceptable with the Lord. O ! God
is wroth with the feigned worships, as well as common un
godliness, of the world : come to Christ's Spirit, be led of
it ; and do not your oAvn wills, but the will of Christ
Jesus ; and then you shall know the true worship. For
the true ministry and worship of God, stand not in the
will, wisdom, or appointment of men ; nor can .they be
performed by unregenerated men, but in the leadings of
his eternal Spirit, by whom all the faithful offer up them
selves an acceptable sacrifice to God, not to live unto
themselves, but to him that hath purchased them. It is true,
Christ Jesus died for the ungodly, but not that they should
continue ungodly, but take up his daily cross, and follow
him. " Christ," saith Peter, " suffered for us, leaving us an
example, that we should follow his steps :" as he was in
this world, so we should be ; not conformable to the rudi
ments, fashions, and customs of this world, that pass away ;

346 A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM.
but transformed and renewed in our minds, by the grac
that he hath given us : Avhich grace bringeth salvation to al
that obey it; teaching such to deny aU ungodliness, and
worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in
this present evil world : because^ " without holiness, none
shall ever see the Lord :" that is God's decree.
Wherefore be you not deceived, O you formal and titu
lar Christians ; God " will not be mocked : such as you
soav, such shall you reap at the hand of the Lord : yea,
for every idle word shall you give an account in the day
of judgment." Think not with yourselves, you have Christ
to your Saviour, and you are reconciled to God through
Christ, and that God looketh not upon you as you are in
yourselves, but as in Christ ; whilst you walk not after the
Spirit, but after the flesh :." For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our
Lord ?" To Avhom ? Not to them that despise his light in
their hearts, that grieve his Spirit, and, by a worldly con
versation, go on to crucify him ; and who folloAV not Jesus
in the way of tribulation and regeneration. " God is of
purer eyes than to behold iniquity ;" and he looketh upon
men and Avomen to be what they really are, and not what
they imagine themselves to be : " Behold he cometh, and
his reAvard is with him, and he will reward all according to
their works." Sinners, Avhile such, can no more come into
Christ, than into God ; for God is in Christ, and Christ is
in God : Christ is holy, harmless, pure, and undefiled, and
separate from sinners. And if ever you would have God
look upon you to be in Christ, you must come into Christ :
and you can never come into Christ, the new and heavenly
man, that js undefiled, and separated from sinners, till you
come out of sin, and the author of it, the devil, the old man
of sin, and leave your wicked deeds of darkness.
Therefore, be ye separate from every evil way : Christ,
the immaculate Lamb of God, came not only to save men
from wrath, but from sin, which is the cause of wrath. " Be
hold the Lamb of God," saith John, " which taketh away
the sin of the world :" not their sin that will not believe in
him, but the sins of those that are weary and heavy laden,
that wait, hunger, thirst, and cry for his salvation ; whom
God hath given for a light to lighten the Gentiles, and for
his sah'ation to the ends ofthe earth. O you that are called
by his sacred name, repent, repent ! Prepare, prepare to
meet the Lord, who is coming, in the way of his judgments,
to visit the inhabitants ofthe earth ; and put away the evil
of your doings, and turn to him, that he may receive yoii.
But wo, in the name ofthe Lord, to all that rebel against

A SUMMONS TO CHRI8TEND0M, 347'
the light of Christ Jesus, who serve another master, aud fol
low another captain, and obey the prince of the power of
the air, who reigneth in the hearts of the children of disobe
dience. Yea, " Wo unto all, who are covered With a co
vering, and not of my Spirit ; that take counsel, and not of
me," saith, the Lord: " who gather sticks, aridkindle a fire
of their own, and compass themselves about in the sparks
which they have kindled ; for this shall they have at my
hand, They shall lie down in sorrow."
Wo, from God, to all the will-ivorshippers, who worship,
but not in the Spirit and in the truth ; their worship is not
available. He that worships God aright is turned to the
Spirit, and is taught and led by the Spirit. And such as
have received the Spirit of Christ are not led by their own
spirits, nor by the spirit of this world, nor according to the
inventions and traditions of men : neither do they conform
themselves to the customs and fashions of this world, nor
will they bow to the glory of this world, or the god of it.
But having seen him, whom they have pierced with their
vain conversation in times past, they mourn, and are in great
bitterness, because they have done despite to his Holy Spirit
of grace, that strove so long with them for their redemption.
And being called, by his spiritual call in their hearts, to
come out of Babylon, the great city of will-worship, confu
sion, and darkness, that is in the earth, do cheerfully resign
up all, to follow him in the narrow way of self-denial, as
his holy disciples did of old. And such have learned, by
good experience, that without Christ they can do nothing :
though in these days scarcely any thing is done with him, or
by him. For he is resisted, in hisspiritual appearance, in
the consciences of those that make only a profession. of him
with their mouths, and therefore he doth not many mighty
works in them : yea, he is smitten, spit upon, crowned with
thorns, pierced and crucified, of all false Christians, through
their rebellion and wickedness.
O wo, from the great and just God, that made heaven and
earth, upon all people that ivork iniquity, and forget God !
Wo to you, kings and princes, that have crucified the
" Lord of life and glory ;" yea, you have crucified him in
yourselves, and helped to crucify him in others : he lieth
slain af this day in your streets. For you have not ruled
for God, as you ought to have done, but for yourselves, to
please your own lusts ; and have not sought the glory pf
the Lord, nor the prosperity of his work in the earth, so
much as the greatness of your oAvn names, and to enlarge
your worldly dominions; often oppressing the poor, and
-persecuting conscientious dissenters^ but suffering almost

A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM.
all manner of vice and vanity to go unpunished. How dotl
the lust ofthe eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride o*
life, reign in your territories ? Are not your courts the very
schools of vanity, and nurseries of worldly lusts and plea
sures, which Avar against the soul, and lead to eternal de
struction ? O ! you have much to answer for before the
great God, at the day of his terrible tribunal, who have
power in your hands to chase away wickedness, and to re
form the Avorld. It is written, " A king upon his throne of
judgment scattereth all evil with his eye :" O that the
lungs and princes of the world knew this throne of true
judgment! that they had this godlike majesty, that they
would purge their lands of evil-doers, that they and their
people might escape the wrath and vengeance of God, that
is ready to be poured forth upon them !
And wo to you, nobles of the earth, that spend your es
tates in pleasures, and your days in vanity, that, like those
of old, " drink wine in bowls, and stretch yourselves upon
Couches of ivory : that invent musical instruments for your
mirth, but remember not the afflictions of Joseph, neither
consider of your latter end." What pride, lust, and excess
lie at your doors ! What spoil and waste do you make in
the world ! You live as if you should never die ; caring
only what you should eat, what you should drink, and what
you should put on ; how you should trim, perfume, and
beautify your poor mortal selves, and at which plays and
sports you should divert and spend away that troublesome
and melancholy thing called time, as you esteem it, instead
Of " redeeming the time, because the days- are evil," and
preparing for the eternal judgment. Is this the way to
glory ? Did Jesus give you this example ? O ! he is cru
cified by these things ! This is far from the true nobility,
and Christian honour, that cometh from above.
Wo to you, judges of the earth, who pervert judgment
for a reward, that oppress the poor, and despise the cause
ofthe needy ; who regard the mighty and the rich in judg
ment, and delay justice for the fear or favour of man. That
subject the laws to your wills, and righteous rules to your
passions and interest. Repent, and be just ; for God, the
just God, the great Judge of heaven and earth, shall judge
you all according to your ivorks : and dreadful shall that
day ofhis reckoning bind tribunal be, to all the workers of
iniquity ; but especially to unjust and corrupt judges.
And wo to you, lawyers, that refuse no cause for money ;
but will plead even against law, truth, and justice, for ad
vantage ; teaching your tongues to advocate for a lie, and
your mouths for gain, to plead the cause of unrighteous-

A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM. 349
ness ; raising unreasonable wealth unto yourselves, by the
folly, ignorance, and contention ofthe people. 0 the equi
vocation, deceit, falsehood, and iniquity, that is in your
profession, in which you let your consciences out to hire at
every summons, for all sorts of causes : insomuch, that it is
the mortey, and not the cause, that prevaileth. And the
worst cause most commonly is most desired, because the
client, doubtful ofhis success, is usually the most liberal to
you. This also is for judgment.
And wo to you, merchants and traders, that have not the
Lord's fear before your eyes, whose god is gold and gain ;
that neither buy nor sell with regard to his just principle in
your consciences ; that use vain and deceitful words, and
that are not come to the just measure, and the righteous
balance, but use frauds for advantage : that neither eye the
Lord's providence by sea, nor his care by land ; but day and
night cast about how to raise to yourselves a great name
and estate, to exalt your nests, and rank your families among
the rich and the noble of the earth ! The Lord will also
plead with you : repent, and fear before God.
Wo to you, farmers and countrymen, that reward the
Lord evil for good, who giveth you increase of all thin°s
in their proper seasons, yet you discern not his hand, you
regard not his care ; you live " without God in the world :"
yet no life is fuller ofthe Lord's providence, who preserveth
and prospereth your flocks, who increaseth your wine, your
corn, and your grass; instead of remembering his goodness
with reverence, and in your harvests praising him Avith fear,
you sacrifice to your lusts, and rejoice only in your fulness;
making merry at your harvests, without the fear of God, or
looking to him, that giveth you to increase. Repent, and
fear before the God ofthe whole earth.
But, above all others, wo to you scribes, pharisees, and
hypocrites, you priests and pastors, who have taken a charge
that God never gave you ; Avhorun, and he never sent you ;
who say, " Thus saith the Lord," and he never spoke to
you, or by you : that steal the Avords of the prophets and
apostles, and with them make merchandize to the people,
not knowing the pure word of God in your hearts to be as
an hammer, a fire, a sword, to destroy sin, and to purge,
redeem, and reconcile you to God; but boast in other
men's lines, and speak things made ready to your hands :
that " teach for hire, and divine for money ;" avIvo seek ho
nour of men, and love the uppermost places at feasts : who
speak peace to the wicked, and sew pillows under their
elbows for reward : pleasers of men, more than pleasers of
God. Wo to you, in the name of the Lord, that counterfeit

350 A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM.
his commission, and deceive the people, requiring their mo
ney for that which is not bread, and their labour for that
which doth not profit : at your doors lieth the blood of
souls, in which you have traded. O you physicians of no
value, whom have you cured ? Where is the seal of
your ministry ? Is it not an abominable cheat, that you
take money to cure, yet cannot cure ; thathave no medicine
to cure; and, at last, maintain, that the disease is incurable ?
You are they, that will neither enter into the kingdom your
selves, npr suffer others. For whenever we have seen your
delusions, "and deserted your assemblies, presently a 'packet
of letters' must be sent to ' Damascus :' the magistrate must
be called upon to be jailer and hangman for the priest.
What wars, changes, and persecutions ever befel the world,
since you had a being, in which you have not been at head
pr tail ? O your practices shall more and more come to
light: andthe day hastenetb, that your very name and call
ing (as now held) shall be had in abhorrence by the nations.
0 you numerous offspring of the great false prophet, that
hath been a liar from the beginning; hereby is it known
that God hath never sent you, that you "have not profited
the people;" they are God's words by the prophet Jeremy.
Weep and howl, for the day of your great calamity hasten-
eth upon you ! your father and mother are come into re
membrance before the Lord, the hour of their judgment is
at the door. God will fill you the cup of his fury ; you
shall drink it at his hand.
O ! I cannot but cry aloud to you all, of all ranks and
qualities, from the highest to the lowest, that walk not after
the spirit, but after the flesh, daily fulfilling the lusts there
of; that you would repent and be saved. O how hath
Christ's religion been profaned, and his holy name blas
phemed, by the lewd life of professed Christians ! the very
heathens are scandalized, and the nations round about have
you in scorn and derision. ' Arise, O God, for thy name's
sake!' O what tremendous oaths and lies ! what revenge
and murders, Avhat drunkenness and gluttony ! what pride
and luxury ! what chamberings and wantonness ! what for
nications, rapes, and adulteries ! what masks and revels !
what lustful ornaments, and enchanting attires ! what proud
custoriis, and vain compliments ! what sports and pleasures !
what plays and romances ! what intrigues and pastimes !
Again, what falseness and treachery ! what avarice and op
pression ! what ,flattery and hypocrisy! lvhat malice and
slander ! Avhat contention artd law-suits ! what wars and
bloodshed ! what plunders, fires, and desolations ! And it
is not only committed by Christians in general one against

A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM. 351
another, but by Christians of the same faith, sect, and
church, one against another ; praying to the same God to
destroy one another; and singing psalms to God, when they
have wickedly destroyed one another. O the rapes, fires,
murders, and rivers of blood, that lie at the doors of pro
fessed Christians! If this be godly, what is devilish? If
this be Christian, what is paganish? What is anti-christian,
but to make God a party to their wickedness ? 0 profana
tion ! O blasphemy ! what need is there of any other de
monstration, that Christendom is foully apostatized from the
doctrine and example of Christ Jesus, and his true follow
ers, who saith, "If ye love me, keep my commandments.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye
have love one to another." And John saith, " Whosoever
doth not love his brother, is not of God ; and whosoever
hateth his brother, is a murderer; and ye know, that no
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." Add it is not
to be supposed that they kill one another in love ; for mur
der is not the effect of love and brotherly-kindness, but of
malice, envy, and revenge. O Christendom ! how art thou,
and thy children, degenerated from God, and fallen from
the doctrine of Christ, whose holy name thou professest !
Thou art become a city full of uncleanness, committing
whoredom under every green tree ; following other lovers
than Jesus, whose spouse thou professest to be. O thou re
bellious city, thou cage of unclean birds, thou and thy chil
dren have filled the earth with the stink of your abominations!
O how expert have you been in these impieties ! how in
genious to Avork wickedness, and how fruitful in your in
ventions to gratify the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh,
and the pride of life! O how hath the heathen nature, as
an evil leaven, prevailed, and leavened the great body of
Christians at this day ; as if the end of Christ's coming into
the world had been to furnish us with a new profession, but
not to give us a new nature ; to learn men to talk, and not
to live ; to cry ' Hosanna,' but in works to crucify him.
What did the heathens, that Christians have not done ? Yea,
the same lusts, vanities, and impieties, that reigned among
them, are to be found improved among Christians. So that
it is paganism made free of the Christian profession, or hea
thenism christianed : and not to conform to the heathen in
the Christian, is not to be a Christian, but an heathen. O
the ignorance, as well as wickedness, ofthe present Christ
ian world ! Verily, the Christian life is oppressed under this
mass of darkness and impiety, found in the conversation of
apostate Christians, even as Christ Avas grieved and bur
dened with the darkness and obstinacy of the apostate Jews.

352 A SUMMONS' TO CHRISTENDOM,
And as the hard-heartedness ofthe false Jews crucified him
outAvardly, so hath the hard-heartedness of the false Christ
ians crucified him inwardly : which hath fulfilled what is
recorded in the Apocalypse, viz. " That the Lord was cru
cified in Sodom and Egypt, spiritually so called :" for the
false Christians are the spiritual Sodom and Egypt, who
love and live in Sodom's sins, and Egypt's lusts and plea
sures. Yea, they are of the race of them that stoned the
prophets, and crucified the Lord of glory ; of the same na
ture and spirit. O the blood of Jesus lieth at their doors,
shed, spilt, and trod under foot of them, and will one day
cry for eternal vengeance against them, if they repent not
with unfeigned sorrow, and turn to the Lord with their
whole hearts : certainly, wo, anguish, and tribulation, shall
be their portion for ever ! That which they have grieved,
shall grieve them ; and that which they have bruised and
resisted, shall reject and torment them : yea, it shall be a
never-dying worm, and an endless pain, to them. O wo to
the worker of iniquity in that day ! wo to the slothful ser
vant ! wo to the mocker and scoffer ! wo to the drunkard
and unclean person ! wo to them that spend their days in
vanity, and their life in earthly pleasures ! wo to the proud
pharisee, and disdainful scribe ! wo to the fearful and unbe
lieving ! wo to idolaters and liars ! yea, and wo from God
to all the cruel persecutors ofthe innocent lambs and sheep
of Jesus, for their pure conscience to him ! for they shall
have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brim
stone, which is the " second death."
O that you might escape this great damnation ! and I tes
tify to you, in the word of the Lord, that God giveth unto
you all a day of visitation, in which you may escape the
wrath to come. For this end, God hath sent his Son a light
into your hearts ; it is he which manifesteth all your
thoughts, words, and deeds unto you ; it is he, which checks
and reproveth you ; yea, it is he, which expostulateth and
striveth with you ; it is he, that knocketh at your doors,
and awakeneth you to judgment ; who condemneth every
unfruitful thought, word, and work in you. Repent, I ex
hort you ; turn to him, hear his voice, and harden not your
hearts ; but while it is to-day, and the light shineth, and
the spirit striveth, O humble yourselves, bear his judgments,
love his reproofs. And though his word be as a fire in your
hearts, and though you are even scorched Avithin you, be
cause of the heat thereof, yet bear the indignation of the
Lord, in that you haAe sinned against him. Wait, Avatch,
and walk in the light of the Lord Jesus, that in his blood
you may feel remission of sins, and sanctification unto life

A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM. 353
eternal : that you may no more walk after the flesh, to
fulfil the lusts thereof, but in the spirit of holiness ; that
you may be sealed unto the day of redemption. O the
peace, the joy, the pleasure, and the undeclarable comfort,
that is daily riiet Avith in the holy and righteous way of the
Lord! O this riseth poAverfully in my soul, ' That his form hath
no comeliness in it, that will please flesh ; his way and wor
ship is most remote from it. Flesh and blood have no share
in his Avorship; the will and runnings of man have no part
in his way.' It is neither at the mountain, where one sort
runneth ; nor at Jerusalem, whither another sort goeth ;
but in spirit, within the vail, hid from flesh and blood : yea,
there it is that his worship is known and performed. Any
form is more pleasant than this ; his visage is more marred
than any man's. All will-worship, all human invention,
findeth acceptance, where he cannot find a place to lay his
head on. O this is a bitter cup to the creature; few Avill
drink it ! they are hard to be persuaded to sit still, and pa
tiently to wait for the salvation of God, to let him work all
their works in them and for them. They know not what it
is, to have the " mouth in the dust, to have all flesh silent
before the Lord, that the voice of God may be heard ; that
he may prepare them, and that the will of God may be
brought forth in them." O this mystery of iniquity, how
hath it wrought, and hoAV doth it yet work ! It claimeth a
right to the living child ; but she hath no right to it ; she is
the Avomb of death, and can bring forth no living fruit to
God. All nations have drank her cup. But the hour of
her judgment is come. She is seen, disveiled, and con
demned by the living Spirit of God, that is felt, and received,
and obeyed by a remnant, who are gathered from the mouths
of idol shepherds, and all the errings and strayings of false
prophets, that have no vision; and are come to the Lord,
to know his law in their hearts, and fear and spirit to be in
their inward parts, and are taught and led by him. And
these follow the Lamb, and are his host this day, that fight
under his banner, Avith his holy testimony, against the
whore, false prophet, and beast. And behold they shall
prevail : for greater is he that is in them, than he that is in
the Avorld.
O this is a great mystery, but a greater truth : Moses, the
servant, is, externally, more comely than He : yea, the pro
phets were as pleasant singers, and as delightful instruments
of music; their visions, sights, and glorious prophecies of
the last days, and new-covenant times, were (says one of
them of old) as a pleasant song : but the Son, the substance,
Vol. ii z

354 A SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM,
when he came, had no beauty, no excellency, no comeliness.
What is the matter ? The way is narrow for flesh and blood ;
there is a cross must be taken up, a bitter cup drank, and a
baptism, yea, of blood, gone through. Man must die to his
own will, affections, imaginations, and carnal conceptions ;
he must wait and watch, yea, continually : his own religion
and righteousness is as odious as his sin and iniquity, yea, in
a sense, more dangerous. It is no outside will do ; not that
which pleaseth the busy, active will and mind of the crea
ture, that gratifieth the external senses, that have prevailed
against the soul : O no ; it is an hidden life, an hidden tem
ple, an hidden worship, and that in God's time ; yea, an
hidden manna, an hidden supper, not discernible by the
vain sects of this world. Of this tabernacle is Jesus build
er ; of this covenant and worship is he author ; of this altar
is he priest : to this did he gather his of old, and to this is
he gathering the nations. " And the bride saith, Come ;
and' the Spirit saith, Come; and He saith, Come :" and
blessed are they that come, and see hoAV good he is.
But such who, like Sodom of old, go on to grieA'e the
Spirit ofthe Lord, to rebel against his light, and vex God's
just Lot, that liveth in the midst of them, persisting in their
lusts and abominations, God's angel shall smite them with
blindness : the day of their visitation shall pajs away, and
the forbearance of God shall be at an end, and fire from
heaven shall devour them. Which with my soul I fervently
and tenderly desire you may all escape, whom God hath
taught to hate your sin, deny your glory, and separate from
all your false worships, by his own light, spirit, and truth,
and to follow his dear Son in the way of regeneration ;
whose love to me hath taught me to love all mankind, and
to seek their salvation.

William Penn.

Amsterdam, the 20th of
the 6th month, 1677,

TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE,
BY WAY OF
EPISTLE,
To all those who are sensible of their day of Visitation, and
who have received the Call of the Lord, by the Light and
Spirit of his' Son in their Hearts, to partake of the great
Salvation, wherever scattered throughout the World.
Faith, Hope, and Charity, which overcome the World,
be multiplied amongst you.

Published in the Year 1677-

My DEARLY-BELOVED FRIENDS,
Who are sensible of the day of your visitation, by thc»
light of the Lord Jesus in your hearts, and have gladly re
ceived the holy testimony thereof, by which ypu have beheld
the great apostacy, that is in the world, from the life, power,
and Spirit of God, and the gross degeneracy that is amongst
those called Christians, from the purity, self-denial, and
holy example of Christ Jesus, and his primitive followers ;
and how pride, lust, and vanity reign, and hoiv Christendom
is- become a cage of unclean birds: who have mourned
under the sense thereof, and have cried in your souls, " How
long, how long, hoAV long, O Lord God holy and true, will
it be, ere thou takest to Ihyself thy great power, and reign-
est !" To whom the world is become a burden, and the
vanities and glories of it but " vexation of spirit :" Avho
despise the things that are seen, which are temporal, for the
sake of the things that are not seen, which are eternal :
whose eyes look through and beyond time and mortality, to
that eternal city, whose builder and maker is God : whose
daily cries and travails are to folloAV Jesus in the way. of
regeneration ; to live as pilgrims in this world, for the sake
of that glory which shall hereafter be revealed, that can
never fade avfay, that you may attain unto the eternal rest,
of God : to you, my dear friends, to you it is, that the God
and Father of him that was dead, and is alive, and liveth for
evermore, " Christ Jesus, the faithful and true witness,"
who hath lo>ed and visited my soul, hath noiv moved upon
z 2

356 TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE.
my spirit to write, and visit you with this epistle. Receive
it then, and with it the endeared salutation of that love and
life which are not of this world, but overcome the world.
Great and frequent are my travails for you, that you may
persevere and not faint, but endure to the end ; that you
may obtain that glorious salvation and redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Yea, for this are my knees bended before
the God of the spirits of all flesh, that you may be entirely
kept ; " that you may so run, as you may obtain ; and so
fight, as you may overcome ;" that an immortal crown and
kingdom may be your portion, when all sins and sorrows
shall be done away.
And that this you may do, hear my exhortation to you in
the spirit of truth. Dwell in the sense that God hath be
gotten in your hearts by the light and spirit of his Son, who
is now in you, reconciling you unto himself. Watch, that
~ this blessed sense be preserved in you, and it Will preserve
you. For where the holy sense is lost, profession, even of
the highest truths, cannot preserve against the enemy's
assaults ; but the gates of hell will prevail against them,
and the enemy's darts will Avound them, and they Will be
carried again captive by the power of his temptations.
Wherefore, I say again, live and abide in that light and life
which hath visited you, and begotten an holy sense in
your hearts, and which hath made sin exceeding sinful to
you, and you weary and heavy-laden under the burden of
it; and hath raised in you a spiritual travail, hunger and
thirst after your Saviour, that he might deliver you; that ye
might be filled Avith the righteousness of his kingdom, that
is without end.
Dear friends, God hath breathed the breath of life in you,
and in measure you live ; for dead men and women do not
hear, or hunger, or thirst ; neither do they feel weights and
burdens, as you do. The day of the Lord is dawned upon you,
and it burnetii as an oven; you know it; and all workers of
iniquity are as stubble before it: you feel it so, they cannot
stand before the Lord : his judgments take hold of them, and
consume them. O, love his judgments ! that Avith those of old
you may say, " In the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have
we Avaited for thee ; the desire of our soul is to thy name,
and to the remembrance of thee. With our souls have we
desired thee in the night, yea, with our spirits within us
will we seek thee early : for Avhen thy judgments are in the
earth, the inhabitants ofthe world will learn righteousness."
Part, part with all, ray. dear friends, that is for judgment;
let him arise in your hearts, that his and your enemies may
be scattered ; that you may Avitness him to be stronger in

TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE. 357
you, than he that is in the Avorld. If the desire of your soul
be to his name, and the remembrance of him, you will love
bis judgments, and abide there the days he alloweth for
your purification. Behold his blessed visitation is upon
you : his angel hath saluted you, and his Holy Spirit hath
overshadoAved you : he hath begotten holy desires in you ;
I pray that they may never be extinguished, and that you
may never faint. Wherefore look to Jesus, that is the Au
thor, that he may be the Finisher. I testify for God, he
has appeared to you ; yea, he hath said to you, as to Andrew,
Philip, &c. " Follow me :" and I say unto you, Follow him:
come and see where he dwelleth ; do not lose sight of him ;
let him be lifted up in you, and your eye be to him : who,
wherever he is lifted up, draweth all such after him. And
this is the reason why people are not noiv drawn after
Christ, because he is not lifted up in their hearts, he is not
exalted in their souls : he is rejected, oppressed, crucified,
and buried; yea, they have rolled a stone upon him, and
set guards, that he should not rise in them to judge them.
But blessed are you, Avhose eyes have seen one of the
days of the Son of Man : blessed are you, at whose doors
he hath knocked, to whose hearts he hath appeared', who
have received his holy visitation, who believe it is He, and
not another; and therefore have said in your hearts, with
Nathaniel of old, " Thou art the Son of God, thou art the
King of Israel;" and with Thomas, " My Lord, and my
God." O, Avhat have you, my dear friends, to do, but to
keep with him for ever! for whither should you go, the
Avords of eternal life dwell with him ? He is full of grace,
and full of truth, and ofhis fulness ye have received grace
for grace. And this is that grace which bringeth salvation
to all that receive it, embrace it, and will be led by it. For
it teacheth such, as it did the ancient Christians, " to deny
all ungodliness, and the world's lusts, and to live soberly
and godlikely in this present evil world ; looking for that
blessed hope, and glorious appearing ofthe great God, and
their Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath given himself for them
to deliver them from all sin, and to redeem them from all
iniquity." You know that you are bought with a price;
now you feel it, and in measure discern the preciousness of
that price which hath bought you, namely, " the life ofthe
dear Son of God." Grieve not his Spirit, that is ready to
seal you to the day of your perfect redemption : but give up
your bodies, souls, and spirits to his service, whose they
are, that they may be ordered by him to his glory.
I write not to you as to the world; for you are called
put of the world, by him that hath overcpme the world ;

358 TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE.
that as he is not of this world, so you may not be of this
world. Come then out of it more and more, out ofthe na
ture, out of the spirit, out of the fruits, and out of the
fashions ofthe world ! they are all for the fire. Christ said,
" the world loveth its own." Search, with the light of the
Lord Jesus, what there is in you that the world owneth and
loveth ; for that is its own. And consider what it is, that
the world is offended with : not that which cometh from
itself, of its own making and inventing, but that which
crosseth its invention ; that is of another nature, and spring-
eth from another root. O be not conformed to the fashions
of this world, that please the lust, which grieveth the Spirit
of God ; but be ye renewed in your minds ; and being so
within, you Avill be as a new people without.
They that have been truly with Christ, are quickly dis
covered; they cannot be hid. So it was of old ; the Jews
said ofthe disciples, " These men have been with Jesus :"
their speech and carriage bewrayed them ; their outsides
were not like the outsides of other men ; they were not
current with the fashions and customs of that time : nor can
they that have been with Jesus, conform to the vain fashions
and customs of this world. Wherefore be not you, in any
sort, of this world, but give diligence to make your holy
high calling and election sure : for many are called, and few
are chosen ; and the reason is, they are " slothful servants,
they hide their talent in a napkin, neglect the day of their
visitation, and work not out their salvation with fear and
trembling :" and then the night overtaketh them, in Avhich
they can never work the works of repentance ; and the
things that belong to their peace are hid from their eyes for
ever. But the Lord forbid that it should be so with any of you!
No, no; I hope, yea, I believe, better things of you. And
I am assured, that as you keep your hearts chastely to the
light and grace, that with which you have been visited of
the Lord, you shall be kept to eternal salvation. For they '
are saved, that walk in the light: into the light the enemy
cannot come ; for the light is Christ Jesus, and the enemy
hath no part or place in him ; he is driven out from the
holy place by transgression : and he is now a fugitive from
heaven ; but he goeth up and down the earth, seeking whom
he may devour, whom he can catch and carry away with
his baits and snares.
Wherefore, " Wo to the inhabitants of the earth;" that
is, the earthly inhabitants, such as love and live in the
earthly nature; for all such shall be a prey to him, he shall
have power over them, and keep up his kingdom in them.

TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE. 359
But those that receive and abide in Christ Jesus, the light,
life, and truth, are out of his reach ; they are in the " mu
nition of rocks," under the " pavilion of the Lord," in the
safe ark ofthe Most High God. However, he is permitted
to tempt and try, till the time shall come that he is not only
trodden under foot, but also bound and cast into the lake,
'*' that burneth with fire and brimstone." And he is the
greatest enemy to those that turn their backs upon him ;
wherefore he watchelh to surprize them, that he might take
them at unawares, and triumph over their failings: and for
that reason Christ Jesus preached the " Avatch" earnestly,
and with repetition, to his disciples.
Now, my dear friends, there be several things (or, the
enemy in several appearances) will attend you in this holy
march you are making to the eternal land of rest ; of which
I would caution you, that you may none of you make ship
wreck of any of those holy beginnings you have experienced
by the light and spirit of the Lord. Beware of vain thoughts,
for they oppress and extinguish the true sense. These vain
thoughts arise from the enemy's presentation of objects to
the mind, and the mind's looking upon them, till they have
made their impressions upon the mind, and influenced the
mind into a love of them. This is a false liberty, a dan
gerous, yea, a destructive liberty, to the holy sense that
God hath begotten in any. For as this is not received, but
hindered, by such thoughts, so it is not improved, but de
stroyed by them. The divine sense in the soul is begotten
by the Lord : it is his life and spirit, his holy breath and
power, that quickeneth the soul, and maketh it sensible of
its own state, and of God's will; and that raiseth fervent
desires in it to be eternally blessed. This is that which
Satan rageth at ; he feareth his kingdom ; he findeth that
He is come that will cast him out of his possessions. He
crieth out, ¦" Why art thou come to torment me before my
time?" He is the father of vain thoughts; he begetteth
them in the mind, on purpose to draw off the mind from that
sense, and to exercise it in variety of conceptions, in a self-
liberty of thinking and imagining concerning persons and
things. Here he offereth his baits, and layeth his snares ;
and never faileth to catch and defile the un watchful soul,
Noav, if you should say, " What are these vain thoughts?"
I tell you, my friends, AH those thoughts and conceptions
that either bring not real profit to the soul, or that grieve,
hurt, or oppress that holy sense, which is begotten of God
in the soul. And that by which thoughts are to be examined,
is the light of Christ Jesus: for as'" That which may be
known of God is manifest in men, for God hath shown it

360 TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE.
unto them," as saith the apostle Paul to the Romans; so
" all things that are reproved, are made manifest by the
light; for whatsoever maketh manifest, is light," saith he
to the Ephesians, By this light of Christ Jesus examine
your own thoughts ; see whence they rise, from whence
they come, and what they tend to. O friends, here is a
mystery; and the evil-one worketh here in a mystery!
For where he cannot prevail to draw out the mind from
its sensible habitation to embrace his representations of
old lusts and pleasures, that are wicked in themselves,
he will present you with lawful objects, your outward
enjoyments, business, and calling, and steal in upon your
minds in the crowd of these lawful things, and there lay his
snares, hid and covered, and at unawares catch you.
My dear friends, blessed are they that see Jesus their
captain, going before them, and counselling and leading
them, in all outward and lawful concerns, that they offend
not. For, my friends, this know, you may unlawfully think
of lawful things ; either in thinking on them unseasonably,
(mark that) when your souls should be wholly retired, and
exercised in the Lord's light to feel his presence, in which
is heavenly life; or in thinking on lawful things carelessly,
not with regard to your Guide; he that hath bought you
throughout Avith his oavh precious blood, that he might haA'e
the government of your bodies, souls, and 'spirits ; that is,
of your bodily concerns, as well as ofthe things relating to
your souls and spirits. This prevents much harm and mis
chief in business and families, and preserveth the divine
sense that God hath begotten, and the creature in it; so that
its fellowship and peace with the Lord runneth as a river,
it is not stopt or hindered by the designs ofthe enemy : or,
lastly, in thinking on lawful things excessively, too much,
more than is needful, without limits, thereby gratifying the
fleshly mind, Avhich is enmity with God, and that sense
Avhich he begetteth in the soul. O, the mountains that are
raised, by such vain thoughts, betwixt God and the soul !
hoAV doth the soul come under an eclipse, lose sight, and at
last all sense, ofthe living God, like men drowned in great
Avaters ! And thus many have lost their condition, and
grown insensible ; and then questioned all former expe
riences, if they Avere not mere imaginations ; till at last they
arrived at atheism, denying and deriding God and his work,
and those that kept their integrity : for Avhom is reserved
the blackness of darkness for ever, unless they timely and
truly repent.
But when this subtle enemy of man's salvation seeth that
he cannot make you bow to tho glory of this Avorld, that all
his snares that he layeth in the things that are seen, Avhich

TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE. 361
are temporal, are discovered and broken; and that your
eyes are directed to those things that are eternal, then will
he turn accuser : he will aggravate your sins, and plead the
impossibility of their remission : he will seem to act the
advocate for the justice of God, that he might cast you into
despondency, that you may doubt of deliverance and salva
tion. Many are the thoughts with which he perplexeth the
sons and daughters of men : but this know, that he was a
liar from the beginning ; for the Lord doth not visit the
souls of any to destroy them, but to save them. For this
end hath he sent his Son a light into the world ; and they
that bring their deeds to it, are not of the devil, who
hateth the light. Neither doth the Lord cause his people
to hunger and thirst after him, and not fill them with his
good things.
Be assured, my friends, wherever the Lord hath begotten
desires after him, and wherever sin is become exceeding
sinful, yea, a burden to the soul, the devil's kingdom is
shaken, the prince of this world is begun to be judged, and
God is at ivork for the redemption of that soul. Hearken
not to the voice of the serpent, for that lost your first pa
rents their blessed paradise ; and with the same subtle and
lying spirit he would hinder you from returning into para
dise. But when he is herein disappointed, he shifteth his
temptation, and presenteth another temptation, viz. ' That
though you have begun Avell, yet ye will never be able to
hold out to the end : that the temptations are so many, and
the enemies so strong, they are not to be overcome by you;
and that it were better never to profess such high things,
than to fall short of them ; this will but bring reproach to
the way, and the people of it.' Again, ' That it is curiosity,
and spiritual pride, and conceitedness, for you to be thought
better than others;' with the like suggestions, on purpose
to stagger your resolutions and weaken your faith. Ah!
he is a devil still, a liar, and a destroyer : look not to him,
but keep to Jesus, Avho hath called you. Keep but your
eye to him, of whom the brazen serpent in the wilderness
was a figure, and he shall cure you of all diseases, of all
wounds and stingings of serpents and scorpions, &c. that
may attend you in the wilderness-travel, which is the hour
of your temptation. God is exalting him, in y6u, a Saviour;
there is he manifested; viz. " to destroy sin." Yea,
"stronger is he that is in you, than he that is in the world:"
he is able to bind the strong man, and cast him out ; do but
believe truly in him, and cleave to him. Remember there
were evil spies of old, those that brought false intelligence,
that Canaan was a pleasant land, but the way impassable;

362 TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE.
but the faithful entered and inherited. Keep therefore in
the righteous life of Jesus, and walk in his holy light, and
you shall be preserved, through all exercises and difficulties,
unto the eternal Canaan, the land of rest. Neither wonder
at these things, that temptations attend you, or that the
Lord trieth and proveth you ; it is the way of all that are
gone to God ; for even Jesus was tempted and tried, and is
therefore become our captain, " because he overcame."
Neither be ye cast doAvn, because the Lord sometimes seem- ¦
eth to hide his face from you, that you feel not always that
joy and refreshment that you sometimes enjoy. I know
what work the enemy maketh of these Avithdrawings ofthe
Lord. Perhaps he will insinuate, ' That God hath deserted
you in his displeasure ; that you must never expect to see
him ; that he will never come again :' and by these, and the
like stratagems, he will endeavour to shake your faith
and hope, and distract you with fear, and to beget great
jealousies and doubts in you ; and by impatience and infi
delity, frustrate your good beginnings. But though David
said of old, in the distress ofhis soul, " One day shall I fall
by the hand of Saul," yet he overcame him, and had the
crown. Yea, the Lord Jesus himself cried out in the agony
of the cross, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me !" Nevertheless he gloriously triumphed over all, and
led captivity captive, for the joy that was set before him :
Avhich joy is before you ; it is the mark ofthe prize of your
great and holy calling. Wherefore faint not, neither mur
mur, if your spiritual Moses seems to withdraAV a while from
you. Do not you make images in his absence, neither Avax
wanton ; but possess your souls in holy fear and patience,
waiting with holy reverence and diligence for his appear
ance, who is your victorious leader.
All these things are for your good, that proud flesh may
be debased, and that the soul may be redeemed. Wherefore
bear the hand ofthe Lord ;. whom he loveth, he chasteneth ;
his anger lasteth not for ever, but his mercies endure for
ever. Shrink not from the pure operations ofhis holy word;
let it divide asunder between the soul and spirit, the joints
and marrow in you ; suffer your right hands to be cut off,
and your right eyes to be plucked out, that do offend ; let
not the pain scare you. O bear the pure searchings of this
heavenly word ! yea, if your minds be stayed in it, you will
find it to be a word of patience, which will keep you; for
all virtue is in it. Keep in it, and be still " It is good,"
said one of old, " that a man should both hope, and quietly
wait, for the salvation of God. Yea, it is good for a man
that -he bear the yoke in his youth, (this is your youth) and

TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE. 363
such an one sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because he
hath borne it upon him." Ah! blessed are they that bear
this holy yoke, who are come to this silence, who die daily ;
that not they, but Christ, may live and rule in them ; there
fore hear him, and take up his cross, and follow him. Fol
low him, keep him company ; he hath beaten the path, and
trod the way; start not aside at his cup, neither shun his
baptism : go with him to Caiaphas, to Pilate, and to the
cross ; die with him to the world, and you shall rise with
him unto life eternal. Honour, glory, and immortality are
at the end of this holy race! 0 that you may run it with
cheerfulness and perseverance !
But this is not the utmost stratagem of the enemy ; he
-hath yet a more plausible, and a more dangerous device,
wherewith to destroy the holy sense that God hath quick
ened, Avhere he seeth these temptations resisted, and that he
cannot hinder a religious work in the soul, by any of his
baits taken from the things that are seen ; and that is, his
drawing you into imaginations of God, and Christ, and re
ligion ; and into religious duties, not in God's way or time;
nor with Christ's Spirit. Here he is transformed into the
appearance of an angel of light, and would seem religious
now, a saint, yea, a leader into religion, so that he may but
keep him out of his office, whose right it is to teach, prepare,
enable, and lead his children Avith his holy power and
spirit. Yea, if he can but keep the creature's will alive,
he knoweth there is aground for him to work upon; a place
that he can enter, and in which his seed will grow. If this
will of man be standing, he knoweth that the will of God
cannot be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. O this
will is God's enemy, yea, the soul's enemy ; and all will-
worship ariseth hence : yea, it is the offspring of the serpent,
and ofthe will of man ; and it can never please God. Let
all beware of this ; God is a Spirit, and he Avill be worship
ped in his own spirit, in his own life. The worship of God
standeth in the will of God ; and is not brought forth ofthe
will ofthe flesh, or of the will of man. Remember that the
word came not to Esau, the first-birth, the. hunter, that
stayed not at home ; but to Jacob, the plain man, he that
dwelt in tents : to him came the.Avord of the Lord, that
dAvelt in a still and quiet habitation. For in the true silence
is God's Avord heard, into which the hunting nature of Esau,
the first-birth, can never come. It can never stand still,
and therefore it can never see the salvation of God. Against
this nature Avatch ; and know Jacob, that inherits the birth
right ; the election of God (though iioav a worm) to Avresfle
and .prevail. The worm Jacob, is Israel a prince, to whom

364 TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE.
belong the statutes and the ordinances. " The word came
to Jacob, and the statutes to Israel :" here is dominion, go
vernment, exaltation : this is the lot of worm Jacob. Wait,
therefore, " till the Angel move upon the waters," before you
step one step. Are ye followers ofthe Lamb, that hath vi
sited you, the captain of your salvation ? Run not in your
own wills; wait for his word of command, do nothing of
your own heads and contrivings, yet do all with diligence
that he requireth. Remember what became of them of old,
that offered false fire ; O stay till a coal from hisr holy altar
touch your hearts and your lips ! Jesus told his mother, at
the marriage in Cana in Galilee, " His hour was not yet
come :" he rejected the will in her, and staid, till his time
was come ; that is, his Father's time, " in whose hands are
the times and seasons;" whose will he came to do, and not
his own; leaving us therein a blessed example, that we
should also follow his steps ; that is, not to attempt to per
form even things of God in our own wills, nor out of God's
season and time, which is the best : for in his seasons he is
with us ; but in our own seasons and wills he withdraweth
himself from us. And this is the cause that the nation's
worshippers have little sense of God in their hearts, and
that their priests cry out against inward sense ; lest the
people should go alone, and come to a more acceptable
worship. My dear friends, as you would enjoy God's presence, love,
and life, and be acceptable with him, wait in his holy light
and spirit, that hath visited you, against these stratagems of
Satan, and wake not your beloved before his time : watch
against the will, that instrument of Satan, and enemy of
God's' glory, and your own comfort. Let it be bridled, sub
jected, and kept under Christ's yoke, yea, subdued, that the
will of God may be done in you and by you, which bringeth
glory to the Lord, and eternal peace to the soul. One sigh,
rightly begotten, outweigheth a whole volume of self-made
prayers : for that which is born of the flesh, is flesh, and
reacheth not to God's kingdom, he regardeth it not; and all
that is not born of the Spirit is flesh. But a sigh, or a
groan, arising from a living sense of God's work in the heart,
it pierceth the clouds, it entereth the heavens ; yea, the
living God heareth it, his regard is to it, and his Spirit
helpeth the infirmity. He loveth that which is of himself,
and hath care over it, though as poor as Avorni Jacob.
". For the cries of the poor, and the sighings of the needy
will I arise," saith the Lord : the poor in spirit, that have
parted with all, that they may win Christ ; that need him
only, and seek him above all ; Avho have no helper in the

TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE. 365
earth, but have denied all earthly helps, that he might
bring and work their salvation for them. And as you are
not to run in your own wills, nor to offer up sacrifices of
your own preparing, so have a care how you touch with
those that do ; how you bow to their wills, and join with
their sacrifices. For all these things greatly help to extin
guish the divine sense begotten in your hearts by the word
of life. And as you are faithful to the light and spirit of
Christ, which giveth you to discern and relish between that
which standeth in your own will, and the will and motion of
the Spirit of God in yourselves: so will you, by the same
light, discern and savour between that which proceeds from
the will of man, and the will and motions ofthe Spirit of
God in others ; and accordingly either to have, or not to
have, fellowship with them ; for what hath light to do with
darkness? Or what hath spirit to do with flesh? Or what
hath life to do with death ? " For the graAe cannot praise
thee, O Lord ; death cannot celebrate thee : they that go
down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living,
the living, he shall praise thee, as doth my soul this day."
This was the testimony ofthe blessed prophet Isaiah, and it
standeth true for ever : according to the prophet, " Thou
hast ordained peace for us, for thou hast wrought all our
works in us."
Wherefore I exhort you, in the spirit of truth, and iu the
counsel ofthe God of Truth, keep in the divine sense and
watch, if you would endure to the end in the will of God.
And I say again, touch not with man-made ministers, nor
man-made Avorships, let their words be never so true : it is
but man? it is but flesh, it is but the will ; and it shall have
no acceptance with God : O this is the golden cup of the
whore that is gone from the leadings of the Spirit, with
which the nations are defiled : have nothing to do with it.
Keep to Christ Jesus, God's great light; follow him, as he
shineth in your hearts, and ye Avill not walk in darkness,
but have the light of life : not of death to condemnation, as
in the world ; but unto life, which is justification and peace.
And remember that nothing bringeth to Christ, that cometh
not from Christ. Wherefore all ministry that cometh not
from Christ, God's great Prophet and High Priest to all
true-born Christians, cannot bring people to Christ. Man
only gathereth to, man, to hear and believe in man, and de
pend on man : and if the church of Corinth sought a proof
of Ghrist's speaking in Paul, that had begotten them, and
had wrought the signs and works of an apostle in them ; how
much, more reason have you to demand a proof of Christ's
speaking in the priests and ministers of this Avorld, Avho

366 TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE.
have not wrought the signs and works of the apostles or true
ministers ? And by Avhat should you try them, but by the
light and spirit of Christ in you? Yea, it is Christ Jesus
in you, that giveth you to savour if others speak from Christ
in them. And this the apostle referreth the Corinthians to,.
for a proof of Christ's speaking in him : for nothing leadeth
to God, but that which came from God, even Christ Jesus
the Son of God. O let him be your vine, and know him to
be your fig-tree : sit under his holy teachings, whose doc
trine shall drop as myrrh upon your souls : he will feed you
Avith the bread of God, that cometh from heaven, that feed-
eth and leadeth them thither that feed upon it : and He is
that bread.
Therefore wait and watch unto his daily and hourly visit
ations to your souls, and against all the approaches of the
enemy, that so he may not take you at unawares; but that
you may be preserved from the power of his darts, and the
force of his temptations, by the holy armour of light, the
defence of the faithful ancients : " If you be Avilling and
obedient, you shall eat the good ofthe land." Now is your
day, noAv is your time ; Avork while the light is Avith you ;
for the night cometh, in which none can work. Not only
the night of eternal darkness to the wicked ; but the night
of death unto all : for in the grave there is no repentance,
neither can any man there work the works of God. You
know the foundation : is he elect ? Is he precious to you ?
Have ye chosen him ? Yea, I am satisfied you have : see
what you build upon him. Have a care of hay, straw, and
stubble! Have a care of your own wills and spirits ! La
bour not for the bread that perisheth, as all the bread of
man's making doth : but labour you, in the light and
strength of the Lord, for the bread that never perisheth,
that bread that cometh from heaven, that nourisheth the soul
in that life that is heavenly, that is " hid with Christ iu
God," the Root and Father of life ; that of this fountain
you may drink, that is clear and pure, that cometh from the
throne of God, and ofthe Lamb, and not ofthe muddy pud
dle of man's invention. There is a bread that perisheth,
and there is a drink that perisheth ; and avo to them that
feed thereon, for their souls shall perish also, if they repent
not. But there is a bread that never perisheth : and there
is a fountain that springe th up unto eternal life, and blessed
are they that feed and drink thereof, for they shall have
eternal life with God. This is that which only satisfieth
Avhat is born of God ; it will feed on no other bread, nor
drink of no other water. I cannot but warn you all, that
are come to the Lord's day, that you cease from all other

TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE. 367
food, from man and man's will and invention ; for that sti-
fleth the divine sense ; that overlayeth and killeth this hea
venly birth. There are no grapes to be gathered of thorns,
nor figs of thistles : keep to your oAvn vine and fig-tree,
Christ Jesus ; sit under him, that you may eat of his fruit,
which is the fruit of life, "the hidden manna;" hid from the
nature and spirit of this world, a mystery thereunto. Tavo
things consider ; First, you must wait till the manna com
eth ; and then you are not to be idle ; you are to work :
and next, as it daily cometh, so it must be daily gathered
and fed upon : for the manna that was gathered yesterday,
will not be food for to-day ; it will not keep for that use.
And as it was outwardly, so it is inwardly. Time past is
none of thine : it is not what thou Avast, but what thou art :
God will be daily looked unto. Didst thou eat yesterday ?
That feedeth thee not to-day: therefore Jesus taught his
disciples, and us in them, to pray for our daily bread ; for
the present sustenance, and to look no farther, but depend
upon the Lord, and live by faith in him, thatraised up Jesus
from the dead ; -so that the time to come is no more ours,
than the time past can be recalled.
Wherefore, " Blessed are they that fear the Lord, and
confide in him, they shall never be confounded : they shall
lack no good thing ;for the Lord loveth Israel, he is good
unto Israel, and all that are of an upright heart ;" whose
hearts look up to heaven, and not down to the earth; nei
ther love, nor live in, the vain lusts of' the world: such
shall " abide in his holy tabernacle, such shall dwell in his
holy hill," even they that " walk uprightly, that work right
eousness, and speak the truth in their hearts ; in Avhose
sight a vile person is contemned, but who honour them that
fear the Lord."
O my dear friends, I know experimentally, that this is
hard to flesh and blood; that which is born ofthe corrupti
ble seed; but that can never enter into the kingdom of God :
that must be crucified by Christ, that hath crucified Christ:
" blood requireth blood." Wherefore give that Avhich is
for the famine, to the famine : for the fire", to the fire : and
for the sword, to the sword. Let all the sinful lusts be fa
mished ; let the stubble be burnt, andthe corrupt, yea, and
the fruitless tree, thatcumbereth the ground, be " cut down
and cast into the fire." Let the work ofthe Lord be done in
you; let him purge his floor, and that thoroughly ; that you
may come out as pure as gold seven times tried, fitted for
his use that hath chosen you ; that you may bear his mark,
and Avear his inscription, " Holiness to the Lord ;" so you
Avill be vessels of honour in his house. Therefore I say, let

368 TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE.
your houses be swept by the judgment of the Lord, and the
little leaven ofthe kingdom leaven you in body, soul, and
spirit, that holy temples you may be to his glory. This, I
know, is your desire, that are on your travel to this blessed
enjoyment. Well, you believe in God ; believe also in Christ, the
light that hath visited you : and if you truly believe, you
will not make haste : you will not make haste out of the
hour of judgment; you will stay the time of your trial and
cleansing, that you may be, as I said, as pure as gold seven
times tried ; and so receive the Lord's mark and stamp, his
image and approbation ; that you may be his throughout, in
body, soul, and spirit; sealed to him in an eternal covenant.
Dear friends, gird up the loins of your minds, Avatch and
hope to the end; be not slothful, neither strive; despond
not, nor be presumptuous: be as little children ; " for of
such is the kingdom of God." Dispute not, neither consult
with flesh and blood : let not the prudence of this world
draw you from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. Love
and obey the truth ; hide his living word in your hearts ;
though it be as an hammer, a fire, a sword, yet it reconcil-
eth, and bringeth you to God, and will be sweeter to you
that love it, than is the honey, and the honey-comb. Fear
not, but bear the cross, yea, without the camp ; the camp of
this world's lusts, glory, and false worships. But this know,
when the enemy cannot prevail by any of these stratagems,
if you resist him as "the god of this world's glory, the prince
of the air, and the false prophet;" then he turneth dragon ;
then he declareth open war ; then you are heretics, fanatics,
enthusiasts, seducers, blasphemers, unworthy to live upon
the earth. But in all these things " rejoice, and be exceed
ing glad, for great shall be your reward in the kingdom of
the Father." What if your parents rise up against you ; if
your brethren betray you ; if your companions desert and
deride you ? If you become the song of the drunkard, and
the scorn and merriment ofthe vile person ? Yea, though
the poivers of the earth should combine to devour you, let
not your hearts be troubled. ' Shun not the cross, but despise
the shame, and cast your care upon the Lord, who will be
afflicted with you in all your afflictions : in the fire he will
be with you, and in the water he will not forsake you.' O
let your eye be to him, whose name is as a strong tower, the
sanctuary of the righteous in all ages ; that you may be able
to say in your hearts, with David of old, " The Lord is my
light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life, of av horn shall I be afraid ? Though
an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear ;

TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE. 369
though war should rise against me, in this will I be confi
dent. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I
seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and
to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he
shall hide me in his pavilion, he shall set me upon a rock.
When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord
Avill take me up. I had fainted, unless I had believed to
see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait on the Lord, be of good courage ; and he shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord."
O my dear friends, let it be your daily and hourly work
to wait upon God. How often does David speak of waiting
upon God ? He felt the sweetness of it : therefore retire
into your holy chamber : be still, and the Lord will speak
comfortably unto you. Blessed are they that wait upon him ;
whose expectations are only from him. " For though the
youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fail, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they
shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. 1
waited," said David, " patiently for the Lord, and he in
clined unto me, and heard my cry." And this was his testi
mony, " Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear
him, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them
alive in famine : for the Lord is nigh unto them that are of
a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit :"
David knew it, therefore he could speak it.
O my dear friends, who are compassed about Avith many
tribulations ; the Lord God, your staff and strength, is near
you to sustain you. Have ye borne the holy reproach of
Jesus, and despised the shame of his cross, and did he ever
desert you ? Be not cast down, though to the eye of rea
son there seemeth none to help, no, not one to save ; though
enemies within, and enemies without, encamp themselves
about you ; though Pharaoh and his host pursue yOu, and
great difficulties be on each hand of you, and the dismal
Red Sea be before you, stand still ; make no bargains for
yourselves : let all flesh be silent before the Lord ; and
" His arm shall bring you salvation." Yea, when you are
ready to go down into the pit, that your throat is dry with
crying, and your eyes seem to fail with Availing, " his sal
vation shall spring as the morning ; because his mercies are
to all generations, and that the seed of Jacob never sought
his face in vain. The poor man cryeth," saith David ; what
poor man was this ? He that is poor in his own eyes, that
hath no helper in the earth but God. " This poor man
Vol. n. 2 a

370 TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE;
cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all
his troubles." " Our souls," said the righteous of old,
(-1 waited for the Lord,' for he is our help, and our shield
for ever."
Wherefore, my dear friends, be not you discomforted, for
there is no new thing happened unto you : it is the ancient
Fath of the righteous : " For thy sake," says David, " have
borne reproach ; I am become a stranger to my brethren,
and an alien unto my mother's children. When I wept,
and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
I made sackcloth also my garment, and I became a proverb
to them : they that sit in the gate, speak against me ; and I
was the song of the drunkards. Save me, O God, for the
waters are come in unto my soul : and the water-floods are
ready to swallow me up. They persecute him whom thou
hast smitten ; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou
hast wounded." Do you not know this, dear friends ? Are
not your tears become a reproach, your fasts a wonder, your
paleness a derision, your plainness a proverb, and your se
rious and retired conversation a by- word ? Yea, when the
Lord hath wounded, have not they also grieved ? And when
the Lord hath smitten you, have not they mocked ? But
this was David's joy, " The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want : he restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the path
of righteousness, for his name's-sake ; he maketh me to lie
down in green pastures : he leadeth me beside the still wa
ters. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the sha
dow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me, thy
rod and thy staff comfort me :" Avho was the comforter and
preserver of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that refused
to obey the king's command against the commandment of
God : they Avould not bow to his image ; but rather chose
the fiery furnace, than to commit idolatry, or bow to another
thing, than to the living God. " Did not we cast three men
into the midst of the fire?" said Nebuchadnezzar: " lo I see
fourmen loose, walking in the midst ofthe fire, and they have
no hurt : and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."
O my friends, the fire obeyeth him, as well as the winds and
seas : all power is given to the Son of God, who is giA'en to
you for your salvation. Well ; Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, the king calleth out ofthe fire, and they have no
harm ; though the mighty men that cast them into the fiery
furnace were consumed. The God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, is magnified by the king's decree ; and Sha
drach, Meshach, and Abednego, are by the king highly pre
ferred. Here is. the. end of faithfulness; here is the blessing
of perseverance: God will bring honour to his name,
through the patience and integrity ofhis people.

TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICEi 371
And it was this Son of God that preserved Daniel in the
lion's den ; it was his voice, that David said, " divideth
the flames of fire ; he rideth upon the winds, he sitteth upon
the floods. The voice of the Lord is powerful ; the voice
of the Lord is full of majesty : they that trust in him shall
never be confounded. Blessed are they whose God is the
Lord : for he is a present help in the needful time of trou
ble. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them
that fear him, and he delivereth them. O taste, and see,
that the Lord is good : blessed is the man that trusteth in .
him, O fear the Lord, for there is no want to them that
fear him. The young lions shall lack, and the old lions suf
fer hunger ; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any
good thing. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but
the Lord delivereth them out of them all ; for the Lord re-
deemeth the souls of his servants, and none of them that
trust in him shall be made desolate.','
For which cause, ¦ my dear friends, " cast away every
weight, and every burden, and the sin that doth so easily
beset you." Neither look at the enemy's strength, nor at
your oAvn weakness ; but look unto Jesus, the blessed Au
thor of your own convincement and faith : the Mighty One,
on whom God hath laid help, for all those that believe in
his name, receive his testimony, and live in his doctrine ;
who said to his dear followers of old, " Be of good cheer, i
have overcome the world ; fear not, little flock ; it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom : and they
that endure to the end shall be saved. I will not leave you
comfortless," said he, " I will come to you ; he that is with
you, shall be in you." This was the hope of their glory,
the foundation of their building, which standeth sure. And
though sorrow cometh over night, yet joy shall come in the
morning. " Ye shall weep and lament," said Jesus, " but
the Avorld shall rejoice ; and ye shall be sorrowful, but youT
sorrow shall be turned into joy, and their rejoicing into
howling. And lo I am with you to the end of the world."
Be ye therefore encouraged in the holy way of the Lord ;
wait diligently for his daily manifestations unto your souls,
that you may be strengthened in your inward man, with
might and power, to do the will of God on earth, as it is
done in heaven. O watch, that ye enter not into tempta
tion : yea, "watch unto prayer, that ye enter not into
temptation, and that you fall not by the temptation." Christ
said to Peter, " Canst not thou watch one hour ?" Every
one hath an hour of temptation to go through ; and this is
the hour that every one is to Avatch. Jesus, the captain of
our salvation, was under great temptations ; " he was sad
2 a 2

372 TENDER COUNSEL AND ADVICE.
unto death ; he did sweat drops of b 1 ood ;" but he watched,
he prayed, he groaned, yea, he cried with strong cries; but
through suffering overcame : and remember how in the wil
derness he was tempted, but the angels of the Lord minis
tered to him. So they that follow him in the way of the
tribulations and patience of his kingdom, God's angel shall
minister unto them all : yea, he will keep them in the hour
of temptation : he will carry their heads above the waves,
and deliver them from the devouring floods.
Wherefore, finally, my friends, I say unto you, in the
name of the Lord, " Be of good cheer !" Look to Jesus,
and fear not man, whose breath is in his nostrils ; but be
valiant for the truth on earth. " Love not your lives unto
the death, and you shall receive a crown of life and glory;"
Avhich the God of the fathers, the God of the prophets, the
God of the apostles, and the God of the martyrs, and true
confessors of Jesus ; yea, the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, shall give unto all those that keep the pure
testimony of his Son in their hearts, and patiently and faith
fully endure to the end.
" Now to him that is able to keep you from falling, an d
to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy; to the only wise God, our Sa
viour^ be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both
noAv and ever. Amen."
I am your friend, that sincerely loves you, and earnestly
travails for your redemption.
William Penn.

TO ALL THOSE
Professors of Christianity
THAT ARE
Externally separated from the Visible Sects and Fellowships
in the Christian World, so called, wherever hidden or scat
tered :
True Knowledge, which is Life Eternal, from God the
Father, through Jesus Christ, be increased.

Pnblishedin the Year 1677.

Friends,
The first Adam is ofthe earth, earthy ; the second Adam
is the Lord from heaven, the quickening Spirit : what is
born of flesh, is flesh, and cannot enter into the kingdom of
God. So far can the spirit of mere man come, and no far
ther ; but what is born of God, does inherit life eternal.
All you, therefore, who are exalted in your speculations,
and refined in your apprehensions and ideas of God, of
Christ, of the Spirit, and of the secrets of the heavenly
kingdom, examine and try, by the light ofthe Lord Jesus,
whether you have received your knowledge from God, or
from men ; and, when taken in the best part, whether it is
more than the new Avine in the old bottles, which cannot
endure, nor stand in judgment. Consider if it be not the
bare or mere man, that speaks of godly matters, what he
has heard, or read, of others' labours, rather than the over-
shadowings and operations ofthe holy and eternal Spirit of
Christ in yourselves.
Hereby shall you know whether your knowledge of God
is true, or not, viz. If you are redeemed by his righteous
judgments, working out all the tin and dross that have been
,in you, and brought to the silence of all flesh, that has no
right to speak in man, for it knows not the things of God.
Friends, I am pressed, by the good Spirit of God, to ask
you, whether the prince of this world is fully and wholly
judged in you ? Is he beaten off of false righteousness, as
-of sin ? For when he cannot prevail with the creature to

374 TO THOSE PROFESSORS OF
submit to him, then he tempts it to take upon it to govern
and guide itself, that it should not be taught by Christ, and
that his own kingdom of darkness should not be thereby
overturned at once. > •
And therefore deceive not yourselves, O my beloved
friends! Is the glory ofthe world wholly set aside in you ?
Is it at once judged, and under your feet ? If the Spirit of
Jesus wholly reigns in your hearts, then are you not con
formable to any of the evil fruits, inventions, and fashions
of this world ; but are, inwardly and outwardly, gathered to
the Spirit of Jesus, and the dark world trodden under your
feet in all its appearances ; yea, then you are valiant for
the cause of God upon earth ; your candles are in their can
dlesticks, and not under the bed or bushel.
But Oh ! Is this so ? Take heed ; for that life is now
risen which you cannot deceive, but it will taste you in all
ydur performances, and judge righteous judgment. I ask a
second time, in the fear and name of the holy God, (who is
a consuming fire against all that which is counterfeit, and
not true) is the prince of this world judged? As a devil, as
a dragon, as a prince ofthe air, a false prophet, yea, as one
appearing sometimes like an angel of light too ? For this
man of sin, and of perdition, has also his visions, knowledge,
faith, signs, miracles ; yea, quakings too ; yet not like those
that are born of God, and are inspired and actuated by his
Holy Spirit.
But ah ! are you come so far, that you feel that all flesh
is silent before the Lord ? For that is the time when God
should speak, and men should hear what he says. I say, is
Adam silent in you? Is the spirit of man silent in you? Is
thy soul, O man ! passive and quiet, retired from all images,
' ideas, figures, or self-apprehensions, that thou mayest hear
and discern what God, through his Son, will speak unto
thee ? He who is the blessed Teacher, that taught Adam in
paradise, the good Jews under the law by his angels and
prophets ; and does yet teach all true Christians under the
gospelj through his beloved Son, who is the glorious sun
and light of the world, and fulness of all dispensations to
mankind. I say once more, in the fear of the Lord, friends, judge,
Avalk up to what you have attained, and reach not beyond
your own experience, neither glory in your oAvn strength,
but in the Lord : do not hold the truth in unrighteousness,
like as all those do, who walk not after the Spirit, nor are
made sensible, through the work of it ; and who make not
profession thereof. And therefore hear me once more, I
beseech you : are you got beyond your own thoughts ? Have

CHRISTIANITY, &C. 375
you found ease and peace, through Ghrist/in your own con
sciences ? Do you keep the holy watch against the enemy
in all his appearances, whether selfishness or sinfulness, for
wardness, or backwardness in duty ? Have you conquered
that part, or hasty birth, which ascends like an eagle, and
hovers in the air, but pitches no where that is truly profit
able to the soul ? Is the eye of the vulture blinded, that
would peep and spy into the path ofthe righteous, which is
kept close from all the birds of prey, but open to the dove .'
Ah ! Is that which delights to comprehend and know more
than that which is obtained through daily obedience, is that
aspiring serpent seen ? 1 say, is that enemy seen and judg
ed, and that through Christ, the great Prophet of God in
you, to Avhom all judgment is committed? If so, you are
safe : but if not, then shall your work suffer great damage in
the fiery day ofthe Lord. And besides, I say, have you re
ceived your knowledge by the death of the cross ? And have
you seen yourselves lost Avithout Christ, and risen with him ?
Then have you cast away your grave-clothes, and are clothed
upon with immortality, with the fine linen and raiment of
saints, which is the portion of all the redeemed ofthe Lord
through judgment, and his blessetl converts through righ
teousness, as it was with the holy fathers of old : can you
say, in truth and in righteousness, that you are redeemed
Avith the same judgments, and converted through the same
righteousness, as they were ; and the same pure and spiri
tual judgment has been the beginning of your knowledge
and experience ? If not, then it is all wrong, and you must
begin again : for one stone must not stand upon another in
that building, which stands in the oldness ofthe letter, and
not in the newness of the spirit : conviction, redemption,
and, from an earthly sensual, a supersensual life, are the
great business, and must be wrought by fire, called the " bap
tism of fire and theHolyGhost." Wherefore deceive not your
selves, God will not be mocked : come to the fire, and try
your works. Are they Avrought in God, by and after him, his
mind, and will ; or of self-imitations and imaginations, that
cannot profit the poor soul ? If after God's mind and will,
there is an end ofthe faiths,worships, lusts, glory ,and customs
of this world, and the root they spring from is cut doAvn, with
all its branches, fruits, and leaves, that have shewn them
selves, more or less, under the great apostacy that has
spread over the world, and Christendom more especially.
Examine, my friends, and try this holy guide in your
hearts, by the word ofthe Lord, which is dividing asunder
between " the soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow,
and is a discerner ofthe thoughts and purposes of the heart ;"

376 TO THOSE PROFESSORS OF
for " the heart is desperately wicked; who can know it ?"
Yea, the secrets and treasures of unrighteousness live in it.
Examine therefore thyself over and over, by the light ofthe
Lord, and let his true judgment take place ; that which
comes from him, to whom the Father has committed all
judgment, as well as all power.
I have a godly jealousy about many of you, whether your
knowledge does not exceed your experience, at least, your
obedience ; and whether you feed not yourselves with that
bread that perishes. Beware, therefore, of that tree whose
knowledge Adam purchased with the loss of paradise ;* for
that is the way never to come into the paradisiacal state
again. I feel I must say to some of you, " Come down,
Zaccheus, come down."t You that find yourselves to be
of low statures, and therefore mistrust lest the multitude
should hinder, or hide the Lord from you, whose all-seeing
eye and presence beholds all things ; and therefore resort to
the high tree ; that is, to high notions, that you may see,
or behold him as he is; I say to you, "Come down,"
for salvation is not to be found there : no ! no ! for it is
nearer to you, it is even come to your own houses : yea, to
your hearts ; there stands Christ, your salvation, at your
doors, knocking ; let him in, for he comes to take away the
sins ofthe Avorld, and restore poor man to God again. He
whom God has set to be a light to the Gentiles, and a
leader to the people, and to be his salvation to the ends of
the earth :"^ therefore I recommend unto you, that you
be not offended at the meanness ofhis appearance ; for his
day is a day of small things, even as the smoking flax, and
the bruised reed.||
And this, therefore, ariseth powerfully in my soul, to
speak unto you, ' That he appears not in the form of beauty,
which is pleasing to the flesh ; and that his way and Avor-
ship is separated from such in the greatest measure.' Flesh
and blood have no part in his service, and the forwardness,
runnings and willings of men, have no place there : for it
is neither upon this mountain, whither one sort runs, nor
yet at Jerusalem, nor in the privy-chamber, where another
sort are seeking ; but in the Spirit of God, the true worship
of God is known and performed. Every form is more ac
ceptable than his; no man's face, or visage, being more
marred or disfigured than liis : all voluntary.humilities and
Avorships of men, and every human tradition or invention of
men, has a fairer shew, and a more grateful appearance than
his, of whom it is said, " He has not a place whereon to lay
* Gen. ii. 9. + Luke xix. 5. % Rev. iii. 20. John i. 2'J. Acts xiii. 47.
|| Zech. iv. 10.

CHRISTIANITY, &C. 377
his head." This is a bitter cup for the creature, and there
are but few who will drink it ; for it is a hard ma,tter to
bring men thereunto, viz. to sit still, and with patience Wait
for the salvation of God, and deny all self-activities and
contrivings, and so let him will and work all their works in
and for them. They know not what it is to put their
" mouths in the dust, and all flesh to be silent and abased
before the Lord ;"* that he alone may be exalted, and his
voice heard, that he may prepare them to do his will in their
earth, as it is done in heaven. Ah ! how has this mystery
of unrighteousness wrought, and how does it work yet?
boasting that the living child belongs to her; but it is
feigned, because it is the womb of death, and cannot bring
forth any living fruit unto God. All nations have drank
too much of this cup ; but the hour of this false spirit's
judgments is now come, and it is seen, revealed, and judged,
through the living Spirit of God, which is felt, received and
obeyed, by a poor people, whom God has delivered out of
the mouths of the idolatrous and superstitious shepherds, and
false prophets, who have no vision themselves, but who
write, preach, and pray against it, and persecute those that
assent to and profess it, as the gospel privilege and dignity ;
who are come to the Lord, and know his law written in
heir hearts, and his fear placed in their inward parts, and
hat are taught and guided by him. These follow the Lamb,
and hear his voice, and are the host ofthe Lord, in this our
day, who fight, through their holy testimony, under his ban
ner, against the mystical harlot, the false prophet, and the
beast; and, behold, they shall obtain the victory: for he
that is in them, is stronger than he that is in the world, that
fights against them.
And though this be a great mystery, so it is, notwith
standing, a greater truth ; to wit, that Moses, the servant,
is externally fairer than Christ; yea, the prophets them
selves spake as so many delightful singers, and like those
that play upon pleasant instruments of music: for their re
velations, visions, and glorious prophecies ofthe latter days,
and of the times of the new covenant, were, as one of them
said of the children of that generation, " like a pleasant
song." But when the Son, the Substance, came, it was
without beauty, without ornament, and without any exter
nal excellency ; which is to say, no formality, no observa
tions in meats and drinks, or holy days, surplices, altars,
vestments, offeriugs, &c. Instead of which, a strait way to
flesh and blood, a cross to self-love, and a holy watch, are
instituted and recommended by example, as well as precept;
* Lam. iii. 29.

378 TO THOSE PROF-ESSORS OF
which is a bitter cup, or draught, for all to drink that will go
to glory : man must die to his own will, inclinations, imagi
nations, and fleshly conceits : he must constantly wait and
watch. Now his own worship and righteousness are as
odious to him, as his sin and unrighteousness were before :
for it is not an external matter, nor an external running,or
doing, that can profit; nor is it that which pleaseth the busy
brain, and the nice fantasy of the creature ; because while
all those things have been stroking the mind of the creature,
they have been warring against the soul : but it is a secret
life ; a secret temple ; a secret service, and that in God's
due time ; yea, it is a secret manna, a secret supper, which
cannot be understood by the vain sects of this world. And
Jesus is the builder of this tabernacle : he is the author of
this covenant and service: he is the high priest of this altar.
Hereunto he has gathered those his ancient people, and
hereunto he gathers the nations in these our days. The
Bride says "Come;" the Spirit says "Come;" and He says
" Come," and blessed are those that come, and see how
good he is to those that love and fear him : for all crowns
must be laid down at his feet, to him that is meek and hum
ble, and rides upon an ass, and upon the foal of an ass, the
most contemptible of all beasts ; since God has concluded
that he should be glorified, and that hosanna and glory be
longs to him for ever. He shall humble the proud, and
exalt the humble ; yea, he shall lay the mountains low, and
exalt the vallies ; to wit, the poor in spirit, to whom the
kingdom of God belongs.
And therefore do not think yourselves rich, like the pha-:
risees ; for you must know this, that " a camel shall more
easily pass through the eye of a needle, than a rich man
shall enter into the kindom of God." But come to the seed
of God, sown in all your hearts, for therein must " all the
nations of the earth be blessed ;"* for whose sake, forsake
all visible things, bow down before it, cleave to it with your
whole hearts, and learn thereof; for it is incorruptible;
that you may thereby be instructed, and born again ; that
you may be as little children, who do not argue with their
Father, but love, believe, and follow him in all obedience
and faithfulness, and to such belongs the kingdom of God.
To these God reveals his secrets; wherefore the Lord Jesus
Christ has said, " 1 thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, that thou hast hid these things (what sort of
things ? The hidden things of the kingdom of heaven) from
the wise and prudent, and that thou hast revealed them
unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy
« 1 Pet. i. 23.

CHRISTIANITY, &C. 379"
sight :* for out of the mouths of babes and sucklings* hast
thou ordained strength," or, " thou hast -perfected praise :"
whereas in God's presence no flesh shall boast.
My friends, disquiet not yourselves to comprehend divine
things ; for they that do so, are of the flesh : but wait in
stillness, upon the God of all the families ofthe earth, and
then shall you have a true feeling of him, and of that which
feeds the soul, and gives the saving knowledge, viz. that
knowledge which is everlasting : this knoAvledge remains,
and stands fast ; likewise peace, and everlasting assurance,
goes along with it.
For this I testify unto you, from the Lord, that the fowls
of the air, and the imaginations of flesh and blood, are the
greatest ehemies of your souls, and of your progress, in the
way of the Lord. The first hath often stolen away the
seed, as soon as it was sown; instead of which, it ought to
take root, and spring up : and hereby the visitations of the
Lord are of no effect, and your souls remain weak and
feeble : and the other hath suppressed the seed, after it hath
sprung up. O the fine imaginations of the wisdom of this
world, the fear of man, and earthly prudence ! This comes
not from the heavenly, saving, and living knowledge ;
neither can it ever bestow it upon you: but true knowledge
makes courageous and diligent before the Lord ; and those
that are so, are noble in their testimony, patient under
afflictions, stedfast and cheerful under persecutions. This
is the way ofthe only true God, whose name be glorified to
all eternity.
Ye, then, that have a true sight of a better hope, and of a
more lasting habitation, who in the singleness of your heart
thirst after the true and living feeling and knowledge of
God; who are like a poor dove without consort, and as a
solitary pelican in the wilderness, Avho truly seek after the
beloved of your souls, but havemot yet found him; "Be
still, O ye tender people ! and knoAv that he is God." Who?
" He that searcheth the heart, that trieth the reins, that
setteth the thoughts of men in order before their eyes :" in
this stillness shall ye hear him, who will teach you where to
find that which you seek for ; yea, it is he, for he alone can
do it, Avho manifesteth himself to you. Mary sought Jesus,
and thought it was the gardener when she saw him ; she
asked Jesus for Jesus ; but when he said " Mary," she an
swered " Master;" and through that, word her beloved
Master, Jesus, revealed himself, and demonstrated that he
kneAv her, and that gave her to know him ; for, alas ! he
whom you seek is near you; yea, in the midst of you : it is
* Mat. xi. 25, 26. f P»aI- ">"• 2..

380 TO THOSE PROFESSORS OF
he that, knows you, and calls to you, and tolls you whatever
you have done, whether it he just, or unjust ; and it is he that
pronounceth judgment against those that walk after the
flesh, but speaketh peace and joy to those that walk after
the Spirit. And therefore do not slight his appearance,
but live humbly,/ and then you shall see him whom you
wait for swiftly come, and make himself known to you.
My beloved, seek not the present ease, or pleasures of the
flesh ; and fear not man, but God. Hear me, O my friends,
for the Lord God hath sent me unto you, in this epistle ;
take heed that ye out-run not yourselves in inward visions,
and openings ofthe heart, and that you feed not yourselves
with the knowledge ofthe same ; for this is not that know
ledge which is eternal life ; although many, and more espe
cially in Germany, have lost thenlselves thereby : for when
they have received inward manifestations from God, they
Avere not humble and low, but were exalted in their own
mindsabove the daily cross; which cross is death to that
which prides itself with these visions, or manifestations, and
have been elevated above the simplicity of obedience, in a
bare profession of the same.
O the subtlety of that cunning enemy of souls ! This,
this hath put a stop to the Avork ofthe Lord ; for they have
not known the traAail, the death, and the first resurrection ;
but, without experience, lived slightly in the delightful re
presentations and manifestations of the same : hereby are
come forth whole generations of exalted, spiritual and high-
strained notionists, who despising the gross impiety, and
dark superstitious contrivances of sects, are in the mean
while entertained by the enemy (who is, provided with all
manner of suitable baits) with those likenesses and repre
sentations of Truth: they dream of meat, and the feast of
tabernacles ; but when the day of the Lord is at hand, which
is to awaken them to rise to judgment, behold, then they
are empty and hungry !
And therefore take great heed to follow the Lord, and
worship him : adore him, and not the image thou thyself
hast made. Do not make calves out of jewels, which thou
hast brought out of Egypt. Do not bow down thyself before
thy old experiences ; but behold the arm that has helped
thee, and that God who has often delivered thee. Blessed
are those Avho are kept by him in the daily sense of his pre
servation, for their hearts will not run after other gods.
Remember that the manna descended from heaven daily ;
that it daily must be gathered and eaten ; and that the
manna that was gathered yesterday, cannot serve to-day for
food. Now as it is in the natural, even so is it in the spi-

CHRISTIANITY, &C. 381
ritual. And therefore the Lord Jesus has taught his disci
ples to pray for their daily bread ; for he is daily with his
people, and he goes before them : therefore let nobody look
backwards, and adore what they have known ; but look for
ward, ori' Jesus, the author ofthe true faith, who is mighty
to finish what he has begun ; because he has not only
brought and delivered his people out of Egypt, but he is
likewise their spiritual Moses, who has led them through the
wilderness ; he goes before his sheep, and gives them ever*
lasting life ; namely, to those who hear and follow him :
but when men are negligent in hearing Christ, then they
work for themselves upon their old experiences, and " hew
to themselves cisterns that can hold no water." Here
death prevails, and here death talks of the fame of wisdom ;
and with this knowledge they feed themselves, and not on
the tree of life.
Take ye heed, my friends, for great is the mystery of un
righteousness, but the light of Jesus Christ discovers the
same ; and therefore remain in this, and from it expect your
daily bread, daily knowledge, daily wisdom, and daily
strength : " Take no thought for the morrow, for sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof."
And thus lives the seed of faith, the true spiritual genera
tion ofthe believing Abraham; that daily eat ofthe hidden
manna, which descends every day from above, and that is
hidden from the world, and its wisdom.
Wo unto them, from God, who make and adore images,
as well of things in heaven, as upon earth : wherefore exa
mine and try yourselves, by the light of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who alone gives the true understanding, what your
knowledge is ; for the knowledge that is everlasting life, is
a lively sense, enjoyment, and possession of things, which
we see inwardly; and into this, man of himself can by no
means come by all his strivings : but this is only obtained
by judgments, deep humiliation, patience, daily watching,
and by bearing the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
that not only against Satan, but also against our own
selfishness. And I testify, that he who attains his knowledge another
way, is a thief and a robber : for Christ is the door, and
through him all must enter ; nay, through him only Ave can
come to God ; namely, by faithfully receiving him into the
heart, and embracing him ; first, as a light, discovering cor
rupt nature, with all its evil fruits ; then as a judge, con
demning the same to the death of the cross, that such may
come to die with him to the spirit of the world, and to the
bad and vain fruits of it ; as also to the spiritual powers in

382 TO THOSE PROFESSORS OF
high places; and finally to know him as the resurrection
and life, and as one who raiseth the soul, by the same
power whereby God the Father has raised him from the
dead. And here is the pure and living knowledge obtained :
this is to know, and to put on Christ, and through him to
come to God, and to enter through the strait gate ; the strait
gate, that is too narrow for flesh and blood ; and all that is
not born ofthe Eternal Spirit is flesh, and shall wither away
as grass before the glorious Sun of Righteousness, which is
now arisen; for his work alone can undergo the judgment,
and endure the trial ; namely, that which is born of him ;
which is not by the will of man, in his own time, nor by his
running and willing, but by the will of God, and by the holy
overshadowing of his pure Spirit. And this know, ' That
God doth not overshadow the adulterous, but the chaste
virgin mind." Who has ears, let him hear : this alone it is
which can conceive, and produce that knowledge which is
everlasting life ; and all other knowledge, at the highest,
is not higher than the golden head of that image, which,
by that " small stone cut out of the mountain, without
hands," shall be broken into pieces ; that is, without all the
arts, sciences, labour, industry, wisdom, Avill, or mind of
men. Nay, it must be broken, because it has no feet, on which
it can stand; nor foundation that can endure the proof;
and therefore inquire into the foundation you build upon,
which I beg for God's sake. Is it upon the " chief corner
stpne ?" Upon the " Stone which is elect and precious 2"
Is it upon Christ, the true rock ? Against whom, nor against
any one, who truly depends upon it, shall the gates of hell
prevail ? See then if the gates of hell, in several things, do
not prevail over you, as well as over the great body of false
Christians ? Have you not about you the mark ofthe nature
of the world ? Do you not bow before any of its customs ?
Make a search with the candle of the Lord Jesus, that he
has lighted within you ; whereby you shall see all the fruits
you produce ; namely, the nature of them, and to what they
tend; to wit, if they are ofthe nature, and tend to the lust,
of this world, or ofthe nature of God, and to his will ; for
all true Christians ought to conform themselves unto his
will in all things, that whatsoever they do may tend to the
praise and glory of the Lord, their blessed King and Law
giver. And therefore live ye low and humble, to that Avhich has
visited you : be like worm Jacob; let the Lord awake you,
but dwell you in the tents: do not build Babels, for they

CHRISTIANITY, &C 383
must be broken : remember that humble and little David
obtained the kingdom, whose trust was only in the name of
the Lord, and his delight was in meditating in the pure law
ofhis God.
This is the visit of my life and love to you, O ye scattered
and hidden ones : lift up your heads, and behold your Shep
herd and your Saviour ; turn ye to him, follow him, and
live with him : let him lead you to the place where he feeds,
and where he makes his flock to rest at noon ; for by his
eternal light and spirit has he gathered from off the barren
mountains, and from the idolatrous shepherds, a flock, which
he hath led to the fold of rest, through many andgreat tri
bulations ; and he who remains firm and immoveable, is the
true rest, viz. Jesus Christ, and there is no other. There
fore it is said, that the true church, coming up from the
wilderness, leans upon the breast of Jesus Christ, her
Beloved, her Lord, and her Husband, who is her strength
and stay : and all those who lean upon another, will fall in
the wilderness, and never come to the rest ofthe Lord.
Therefore lean ye upon no other, but adhere unto him ;
wait, watch, and walk in his holy light, which he has sent to
lead you out of darkness, and therewith you will be enabled
to know him from whom it comes, and whom you seek ; for
the nations, who are to be saved, must walk in the " light
of the Lord:" and the time comes, and now is, that we
shall have no need ofthe sun, nor moon, nor stars; but the
Lamb of God, that Avas slain, and now lives, shall be the
light and life of all true Christians, here and hereafter.
These things were laid upon me by the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is " the faithful and true witness," to write to you, and
to -bear witness of his kingdom and appearance ; that ye
might seek, so that ye also may find, and that ye should be
ready to enter in with him to the everlasting supper, and to
the rest which he has prepared for those who love him, and
follow him in the way of regeneration, not loA'ing their lives
unto death, for his glorious name and testimony's sake; to
whom my soul does humbly render honour and praise, and,
in communion with his whole redeemed family upon earth,
I ascribe all honour, poAver, and dominion, now, hence
forth, and for evermore. Amen.
William Penn.

A
TENDER VISITATION,
IN THE
LOVE OF GOD, THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD,
TO
All People in the High and Low Dutch Nations, who hun
ger and thirst after Righteousness, and desire to know and
worship God in Truth and in Sincerity : containing a plain
Testimony to the ancient and apostolical Life, Way, and
Worship, that God is reviving and exalting in the Earth,
in his Spirit and Truth.

Published in the Year 1677.

Friends,
In that love Avherewith God, the Father of all mercy,
and our Lord Jesus Christ, hath loved and visited my soul,
I likewise love and visit you ; wishing in the same love that
you, with all the saints, might come to experience what is
the knowledge, faith, hope, worship, and service, that is of
and from God, and which alone is truly acceptable unto
him ; and that you might so run, that you may obtain ; and
that you, being armed with the spiritual weapons, may so
fight, as you may gain the prize, and inherit the crown : so
that the great God, the Lord of heaven and earth ; he who
shall judge the quick and the dead; he may be known by
you to be your God, and you may know yourselves to be
his children ; " born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh,
nor of the will of man, but born again of his holy and in
corruptible seed, by the word of God,"* born of his spirit,
and joined unto him in an everlasting covenant; that while
you live here, you may not live to yourselves, but to the
glory of God ; and when you have finished your course here
below, you may lay down your heads in peace, and enter
into everlasting rest with the faithful : here all tears shall
be wiped away from their eyes,t and everlasting joy and
gladness shall be the portion of your inheritance.
* John i. IS. and iii. 6. 1 Pet. 1 2S. + Rev. xxi. 4.

A TENDER VISITATION. 385
Let me therefore, friends, speak freely, and bp open-
hearted unto you, and consider you my. words in the fear of
God, for I am pressed in spirit to write to you.
First, Have you all turned yourselves to God, who was
the teacher of Adam, while in his innocency ; who was the
teacher of the Israelites, through his prophets, and of the
true Christians through his Son Jesus ; through whom he
speaks his will, in the hearts of all true Christians : if not,
then are you yet erring from his Spirit, apd going astray
from the Lord, who is the teacher ofthe new covenant.*
Secondly, Know you the end and design of the coming
of Christ ? Are you come to an inward experience of what
the same is ? Hearken to the words of his beloved disciple,
who has said, " For this purpose the Son of God was mani
fested, that he might (put an end to sin, and) destroy the
works of the devil. "-j- Do you know this by your own ex
perience ? Ah ! deceive not yourselves : where, pray, does
sin dwell? And where are the works of the devil ? Are they
not in the hearts of men and women ? Is not that the seat
of wickedness, the tabernacle of sin, the temple of the
devil ?| Have not men there worshipped his spirit ? Have
not men there boAved down before him ? A rid are not all
such born of his evil seed? Must not Christ, who is the
Seed of God, bruise his head, there destroy his work, and
take his kingdom from him ? The soul, which by Satan is
defiled, and kept in captivity, must not Christ redeem it,
purify it, and save it; that it may be changed, and seasoned
with the divine seed, and so come to bear the holy image of
the same ; to that end that Christ may come to dwell in a
pure heart, _and that God may be worshipped in his oAvn
evangelical temple, in his own Spirit in man and woman ?
What of these things are you truly come to know? And
what have you felt thereof? Christ is therefore come into
the world, even for that very end is he called Jesus, viz.
that he should " save his people from their sins :"| and to
that end has John directed all to him, by these words,
" Behold the Lamb of God, Avhich taketh aAvay the sin of
the world. "§
Look, noAv, to yourselves, O inhabitants of Christendom,
whether he has taken away your sins, and what those sins
are : examine and try yourselves, by.his holy light, from
what evil things you are now redeemed, which you were
before subject unto; for Christ saves no man from the
ivrath of God, whom he hath not first redeemed from sin :
?Heb. i. 2. + John iii. 8. f Rer. xiii. || Mat. i. 21.
§ John i. 29.
Vol. ii. 2 b

386 A TENDER VISITATION.
for " the wages of sin is death,"* and " whatsoever men
sow, that they shall reap," in the great and last day of
judgment. To whom then do you live, my friends, and in what life ?
Do you live in the life of God and Christ, wherein the
saints of old did live, whose " lives were hid with Christ in
God ;"t and who did live, because " Christ lived in them ?"
Is the old wine, and also the old bottles, put away ? Is the
old man, with all his deeds, put off? The old evil and cor
rupt ground, Avhich brings forth all evil and corrupt fruits,
is that burnt up by the fire of God ? For " his word is like
afire:":}: the old heavens, the old service of God, peace,
gladness, and the old worship, which altogether are as dead
in the fallen nature, are they " rolled up as a scroll, and
vesture, and melted through the strong heat ofthe burning
and judging Spirit of God?" Are you become as new bottles,
which receive the new wine of the kingdom of God, which
endures for ever ? Have you, my friends, " put on the neAV
man, which after God is created in righteousness, and in
true holiness ?"§ Can you feel that there is brought forth
in you the new heaven, and the new earth, wherein righ
teousness dwelleth ? Consider you, who truly and sincerely
seek to know the Lord, and his works in you, and " spend
not your money for that Avhich is not bread, nor your labour
for that Avhich satisfieth not,"[| nor will profit any thing in
the day of account; that your souls be not deceived; but
that you may be saved in the day ofthe Lord.
Come, you that are Aveary and heavy laden, and you that
hunger and thirst after righteousness, and desire to walk in
the purity and righteousness ofthe saints : be it knoAvn unto
you, that Jesus Christ, whp can discharge, ease, help, and
save you all, he is near you, and stands at the door of your
hearts, and that he waits to be gracious to you ; he knocks,
that you may open unto him :! it is he who has visited you
with his saving light, whereby he has manifested your state
and condition to you ; and begotten an holy feeling in you,
Avhereby you are become weary of your evil doings ; and
raises up an holy thirst in you after better things. Now
then, if you desire and expect ever to be filled and satisfied
from him, then must you receive him as he is revealed, and
as his holy will is made known in your hearts ; and keep
yourselves under his holy judgments and reproofs : for
" the reproofs of instruction are the way of eternal life."**
Love, therefore, that which reproves you for evil ; and
* Rom. vi. 23. t Col.. iii. 4. \ Jer. xxiii. 29. § Eph. iv. 24.
H Isa. Iv. 2. II Rev. iii. 20. Isa. xxx. 18. » » Prov. vi. 23.

A TENDER VISITATION, 387
turn from those evils for which you are reproved : " For
Zion shall be redeemed through judgment, and her
converts with righteousness."* Love, I say, the judgments
of Christ, and submit thereunto, and wait for him, to feel
him yet more and more, that you thus may say, with one of
old, " In the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited
for thee :"t and, " with our souls have we desired thee in
the night season ; and with our spirits within us will we
seek thee early : for when thy judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world will learn- righteousness :" —
" For judgment," said Christ, " am I come into this
world :"| that is, as an holy light, to make manifest,and as a
righteous judge, to condemn all unrighteousness of men :
and all those that love his reproofs, and willingly suffer his
chastisings and fatherly rebukes, they shall see "judgment
brought forth unto victory,"|| and that the prince of this
world, the corrupt root, the corrupt nature, ground, or
origin, in you, as well as the evil fruits, and ungodly works
thereof, shall be judged. And when this is done, and is
fulfilled, then you shall know what it is to sing his high
praises in truth and righteousness : then you shall come to
sing the song of the Lamb;§ and know that you, by that
Lamb, are redeemed and saved.
But it may be some will ask, ' Who is able to perform so
great and blessed a work ?' Fear not, you that seek the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness, with all your hearts :
for God has laid help upon one that is mighty,f viz. upon
Jesus Christ, and he shall make your sins known unto you,
and redeem you from all unrighteousness, if you will Avalk
in his light, as his beloved disciple speaks, saying, " If Ave
walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from
all sin." And therefore, friends, if you Avill be saved by the
blood of Christ, then must you leave and forsake all which
the light of Christ does condemn in you ; yea, you must watch
against your own thoughts, words and deeds, that you at un
awares may not be overcome by the enemy of your souls : for
he comes as a thief in the night, to destroy you. Do not live
nor act so as to grieve the Holy Spirit of God ;** but turn
your minds from all evil,- in thoughts, words, and deeds ;
yea, if you love the light of Christ, then bring your deeds
every day to the light, and see Avhether they are wrought
in God or no : for " all things that are reproved," or justi
fied, " are made manifest by the light ; for whatsoever doth
» Isa. i. 87. and iv. 4. + Isa. xxvi, 8. 9.' f John ix. 39.
y Mat. xii. 20. § Rev. v. 9. H Psal. lxxxix. 19. ** Eph. iv. ?0.
2b2

388 A TENDER VISITATION.
make manifest is light :"* and that light burns as an ovent
against all unrighteousness ; yea, it is like a refiner's fire ;
for it is the fiery part ofthe baptism of Christ, and therefore
it is called the " brightness of his coming, the consuming
Spirit of his mouth,"]; whereby that wicked one shall be
revealed, and burnt up, and rooted out ; the thorns and
briars shall be burned up and devoured, || and the filthiness
both of flesh and spirit purged away. If, now, your sins
are become a burthen to you, if you thereby are wearied,
and if you heartily desire that they may be weakened in you,
and at last conquered also, then let the " holy watch of
Jesus" be sincerely and earnestly kept in your hearts.; which
watch is in the light; for in darkness is no safe nor true
watching. Watch, therefore, with the light of Christ,
wherewith you are enlightened ; watch, I say, against every
unfruitful thought, word, and work of darkness : stand upon
your guard in the blessed light, and be you armed there
with, like the saints of old, that you may discern the enemy,
and resist him, Avhen, and howsoever, he does appear and
approach unto you ; that so he may not overcome you, but
that you may obtain victory over him : for when he sees his
allurements ineffectual, his snares discovered and broken,
(as this is done in the light of Christ) then is he weakened
in his attempts, and your souls grow stronger to resist him,
until at last he be wholly defeated and conquered : for this
was the way ofthe ancients, who Avere more than conquer
ors, % who walking after the light and spirit of Jesus, were
redeemed from condemnation, Avhich will come upon all
those that live after the flesh, O ! this light, and this grace,
bringeth salvation ! For it teacheth us " to deny ungodli
ness, and Avorldly lusts," Avhich bring condemnation, " and
to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present
Avorld."f And this is the only living Avay to the everlasting
rest and peace of God. This was the teacher of the saints,
this was Paul's refuge and comfort in his greatest tempta
tions. " My grace," said the Lord, " is sufficient for thee,"**
And as it has been in times past, so is it in this our day,
to all them that come to receive it, embrace it, and love it,
and who are willing to be guided by it, and follow it; and
to them said the Lord, " Depart you from all evil Avays,
from all vain uses and customs, and from the vanities of this
world. Receive you my counsel, which is the living oracle,
or the voice of God, and the fountain of all wisdom ; and do
not hew out to yourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can
hold no Avater."tt
• Eph. v. 13. + Mai. iii. - f 2 Thess. ii. 8.' || Isa. x. 17.
§ Rom. viii. 14. 37. t Titus ii. II, 12. *« 2 Cor. xii. 9,
+t Isa. Iii. II. Prov. viii. ],Scc. Jer. ii. 13.

A TENDER VISITATION. 389
Thirdly, Are your preachers and teachers sent by God,
or by men ?* How are they come to be your teachers ?
Consider of this seriously : are they of those that have ac
companied with Jesus ? Are they instructed and sanctified
by him ? Are they born again ? Have they received their
commissions, and are they sent forth by him ? Are they true
and faithful witnesses ? Have they heard, seen, tasted, and
handled that which they speak and deliver unto you ?t Is
it the living word which they preach unto you ? Or do they,
by their own spirit and understanding, in their own time and
will, explain and interpret those matters, which the saints
of old, and the primitive Christians, spake forth as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost ? If it be so, then have they not
received such work, or such victory, through the Holy Spirit
iu themselves, as the saints had experience of.:j:
Fourthly, Do your preachers turn your minds to the light
of Christ, (that is, the life in him) which shines in your
hearts; which alone discoA'ers sin to the creature, and shows
every man what the Lord doth require of him ?|| Do they
direct you to that light which did lead the saints of old ;
and by their believing in the light, made them children of
light ; wherein the " nations of them that are saved shall
walk ?"$ Do they turn you, I say, to this light, to this
grace and spirit, in yourselves, which cometh by Jesus
Christ? Does your knowledge, feeling, experience, and
worship, consist in the revelations and works of this blessed
principle of God's begetting in you? So that your faith
and hope consist not in words only (though they may be all
true in words) nor in the education of an outAvard religious
persuasion by vain teaehers ; but that your faith and hope
are grounded, and builded upon the " power of the living
God," who giveth victory over the Avorld, unto all those,
who, in their hearts, believe in the light of Jesus :f and
this blessed hope purifies the heart, and fortifies the soul.
¦ Fifthly, when you come to your meetings, both preachers
and people, What do you do ? Do you then gather bodily
only, and kindle a fire, compassing yourselves about with
the sparks of your own kindling, and so please yourselves,
and walk in the " light of your own fire, and in the sparks
which you have kindled," as those did in the time of old,
Avhose portion it Avas " to lie doAvn in sorrow?"** Or
rather, do you sit down in true silence, resting from your
OAvn will and workings, and waiting upon the Lord, with
your minds fixed in that light, wherewith Christ has en-
* Gal. i.l. + Mat. xxviii. 19. Acts i. 4,5, 8. 1 John i. 1.
\ 2 Pet. i. 21. || Acts xxvi. 18. Micah vi. 8.
§ John xii. 26. Rev. xxi 23, 2 4. I John v. 4. '* ls^.I. II.

390 A TENDER VISITATION.
lightened you, until the Lord breathes life in you, refresh-
eth you, and prepares you, and your spirits and souls, to
make you fit for his service, that you may offer unto him a
pure and spiritual sacrifice?* For " that which is born of
the flesh, is flesh ; and he that soweth to his flesh, shall of
the flesh reap corruption :t for " flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God : but he that soweth to the
Spirit, shall ofthe Spirit reap life eternal," j; through Christ,
who hasquickened him.
What have you felt then, my friends, of this work in your
hearts ? Has Christ there appeared ? What has he done for
you ? Have you bowed down before him, and received him
in your hearts ? Is he formed in you ? Do you live no
more, but does Christ live in you ? For if you know not
Christ to be in you, then are you yet reprobates,|| though
you confess him in words, as the apostle said of old.
All you, therefore, that hunger and thirst after the righ
teousness of God's kingdom, which is an everlasting blessed
kingdom, turn in, my friends, and come to Christ, who
stands at the door of your hearts, and knocks,^ He is the
" light of the Avorld," and it concerns all true servants of
the Lord, to direct all men to this light ; else have they not
a right discerning, nor true sight or taste of the things of
God, viz. " To turn men from darkness to light," from the
kingdom of Satan, to the power and kingdom of God ; from
the dark inventions and human traditions of men, to Christ,
the great light of God, the High Priest, and holy Prophet,
whom all men must hear, and out of whose mouth the law
of the Spirit of life must be received.? By this he judges
men in righteousness, and in him are hid all the " treasures
of Avisdom and knowledge."** This is the High Priest of
all true Christians, and their chief treasure.
Happy, therefore, are all those that receive him in their
hearts, those that know him to be their Light, their Guide,
their King, their Law-giver, their Bishop, and their hea-
Arenly Shepherd ; Avho follow him through all things, and
through all persecutions and sufferings, and that stedfastly
love his cross (the power of God) and with all gladness em
brace the reproach thereof; who have experienced, that
without Christ they can do nothing ;++ and therefore Avait
for his divine power, strength, and wisdom, to govern and
guide them : for such can receive no testimony from any
preachers, except that testimony which is given from the
holy unction, in and through them ;^ because men without
* Lam. iii. 25. 26,28. John.i. 3. f John iii. 6. Gal- vi. 8.
{ 1 Cor. xv. 50. || Gal. iv. 19. 2 Cor, xiii. 5. § Rev. iii. 20.
5 Rom. viii. 2. ** Col. ii. 3. +'t John xv. 5. H I John ii. 20.

A TENDER VISITATION. 391
Christ, can do nothing, as he has said : for men cannot
preach, men cannot pray, men cannot sing as it ought f o be ;
yea, men, without him, can do nothing to the praise and
glory of God : for it is only the Son of God that glorifies
the Father through his children.
And therefore let him kindle the fire with the pure coals
from his holy altar ; and do not you offer to him in your
self-will; no, Jesus did not do his own will, but the will of
his Father.* So let us not do our own, but his will ; he has
done nothing but what his Father had made known unto
him : and we must all witness what Christ has declared unto
us, and what he has wrought in us, or else we should be
false witnesses. + " Woman," said Christ to his mother,
"mine hour is not yet come:" so that he did wait his
Father's time, in whose hands the times and seasons are :
we must wait, but God orders ; and happy are those Avho do
his will. " My sheep," said Christ, " hear my voice, and
follow me; but they will not hear the voice of strangers.";}:
Now those that speak, if their voices and conversations are
not with the life, the power, and the Spirit of Christ, they
are strange voices (I pray you observe well) ; and Christ's
sheep will not sit under such voices, nor under such' shep
herds ; who do but steal the words of the prophets || and
apostles, but do' not experience them, nor succeed them in
their spirits and conversations ; for Christ's sheep do discern
those that so teach, from his, for he has given them that
spiritual gift to see them ; which is not to be had nor found
in the crafty wisdom ofthe world, with all its human learn
ings, arts and sciences ; but stands in the innocent nature of
the true sheep, and for them it is like natural; viz. souls
that are become harmless, and are arrived at the state of a
little child ; for to such doth God reveal his secrets ; because,
by the work of regeneration, they are become his own be
gotten; and to such belongs the kingdom of God, and the
knowledge ofthe mysteries thereof.
Wherefore, pray take notice hoAV it is with you : is sin re
vealed? Yes: through what? By the light of Christ. But
is sin likewise judged? Have you submitted yourselves to
his light? And are you therewith united? Is your old
Self-righteousness thereby judged ? And are thereby all your
false judgments judged ? Is the prince of this Avorld judged
in you ? Does Christ go before you ? And does he give you
eternal life ? Examine and search yourselves, for thus he
deals with his sheep : " I go before them, they foIloAV me,
and, behold I give them life eternal. "§ Does Christ go be-
» John vi. 38. and iii. II. f, 1 Johni. 3.
f John x. 27: |] Jer. xxiii. 30. § John x. 4." -

392 A TENDER VISITATION.
fore you, and lead you in all your worship, which you do as
your bounden duty to God ? Do you wait for his leadings ?
Is it the religion of Christ wherein you walk ? Read his
holy sermon on the mount. Or else, do you go before him,
and do you climb up another way,* before he stirs in you,
before he moves you, before he gives you power and ability
to approach his throne ? Ah ! true silence before the Lord
is better abundantly than forward prayers, and self-willed
offers, or any traditional and formal performances : for con
sider, that it is " life eternal to know God."t Now, no man
can know him, who has not heard his voice : and no man
can hear his- voice who is not silent in himself, and waits not
patiently for him, that he may " hear what God will speak
to his *oul,"J through Jesus, the great, holy, and heavenly
High Priest of God to mankind, who is the heavenly Pro
phet also, unto all them that believe in his name. But, my
friends, do you know the fellowship of his holy life, of his
blessed cross, death and resurrection ?|| Do you confess him
inwardly in yourselves, as well as outwardly before men?
If so, then has he given you life eternal. Again, if you feel
not in you " life and immortality brought to light,"§ then
are you yet in your sins, and know not the " Lamb of God,
Avhotaketh aAvay the sin of the Avorld."! For " as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the chil
dren of God."** And they know, by the witness of God in
themselves, that they are " of God," as said the beloved dis
ciple John, "and the whole Avorld lieth in wickedness. "+t
Beloved friends, beware therefore of idolatry, and wor
shipping of images; I mean the Avorship of inward images,
which is an imvard idolatry ; for if you shew a great aver
sion against all outward idolatry, yet if you worship God
after the imaginations you have of God, and which you
conceive in your oAvn minds, without the inspiration of the
Almighty, you worship images of your own framing, and so
come to commit idolatry. And therefore take heed that
your Avorship does not consist in your own imaginations,
and self-conceits of God : and do not bow down to suchj
(Avhich is, indeed, to yourselves) and then think, or pre
sume, that you are bowing down to God and Christ ; when,
on the contrary, it is nothing else but a mere picture of your
own making. And this is the great abomination^ and loss
of poor Christendom, viz. That the spirit which deceives
man, "sits in the place of God, and is worshipped as
God,"|||| by those that know not the true and living God,
* John x. i. 8, + John xvii. 3. } Ps. Ixxxv. 8 (Phil.
iii. 10, 1 1. S 2 Tin"- i. 10. I John i. 29. ** John i. 12,
ft 1 John v. 19. # Dan. xii. 11. |||j 2The»s.ii. 4.

A TENDER VISITATION* 35)3
who is as' a consuming fire," and as everlasting burnings in
the soul, against the sin, righteousness, and judgment of
the world.*
Now he that revealeth the Father, is the Son, the true
light: for he has said, " No man knoweth the Father, but
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him."+ How
has Christ revealed the Father unto you ? Are you come
to Jesus ? - If so, then you have known the godly sorrow,
the true mourning, and that repentance which men need
never to repent of: but if you have not known this day of
judgment and contrition, then are you not come to Christ.
Wherefore come you to Jesus, viz. to his appearance in
you, by his divine light and spirit, which every way disco*-
vers and judges the world's nature, spirit and image inyou :
for to him is all judgment committed, and he will reveal the
Father ; yea, " he that hath seen the Son, has likewise seen
the Father ;"J for he is in the Father, and the Father is in
hiin. If, now, the manifestation of Jesus in you, as well of
the Father as of the Son, is the foundation of your knoAV-
ledge, so that God and Christ, " whom to knoAv is life eter-
nal,"|| are ^become the holy Object of your worship ; then
are you real worshippers in his spirit and truth ; then are
you come out from the workmanship, from the will and
imaginations of your own spirits, and from all human wor
ship, and are come to the worship of the Spirit of the living
God, and to live in him, be led and moved by him in all
godly performances ; for the spirit of man only knows the
things of man, but the Spirit of God knows and reveals the
things of God.^ And this worship of his kingdom and
church has Christ raised up again in these our days, which
Avas set up by Christ sixteen hundred years ago. And in
this Avorship have the true folloivers worshipped the Father,
before the great apostacy from the spirit and power of the
Lord broke in upon the primitive ages of the church : and
after such a glorious manner shall it be restored ; yea, so it
is already with many thousands, whom God, through the
appearance of Christ in the heart, has gathered, both in our
and other ^countries, whereby he has judged them as men in
the flesh (in their fleshly lusts, in their fleshly worships)
that they might live unto God and Christ, who quickened
them by the death ofthe cross, and justified them as men in
the Spirit risen from the dead.
Glory be therefore to God, Avho lives and reigns on high,
that that dark and sorrowful night is vanishing, and that the
sun-rising of the eternal day has already appeared, and is
» John xvi. 8. f Mat. xi.'27, f John xiv. 10, 1 1 . J| John iv. 84.
§ 1 Cor, ii. 11. John. iv. 23.

394 A TENDER VISITATION.
arising more and more over the nations in the world; in
which day, "Babylon, the mother of harlots, [false-wor
shippers] shall come in remembrance before the God ofthe
whole earth ;"* viz. That Babylon, which has followed mer
chandizing with the scripture, and with the souls of men,
and has persecuted the spiritual seed, the children of God,
and faithful witnesses of Jesus (although clothed in sack
cloth) ; because they would not receive her mark,t and her
fine linen too, nor submit to her fleshly birth, invention, pro
fession, worship, and dominion.
This Babylon lives but too much yet in every one, of all
sorts of people or professors, by whom the truth is held in
unrighteousness. When they see not through the light of
the Spirit of Christ, and when their knowledge and worship
of God is not received and performed by that same blessed
Spirit ; there, I say, is Babylon, that is, confusion : " Oh,
come out of her, my people !" saith the Lord, "and I wiU
receive you."
He that calls God his Father, and is not born of God ;
he that calls Christ Lord, and not by the Holy Spirit, but
mean while is serving another master ; those that attribute
to themseh'es the words ofthe regenerated, their revelations
and experiences, when they are yet unregenerated, and
have no part therein, but endeavour in all these things to
make themselves a fair covering ; .they shall experience, in
the day of the Lord, that it shall profit them nothing : for
" Wo to those," said the Lord, " that cover with a covering,
and not of my Spirit; that take counsel, but not of me."j
Let, therefore, all those that are yet in Babylon, hasten out
of her speedily ; and you that are in the suburbs of that great
city, hasten you away ; yea, make haste with all speed !
prepare yourselves to meet the Lamb, your bridegroom ;
who comes noAV to you, who are mourning, hungering, and
thirsting, after him, to lead you out of your bewildered
states, to his saving light, and blessed appearance; for noAV
he sees you, and now he calls you, and knocks at your doors
to come in unto you : and therefore open ye unto him,
and let him in ; let him no longer lie in the manger,|| nor
at your doors ; but rather give him your hearts, and let him
reign over you as a King, for he has bought us with his own
precious blood, and is therefore worthy that we serve and
honour him, and that he reign over us; and that he be our
King and Lawgiver, who gave his own life for us, that Ave
should not perish, but have everlasting life in him.§ He
has laid doAvn his life for you, and can you not lay down
* Rev. xvi 19.- + Rev. xviii. 13. xi. 3. xiii. 16. flta. xxx. I.
(Lukcii.7. § John iii. 16.

A TENDER VISITATION. 395
your sins for his sake ; yea, for your own sakes ? Consider
that he descended from the glory of his Father, to bring
you to glory ;, and can you not depart from the withering
glory of this world, that you may inherit his glory, Which is
everlasting ? It is that wrong false self, in man, which only
hinders it ; it is that only which objects against it, that con
sults, and endeavours to avoid the cross.
This self, has in all times been desirous to be in great
esteem, and has therefore, in all ages, hindered men from
doing the will of God on earth, as it is in heaven : but
where self is disannulled, and men have had no great esteem
for the selfish part, but have humbled themselves to the
death of the cross ,of Christ, that he might deliver them
from the " wrath to come," and give them " an inheritance
in the kingdom of his Father," there the will of God will
be done on earth, as it is in heaven, and therein will the
heavenly Father be glorified. On the contrary, those that
live in sin, they are in communion with the devil, and drink
his cup of unrighteousness : which, however it is SAveet in
the mouth, is afterwards bitter in the belly ; and though it
be sweet here for a time, it shall afterwards be crabbed and
distasteful. Again, the cup of Christ is here bitter in the
mouth, but sweet hereafter in the belly ; here sour, but here
after pleasant : " You," said he, shall weep and lament, but
the world shall rejoice :"* but observe the end hereof;
" Your sorrow shall be turned into joy, but their rejoicing
into weeping."
And this is therefore the word of truth ; no man shall
enjoy the cup of blessing, or drink out of the cup of salva
tion, but lie that has first drank of the cup of tribulation ;
he that has first known his fellowship with the sufferings of
Christ, and of his holy mystical cross : for those that suffer
with him, shall reign with him, and no cross, no crown.
Lean then upon his breast, for so does the bride inspirit.
Trust in him, and not in man,+ nor in yourselves; for he
will guide you best, because he is given you of God to be
your heavenly guide. And if it should be in a way under
the cross (which way is proper to him) yet it is, notwith
standing, a Avay of joy and pleasantness, and all his holy
paths are peace to those that love him. O, therefore, feel
his holy drawings, and wait in his light upon his holy movings
in your souls ! " Stand still, and see his salvation wrought
in you, by his own arm, "J that you may know him to be
Jesus indeed ; viz. a Saviour, as well from your sins here,
as from the wrath to come ; aud that he may preserve you
from vain thoughts, vain words, and vain conversations,
* John xvi; 20. + Cant. viii. 5. Jer. xvii. 5. J Exodus xiv. 13, 14-

396 A TENDER VISITATION.
yea, from the voluntary worship of this world, and from the
slavish fear of man ; to the end, that he may work his own
work in you, and make you conformable to his own blessed
image ; and that you may be made free by the Lord, through
the power of his everlasting gospel, which is now again
sounded forth, by his own angel, to the inhabitants of the
earth, calling with a loud voice, " Fear God, and give glory
to him, for the hour of his judgment is come."* And you
must feel this judgment in your hearts, that the prince of
this world, with all his evil seed, with all his wrong plants
and appearances, may be judged in you ;t and that you
may be witnesses upon earth for God, and the Lamb, that
sits upon the throne, against all darkness of men and devils;
nay, against death, hell, and the grave ; and that God may
bless you with all sorts of blessings in Christ Jesus.
But yet I find myself pressed in spirit to give you one
warning more, viz. that you would not longer use vain words
(though true in themselves) because they are worth no
thing! for they take God's name in vain, that use it with
out life and power : and I intreat all those that endeavour
to know God, and come up tp the true life of his dear
Son, that you make po profession of worship, without the
feeling, preparing, and ordering of the true and overcom
ing poAver of God ; for such worship is not of God, and
such professors are poor, lean, naked and miserable people;
yea, they are only as chaff among the corn : and therefore
beware you of " the woman Jezabel, the false prophetess,":}:
of Avhom the early Christians were warned, who has the
words,, but not the life, of the Son of God : her preaching
tends to death : she makes a talk ofthe sound and fame of
wisdom, but will not afterAvards harbour her, when she cries
in her streets; she awakens none, she brings no man to
God; she does not build up in the heavenly work, nor ad
minister the right spiritual bread to the soul : for Christ
only is the bread Avhich gives life eternal ;J| and those that
will eat of this bread, must first come to him ; let him into
their hearts, as Lord and Master, to provide and order his
to his praise; and as such must he be received, when he
appears in their souls, even as a « refiner's fire, and as a
fuller's soap,"% to purify and refine from all unrighteous
ness ; yea, to reveal unto men their sins, and destroy the
same with the brightness ofhis coming, and with the Spirit
ofhis mouth, in Avhich no deceit is found. He is that light,
in the brightness ofhis coming, Avhich you must love, and
whose testimony you must keep ; and he is the quickening
* Rev. xiv. 6, 7. t Mat. xv. 13. f Rev. ii. 20. || John
,vi. 32, 33,35,51- § Mai. iii. 2.

A TENDER VISITATION. 397
Spirit, whose breath of his mouth revives the soul, and de
stroys the sin that slays it : for all those that come to re
ceive him in this office, in this way, and in this work, shall
also knoAv, that he is the " Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin ofthe world," the spiritual passover, the hea
venly bread, the true vine, which bringeth forth the new
wine ofthe kingdom ; the blessed olive-tree; yea, the tree
of life, and eternal salvation, which grows in the midst of
the paradise of God, whose leaves are for the healing ofthe
nations.* This is a salutation to you all, from the holy and fervent
love which God has poured into my heart and soul ; Avho
am in a travail to help the nations to be gathered to Christ,
the light and salvation thereof; that Zion may be the joy,
and Jerusalem the praise, of the whole earth.t Amen,
Amen.
W. PENN.
• John i.29, 1 Cor. v. 7. Johnvi.1)!. xv.l. Rom. xi. 24. Rev.ii.,7.
-1 Isa. Ix. 3. lxii. 7.

TRAVELS IN
HOLLAND AND GERMANY.
PREFACE TO THE READER.
This ensuing journal of my travels in Holland and Ger
many, in the service of the gospel of my Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, was written for my own, and some relations'
and particular friends' satisfaction, as the long time it hath
lain silent doth shew : but a copy that was found amongst
the late countess of Conway's papers falling into the hands
of a person that much frequented that family, he was ear
nest with me, both by himself and others, to have leave to
publish it for a common good : which, upon perusal, I have
found a willingness to comply with, hoping that the Lord
will make the reading of it effectual to some into whose
hands it may fall ; as well those who have received a dis
pensation of the same ministry, for their encouragement in
their public service for God, as those who are under the
same ministry, unto zeal and faithfulness.
For it is the glorious gospel day, in which God is exalt
ing his dear Son, as Prophet, Priest, and King in the hearts
of his people. Oh ! that the nations would hear him, their
only saving health, and Israel's great Shepherd, who takes
care of his sheep, that hear his voice, and gives unto them
that follow him, ih the daily cross, unto regeneration, eter
nal life ; and who hath sent, and is sending forth, his ser
vants, to gather home the sheep, that are gone astray in all
nations, that so there may be but one Shepherd, and one
sheepfold, according to the glorious promise roade to these
latter times ; in which he said he would be. the "teacher of
his people himself:" for he is teaching thousands, by the
light, spirit, and grace ofhis Son Christ, in whom he is well
pleased. To this, God hath sent forth his servants, in this
day, to turn all people, as God's call and visitation to the
nations. And blessed are all those that hearken to this tes
timony, both mediately and immediately.

PREFACE. 399
For God is awaking men to the knowledge ofhis glory,
in the face or appearance of Christ, by his Spirit in their
hearts and consciences ; which reveals to men the Father,
yea, the deep things of God.
Oh ! that they would hear, and fear, and learn the things
that make for their eternal peace ! For if the righteous
scarcely are saved, where, O where, shall they appear that
neglect so great salvation ! A salvation that comes so near
them, as to knock at the door of their hearts ; that searches
them, and tries their reins, and tells unto them their most
inward thoughts, and brings a line of judgment over all
their words and works. This is Christ Jesus, the, light of
the world, that Avas given of God for salvation to the ends
ofthe earth. He has enlightened all, and shines to all, and
calls all, that they should see their sins, and be sorry for
them, and forsake them, and take up his daily cross, and
follow him, whom God hath given for an example, as well
as a propitiation for our sins : and none can know him to
be their propitiation, that reject him as their example and
leader in their lives and conversations. Wherefore, reader,
be serious, inward, and inquisitive, for thy soul's sake.
What faith hast thou ? One that overcomes the world ; or
one that the spirit of the world overcomes, which is not the
faith of God's elect, without which we cannot please God ?
For that faith works by love ; such a love to God as will
not offend him, but seeks his glory through a most willing
obedience to his holy will. Blessed are the souls in which
this love dwells ; for such have none in heaven but God,
nor in the earth in comparison of him. As they receive all
good from him, so they resign all up to him ; and though it
be through many tribulations that they must attain the rest
of God, yet as nothing can separate them from his love, so
neither can any thing deprive them of their reward in the
end. Wherefore, reader, be thou persuaded to take thy lot
among that blessed number, if thou art not yet one of them.
Thou seest the way to that divine privilege ; walk in it ; for
the end crowns all : if one of that number, that have chosen
God for their portion, be diligent, zealous, and fervent in
the work and service of God. Redeem thy time, and run
thy race with care and constancy ; looking to Jesus, the
Author, that he may be the Finisher of thy faith. Remem
ber who said, " There are many mansions prepared for the
faithful." Do we believe and look for another world ? Let
us not then live in this as if there Avere no other. Let our
eyes be upon our better world, and live here as strangers,
that are but on our way to our eternal home ; that so we

400 TRAVELS IN
may answer the end of God's love, by working out the sal
vation of our own souls, by his power, with fear and trem
bling ; knoAving God will judge all, by Christ Jesus, ac
cording to the deeds done in the body.
Reader, this journal is of a religious voyage, and has
some passages in it that may engage thy soul to seriousness,
and let thee see how good God is to those that go on his
holy errands. Mayest thou be heartily affected with this
testimony of his love, and presence with his people; and
feel good desires raised in thee to serve the Lord also, ac
cording to his blessed will, in thy day, that peace thou may
est know to thy soul when time here shall be no more. I
am, Thy assured friend in the best things,
W. PENN.

THE JOURNAL.
Being the first day ofthe week,* I left my dear wife and
family, at Worminghurst in Sussex, in the fear and love of
God ; and came well to London that night.
The next day,+ I employed myself on friends' behalf, that
were in sufferings, till the evening, and then went to my own
mother's in Essex.
The next morning^ I took my journey to Colchester, and
met George Wats of London upon the way ; who returned
with me, and came well to that town that evening.
We lodged at John Furly's the elder, but had a blessed
meeting at Jonathan Furly's house that night.
The next morning || early I left Colchester, and came to
Harwich about noon, accompanied with George Wats and
John Furly the elder, William Tailcoat, and J. Witherly of
Colchester; where Ave found dear G. F. at J. Vandewall's
house, Avith many more friends.
After dinner, we went all to the meeting; where the
Lord gave us a blessed earnest of his love and presence,
that should be with us in this voyage : for his holy, over
coming, refreshing power, did open all our hearts, and many
Anno 1677. The first figure is the day of the month ; the next the month ; and
the last the day. of the week.
* 22. 5. 1 . + 23. 5. 2. } 23. 5. S. J 2.5. 5. 4.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 401
of our mouths in ministry, prayer, and praises, to the mag
nifying ofhis own name and truth in that place.
The meeting done, we returned to John Vandewall's
house, where we took our leave of friends ; that is to say,
ofthe friends of that place, with others that came with us,
or met us there : and so we went on board the packet-boat ;
where, by the special favour ofthe master ofthe packets to
me, having formerly served under my father, we had the best
accommodation given to us. Many ofthe friends accompa
nied us to the ship; not leaving us till all was fixed, and
then we parted in the fellowship of Jesus.
Those that came over were G. Fox, It. Barclay, G. K.
G. Wats, J. Furly, W. Tailcoat, J. Yeamans, E. K. myself,
with two of our servants.
We set sail about three in the moining, being the fifth
day of the week ;* and got the sixth day at nightt within
half a league ofthe Briel.
We had good service those two days in the ship with se
veral passengers, French and Dutch : and though they
seemed at first to be shy of us, and to slight us, yet at last
their hearts were much opened in kindness toward us, and
the universal principle had place.
The next morning friends:}; Avere fetched on shore by a boat
of Rotterdam, with some friends of that city, that came to
the Briel to meet us. The friends that came were A. Son-
neman, B. Furly, and S. Johnson, Vettekeuken, with three
young men that live at B. Furly's house.
After we had eaten, we took boat immediately for Rotter
dam ; where we arrived about noon, and where many friends
came to see us, among whom we were comforted.
The next day, being the first day of the week,|] we had
two meetings at B. Furly's house ; whither resorted a great
company of people, some of them being ofthe considerablest
note of that city. And Oh ! blessed be the true word of
life, that never faileth them that rest upon it, and abide in
it, the gospel was preached, the dead were raised, and the'
living comforted ; and God, even our God, bore heavenly
record to his only begotten Son in us : and truth is honour
able in the eyes of several in that place.
The next day, being the second day of the week, % we
spent in visiting friends from house to house ; not in one
company, being lodged in several quarters ofthe city. All
our visits were precious meetings ,; for, indeed, for that end
God brought us into this land.
Several of us dined and supped that day at two great
men's houses, where we had blessed opportunities to make.
•26. 5.5. + 27. 5. 6. \ 28. 5. 7. | 29. 5.1. §30.5.2.
Vol. ii. 2 c

402 TRAVELS IN
known unto them what was the hope of our glory : that mys
tery, which to the Gentiles is now revealing, even Christ
Jesus, the light and life ofthe world, manifested in us.
The next day, being the third day of the week,* G. F.
J. F. W. T. and myself, after having broken our fast at A.
Sonneman's, took boat for Leyden ; where we came that
night, in order to be at Haerlem next day, at a meeting ap
pointed by G. F. and myself from Rotterdam : being accom
panied by J. Bocliffs, J. Arents, and J. Claus, that came
from Amsterdam on purpose to conduct us thither.
At Haerlem we arrived about the 11th hour ;+ and went
to the house of a good old man, that had long waited for,
and is now come to behold, the consolation and salvation of
Israel. After we had a little refreshed ourselves, we went to the
meeting; where the Lord gave us a blessed opportunity, not
only with respect to friends, but many sober baptists and
professors, that came in, and abode in the meeting fo the
end : blessed be the name ofthe Lord.
The meeting done, we went to Amsterdam, in company
with several friends of that city, and of Alchmaer and
Embden, who met us at the meeting at Haerlem. We
lodged at Gertruyd Dirick's house.
G. K. and his wife, and R. B. stayed over the fourth day's
meeting at Rotterdam, and so came hot till the next day ;
which was the day ofthe general meeting of friends in this
country. The fifth day of the week,+. at G. D's. house, the general
meeting was held both of men and Avomen : and the Lord,
who is setting up his own kingdom by his own power, owned
us with his oAvn blessed presence, and opened us in that wis
dom and love, that all things ended with peace, great con
cord and comfort : many things being spoken, especially by
our dear friend G. F. that were of good service ; and, I
hope, will dwell Avith them for ever.
These several things agreed upon, being of good savour
and report, I think fit hereto insert them.
At the general meeting of friends at Amsterdam, the second
of the sixth month, 1677.
1. Be it known to all men, that the power of God, the
gospel, is the authority of all our men's and women's meet
ings ; that every heir of that power is an heir of that autho
rity, and so becometh a living member of right of either of
* 31.5.3 +1.6.4. J 2. 6. 5.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 403
those meetings, and of the heavenly fellowship and order in
which they stand ; which is not of man, nor by man.
2. That each monthly meeting have a collection apart ;
and also that there be another collection quarterly at Am
sterdam from each meeting for general services ; and that it
be not disposed of, but by the consent of the said quarterly
meeting. 3. It is agreed upon, that henceforth a yearly meeting be
held here at Amsterdam; unto which friends in the Pala
tinate, Hamburgh, Lubeck, and Frederickstadt, &c. be in
vited : of which meeting there shall be given notice to the
friends of the yearly meeting in London, to be kept always
on the fifth day of that week which is fully the third week
following after the yearly meeting at London.
, 4. It is also agreed upon, that henceforth this general
meeting is to be changed into a quarterly meeting: and
that the first quarterly meeting hereafter shall be on the
second fifth-day of the ninth month following, and so
forth every quarter on the second fifth-day of the month.
This second of the ninth month is to be this first quarterly
meeting. 5. It is also agreed, that henceforth a monthly meeting in
Friesland should be established, as also at Rotterdam ; and
that on the second second-day of each month : and at Har-
lingen upon the third third-day ofthe month.
6. Farther, that in the interim, the friends of Alchmaer,
Haerlem, and Waterland, are to have their monthly meet
ing with friends at Amsterdam : and to begin the said
meeting the sixth of the seventh month, and so forth ; al
ways upon the first second-day of the first week of the
month, at the eighth hour.
7. And farther concerning gospel order : though the doc
trine of Christ Jesus requireth his people to admonish a
brother or sister twice, before they tell the church ; yet that
limiteth none, so as they shall use no longer forbearance
before they tell the church : but that they shall not less
than twice admonish their brother or sister, before they tell
the church. And it is desired of all, that before they pub
licly complain, they wait, in the power of God, to feel if
-there is no more required of them to their brother or sister,
before they expose him or her to the church. Let this be
weightily considered.
8. And farther, when the church is told, and the party
admonished by the church again and again, and he or she
remain still unsensible and unreconciled ; let not final
judgment go forth against him or her, till every one of the
meeting hath cleared his or her conscience : that if any
2 c2

404 TRAVELS IN
thing be insisted upon any farther to visit such a trans
gressor, they may clear themselves ; if possibly the party
may be reached and saved. And after all are clear of the
blood of such an one, let the judgment of friends, in the
power of God, go forth against him or her, as moved
for the Lord's honour and glory's sake : that no reproach
may come or rest upon God's holy name, truth, and people.
9. As much as possibly can be, let all differences be ended
by some honest friends ; and trouble not the monthly or
quarterly meetings with them : and if that will not do, pro
ceed to your particular monthly meetings. But if they be
not there ended neither, then take aside six honest friends
out of the quarterly meeting, and let them hear and deter
mine the matter. And in case any person or persons be so
obstinate, as that they refuse the sense and love of friends,
and will not comply with them, then to proceed towards
them according to the way of truth in such cases.
10. That all such as behold their brother or sister in a
transgression, go not in a rough, light, or upbraiding spirit
to reprove or admonish him or her, but in the power of the
Lord, and Spirit of the Lamb, in the wisdom and love of
the truth, which suffereth thereby, to admonish such an
offender. So may the soul of such a brother or sister be
seasonably and effectually reached unto, and overcome,
and have cause to bless the name of the Lord on their
behalf : and so a blessing may be rewarded into the bosom
of the faithful and tender brother or sister that so ad-
monisheth. II. And be it known unto all, we cast out none from
among us : for if they go from the light, and spirit, and
power in which our unity is. they cast out themselves. And
it has been our way to admonish them, that they may come
to the spirit and light of God which they are gone from,
and so come into the unity again. For our fellowship
standeth in the light, which the world hateth, and in the
spirit, which the world grieveth, vexeth, and quencheth :
and if they will not hear our admonitions, the light con-
demneth them ; and then goeth our testimony out against
them. 12. That no condemnation is to go farther than the trans
gression is known ; and if he or she return, and give forth
a condemnation against him or herself, which is more desir
able than that we should do it, this is a testimony ofhis or
her repentance and resurrection before God, his people,
and the whole world : as David, when Nathan came to ad
monish him, Psal. Ii.
13. That no testimony by way of condemnation be given

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 405
forth against any man or woman, whatever crime they com
mit, before admonition, and till such time as they have had
gospel order, according to Christ's doctrine.
14. And if any brother or sister hear any report of any
brother or sister, let him or her go to the party, and know
the truth of the report; and, if true, let the thing be judged;
if false, go then to the reporter, and let him or her be
judged. And if any should report it at a second or third
hand, without going to the party of whom the report goeth,
let such be brought tp judgment : " For thou shalt neither
raise, nor suffer, a false report to lie upon my people, saith
the Lord ;" for they are to be holy as he is holy, and just
as he is just.
15. And if any controversy, or weakness, should appear
in either men's or women's meetings, let it not be told out
of your meetings ; because such speeches tend to the de
faming of such persons and meetings, and to the hurt ofthe
common unity, and breach of the heavenly society and pri
vilege. This is an account of what passed in that meeting.
Next day,* notice being already given, we had a large
public meeting, in which the sound of the everlasting gospel,
testament and covenant went forth ; and the meeting ended
with a SAveet and weighty sense.
That evening we had a more select meeting of friends
than the day before, in which the nature of marriage, and
the practice of friends relating to it, and other things, were
very weightily and closely discoursed. The resolutions were
these following :
1. A scruple concerning the law of the magistrate about
marriage, being proposed and discoursed of in the fear of
God among friends, in a select meeting, it was the universal
and unanimous sense of friends, ' That joining in marriage
is the work of the Lord only, and not of priest or magis
trate.' For it is God's ordinance, and not man's; and
therefore friends cannot consent that they should join them
together: for we marry none; it is the Lord's work, and
we are but witnesses.
2. But yet if a friend, through tenderness, have a desire
that the magistrate should know it before the marriage be
concluded, they may publish the same, after the thing hath
by friends been found clear; and, after the marriage is perr
formed in a public meeting of friends and others, according
to the holy order and practice of friends in truth throughout
the world, (the manner ofthe holy men and women of old)
* S. 6. 6.

406 TRAVELS IN
may go and carry a copy of a certificate to the magistrate ;
and they are left to their freedom herein, that if they please
they may register it. But for priests or magistrates to
marry, or join any in that relation, it is not according to
scripture ; and our testimony and practice have been always
against it. It was God's work before the fall, and it is
God's work only in the restoration.
3. If any friend have it upon him to reprint any book
already printed, and approved either in England or here,
they may do it upon their own charges.
4. It is also agreed, that the care of reading and approv
ing books be laid upon some of eA'ery meeting ; to the end
no book be published but in the unity : yet any other
faithful friends, not so nominated, are not thereby excluded.
Though in all these cases it is desired, that all would avoid
unnecessary disputes about words, which profit not, but keep
in the love that edifieth.
5. It is farther concluded, that the general stock of the
quarterly meeting be not disposed of, but by the consent of
the quarterly meeting. But if betwixt times there shall be
a pressing necessity concerning the public, let that monthly
meeting, where it shall fall out, lay down the money, and
give in an account at the next quarterly meeting, in order
to their relief, if it appear that they are thereby overcharged.
And let all things be done without favour, affection, rela
tion, or any respect to persons, even for the Lord's sake,
and his blessed everlasting truth; that God may bless and
prosper his people.
And let all things be written down, both as to your
monthly and quarterly meetings' collections; what you re
ceive, and what you disburse : that all may be fair and
clear to the satisfaction of all that desire to see and examine
the books.
And the Lord's fear, and life, and power, was over all,
in which the Lord God preserve his for ever.
The next day, being the seventh day of the week,* was
employed in visiting of friends, and preparing ourselves for
a farther journey : that is to say, G. K., R. B., B. F. and
myself. Finding letters here from the friends of Dantzic, com
plaining of their heavy sufferings they underwent ; inform
ing us also that the king of Poland was there, and asking
advice about an address to him ; it fell upon me to write
the following letter, in the name of the friends of Dantzic.
* 4. 6. 7.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 407

To the King of Poland. .
Great Prince !
Actions of justice, mercy, and truth, are worthy of all
men ; but in a most excellent manner of the serious consi
deration of kings and princes. We, certain inhabitants of
the city of Dantzic, have been long great sufferers, not for
any wickedness committed against the royal law of God, or
any breach of those civil laws of this city, that relate to the
well-government of it in all natural and civil things; but
purely and only for the cause of our tender consciences to
wards God.
This severity being by us represented to the magistrates
of this city, we could not as yet receive from them any
relief; some expressing, as if easing the burden of our
oppressions, should give thee, O king, an occasion of dis
satisfaction against them, who art our acknowledged pro
tector. Being thus necessitated, and in a manner driven to make
this address unto thee, take it not amiss that we, with that
humility and patience that become the servants and follow
ers of Jesus, and with all manner of Christian respect and
sincerity of mind, briefly relate to thee the most fundamen
tal principles most surely believed by us : Avhich, we hope,
thou wilf believe deserve not those punishments that are
inflicted upon us as evil-doers.
1. We do reverently believe, That there is One God and
Father, One Lord Jesus Christ, and One Holy Spirit, and
these Three are One. Eph. iv, 6.
2. We believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testai
ment to have been given forth by divine inspiration ; and
they are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness; "able to make the man of
God wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ
Jesus." 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16.
3. That these holy scriptures are not to be understood,
but by the discoveries, teachings, and operations of that
Eternal Spirit from whence they came.
4. We believe that all mankind, through disobedience to
the Spirit of God, are fallen short of the glory of God, and
in that state are under condemnation : but that God, out of
his infinite goodness and kindness, hath sent his Son a light
into the world, that whosoever believeth and obeyeth this
light, should not abide in darkness, but have the light of
eternal life.
5. We believe this'gift of light and grace, through Jesus

408 TRAVELS IN
Christ,.. to be universal; and that there is not a man or
woman upon earth that hath riot a sufficient measure of this
light, and to- whom this grace hath not appeared, to reprove
their ungodly works of darkness, and to lead them that obey
it to eternal salvation. And this is the great condemnation
ofthe JvgiJa! ait this day, under all their great professions of
GodjChrist, Spirit, and scriptures, that though Christ hath
enlightened them, yet they will not bring their deeds to the
light, but hate the light, and love their dark customs and
practices rather than the light, because their deeds are evil.
6. We do believe in the birth, life, doctrine, miracles,
death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord;
and that he laid down his life for the ungodly, not to con
tinue so, but that they should deny their wickedness and
ungodlines, and live soberly, righteously, and godlikely in
this present evil world ; as the saints of old did, that were
redeemed from the earth, and sat in heavenly places.
7* We do believe, that as the devil, through man's dis
obedience, brought sin into man's heart, so Christ Jesus,
through man's belief in, and obedience to, his holy Spirit,
light, and grace, cleanseth the heart of sin, destroyeth the
works of the devil, finisheth transgression, and bringeth in
everlasting righteousness : that as the devil hath had his
kingdom of darkness in man, so Christ may have his king
dom of light, life, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost in the heart of man : and not that Christ Jesus saveth
men from wrath, and not frOm sin : " For the wages of sin
is death," in whose heart soever it liveth ; but the gift of
God is eternal life, to all that believe and obey, through
Jesus Christ.
8. We do believe,- that all true ministry and worship
only stand in the experimental sense, operations, and lead
ings of this holy light, spirit, or grace, that is shed abroad
in the hearts of men and women, to conduct them in the
holy way of regeneration unto life eternal. This was the
ancient, apostolical doctrine ; they spoke what they had
seen, tasted and handled of the word of God. And this is
our faith, doctrine, and practice in this day.
And be not displeased with us, O king, we intreat thee,
if Ave give this for the reason of our absenting ourselves from
the public and common ministry or worship ; namely, that
we have no taste or relish, no sense or evidence, that their
ministry or worship are authorized and performed by the
apostolical power and Spirit of Jesus ; but rather that they
are the inventions, studies and powers of man's nature : all
which are but strange fire, and therefore cannot kindle a
true and acceptable sacrifice to God.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY, 409
; For it is not man's spirit and degenerate nature :
and professing the words of God's Spirit, that
ceptance with the Lord, or administreth heavenly
to men. Nor can we believe, that where ei
wrath, malice, persecution, and strife, lusts, va
ness, and worldly-mindedness have such a swaj|
that the true Christian spirit, life, and doctrine
ily received and followed.
And as this is the reason, in the sight and presence of that
God that made heaven and earth, and will judge the quick
and the dead, yvherefore we cannot join in the common and
public worship of these parts; so doth the same light and
Spirit of God lay an holy necessity upon us, with a meek
and quiet spirit, to come together after the manner ofthe
ancient Christians, that were the true followers of Jesus;
and with godly fear, and a retired mind, to wait upon God,
and meditate in his holy law of life, that he hath writ in our
hearts, according to his new-covenant promise : that he may
feed us, teach us, strengthen us, and comfort us in our in
ward man. And as by this holy Spirit, according to the
practice ofthe churches of old, any are inclined or moved to
reprove, exhort, admonish, praise, or pray, we are found
exercised in these holy practices.
Now, O prince ! give us, poor Christians, leave to expos
tulate with thee : Did Christ Jesus, or his holy followers,
endeavour by precept or example to set up their religion
Avith a carnal sword ? Called he any troops of men or angels
to defend him ? Did he encourage Peter to dispute his escape
with the sword ? But did he not say, " Put it up?" Or did he
"countenance his over-zealous disciples, when they would
have had fire from heaven to destroy those that were not of
their mind ? No : but did not Christ rebuke them, saying,
" Ye know not what spirit ye are of?" And if it was neither
Christ's Spirit, nor their own spirit that would have fire from
heaven, Oh ! what is that spirit that would kindle fire on
earth, to destroy such as peaceably dissent upon the account
of conscience ? If we may not wish that God Avould smite
men of other judgments, because they differ from us, (in
which there is no use of carnal weapons) can we so far de
ceive ourselves, as to esteem ourselves Christians, and fol
lowers of Christ, whilst we encourage men with worldly
weapons to persecute such as dissent from us ?
O king ! When did the true religion persecute ? When
did the true church offer violence for religion ? Were not
her weapons prayers, tears, and patience ? Did not Jesus
conquer by those weapons, and vanquish cruelty by suffer
ing ? Can clubs and staves, and swords and prisons, and

410 TRAVELS IN
banishments reach the soul, convert the heart, or convince
the understanding of man ? When did violence eyer make
a true convert, or bodily punishment a sincere Christian ?
This maketh void the end of Christ's coming, which is to
save men's lives, and not to destroy them ; to persuade
them, and not to force them; yea, it robbeth God's Spirit of
its office, which is to " convince the world :" that is the
sword by which the ancient Christians overcame. It was
the apostles' testimony, that their weapons were not carnal,
but spiritual : but the practice of their pretended success
ors proveth, that their weapons are not spiritual, but
carnal. Suppose we are tares, as the true wheat hath always been
called ; yet pluck us not up, for Christ's sake, who saith,
" Let the tares and the wheat grow together until the har
vest ;" that is, " until the end of the world." Let God
have his due, as well as Caesar ; the judgment of conscience
belongeth to him ; and mistakes about religion are best
known to him.
And here give us leave to mind thee of a noble saying of
one of thy ancestors, Stephen king of Poland : ' I am king
of men, not of consciences; king of bodies, not of souls :'
and there have been found, and still are, among the empe
rors, kings, princes, and states of the world, some that
have had that noble spirit of indulging their conscientious
dissenting subjects; and not only, with Gamaliel and
Gallio, not to persecute, but also eminently to protect
and defend them from the hatred and violence of their
enemies. Be not thou less noble than they : consider how
quietly and comfortably our friends live under other go
vernments. And indeed we conceive it to be the prudence of the
kings and states of the world ; for, if the wise man saith
true, " The glory of a prince is in the multitude of his peo
ple :" but this practice saith, ' No ; the glory of a prince
is in the conformity of the people to the canons of the
clergy ;' which seemeth to strike at all civil society, which
consisteth in men of virtue, parts, arts, and industry. But
let men have never such excellent abilities, be never so
honest, peaceable, and industrious, all which render them
good and profitable subjects to the prince, yet they must not
live within their native country, unless they will sacrifice
the peace of their consciences, by an hypocritical submission
to the canons and fashions of the church. Is not this, O
prince ! to set the church above the state ? the bishop above
the king? Tp waste and give away the strength and glory
of a kingdom ?

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 411
O that thou mayest be wise, even in thy generation, and
use the power that God has given thee, for God, and truth,
and righteousness; that therein thou mayest be like unto
God, who, Peter telleth us, " accepteth of all that fear him,
and work righteousness, throughout the world : whose sun
shineth upon all, whose rain cometh upon all."
And lest any should be so injurious to us, as to render us
enemies to civil government ; be it known unto thee, 0
king ! that we honour all men in the Lord, not with the
vain invented honours of this world, but with the true and
solid honour that cometh from above ; but much more kings,
and those whom God hath placed in authority over us : for
we believe magistracy to be both lawful and useful, for the
terrifying of evil-doers, and the praise and encouragement
of those that do well.
The premises duly considered, we intreat thee, O prince!
to take our suffering case into thy serious regard ; and, by
that power and influence thou hast with the magistrates
of this city, to recommend our suffering condition to their
serious consideration ; that we may no longer lie under
these not only unchristian, but unnatural severities, but
receive that speedy and effectual relief which becometh
Christian magistrates to give to their own sober and Christ
ian people.
The first day ofthe week being come,* the meeting began
about the eleventh hour, and held till about the fourth hour
in the afternoon. There was a mighty concourse of people
from several places of this country, and that of several per
suasions, baptists, presbyterians, socinians, seekers, &c. and
God was with his people, and his word of life and power,
of wisdom and strength, covered them ; yea, the hidden
things both of Esau and Jacob, the mystery both of iniquity
and godliness, were opened and declared in the demonstra
tion of the eternal Spirit that day. And, Oh ! blessed and
magnified be the name of the Lord, that hath not only not
left himself, but also not his servants, without a Avitness !
Oh ! he is worthy to be loved, and feared, and obeyed, aud
reverenced for ever.
The next dayt G. K., R. B., B. F., and myself, having
taken our leave of dear G. F. and friends, took boat for
Naerden, where we arrived about the second hour in the
afternoon. And after having eaten, Ave took our leave of those friends
that had accompanied us thither, and began our journey in
* 5. 6. 1. + 6. 6. 2.

412 TRAVELS IN
the common post-waggon to Osnabrug, where we came the
fourth day following in the evening.*
We passed through a very dark country to that place ;
yet I felt not so great a weight and suffering in spirit as six
years ago, when I went through the same places.
At Osnabrug we had a little time with the man of the
inn, where we lay ; and left him several good books of
friends, in the Low and High Dutch tongues, to read and
dispose of.
The next morning, being the fifth day of the week,+ we
set forward to Herwerden, and came thither at night. This
is the city where the princess Elizabeth Palatine hath her
court; whom, and the countess in company with her, it
was especially upon us to visit, and that upon several ac
counts :
1 . In that they are persons seeking after the best things.
2. That they are actually lovers and favourers of those,
that separate themselves from the world for the sake of
righteousness. For the princess is not only a private supporter of such,
but gave protection to De Labadie himself, and his company;
yea, when they went under the reproachful name of Quakers
about seven years since.
This man was a Frenchman, who being; dissatisfied with
the looseness and deadness of the French Protestants, even
at Geneva itself, left them, and came for Holland ; and so
vehemently declaimed against the apostacy of the priests and
people there, that the clergy were enraged, and stirred up
the magistrates against him ; and the rather, because many
followed him, and several women of great quality. Upon
this the princess gave them an invitation, and they came,
and were protected by her. But since, some miscarriages
falling out in that place, she thereupon in good measure
withdrew her favour from them, and they removed into
another place.
I was moved to visit this man and his company six years
ago, and did see him, and his two great disciples ; but they
would npt suffer me to see the people, which I laboured for.
I in that day saw the airiness and unstableness of the man's
spirit ; and that a sect-master Avas his name : and it was upon
roe, both by word of mouth and writing, to let them know
that the enemy would prevail against them to draw them
into inconvenient things, if they eame not to be stayed in the
light of Jesus Christ, and to know the holy silence ; and that
at last they would come to fall out one with another, and
• 8. 6. 4. | 9. 6. 5.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 413
moulder away : which is in some measure come to pass, as I
feared; for I clearly perceived, that though they had re
ceived some divine touches, a danger there was they would
run out with them, and spend them like prodigals ; not
knowing then where to stay their minds for daily bread.
Yea, though they were something angelical, and like to the
celestial bodies, yet if they kept not their station, they would
prove fallen stars. They moved not in the motion of him
that had visited them, but were filled Avith gross mixtures,
and thereby brought forth mixed births ; that is to say, things
not natural, but monstrous. In fine, they were shy of us,
they kneAV us not : yet I believed well of some ofthe people,
for a good thing was stirring in them.
And in this also was the countess commendable, in that
she left all, to have joined Avith a people that had a pretence,
at least, to more spirituality and self-denial, than was found
in the national religion she was bred up in : for God had
reached her, as she told me, about nine years ago, and that
by an extraordinary way.
Now it seemed great pity to us, that persons of their
quality in the world should so willingly expose themselves
for the false Quaker, the reprobate silver, the mixtures, and
that they should not be acquainted with the life and testi
mony of the true Quakers.
About a year since, R. B. and B. F. took that city, in the
way from Frederickstadt to Amsterdam, and gave them a
visit; in which they informed them somewhat of friends'
principles, and recommended the testimony? of truth to them,
as both a nearer and more certain thing than the utmost
of De Labadie's doctrine. They left them tender and
loving. Soon after this, Gertruydt Diricks and Elizabeth Hendricks
from Amsterdam visited them, and obtained a meeting with
them ; improving that little Avay, which God by his provi
dence had made, more closely to press the testimony. And
though they, especially the countess, made some objections,
in relation to the ordinances, and certain practices oif friends,
yet she seemed to receive at that time satisfaction from
them. These visits have occasioned a correspondence by way of
letter betwixt them and several of us, wherein the " mystery
of truth" hath been more clearly opened to their under
standings; and they have been brought nearer into a waiting
frame, by those heavenly directions they have frequently
received by way of epistles from several of us.
In answer to two of mine, the princess sent me the fol-
loAving letter ; which being short, I insert it here.

414 TRAVELS IN

Herford, May 2, 1677.
This, friend, will tell you, that both your letters were
very acceptable, together with your wishes for my obtaining
those virtues which may make me a ivorthy follower of our
great King and Saviour Jesus Christ. What I have done
for his true disciples, is not so much as a cup of cold water;
it affords them no refreshment ; neither did I expect any
fruit of my letter to the dutchess of L. as I have expressed
at the same time unto B. F. But since R. B desired I
should write it, I could not refuse him, nor omit to do any
thing that was judged conducing to his liberty, though it
should expose me to the derision of the world. But this a
mere moral man can reach at ; the true inward graces are
yet wanting in Your affectionate friend, Elizabeth.
This digression from the present history I thought not al
together unnecessary, or unpleasing.
But to return : Being arrived at that city, part of which
is under her government, we gave her to understand it, de
siring to know what time next day would be most proper
for us to visit her. She sent us word, ' She was glad that
we were come, and should be ready to receive us the next
morning about the seventh hour.'
The next morning being come,* (which was the sixth day
of the week) we went about the time she had appointed us,
and found both her and the countess ready to receive us;
which they did with a more than ordinary expression of
kindness. I can truly say it, and that in God's fear, I Avas
very deeply and reverently affected with the sense that was
Upon my spirit of the great and notable day of the Lord, and
the breakings-in of his eternal power upon all nations ; and
of the raising of the slain witnesses to judge the world;
who is the treasure of life and peace, of wisdom and glory,
to all that receive him in the hour of his judgments, and
abide with him. The sense of this deep and sure founda
tion which God is laying, as the hope of eternal life and
glory for all to build upon, filled my soul with an holy
testimony to them ; which, in a living sense, was followed
by my brethren : and so the meeting ended about the ele
venth hour.
The princess intreated us to stay and dine with her ; but;
* 10. 6. 6.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 415
With due regard both to our testimony and to her, at that
time we refused it; desiring, if she pleased," another oppor
tunity that day : which she with all cheerfulness yielded
to ; she herself appointing the second hour. So we went
to our quarters, and some time after we had dined, we re
turned. The meeting soon began ; there were several present, be
sides the princess and countess. It was at this meeting that
the Lord in a more eminent manner began to appear. The
eternal word shewed itself a hammer at this day ; yea,
sharper than a two-edged sword, dividing asunder between
the soul and the spirit, the joints and the marrow. Yea,
this day was all flesh humbled before the Lord ; it amazed
one, struck another, broke another : yea, the noble arm of
the Lord was truly awakened, and the weight and work
thereof bowed and tendered us also after an unusual and
extraordinary manner ; that the Lord might work an hea
venly sign before them and among them ; that the Majesty
of him that is risen among the poor Quakers might in some
measure be known unto them ; what God it is we serve, and
what power it is we wait for and bow before. Yea, they
had a sense and a discovery that day, what would become
ofthe glory of all flesh, when God shall enter into judg
ment. Well ! let my right hand forget its cunning, and my
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, when I shall forget
the loving-kindness ofthe Lord, and the sure mercies of our
God to us his travelling servants that day. O Lord, send
forth thy light and thy truth, that all nations may behold
thy glory.
Thus continued the meeting till about the seventh hour :
which done, with hearts and souls filled with holy thanks
givings to the Lord for his abundant mercy and goodness to
us, we departed to our lodging ; desiring to know, whether
Our coming the next day might not be uneasy or unseasona
ble to her, with respect to the affairs of her government; it
being the last day of the week, when, we were informed,
she was most frequently attended with addresses from her
people. But with a loving and ready mind she replied,
' That she should be glad to see us the next morning, and
at any time when we would.'
The next morning* (being the seventh day) we were there
betwixt eight and nine ; where R. B. falling into some dis
course with the princess, the countess took hold of the op
portunity, and whispered me to withdraw, to get a meeting
for the more inferior servants ofthe house, Avho would haA'e
been bashful to have presented themselves before the prin-
* 11. 6. 7.

a

116 TRAVELS IN
cess. And blessed be the Lord, he was not wanting to us :
but the same blessed power that had appeared to visit them
of high, appeared also to visit them of low degree : and we
Avere all sweetly tendered and broken together, for " Virtue
went forth of Jesus that day," and the life of our God was
shed abroad amongst us as a sweet savour ; for which their
souls bowed before the Lord, and confessed to our testimony.
Which did not a little please that noble young woman, to
find her own report of us, and her great care of them, so ef
fectually answered. Oh ! what shall we say ? Is there any,
God like to our God, who is glorious in holiness, fearful in.
praises, working wonders ? To his eternal name, power and
arm be the glory for ever !
The meeting done, the princess came to us, expressing,
much satisfaction that we had that good opportunity with
her. servants ; tolling us she much desired they should have
a true and right character of us, and that therefore she chose,
to withdraw, that they might have freer access, and that it
might look like their own act ; or words to that purpose.
The twelfth hour being come, we returned to our inn, let
ting them understand, we purposed (the Lord willing) to
visit them some time of that afternoon.
I must not here forget, that we found at our inn, the first
night at supper, a young merchant, of a sweet and ingenu
ous temper, belonging to the city of Bremen, who took occa
sion from that night's discourse,, the sixth day at dinner and
supper, and the seventh day also, to seek all opportunities
of conference with us ; and, as we have reason to believe,
he stayed twenty-four hours in that city on our account,
We opened to him the testimony of truth : I know not that
in any one thing he contradicted us. At last, he plainly dis
covered himself unto us to be a follower of a certain minister
in Bremen, that is, even by his fellow-ministers and protes
tants, reproached with the name of Quaker, because ofhis
singular sharpness against the formal lifeless ministers and
Christians in the world.
We laid fast hold upon this, and asked him, in case any
of us should visit that city, if he would giA'e us the opportu
nity of a meeting at his house ? Which he readily granted
us. So we gave him some books, recommending him to the,
true and blessed testimony of Christ Jesus, the Light and
Judge ofthe world, and life of them that receive him, and
believe in him ; and so Ave parted.
It being noAv about three in the afternoon, we went to the
princess's ; where being come, after some little time, the
princess and countess put me in remembrance of a promise
I made them in one of my letters out of England, namely,

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 417
that I would give them an acdount (at some convenient time)
of my first convincement, and of those tribulations and con
solations which I had met withal in this way ofthe kingdom,
which God had brought me to.
After some pause, I found myself very free, and prepared
in the Lord's love and fear to comply with their request;
and so, after some silence, began. But before I had half
done, it was supper time, and the princess would by no
means let us go, we must sup with her : which importunity
not being well able to avoid, we yielded to, and sat down
with her to supper.
Among the rest present at these opportunities, it must not
be forgotten that there was a countess, sister to the countess,
then come in to visit her, and a Frenchwoman of quality ;
the first behaving herself very decently, and the last often
deeply broken : and from a light and slighting carriage to
wards the very name of a Quaker, she became very inti
mately and affectionately kind and respectful to us. Supper
being ended, we all returned to the princess's chamber;
where making us all to sit down Avith her, she with both
the countesses and the Frenchwoman, pressed from me the
continuance of my relation ; but none more than the coun
tess's sister. Which, though late, I was not unwilling to
oblige them with, because I knew not Avhen the Lord would
give me such an opportunity.
And I found them affected : it continued till about ten at
night; yet many particulars omitted, partlj through forget-
fulnes, and partly for want of time, flowbeit, I must needs
say, they heard me with an earnest and tender attention ;
and I hope and believe, the Lord hath made it profitable
unto them.
This done, some discourse they had upon it, and after
wards we spoke about a meeting for the next day, being the
first day of the week ; and that we might have not only as
many of her oAvn family, but as many of her toAvn as Avould
willingly be there : she yielded to it, and appointed the meet
ing to begin at the second hour. So Ave parted, being near
the eleventh hour at night.
The next morning* we had a meeting among ourselves in
our chamber, wherein the Lord refreshed us : and there Avas
a great travail upon our spirits, that the Lord would stand
by us that day, and magnify the testimony ofhis own truth
by us ; that he might have a seed and people in that place,
to lift up a standard for his name.
At dinner there were several strangers, that came by the
post-waggon that day : among Avhom there was a young man
* 12. 6. I.
Vol. ii 2d

418 TRAVELS IN
of Bremen, being a student at the college at Duysburgh,
Avho informed us of a sober and seeking man of great note
in the city of Duysburgh; to hint we gave some books.'
There Avas one more who was tender and inquiring, to Avhom
also Ave gave some books.
The second hour being at hand, we Avent to the meeting ;
where were several as well of the town as of the family. The
meeting began with a weighty exercise and travail in prayer,
that the Lord Avould glorify his own name that day. And
by his own poAver he made way to their consciences, and
sounded his wakening trumpet in their ears, that they might
know that he was God, and that there is none like unto him.
Oh ! the day ofthe Lord livingly dawned upon us, and the
searching life of Jesus was in the midst of us ! O ! the
word, that never faileth them that wait for it, and abide in
it, opened the way, and unsealed the book of life : yea, the
quickening power and life of Jesus Avrought and reached to
them : and virtue from him, in whom dwelleth the Godhead
bodily, went forth, and blessedly distilled upon us his own
heavenly life, sweeter than the pure frankincense ; yea,
than the sweet-smelling myrrh that cometh' from a far coun
try. A nd as it began, so it was carried on, and so it ended :
blessed, be the name of the Lord, and confided in be our God
for ever !
As soon as the meeting Avas clone, the princess came to
me, and took me by the hand (which she usually did to us
all, coming and going) and Avent to speak to me of thesense
she had of that power and presence of God that Avas amongst
us, but was stopped. And turning herself to the Avindow,
brake forth in an extraordinary passion, crying out, ' I can
not speak to you ; my heart is full ;' clapping her hands
upon her breast.
It melted me into a deep and calm tenderness, in which I
was moved to minister a feAv words softly to her, and after
some time of silence she recovered herself ; and as 1 was
taking my leave of her, she interrupted me thus : ' Will ye
not come hither again ? Pray, call here as ye return out of
Germany.' I told her, we were in the hand Of the Lord ;
and being his, could not dispose of ourselves. But the Lord
had taken care that we should not forget her, and those with
her : for he had raised and begotten an heavenly concern
ment in our souls for her and them ; and we loved them all
with that love wherewith God had loved us; with much
more to that purpose.
She then turned to the rest of her friends, and would
have had us all gone to supper with her. But Ave chose
rather to be excused ; Ave should eat a bit of her bread,

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 419
and drink a glass of her wine if she pleased, in the chamber
where we were. At last we prevailed with her toleaA'e us.
The countess, the Frenchwoman, and the countess's wait
ing-woman, stayed with us, and we had a very, retired and
seasonable opportunity with them.
After the princess had supped, we went all down, and
took our solemn leave of her, the countess, her sister, the
Frenchwoman, with the rest of the family, whose hearts
were reached and opened by our testimonies ; recommend
ing unto them holy silence from all will-worship, and the
workings, strivings, and images of their own mind and spi
rit: that Jesus might be felt of them in their hearts, his
holy teachings witnessed, and followed in the way of his
blessed cross, that would crucify them unto the world, and
the world unto them : that their faith, hope, and jqy might
stand in Christ in them, the heavenly Prophet, Shepherd,
and Bishop : whose voice all that are truly sheep will hear
and follow, and not the voice of any stranger whatever.
So we left them in the love and peace of God, praying
that they might be kept from the evil of this world. We
returned to our lodging, having our hearts filled Avith a
weighty sense ofthe Lord's appearance with us in that place;
and being late (towards the ninth hour) we prepared to go
to vest.
The next morning* (being the second day of the week)
G. K. B. F. and myself, got ready to begin our journey to
wards Frankfort ; which, by the way pf Cassel, is ahout two
hundred English miles. R. B. prepared himself to return
by the way Ave came, directly to Amsterdam. But before we
parted, we had a little time together in the morning in our
chamber, whither came one ofthe princess's family, and one
of the tpwn. The Lord moved me to call upon his great
name, that he lvould be with them that stayed, and with
them that returned also, and with us that went forward in
wild and untrodden places. And his blessed love and life
overshadowed us : yea, he filled our cup together, and made
ps drink into one spirit, even the cup of blessings, in the
fellowship ofthe everlasting seed ; in Avhich we took leave
of one another.
And after having eaten, it being about the seventh hour,
we departed the city.
We came to Paderborn that night, six German miles,
which are about thirty-six English : it is a dark popish
town, and under the government of a bishop of that reli
gion. Howbeit, the woman where iye lodged Avas an an
cient, grave, and serious person, to whom we declared the
* 13.6. 2.
2d 2

420 TRAVELS IN
testimony of the light, shewing her the difference, betwixt
an outside and an inside religion, which she received with
much kindness. We left some books with her, which she
took readily.
There Avas also with us at supper a Lutheran, that was a
lawyer, with whom I had very good service, in opening to
him the great loss ofthe power of godliness, as well among
them who separated from Rome, as in the Roman church ;
which he confessed. I directed him to the principle of light
in his conscience, that let him see the lifeless state of the
false Christians; and if he turned his mind to that principle,
and waited there for power, he would receive power to rule
and govern himself according to true godliness ; and that
it was the loss of Christendom that they went from this prin
ciple, in which the power standeth, that conformeth -the soul
to the image and likeness of the dear Son of God ; and thi
ther they must come again, if ever they will have the true
knowledge of God, and enjoy life and salvation ; with much
more to that purpose ; all which he received lovingly.
The next morning* we set forwards toward Cassel ; but
through great foulness of weather, having only naked carts
to ride in, the waters being also high with the rains, we got
not to Cassel till the next day,t which was the fourth day
ofthe week. It being late, we made little enquiry that
night, being also wearied with the foulness of the ways and
weather. But the next day| we made our usual enquiry, viz. Who
was worthy in the city ? And found some that tenderly and
lovingly received us, to whom we declared the visitation of
the light and love of God. Among the rest, was Dureus,
our countryman, a man of seventy-seven years of age, who
had learned in good measure to forget his learning, school -
divinity, and priest's craft ; and for his approaches towards
an inward principle, is reproachfully saluted by some with
the honest title of Quaker. It is much better than Papist,
Lutheran, or Calvinist, who are not only ignorant of, but
enemies to, quaking and trembling at the word ofthe Lord,
as Moses and others did.
Upon the sixth day ofthe same week about noon,|| we set
out towards Frankfort, having left several books behind us;
which hath been our practice in our journey.
At Frankfort we arrived the second day about noon,§
being just a week from Herwerden ; and having from thence
and Cassel made known our intentions of coming to that
city, two considerable persons came and met us about half a
German mile from the city, informing us of several well-af-
* 14. 6.3. \ 15. 6.4. $16. 6. 5. y 17.6.6. §20.6.2

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 421
fected in that town. Upon which we told them the end of
our coming, and desired to have a meeting with them in the
afternoon ; Avhich we easily obtained at the house of a mer
chant, one of the two that met us. The persons that re
sorted thither, were generally people of considerable note,
both of Calvinists and Lutherans ; and we can say, they re
ceived us with gladness of heart, and embraced our testimony
with a broken and reverent spirit, thanking God for our
coming amongst them, and praying that he would prosper
his work in our hands.
This engaged our hearts to make some longer stay in this
city : we therefore desired another meeting the next day,*
which they cheerfully assented to, where several came
that were not Avith us the day before, and the Lord that
sent us into the land was with us, and by his power reached
to them, insomuch that they confessed to the truth of our
testimony. Of these persons there were two women, one a virgin, the
other a widow, both noble of birth, who had a deep sense of
that power and presence of God that accompanied our testi
mony, and their hearts yearned strongly towards us ; the
virgin giving us a particular invitation toher house the next
morning, t where Ave had the most blessed opportunity of the
three, for the Lord's power so eminently appeared, that not
only those that had been with us before were most effectu
ally reachejd, but a certain student residing in the house of
a Lutheran minister, sent for by that young woman, was
broken to pieces, and magnified that blessed power which
appeared. Also there accidentally came in a doctor of phy^
sic, who unexpectedly was affected, and confessed to the
truth, praying God to prosper us. This was the blessed
issue of our visit to Frankfort.
But there is one thing more, not unfit to be mentioned :
among some of those that have inclinations after God, a
fearful spirit, together with the shame ofthe cross, hath en
tered ; against which our testimony in part striking, we
took notice it was a life to these noble women, for that was
it, as they told us, which had long oppressed them, and ob
structed the work ofthe Lord amongst them. ' Therefore,'
said the young virgin, 'our quarters are free for you, let ail
come that will come, and lift up your voices without fear ;
for,' said she, ' it will never be well with us till persecution
come, and some of us be lodged in the stadthouse;' that is,
the prison.
We left the peace of Jesus with them, and the same after-
* 21. 6. S. + 22. 6. 4.

422 TRAVELS IN
taoon we departed out of that city, being the fourth day of
the week.
Here I writ an epistle to the churches pf Jesus.
To the churches of Jesus throughout the world, gathered and
settled in his eternal light, power, and spirit, to be &ne holy
Jlock, family, and household to the Lord, SfC.
Dear friends and brethren,
Who have been visited with the fatherly visitation from
on high, and have received God's eternal word and testament
in your hearts, by which yPu have been gathered home to
Christ Jesus, the true Shepherd, from all the idol shepherds,
and their barren mountains, and unprofitable hills, where
you have been scattered in the dark and gloomy day of apos-
tacy; and by his light, spirit, and power, have been con
vinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and can say,
* The prince of this world is judged, by his holy, righteous,
and powerful appearance in you, unto whom all judgment
in heayen and earth is committed ; who is the blessed
Lamb of God, the Light and Saviour ofthe world ; who is
King of Salem, and Prince of peace :' my soul loves you
with everlasting love ; even with the love with which my
God, and your God, my Father, and your Father, hath
loved me, and visited my soul, and your Souls ; in this do I
dearly salute and embrace you all, in this the day ofthe ful
filling of his glorious promises to his church in the wilder
ness, and witnesses in sackcloth.
And, O magnified be his name, and everlastingly praised
and renowned be his holy power and arm, by which he hath
reached unto us, and brought salvation near us ! For he
hatfi found us out, and hath heard our solitary cries, the
deep and mournful supplications of our bowed spirits, when
we were as the little silly dove without its mate, and the
lonely pelican in the wilderness ; when we were ready to
cry out, ' Is there none to save ? Is there nolle to help ? O
when shall the time and times, and half a timfe be finished ?
When shall the one thousand two hundred and sixty days 'be
accomplished ? And when shall the abomination, that stands
in the holy place, be cast out ? When shall the captivity of
the people be turned back ? 0 when shall Babylon come
into remembrance before God : the dragon, beast, and false
prophet be cast into the lake ? And when shall the laW go
forth out of Sion, and the word of the Lord out of Jeru
salem ? When shall Sion become the joy, and Jerusalem the

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 423
praise ofthe whole earth ? And when shall the earth be co
vered with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover
the sea ?'
Friends, The Lord of heaven and earth hath heard our
cries ; and the full time is come, yea, the appointed time
is come, and the voice of the eternal Spirit in our hearts
hath been hedrd on this wise many a time: "Awake,
thou that sleeppst, and 1 will give thee life : arise out of
the dust, and shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory
of the Lord is risen upon thee." And the Lord God
hath given us that light by which we have comprehended
the darkness in ourselves and in the world : and as we
have believed in it, dwelt in it, and walked in it, we
have received power to overcome the evil one in all his
appearances in ourselves, and faithfully and boldly to tes
tify against him in the world : and the blood of Jesus, in
this holy Avay of the light, have we felt in our souls to
cleanse us from unrighteousness, and give us to know the
mystery of the fellowship of the gospel one with another,
which stands in life and immortality. And here we become
an holy household and family unto God, that live in his
presence day and night, to do his will, as becometh his re
deemed and ransomed children by the most precious blood
of his Son, and no more to return to folly.
And, friends, let it never pass out of our remembrance,
what our God hath done for us, since he hath made us a
people : hath any Aveapon formed against us prospered ?
Hath he called us, and not protected us ? Hat!) he given
power to conceive, and not to bring forth ? Hath he not
sheltered us in many a storm ? Did he ever leave uj
under the reproaches and contradictions of men ? Nay,
hath he not spoken peace to us ? Were we ever cast out by
men, and he forsook us ? No, the Lord hath taken us up :
were we ever in prison, and he visited us not? Hungry,
and he fed us not ? Naked, and he Clothed us not ? Or have
Ave been sick, and he came not to see us ? When were the
jails so clpse, that he could not come in, and the dungeons
so dark, that he caused not his light to shine upon us ? O
nay; he hath never left us, nor forsaken Us ; yea, he hath
provided richly for us; he hath brought us into the wilder
ness, not to starve us, but to try us ; yet not above our
measure : for he fed us with manna from on high, with pure
honey and water out of the rock, and gave his good Spirit
to sustain us : by night he was a pillar of fire to us, to
comfort us ; and by day a pillar of cloud, to hide and
shelter us. He was a shadow of a mighty rock that followed
us; and we never wanted a brook by the way to refresh us.

424 TRAVELS rN
Was God good to Israel outward ? Much more hath he
abounded to his spiritual Israel, the proper seed and offspring
of himself. O the noble deeds and valiant acts, that he hath
wrought in our day for our deliverance ! He hath caused
one to chace ten, and ten an hundred, and an hundred a
thousand, many a time. None hath been able to snatch us
out ofhis hands, who abode in his truth. For though the
winds have blown, and the sea hath raged, yet hath he re
buked the winds and the sea for his seed's sake : he hath
said to the winds, " Be still ;" and to the sea, " Thus far
shalt thou come, and no farther." He hath cast up an high
way for his ransomed to walk in, so plain, that though a
fool he shall not err therein. This is the light, in which all
nations of them that are saved must walk for ever.
And therefore, friends, let us stay our minds in the light
ofthe Lord for ever ; and let the awe, fear, and dread ofthe
Almighty dwell in us; and let his holy Spirit be known to be
a covering to us, that from the spirit of this world we may
be chastely kept and preserved unto God, in the holy light,
and self-denying life of Jesus, who hath offered himself up
once for all, leaving us an example that we should also fol
low his steps ; that as he, our dear Lord and Master, so Ave,
his servants and friends, and children, might, by the eternal
Spirit, offer up ourselves to God, jn body, in soul, and in
spirit, which are his ; that we may be his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, to the praise of
him that hath called us; which calling is an high and an
holy calling, by the eternal light and spirit in our con.
sciences. 0 that it might for ever remain in high estimation
with us ! And that it may be the daily watch and travail of
us all, in the presence of the holy and Jiving God, that hath
called us, to make our great call and election sure ; which
many having neglected to do, (who have been convinced by
the blessed Tight and truth of Christ Jesus revealed in their
hearts, and who for a time have walked among us) have
been overcome by the spirit of this Avorld, and turned their
hands from the plough, and deserted the camp ofthe Lord,
and gone back into Egypt again ; whereby the heathen have
blasphemed, and the way and people pf the Lord greatly
have suffered.
Therefore, O my dear friends and brethren, in the sense
of that life and power, that God from heaven so gloriously
hath dispensed among us, and by which he hath given us
multiplied assurances of his loving-kindness unto us, and
crowned us together with heavenly dominion, and in which
my spirit is at this time broken before the Lord; do I most
earnestly intreat you to watch continually, lest any of you,

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 425
that have tasted of the good word of God, and the poAvers
ofthe world to come, fall by temptation ; and by carelessness
and neglect tempt the living God to withdraw his fatherly
visitation from any of you, and finally to desert such : ibr
the Lord our God is a jealous God, and he will not give his
glory unto another, He hath given to man all but man
himself, and him he hath reserved for his own peculiar ser
vice, to build him up a glorious temple to himself; so that
we are bought with a price, and we are not our own.
Therefore let us continually watch, and stand in awe, that
we grieve not his holy Spirit, nor turn his grace into Avan-
tonness; but, all of us, lat us wait, and that in an holy tra
vail of spirit, to know ourselves sealed by the " Spirit of
adoption," unto the day of our complete redemption; when
not only all our sins, but all sorrows, sighings, and tears,
shall be wiped away from our eyes ; and everlasting songs
of joy and thanksgiving shall melodiously fill our hearts to
God, that sits upon the throne, and to his blessed immacu-
, late Lamb, who by his most precious blood shall have com
pletely redeemed us from the earth, and written our names
in the book of life.
Friends, the Spirit of the Lord hath often brought you into
my remembrance, since I have been in this desolate land ;
and with joy unutterable have I had sweet and precious fel
lowship with you in the faith of Jesus, that overcometh the
world : for, though absent in body, yet present in him that is
Omnipresent. And I can truly say, you are very near and
very dear to me ; and the love that God hath raised in my
heart unto you, surpasses the love of women ; and our testi
mony, I am well satisfied, is sealed up together. And I am
well assured, that all that love the light shall endure to the
end throughout all tribulations, and in the end obtain eter
nal salvation.
And now, friends, as I have been travelling in this dark
and solitary land, the great work ofthe Lord in the earth
has been often presented unto my view, and the day of the
Lord hath been deeply upon me, and my soul and spirit hath
frequently been possessed with an holy and weighty concern
for the glory ofthe name of the Lord, and the spreading of
his everlasting truth, and the prosperity of it through all na
tions ; that the very ends of the earth may look to him, and
may know Christ, the light, to, be given to them for their
salvation. And when the sense of these things hath been
deeply upon me, an holy strong cry God hath raised in my
soul to him, ' That Ave, who havp known^this fatherly visita
tion from on high, and who have beheld the day of the Lord,
.the rising ofthe Sun of Righteousness, Avho is full of grace,

426 TRAVELS IN
and full of truth, and have beheld his glory, and confessed it
to be the glory of the only-begPtten Son of God ; and who,
by obedience to his appearance, are become the children of
light, and of the day, and as the first-fruits to God, after
this long night of apostacy, might for ever walk and dwell
in his holy covenant, Christ Jesus, the light of the Avorld ;
because in him we have always peace, but out of him comes
all the trouble.'
And whilst this heavenly sense rested with me, the Lord
God, that made me, and called me by his grace unto salva
tion, laid it upon me to visit you in an holy exhortation.
And it is the exhortation of my life at this time, in the ear
nest and fervent motion of the power and spirit of Jesus, to
beseech you all, Avho are turned to the light of Christ, that
shineth in your hearts, and believe in it; that you carefully
and faithfully walk in it, in the same dread, awe, and fear, in
which you began ; that the holy poverty of spirit, that is
precious in the eyes ofthe Lord, and was in the days of your
first love, may dwell and rest with you ; that you may daily
feel the same heavenly hunger and thirst, the same lowliness
and humility of mind, the same zeal and tenderness, and the
same sincerity and love unfeigned ; that God may fill you
out of his heavenly treasure with the riches of life, and
croAVn you with holy victory and dominion over the god and
Spirit of this world : that your alpha may be your omega,
and your author your finisher, and your first love your last
love; that so none may make shipwreck of faith, and of a
good conscience, nor faint by the way. And as in this
state we are kept in holy watchfulness to God, as in the be
ginning, the table which our heavenly Father spreads, and
the blessing with which he compasseth us about, shall not
become a snare unto us, nor shall we turn the grace and
mercies of the Lord into wantonness ; but we shall eat and
drink in an holy fear, apparel ourselves in fear, buy and sell
in fear, visit one another iri fear; keep meetings, and there
Wait upon the Lord in fear: yea, whatsoever Ave take in
hand to do, it shall be in the holy fear of God, and with an
holy tenderness of his glory, and regard to the prosperity
ofhis truth: yea, we shall deny ourselves not only in the
unlawful things, but in the things that are even lawful to
us, for the sake of the many millions that are unconverted
to God.
For, my friends and brethren, God hath laid upon us,
whom he hath honoured with the beginning of his great Avork
in the world, the care both of this age, and of the ages to
come ; that they may walk, as they have us for examples:
yea, the Lord God hath chosen you to place his name in

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 427
you> the Lord hath intrusted you with his glory, that you
might hold it forth to all nations ; and that the generations
wtrboirn may call you blessed.
Therefore, let none be treacherous to the Lotd, hOr re
ward him evil for good : nor betray his cause directly by
wilful wickedness, nor ihdivectly by negligence and unfaith
fulness : but be zealous and valiant for truth on earth ; let
none be sfothful or careless : 0 remember the slothful ser
vant's state. And let the loving-kindness ofthe L6rd over
come every soul to faithfulness; for with him are riches and
honour, and every good thing : and whither should any go ?
He hath the words of eternal life. O let none lose their
testimony, but hold it up for God. Let thy gift be never so
small, thy testimony never so little, through thy whole con
versation bear it for God; and be true to what thou art con
vinced of: and wait all upon the Lord, that you may grow
in your heavenly testimony ; that life may fill your hearts,
3rour houses, and your meetings ; that you may daily wait to
know, and to receive power to do, the will of God oh earth,
as it is in heaven.
And, O! that the cross of Jesus maybe in high and ho
nourable esteem With every one; that the liberty of all may
stand in the cross, Which aloile preserveth : -for it is the
power of God, that crueifieth iis to the Avorld, and the world
tp us. And through death, Avay is made unto life and tnv-
mortality ; AVhich by this blessed cross, the j>-dipel, the pow
er, is brought to light. So shall the life that God hath sown
in our hearts, grow; and in thai Seed shall we all come to
be blessed, unto whom God hath appointed the dominion
over us. And it is good for all to live under the holy go
vernment of it ; for the ways of it are the Ways of pleasant^
ness, and all its paths are peaee ; and all that are born of
it, can say, " Thy sceptre i-s k sceptre of righteousness."
And, Oh! that all friends, every where, may continually bow
unto his righteous sceptre, and keep to his holy law, Avbrch
is Avritten in their hearts ; that it may be a light to their
feet, and a lanthorn to their paths. So shall they come to
witness that holy promise made gPod unto them, " The
Spirit, Avhich 1 have given unto him, the seed; and the
words which I have put into his mouth, shall not depart
from him, nor from his seed, nor from his seed's seed unto
all generations."*
Wherefore, friends, redeem the time, because the days are
evil; God bath given you to see they are so : and be ye se
parated more and more, yea, perfectly disentangled from the
Cares of this world, And be yenot Cumbered with the many
* 'Isa.-Iix. '21.

428 TRAVELS IN
things ; but stand loose from the things that are seen, which
are temporal.
And you that are poor, murmur not ; but be patient, and
trust in the Lord, and submit to his providence, and he will
provide for you that which is convenient for you, the days
of your appointed time. And you that are rich, keep in the
moderation, and strive not to multiply earthly treasure, nor
to heap up uncertain riches to yourselves ; but what God
hath given you more than what is convenient for your own
use, wait for his wisdom, to employ it for his glory ; that
you may be faithful stewards of this world's mammon ; and
the Lord God shall reward you in your bosoms, of the riches
of that kingdom that shall never have an end.
O my friends and brethren, whether rich or poor, in bonds
or at liberty, in whatsoever state you are, the salutation of
the universal life of Jesus is to you: and the exhortation
is, to bow to what is made known unto you ; and
in the light, by which ye have received in measure
the knowledge of God, watch and wait diligently to
the farther revelation of the mind and will of God unto
you, that ye mayr be endued from on high with power
and might in your inward man, to answer the call and re
quirings of the Lord; that ye may be enabled to make known
to the nations, what is the riches ofthe glory of this blessed
mystery in the Gentiles ; which is Christ Jesus, the light of
the world, in you the hope of glory. For this 1 have to tell
you, in the vision of the Almighty, that the day ofthe break-
ing-up ofthe nations about you, and ofthe sounding of the
gospel trumpet unto the inhabitants ofthe earth, is just at
the door : and they that are worthy, who have kept their
habitation from the beginning, and have dwelt in the unity
of the faith that overcometh the world, and have kept the
bond of peace, the Lord God will impower and spirit them
to go forth with his everlasting word and testament to awak
en, and gather kindreds, languages, and people to the glory
ofthe rising of the Gentiles' light, who is God's salvation
unto the ends of the earth.
And I must tell you, that there is a breathing, hungering,
seeking people, solitarily scattered up and down this great
land of Germany, Avhere the Lord hath sent me ; and I be
lieve it is the like in other nations. And as the Lord hath
laid it upon me, with my companions, to seek some of them
out, so have we found several in divers places. And we
have had many blessed opportunities amongst them, Avhere-
in our hearts have greatly rejoiced ; having been made deeply
sensible of the love of God towards them, and of the great
openness and tenderness of spirit in them, to receive the

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 429
testimony of light and life through us. And we have a sted-
fast belief, that the Lord will carry on his work in this land
effectually ; and that he will raise up those, that shall be as
ministers of his eternal testament amongst them. And O!
our desire is, that God would put it into the hearts of
many ofhis faithful witnesses to visit the inhabitants of this
country, where God hath a great seed of people to be ga
thered ; that his work may go on in the earth, till the whole
earth be filled with his glory.
And it is under the deep and weighty sense of this ap
proaching work that the Lord God hath laid it upon me to
write to you, to wait for the farther pouring out ofthe power
and spirit of the Lord ; that nothing that is careless, sleepy,
earthly, or exalted, may get up, whereby to displease the
Lord, and cause him to withdraw his sweet and preserving
presence from any that know him. But let all keep the King
of righteousness his peace, and walk in the steps of the
flocks ofthe companions : for withering and destruction shall
come upon all such as desert the camp ofthe Lord, or with
their murmuring spirit disquiet the heritage of God ; for
they are greater enemies to Sion's glory, and Jerusalem's
peace, than the open armies ofthe aliens.
And it is a warning to all, that make mention of the name
of the Lord in this dispensation he hath brought us to, that
they have a care how they let out their minds in any wise to
please the lusts of the eye, the lusts of the flesh, and the
pride of life ; which are not of the Father, but of this
world ; lest any be exalted in a liberty, that maketh the
cross of Jesus of none effect, and the offence thereof to
cease : for such will become as salt that hath lost its savour,
and at last will be trod under the feet of God and men. For
the Lord will withdraw his daily presence, and the fountain
will come to be sealed up, and the well of salvation be
stopped again.
Therefore, as all would rejoice in the joy of God's salva
tion, let them wait for the saving power, and dwell in it;
that knowing the mystery of the work of regeneration,
Christ formed in them, the hope of their glory, they may be
able, in the motion of him that hath begotten them through
death to Jife, to go forth and declare the way of life and
salvation. And all you that are young-convinced of the eternal
truth, come" into it, and then you will feel the virtue of it,
and so you will be witnesses ; otherwise " vain talkers,
wells without water, clouds without rain ; for which state
is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."
Wherefore gird up the loins of your minds, and be sober,

430 TRAVELS IN
and tempt not God ; but receive the day of your visitation,
and walk worthy of so great a love, and delight to retain
God in your knowledge; and grieve not his holy Spirit, but
join to it, and be led by it, that it may be an earnest to you
of an eternal inheritance.
And take up your daily cross, and follow Christ, and not
the spirit of this World. He Avas meek and lowly, he Avas
humble and plain ; he was few in words, but mighty in
deeds ; he loved not his life unto death, even the reproach
ful death ofthe cross ; but laid down his life, and became of
no reputation, and that for the rebellious. " O the height,
and the depth, the length, and the breadth, yea, the un-
searchableness ofthe love of God in Christ Jesus !"
Wherefore, Avhile it is to-day, hearken to his voice, and
harden i!ot your hearts: and make no bargains for your
selves, neither consult with flesh and blood ; but let the
Lord be your light, and your salvation : let him be the
strength of your life, and the length of your days. And this
knoAv assuredly, that none ever trusted to the Lord, and
were confounded.
Wherefore hold up your testimony for God, as you would
enjoy the increasings of his life and love : and let your
light shine, and confess him before the whole world.
Smother not his appearance, neither hide thv candle, God
hath lighted in thee, under a bushel; for Christ walketh
among his candlesticks of pure and tried gold. Wherefore
set thy light upon a candlestick, and show forth thy good
conversation in meekness and godly fear, that thou mayest
become a good example; and others, beholding thy good
works, may glorify God. But for the rebellious, the fear
ful, and the unbelieving, the day hastens upon such, that
the things that belong to their eternal peace shall be hid
from their eyes for ever.
And all you, my dear friends and brethren, who are in
sufferings for the testimony of Jesus, and a good conscience ;
look up to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith ;
who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,
and despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of
the Father in the heavenly place ; into Avhich, if you faint
not, you shall all be received, after the days of your pil
grimage shall be at an end, with a " Well done, good and
faithful servant."
And though these afflictions seem not joyous, but grievous
for the present, yet a far more exceeding weight of glory
stands at the door. Wherefore count it all joy when you
fall into these trials, and persevere to the end, knowing that
he that shall come,Avill come, and will not tarry, and that his

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 431
reivard is with hiin- Remember' the martyrs of Jesus, that
loved not their iives to the death for his name's sake that
called them. And Jesus himself, that made a good confes
sion before Pontius Pilate, who hath consecrated through
his blood a new and living way for all that come unto God
by him, who is made an high priest, higher than the
heavens, one that can be touched and moved, and is daily
touched and moved with our weakness and infirmity, that
through him we may be made strong in the Lord, and more
than conquerors through him that hath loved us.
Wherefore let it not seem as if some strange thing had
happened to you ; for all these things are for the trial of
your faith, which is more precious than the gold that perish
eth. It is the old quarrel, children of this world against the
children of the Lord; those that are born after the flesh,
warring against those that are born after the Spirit ; Cain
against Abel; the old Avorld against Noah; Sodomites
against Lot; Hagar against Sarah; Ishmael against Isaac ;
Esau against Jacob ; Egyptians against Israelites ; the false
prophets against the true prophets, as Isaiah, Jeremiah, &c.
The Jews, under the profession of the letter of the law,
against Christ, that came to fulfil the law, and all his spi
ritual followers and disciples : and all the false apostate
Christians against the true and spiritual Christians and mar
tyrs of Jesus.
So, your conflict is for the Spiritual appearance of Christ
Jesus, against those that profess him in words, but in works
and conversation every day deny him ; doing despite to the
Spirit of grace in themselves, and those that are led by it. But
though Gog and Magog' shall gather themselves together to
lay waste the city of God, yet the Lord hath determined
their destruction, and he will bring it to pass.
" Wherefore rejoice, O thou little hill vf God, and clap
thy hands for joy ; for he that is faithful and true, just, and
righteous, and able to deliver thee, dwells in the midst of
thee : who will cause thee to groAV and increase, till thou
becOmesta great mountain, till thou becomest the praise. of,
the whole earth, and the whole earth be filled with thy glory."
And to you all, who are the followers of the Lamb of
God, who was dead, but is alive, and lives for evermore ;
who is risen in your hearts, as a bright shining light, and is
leading you out of the nature and spirit of this world, in the
path of regeneration ; I have this to say, by Avay of holy
encouragement unto you all, the Lord God eternal, that
was, and is, and is to come, bath reserved for you the glo
ries of the, last days : and if so be that the followers and
martyrs of Jesus in ages past, when the church was going

432 TRAVELS IN
into the wilderness, and his witnesses into sackcloth, were,
notwithstanding, so noble and valiant for the truth on earth,
that they loved not their lives unto death, and suffered joy
fully the spoiling of their goods for the testimony of Jesus,
how much more ought you all to be encouraged unto faith
fulness, who are come to the resurrection of the day which
shall never more be eclipsed ; in which the bridegroom is lo
come, to fetch you his spouse out of the wilderness, to give
you beauty for ashes, and the garment of praise for the spi
rit of heaviness ; who will cover you with his Spirit, and
adorn you with his fine linen, the righteousness of the
saints. Lean upon his breast for ever, and know your join
ing in an everlasting covenant with him, that he may lift up
the light ofhis countenance upon you, and delight to do you
good : that in blessing he may bless you, increase you, and
multiply you in all spiritual blessings now and for ever;
that to God, through him, you may live all the days of your
appointed time. To whom be glory and honour, praises
and thanksgivings in the church throughout all ages, and
for ever. I am, in the faith, patience, tribulation, and hope of
the kingdom of Jesus, your friend and brother,
W. Penn.
My companions in the labour and travail of the testimony
of Jesus, salute you all in the love of God. We have
passed through several cities of Germany, and are now
at Frankfort, where the Lord hath given us three
blessed opportunities with a serious and seeking people;
whereof, as in other places of this country, many of
them are persons of great worldly quality. Blessed be
the name of the Lord, to whom be glory for ever.
Frankfort, the 22d of tfte W. P.
6th month, 1677.
The fifth day* we arrived by the way of Worms at
Crisheim, in the Paltzgrave's country ; where Ave found, to
our great joy, a meeting offender and faithful people : but
it seems the inspector of the Calvinists had enjoined the
vaught, or chief officer, not to suffer any preaching to be
amongst our friends ; who, poor man, fearing the indigna
tion ofthe clergy, came next day to desire friends not to suf
fer any preaching to be amongst them, lest he should be turned
out of his place. To whom we desired friends to say, that if
he pleased he might apprehend us, and carry us to the prince,
before whom we should give an account of our testimony.
But, blessed be the Lord, we enjoyed our meeting quietly
* 23. 6. 5.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 433
and comfortably ; of which a coach-full from Worms made
part, amongst whom was a governor of that country, and
one of the chief Lutheran priests.
It came upon me in this place to salute the princess and
countess with this following epistle.
A Salutation to Elizabeth, Princess Palatine, and Anna
Maria de Homes, Countess of Homes, at Herwerden in
Germany. My worthy friends,
Such as I have, such I give unto you, the dear and tender
salutation of light, life, peace, and salvation by Jesus Christ,
the blessed Lamb of God ; with the unspeakable joy of
which he hath so replenished my soul at this time, that my
cup overfloweth; which is the reward of them that cheer
fully drink his cup of tribulations, that love the cross, and
triumph in all the shame, reproaches, and contradictions of
the world that do attend it. My'God take you by the hand,
and gently lead you through all the difficulties of regenera
tion ; and as you have begun to know and love his sweet
and tender drawings, so resign the whole conduct of your
lives to him.
Dispute not away the precious sense that you have of him,
be it as small as a grain of mustard- seed, which is the least
of all seeds; there is a power in it (if you do but believe) to
remove the greatest mountains of opposition. O precious is
this faith ! yea, more precious than the glory and honour
of this world that perisheth. It will give courage to go with
Christ before Caiaphas and Pilate; yea, to bear his cross
without the camp, and to be crucified with him, knowing that
the Spirit of God and of glory shall rest upon them. To the
inheritors of this faith, is reserved the eternal kingdom of
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
O be you of that little flock, unto lvkom Jesus said,
" Fear not, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom :" and to be of this flock, you must become as
sheep ; and to be as sheep, you must become harmless ; and
to become harmless, you must hear and follow the Lamb of
God, as he is that blessed light which discovereth and con-
demneth all the unfruitful works of darkness, and maketh
harmless as a dove ; which word, all, leaveth not one pecca
dillo or circumstance undiscovered or unjudged; and the
word darkness taketh in the whole night of apostacy ; and
the word unfruitful, is a plain judgment against all those
dark Avorks. Wherefore out of them all come, and be you
Vol. ii. 2 e

434 travels in
separated ; and God will give you a crown of life, which
shall never fade away.
O ! the lowness and meanness of those spirits, that
despise or neglect the joys and glories of immortality, for
the sake of the things Avhich are seen, that are but temporal,
debasing the nobility of their souls, abandoning the govern
ment of the Divine Spirit, and embracing with all ardency
of affection the sensual pleasures of this life ; but such
as persevere therein, shall not enter into God's rest for
ever. But this is not all that hindereth and obstructeth in the
holy way of blessedness ; for there is the world's fear, as
well as the world's joy, that obstructeth many, or else
Christ had not said, " Fear not," to his little flock. The
shame of the cross is a yoke too uneasy, and a burden too
heavy for flesh and blood to bear, it is true ; but therefore
shall flesh and blood never enter into the kingdom of God.
And not to them that are born ofthe flesh, but to those that
are born ofthe Spirit, through the word of regeneration, is
appointed the kingdom, and that throne which shall judge
the twelve tribes of Israel, and all the world. The Lord
perfect what he hath begun in you, and give you dominion
over the love and fear of this world.
And, my friends, if you would profit in the Avay of God,
despise not the day of small things in yourselves : know
this, that to desire and sincerely to breathe after the Lord,
is a blessed state ; you must seek before you find. Do you
believe ? Make not haste, extinguish not those small be
ginnings by an over-earnest or impatient desire of victory.
God's time is the best time ; be you faithful, and your con
flict shall end with glory to God, and the reward of peace
to your OAvn souls. Therefore love the judgment, and love
the fire ; start not aside, neither flinch from the scorchings
of it, for it will purify and refine you as gold seven times
tried ; then cometh the stamp and seal ofthe Lord upon his
own vessel, " H°bness to nim forever;" which he never
gave, nor will give, to reprobate silver, the state of the re
ligious worshippers ofthe world. And herein be comforted,
that Sion shall be redeemed through judgment, and her con
verts through righteousness ; and after the appointed time
of mourning is over, the Lord will give beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for
the spirit of heaviness. Then shall you be able to say,
" Who is he that condemneth us ? God hath justified us :
there is no condemnation to us that are in Christ Jesus, who
Avalk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 435
Wherefore, my dear friends, walk not only not after the
fleshly lusts, but also hot after the fleshly religions and Avor-
ships ofthe Avorld : for that which is not born of the Spirit
is flesh ; and all flesh shall wither as the grass, and the
beauty of it shall fade away as the flower ofthe field, before
God's sun, that is risen and rising. But the word of the
Lord, in which is life, and that life the light of men, shall
endure for ever, and give life eternal to them that love, and
wait in, the light.
And I intreat you, by the love you have for Jesus, have a
care how you touch with fleshly births, or say amen, by word
or practice, to that which is not born ofthe Spirit : for God
is not to be found of that, in yourselves or others, that call
eth him Father, and he hath never begotten it in them ; that
latitude and conformity is not of God, but secretly grieveth
his Spirit, and obstructeth the growth of the soul in its
acquaintance and intimate communion with the Lord.
" Without me," saith Jesus, " you can do nothing 3 and all
that came before me are thieves and robbers." If so, O
what are they that pray, and preach, and sing without Jesus,
and follow not him in those duties, but even in them crucify
him ? O that I may find in you an ear to hear, and an heart
to perceive and embrace these truths of Jesus!
And I can say, I have great cause to hope, and patiently
to wait,, till the salvation of God be farther revealed to you,
and the whole family ; with whom, I must acknoAvledge, I
was abundantly refreshed and comforted, in that God in
measure made knoAvn the riches of his grace, and operation
of his celestial power to you ; and his witness shall dwell
with you, if we never see you more, that God magnified
his own strength in our weakness. With him we leave our
travails, affectionately recommending you to his holy Spirit
of grace, that you maybe conformed to the image ofhis own
dear Son, who is able and ready to preserve you. O stay
your minds upon him, and he Avill keep you in perfect peace,
and abide Avith you for ever. The Almighty take you into
his holy protection now and for ever.
I am your true friend, ready to serve you, with fer
vent love, in the will of God,
W. Penn.
My dear companions do, with me, give you the dear sa
lutation of unfeigned love, and those in the family that
love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth yyithout
wavering.
2 E 2

436 TRAVELS IN
P.S. We are this evening bound towards Manheim, the
court of the Prince Palatine, and have travelled about
twelve English miles on foot.
That night we lodged at Frankenthall, and got next
morning,* being the seventh day ofthe week, to Manheim ;
but were disappointed of our design, which was to speak
with the prince, for he was gone the day before to Heydel-
ber°-h, his chief city, about fifteen English miles from that
place. And considering that by reason of the meeting next
day Avith friends at Crisheim already appointed, we could
neither go forward, nor stay till he returned ; and yet being
not clear to come away, as if we had never endeavoured to
visit him, it was upon me to write him the following letter,
to let him know Ave had been there, and briefly our end in
coming. To the Prince Elector Palatine of Heydelbergh.
Great Prince !
It would seem strange that I, both a stranger and a sub
ject, should use this freedom of address to a prince, wrere.
he not one whose actions show him to be of a free disposi
tion, and easy access to all : Avould to God all princes were
of that mind ! Butl have not chosen this way of application;
I am driven to it, by the disappointment thy absence from
this court gave me, and the necessity I am under to expedite
my return. And though I cannot so fully, and consequently
not so clearly, express by letter the grounds inducing me to
attempt this visit, yet this being all the way that is left me,
I shall declare them as well as I can.
In the first pla'ce, I do, Avith all sincere and Christian re
spect, acknoAvledge and commend that indulgence thou
givest to all people professing religion, dissenting from the
national communion; for it is in itself a most natural, pru
dent, and Christian thing.
Natural, because it preserves nature from being made a
sacrifice to the savage fury of fallible, yet proud opinions;
outlawing men of parts, arts, industry, and honesty, the
grand requisites of human society, and exposing them and
their families to utter ruin for mere nonconformity, not to
religion, but to modes and fashions in religion.
Christian, since the contrary expressly contradicteth both
the precept and example of Christ, who taught us ' to love
enemies, not to abuse our friends, aud triumph in the de-
* 25. 6. 7.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 437
struction of our harmless neighbours.' He rebuked his
disciples, Avhen they called for " fire from heaven upon dis
senters," it may be opposers ; certainly, then, he never in
tended that they should kindle " fire upon earth to devour
men for conscience." And if Christ, to whom all power is
given, and his holy apostles, refused to employ human force
and artifice so much as to conserve themselves, it is an.ar-
rogancy every way indefensible in those that pretend to be
their followers, that they assume an authority to supersede,
controul, and contradict the precepts and examples of Christ
and his apostles; whose kingdom not being of the nature of
this ambitious violent world, was not erected or maintained
by those weapons that are carnal, but spiritual and intel
lectual, adequate to the nature of the soul, and mighty
through God to cast down the strong-holds of sin, andevery
vain imagination exalted in man above the lowly meek fear
of God, that ought to have the pre-eminence in the hearts
of the sons of men.
Indulgence is prudent, in that it preserveth concord : no
kingdom divided against itself can stand. It encourageth
arts, parts, and industry, to show and improve themselves,
which indeed are the ornaments, strength, and Avealth of a
country : it encourageth people to transplant into this land
of liberty, where the sweat of the brow is not made the for
feit ofthe conscience.
And, lastly, it rendereth the prince peculiarly safe and
great. Safe, because all interests, for interest sake, are
bound to love and court him. Great, in that he is not go
verned or clogged with the power of his clergy, which in
most countries is not only a co-ordinate power, a kind of
duumvirateship in government, imperium in imperio, at
least an eclipse to monarchy, but a superior power, and
rideth the prince to their designs, holding the helm of the
government, and steering not by the laws of civil freedom,
but certain ecclesiastical maxims of their own, to the main
tenance and enlargement of their Avorldly empire in their
church : and all this villainy acted under the sacred, peace
able, and alluring name of Christ, bis ministry and church :
though as remote from their nature, as the wolf from the
sheep, and the pope from Peter.
The next thing I should have taken the liberty to have
discoursed, would have been this : what encouragement a
colony of virtuous and industrious families might hope to
receiAe from thee, in case they should transplant themselves
into this country, which certainly in itself is very excellent,
respecting taxes, oaths, arms, &c.
Farther, to have represented the condition of some of our

438 TRAVELS IN
friends, and thy own subjects ; who, though they are liable
to the same tax as Menists, &c. (not by part the case of
other dissenters) yet the vaught of the town where they
live, came yesterday to forbid all preaching amongst them,
Avhich implies a sort of contradiction to the indulgence
given. And, in the last place, forasmuch as all men owe their
being to something greater than themselves, to which it is
reasonable to believe they are accountable, from whence
follow reyvards or punishments ;
I had an earnest desire to have spoken of the nature,
truth, use, benefit, and revrard of religion; and therein, as
to have discoursed yvhat is Christian religion in itself, freed
from those unreasonable garbs some men make it to wear, so
justly offensive to wise and thinking men, so to have proved
the principle and life of the people in scorn called Quakers
to have been suitable to the true followers of holy Jesus.
But as the particulars would swell a letter to a book, I shall
take the freedom to present thee, upon my return, Avithsome
tracts treating upon all those subjects.
Prince ! My soul is filled with love and respect to thee
and thy family ; I vcish you all true and lasting felicity, and
earnestly desire that you may never forget your afflictions ;
and, in the remembrance of them, be dehorted from those
lusts and impieties, which draw the vengeance of heaven
upon the greatest families on earth, that God may look upon
you with the favourable eye ofhis providence. And blessed
is that man, whose God, (by profession) is the Lord in
reality, viz. that is ruled and governed by the Lord, and
that lives in subjection to his grace ; that having a divine
sense of God in his heart, delights to retain that sense and
knoAvledge of him, and be meditating in his noble royal law,
that converts the soul to God, and redeems man from the
sensual pleasures of this world, to the true satisfaction of
the intellectual and divine life.
O the meanness and loAvness of their spirits, that abandon
themselves to the government of sense, the animal life;
thereby debasing their natures, rejecting the divine light,
that shineth in their hearts, saying, " Let us eat and drink,
for to-morrow we shall die," forgetting Avhence they are
descended, and not considering the peace and joy of the
virtuous !
I desire that the Lord would put it into thy heart to
think of thy latter end ; and, with the ' light of Christ in thy
conscience,' examine Iioav it stands with thy soul, that thou
mayest kifow, and diligently watch to do, those things that
belong to thy eternal peace.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 439

One thing more give me leave to recommend to thee,
and that is, to be very careful of inculcating generous, free
and righteous principles into thy son, who is like to succeed
thee ; that when thou art gone, the reputation of the coun
try may not sink by contrary practices, nor the people of
divers judgments (now thy subjects) be disappointed, dis
tressed, or ruined. Which, with sincere desires for thy
temporal and eternal good, concludes this,
Thy unknoAvn, but sincere friend,
William Penn,
From Manheim, the 25th of
the 6th month, 1677,
Which being done, and having refreshed ourselves, we
returned that night by the Rhine to Worms ; from whence
we the next morning, being the first day of the week,*
walked on foot to Crisheim, Avhich is about six English
miles from Worms. We had a good meeting, from the
tenth till the third hour, and the Lord's power sweetly
opened to many ofthe inhabitants of the town that were at
the meeting; yea, thevaught, or chief officer himself, stood
at the door behind the barn, Avhere he could hear, and not
be seen; who went to the priest, and told him that it was
his work, if we were heretics, to discover us to be such ; but
for his part, he had heard nothing but what was good, and
he would not meddle with us.
In the evening Ave had a more retired meeting of the
friends only, very weighty and tender ; yea, the power rose
in an high operation among them, and great was the love
of God that rose in our hearts at the meeting to visit them ;
and there is a lovely, sweet, and true sense ampng them :
we were greatly comforted in them, and they were greatly
comforted in us. Poor hearts ! a little, handful, surrounded
with great and mighty countries of darkness! It is the
Lord's great goodness and mercy to them, that they are so
finely kept, even natural, in the seed Of life. They were
most of them gathered by dear William Ames.
The next morningt Ave had another meeting, where we
took our leave of them, and so came, accompanied by seve
ral of them, to Worms; where having refreshed ourselves,
we went to visit the Lutheran priest, that Avas at the meet
ing the sixth day before at Crisheim ; he received us very
.kindly, and his wife, not without some sense of our testi
mony. After we had discoursed about an hour with him,
of the true and heavenly ministry and worship, and in wha£
* 26. 6. 1. + 27. 6. 2.

440 TRAVELS IN
they stood, and what all people must come unto, if ever
they will know how to worship God aright, we departed,
and immediately sent them several good books of friends, in
High Dutch.
We took boat about the third hour in the afternoon, and
came down the river Rhine to Mentz, where we arrived
about the fifth hour in the morning,* and immediately took
an open chariot to Frankfort, where we came about the
first hour in the afternoon.
We presently informed some of those people, that had
received us the time before, of our return to that city, Avith
desires that we might have a meeting that afternoon ; which
was readily granted us by the noble women, at whose house
we met, whither resorted some that we had not seen before :
and the Lord did, after a living manner, open our hearts
and mouths amongst them, which Avas received by them as
a farther confirmation of the coming of the day of the
Lord unto them ; yea, with much joy and kindness they
received us.
The meeting held till the ninth hour at night ; they con-
Strained us to stay and eat with them, which was also a
blessed meeting to them. Before Ave parted, we desired a
select meeting the next morning, at the same place, of those
that we felt more inwardly affected with truth's testimony,
and that were nearest unto the state of a silent meeting,
Avhich they joyfully assented to.
We went to our lodging, and the next morningt Ave re
turned unto them, with whom Ave had a blessed and hea
venly opportunity, for we had room for our life amongst
them : it was as among faithful friends, life ran as oil, and
swam a-top of all.
We recommended a silent meeting unto them, that they
might grow into an holy silence unto themselves; that the
mouth that calls God ' Father,' that is not of his own
birth, may be stopped, and all images confounded, that
they may hear the soft voice of Jesus to instruct them,
and receive his sweet life to feed them, and to build
them up.
About the ninth hour we departed from that place, and
went to Vander Walls, where the meeting was the lime
before, and there we had a more public meeting of all that
pleased to come. The Lord did so abundantly appear
among us, that they Avere more broken than Ave had seen
them at any time ; yea, they Avere exceeding tender and
low, and the love of God was much raised in their hearts
* 28 6. 3. t 29. 6, 4.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 441
to the testimony. In this sensible frame we left them, and
the blessings and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ with and
among them.
And after we had refreshed ourselves at our inn, we
took boat down the Maine to Mentz, where we arrived
about the fifth hour. It is a great city, but a dark and
superstitious place, according to the popish way, and is
under the government of a popish bishop. We stayed no
longer there than till our boat was ready, which might be
better than half an hour. From Mentz we went on our
way down the Rhine six German miles, and came that
night to Hampack: from thence, the next morning,* we
went by Bacherach, Coblentz, and other places upon the
Rhine, to Tresy that night, being about eleven German
miles. Next day,f being the sixth day ofthe week, Ave got
to Cullen, a great popish city, about the third hour in the
afternoon. We gave notice to a sober merchant in that
town, a serious seeker after God, that Ave were there ar
rived, who presently came to us. We sat down, and had a
living and precious opportunity with him, opening to him
the Avay of the Lord, as it had been manifested to us ;
in treating him, if he knew any in that city, who had desires
after the Lord, or that were willing to come to a meeting,
that he would please to inform them of our being here, and
of our desire to meet with them. He answered, ' He would
readily do it.'
This night, when we were in bed, came the resident of se
veral princes, (a serious and tender man) to find us out : Ave
had some discourse with him ; but being late, he promised
to see us the next day.
The next morning! came the aforesaid merchant, inform
ing us that it was a busy time, several preparing for the
mart or great fair at Frankfort ; yet some would come, and
he desired the meeting might be at his house about three in
the afternoon.
In the morning we went to visit that resident, whom we
met coming to see us ; but he returned and brought us to
his house. We had a good time Avith him ; for the man is
an ancient seeker, oppressed with the cares of this world,
and he may be truly said to mourn under them : His heart
was openpd to us, and he blessed God that he had lived to
see us. We gave him an account hoAV the Lord had ap
peared in the land of our nativity, and how he had dealt
with us ; Avhich Avas as the cool and gentle showers upon the
dry and scorched desert. About noon we returned home,
and after Ave had eaten, we went to the merchant's house to
< 30. C. 5. t .31. C. 6. } 1. 7, 7.

442 TRAVELS IN
the meeting, where came four persons, one of which was
the presbyterian priest, who preached in private to the pro
testants of that place ; for they are no ways publicly allowed
in that city. Surely the true day and power of the Lord
made known itself to the consciences of them present : yea,
they felt that we were such as had been with Jesus, and
that had obtained our testimony, through the sufferings and
travails ofthe crpss. They were tender : the resident and
merchant conducted us to our inn, and from, thence to the
boat, being about seven at night. We set out towards the
city of Duysburgh, of the Calvinist way, belonging to the
elector of Brandenburg, in and near to. which we had been
informed there were a retired and seeking people.
, We arrived there the next day about noon,* being the
first day of the week. The first thing we did after we came
to our inn, was to enquire out one Dr. Mastricht, a civilian,
for whom we had a letter to introduce us, from a merchant
of Cullen ; whom quickly finding, we informed him what
we came about, desiring his assistance, which he readily pro
mised us. The first thing we offered, was an access to the
countess of Falchensteyn and Bruch : he told us ' she was an
extraordinary woman, one in whom we should find things
worthy of our love ; that he would write to her, to give us
an opportunity with her; that the fittest time was the pre-*
sent time, in that we might find her at the minister's of
Mulheim, on the other side of the river from her father's
castle ; for that she used to come out the first day morning,
and not return till night: that we must be very shy of
making ourselves public, not only for our own sakes, but
for hers, who was severely treated by her fatherj for the
sake of those religious inclinations that appeared in her,
although her father pretended to be of the protestant reli
gion.' We therefore dispatched toAvards Mulheim, having re
ceived his letter, and being also accompanied by him about
one-third of the way ; but being six English miles^ and on
foot, we could not compass the place before the meeting was
over ; for it was past three before we could get out from
Duysburgh ; and following that way which led to the back
side of the graef's castle and orchard, which was also a
common way to the town, (though if we had known the
country we might have avoided it) we met one Henry Smith,
schoolmaster and catechizer of Speldorp, to whom we im
parted our business, and gave the letter of Dr. Mastricht of
Duysburgh, to introduce us to the countess.
He told us, ' He had just left her, being come over the
* % 7. 1.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 443
water from worship, but he would carry the letter to her,
and bring an answer suddenly ;' but notAvithstanding staid
near an hour. When he came, he gave us this answer, viz.
' That she would be glad to meet us, but she did not know
where ; but rather inclined that we should go over the wa
ter to the minister's house, whither, if she could, she would
come to us ; but that a strict hand yvas held over her by her
father.' After some more serious discourse with him, con
cerning the " witness of God in the conscience," and the
discovery, testimony, and judgment of that " true light,"
unto which all must bow that Avould be heirs of the king
dom of God, (recommending him to the same) we parted ;
he returning homewards, and we advancing to the town.
But being necessitated to pass by her father's castle, who is
seignior or lord of that country, it so fell out, that at that
veryinstanthe came forth to Avalk: and seeing us in the habit
of strangers, sent one ofhis attendants to demand who, and
from whence we were, and whither we Avent? Calling us
afterAvards to him, and asking us the same questions. We
answered, ' That we were Englishmen come from Hol
land, going no farther in these parts than his own town of
Mulheim.' But not showing him, or paying him, that world
ly homage and respect which Avas expected from us, some
ofhis gentlemen asked us, ' If we knew whom we were be
fore ? And if we did not use to deport ourselves after an
other manner before noblemen, and in the presence of
princes ?' We answered, ' We were not conscious to our
selves of any disrespect , or unseemly behaviour.' One of
them sharply replied, ' Why do you not pull off your hats,
then ? Is it respect to stand covered in the presence ofthe
sovereign of the country ?' We told them, ' It was our
practice in the presence of our prince, who is a great king;
and that we uncovered not our heads to any, but in our
duty to Almighty God.' Upon Avhich the graef called us
Quakers, saying unto us, ' We have no need of Quakers
here ; get you out of my dominions ; you shall not go to my
town.' We told him, ' That Ave were an innocent people, that
feared God, and had good-will towards all men ; that we
had true respect in our hearts towards him, and would be
glad to do him any real good or service ; and that the Lord
had made it matter of conscience to us, not to conform our
selves to the vain and fruitless customs of this world,' or
words to this purpose. However, he commanded some of
his soldiers to see us out of his territories ; to Avhom we also
declared somewhat of the reason and intention of our com-

444 TRAVELS IN
inn- fo that place, in the fear and love of God, and they were
civil to us.
We parted with much peace and comfort in our hearts ;
and as we passed through the village where the schoolmaster
dwelt, (yet in the dominions of the graef) we called upon
him, and in the sense of God's power and kingdom, opened
to him the message and testimony of truth, Avhich the man
received with a weighty and serious spirit. For under the
dominion ofthe graef there is a large congregation of pro
testants called Calvinists, of a more religious, inward, and
zealous frame of spirit, than any body of people we met with
or heard of in Germany.
After Ave had ended our testimony to him, we took our
leave, desiring him not to fear, but to be of good courage,
for the day ofthe Lord Avas hastening upon all the Avorkers
of iniquity ; and to them that feared his name, wherever
scattered throughout the earth, he Avould cause the " Sun of
Righteousness to arise and visit them, with healing under his
wings :" and to remember us Avith true love and kindness to
the countess, daughter to this graef; and to desire her not
to be offended in us, nor to be dismayed at the displeasure
of her father; but eye the Lord, that hath visited her soul
Avith his holy light, by Avhich she seeth the vanity of this
World, and in some measure the emptiness and deadness of
the religions that are in it, and he would preserve her from
the fear ofthe wrath of man, that Avorketh not the " right
eousness of God." So we left the peace of Jesus with him,
and walked on towards Duysburgh, being about six English
miles from thence, and near the eighth hour at night. The Lord
Avas with us, and comforted our hearts as Ave walked, Avith-
out any outward guide, through a tedious and solitary Avood,
about three miles long, with the joy of his salvation ; giving
us to remember and to speak one unto another of his blessed
Avitnesses in the days past, Avho wandered up and down like
poor pilgrims and strangers on the earth, their eye being to
a city in the heavens, that had foundations, Avhose builder
and maker is God.
Betwixt nine and ten we reached the Avails of Duysburgh,
but the gates were shut; and there being no houses without
the' Avails, Ave laid us down together in the field, receiving
both natural and spiritual refreshment, blessed be the
Lord. About three in the morning* Ave rose, sanctifying
God in our hearts, that had kept us" that night, and Avalked
till five, often speaking one to another of the great and
notable day of the Lord dawning upon Germany, and on
*-S. 7. 2.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 445
several places of that land that were almost ripe unto har
vest. Soon after the clock had struck five, they opened the gates
ofthe city, and we had not long got to our inn, but it came
upon me, Avith a sweet, yet fervent power, to visit this per
secuted countess, Avith a salutation from the love and life of
Jesus, and to open unto her more plainly the way of the
Lord ; which I did in this following epistle.
To the Countess of Falchensteyn and Bruch, at Mulheim.
My dear friend,
Jf.sus, the immaculate Lamb of God, (grieved and cru
cified by all the workers of iniquity) illuminate thy under
standing, bless and be with thy spirit for ever !
Though unknown, yet art thou much beloved, for the sake
of thy desires and breathings of soul after the living God :
the report whereof, from some in the same state, hath made
deep impression of true kindness upon my spirit, and raised
in me a very singular and fervent inclination to visit thee ;
and the rather, because of that suffering and tribulation thou
' hast begun to endure for the sake of thy zeal towards God,
myself having from my childhood been both a seeker after tlie
Lord, and a great sufferer for that cause, from parents, rela
tions, companions, and the magistrates of this world. The
remembrance whereof hath so much the more endeared thy
condition unto me ; and my soul hath often, in the s.Weet
sense and feeling ofthe holy presence of God, and the pre
cious life ofhis dear Son in my heart, with great tenderness,
implored his divine assistance unto thee, that thou mayest
both be illuminated to do, and made willing to suffer, for his
name's sake ; that the Spirit of God and of glory may rest
upon thy soul.
And truly I can say, I felt the good-will of God, his holy
care, and heavenly visitation of love to extend unto thee.
But one thing more especially lay upon my spirit to have
communicated unto thee, Avhich made me the more pressing
for an opportunity to speak Avith thee, and that was this,
' That thou shouldest have a true, right, and distinct know
ledge of thy own state, and what that is which hath visited
thee ; and in what thy faith, patience, hope, and salvation
stand ; where to wait, and how to find the Lord, and distin
guish between that which is born of God, and that which is
not; both with respect to thyself in all the motions and
conceptions of thy heart, and with respect to others in their
religious worships and performances; to the end that
thou mayest not be deceived about the things relating to

446 TRAVELS IN
God's kingdom, and thy eternal peace :' this is of greatest
weight. Now know certainly, that which hath discovered unto thee
the vanities of this world, the emptiness and the fading of all
earthly glory, the blessedness of the righteous, and the joy
of the Avorld that is to come, is the light of Christ Jesus,
wherewith he hath enlightened thy soul: " for in him was
life, and that life is the light of mankind," John i. 4. 9.
Thus God promised, by the prophet Isaiah, to give him, viz.
" for a light to lighten the Gentiles, and for his salvation to
the ends of the earth." So that Christ the Light is God's gift,
and eternal life is hid in him ; yea, all the treasures of Avis-
dom and knowledge, who is the light of the gospel-temple,
true believers, Rev. xxi. And all that receive this light into
their hearts, and bring their deeds to it, to see in what
ground they are wrought, whether in God or the evil-one,
and make this blessed light the guide of their life ; fearing,
with an holy fear, to do any thing that this light manifests
to be evil ; waiting and watching with a godly care to be
preserved , blameless before the Lord ; I say, all such be
come children of light, and witnesses ofthe life of Jesus. O
blessed wilt thou be for ever, if in the way of this holy light
thy mind walks to the end !
Let this that hath visited thee lead thee ; this seed of light
and life, which is the seed ofthe kingdom ; yea, it is Christ,
the true and only seed of God, that visited my soul, even in
my young years ; that spread my sins in order before me,
reproved me, and brought godly sorrow upon me; making
me often to Aveep in solitary places, and say Avithin my sou),
' O that I knew the Lord as I ought to know him ! O that I
served him as I ought to serve him !' Yea, often Avas there a
great concern upon myjspirit about mine eternal state, mourn
fully desiring that the Lord would giA'e my soul rest in the
great day of trouble. Noav was all the gloiy of the world
as a bubble; yea, nothing was dear to me that I might win
Christ ; for the love, friendship, and pleasure of this world
Avere a burden unto my soul. And in this seeking-state I
Avas directed to the testimony of Jesus in mine own con
science, as the true shining 'light, giving me to discern the
thoughts and intents of mine own heart. And no sooner
was I turned unto it, but I found it to be that Avhich from
my childhood had visited me, though I distinctly knew it
not: and when I received it in the love of it, it shewed me
all that ever I had done, and reproved all the unfruitful
works of darkness ; judging me as a man in the flesh, and
laving judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plum
met in me. And as by the ' brightness of his coming into my

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 447
soul,' he discovered the man of sin there, upon his throne,
so by the ' breath of his mouth,' which is the two-edged
sword of his Spirit, he destroyeth his power and kingdom.
And so having made me a witness ofthe death of the cross,
he hath also made me a witness ofhis resurrection. So that
in good measure my soul can noAv say, ' I am justified in the
Spirit ; and though the state of condemnation unto death
was glorious, yet justification unto life was, and is, more glo
rious.' In this state ofthe new man all is new : behold neAV hea
vens, and a new earth ! Old things come to be done away ;
the old man with his deeds put off. Now new thoughts,
new desires, new affections, new love, new friendship, new
society, new kindred, new faith ; even that which over
cometh this world, through many tribulations ; and neyv
hope, even that living hope that is founded upon true expe
rience, which holds out all storms, and can see to the glory
that is invisible (to carnal eyes) in the midst ofthe greatest
tempest. Now it is the same blessed seed of light, life and grace,
which from God the Father is sown in thy heart, and which
hath moved and wrought there the change Avhich thou hast
witnessed from the spirit of this world : turn to it : watch
in it, that by it thou mayest be kept from all that it discovers
to be contrary to God ; especially from thyself, from thine
own runnings, willings, Tand strivings : for whatsoever is
not born ofthe Spirit is flesh ; and that inherits not the king
dom of God ; but all that sow to it shall inherit corruption.
By this thou wilt come to feel, not only all sin to be a bur
den, but all thine own righteousness, yea, all man's right
eousness, to be a burden. Thou wilt see the difference be
twixt the duties and prayers which thou begettest, and the
duties and prayers which, in thy true silence from all self-
activity of mind, the Lord begets in thee.
O that thou mightest know the mystery of the new birth,
and what that is that can truly call God Father ! even that
that is begotten of him, which liveth and breatheth, and
hath its beginning and, being, in that life which is hid with
Christ in God, and by which he hath been quickened to the
knowledge and worship of Christ and God. And this thou
shalt not fail to knoAv and enjoy, as thou patiently sufferest
the Lord to work his own work in thee, by his own blessed
Spirit. And that which will give thee to savour, and dis
cern the right motions and conceptions, duties and perform
ances in thyself, from the false, will give thee to savour and
discern that which is right from that which is false in others ;
that which is of God, from that which is of man.

448 TRAVELS IN
Have a care of gathering of sticks, and kindling a fire of
thine 0Avn,and then compassing thyself about with the sparks
ofthe fire which thou hast kindled, for the end of this state
is to lie down in sorroAV ; because the heavenly fire is ab
sent, Avhich maketh the sacrifice acceptable : yea, the Lord
may stir in thy heart, but thou mayest bring forth : but he
that gives to conceive, he brings to the birth, and he giveth
power to bring forth acceptably : " for without Christ we
can do nothing ;" and blessed are they that stir not before
the angel moveth the Avaters, and go not before Christ, but
are led by him, and that awaken not their Beloved till he
please ; in whose hands the times and the seasons are. O
blessed are they, whose eyes are opened to see him always
present, a God ahvays nigh at hand ; Avhose hearts are stayed
upon his holy appearance in them, and are thereby trans
lated into his likeness ; whose faith and hope are in Christ
in them, the hope of glory !
My dear friend, weigh these things with a serious, re
tired, sAveet and tender frame of spirit ; and the God, that
hath called me and thee, by the light of his dear Son, open
thine understanding to perceive the truth as it is in Jesus, and
what is the mystery of the felloAVship ofthe saints in light.
So to the Lord I recommend thee, the watchman and keep
er of Israel. The Lord be thy strength and holy comfort,
and speak peace to thee, and never leave thee nor forsake
thee, till he hath conducted thee through all tribulations, to
his everlasting kingdom of rest and glory.
O dear heart, be valiant, and stay thyself upon Christ
Jesus the everlasting rock, and feel him a fountain in thy
soul ; feel his blood to cleanse, and his blood to drink, and
his flesh to eat : feed upon him, for God hath given him for
the life ofthe world.
I had seen thee, had not thy father's strange sort of seve
rity hindered. I confess, I do not use to be so treated in
mine own country, Avhere the Lord hath raised up many
thousands of. Avitnesses, that he hath gathered out of all
sects and professions, to Avorship him, not in their own spi
rits or wills, but in his will, spirit and truth : and we are
generally, after much affliction and suffering, in good es-
teemj even Avith the great ones of this world. And this let
me add for thy particular comfort, that though I have been
, a man of great anguish and sorrow, because of the scorn and
reproach that have attended my separation from the world,
(having been taught of Jesus to turn my back upon all, for
the sake of that glory that shall be revealed) yet to God's
honour I can say it, I have an hundred friends for one, yea,
God hath turned the hearts of mine enemies toAvards me ;

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 449
he hath fulfilled his promise, " to turn the hearts ofthe pa
rents unto the children." For my parents, that once dis
owned me for this blessed testimony's sake, (of the Jew,
Christian, circumcision, and baptism inward, against the
fleshly Christian) have come to love me above all, and have
left me all ; thinking they could never do and leave enough
for me. O how good is the Lord ! Yea, the ways of his
mercy are even past finding out.
Wherefore, my dear friend, trust in the Lord forever;
and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the
prophets and ofthe apostles, the God of all the holy martyrs
of Jesus, illuminate, fortify and preserve thee stedfast, that
in the end thou mayest receive the reward of life and eter
nal salvation : to whom be glory, and to the Lamb that sits
upon the throne, One God, and One Lord, blessed and mag
nified for ever and ever, Amen.
Thy great and faithful lover for the blessed and holy
truth's sake,
W. PENN.
Duysburgh, the 13th of the
7th month, S. N. 1677.
The inclosed I received from a religious young woman at
Frankfort. We have had a blessed opportunity in this
town with some that have a desire after the Lord, in
which we are abundantly comforted. We have just now
received thy message and salutation from H. V. Avhich
hath exceedingly refreshed and revived us ; for our trou
ble was not for ourselves, but for thee ; and we hope our
love will;not turn to thy disadvantage ; for we mentioned
nothing of thy name, nor the name of any other person,
only that we desired to speak with the minister of Mul
heim, and that was only to the soldier. The Lord made
us a good bed in the fields, and we were very well satis
fied. We are going this afternoon out of thetoAvn towards
Wesel, from thence to Cleve, and thence to Herwerden,
the Lord willing. So farewell in the Lord.
Here followeth a letter to her father the graef of Bruch
and Falchensteyn. To the Graef or Earl of Bruch and Falchensteyn.
Friend,I wish thy salvation ; and the Lord reward thee good for
the evil that thou showedst unto me and my friends the last
night, if it be his will : but since thou art but a mortal man,
Vol. ii. 2 f

450 TnAVEi.s
one that must give an account, in common with all, to the
immortal God, let me a little expostulate with thee.
By what law on earth are men, not scandalous, under no
proscription, harmless strangers, about laAvful occasions, and
men not Vagabonds, but of good quality in their own coun
try, stopped, menaced, sent back with soldiers, and that at
sun-set, exposed to the night in an unknown country, and
therefore forced to lie in the fields : I say, by Avhat law are
we judged, yea, thus punished before heard? Is this the
law of nations, or nature, or Germany, or of Christianity ?
Oh! Where's nature, Avhere's civility ? Where's hospitality ?
But where's Christianity all this while ? Well, but we are
Quakers. Quakers ! What's that for a name ? Is there a
law Ofthe empire against that name ? No : Did we own it ?
No : but if we had, the letters of that name neither make up
drunkard, whoremaster, thief, murderer, nor traitor: why
so odious then ? What harm hath it done ? Why could Jews
pass just before us, that have crucified Christ, and not Qua
kers, that never crucified him ? But ignorance is as well the
mother of persecution as devotion : and the false Christian,
and the false Jew, have but one father.
But, argumenturn ad hominem, my friend, bear with me a
little : art thou a Christian ? How canst thou be rude, un
civil, and persecute then ? Thou art to love enemies, not
abuse friends ; harmless strangers. Well, but this life is
dead, this doctrine antiquated, Jesus Christ turned out of
doors, I perceive. What art thou for a Christian ? A Lu
theran ? Yes; canst thou so lately forget the practices of
the papists, and with Avhat abhorrence thy ancestors declared
against such sort of entertainment ? Were not they despised,
mocked, and persecuted ? And are their children treading
in the steps of their old enemies ? Friend, it is not reformed
words, but a reformed life, that will stand thee in stead. It
is not to live the life of the unregenerate, worldly-minded
and Avicked, under the profession of the saints' words, that
give an entrance into God's rest. Be not deceived, such as
thou sowest, such must thou reap in the day of the Lord.
Thou art not come to the Berean state that tried all things,
and therefore not noble in the Christian sense. The Be-
reans were noble, for they judged not before examination.
And for thy saying, ' We want no Quakers here,' I say,
under favour, you do: for a true Quaker is one that trem-
bleth at the word ofthe Lord, that worketh out his salvation
with fear and trembling, and all the days of his appointed
time Avaiteth, in the light and grace of God, till his great
change cometh; and that taketh up the daily cross to his
own Avill and lusts, that he may do the will of God, mani-

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 451
fested to him by the light of Jesus in his conscience ; and
according to the holy precepts and examples in the holy
scriptures of truth, laid down by Jesus, and his fol
lowers, for the ages to come. Yea, he is one that
loveth his enemies, rather than feareth them ; that blesseth
those that curse him, and prayeth for those that despitefully
treat him ; as God knoweth we do for thee. And, O that
thou wert such a Quaker ! Then wouldst thou rule for God,
and act in all things as one that must give an account to God
for the deeds done in the body, whether good or evil. Then
would temperance, mercy, justice, meekness, and the fear of
the Lord dwell in thy heart, and in thy family and country.
Repent, I exhort thee, and consider thy latter end, for thy
days are not like to be many in this world ; therefore mind
the things that make for thy eternal peace, lest distress come
upon thee as an armed man, and there be none to deliver thee.
I am, thy well-wishing friend,
W. P.
Duysburgh, 3d 7th Mo.
1677. S.N.
This being done, we went to Dr. Mastricht's to inform him
of what had passed; who, though of a kind disposition, and
very friendly to us, yet seemed surprized Avith fear, (the com
mon disease of this country) crying out, ' What will become
of this poor countess ! Her father hath called her Quaker
a long time, behaving himself very severely to her, but now
he will conclude she is one indeed, and he will lead her a
lamentable life : I know,' said he, 'you care not for suffer
ing, but she is to be pitied.' We told him that we loved
her, and pitied her, and could lay down our lives for her,
as Christ hath done for us, in the will of God, if we
could thereby do her good; but that we had not mentioned
her name, neither was the letter he gave us to her, so much
as seen, or known of her father. But still he feared that
our carriage would incense the graef so much the more
against both his daughter, and all those serious and enquir
ing people up and doAvn his country. We answered, with
an earnestness of spirit, that they had minded the incensings
and wrath of men too much already, and that true religion
would never spring or grow under such fears ; and that it
was time for all that felt any thing of the work of God in
their hearts, to cast away the slavish fear of man, and to
come forth in the boldness of the true Christian life; yea,
that sufferings break and make way for greater liberty, and
that God was wiser and stronger than man.
We asked him if there were any in that city who enquired
2f2

452 TRAVELS IN
more diligently after the way of the Lord ? He recommend
ed us (as we had already been informed in another place)
fo the family of the praetor, or chief governor of the town ;
whose wife, and sister more especially, were seeking after
the best things : so we parted with him in love ; and, by the
help ofhis daughter, were conducted to this family.
We had not been long there, before a school-master of
Dusseldorp, and also a minister came in, enquiring after
us, having heard of us at Mulheim, where we preached the
day before to the people, or else by the way of our attempt
to visit that place, and the entertainment we received at the
hands of the graef. He sat down with us, and though Ave
had already a sweet opportunity, yet feeling the power of
God to rise, the meeting renewed : and, O magnified be the
name of the Lord ! he witnessed to our testimony abun
dantly in all their hearts and consciences, who were broken
into much tenderness ; and certainly there is a blessed power
and zeal stirring in that young man ; yea, he is very near
the kingdom. So we took our leave of them, leaving the
Lord's peace and blessing upon them.
It was now something past the twelfth hour of the day.
In the way to our lodging we met a messenger from the
countess of Falchensteyn, a pretty young tender man, near
to the kingdom, Avho saluted us in her name with much love;
telling us, ' That she was much grieved at the entertainment
of her father towards us; advising us not to expose our
selves to such difficulties and hardships, for it would grieve
her heart, that any that came in the love of God to visit her,
should be sd severely handled ;' for at some he sets his dogs,
upon others he puts his soldiers to beat them : ' but what
shall I say ! That, itself must not hinder you from doing
good,' said the countess.
We answered him, that his message was joyful to us, that
she had any regard to us, and that she was not offended with
us : we desired the remembrance of our kind love unto her,
and that he would let her know that our concern was not
for ourselves, but for her. We invited him to eat with us,
but he told us he Avas an inhabitant of Meurs, and was in
haste to go home. So we briefly declared our principle and
message, recommending him to Christ the true light in his
conscience, and parted. So we went home to dinner, having
neither eaten nor drank since first-day morning, and having
lain out all night in the field.
We had no sooner got to our inn, but the man was con
strained to come after us, and sat down with us, and en
quired concerning our friends, their rise, principles, and pro
gress ; and in all things that he desired satisfaction about,

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 453
he declared himself satisfied. Dinner being done, and all
cleared, we departed that city, being about the fourth hour
in the afternoon, and for want of accommodation were forced
to walk on foot eight English miles to a town called Holton,
where we rested that night.
The next morning* we set out for Wesel,and got thither
at noon. The first thing Ave did (as had been our custom)
was to enquire who was worthy, particularly for two per
sons recommended to us by the countess of Homes, that
lives with the princess Elizabeth. But upon enquiry, we
found one of them was gone to Amsterdam with his wife,
who had been formerly a preacher, and being conscientiously
dissatisfied with his own preaching, laid it down, and is now
in a seeking state. But in lieu of him we found out three
more, with the other person that had been recommended to
us. We bespoke a meeting amongst them after dinner,
which accordingly we had at a woman's house of good note
in the town ; who told us, that she had been long in a soli
tary estate, dissatisfied with the religions generally professed
in that country, waiting for salvation, and she hoped that
now the time was come, and that Ave were the messengers
of it.
The Lord was with us in the meeting, and their hearts
were opened, by the Avord of God, to receive our testimony
as glad tidings of salvation. Meeting being done, Ave im
mediately returned to our lodgings, desiring Ave might see
them together in the same place the next morning, to take
our leave of them, to which they readily assented.
Next morningt we came, and had a precious meeting
with them ; and there were some present that were not there
the night before. So we left them in much love, and went
to our -inn ; yyhere, after having refreshed ourselves, we
went to Rees, where we met with a counsellor of Gelder-
landt, with whom we had a good opportunity to declare the
testimony of Jesus; Avho received it, and parted with us in
much kindness.
From thence we went to Emrick, and there called upon
an eminent baptist teacher, recommended to us by one of
Wesel : we spent some time with him, opening to him the
way of life, as in the light it is manifested to all that love
and obey the light ; and of that more spiritual and pure
ministry, that from the living word of God is received by
many true ministers in this day. The man was somewhat full
of words, but we felt the living visitation ofthe love of God
reached to him, and so we left him, making all the haste we
could to get to Cleve that night ; which accordingly we did,
« 4. 7. 3. + 5. 7. 4.

454 TRAVELS IN
though late, being forced to walk one-third part of the way
on foot.
That night, notwithstanding, one of us went to a certain
lady, to whom we had recommendations from the princess,
and that was particularly known to one of us, informing her
that we Avere come to that city, desiring to know what time
next day we might give her a visit ; she appointed eight in
the morning.
About that time* we went to see her; she received us
(considering her quality and courtship) far from any appear
ance of offence at our deportment. We told her our mes
sage and visit was to those of that city, that had any incli
nations or desires, hunger or thirst, after the true and living
knowledge of God ; for that end we had left our own coun
try, and had wandered up and down in several parts of Ger
many. She told us, that some there were that searched after
God ; but she feared the name of Quaker would make them
shy, because they were called Quakers themselves, by peo
ple of the same profession, only for being more serious and.
retired in their conversation.
We replied, that it was an honour to the name, that all
sobriety throughout Germany, was called by it; this ought
to make the name less odious, yea, it will make the way ea
sier for those that are truly called so, or that are Quakers
indeed : it will take off much ofthe wonder, and, it may be,
ofthe severity of the places, where we come, that the name
is gone before us, and hath received a dwelling-place in their
towns and cities. In fine, to all such God hath committed
to us the word of life to preach, and such we seek out
in all places where the Lord bringeth us : and hitherto we
can say it, to the praise of our God, he hath vindicated our
services and testimony, by his owii blessed power, shed
abroad in their hearts to whom Ave have been sent.
So she told us she would send for an attorney at law,
one that was more than ordinarily eminent ; having deserted
the church, and being therefore reproached ivith the name of
Quaker. In this interval we had close discourse with her ; a wo
man certainly of great wit, high notions, and very ready ut
terance : so that it was hard for us to obtain a true silence ;
a state in which we could reach to her.
But through some travail of spirit more than ordinary, Ave
had a sweet time of refreshment, and the witness was raised
in her, and we really" and plainly beheld a true nobility,
yea, that which yvas sensible of our testimony, and did re
ceive it, * 6.7.5.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 455
By this time the person she sent for came, and a blessed
sweet time we had : for the power and presence of the
Lord, our staff and strength, unto which our eye hath been
throughout all our travels, that we might only be accept
able in that, plenteously appeared amongst us (the Lord
have the glory of his own work) both confessing to the
truth of what had been said, and the attorney to the living
sense in which the truth had been declared.
We would have returned to our inn to eat, according as
we had appointed in the morning, but she laid a kind of
violent hands upon us, and necessitated us to stay and eat
with her; Avhich we did. And we had no sooner sat down,
but her brother-in-law, a man of quality and employment
in the court of the elector of Brandenburgh, came in, who
dined with us.
As Ave sat at meat, we had a good meeting ; for the time
was much taken up about the things of God, either in an
swering their questions, or ministering to them about the
true Christian nature and life; in all which' her brother be
haved himself with great sAveetness and respect.
After dinner we took our Christian leave of them in the
fear of God, recommending unto them the light of Christ
Jesus, that brings all that receive it into the one spirit, to
live in holy peace and concord together ; particularly and
alone speaking to the lady and the attorney what was upon
us as to their states.
And so we departed, and soon after took waggon for
Nimeguen ; where arriving about the seventh hour that
night, we immediately took waggon for Utrecht, and got
thither about the tenth hour next morning.* We heard
there was a people in that city, but had not now time to
yisit them,, referring it to another opportunity.
About the first hour in the afternoon, G. K. and B. F.
took waggon for Rotterdam, and I took waggon for Am
sterdam, where I came safely that night, about six in the
eA'ening ; and I found friends generally well, though it was
a sickly time in that country. The meeting-house was much
enlarged, and there was a fresh inquiry among many peo
ple after the truth, and great desires to hear the testimony
and declaration of it. I also understood that dear G. F. was
returned from Frederickstadt and Hamburgh into Uries-
landt, whither T. R. and J. Y. were gone from this city to
meet with him. He had a hard time of travail with respect
to the weather, yet I heard Avas in good health, through the
Lord's power that had kept him.
* 7. 7. 6.

456 TRAVELS IN
Here I received a letter from the princess Elizabeth, in
answer to mine of the 25th of the sixth month, from Man
heim, alias Fredericksburgh. The ^ of September, 1677.
Dear friend,
I have received your greetings, good wishes, and exhor
tations, with much joy, and shall follow the latter so far as
it shall please our great God to give me light and strength.
I can say little for myself, and can do nothing of myself,
but I hope the Lord will conduct me in his time, by his
way, to his end ; and shall not shrink for his fire ; I do long
for it ; and when he assures my ways, I hope he will give
me power to bear the cross I meet therein. I am also glad
to hear the journey hath been prosperous both in the con
stitutions of your bodies, to withstand the badness of the
weather, and in the reception you had in Cassel, Frankfort,
and Crisheim : nothing surprised me there but the good old
Dury, in whom I did not expect so much ingenuity, having
lately Avrit a book, entitled, ' Le Veritable Chretien,' that
doth speak another way. I Avish to know what reception
you have had at Fredericksburgh ; and if this find you at
Cleve, I wish you might take an occasion to see the tAvo
pastors of Mulheim, which do really seek the Lord, but
have some prejudice against your doctrine, as also the coun
tess there. It would be of much use for my family to have
them disabused; yet God's will be done in that, and all
things else, concerning Your loving friend in the Lord Jesus,
Elizabeth.
Let both your friends and companions receive my hearty
commendations here.
This day at night* (being the seventh day of the week)
came John Hill from Urieslandt to the house of G. D. in
Amsterdam. The next dayt (being the first day of the week) we had
a blessed and large meeting, larger than ordinary, because
of a great addition of room since our journey into Germany.
Indeed there was a great appearance of sober professing
people, yea, several ofthe chief of the baptists, as Galenus
and companions : the Lord's heavenly power was over all,
and the meeting blessedly ended about the fourth hour.
* 8. 7. 7. + 9. 7. L

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 457
That night, after supper, having taken my leave in a
sweet little meeting among friends, I took boat for Horn
(P. Hendrick accompanying me) about the seventh hour at
night, and got thither about two in the morning;* where
lying down till about six, we took waggon for Enckhuysen.
We came thither a little after eight in the morning ; where
having refreshed ourselves, about the ninth hour we took
ship for Workum in Urieslandt, and arriving about one,
immediately took waggon for Harlingen, where we arrived
about six ; there we met with dear G. F., J. T., J. Y.,
T. R., J. C. and his wife.
The next dayt we had two blessed meetings; one
amongst friends, being the first monthly meeting that was
settled for Urieslandt, Groningen, and Embden ; the other
a public meeting, where resorted both baptists, collegians
and others ; and among the rest, a doctor of physic, and a
presbyterian minister : all sat with great attention and so
briety, but the minister and doctor more especially. The
first, having a lecture sermon to preach that evening,
went away ; but, notwithstanding, speedily returned, G. F.
still speaking : but, as a man in pain to be gone, yet
willing to stay, sat at the door till G. F. had done ; and
then stood up, and pulling off his hat, looking up to heaven,
in a solemn manner, and with a loud voice, spake to this
purpose : ' The All-mighty, the All-wise, the Omnipotent
Great God, and his Son Jesus Christ, who is blessed for
ever and ever, confirm his word that hath been spoken this
day :' apologizing that he could not longer stay, for that
he was a minister of the reformed religion, and was just
now going to preach, where all that would come should be
welcome ; and so left the meeting.
The physician also was called away, but returned, and
stayed till the meeting was ended. Just as the meeting
ended came the minister again, who said, in the hearing of
some friends, ' That he had made his sermon much shorter
than ordinary, that he might enjoy the rest ofthe meeting.'
At night came the physician to see me; who, after a serious
and Christian discourse, expressing great satisfaction in
most things relating to friends, left me ; withal telling me,
' That if I had not been to go the fourth hour next morn
ing, he would either have stayed longer with me, or come
again.' He also remembered the parson's love to us, and told
me, ' That if it had not been for fear of giving offence, or
coming too much under the observation of the people, he
would have come to have seen us :' adding, 'that it was a
* 10. 7. 2. f 11. 7. 3.

458 TRAVELS IN
great pity that this people had not printed their principles
to the world :' to which the doctor answered, ' That he had
some of our books, and he would lend him them.' Blessed
be the Lord, his glorious work goeth on, and his power is
over all. It being now the tenth hour at night, I took my
leave of G. F. and friends.
This day it came upon me to write a letter to Joanna
Eleonora Malane, the noble young woman at Frankfort.
Dear friend J. E. M.
My dear and tender love, which God hath raised in my
heart by his living word to all mankind, but more especially
unto those in Avhom he hath begotten an holy hunger and
thirst after him, saluteth thee : and amongst those of that
place where thou livest, the remembrance of thee, Avith thy
companions, is most particularly and eminently at this time
brought before me. And the sense of your open-hearted-
ness, simplicity, and sincere love to the testimony of Jesus,
that by us was delivered unto you, hath deeply engaged my
heart towards you, and often raised in my soul heavenly
breathings to the God of my life, that he would keep you in
the daily sense of that divine life, which then affected you.
For this know, it was the life in yourselves, that so sweetly
visited you by the ministry of life through us.
Wherefore, love the divine life and light in yourselves :
be retired and still ; let that holy seed move in all heavenly
things before you move : for no one receiveth any thing
(that truly profiteth) but what he receiveth from above.
Thus said John to his disciples. Now that which stirreth
in your hearts, draweth you out of the world, slayeth you
to all the vain-glory, and pleasure, and empty worships that
are in it ; this is from above, the heavenly seed of God,
pure and incorruptible, that is come down from heaven to
make you heavenly ; that in heavenly places you may dwell,
and witness, with the saints of old, this heavenly treasure in
earthen vessels.
O stay your minds upon the appearance of Jesus in you,
in whose light you shall see light ! It will make you of a.
weighty considering spirit more and more ; that you may
see how the mystery of iniquity hath wrought, and how man
kind is corrupted in all things, and what part you yet have,
that belongeth not to the paradise of God, that you may lay
itfcill down at the feet of Jesus, and follow him, Avho is going
up and down, doing good to all that believe in his name.
So possess your souls in the sensible feeling of his daily vi
sits, shillings and breathings upon your spirits ; and wait

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 459
diligently, and watch circumspectly, lest the enemy surprize
you, or your Lord come at unawares upon you, and you be
unprepared to receive his sweet and precious visitations.
That so those holy beginnings, which thou art a witness of,
with thy companions, may not be lost, or as if they had
never been ; but that you may, from day to day, feel the
growth ofhis light, life, powei and kingdom in your souls,
that you may be able to say, " The kingdom of God is come,
yea, it is given to the saints."
And what I say unto one, I say unto all that received our
testimony in that city; to whom thou mayest give, if thou
pleasest, the remembrance of my dear love, who travail in
the spirit for their redemption, that they maybe brought
into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Particularly
salute me to the young woman, that metAvith us at thy lodg
ing. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace, dwell
amongst you, keep your hearts stedfast in his holy light,
without wavering, all the days of your appointed time, until
your great and last change shall come ; when he will receive
his own sheep into his own everlasting kingdom, from the
power of the foxes and the wolves, and all the devouring
beasts and birds of prey ; when he will wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and sighing and sorrowing shall be no more ;
and when it shall be said, " There is no more death, no
more night, no more time."
So dear J. E. M. know, that the Lord hath brought us
well to Amsterdam, not without good service by the way :
for at Culle.n we had a precious meeting, and Avere received
with much gladness of heart. We also went to Duysburgh,
and from thence towards Mulheim, being the first day of
the week, hoping to get an opportunity with the countess of
Bruch, and to deliver thy letter : but her father (who is a
cruel and severe man) meeting us near his castle, stopped
us; and after some little time, finding what we were, said,
* They wanted no Quakers there;' and sent us with some
ofhis soldiers out ofhis territory. It Avas about sun-set, so
that we were forced to return towards Duysburg, but the
gates ofthe city being shut, and there being no houses Avith-
out it, we were forced to lie in the fields all night, where
the Lord made us a good and comfortable bed. We told the
graef at parting, 'We were men that feared the Almighty
God; we desired the good of all men; and that we came
not hither for any evil design :' but he would not hear ; the
Lord, if he pleaseth, forgive him. Nevertheless Ave had a
good meeting at Duysburgh, where we Ijad our hearts' de
sire, the blessed power and life of God making its own way
in the hearts of those that heard our testimony. * "'-i writ

460 TRAVELS IN
a large and tender letter to the countess, and received a
sweet and loving message from her : and I have great hopes
that all things will work together for the best.
From Duysburg we went to Wesel, where we enquired
out who was worthy, and there we found four or five sepa
rated from all congregations, " waiting for the consolation
of Israel," with whom we had two precious meetings : and
leaving the peace of Jesus with them, went to Emrick,
where we visited the chief baptist teacher, who confessed to
our testimony, and received us lovingly. We directed him
to that gift of God in himself, that pure and eternal word
in the heart, that he might know the pure ministry of that,
from the ministry of man's spirit, which cannot profit or give
life to the soul.
From thence we went to Cleve, where at a lady's house,
belonging to the court, we had a precious meeting : and we
found some that had deserted the public ministry, as not
being appointed of God to preach, neither knowing, by true
experience, the way and travail ofthe new birth, but made
and [maintained by men : we sounded the joyful gospel
amongst them, and from thence, by the way of Nimeguen and
Utrecht, we came the last sixth day to Amsterdam, which
was the seventh of the seventh month.
The last first-day I had a great and blessed meeting at
Amsterdam, almost of every quality and religion ; the Lord's
heavenly power (that is quickening people into a living sense
of him, that they may say, " the Lord liveth, and he liveth
in me") reigned that day over all.
In the evening I took boat for Horn, and from thence
came last night (being the second day of the week) to this
city of Harlingen, where we met with some of our brethren,
that had been up at Hamburgh and Frederickstadt ; and this
day we are to have two meetings here, the one among our
friends, the other public for the town. It is upon me to vi
sit J. de Labadie's people, that they may know him in them
selves, in whom their salvation standeth ; for these simple
people are to be pitied. From thence I think to visit Leeu-
waerden, Groningen, Embden, Bremen, Herwerden,Wesel,
Emrick, Cleve, Utrecht, and so to return to Amsterdam,
the Lord enabling me by his power.
This ariseth in my heart to thee ; ' Give not thy bread to
dogs ; spend not thy portion ; feed not the serpent, neither
hearken to him ; abide with Jesus, and he will abide with
thee, that thou mayest grow in wisdom and in righteousness,
through the cross, that crucifieth thee to the world, and the
world to thee.' So in the love which overcometh the world,
that is divine, and from above, and leadeth all thither that

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 461
receive it into their hearts, I take my leave of thee, with thy
companions, and all the rest of that city known to us, re
maining Thy faithful friend, and the Lord's day-labourer,
W. P.
Harlingen, llth ofthe
7th-month, 1677.
Next morning,* about the fourth hour, I took boat for
Leeuwaerden; J.Claus, who had been at Frederickstadt with
G. F. went with me. G. F. J. Y. and T. R. with P. H. re
turned that day towards Amsterdam.
AtLeeuwarden we came about nine, and began the meet
ing about ten ; which we enjoyed with peace and refresh
ment, several being there (as in other places) that were ne
ver at a meeting before.
The meeting being done, and having refreshed ourselves
with food, we took Avaggon for Wiewart, the mansion-house
ofthe family of the Somerdykes, where J.deLabadie's com
pany resideth, it being strong upon my spirit to give them a
visit. We got thither about five ; and as we were Avalking
over a field to the house, we met a young man of that com
pany, who conducted us in. I asked for I von the pastor, and
Anna Maria Schurmans. Ivon presently came with his co-
pastor ; they received us very civilly. However, they
seemed shy of letting me speak with A. M.S. objecting her
weakness, age, taking physic, &c. But putting them in mind
how unhandsomely 1 Avas used at Herwerden, six years ago,
by J. de Labadie, their father, who, though I came a great
journey to visit him and his people, suffered me not to speak
with them ; they presently complied, and went in to let her
know that such a person desired to speak with her, and
quickly returned, desiring me to come in. But foreseeing
my time would be too short for my message, the sun being
near setting, and having two English miles of unknown way
to our lodging, on foot, I desired them, that they would give
me an opportunity the next morning, which they readily
complied with. So I took my leave of them, who in a friend
ly manner brought us a little on our way. That night a
great weight was upon my spirit, and especially the next
morning ; yet my faith was in the power of God, and I had
a plain sight that 1 should have a good service among them;
however, I should clear my conscience, and my peace should
rest with me. * 12. 7. 4*

462 TRAVELS IN
The next morning * I returned to them, and J. C. along
with me. So soon as we came, we were brought into A. M.
S's chamber; where also was with her one of the three
Somerdykes. This A. M. S. aforesaid, is an ancient maid, above sixty
years of age, of great note and fame for learning in lan
guages and philosophy, and hath obtained a considerable
place among the most learned men of this age. The Somer
dykes are daughters to a nobleman of the Hague, people of
great breeding and inheritances. These, with several other
persons, being affected with the zealous declamation of J.
de Labadie, against the dead and formal churches of the
world, and awakened to seek after a more spiritual fellow
ship and society, separated themselves from the common
Calvinist churches, and followed him in the way of a refined
independency. They are a serious, plain people, and are come nearer to
friends, as in silence in meetings, women-speaking, preach
ing by the Spirit, plainness in garb, and furniture in their
houses. With these two Ave had the company ofthe two
pastors, and a doctor of physic. After some silence, I pro
posed this question to them : ' What was it that induced
them to separate from the common way they formerly lived
In ? I desired them that they would be pleased to be plain
and open with me, as to the ground of their separation ; for
I came not to cavil, but in a Christian spirit to be informed.
Upon this, Ivon, the chief pastor, gave us the history of
J. de Labadie's education ; now he was bred among the
Jesuits, and deserted them and embraced the protestant re
ligion ; and finally, ofhis great dissatisfaction with the pro
testant churches of France, and that if God would not
give them a purer church, they three would sit down by
themselves, resolving never more to mix themselves among
the Babylonish assemblies of the world. Adding several
solemn appeals concerning the simplicity and integrity of
their hearts in these things.
Ivon having done, A. M. S. began in this manner : ' I
find myself constrained to add a short testimony. She told
us of her former life, of her pleasure in learning, and her
love to the religion she was brought up in ; but confessed
she knew not God nor Christ truly all that Avhile. And
though from a child God had visited her at times, yet she
never felt such a powerful stroke, as by the ministry of J.
de Labadie. She saw her learning to be vanity, and her re
ligion like a body of death : she resolved to despise the
shame, desert her former way of living and acquaintance, and
* 13. 7. 1.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 463
to join herself with this little family, that Avas retired out of
the world, among whom she desired to be found a living sa
crifice, offered up entirely to the Lord.' She spoke in a very
serious and broken sense, not without some trembling.
These are but short hints of what she said.
After she had done, one ofthe Somerdykes began, in a very
reverent and weighty frame of mind, and in a sense that
very Avell suited her contempt of the world : she told us how
often she had mourned from her young years, because she
did not know the Lord as she desired ; often saying within
herself, ' If God would make known to me his way, I would
trample upon all the pride and glory of the world. She
earnestly expressed the frequent anguish of spirit she had,
because ofthe deadness and formality of the Christians she
was bred among, saying to herself, ' O the pride, O the
lusts, O the vain pleasures in which Christians live ! Can
this be the way to heaven ? Is this the way to glory ? Are
these followers of Christ ? O no ! O God, where is thy
little flock ? Where is thy little family that will live entirely
to thee, that will folloAV thee ? Make me one of that num
ber. And when the servant of the Lord, J. de Labadie,
came into Holland, I, among others, had a curiosity to hear
him ; and among several others Avas deeply affected by him.
He spoke the very thoughts of my heart : methought my
heart was pricked when 1 heard him ; and I resolved, by
the grace of God, to abandon all the glory and pride of this
world, to be one of those that should sit down with him in
a separation from the vain and dead worships of this world.
I count myself happy that I ever met with him, and these
pastors, who seek not themselves, but the Lord : and Ave
are a family that live together in love ; of one soul and one
spirit, entirely given up to serve the Lord : and this is the
greatest joy in the world.'
After, Du Lignon, the other pastor, gave us also an ac
count ofhis inducement to embrace J. de Labadie, but not
so livelily.
After him the doctor of physic, that had been bred for a
priest, but voluntarily refused^bat calling, expressed him
self after this manner : ,'I can also bear my testimony, in
the presence of God, that though I lived in as much reputa
tion at the university, as any of my colleagues or compa
nions, and was well reputed for sobriety and honesty, yet I
never felt such a living sense of God, as when I heard the
servant ofthe Lord J. de Labadie:' adding, ' The first day
I heard him, I was so struck and affected, that I can truly
say, through the good grace of God, and the conduct ofthe
Holy Spirit, it was to me as the day of my salvation ; he did

464 TRAVELS IN
so livingly touch my heart with a sense of the true Christian
worship : upon which I forsook the university, and resolved
to be one of this family ; and this I can say in the fear of the
Lord.' P. Ivon concluded, ' This is what we have to say concern
ing the work of God amongst us.'
All this while I minded not so much their words, as I felt
and had unity with a measure of divine sense that was upon
them. Certainly the Lord hath been amongst them ; yea, I
had a living sense in my heart that somewhat of the breath
of life had breathed upon them ; and though they were in
great mixtures, yet that God's love was towards them.
After some silence, I began op this wise :
I come not to judge you, but; to visit you ; not to quarrel
or dispute, but to speak ofthe things of God's kingdom ; arid
I have no prejudice, but great love and regard in my heart
towards you : wherefore hear me with Christian patience
and tenderness.
I do confess and believe that God hath touched your
hearts with his divine fingerj and that his work is amongst
you : that it Avas his Spirit that gave you a sight of the va
nity and folly of this world, and that hath made you sensible
of the dead religions that are in it. It is this sense I love
and honour; and I am so far from undervaluing or opposing
this tender sense I feel upon you, that this it is I am come to
visit, and you for the love of it. And as for the reproaches
that may attend you on the score of your separation, with
all the reports that therefore go concerning you, they are
what I respect you for, being well acquainted with the na
ture and practice of this world towards those that retire out
of it.
Now since I have with patience, and I can truly say with
great satisfaction, heard your account of your experiences,
give me the like Christian freedom to tell you mine, to the
end you may have some sense of the work of God in me :
for those who are come to any measure of a divine sense,
they are as looking-glasses to each other, as face answereth
face in a glass.
Here I began to let them know how, and when, the Lord
first appeared unto me, which was about the twelfth year of
my age, anno 1656. How at times, betwixt that and the
fifteenth, the Lord visited me, and the divine impressions he
gave me of himself : of my persecution at Oxford, and how
the Lord sustained me in the midst of that hellish darkness
and debauchery : of my being banished the college ; the
bitter usage I underwent when I returned to my father ;
whipping, beating, and turning out of doors in 1662. Of

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 465
the Lord's dealings with me in France^ and in the time of
the great plague in London. In fine, the deep sense he gave
me ofthe vanity of this world ; of the irreligiousness ofthe
religions of it. Then of my mournful and bitter cries to
him, that he would show me his own way of life and salva
tion, and my resolutions to follow him, whatever reproaches
or sufferings should attend me, and that with great reve
rence and brokenness of spirit. How, after all this, the
glory of the world overtook me, and I was even ready to
give up myself unto it, seeing as yet no such thing as the
primitive spirit and church on the earth ; and being ready
to faint concerning my hope ofthe restitution of all things.
It was at this time that the Lord visited me with a certain
sound and testimony of his eternal word, through one of
those the world calls Quakers, namely Thomas Loe. I re
lated to them the bitter mockings and scornings that fell
upon me, the displeasure of my parents, the inAectiveness
and cruelty of the priests, the strangeness of all my compa
nions : what a sign and wonder they made of me ; but, above
all, that great cross of resisting and watching against mine
own inward vain affections and thoughts.
Here 1 had a fine opportunity to speak of the mystery of
iniquity and ungodliness in the rootand ground, and to give
them an account of the power and presence of God which
attended us in our public testimonies and sufferings ; after
an indirect manner censuring their weaknesses, by declaring
and commending the contrary practices among friends, too
large to be here related. And notwithstanding all my suf
ferings and trials by magistrates, parents, companions, and,
above all, from the priests of the false religions in theworld,
the Lord hath preserved me to this day, and hath given me
an hundred fold -in this Avorld, as well as the assurance of
life everlasting : informing them of the tenderness of my
father to me, before, and at, his death ; and hoAV, through
patience and long-suffering, all opposition was conquered.
Then I began my exhortation unto them, which Avas on this
wise. That since God had given me and them a divine sense of
him, our eye should be to him, not to man ; that Ave might
come more into a silence of ourselves, and a growth into
that heavenly sense. That this was the work of the true
ministry, not to keep people to themselves, ever teaching
them, but to turn them to God, the new-covenant
Teacher, and to Christ, the great Gospel-Minister. Thus
John did, and thought it no dishonour that they left
him to go to Christ. " Behold the Lamb of God," said he,
"that taketh aAvay the sin ofthe Avorld !" And even
Vol. ii. 2 g

466 TRAVELS IN
John's disciples left him to follow Christ. Nay, John tes
tifies of himself, " that he was to decrease, and Christ was
to increase." Wherefore I pressed them to have their eye
to Christ that taketh away the sin ; that is, from heaven,
heavenly; to see that He increase in them. Yea, "that
henceforth they should know no man after the flesh ; no,
not Christ himself." That their knowledge of, and regard
and fellowship with, one another, should stand in the reve
lation of the Son of God in them ; who is God's great
Prophet, by whom God speaketh in these latter days. And
if their ministers be true ministeis, they will count it their
glory to give way to Christ, and that they decrease, and
Christ increase; that the instrument giveth way to him that
useth it, the servant to the Lord. Which, though it seem
eth to detract from the ministers, yet it Avas, and is, the
glory of a true minister, that God and Christ should be all
in all, and that his will should be fulfilled. For I told
them, " The day of the Lord God Avas come," and all
people must look to him for salvation : that all, people
must now come to keep God's great sabbath, to rest from
mere man, and the spirit of man, and all men's' thoughts,
words:, and works; and that if they were true believers,
they Avere, at least, " entering into their rest."
1 closely recommended it to them, that they might not be
of those that begin in the spirit, and end in the flesh ; for
that those that should do so, and thereby break God's sab
bath-day, would be stoned to death, by the " stone which
is cut out of the mountain without hands ;" yea, that should
fall upon them as a mill-stone, and grind them to powder.
Therefore let Christ have his honour ; let him preach and
speak among you, and in you, and you in him ; and by him
only sigh, groan, pray, preach, sing, and not otherwise, lest
death come over you : for thereby the apostacy came in, by
their going before Christ, instead of Christ goingbefore them.
And wait in the light and spirit of judgment that hath
visited you, that all may be wrought out that is not born of
God; so will you come to be born of the incorruptible seed
of the word of God that liveth and abideth for ever : that
you may be an holy priesthood, that offers up a living sa
crifice with God's heavenly fire, that, God may have his
honour in you all, and through all, by Jesus Christ. And
turning myself towards the Somerdykes, Avith a serious and
tender spirit, I thus expressed myself: ' That you should be
pilgrims in the inheritance of your Father, I have a deep
and reverent sense of: O that you might dwell with him for
ever, and exalt him that hath so visited you, with whom are
the rewards of eternal blessedness.'

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 467

So I left the blessing and peace' of Jesus among them,
departing in the love and peace of God : and I must needs
say they were, beyond expectation, tender and respectful to
us : all of them coming with us, except the ancient A. M. S.
(who is not able to walk) fo the outward door ; giving us.
their hands in a friendly manner, expressing their great
satisfaction in our visit. And being come to the porch, and
meeting several persons ofthe family, I was moved to turn
about and exhort them, in the presence of the rest, to keep
to Christ, that had giA'en them a sense of the spirit of this
world, and had raised desires in them to be delivered from
it ! And to know no man after the flesh, but to have their
fellowship in Christ, union and communion Avith God, and
one with another ; that all their worship and performances
might stand in him, that he might be all in all : desiring
that the Lord might keep them in his fear all the days of
their appointed time, that so they might serve him in their
generation, in his OAvn universal Spirit, to his glory, who is
blessed for ever.
The Lord comforted my soul in this service : yea, all that
is within me magnified his holy name, because of his blessed
presence that was with us ! O let my soul trust in the Lord,
and confide in him for ever ! O let me dwell and abide
with him that is faithful and true, and blessed for ever
more !
The tAvo pastors and the doctor came with us a field's
length, where we took waggon; and the chief of them took
occasion to ask me, * If the truth rose not at first amongst a
poor, illiterate, and simple sort of people ?' I told him,
Yes ; that was our comfort, and that we owed it not to the
learning of this world : ' Then,' said he, ' let not the learn
ing of this world be used to defend that which the Spirit of
God hath broueht forth ; for scholars now coming' among-
you, will be apt to mix school-learning amongst your sim
pler and purer language, and thereby obscure the brightness
ofthe testimony.' I told him, it was good for us all to have
a care of our OAvn spirits, words, and works ; confessing
what he said had weight in it ; tolling him, it was our care
to write and speak according to the divine sense, and not
human invention.
So in a very sober and serious manner we parted, being
about the twelfth hour at noon.
This night, about ten, we got to Lippenhusen, where
there is a little meeting of friends, being about 25 English
miles.
. The next morning* we had a blessed meeting among
* 14. 7. 6.
2g 2

4(58 TRAVELS IN
friends; many ofthe world came in, were very serious and
well affected ; one Avhereof was a magistrate of the place.
The Lord pleads his own cause, and crowns his own testi
mony with his own power. There is like to be a fine ga
thering in that place.
After dinner we took waggon for the city of Groningen,
where we arrived at eight at night, being about 25 English
miles. The next morning* we had a meeting among friends of
that city, whither resorted both collegian and calvinist
students, Avho behaved themselves soberly : the Lord's
power was over all, and his testimony stands. When meet
ing Avas ended, they went out; and as I was concluding an
exhortation to friends, came in a flock of students to have
some conference with us: but having set the time of our
leaving the city, we recommended them to the universal
love of God, promising them some books of our principles,
with which they expressed themselves satisfied, and civilly
parted from us.
After dinner we took boat for Delfzyl, and came thither
about six at night. The next moming,t about seven, we
took boat for Embden, which is about three leagues. On
board of that vessel it came upon me to write a letter to
friends in England, concerning the present separatists, and
their spirit of separation, Avhich had several times been
opened unto me, and had remained some days upon my
spirit. The letter followeth.
To Friends every where, concerning the present Separatists,
and their Spirit of Separation.
Friends and Brethren,
By a mighty hand, and by an out-stretched arm, hath the
Lord God everlasting gathered us to be a people, and in his
own power and life hath he preserved us a people unto this
day : and praises be to his eternal name, no weapon that
hath yet been formed against us, either from without, or
from within, hath prospered.
Now this I say unto you, and that in his counsel that
hath visited us; Whoever go out ofthe unity with their
brethren, are first gone out of unity with the power and
life of God in themselves, in which the unity of the brethren
standeth ; and the least member of the body in the unity
standeth on the top of them, and hath a judgment against
them ; unto which judgment, of both great and small
amongst the living family that in the unity are preserved,
* 15. 7. 7. + 16. 7. I.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 469
they must bow, before they can come into the unity again ;
yea, this they will readily do, if they are come into unity with
the life and power of God in themselves ; which is the holy
root that beareth the tree, the fruit, and the leaves ; all
receiving life and virtue from it, and thereby are nourished
unto God's praise.
And let all haA'e a care how they weaken that, or bring
that under the exaltation and high imagination of those
that it is revealed against. For I feel that unruly spirit is
tormented under the stroke and judgment of the power,
and in its subtlety is seeking occasion against the instru
ments, by whom the power gave it forth. Let all have a
care how they touch with this spirit in those workings ; for
by being one with this spirit in judging those that have
been faithful, according to the gift of wisdona they have re
ceived from God, they will feed it and fortify it, and in the
end come to be one with it against the power itself, and at
last run out, and become open enemies and despisers ; for
whom is reserved the blackness and darkness for ever, un^-
less they repent.
Wherefore all that labour for the restoration of those
that are out of the unity Avith the brethren, let them be such
as are of a sound mind themselves : else, what will they
gather to? Or, what will they gather from ? And let them
labour in the simplicity, integrity, love, and zeal of the
power that first gathered us to God. For that Which is
rightly gotten will endure ; but that which is obtained by
the contrivance, interest, and persuasions of men, getteth
no farther than man, and is of the flesh ; and what is of
the flesh, is fleshly, and shall never inherit the kingdom of
God; Therefore let none look out of the seed for help ; for all
power is in it, and there the true light and judgment stands
for ever ; and that seed only hath God ordained to bruise
the serpent's head. They that would save it, and those
that would bruise it by any other thing, are breakers of
God's great ordinance, and fly to Egypt for strength. For
it is David, the stripling, that shall be too hard for Goliah
the giant; and that not by "Saul's armour," but Avith
" God's living little stone, cut out ofthe mountain without
hands;" without man's invention and cpntrivance. Oh,
this hath wrought all our mighty works in us, and for us,
to this day ! Wherefore let us be still, and trust and confide
therein for ever. Let npne look back, faint, or consult ;
for if they do, they will darken their pure eye, and lose
their way, and into the eternal rest of the flocks of the com
panions will never come.

470 TRAVELS IN
Brethren ; the judgment given forth against this spirit,
and all those that have resisted our love and forbearance
that are joined to it, must stand ; and all that are out of
our unity with the judgment, are judged, by it : therefore
as all would stand before the Lord, and his people, let not
this spirit be reasoned withal ; enter not into proposals and
articles with it, but feed it with judgment, that is God's
decree : so may the souls that are deceived, come by the
right door into the heavenly unity.
My brethren, look forwards, and lift up your eyes, for
the fields are even white unto harvest, up and down the
nations. Remember the great name of the Lord, and be
hold the great work that he is doing before all people ;
whose saving health is visiting the world, and whose eter
nal word and testament must from among us go forth to
gather the nations. " Let that that will be unjust, be unjust
still ; let the dead bury the dead :" let us all, who have
received the gift from God, wait in deep humility, to be
raised up and impowered by him more and more, to eye
and prosecute his universal service in the world, to whose
appearance the kings and kingdoms of the gentiles shall
bring their glory : which noble work had those that are
gone into the separation but laid deeply to heart, they
Avould never have sat at home murmuring, fretting, and
quarreling against the comely and godly order and practice
of their brethren : but love, peace, and joy had filled their
hearts, and not the " troubler and accuser of the brethren ;"
Avho hath opened an evil eye in them, and begotten them
into a discontented self-separating mind; and this image
they bear, and the pure eye sees it.
0 let none tempt the Lord ! let none provoke the eyes of
his jealousy : let us all dwell in that divine sense that he
hath begotten in us ; Avhere our love, as a fresh and pure
stream, will always flow to God and to one another. Here
" all his ways are pleasantness, and all his paths are peace ;"
for where he keepeth the house, who is Prince of peace, he
Avill keep all in his heavenly peace. We are but as one
family, and therefore we have but one Lord and Master.
We are but as one flock, and we have but one heavenly
shepherd to hear, who goeth before us, and giveth us eter
nal life to follow him. If any are offended in him, or in
his, it is their own fault : if they faint and grow Aveary, we
are truly sorry: if, through un watchfulness, the enemy hath
entered, and begotten coldness to the brethren, and care
lessness of embracing the opportunities by Avhich the unity
is renewed and increased ; so that what is done by the
brethren without them, is looked upon first with a slight

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 471
eye, and then with an evil eye, Avhich begets distance, and
this distance, in time, a separation ; and separation conti
nued bringeth forth enmity, and this enmity death itself;
we are in our spirits truly grieved for them. However,
the judgment of God must stand against them, and that
spirit that leadeth them, in which they gather not to God,
but to themselves: and. wo to them that strengthen their
hands, and despise counsel ; they will have much to ansAver
for before the Lord. I feel a slighting, scornful, laughing
spirit often flying at me Avith its venomous sting ; but the
seed of life is over it, and the Lord God will destroy it.
Wherefore, friends, in all places Avhere this spirit hath
had entrance, keep sound judgment upon it, if you will
keep your garments clean : and enter not into disputes and
contests with it ; it is that it seeketh and loveth : but go on
in your testimony and business for the Lord, in the Lord's
peaceable power and spirit, and his blessing and presertce
of life shall be with you; and in multiplying he shall
multiply you ; for no good thing will he Avithhold from
you. We can say it of a truth, " God is good to Israel,
and to all that are of an upright heart." And let us
be of good cheer; for it is God's determination, that " the
house of David should grow stronger and stronger," and
" His branch shall increase and spread, and of his govern
ment, kingdom, and dominion, there shall be no end."
Your faithful friend and brother, in the service of
our dear Lord,
W. P.
God's blessed work increaseth and prospereth in these
lands; magnified be his everlasting name.
From on board the passage-boat between Delfzyl and
Embden, the 16th ofthe seventh month, 1677.
We arrived at Embden about the 11th hour : this is the
city Avhere friends have been so bitterly and barbarously
used, the like hath scarcely been known in any place where
truth hath broke forth in our day ; they having here been
banished some 30 and some 40 times and above. The first
family that received truth in this city, was doctor John
William Haesbert, a physician, and his wife; at Avhose
house also the first meeting was set up among friends to
Avait upon the Lord, by Avay of public testimony. They
are now both dead, but the memory of their fidelity is as
precious ointment among the righteous.
They were Avith me at a meeting six years ago, in this
city ; and I remember the power of £he Lord had that ope-

472 TRAVELS IN
ration upon them, that I said to B. F. and T. R. then With
me, ' It will not be long before they will publicly OAvn and
bear testimony in this place:' and about three months
after, he came forth, and she about a year after him. And
from their fidelity and integrity, notwithstanding all the
sore and bitter tempest of persecution, a fine meeting sprang ;
but at this day they are scattered, being still sent away as
fast as they return.
We visited his mother's family, where we found three of
his sisters in the love of truth ; his fourth sister being also
a friend, and is wife of J. C. living at Amsterdam. We
had a little sweet comfortable meeting with them. After it,
I returned to my lodging ; and as I was writing to doctor
Andrews, president ofthe council of state, (who is reported
to have been the author of this cruelty to our friends) a
burden came upon me ; my writing Avould not serve turn ;
I must go myself, in the fear and name of the Lord, to
plead the innocent and suffering cause of our friends with
him. So away we went to his house : he was at first astonished
to see what manner of men we were ; but after a little time
he comported himself with more kindness than we expected
at his hand. 1 asked him, ' If he and the senate had not
received a letter in Latin from an Englishman about two
years since, concerning their severity towards the people
called Quakers ?' He told me he had. I replied, ' I was
the man, and I was constrained in conscience to visit him
on their behalf; and I could not see how he, being a com
monwealth's man, and a protestant, could persecute.'
I pleaded the unnaturalness, -the unchristianity, and im
prudence of such proceedings, and pressed our reasons
earnestly, but tenderly upon him. He assaulted us with
several objections; but, blessed be the Lord, they were
mostly fictitious, and therefore easily removed and answered.
He also promised me, that if I Ay°uld write to the senate a
remonstrance of the case of our friends, and express my
request to them, and inclose it to him, he Avould both pre
sent it, and get it to be read, and make it appear that he
Avas not so much our enemy as we looked upon him to be.
I promised to send him some books containing a defence of
our principles, which were accordingly put into the hands
of Elizabeth Haesbert, to deliver him in my name.
Having taken our leave ofthe old woman and her daugh
ters, and a man-friend residing in that city, and left the
blessing and peace of our God amongst them, ive took ship
for Lier, where Ave arrived the next morning.* Thence we
?17.7.2.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 473
took waggon for Bremen, Avhere we came safe, through the
Lord's goodness, the next day ;* where we met our friends
and companions, G. K. and B. F., who came thither
some hours before us from Amsterdam. In this city there
is a work ofthe Lord begun, though yet obscurely; we had
a travail upon our spirits, that the blessed and precious
truth of our dear Lord and Master might find a place to
rest its foot upon. ¦¦>)>.
To that purpose we wrote to two ministers,-! under some
suffering from their brethren, because of their great zeal
against the formality and deadness of the, so called, re
formed churches. This we sent by a merchant, whom we
formerly met at Herwerden. With some difficulty we got
to them, but the person chiefly struck at was shy to speak
With us : his reason was this : ' It was known that we were
in town; and it was one of the accusations against him,
that he was a fosterer of all the strange religions that came
through the town. Also he Avas then actually under pro
cess ; and that the people that had heard of the innocency
of his cause, conceived a prejudice against our name, though
it might be without cause: therefore he could not at present
confer with us, and said he was sorry for it with all his
heart ; but what we should say to his brother, should be
the same as if it had been said to him; to whom he referred
us.' However, I took hold of his arm, and said, I have this
message to deliver to thee, that I may disburden myself
before the Lord ; Avhich was this : ' Mind that which hath
touched thy heart; let that guide thee; and do not thou
order that : consult not Avith flesh and blood how to main
tain that cause, which flesh and blood in thy enemies per
secuted thee for.' He answered, ' Rather than I Avill
befray that cause, or desert Christ, by God's strength, they
shall pull my flesh off my bones.' .So he left us in his
house ; and truly we had a good time with his companion,
the other minister, about three hours, testifying unto him,
that the day was come, and coming, iu which the Lord would
gather out of all sects (that stand in the oldness of the let
ter) into his own Holy Spirit, life, and power; and that in
this the unity of faith and bond of peace should stand. And
therefore that he, and all of them, should have an eye to
the principle of God in themselves; that being turned to
it, they might speak from it ; and that therein they Avould
glorify God, and be edified. So we parted, leaving the
man in a sensible and savoury frame. We visited the mer
chant twice, and had a very good time with him : the man
* 18. 7. 3. + 10. 7. 4.

474 TRAVELS IN
is of a loving and sensible spirit, and the love of God
opened our hearts to him.
We also visited doctor Johan Sophrony Cozack, an odd
com posit hid of a man. He has had great and strange open
ings : he hath writ several scores of tracts ; he is a great
enemy to the priests, and in society with none ; of a merry,
yet of a rough disposition; without any method or decency
in his clothes, food, furniture, and entertainment. He wants
but three of fourscore, yet of a wonderful vigour and preg
nancy. We were twice with him, and we have reason to think he
was as loving to us. as to any body. And truly he did show
at parting some serious and hearty kindness ; but we could
fasten little upon him as to God's power, or any inward
sense of us or our testimony : yet we had little to object
against what he said ; nay, some things were very extra
ordinary. From him we went to doctor Bellingham, an English
physician, a man of a lowly and tender spirit, who received
us in much love, lamenting, when we left him, that he had
no more time with us.
At the inn we had frequent opportunity to declare the
way of truth, and Ave must needs say, we were heard with
patience and sobriety ; particularly by a doctor of law, who
lodged at the house, and an ancient man of Kiel in Holstein.
We left books amongst them all, and in the love and fear
of God we took our leave of them on the fifth day after
dinner, and began our journey towards Herwerden, the
court of the princess, where Ave arrived on the seventh day
in the morning,* every way well, through the mercies of
the Lord. We sent to inform her of our arrival, and to
know, what hour it would be convenient for us to visit her ;
Avho returned us this answer, • That being then employed
in the business of her government, it would be the second
hour in the afternoon before she could be at leisured
The time being come, we went to visit her, and found
both her and the countess ready to receive us ; which they
did Avith much love and tenderness. I observed them to be
much lower in their spirits than ever, and that our former
hlessed opportunities had had a blessed effect upon them.
That afternoon was employed in the narrative of our tra
vels, which they heard with great attention and refreshment.
The whole discourse ended with a precious little meeting.
The house being clear of strangers, they both earnestly
pressed us to sup Avith them ; which being not well able to
decline, we submitted to. ,
* 22. 7. 7.

HOLLAND, AND GERMANY. 475
At supper the power of the Lord came upon me, and it
was a true supper to us, for the hidden manna was mani
fested and broken among us ; yea, a blessed meeting it
proved to us : O the reverent tenderness and lowly frame
that appeared this evening, both in the princess and coun
tess. The Frenchwoman we found greatly improved, both
in her love and understanding; yea, she Avas very zealous
and very broken, and was always with us on these occa
sions. After supper we returned to the, princess's chamber,
where we stayed till it was about ten at night. At parting
I desired the princess would give us such another opportu
nity next day, being the first day of the week, as we had
the last time we were Avith her : she answered me, ' With
all my heart ; but will ye not come in the morning too?' I
replied, ' Yes, willingly : what time wilt thou be ready to
receive us ?' She answered, ' At seven.'
About seven the next morning* we came ; about eight
the meeting began, and held till eleven : several persons of
the city, as well as those of her OAvn family, being present.
The Lords power very much affected them, and the coun
tess was twice much broken while we spoke. "After the
people were gone out of the chamber, it lay upon me from
the Lord to speak to those two, the princess and the coun
tess, with respect to their particular conditions, occasioned
by these words from the princess : ' I am fully convinced ;
but O, my sins are great !'
Whilst I Avas speaking, the glorious poAver of the Lord
Avonderfully rose, yea, after an awful manner, and had a
deep entrance upon their spirits; especially the countess's,
so that she was broken to pieces : God hath raised, and I
hope fixed, his oavii testimony in them.
We returned to our inn, and after dinner we came back
to the second meeting on that day, which began about the
second hour in the afternoon : and truly, the reverend,
blessed, sure word of life was divided aright, and a precious
sense of truth was raised in the meeting. There came
more of the city than in the morning, and we Avere much
comforted in the Lord's power that was with us. For the
truth had passage, and the hungry were satisfied, and the
simple-hearted deeply affected.
This day at both meetings was one of the princess's
women, that never Avas at a meeting before, and she (though
very shy of us the last time) became tender and loving tp
us ; she was truly reached. O, magnified be the name pf
the Lord, whose presence was with us, and whose arm stood
by us ! After meeting the princess pressed us to stay and
* 23. 1. I.

476 TRAVELS IN
sup with her, pleading the quietness ofthe family, and that
they were alone. At; supper (as the night before) it was
upon me to commemorate the goodness of the Lord, his
daily providences, and how precious he is, in the covenant
of light, to the dear children and followers of the light.
Great was the reverence and tenderness that was upon the
spirits of both princess and countess at that instant. After
supper we returned to the princess's chamber, where we
spent the rest of our time, in holy silence, 6r discourse,
till about the tenth hour, and then we repaired to our
•quarters. ,
Next morning* about eight we returned to the court,
Avhere the princess and countess were ready to receive us.
The morning was employed in a very serious relation,
touching the affairs, practice, and sufferings of our friends in
England, with which they seemed greatly affected ; when,
about the eleventh hour, a rattling of a coach interrupted
us. The countess immediately stepped out to see what was
the matter, and returned Avith a countenance somewhat un
easy, telling us, that the young princes, nephews to the
princess, and the graef of Donaw, Avere come to visit her.
Upon which I told them we should withdraw, and return to
our lodging ; but intreated, that forasmuch as we were to
depart that night with the post- waggon, Ave might not be
disappointed of a farewel meeting Avith them ; and the ra
ther, for that I had a great burden upon my spirit : which they
readily complied with, telling me, these persons would only
dine and be gone. As we went to the door, the countess
stepped before us, and opened it for us ; and as I passed by,
she looked upon me with a weighty countenance, and fetched
a deep sigh, crying out, ' O the cumber and entanglements
of this vain world J They hinder all good.' Upon which
I replied, looking her stedfhstly in the face, ' O come thou
out of them then !'
After we dined at our lodging, something being upon me
to write to the professors of religion in that country, I went
up to my chamber, that I might be the more retired. Just
as I was about the conclusion of the paper, came the steward
of the house from the princess, with this message, ' That
the princess intreated us to come to her, for the graef of
Donaw had a great desire to see us, and to speak Avith us.'
This brought a fresh weight and exercise upon us ; but
committing all to the Lord, and casting our care upon him,
we went.
Being arrived, the graef approached us in French : at
first he took no notice of our incereinonious behaviour, but
» 24. 7. 2.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 477
proceeded to enquire of us our success in our journey, and
what we found answering our journey and inclinations.
Then we fell to points of religion, and the nature and end
of true Christianity, and what Avas the way that leadeth to
the eternal rest. After some short debate about complete
sanctification in this life, we both agreed, that self-denial,
mortification, and victory, was the duty, and therefore ought
to be the endeavour, of every sincere Christian.
From this I fell to give him some account of my retreat
from the world, and the inducements I had thereto, and the
necessity of an inward work; with which he seemed much
pleased. After this he fell to the hat, &c. This choketh,
and the rather, because it telleth tales : it telleth what peo
ple are: it marketh men for separatists ; it is bloAving a trum
pet, visibly crossing the world ; and that the fear of man
(greatly prevalent with too many serious people in thatland)
cannot abide, starteth at, and runneth aAvay from. How-
beit, the Lord enabled me to open the thing to him ; as
that it Avas no plant of God's planting, but a Aveed of dege
neracy and apostacy ; a carnal and earthly honour ; the ef
fect, feeder, and pleaser of pride, and of a vain mind, and
that no advantage redounded to mankind by it; and hoAV
could they, that ought to do all to the glory of God, use that
vain and unprofitable custom, which cannot be done to the
glory of God? 1 entreated him seriously to consider with
himself the rise and end of it ; whence it came, ivhat it
pleased, and what that Avas that was angry it had it not.
I also told him of the sincere and serviceable respect which
truth substituteth in place thereof: and I exhorted him to
simplicity and poverty of spirit ; to be like that Jesus he
professed to be his Saviour, whose outside, as Avell as doc
trine, pleased not the Jews ; and so Ave parted. He took
his leave ofthe princess, and then of us with great civility.
After he was gone, the princess desired us to withdraw to
her bed-chamber, and there Ave began our fareAvell meeting.
The thing lay weighty upon me, and that in the deep dread of
the Lord ; and, eternally magnified be the name ofthe Lord
that overshadowed us with his glory, his heavenly, breaking,
dissolving power richly flowed amongst us, and his minis
tering angel of life was in the midst of us. Let my soul
never forget the divine sense that overwhelmed all. At that
blessed farewell I took of them, much opened in me of the
hour of Christ's temptation, his watchfulness, perseverance
and victory : also about the ten virgins, Avhat the true vir
gin was, the true oil and lamp ; and what the bridegroom,
his door, chamber, and supper : and in the conclusion of that
torrent of heavenly melting love with Avhich we Avere alt

478 TRAVELS IN
deeply affected, I fell on my knees^ recommending them
unto the Lord, crying with strong cries to him for their
preservation, and beseeching the Lord's presence with us,
and so ended.
After some pause, I went to the princess, and took her by
the hand, which she received and embraced Avith great signs
of a weighty kindness, being much broken : I spoke a few
words apart to her, and left the blessing and peace of Jesus
with and upon her. Then I went to the countess, and left
a particular exhortation with her, who fervently beseeched
me to remember her, and implore the Lord on her behalf.
From her I went to the Frenchwoman, and bid her be faith
ful and constant to that which she knew : she Avas exceed
ingly broken, and took an affectionate and reverent leave
of us.
Then I spoke to the rest, and took leave seArerally of
them ; my companions did all the like. They followed us
to the outward room, and there it was upon me to step to
the countess, and once more to speak to her, and take my
leave of her, which she received and returned with great
sense, humility and love. So turning to them all, my heart
and eye to the Lord, I prayed that the fear, presence^ love
and life of God, Avith all heavenly blessings, might descend
and rest with and upon them, then, and for. ever.
Home we Avent to our lodging, cleared the house, ex
horted the family, left books, and then took waggon for
Wesel, about 200 English miles from Herwerden. We rode
three nights and days without lying down on a bed, or
sleeping, otherwise than- in the waggon, which was only co
vered with an old ragged sheet'.* The company we had
with us, made twelve in number, which much streightened
us : they were often, if not always, vain ; yea, in their re
ligious songs, which is the fashion of that country, espe
cially by night; they call them Luther's songs, and some
times psalms. We were forced often to reprove and
testify against their hypocrisy, to be full of all vain, and
often profane talk one hour, and sing psalms to God the
next ; we showed them the deceit and abomination of it.
We passed through several great towns by the way, as Lip-
stad, Ham, &c. Many discourses we had of truth, and the
religion and worship that Avas truly Christian, and all was
very well ; they bore what we said. But one thing was re
markable, that may not be omitted : I had not been six
hours in the waggon, before an heavy weight and unusual
oppression fell upon me; yea, it Aveighed me almost to the
grave, that I could almost say, ' My soul was sad even unto
» 25. 7. 3. 26. 7. 4.

HOLLAND: AND GERMANY. 479'
death.' I knew not at present the ground of this exercise;
it remained about twenty-four hours upon me. Then it
opened in me, that it Avas a travail for the seed of God, that
it might arise over all in them I left behind, and that no
thing might be lost but the son of perdition. O the strong
cries, and deep agonies, many tears and sincere bowings and
humblings of soul before the Lord, that his holy sense, which
was raised in them, might be preserved: alive in them, and
they for ever in it ! That they might grow and spread as
heavenly plants of righteousness, to the glory of the name
ofthe Lord.
' The narrative from the 27th of the 1th month inclusive, lo
the 10th ofthe 8th month exclusive, is inserted in the fol
lowing letter to the Countess of Homes.
For Anna Maria de Homes, sliled Countess of Homes, at
Herwerden in Germany.
My dear friend,
O that thou mayest for ever dwell in the sweet and ten
der sense of that divine love and life Avhich hath visited thy
soul, affected and overcome thy heart ! O tell me, hath it
not sometimes raised thy spirit above the world, and filled
thee with fervent and passionate desires, yea, holy resolu
tions, to follow Jesus thy blessed Saviour, who hath giAren
his most precious blood for thee, that thou shouldest not
live to: thyself, but to him that hath so dearly purchased
thee ?
O the retired, humble, reverent frame that I have beheld
thee in, when this blessed life hath drawn thee into itself,
and adorned and seasoned thee with its own heavenly vir
tue; beautifying thy very countenance beyond all the vain
and foolish ornaments of the wanton daughters of Sodom
and Egypt; for therein are charms not known to the chil
dren of this world.
O that this holy and chaste life may be always precious
•with thee ! And that thou mayest be for ever chastely kept
in the love and fellowship of itl That out of this Avorld's
nature, spirit, and practice, thou mayest be redeemed, by
him who is the way, the truth, and the life; who, as thou
watchest with holy vigilance, will not only daily manifest
the devices of the enemy to thee, but save thee from him.
For Christ's work in thee is thy sanctification, as it is in him
his Father's will, as Paul said of old to the believers, " This
is the will of God, even your sanctification."
My dearly beloved friend, be stedfast,. immoveable, with-

480 TRAVELS IN
out wavering ; and work out thy great salvation with fear
and trembling ; and lose not that sweet and precious sense
that the Lord hath begotten in thee : it is soon lost, at least
weakened, but hard to recover. Wherefore let not the spi
rit of the world, in any of its appearances, vain company,
unnecessary discourse, or words, or worldly affairs, prevail
upon the civility of thy nature ; for they will oppress the
innocent life, and bring grievous weights and burdens upon
thy soul, and prolong the coming of the Lord, whom thou
lookest for, and put the day of thy redemption afar off. O
beware of this compliance ! Let me put thee in mind of that
sensible resolution so frequently and so passionately repeat
ed by thee ; ' // faut que je rompe, II faut que je rompe?
Ah ! this speaketh a weight, this yveight a sense, and this
sense a strong conviction. Now be assured, that till obe
dience be yielded to that present manifestation and convic
tion, the good things desired and thirsted after can never be
enjoyed. Wherefore, my dear friend, be faithful, and watch against
the workings of the spirit of this world in thyself; that the
nature and image of it in all things may be crucified, that
thou mayest know an entire translation, with holy Enoch,
and walk with God. Jesus, the holy light, is this cross and
poAver of God, that killeth and maketh alive ; and he is the
heavenly Vine too : if thou abidest in him, thou wilt bring
forth fruit : but if thou abidest not in him, thou wilt not
bring forth that fruit, in Avhich his heavenly Father only can
be glorified. O see what the mind daily abideth in ! O my
soul is even ravished with the sense of that holy and quiet
habitation ! " In me," saith he, "you shall have peace, but
in the world trouble ; however, be of good cheer, I have
overcome the Avorld ; I am not ofthe world :" as if he had
said, ' I am not of the world's ways, worships, customs, or
fashions ; for whatever is of the nature and spirit of this
Avorld, hath no part in me : and as I am not of this world,
neither are you of this Avorld ; for I have chosen you out of
the world ; out of the inventions, out of the worships, and
fashions of the world. You are to leave them all ; to come
out of them all ; and live and walk as pilgrims in the Avorld ;
that is, strangers : To what ? To the life and practice of
the world ; not using, but renouncing, the vain customs and
ceremonies, yea, the whole conversation of the world, re
membering that the friendship of this world is enmity with
God. And what if the world hate you, it hated me first;
and the disciple is not greater than his Master, nor the ser
vant than his Lord : if you were of the world, the world
would love you, and not reproach and persecute you; for

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 481
the world loveth its own.' O my dear friend, that thou
mayest be perfectly sensible' what" it is, not to be of this
world. But there is yet a farther mystery in these words, not dis
cerned even of many in whom some tenderness and inquiry-
is begotten, much less of the worldly Christians. This
world hath a false earth, and a false heaven, a false founda
tion, and a false joy : not only gross wickedness, but iniquity
in a mystery inwardly and outwardly. The whore, false pro
phet, and dragon, and all their offspring are here concerned.
This is their world, that must be burnt with fire, that Christ
is not of, nor his true disciples. O the light of Jesus disco-
vereth it! And he is that spiritual Solomon, that giveth
true judgment, and that saveth the living child, the true
birth ; giving it to the right mother, and not to the false pre
tender. And all that hear his voice, and follow him, shall
receive true light, discerning and judgment, to Avhom all
judgment is given : they shall know his voice from man's.
1 here are two trees, of differing natures, that have con
trary fruits and leaves. The one is the tree of life, which
is Christ ; the other, the tree of death, and that is Satan.
The fruit ofthe one giveth life ; the fruit ofthe other bring
eth death : the leaves of the first heal ; the leaves of the
last poison. Many that discern the tree, cannot clearly dis
tinguish the branches: and those that see many arms and
branches, cannot distinctly behold the leaves, much less the
fruit. This cometh by the gradual discoveries and revela
tions of the light of Jesus, the word of God, as it is daily
received, and daily obeyed. Yea, and that word is the axe
and sword of the Almighty, to cut it down ; daily feel the
strokes of this eternal searching light and word at the very
root of this corrupt tree, this evil one, and his corrupt na
ture, works and effects. For which end Jesus Christ is
come, and therefore is called a Saviour, which is little known
in truth to the Christians of this world.
Ah ! my dear friend, thou knowest this Avord, yea, thou
hast felt it: O hide it in thy heart ! Treasure it up in thy
soul, and love it, and abide with it for ever. Alas ! Whi
ther shouldst thou go ? This hath the words, and is the
word, of eternal life : daily, therefore, watch and wait, that
thou mayest be grafted more into it; that thou mayest live
and grow by the virtue and life of it, and that it may grow
in thy heart, as it grew among the first Christians, the holy
folloAvers of the persecuted Jesus. And Avhen it searcheth
thy wound, and cutteth away thy dead flesh ; yea, when it
separateth between the soul, and the spirit of this world, and
divideth betiveen joints and marrow, when it cutteth off the
Vol. ii 2 ii

482 TRAVELS IN
right hand, and plucketh out the right eye; O watch unto
prayer, and pray that thou mayest endure! O keep the
holy patience of this pure and living word ; and this very
word will keep thee in the hour of thy sharpest trials, and
sorest tribulations ! All virtue is in it ! It is a tried word,
a sure refuge, the staff and strength of the righteous in all
ages. It was David's teacher and buckler ; a light to his
feet, and a lanthorn to his paths. Walk thou in the light
thereof, and thou shalt not stumble : " In this word is life
(as in the root) and this life is the light of men." They
that receive and love the light of it, will therein receive di
vine life from it to live to God. This is the bread of God,
that cometh from God, and feedeth, and leadeth up to God :
by this only, that which is born of God liveth, and is nou
rished : this is that carcase to which the wise eagles gather ;
and see thou gatherest to no other, and feedest on no other.
This is that hidden manna, that cometh from heaven ; that
feedeth God's gospel Israel. The Avorld hath a manna,
but it perisheth; but this endureth for ever : for it is not of
man, nor from man, but immortal, and from God; hid from
the knowledge of all the vain Christians in the world: so
that the Israel of God can say to the children of this world,
and that in truth and righteousness, " We have a. bread you
know not of." For this manna wait daily, that thou mayest
be strengthened in thy Avilderness-travel to the land of eter
nal rest.
Wherefore " labour not for the bread that perisheth ;"
that is, the bread of man's inventing and making, Avhich
cometh from below, and profiteth not, because it giveth not
life eternal. But labour thou, my dear friend, for the bread
that never perisheth, that endureth forever, and that giveth
life eternal to all that feed upon it. O cast thy care upon
this word; love it, and dAvell with it; wait daily upon it,
hear its voice only, and follow it, for it bringeth the soul to
the eternal habitation of rest and glory. Yea, when all
flesh shall Avither, and the beauty thereof fade away, this
word, and they that are grafted into it, " shall abide for
ever." O that this may be thy choice, and it shall be thy
diadem, and thy eternal croAvn of glory.
These are the fervent desires, and these the daily prayers
of my soul, to the God of my salvation for thee ; not only
that nothing in thee may be lost, besides the son of perdi
tion ; but that thou mayest " cast off every weight and bur
den, and that sin that doth so easily beset thee ;" that griev-
eth, boweth, and oppresseth thee ; under the heavy weight
of which thou groanest, and sighest that thy Redeemer
would come from Zion to deliver thee. O give not heed to

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 483
the enemy, the false accuser, that seeketh to devour that
which is begotten of God in thee : neither look upon thine
own sins, burdens, or weaknesses ; but lift up thy head, and
look to Jesus, the author of thy blessed visitation, and
wholly hunger and thirst after him, the spiritual brazen ser
pent, that healeth and relieveth all that in faith and full
assurance look to him. Want of looking to him, hearing
and obeying him, and having true faith in him, is the cause
both of all the presumption and despair that are at this day.
He did no mighty things of old in those places where they
believed not.
O faint not ; look not back : remember the holy ancients,
the holy pilgrims of faith, the royal generation of heaven !
Heb. xi. Thou believest in God ; believe also in him, for
the work's sake that he has already wrought in thee : he will
minister to thee, as he was ministered unto by his Father's
angels in the hour of his abasement and great temptation.
O Avatch, and be faithful, and thou shalt be a noble witness
for the Lord^
Once more let me expostulate Avith thee : Avouldst thou
overcome the enemies of thy soul's peace, and enjoy the de
lightful presence of the Lord with thee? then keep nothing-
back; let nothing be withheld that he calleth for : remember
that Saul of old lost his kingdom, for keeping that alive
which he should have slain : thou knowest what befel Ana
nias and Sapphira outwardly : but be thou like the poor wi
dow of old, that therefore gave more into the treasury than
all the rest, because they reserved the greatest part to them
selves; but she gave all she had. O blessed are they that
make no bargains for themselves ; that have no reserves for
self; neither consult with flesh and blood ; nor in any sense
conform to the least ceremony which is born of them ; but
that submit their Wills, in all things, to the Lord's, that they
may be made perfect through sufferings, as Christ Avas.
Read me in the mystery of life : I speak not of deserting-,
or flinging away all outward substance ; but that thy heart
may reign above all visibles, and make God its treasure, and
never stick in any thing of this lower Avorld, or rest short of
Christ, the eternal rest of all the seed of faith.
Here beginneth the Narrative.
The Lord brought us well to Wesel on the fifth day after
we left Heriverden, having some service by the Avay* At
Wesel we had a good time with doctor Schiller, and Rosen-
* 27. 7.5.
2 h 2

484 tr

dale, and the woman we mentioned to thee ^JlutyTthe tailor
was shy, and fearful of co|Jiinato us a^ tbe^cWs's.
The next day* we wenttew$ifeu]| jlMyfeoaggJi: we visited
the schuit, or chief governor, ^thafcaightf^yhom we found at
home ; he received us in much kindness. His wife and sis
ter, we fear, have been shaken in their good testimony since
Ave were last there ; some fowls of the air have devoured the
seed that Avas sown. O that sweet and tender frame in
which we left them the time before ! However, the entrance
Ave had upon the spirit of the schuit, a little consolated us.
Hence we sent Maria Martha's friend a letter, desiring him
to let us have his answer the next night at Dusseldorp, in
closed to Neander, when and where we might see him, either
at Dusseldorp, Mulheim, or Duysburgh, and if it were pos
sible, we would gladly visit the countess of Bruch.
We got early to Dusseldorp next day,+ being the last day
of the Aveek : but Neander was gone to Mulheim, in order
to preach on the morrow ; so that Ave were disappointed of
our intelligence.
Next morning^; we went towards Collen, and there ar
rived that evening.
The next day || we had a good opportunity with Van
Dinando, and Docemius, atthe house of the latter ; and that
afternoon took boat for Dusseldorp: where arriving next
morning,§ we presently sent for Neander ; who came to us,
and three more in company. We had a blessed meeting
with them, and one of the three that came Avith him our souls
were exceedingly affected with.
The meeting done, they went away, but Neander re
turned. And first, of our letter to Mulheim : we found by
him, (as also at our return to Duysburgh) that Kuper Avas
so far from endeavouring our visit to the countess, that he
would not meet us himself} neither at Dusseldorp, Mul
heim, or Duysburgh: nay, it did not please him to send us
au answer, much less any the least salutation.. I confess it
grieved us now for Neander; the young man hatha zeal for
God,, and there- is a visitation upon him; my soul desireth
that it may not be ineffectual : but I have great fear upon
me. For this I know certainly, from the Lord God that
liveth for ever, and I have a cloud of witnesses to my.
brethren, that retirement and silence before God is the alone
way for him to feel the heavenly gift to arise, and come
forth pure and unmixed. This only can aright preach for
God, pray to God, and beget people to God, and nothiug
else. But, alas ! his office in that family is quite another.
*2S. 7. 6. t29. 7. 7. J 30. 7. 1 || 1.8.2. §2.8.3.

' ¦.'•'' /HOhiiHt^b^lyiD GERMANY. 485
thing ; namely, .to perform set duties, at fixed times : pray,
.preach, and sing, and that in the Way of the world's appoint
ment. His very office is Babylonish, namely, a chaplain ; for
it is a popish invention.
In the good old times, godly Abraham, that was a prince,
and Joshua a great general, and David a king, with many
more, instructed their families in the knowledge and fear
of God : but now people are too idle, or too great, to pray
for themselves, and so they worship God by proxy. How
can a minister of the gospel be at the beck of any mortal
living, or give his soul and conscience to the time and ap
pointment of another ? The thing in itself is utterly wrong,
and against the very nature and worship of the new and
everlasting covenant. You had better meet to read the
scriptures, the book of martyrs, &c. if you cannot sit and
wait in silence upon the Lord, till his angel move upon your
hearts, than to uphold such a formal, limited and ceremo
nious Worship. This is not the way out of Babylon. And
I have a deep sense upon my soul, that if the young man
strive beyond the talent God hath given him, to answer his
office, and fill up his place, and wait not for the pure and
living word of God in his heart, to open his mouth, but ei
ther studieth for his sermons, or speaketh his own words, he
will be utterly ruined.
' Wherefore, O dear friend, have a care thou art no snare
to him, nor he to thee ! Man's works smother and stifle the
true life of Christ : Avhat have you now to do but to look to
Jesus, the author of the holy desires that are in you, who
himself hath visited you. Tempt not the Lord, provoke
not God. What should any man preach from, but Christ?
And what should he preach people to, but Christ in them,
the hope of glory ? Consider, nothing feedeth that which is
born of God, hut that Avhich eometh down from God ; even
the bread of God, which is the Son of God, who giveth his
life for the world. Feel it, and feed on it : let none mock
God, or grieve his eternal Spirit, that is come to seal them
up from the mouth of man that hath deceived them; that
Jesus, the anointing, may teach them, and abide with them
for ever.
' Be stedfast and immoveable ; and this will draw the
young man nearer to the Lord, and empty him of himself,
and purge away mixtures, and then you will all come to the
divine silence. And when all flesh is silent before the Lord,
then is it the Lord's time to speak ; and if you will hear,
your souls shall live. O my soul is in great pain, that you
may be all chastely preserved in that divine sense begotten

486 TRAVELS IN
in your hearts by the eternal word of God, that abideth for
ever ; that nothing may ever be able to extinguish it. But
more especially that thou, my dear friend, mayest be kept in
faithfulness : for the Lord is come very near to thee^ and
thou must begin the work, the Lord God expecteth at thy
hand. If one sheep break through, the rest will folloAV :
wherefore watch, O Avatch that thou mayest be strengthened
and confirmed; and strengthen all that is begotten of God
in that family, by thy weighty, savoury and circumspect life !
O how is my soul affected with thy present condition! It is
the fervent - supplication of my heart, that thou mayest,
through the daily obedience of the cross of Jesus, conquer
and shine as a bright and glorious star in the firmament of
God's eternal kingdom. So let it be, Lord Jesus ! Amen.'
We tenderly, yet freely, spoke our hearts to him, before
we parted ; which done, in God's love we took our ieave of
him at Dusseldorp, and got that night to Duysburgh,. being
the third day ofthe Aveek. We first visited Dr. Mastricht,
a man of a good natural temper, but a rigid Calvinist. I
perceived by him, that they held a consultation about seeing
us at Bruch ; but they all concluded it was best to decline
meeting with us, because of the graef, he being ready to
fling our name, in reproach, upon them, in his displeasure ;
and this would confirm him in his jealousies of them. This
might excuse the countess, but by no means Kuper ; and if
I had any sense, Mastricht Avas there with them, upon design
to frustrate the hopes we had conceived of meeting with
her. We from that descended to other things of weight, and
in love and peace parted.
From his house we returned to our inn ; and after supper
we visited the schult, who Avith much civility and some ten
derness received us. His sister also came to us, and we had
a good little meeting Avith them, and our God was Avith us,
and his pure and tender life appeared for our justification,
and pleaded our innocent cause in their consciences : and
so we parted with them, leaving our Master's peace among
them .
The next day* Ave came to Wesel, being the fourth-day ;
where we understood by Dr. Schuler, that thy sister desired
we Avould be so kind as to see her when Ave returned : upon
that we went and visited her; she received us very kindly.
Thy brother-in-law's two sisters were present ; we stayed
Avith her at least two hours. Many questions she put to
me, which I was glad to have an opportunity to answer, for
it made way for a meeting : she intreated us to come again
* 3. 8. 4.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 487
if Ave stayedj and told us our visit was very grateful to her:
adding, that because we passed her by the last time, she
concluded with herself, we had no hopes of her ; Avith
more to that effect. From thence we went to Dr. Schuler's,
who freely offered us his house for a meeting next day :
and, indeed, the man is bold, after his manner.
The next day,* about seven, I writ a billet in French to
thy sister, to inform her ofthe meeting to begin about eight:
she came, and her two sisters with her ; there was Rosen-
dale, Colonel Copius and his wife, and about three or four
more ; and to our great joy the Lord Almighty was with
us, apd his holy power reached their hearts, and the doctor
and Copius thereby confessed to our testimony.
The meeting lasted about four hours : being ended, we
took our leave of them in the Spirit of Jesus, and so re
turned to our inn. The tailor was all this Avhile afraid of
coming to our inn, or to the doctor's to the meeting : great
fears have overtaken him, and the poor man liveth but in a
dry land. After dinner we visited Copius and Rosendale ;
and at Copius's we had a blessed broken meeting; he, his
wife, Rosendale, his Wife, and another woman, (wife to one
Dr. Willick?s brother) present ; they Avere extremely affeeted
and overcome by the power of the Lord : it was like one
of our Herwerden meetings ; indeed much tenderness was
upon all their spirits.
This done, and having left books, both there, and with
thy sister, we left Wesel with hearts full of joy and peace :
and let me say this, that more kindness, and openness, we
have scarcely found in all our travels : O that this blessed
sense may dwell Avith them. A seed there is in that place
God will gather ; yea, a noble people he will find out :
and I doubt not but there will be a good meeting of friends
in that city before many years go about ; my love is great
to that place. O how good is our dear Lord to us, who
helpeth our infirmities, and carrieth through all opposition,
and feedeth us with his divine presence, in which is life !
His candle hath hitherto rested on our tabernacle, and he
hath made us glad in his own salvation : eternal glory be
to his excellent name.
We immediately took a post-car, and came next day,T
about two in the afternoon, to Cleve, Avhere we had a very
precious meeting at an honest procurator's house, Avho re
ceived us with much love : four or five more were present,
all grave and tender : our hearts were greatly affected with
their love and simplicity. We also visited the lady Hubner,
who was kind to us.
* 4. 8. 5. + 5. 8. 6.

488 TRAVELS IN
Next morning* we set out for Nimeguen, and thence
immediately to Utrecht, where we arrived that night, and
took the night-boat for Amsterdam, because of a pressure
upon my spirit to be next day at the meeting ; and the
rather, having intimated as much from Cullen.
We arrived in the morningT at Amsterdam, where we
found our dear friends generally well, the city much
alarmed, and great curiosity in some, and desires in others,
to come to the meeting. We had a very great meeting,
and many people of note resorted : God's gospel-bell was
rung, the great day of the Great God sounded, and the
" dead was raised," so as much tenderness appeared in se
veral. O blessed be the name of the Lord, whose work
and testimony prospereth.
The next day was spent in divers affairs relating to the
truth.J The day following [| we had a meeting with Galenus
Abrahams (the great father of the Socinian Menists in these
parts) accompanied with several preachers and others of
his congregation ; divers of our friends were also present.
It continued about five hours : he affirmed, in opposition
to us, ' That there was no Christian church, ministry, or
commission apostolical now in the world ;' but the Lord
assisted us, with his wisdom and strength, to confound his
attempts. Here endeth the Narrative.
I intend a visit at the Hague to the lady Overkirk, sister
ofthe Somerdikes, and some others that have sober charac
ters of truth and friends ; and thence to Rotterdam, Avhere
I have much to do, both with respect to meetings and the
press. Thus, my dear friend, have I given thee a tedious narra
tive, yet 1 hope not altogether unpleasant. Perhaps the
brevity of my letters hereafter, may best apologize for the
length of this : however, I consider two things ; one is,
that thou hast time enough, one time or other, to look over
it ; and next, that I have plentifully answered thy requests,
and demonstrated ' I have not forgotten thee.' O dear
friend, let us live and remember one another (now absent)
in that divine sense in which the Lord God dissolved our
spirits when together. O the unity of this faith, the purity
of this love, and the bond of this peace ! The Lord Jesus
be with thy spirit, and keep thee in this " the hour of thy
temptation," that thou mayest come forth as " gold sever
tunes tried." So shall thy testimony shine for the God tha
* C. 8. 7. t 7, 8. I. f 8. 8. 2. || 9. S. 3.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 489
hath called thee, and He will reward thee with honour,
gloryr, and eternal life. Amen.
" Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of
thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest
after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown."
Jer. ii. 2. Dear friend, consider this.
Yet again : " The way of the just is uprightness : thou,
most upright, dost wejgh the paths of the just; yea, in the
way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we Avaited for thee,
the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remem
brance of thee."
" With my soul have I desired thee in the night ; yea,
with my spirit within me will I seek thee early; for when
tby judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants ofthe world
will learn righteousness."
" Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou also hast
wrought all our works in us."
" O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had do
minion over us ; but by thee only we make mention of thy
name." " Lord, in trouble have they visited thee ; they poured
out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them."
" Like as a woman Avith child, that draweth near the time
of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs, so
have we been in thy sight, O Lord."
" We have been with child, we have been in pain, Ave
have as it Avere brought forth wind, we have not wrought
any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of
the world fallen."
" Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body
shall they arise : awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust,
for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast
out the dead."
" Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and
shut thy doors about thee ; hide thyself as it were for a
little moment, until the indignation be overpast."
" For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place, to punish
the inhabitants ofthe earth for their iniquities; the earth
also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her
glain." Isa. xxvi. 7, 8, to 21. So come, dear Lord Jesus,
that was dead, and is alive, and liveth for ever. Amen.
Very dearly farewell,
Thy friend, that faithfully travaileth for
thy redemption,
W. Penn.
Amsterdam, 10th of the
8th month, 1677.

490 TRAVELS IN
The same day* Ave had a blessed public meeting, neA'er to
be forgotten : O the majesty, glory, and life that the Lord
attended us with ! Our hearts were deeply affected with
his presence ; great reverence and brokenness was over
the meeting, more than I had seen. The meeting done, we
were opposed by a preacher, who was closely encountered
and pursued by several merchants, &c. (riot of us) that
cried, ' He was rude and ignorant, and, that they had a tes
timony for us ;' and offered to dispute in our defence, but
the priest ran away : they followed him till they housed
him; Avhat followed I know npt.
It was upon me this day to engage Galenus Abrahams to
a second conference, that Ave might more fully debate and
confute his grand objections against the present ' dispensa
tion of truth, and the heavenly ministry witnessed among
friends.' He refused not my offer of a second meeting, but
sent me word his business would not give him leave to let
it be any time this day.t Upon which the next morning
was fixed for the conference, to begin at eight, which ac
cordingly it did, and held till one. The account of both
the conferences is not yet found; but with the latter some
of his own friends seemed better satisfied, and it ended very
comfortably to us, because to a general satisfaction.
The meeting thus ended, and having refreshed ourselves,
after a solemn leave taken of our dear friends at Amster
dam, G. F. and myself Went that night to Leyden, accom
panied by B. F. Coming there late at night, we forbore to
inquire after any worthy in that place.
But the next moraine;! we found out two, one a German,
of, or near, Darmstadt, who not only expressed much love
to the principle of truth, and unto us the friends thereof,
but also informed us of a retired person, of great quality,
that liveth about two hours back again towards Amsterdam,
at a village called Wonderwick. Our resolutions of being
that night at Rotterdam, and having the Hague to visit by
the way, made our return at that time impracticable. How
ever, the relation of the German concerning the good in
clinations ofthe great man and his wife, their disdain ofthe
world, and voluntary retreat from the greatness and glory
of it, rested strongly upon our spirits. This person pre
sently conducted us to the house of one who had formerly
been a professor in the university, and there left us.
To this person both G. F. and myself were more than
Ordinarily open : he was of a sweet, yet quick, of a wise,
yet very loving and tender spirit : there were few strangers
we felt greater love to. He assented to every thing Ave
* 10.8. 4. f 11. 8. 5. i 12.8.6.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 491
said : and truly his understanding was very clear and open
to the things that lay upon us to declare ; and he expressed
his firm belief of great revolutions at hand, and that they
should terminate in the setting up ofthe ' glorious kingdom
of Christ in the world.'
What shall I say ? The man felt our spirits, and therefore
loved us ; and in the fresh sense of that love, writ a letter
by us to a retired person at the Hague, like himself: which
in several places of Germany was the way whereby W6
found out most ofthe retired people we visited. After hear
two hours time with him, we took waggon for the Hague,
leaving the peace of God upon him.
The first thing we did there, was to inquire out the lady
Overkirk, a person of a retired and religious character, se
parated from the public worship of that country : she was
at home ; but her husband's being with her, a great man Pf
the army, of another disposition and way of living, hindered
our access at that time.
The next person we went to, was a judge of the chief
court of justice in that republic : he received us with great
respect, and a more than ordinary desire to know the ' truth
of our faith artd principles.' We declared of the things
most surely believed amongst us, in the power and love of
God. He made his observations, objections, and queries
upon several things we spake ; to whom we replied, and
explained all matters in question; insomuch as he declared
himself satisfied in our confessions, and his ' good belief of
us and our principles,' We took a solemn and sensible
leave of him, and we felt the witness of God reached in
him, and his spirit tendered, which filled our hearts' With
dear love to him : he brought us to his street-door, and
there we parted.
From him we went to visit that person for whom we had
a letter from the doctor at Leyden, but he Avas not at home.
We immediately took Waggon for Delft, and from thence an
express-boat for Rotterdam, where we arrived Avell about
eight at night.
The next day* Was mostly spent in visiting of friends,
and the friendly people in that place> which consisted of
several persons of -worldly note.
The next day,t being the first day of the week, we had
a large and blessed meeting, wherein the deep ' Mysteries
of the kingdom of Christ and antichrist, were declared in
the power of an endless life.' Several of divers religions
Avere there, but no disturbance or contradiction ; but a
* 13. 8. 7. t !4- 8- '•

492 TRAVELS IN
profound silence and reverent attention were over the
meeting.* That night I had a blessed meeting at my lodging, with
those persons of note, that at some times visited our public
meetings, as that day, and have a convincement upon them :
the Lord's love, truth and life, preciously reached towards
them, and they were very sweetly affected.
Next day+ 1 bestowed in perfecting and correcting several
public letters, which I was moved to write, both in my first
and second journey in Germany, and after my return to
these Low Countries. The titles whereof follow :i;
I. A Summons, or Call, to Christendom ; in an earnest
Expostulation with her, to prepare for the Great and
Notable Day of the Lord that is at the Door.
II. To all those whp are sensible of the Day of their
Visitation, and who have received the Call of the Lord,
by the Light and Spirit of his Son in their Hearts, to
partake of the Great Salvation, wherever scattered
throughout the World ; but more especially in the
High and Low Dutch Nations ; Faith, Hope, and
Charity, which overcome the World, be multiplied
among you.
III. To all those Professors of Christianity, that are ex
ternally separated from the visible Sects and Fellow
ships in the Christian World, (so called) wherever
hidden or scattered : True Knowledge, which is Life
Eternal, from God the Father, through Christ Jesus,
be increased.
IV. A Tender Visitation, in the Love of God that over
cometh the World, to all People in the High and Loav
Dutch Nations, who hunger and thirst after Righteous
ness, and desire to know and worship God in Truth,
and in Sincerity ; containing a plain Testimony to the
Ancient and Apostolical Life, Way and Worship that
God is reviving and exalting in the Earth, in his Spirit
and Truth.
The sense of the serious retreat of the great man we
heard of at Leyden, was so strong upon me, that I could
not see myself clear to leave the country before I had given
him a visit. I purposed therefore the next morning to set
forward to the Hague, from thence to Leyden, and so to
Wonderwick. » A person then convinced, though the world prevailed, died lately, ac
knowledging it, and cried out, ' How happy had I been, if I had then obeyed.'
t 15. 8. 2. i They are inserted in this collection.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 493
I arrived there in the evening* with B. F. A. Sonnemans,
and M. Sonnemans, and immediately made, known our
coming, and the end of it, to him and his wife, by the means
of the young German, who was got thither before us to
visit them. An invitation came to us all at our inn, and
immediately we repaired to his house, which was very
stately, and yet plain. He presently came to us, took us by
the hand, and bid us ' heartily welcome.' We immediately
sat down, and after some time of retirement, I spoke some
thing of what was upon me ; yet not before he had given us
a sober and pathetical account of his life, and of the present
frame and disposition ofhis spirit.
All this was in the absence of his wife ; but so soon as I
had finished what was then upon me to speak of the witness
of God, and of its work in man, upon the occasion of the
history he gave us ofhis life, he led us into another room,.
where his wife was : he told her, here were some Christian
friends come to visit her ;: she saluted us very kindly.
We all sat down, and after some silence, the heavenly
power of God did, in a living and tender manner, open
their states and conditions to me, and opened my mouth to
them. The substance of my testimony Avas to this purpose,
' That death reigned from Adam to Moses ; Moses was till
the prophets ; the prophets till John; and John till Christ z.
what Christ's day was : how few see this day ; and Avhilst
people are talking of being in Christ, under grace, and not
under the law, death reigneth over them, and they are hot
come to Moses, nor the shaking or quaking mountain, the
thunderings, lightnings, and whirlwinds: and what was that
way which led to Christ, and what it was to be in him, and
under the government of his grace; directing them to the
blessed principle of light, and truth, and grace, which God
had shed abroad in their hearts. I declared the nature and
manner of the appearing and operating of this principle ;
and appealed to their own conscience, for the truth of what
was said i' and I can truly say, the holy life of Jesus was
revealed amongst us, and, like oil, swam on the top of all.
In this sense I was moved to knell doAvn and pray : great
brokenness fell upon all ; and that which was before the
world began, was richly manifested in and amongst us.
The meeting being done, the great man and his wife
blessed us, and the work of God in our hands, saying, with
tears in his eyes, ' My house is blessed for your sakes ; and
blessed be God that I ever lived to see you-'
And thus we left them, though with much difficulty; for
they pressed us, with great earnestness, both to eat and to>
» 16. 8. 3.

494 TRAVELS IN
lodge with them ; and it was hard for them to bear our
refusal. They said it was a scandal to their house, that
they should let such good people as we were go out of it ;
or suffer us to lodge in any other place i but we declared
our pre-engagement elsewhere, and that it was not for Avant
of true kindness towards them.
One passage I had almost forgot to mention : ' I was,'
said he, ' once at table with the duke of Holstein at Fre-
derickstadt, when the magistrates came to complain against
a people called Quakers in that city : the duke was ready
to be prejudiced against them ; but at the very naming of
them, I conceived a more than ordinary kindness in my
mind towards them. 1 asked the magistrate what they Avere
for a people ? He told me that they would not pull off their
hats to their superiors. I asked him, whether they would
pull off their hats to God ? He said, Yes. Said I, That
may be the reason why they Avill not pull them off to man.
Do they live peaceably ? Yes. Do they pay their taxes ?
Yes. Do they rub their hats in your eyes ? No. Do they
do any harm with them ? No. Why what is your quarrel
then ? They meet in silence, and they will not speak or
pray unless they be moved by the spirit. Why, thaf is ac
cording to the doctrine of scripture : if this be to be a
Quaker, I would I were a Quaker too. But,' said he, ' I
never saw one before, but I bless God I see you now.' He
very much inveighed against the false Christianity that is
in the Avorld, and greatly magnified a tender, mortified,
and retired estate. I have great hopes he and his wife
will die in the truth. We returned to our inn to supper,
and to bed.
Next morning* Ave took waggon for the Hague, where
Ave met with Docemius, the king of Denmark's resident at
Cullen, who had been at Rotterdam to seek us, and came
back thither, with hopes to meet us. We had some service
there with a laAvyer ; but were again disappointed of visit
ing the lady Overkirk, because of her husband's presence ;
and the other retired man before-mentioned Avas again from
home: the judge would gladly have received us, but a great
cause then depending commanded his attendance. That
afternoon we took boat for Delft, and so to Rotterdam,
where we all arrived well.
It was my desire to have been the next day+ at a meeting
at Dort ; but it seems that the way we hoped had been open
for us, yvas shut, insomuch that we were prevented of that
service. However, I applied myself to the perfecting of
* 17. 8. 4. ..t 18. 8..5.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 495
what yet wanted to be completed in those writings 1 left
behind me to be printed.
The next day,* being the sixth day of the yveek, we had
a very blessed public meeting, taking therein our leave of
the country : and after that was done, we had another
amongst friends, recommending to them the 'peaceable,
tender, righteous Truth ;" desiring that they might live and
grow in it, and be a people to the Lord's praise ; so should
his work prosper, his dominion be enlarged and increased
among them. In the evening I had also a meeting at my
lodging among the great people of that place, of which I
have before made mention : and magnified be the name of
the Lord, his power did so sweetly visit them, and effectu
ally reach them, that, at their departure, some of them fell
upon our necks, and, with tears of love, prayed, that they
might be remembered by us, and that they might have
strength to answer our great travail for them. We recom
mended them unto the Lord, and the pure word of his,
grace in their hearts.
The next day,t the generality of friends of that place met
at Simon Johnson's house, early in the morning, where we
took our leave of one another, in the love and power ofthe
Lord, feeling his living presence with them that stayed, and
with us that went.
Several accompanied us to the Briel, where we arrived
about noon. There accompanied us the king of Denmark's
resident at Cullen, who had been with us at those meetings
at Rotterdam, P. Hendricks, and C. Rocloffs of Amsterdam,
and A. Sonnemans, B. F., M.S., and S.'J., with several
others of Rotterdam. The packet-boat not being come, we
were necessitated to lie there that night.
That night it Avas upon me, in the earnest love of God, to
salute the princess and countess, with a feAV farewell lines,
as followeth. To the Princess Elizabeth.
Salvation in the Cross. Amen.
Dear and truly respected friend,
My soul most earnestly desireth thy temporal and eternal
felicity, which standeth in thy doing the will of God uoav
on earth, as it isdone in heaven. 0 dear princess, do it !
Say the word once in truth and righteousness, " Not my
will, but thine be done, 0 God !" Thy days are few, and
then thou must go to judgment :% then an account of thy
* 19. 8. 6. t 20: 3. 7. j: She" died about four years after.

496 TRAVELS IN
talent God will require from thee. What improvement
hist thou made ? Let it prove and show its own excel
lency, that it is of God, and that it leadeth all, that love it,
to God. O that thou mayest be able to give an account
with joy !
I could not leave this country, and not testify the resent
ments I bear in my mind of that humble and tender enter
tainment thou gavest us at thy court : the Lord Jesus
reward thee : and surely he hath a blessing in store for
thee. Go on, be stedfast, overcome, and thou shalt inherit.
Do not despond : one that is mighty is near thee ; a present
help in the needful time of trouble. O let the desire of thy
soul be to his name, and to the remembrance of him. O wait
upon the Lord, and thou shalt renew thy strength ! The
youth shall faint, and the young men shall fail, but they
that trust in the Lord shall never be confounded.
I wish thee all true and solid felicity, with my whole
soul. The Lord God of heaven and earth have thee in his
keeping, that thou mayest not lose, but keep in that divine
sense, which, by his eternal word, he hath begotten in thee.
Receive, dear princess, my sincere and Christian salutation.
Grace, mercy, and peace, be multiplied among you all that
love the Lord Jesus.
Thy business I shall follow, with all the diligence and
discretion I can, and by the first give thee an account, after
it shall please the Lord to bring me safe to London. All
my brethren are well, and present thee with their dear
love, and the rest with thee that love Jesus, the light ofthe
world, in thy family. Thou hast taught me to forget thou
art a princess, and therefore I use this freedom; and to that
of God in thee am 1 manifest ; and I know my integrity.
Give, if thou pleasest, the salutation of my dear love to
A. M. de Homes, with the inclosed. Dear princess, do not
hinder, but help her : that may be required of her, Avhich
(considering thy circumstances) may not yet be required of
thee. Let her stand free, and her freedom will make the
passage easier unto thee. Accept what I say, I intreat thee,
in that pure and heavenly love and respect in which I write
so plainly to thee. Farewell, my dear friend, and the Lord
be with thee. I am, more than I can say,
Thy great lover and respectful friend,
William Penn.
I refer thee to the inclosed for passages : we visited
Giftall and Hooftman, and they us : they were at
one or two of the meetings at Amsterdam. Vale in
osternum.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 497
Pot Anna Maria de Homes, styled Counters of' Home's.
Jesus be with thy. Spirit, Amen.
Beloved, and much esteemed fdr> the sake of that love1
which is raised irt thy heart to the eternal truth of God ;
the increase of which I earnestly desire ; that thou mayest
be more than conqueror, through the powerful workings of
that divine love in thy soul, which casteth out all false fear,
artd overcometh the world. In this eternal love it is that I
love thee, and would be loved of thee: blessed are they
that hold their fellowship in it. It is pure, harmless,
patient, fervent, and constant : in fine, it cometh from
God, and leadeth all that receive it to God. Indeed it is
God^> add they that live in love, live in God. If we keep
and abide in him that hath visited us, Ave shall always feel
his love as a fountain ; and Avonderful are the effects of it.
' O it can lay down' its life for its friend!' It will break
through all difficulty, and hath poyver to conquer death and
the' grave : this transcendeth the friendship of the world,
and the vain-glorious honour of the courts of this world.
This kindness is inviolable : our purest faith worketh by
this love. O the tenderness of that soul in which this love
liveth and* hath place! the humility and compassion that
always keep it company-!
And who can livelily enough describe the lovely image
it giveth, the attracting and engaging conversation it hath:
but it is discerned, and greatly valued, by the children of
love, who are born of it, which all the children of light are.
What shall I say ? It is the great command, and it keepeth
all the commands ; love, pure and undefiled, it fulfilleth
the law and gospel too : blessed are they that feel any of
this' love shed abroad in their hearts.
With this love it is that God hath loved us ; and by the
power of this love Christ Jesus hath died for us. Yea, it
is this love that quickeneth us to Jesus, that inflameth our
souls Avith pure and ardent love to him, and zeal for hihi :
yes^ it is this holy love, that forsakes father and mother,
sister and brother, husband, wife, and children, house and
land$ liberty and life, for the sake of Jesus: that leaveth
the dead to bury the dead, and followeth Jesus in the nar
row way of regeneration : that can trust him in the winds,
and in the earthquakes, in the fire, and in the waters ; yea,
when the floods come in, even unto the soul, this despoiideth
not, neither mUrmureth.
And as it cannot despair, so it never presumeth : yea, it
can triumphantly say, What shall be able to separate me
Vol. ii. 2 i

498' TRAVELS IN
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? Shall prin^
cipalities or powers ? Things present, or things to come ?
Shall life or death ? O no, neither time nor mortality.
My dear friend, let this noble plant of paradise grow in
thy heart. Wait upon the Lord, that he would water it,
and shine upon it, and make an hedge about it ; that thy
whole heart may be replenished with the heavenly increase
and fruits of it, O that thou mayest grow, in thy inner
man, in Avisdom, strength, and a pure understanding ; in
favour with God, and with all people that are in the
same nature and image ! For the world only loA'eth its own.
I hoped not to have been so quick upon my last long
letter ; but God's pure love (that hath redeemed me from
the earth, and the earthly nature and spirit) moved fer
vently upon my spirit to visit thee once more, before I
leave this land. I deferred it to this extremity; and being
not clear to go hence, I send thee my Christian salutation,
in this pure love that many waters cannot quench, distance
cannot make it forget, nor can time wear it out. My soul
reverently boweth before the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that it would please him to preserve thee.
Fear him, and thou needest not fear, for the angel of the
Lord encampeth about those that trust in his name. The
angel of his eternal presence guard thee, that none of the
enemies of thy soul's peace may ever prevail against thee I
Perseverance and victory be thy portion in this world, and
a crown of endless glory be thy reward in that which is to
come. Amen.
Since my last (being the day next after the date thereof)
we had a meeting with Galenus Abrahams and his company :
the success thou mayest perhaps see suddenly in print, and
therefore I shall deter the narrative : only, in general, our
dear Lord, our staff and strength,, was with us, and truth
reigned over all.
That night we went to Leyden, where we visited some
retired persons.
Thence, next day, to the Hague, where also we had a little
meeting. O the lust and pride of that place ! Thou earnest
into my mind as I walked in the streets, and I said in myself,
« Well ! she hath chosen the better part,' O be faithful, and
the Lord will give thee an eternal recompence !
Thence we came to Rotterdam, where the Lord hath
given us several heavenly opportunities in private and
public. We are now come to the Briel, and wait our passage. The
Lord Jesus be Avith you that stay, and with, us that go, that
in him we may live and abide for ever.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 499
Salute me to my French friend ; bid her be constant. I
wish thy servants' felicity ; but thine as mine own. God
Almighty overshadow thee, hide thee under his pavilion,
be thy shield, rock, and sanctuary for ever. Farewell,
farewell. Thy friend, and the Lord's servant,
W. P.
Briel, f ° 8th month,
1677.
Next morning* the packet-boat arrived, and about ten we
went on board, having first taken our solemn leave of those
friends that accompanied us thither.
We immediately set sail, with a great number of passen*
gers : but, by reason of contrary and tempestuous weather,
we arrived not at Harwich till the third day about the se
venth hour;t Whence, next morning,^ I writ this following
salutation and account to the friends of Holland and Ger
many, to return with the boat.
A leler from Harwich, to friends in Holland and Germany,
containing the passages from Holland lo England.
Let this be sent to the friends in High and Low Dutch
Land.
O my soul magnifieth the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth
in God my Saviour, who hath rebuked the winds and the
seas, and made us to drink of his salvation upon the great
deeps ! yea, we could not but praise him in the tempest, for
all things are full of his majesty. Blessed is the eye that
seeth, and the heart that dependeth upon him at all times.
There is not another God; he is the Lord alone that the
holy ancients trusted in, and were not confounded. What
shall my soul render unto the Lord ? We are full of his
mercy, he hath made us witnesses ofhis care. We can say,
in righteousness, they are blessed whose God is the Lord,
and that serve all the day lonff no other master than our
God. Friends, this is an endeared salutation to you all in High
and Low Dutch Land, in the deep and fresh sense of the
Lord's preserving power. O that you may abide in that
sense of him Avhich he hath begotten iu you, and in the re-
•21.8.1. +22.8.2. 23.8.3. | 24. 8. 4.
'2 i 2

500; TRAVELS IN
verent knowledge of him, according to the manifestation
which you have received of him, in the light of his dear Son 5
that you may be faithful, and fervent.for the, Lord ; that his
glorious .life and power may, break through you ; and these
lands, long dry, and barren as the wilderness, may spring
and blossom as the rose. For what have we to do here, but
to exalt him, that hath visited and loved us ; yea, saved
us in great measure? Ah, he is worthy ! my spirit reveren-
ceth him, my heart and soul do bow before him : eternal
blessings dAvell for ever Avith him,
Dear friends, my love floweth to you as a fountain. God,
even my God, and your God, hath made you dear to me;
yea, dearer than all natural kindred. You are flesh of flesh-
indeed. Nor sea, nor land, nor time, nor place, can ever.
separate our joy, divide our communion, or. wipe out the
remembrance that I have of you. Yea* the living remem
brance that my God often giveth me of you, in the life ofhis
Son, abide th ; which breaketh my heart to pieces : and lean.
say, I left much of my heart behind me ; and the Lord only.
could have outwardly separated me so soon from, you. 0
this love ! that is stronger than death, more excellent than
the love of women ; for it endureth for ever : this privilege
have all the saints. Jesus, the light of the world, that saA'-
eth from the world, be with you. Amen.
We got Avell last night about seven to Harwich, being
three days and two nights at sea : most part ofthe time was
a great storm of Avind, rain, and hail: the weather was against
us, and the vessel so leaky, that two pumps went night and
day, or Ave had perished. It is believed that they pumped
twice more Avater out than the vessel could contain ; but our
peace was as a river, and our joy full. The seas had like
to have yvashed some ofthe seamen overboard, but the great
God preserved all Avell. Frights Avere among the people,
and despondencies in some, but the Lord wrought deliver
ance for all : we were mightily thronged, Avhich made it the
more troublesome.
But it is observable, that though the Lord so wonderfully
delivered us, yet some vain people soon forgot it, and re
turned quickly to their wanton talk and conversation, not
abiding in the sense of that hand Avhichhad delivered thera :
nor can any do it, as they should, but those that are turned
to his appearance in their hearts, who knoAv him to be a God
" nigh at hand ;" which, O ! may it be your experience and
portion for ever !
And the Lord be Avith you, and refresh and sustain you ;
and in all your temptations never leave you, nor forsake you ;

HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 501
"that conquerors you may be, and, in the end of days and
time, stand in your lot among the spirits of the just made
perfect. Amen, Amen. Yours in that ivhich is- eternal,
W. P.
Harwich, 24th of'the'gth'
month, 1677,
Here I left dear rG. Fox, and Gertruyd Diricks and her
children, that came over with us, to follow me in a coach;
but I, having a desire to be that day* at Colchester meet
ing, went early away on horseback, G. K. accompanying
me. We got to the meeting, and were well refreshed in
friends. That evening we had a mighty meeting at J. Furley's house,
Where we lay; many being there ofthe town, that would
not come to a public meeting. And indeed the Lord's di
vine power and presence were in the assembly.
Next dayt we had a great meeting at a marriage, where
we had good service for the Lord. That afternoon about
four, we took horse for London, G. F. Sfc. through miscar
riage of a letter about the coach, not being come to Col
chester. That night we lay at I. Raven's, eight miles On
our way. There Aye met Giles Barnardiston, and William
Bennet; with whom, and some other friends thereabout, we
were comforted in the life and power of the Lord.
The day following:}: we took our journey for London : we
came there in good time that eA'ening ; Avhere I found all
things relating to friends in good condition : blessed be the
name of the Lord. I stayed about a week in town, both to
visit friends at meetings, and to be serviceable to the more
general affairs of truth ; where a second letter from the prin
cess Elizabeth came to hand.

Dear friend,

Hertford, the 29th of October, 1677.

Your tender care of my eternal well-being doth oblige
me much, and I will weigh every article of your counsel to
follow as much as lies in me ; but God'sgrace must be assis
tant ; as you say yourself, ' He accepts nothing that does not
come from him :' If I had made me bare of all Avorldly goods,
and left undone what he requires most, I mean, to do all in
and by his Son, I shall be in no better condition than at this
present. Let me feel him first governing in my heart, then
* 25. 8. 5. f 26. 8. 6. J 27. 8. 7.

502 TRAVELS IN
do what he requires of me : but I am not able to teach
others, being not " taught of God myself." Remember my
love to G. F. B. F. G. K. and dear Gertruyd. If you Avrite
no worse than your postscript, I can make a shift to read it.
Do not think I go from what I spoke to you the last evening;
I only stay to do it in a way that is answerable before God
and man. I can say no more now, but recommend to your
prayers. Your true friend,
Elizabeth.
I almost forgot to tell you, that my sister writes me word,
she had been glad you had taken your journey by Osen-
burg to return toJAmsterdam : there is also a drossard of
Limburghnear this place (to whom I gave an exemplar
of R. B.'s Apology) very desirous to speak with some
ofthe friends.
The fifth day ofthe next Aveek* I went to Worminghurst,
my house in Sussex, where I found my dear wife, child, and
family all well : blessed be the name of the Lord God of all
the families of the earth. I had that evening a sweet meeting
amongst them, in which God's blessed power made us truly
glad together : and I can say, truly blessed are they who
can cheerfully give up to serve the Lord : great shall be
the increase and growth of their treasure, which shall never
end. To him that was, and is, and is to come, the eternal, holy,
blessed, righteous, poAverful, and faithful One, be glory,
honour, and praise, dominion, and a kingdom, for ever
and ever. Amen.
A third letter from the princess, which though it be after the
closing of this journal, yet being an answer to one writ to
her in Holland, relates to it. This 17th of November, 1677.
Dear friend,
I have received a letter from you, that seemeth to have
been written at your passage into England ; which I wish
may be prosperous ; without date, but not without virtue, to
spur me on, to do and suffer the will of our God. I can say,
in sincerity and truth, " Thy will be done, 0 God," because
* 1. 9. 5.

HOLLAND AND GERMANY, 503
I wish it heartily ; but I cannot speak in righteousness, until
1 possess that righteousness which is acceptable unto him.
My house and my heart shall be always open to those that
love him. Gichtell has been well satisfied with the confer
ences between you. As for my business, it will go as the
Lord pleaseth ; and I remain in him,
Your affectionate friend,
f: Elizabeth.
There are more of this nature from her, and divers other
(persons of eminence in those parts, but not immediately re
lating to the journal, are therefore not published.
William Penn.

A
PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION

TO

CHURCH DISSENTERS, IN 4
PRUDENCE AND CONSCIENCE.
Humbly submitted to the King and his Great Council,

Published in the Year 1 686.

THE EPISTLE.
Having of late time observed the heat, aversion, and
scorn with Avhich some men have treated all thoughts of ease
to church-dissenters, I confess I had a. more than ordinary
curiosity to examine the grounds those gentlemen went
upon : for I could not tell how to think moderation should
be a vice, where Christianity was a virtue, when the great
Doctor of that religion commands, that " our moderation be
knoAvn unto all men ;" and why ? " for the Lord is at hand :"
and what to do, but to judge our rancour, and retaliate and
punish our bitterness of spirit. And, to say true, it is a se
vere reflection Ave draw upon ourselves, that though Pagan
emperors could endure the addresses of primitive Christians,
, and Christian Caesars receive the apologies of infidels for
indulgence, yet it should be thought, of some men, an offence
to seek it, or have it of a Christian prince, whose interest I
dare say it is, and who himself so lately Avanted it : but the
consideration of the reason of this offence will increase our
admiration ; for they tell us, ' It is dangerous to the prince
to suffer it,' while the prince is himself a dissenter : this
difficulty is beyond all skill to remove, that it should be
against the interest of a dissenting prince to indulge dissent.
For though it will be granted there are dissenters on differ
ing principles from those of the prince, yet they are still dis
senters ; and dissent being the prince's interest, it will natu
rally follow, that those dissenters are in the interest of the
prince, Avhether they think on it or no.

epistle. 505
Interest will not lie : men embarked in the same vessel,
.seek the safety of the whole in their own, Avhatever other
difference they may have. And self-safety is the highest
worldly security a prince can have ; for though all parties
would rejoice their own principles prevailed, yet every one'
is more solicitous about its own safety, than the others verity.
Wherefore it cannot be unwise, by the security of all, to
make it the interest as well as duty of all, to advance that of
the public.
Angry things, then, set aside, as matters now are, Avhat is
best to be. done ? This I take to be the wise man's question,
.as to consider and answer it will be his business. Moderation
is a Christian duty, and it has ever been the prudent man's
.practice. For those governments that have used it in their
conduct, have succeeded best in all ages.
I remember it is made in Livy the wisdom of theRomans,
that they relaxed their hand to the Privernates, and thereby
made them most faithful to their interest. And it prevailed
so much with the Petilians, that they would endure any ex
tremity from Hannibal, rather than desert their friendship,
even then when the Romans discharged their fidelity, and
sent them the despair of knpwing they could not relieve them.
.So did one act of humanity overcome the Falisci above
arms : which confirms that noble saying of Seneca, Mitius
jmperanti melius paretur ; the mildest conduct is best obeyed :
a truth celebrated by Grotius and Campanella ; practised,
doubtless, by the bravest princes : for Cyrus exceeded,
.when he built the Jews a temple, and himself no Jev? :
Alexander astonished the princes of his train with the pro
found veneration he paid the high priest of that people :
and Augustus Avas so far from suppressing the Jewish vvor-
ship, that he sent hecatombs to Jerusalem to increase their
devotion. Moderation filled the reigns of the most re
nowned Caesars : and story says, they were Neros and Cali-
gulas that loved cruelty.
But others tell us that dissenters are mostly antimonar-
chical, and so not to be indulged ; and that the agreement cf
the church of England and Rome in monarchy and hierar-:
chy, with their nearness in other things, should oblige her
to grant the RomanCatholics a special ease, exclusive ofthe
other dissenters. But, yvitli the leave of those worthy gen
tlemen, I would say, nobody is against that Avhich is for
him : and that the aversion apprehended to, be in some
against the monarchy, rather comes from interest than prin
ciple : for goyernments were never destroyed by the interests
they preserve
In the next place, it is as plain that there is a fundamental

506 epistle.
' y
difference between those churches in religion and interest.
In religion, it appears by a comparison of the thirty-nine ar
ticles with the doctrine ofthe council of Trent. In interest
they differ fundamentally, because our church is in the actual
possession of the churches and livings that the other church
claims. What better mixture then can these'tivo churches
make than that of iron and clay ? Nor do 1 think it well
judged, or wise, in any that pretend to be sons of the
church of England, to seek an accommodation from the topic
of affinity, since it is that some of her dissenters have always
objected, and she as constantly denied to be true.
I say, this way of reconciling or indulging Roman Catho
lics stumbles far greater numbers of people of nearer creeds,
and gives the church of England the lie. But suppose the
trick took, and they only of all dissenters had indulgence,
yet, their paucity considered, I am sure, a pair of Sir Ke-
nelm Digby's breeches would sit with as good a grace upon
the late lord Rochester's dwarf. Upon the whole matter,
let men have ease, and they will keep it; for those that
might plot to get it, would not plot to lose it. Men love
the bridge they need and pass : and that prince who has his
people fast by interest, holds them by the strongest human
tie ; for other courses have failed as often as they have been
tried. Let us then once try a true liberty : never did the
circumstances of any kingdom lie more open and fair to so
blessed an accommodation than we do at this time.
But we are told, ' The king has promised to maintain the
church of England !' I grant it : but if the church of Eng
land claims the king's promise of protection, her dissenters
cannot forget that of his clemency : and as they were both
great, and admirably distinguished, so by no means are they
inconsistent or impracticable.
Will not his justice let him be Avanting in the one ? And
can his greatness of mind let him leave the other behind him
in the storm, unpitied and unhelped ? Pardon me ; we have
•not to do with an insensible prince, but one that has been
touched Avith our infirmities: more than any body fit to
judge our cause, by the share he once had in it. Who should
give ease like the prince that has wanted it ? To suffer for
his own conscience, looked great ; but to deliver other men's
were glorious. It is a sort of paying the vows of his adver
sity, and it cannot therefore be done by any one else with so
much justice and example.
Far be it from me to solicit any thing in diminution ofthe
just rights ofthe church of England : let her rest protected
where she is, But I hope none will be thought to intend
her wrong, for refusing to understand the king's promise to

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 507
her in a ruinous sense to all others ; and I am sure she
would understand her own interest better, if she were of the
same mind. For it is morally impossible^that a conscientious
prince can be thought to have tied himself to compel others
to a communion, that himself cannot tell how to be of; or
that any thing can oblige him to shake the firmness of those
he has confirmed by his own royal example.
Having then so illustrious an instance of integrity, as the
hazard of the loss of three crowns for conscience, let it at
least excuse dissenters' constancy, and provoke the friends of
the succession to moderation, that no man may lose his birth
right for his persuasion, and us to live dutifully, and so peace
ably, under our own vine, and under our own fig-tree, with
' Glory to God on high, to the king honour, and good-will
to all men.'

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
Moderation, the subject of this discourse, is, in plainer
English, liberty of conscience to church-dissenters : a cause
I have, with all humility, undertaken to plead, against the
prejudices ofthe times.
That there is such a thing as conscience, and the liberty
of it, in reference to faith and worship towards God, must
not be denied, even by those that are most scandalized at
the ill use some seem to have made of such pretences. But
to settle the terms : by conscience, I understand, the appre
hension and persuasion a man has of his duty to God : by
liberty of conscience, I mean, a free and open profession and
exercise of that duty; especially in worship : but I always
premise this conscience to keep within the bounds of mora
lity, and that it be neither frantic or mischievous, but a good
subject, a good child, a good servant, in all the affairs of
life ; as exact to yield to Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
as jealous of withholding from God the thing that is God's.
— In brief, he that acknowledges the civil government under
which he lives, and that maintains no principle hurtful to
his neighbour in his civil property.
For he that in any thing violates his duty to these rela
tions, cannot be said to observe it to God, who ought to have
his tribute out of it. Such do not reject their prince, pa
rent, master, or neighbour, but God, who enjoins that duty
to them'. Those pathetic Avords of Christ will naturally
enough reach the case, " In that ye did it not to them, ye did

508 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
it not to me :" for duty to such relations hath a divine stamp ;
and divine right runs through more things ofthe world, and
acts of our lives, than we are aware of ; and sacrilege -may
be committed against more than the church. Nor will a
.dedication to God, of the robbery from man, expiate the
guilt of disobedience : for though zeal could turn gossip to
theft, his altars Avould renounce the sacrifice.
The conscience then that I state, and the liberty I pray,
carrying so great a salvo and deference to public and private
relations, no ill design can, with any justice, be fixed upon
the author, or reflection upon the subject, which by this
time, I think, I may venture to call a toleration.
But to this so much craAed, as well as needed, toleration,
I meet with two objections of Aveight, the solving of which
will make way for it in this kingdom. And the first is, a
disbelief of the possibility ofthe thing. ' Toleration of dis
senting worships from that established, is not practicable,'
say some, ' without danger to the state, with which it is inter-
Woven.' This is political. The other objection is, ' That
admitting dissenters to be in the wrong, (which is always
premised by the national church) such latitude were the way
to keep up the disunion, and instead of compelling them into
a better way, leave them in the ppssession and pursuit of
their old errors.' This is religious. I think I have given
the objections fairly ; it will be my next business to answer
them as fully.
The strength of the first objection against this liberty, is
the danger suggested to the state ; the reason is, ' The na
tional form being interwoven with the frame ofthe go
vernment.' But this seems to me only said, and not only
(with submission) not proved, but not true : for the esta
blished religion and worship are no other ways interwoven
with the government, than that the government makes pro
fession of them, and by divers laws has niade them the cur
rent religion, and required all the members of the state to
conform to it.
This is nothing but what may as Avell be done by the go
vernment for any other persuasion, as that. It is true, it is
not easy to change an established religion, nor is that the
question we are upon ; but state-religions have been changed
without the change of the states. We see this in the go
vernments of Germany and Denmark upon the reformation :
but more clearly and near ourselves, in the case of Henry
the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary, and Elizabeth ;
for the monarchy stood, the family remained and succeeded,
under all the revolutions of state-religion; which could not
have been, had the proposition been generally true.

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 509,
The change of religion, then, does not necessarily change
the government, or alter the state ; and if so, a fortiori, in*
dulgence of church-dissenters does not necessarily hazard a
change of the state, where the present state-religion or church
remains the same ; for that I premise.
Some may say^ ' That it were more facile to change from
one national religion to another, , than to maintain the mo
narchy and church, against the ambition and faction of divers
dissenting parties.' But this is improbable at least. For it
were to say, that it is an easier thing to change a whole
kingdom, than, with the sovereign poAver, folloAved Avith ar
mies, navies, judges, clergy, and all the conformists of the
kingdom, to secure the government from the ambition and
faction of dissenters, as differing in their interests Ayithin
themselves, as in their persuasions ; and were they united,
have neither power to a Ave, nor rewards to allure their party.
They can only be formidable, when headed by the sovereign.
They. may stop a gap, or make, by his accession, a balance :
otherwise, until it is harder to fight broken and divided
troops, than an entire body of an army, it will be alivays
easier to maintain the government under a toleration of dis
senters, than in a total change of religion, and even then
itself has not failed to have been preserved. But Avhether
it be more or less easy, is not our point ; if they are many,
the danger is of exasperating, not of making them easy ; for
the force of our question is, 'Whether such indulgence be-
safe to the state ?' And here we have the first and last, the
best and greatest evidence for us, which is fact and experi
ence, the journal and resolves of time, and treasure of the
sage.
( For, first, The Jews, that had most to say for their reli-
' gion, and Avhose religion was twin to their state, (both being
joined, and sent with wonders from heaven) indulged stran
gers in their religious dissents. They required but the be-
| lief of the Noachical principles, which were common to the
world : no idolater, and but a moral man, and he had his'
liberty, aye, and some privileges too, for he had an apart
ment in the temple, and this without danger to the govern
ment. Thus Maimonides, and others of their own rabbies,
and Grotius out of them.
The Avisdom of the Gentiles was very admirable iu
this, that though they had many sects of philosophers
amongst them, each dissenting from the other in their prin
ciples, as well as discipline, and that not only in physical-
things, but points metaphysical ; in Avhich some of the fa
thers were not free, the schoolmen deeply engaged, and our
present academies but too much perplexed ; yet they in-

510 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. r
dulged them and the best livers with singular kindness :
the greatest statesmen and captains often becoming patrons
ofthe sects they best affected, honouring their readings with
their presence and applause. So far were those ages, which
we have made as the original of wisdom and politeness,.
from thinking toleration an error of state, or dangerous to
the government. Thus Plutarch, Strabo, Laertius, and
others. To these instances I may add the latitude of old Rome,
that had almost as many deities as houses : for Varro tells
us of no less than thirty thousand several sacra, or religious
rites among her people, and yet without a quarrel. Unhappy.
fate of Christianity ! the best of religions, and yet her pro
fessors maintain less charity than idolaters, while it should
be peculiar to them. I fear, it shows us to have but little
of it at heart.
But nearer home, and in our own time, we see the effects
of a discreet indulgence, even to emulation. Holland, that
bog of the world, neither sea nor dry land, noAv the rival
of tallest monarchs ; not by conquests, marriages, or acces
sion of royal blood, the usual ways to empire, but by her,
own superlative clemency and industry; for the one was
the effect of the other : she cherished her people, whatso
ever were their opinions, as the reasonable stock of the
country, the heads and hands of her trade and wealth ; and
making them easy in the main point, their conscience, she
became great by them : this, made her fill with people, and
they filled her with riches and strength.
And if it should be said, . ' She is upon her declension for
all that:' I answer, All states must know it ; nothing is
here immortal. Where are the Bahylonian, Persian, and
Grecian empires ? And are not Lacedaemon, Athens, Rome,
and Carthage gone before her ? Kingdoms and common
wealths have their births and growths, their declensions
and deaths, as well as private families and persons : but it.
is owing neither to the armies of France, nor navies of
England, but her own domestic troubles.
Seventy-two sticks in her bones yet : the growing power
ofthe prince of Orange, must, in some degree, be an ebb to
that state's strength; for they are not so unanimous and
vigorous in their interest as formerly : but were they secure
against the danger of their own ambition and jealousy, any>
body might insure their glory at five per cent. But some
of their greatest men, apprehending they are in their cli-
macterical juncture, give up the ghost, and care not, if they
must fall, by what hand it is.
Others choose a stranger, and think one afar off will give

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 511
the best terms, and least annoy them : whilst a considerable
party have chosen a domestic prince, kin to their early suc
cesses by the forefather's side (the gallantry of his ancstors)
and that his own greatness and security are wrapt up in
theirs, and therefore modestly hope to find their account in
his prosperity. But this is a kind of digression ; only before
I leave it, I dare venture to add, that if the prince of
Orange changes not the policies of that state, he will not
change her fortune, and he will mightily add to his own.
But perhaps I shall be told, ' That nobody doubts that to
leration is an agreeable thing to a common Avealth, where every
one thinks he has a share in the government ; aye, that the
one is the consequence of the other, and therefore most
carefully to be avoided by all monarchical states.' This
indeed were shrewdly to the purpose, in England, if it were
but true. But I do not see how there can be one true rea
son advanced in favour of this objection ; monarchies, as
well as commonwealths, subsisting by the preservation of
the people under them. <• ,
But, first, If this were true, it would follow, by the rule
of contraries, that a republic could not subsist with unity
and hierarchy, which is monarchy in the church; but it
must, from such monarchy in church, come to monarchy in
state too. But Venice, Genoa, Lucca, seven ofthe cantons
of Switzerland, (and Rome herself, for she is an aristocracy)
all under the loftiest hierarchy in church, and where is no
toleration, show, in fact, that the contrary is true.
But, secondly, This objection makes a commonwealth the
better government ofthe two, and so overthrows the thing
it would establish. This is effectually done, if I knoAv any
thing; since a commonwealth is hereby rendered a more
copious, poAverful, and beneficial government to mankind,
and is made better to answer contingencies and emergen
cies of state, because this subsists either way; but monarchy
not, if the objection be true. The one prospers by union in
worship and discipline, and by toleration of the dissenting
churches from the national. The other only by an universal
conformity to a national church. I say, this- makes mo
narchy (in itself, doubtless, an admirable government) less
powerful, less extended, less propitious, and finally less
safe to the people under it, than a commonwealth, in that
no security is left to monarchy under diversity of worships ;
Avhich yet no man can defend or forbid but it may often
arrive, as it hath in England more than five times in the
two last ages. And truly it is natural for men to choose to
settle where they may be safest from the power and mischief
of such accidents of state.

512 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
UpOh- the whole matter, it is to reflect the last mischief
upon monarchy^ which the ivorst enemies it has could hope
to disgrace or endanger it by; since it is to tell the people'
under it, that they must either conform, or be destroyed, or,
to save themselves, turn hypocrites, or chartge the frame of
the government they live under. A perplexity both to
monarch and people, than'Avhich nothing can be greater,
but the comfort of knowing the objection is false. Arid
that Avhich ought to make every reasonable man of this'
opinion, is the cloud of witnesses that almost every age of
monarchy affords us.
I will begin Avith that of Israel, the most- exact and sa
cred pattern of monarchy, begun by a valiant manj trans
lated to the best, and improved by the Avisest of kings, whose
ministers Avere neither fools, nor fanatics : here we shall
find provision for dissenters : their proselyti domicilii were
so far from being compelled to their national rites, that1
they Avere expressly forbid to observe them. Such Averethe
Egyptians that came Avith them out of Egypf^ the-Gibeonites
and Canaanites, a great people, that, after their several
forms, worshipped in an apartment of the same temple.
The Jews with a liturgy ; they without one : the Jews had-
priests, but these none: the Jews had variety of oblations;
these people burnt-offerings only. All that'Avas required of
them was the natural religion of Noah, jn which the ac
knowledgment and worship of the true God was, and it
still ought to be, the main point : nay, so far were they front
coeicive conformity, that they did not so much as oblige
them to observe their sabbath, though one of the ten com
mandments : Grotius and Selden say more. Certainly this
was great indulgence, since so unsuitable an usage looked
like profaning their devotion, and a common nuisance to
their national religion. One would think by this', that
their care lay on the side of preserving their cult from the
touch or accession of dissentersj and not of forcing them, by
undoing penalties, to conform. This must needs be evident:
for if God's religion and monarchy, (for so we are taught
to believe it) did not, and Avould not, at a time yvhen reli
gion lay less in the mind, and more in ceremony, compel
conformity from dissenters, Ave hope we have got the best
precedents on our side.J
But if this instance be of most authority, Ave have another
very exemplary, and to our point pertinent; for it shoAvs
what monarchy may do : it is yielded us from the famous
story of Mordecai. He, with his Jews, Avere in a bad plight
with the king Ahasuerus, by the ill offices Haman did
them : the arguments he used Avere draAvn from the com-

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 5lS
mon topics of faction and sedition, ' That they were an
odd ana dangerous people, under different laws of their
oyvn, and refused obedience to his ; so denying his supre
macy.' Dissenters with a witness ! things most tender to
any government.
The king, thus incensed, commands the laws to be put in
execution, and decrees the ruin of Mordeeai with all the
Jews : but the king is timely intreated, his heart softens,
the decree is revoked, and Mordeeai and his friends saved.
The consequence was, as extreme joy to the Jews, so peace
and blessings to the king. And that which heightens the
example, is the greatness and infidelity of the prince : had
the instance been in a Jew, it might have been placed to
his greater light or piety : in a petty prince, to the paucity
or intireness of his territories : but that an heathen, and
king of one hundred and seven and twenty provinces,
should, throughout his vast dominions, not fear, but prac
tise toleration with good success, has something admirable
in it.
If Ave please to remember the tranquillity and success of
those heathen Roman emperors, that allowed indulgence;
that Augustus sent hecatombs to Jerusalem, and the wisest
honoured the Jews, and at least spared the divers sects of
Christians, it will certainly oblige us to think, that princes,
whose religion is nearer of kin to those ofthe dissenters of
our times, may not unreasonably hope for quiet from a dis
creet toleration, especially when there is nothing peculiar
in Christianity to render princes unsafe in such an indulg
ence. The admirable prudence of the emperor Joviaijus,
in a quite contrary method to those of the reigns oThispre-
decessors, settled the most imbroiled time of the Christian
World, almost to a miracle ; for though he found the heats
of the Arians and orthodox carried to a barbarous height,
{to say nothing of the Novatians, and other dissenting in
terests) the emperor esteeming those calamities the effect
of coercing conformity to the prince's or state's religion,
and that this course did not only waste Christians, but ex
pose Christians to the scorn of heathens, and so scandalize
those whom they should convert, he resolutely declared,
' That he would have none molested for the different exer
cise of their religious worship :' which (and that in a trice,
for he reigned but seven months) calmed the impetuous
storms of dissension, and reduced the empire, before agitated
with the most uncharitable contests, to a wonderful security
and peace : thus a kindly amity brought a civil unity to the
state ; which endeavours for a forced unity never did to the
church, but had formerly filled the government with incom-
Vol. u. 2 K

514 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
parable miseries, as well as the church with incharity : and*
which is sad, I must needs say, that those leaders of the
church that should have been the teachers and examples of
peace, in so singular a juncture ofthe church's ferment, did,
more than any, blow the trumpet, and kindle the fire, of
division. So dangerous is it to superfine upon the text, and
thep impose it, upon penalty, for faith.
' Valentinian, the emperor,' Ave are told by Socrates
Scholasticus, ' Avas a great honourer of those that favoured
his own faith ; but so, as he molested not the Arians at all.'
And Marcellinus farther adds to his honour, ' That he was
much renowned for his moderate carriage during his reign ;
insomuch, that amongst sundry sects of religion, he troubled
no man for his conscience, imposing neither this nor that to
be observed ; much less, with menacing edicts and injunc
tions, did he compel others, his subjects, to bow the neck,
or conform to that Avhich himself worshipped, but left such
points as clear and untouched as he found them.'
Gratianus, and Theodosius the Great, indulged divers
sorts of Christians ; but the Novatians of all the dissenters
were preferred : which was so far from insecuring, that
it preserved, the tranquillity of the empire. Nor till
the time of Celestine, bishop of Rome, were the Novatians
disturbed; and the persecution of them, and the assumption
of the secular power, began much at the same time. But
the Novatians at Constantinople were not dealt withal;
for the Greek bishops continued to permit them the quiet
enjoyment of their dissenting assemblies ; as Socrates tells
us, in his fifth and seventh books of the Ecclesiastical Story.
I shall descend nearer our own times ; for, notwithstand
ing no age has been more furiously moved, than that which
Jovianus found, and therefore the experiment of indulgence
was never better made ; yet, to speak more in view of this
time of day, we find our contemporaries, of remoter judg
ments in religion, under no manner of difficulty in this
point. The grand seignior, great mogul, czars of Muscovia,
king of Persia, the great monarchs of the east, have long-
allowed and prospered with a toleration : and who does
not know that this gave great Tamerlane his mighty vic
tories ? In these western countries we see the same thing.
Cardinal d'Ossat, in his 92d Letter to Villeroy, secretary
to Henry the Fourth of France, gives us doctrine and ex
ample for the subject in hand ; ' Besides,' says he, ' that
necessity has no law, be it in what case it will ; our Lord
Jesus Christ instructs us by his gospel,' " to let the tares
alone, lest removing them may endanger the wheat :" ' that
other catholic princes have allowed it without rebuke : that

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 5l5
particularly the duke of Savoy, who (as great a zealot as
he would be thought for the catholic religion) tolerates the
heretics in three of his provinces, namely, Angroyne, Lu
cerne, and Perone : that the king of Poland does as much,
not only in Swedeland, but in Poland itself: that all. the
princes of the Austrian family, that are celebrated as pillars
of the catholic church, do the like, not only in the towns
of the empire, but in their proper territories, as in Austria
itself, from whence they take the name of their honour ; in
Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Lusatia, Stirria, Carniolia,
and Croatia, the like : that Charles the Fifth, father of the
king of Spain, was the person that taught the king of France,
and other princes, how to yield to such emergencies : that
his son, the present king of Spain, who is esteemed arch
catholic, and that is as the Atlas of the catholic church,
tolerates, notwithstanding, at this day, in his kingdoms of
Valentia and Granada, the Moors themselves in their
Mahometism, and has offered to those of Zealand, Holland/
and other heretics of the low countries, the free exercise of
their pretended religion, so that they Avill but acknowledge
and obey him in civil matters.' It Avas of those letters of
this extraordinary man (for so he was, whether we regard
him in his ecclesiastical dignity, or his greater Christian
and civil prudence) that the great lord Falkland said, ' A
minister of state should no more be without cardinal
d'Ossat's letters, than a parson Avithout his bible.' And
indeed, if we look into France, we shall find the indulgence
of those protestants hath been a flourishing to that kingdom,
as their arms a succour to their king. It is true, that since
,they helped the ministers of his greatness to success, that
haughty monarch has changed his measures, and resolves
their conformity to his own religion, or their ruin : but no
man can give another reason for it, than that he thinks it
for his turn to please that part ofhis own church, which are
the present necessary and unwearied instruments of his
absolute glory. But let us see the end of this conduct; it
will require more time to approve the experiment.
As it was the royal saying of Stephen, king of Poland,
' That he was a king of men, and not of conscience ; a com
mander of bodies, and not of souls ;' so we see a toleration
has been practised in that country of a long time, with no ill
success to the state ; the cities of Cracovia, Racovia, and
many other towns of note, almost wholly dissenting from the
common religion ofthe kingdom, which is Roman Catholic,
as the others are Socinian and Calvinist, mighty opposite to
that, as well as to themselves.
,< The king of Denmark, in his large toAvn of Altona, but
2k 2

516 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
about a mile from Hamburg, and therefore called so, that
isj All -to-near, is a pregnant proof to our point. Fbr though
his seat be so remote from that place, another strong and
insinuating state so Dear, yet, under his indulgence of divers
persuasions, they enjoy their peace, and he that security, that
he is not upon better terms in any of his more immediate
and uniform dominions. I leave it to the thinking reader,
if it be hot much owing to this freedom, and if a cohtrary
course Avere not the way for hiiri to furnish his neighbours
with means to depopulate that place, or make it uneasy
and chargeable to him to keep ?
If we look into other parts of Germany, Avhere we find a
stout and warlike people, fierce for the thing they opihe, or
1 believe, Ave shall find the prince palatine of the Rhine has
been safe, and more potent by his indulgence ; Avitness his
improvements at Manheim : and as (believe me) he acted
the prince to his people in other things, so in this to the
empire ; for he made bold with the constitution Pf it, in the
latitude he gave his subjects in this affair.
.! The elector of Brandenburgh is himself a Calvinist, his
people mPstly Lutheran ; yet, in part ofhis dominions, the
Roman catholics enjoy their churches quietly.
The duke of Newburg, and a strict Roman catholic,
brother-in-law to the present emperor, in his province of
Juliers, has not only at Dewsburg, Mulheim, artd other
places, but in Dusseldorp itself, where the court resides,
Lutheran and Calvinist, as Avell as Roman catholic as
semblies. The elector of Saxony, by religion a Lutheran, in his city
of Budissin, has both Lutherans and Roman catholics in the
same church, parted only by a grate.
In Augsburg, they have tAvo chief magistrates, as their
duumvirate ; one must always be a Roman catholic, and
the other a Lutheran.
The bishop of Osnabrug is himself a Lutheran ; and in
the town of his title, the Roman catholics, as well as
Lutherans, have their churches : and, Avhich is more, the
next bishop must be a catholic too ; for, like the buckets in
the Avell, they take turns : one way, to be sure, so that one
be but in the right.
From hence we will go to Sultzbach, a small territory,
but has a great prince, I mean in his own extraordinary
qualities ; for, among other things, Ave shall find him act
the moderator among his people. By profession he is a
Roman catholic, but has simultaneum religionis exercilium /
not only Lutherans and Roman catholics enjoy their diff
erent worships, but alternatively in one and the same place,

A BERSUASIVI3 TO MODERATION. 517
the same day; so balancing his affection by his Avisdom, that
there appears neither partiality in him, nor envy in them,
though of such opposite persuasions.
I will end these foreign instances with a prince and bishop
all in one, and he a Roman Catholic too, and that is the
bishop of Mentz; who adinits, with a very peaceable suc
cess,, such Lutherans, with his catholics, to enjoy their
'^ churches, as live in his toivn ofErford. Thus doth practice
' tell us, that neither monarchy nor hierarchy are in danger
[ frpm a toleration. On the contrary, the laws ofthe empire,
which are the acts ofthe emperor and the sovereign princes
of it, have tolerated these three religious persuasions, viz.
the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist ; and they
; may as well tolerate three more, for the same reasons, and
with the same success. For it is not their greater nearness
or consistency in doctrine, pr in worship; on the contrary^
they differ much, and by that, and other circumstances, are
sometimes engaged in great controversies, yet is a toiera*
tion practicable, and the way pf peace with them.
And, which is closest to our point, at hpme itself, Ave see
; i that a toleration of the Jews, French, and Dutch, in Eng
land, all dissenters from the national way ; and the con
nivance that has been in Ireland, and the downright tolera^
tion in most of the king's plantations abrpad? prove the
assertion, ' that toleration is not dangerous to monarchy .'
For experience tells us, where it is in any degree admitted,
the king's affairs prosper most ; people, Ayealth, and
strength being sure to follow such indulgence.
But after all that I have said, in reason and fact, why
toleration is safe to monarchy, story tells us that Worse
things have befallen princes in countries under ecclesiastical
union, than in places under divided forms of worship ; and
so tolerating countries stand to the prince upon more than
equal terms with conforming ones. And where princes
I have been exposed to hardship in tolerating countries, they
! I have as often come from the conforming, as non-conforming
\ l party ; and so the dissenter is upon equal terms, to the
' prince or state, Avith the conformist.
¦ The first is evident in the Jews, under the conduct of
Moses ; their dissension came from the men of their own
tribes, such as Corah, Dathan and Abiram, with their par
takers. To say nothing ofthe gentiles.
The miseries and slaughters of Mauritius the emperor
.prove my point, whp by the greatest church-men of his
time was withstood ; and his servant, that perpetrated the
wickedness, by them substituted in his room, becauseniore
officious to their grandeur. What power, but that of the

518 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
church, dethroned Childerick, king of France, and set Pepin
in his place ? The miseries of the emperors Henry the
Fourth and Fifth, father and son, from their rebellious sub
jects, raised and animated by the power of conformists,
dethroning both, as much as they could, are notorious. It
is alleged, that Sigismund, king of Swedeland, was rejected
by that Lutheran country, because he was a Roman Ca
tholic. If we come nearer home, which is most suitable to the
reasons of the discourse, we find the church-men take part
with William Rufus and Henry the First, against Robert their
elder brother ; and after that, we see some ofthe greatest of
them made head against their king, namely, Anselm arch
bishop of Canterbury, and his party, as did his successor
Thomas a Becket to the second Henry. Stephen usurped
the croAvn when there was a church union : and king John
lived miserable for all that, and at last died by one of his
own religion too. The dissensions that agitated the reign
of his son Henry the Third, and the barons' war, with
bishop Grosteed's blessing to Mumford their general ; the
deposition and murder of the second Edward and Richard,
and sixth Henry, and his son the prince ; the usurpation of
Richard the Third, and the murder of the sons of Edward
the Fourth, in the Tower of London ; the civil Avar that
followed between him and the earl of Richmond, afterwards
our wise Henry the Seventh ; were all perpetrated in a
country of one religion, and by the hands of conformists.
In short, if we will but look upon the civil war that so long
raged in this kingdom between the houses of York and
Lancaster, and consider that they professed but one and the
same religion, and both backed with numbers of church
men too (to say nothing ofthe miserable end of our king's
princely ancestors in Scotland, especially the first and third
James) we shall find cause to say, ' That church-uniformity
is not a security for princes to depend upon.'
If Ave will look next into countries Avhere dissenters from
the national church are tolerated, we shall find the con
formist not less culpable than the dissenter.
The disorders among the Jews, after they were settled
in the land that God had given them, came not from those
they tolerated, but themselves. They cast off Samuel,
and the government of the judges. It was the children
of the national church, that fell in with the ambition of
Absalom, and animated the rebellion against their father
David. They Avere the same that revolted from Solomon's
son, and cried in behalf of Jeroboam, " To your tents, O
Israel!"

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 519
Not two Rges ago, the church of France too generally fell
in with the family of Guise, against their lawful sovereign
Henry the Fourth : nor were they without countenance of
the greatest of their belief, who styled it an holy war; at
that time, fearing, not without a cause, the defection of that
kingdom from the Roman see. In this conjuncture, the
dissenters made up the best part of that king's armies, and
by their loyalty and blood preserved the blood royal of
France, and set the crown on the head of that prince. That
king Avas twice assassinated, and the last time murdered,
as was Henry the Third, his predecessor ; but they fell,
one by the hand of a churchman, the other at least by a
conformist. It is true, that the next civil war was between (be Catho
lics and Huguenots, under the conduct of cardinal Richlieu,
and the duke of Rohan : bat as I Avill not justify the action,
so their liberties and cautions, so solemnly settled by Henry
the Fourth, as the reward of their singular merit, being by
the ministry of that cardinal invaded, they say they did but
defend their security, and that rather against the cardinal,
than the king, whose softness suffered him to become a pro
perty to the great wit and ambition of that person : and
there is this reason to believe them, that if it had been
otherwise, we are sure that king Charles the First would
not in the least have countenanced the quarrel.
However, the cardinal, like himself, wisely knew when to
stop : for though he thought it the interest ofthe crown, to
moderate their greatness, and check their groAvth, yet having
fresh in memory the story of the foregoing age, he saw it
was wise to have a balance upon occasion. But this was
more than recompensed in their fixed adherence to the
crown of France, under the ministry and direction of the
succeeding cardinal, when their persuasion had not only
number, and many good officers, to value itself upon, but
yielded their king the ablest captain of the age, namely,
Turenne : it was an Huguenot then, at the head of almost
an Huguenot army, that fell in with a cardinal himself (see
the union interest makes) to maintain the imperial croAvn of
France, and that on a Roman Catholic's head : and, toge
ther with their own indulgence, that religion, as national
too, against the pretences of a Roman Catholic army, head
ed by a prince brave and learned, ofthe same religion.
I mention not this to prefer one party to another; for
contrary instances may be given elsewhere, as interests have
varied. In Swedeland, a prince was rejected by protest
ants; and in England and Holland, and many ofthe princi-

520 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
palities of Germany, Roman Catholics have approved them
selves loyal to their kings, princes, and states. But this
suffices to us that we gain the point ; for it is evident in
countries where dissenters are tolerated, the insecurity pf
the prince and government may as well come from the con
forming as dissenting party, and that it comes not from dis
senters because such.
But how happy and admirable was this civil union be
tween the cardinal and Turenne ! Two most opposite reli
gions, both followed by people of their own persuasion : one
says his mass, the other his directory : both invoke one
Deity, by several ways, for one success ; and it followed with
glory, and a peace to this day. O why should it be other
wise now ! What has been, may be : methinks wisdom and
charity are on that side still.
It will doubtless be objected, ' That the dissenting party
j of England fell in with the state-dissenter in our late civil,
K but unnatural war :' and this seems to be against us, yet
three things, must be confessed: first, that the war rather
made the dissenters, than the dissenters made the war.
Secondly, that those that were then in being, were not tole
rated, as in France, but prosecuted. And, lastly, that they
did not .lead, but follow, great numbers of church-goers, of
all qualities, in that unhappy controversy : and which began
upon other topics than liberty for church-dissenters : and
though they were herein blameable, reason is reason, in all
climates and latitudes. This does not affect the question :
| such calamities are no necessary consequences of church-dis- •
' sent, "because"~they would then follow in all places where
dissenters are tolerated, which Ave see they do not : but these
/ may sometimes indeed be the effect of a violent endeavour
f at uniformity, and that under all forms of government, as I
fear they were partly here under our monarchy. But then,
this teaches us to conclude, that a toleration of those, that a
contrary course makes uneasy and desperate, may prevent or
cure intestine troubles ; as anno forty-eight it ended the
strife, and settled the peace of Germany. For it is not noiv
the question, ' How far men may be provoked, or ought to
resent it ;' but, ' Whether government is safe in a toleration,
especially monarchy ?' And to this issue we come in fact,
1 That it is safe, and that conformists (generally speaking)
have, for their interests, as rarely known their duty to their
prince, as dissenters for their consciences.' So that the dan
ger seems to lie on this side, of forcing uniformity against
faith, upon severe penalties, rather than of a discreet tple*
ration.

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 521
In the next place, I shall endeavour to show the prudence
and reasonableness of a toleration, by the great benefits that
follow it.
Toleration, which is an admission of dissenting worships,
with impunity to the dissenters, secures property, which is
civil right ; and that eminently the line and power of the
monarchy: for if no man suffer in his civil right for the
sake of such dissent, the point of succession is settled with
out a civil war, or a recantation ; since it were an absurd
thing, to imagine, that a man born to five pounds a year,
should not be liable to forfeit his inheritance for non-con
formity, and yet a prince of the blood, and an heir to the im
perial crown, should be made incapable of inheritance for
his church-dissent.
The security then of property, or civil right, from being
forfeitable for religious dissent, becomes a security to the
royal family, against the difficulties lately laboured underpin
the business of the succession. And though I have no commis
sion for it, besides the great reason and equity of the thing
itself^J^lare say, there can hardly be a dissenter at this time
of day so void of sense and justice, as well as duty and loy
alty, as npt fo be ofthe samp mind. Else it were to deny
that to the prince, which he neads, and prays for, from him.
Let us not forget the story of Sigismuna of Swedeland, of
Henry the Fourth of France, and especially of our own queen,
Mary. Had property been fixed, the line of thosp royal fa-
Imilfes could not have met with any let or interruption, It
/was this consideration that prevailed with judge Hales,
though a strong protestant, after king Edward's death, to
give his opinion for queen Mary's succession, against that of
all the rest of the judges to the contrary : which noble pre
cedent was recompensed in the loyalty of archbishop Heath,
a Roman Catholic, in favour ofthe succession of queen Eli
zabeth, and the same thing would bp dpne again, in the like
case, by men of the same integrity.
. I know it may be said, ' That there is little reason now
for the prince to regard this argument in favour of dissent
ers, Avhen it was so little heeded in the case of the presump
tive heir to the crown.' , But as this was the act and heat of
conforming men within doors, 60 if it were, in counsel or
desire, the folly and injustice of any dissenters without
doors, shall many entire parties pay the reckoning of a few
busy offenders ? Tlmy would humbly hope, that the singu
lar mildness and clemency, which make up so great a part of
the king's public assurances, will not leave him in his reflec
tion here.
It js the mercies of princes, that, above all their works,

522 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.

&

give them the nearest resemblance to divinity in their admi
nistration. Besides, it is their glory to measure their ac
tions by the reason and consequence of things, and not by
the passions that possess and animate private breasts : for it
were fatal to the interest of a prince, that the folly or undu-
tifulness of any of his subjects should put him out of the
way, or tempt him to be unsteady to his principle and inte
rest : and yet, with submission, I must say, it would be the
consequence of coercion : for, by exposing property for opi
nion, the prince exposes the consciences and property ofhis
own family, and plainly disarms them of all defence, upon
any alteration of judgment. Let us remember, that several
ofthe same gentlemen, who at first sacrificed civil rights for
non-conformity in common dissenters, fell at last to make
the succession of the crown the price of dissent in the next
heir of the royal blood. So dangerous a thing it is to ha
zard property to serve a turn for any party, or suffer such
examples in the case ofthe meanest person in a kingdom.
Nor is this all the benefit that attends the crown by the
preservation of civil rights; for the power ofthe monarchy
is kept more entire by it. The king has the benefit of his
whole people ; and the reason of their safety is owing to
their civil and not ecclesiastical obedience : their loyalty to
Caesar, and not conformity to the church. Whereas the
other opinion would have it, ' That no conformity to the
church, no property in the state :' which is to clog and nar-
roAV the civil power ; for at this rate, no church-man, no
Englishman ; and, no conformist, no subject. A way to
alien the king's people, and practise an exclusion upon him,
from, it may be, a fourth part of his dominions. Thus it
may happen, that the ablest statesman, the bravest captain,
and the best citizen, may be disabled, and the prince forbid
their employment to his service.
Some instances of this we have had since the late king's
restoration : for upon the first Dutch war, Sir William Penn
being commanded to give in a list of the ablest sea officers
in the kingdom, to serve in that expedition, I do very well
remember he presented our present king with a catalogue of
knowingest and bravest officers the age had bred, with this
subscribed, ' These men, if his majesty will please to admit
of their persuasions, I will answer for their skill, courage,
and integrity.' He picked them by their ability, not their
opinions ; and he was in the right ; for that was the best
way of doing the king's business. And of my own know
lege, conformity robbed the king at that time of ten men,
Avhose greater knowledge and valour, than any other ten of
that fleet, had, in their room, been able to have saved a bat-

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 523
tie, or perfected a victory. I will name three of them : the
first was old vice admiral Goodson, than whom nobody was
more stout, or a seaman. The second, captain Hill, that in
the Sapphire beat admiral Everson hand to hand, who came
to the relief of old Trump. The third was captain Potter,
who in the Constant Warwick took captain Beach, after
eight hours smart dispute. And as evident it is, that if a
war had proceeded between this kingdom and France seven
years ago, the business of conformity had deprived the king
of many land-officers, whom their share in the late wars of
Europe had made knowing and able.
But, which is worst of all, such are not safe, with their
dissent, under their own extraordinary prince. For, though
a man were a great honourer of his king, a lover of his
country, an admirer of the government ; in the course ofhis
life, sober-, wise, industrious and useful; if a dissenter from
the established form of worship, in that condition there is no
liberty for his person, nor security to his estate : as useless
to the public, so ruined in himself. For this net catches the
best ; men true to their conscience, and who, indulged, are
most like to be so to their prince ; whilst the rest are left to
cozen him by their change ; for that is the unhappy end of
forced conformity in the poor-spirited compliers. And this
must always be the consequence of necessitating the prince
to put more and other tests upon his people, than are requi
site to secure him of their loyalty.
And when we shall be so happy in our measures, as to
consider this mischief tP the monarchy, it is to be hoped it
Avill be thought expedient to disentangle property from opi
nion, and cut the untoward knot some men have tied, that
hath so long hampered and galled the prince as well as the
people. It will be then, when civil punishments shall no
more follow church faults, that the civil tenure will be re
covered to the government, and the natures of acts, rewards
and punishments, so distinguished, as loyalty shall be the
safety of dissent, and the whole people made useful to the
government. It will, perhaps, be objected, ' That dissenters can hardly
be obliged to be true to the crown, and so the crown unsafe
in their very services ; for they may easily turn the power
given them to serve it, against it, to greaten themselves.' I
am willing to obviate every thing, that may with any pre
tence be offered against our intreated indulgence. I say,
no ; and appeal to the king himself (against whom the pre
judices of our late times ran highest, and who therefore has
most reason to resent) if ever he was better loved or served,
than by the old round-headed seamen, the earl of Sandwich

524 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
Sjr William Penn, Sjr J. Lawson, Sir G. Ascue, Sir R.
Stanier, Sir J, Smith, Sir J. Jordan, Sir J. Harmon, Sir
Christopher Minns, captains Sansum, Cuttins, Clark, Ro-
binson, Molton, Wager, Tern, Parker, Haward, Hubbard,
Fen, Langhorn, Daws, Earl, White; tp say nothing of many
yet living, of real merit, and many inferior officers expert
and brave. And tp do our prince justice, he deserved i|
from them, by his humility, plainness, and courage, and the
care and affection that he always shewed them.
If any say, ' That most of these men were conformists ;'
I presume to tell them, I know, as well as any man, they
served the king never the better for that : on the cpntrary,
it was aH the strife that some of them had in themselves, in
the doing that service, that they must not serve the king
without it; and if in that they could have been indulged,
they had performed it with the greatest alacrity. Interest
will not lie. Where people find their reckoning, they are
sure to be true. For it is want of" wit that makes any man
false to himself. It' was he that knew all men's hearts, that
said, " Where the treasure is, there will the heart be
also," Let men be easy, safe, and upon their preferment
with the prince, and they will be dutiful, loyal, and most
affectionate. Mankind by nature fears power, and melts at goodness.
Pardon, my zeal ; 1 would not be thought to plead fo? dis
senters' preferment; it is enough they keep what they have,
and may live at their own charges. Only I am for having
the rkince have room for his choice, and not be cramped
and stinted by opinion ; but employ those who are best able
to serve him : and, I think, out of six parties, it is better
picking than out of one, and therefore the prince's interest
is to be head of them all, which a toleration effects in a mo
ment, since those six (divided interests within themselves)
having but one civil head, become one entire civil body to
the prince. And, I am sure, I have monarchy on my side,
if Solomon and his wisdom may stand for it, who tells us,
" That the glory of a king is in the multitude ofhis people."
r^v Nor is this all ; for the consequences of such an universal
| content would be of infinite moment to the security of the
monarchy, both at home and abroad. At home ; for it
would behead the factions without blood, and banish the
ring-leaders without going abroad. When the great bodies
of dissenters see the care of the government for their safety,
they have no need of their captains, nor these any ground
for their pretences : for as they used the people fo value
themselves,ftand raise their fortunes with the prince, so the
people followed their leaders to get that ease they see their

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 525
heads promised, but could not, and the government can and
does give them.
Multitudes cannot plot; they are too many, andhavenot
conduct for it ; they move by another spring. Safety is the
pretence of their leaders -. if once they see they enjoy it,
they have yet wit enough not to hazard it for any body : for
the endeavours of busy men are then discernable ; but a
state of severity gives them a pretence, by which the multi
tude is easily taken. Men may indiscreetly plot to get, what
they would never plot to lose. So that ease is not only their
content, but the prince's security.
This I say, upon a supposition, that the dissenters could
agree against the government ; which is a begging of the
question : for it is improbable, if not impossible, without
conformists ; since, besides the distance they are at in their
persuasions and affections, they dare not hope for so good
terms from one another, as the government gives : and that
fear, with emulation, Would draw them into th.at duty, that
they must all fall into a natural dependance, which I call,
holding the prince as the great head ofthe state.
From abroad we are as safe as from Avithin ourselves : for
if leading men at home are thus disappointed of their interest
in the people, foreigners will find here no interpreters of
their dividing language, nor matter (if they could) to work
upon. For the point is gained ; the people they lvould deal
in, are at their ease, and cannot be bribed : and those that
would cannot deserve it.
It is this that makes princes live independent of their
neighbours : and, to be loved at home, is to be feared
abroad : one follows necessarily the other. Where princes
are driven to seek a foreign assistance, the issue either must
be the ruin of the prince, or the absolute subjection ofthe
people; not without the hazard of becoming a province to
the power of that neighbour that turns the scale. These
consequences have on either hand an ill look> and should
rebate extremes.
The greatness of France carries those threats to all her
neighbours, that, politically speaking, it is the melancholiest
prospect England has had to make since eighty-eight : the
Spaniard at that time being shorter in all things but his
pride and hope, than the Frenehiking is now of the same
universal monarchy. This greatness, which began with the
eleventh Lewis, some will have it, has not been so much ad
vanced by the wisdom of Richlieu, and craft of Mazarine,
no, nor the arms of the present monarch, as by the assist
ance or connivance of England, that has most-to lose by
him.

526 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
O. Cromwell began, and gave him the scale against the
Spaniard. The reason of state he went upon, was the ' Sup
port of usurped dominion :' and he was not out in it; for
the exile ofthe royal family was a great part of the price of
that aid : in which we see how much interest prevails above =
nature. It was not royal kindred could shelter a king
against the solicitations of an usurper, with the son of his
mother's brother.
But it will be told us by some people, ' We have not de
generated, but exactly followed the same steps ever since;
which has given such an increase to those beginnings, that
the French monarchy is almost above our reach-' But sup
pose it were true, what is the cause of it ? It has not beep
old friendship, or nearness of blood or neighbourhood. Nor
could it be from an inclination in our ministers to bring
things here to a like issue, as some have suggested ; for then
we should have clogged his successes, instead of helping
them in any kind, lest in so doing we should have put it into
his power to hinder our own.
But perhaps our cross accidents of state may sometimes
have compelled us into his friendship, and his councils have
carefully improved the one, and husbanded the other to
freat advantages, and that this was more than made for our
Inglish interest : and yet it is but too true, that the extreme
heats of some men, that most inveighed against it, went too
far to strengthen that understanding, by not taking what
would have been granted, and creating an interest at home,
that might naturally have dissolved that correspondence
abroad. I love not to revive things that are uneasily remembered :
but in points most tender to the late king, he thought him
self sometimes too closely pressed, and hardly held; and we
are all wise enough now to say, a milder conduct has suc
ceeded better : for if reasonable things may be reasonably
Sressed, and with such private intentions as induce a denial,
eats about things doubtful, unwise or unjust, must needs
harden and prejudice.
Let us then create an interest for the prince at home ; and
foreign friendships (at best uncertain and dangerous) will
fall of course : for if it be allowed to private men, shall it
be forbid to princes only, to know and to be true to their
own support ?
It is no more than what every age makes usto see in all par
ties of men. The parliaments of England, since the reform
ation, giving no quarter to Roman Catholics, have forced
them to the crown for shelter. And tp induce the monarchy
to yield them the protection they have needed, they have,

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 527
With mighty address and skill, recommended themselves as
the great friends ofthe prerogative ; and so successfully too,
that it were not below the wisdom of that constitution, to
reflect what they have lost by that costiveness of theirs to
Catholics. On the other hand, the crown having treated
the protestant dissenters with the severity of the laws that
affected them, suffering the sharpest of them to fall upon
their persons and estates, they have been driven successively
to parliaments for succour, whose ^privileges, with equal
skill and zeal, they have abetted: and our late unhappy
wars are too plain a proof, how much their accesion gave the
scale against the poiver and courage of both conformists and
catholics, that adhered to the crown.
Nor must this contrary adhesion be imputed to love or
hatred, but necessary interest : refusal in one place, makes
way for address in another. If the scene be changed, the
parts must follow : for as well before, as after CromAvell's
usurpation, the Roman Catholics did not only promise the
most ready obedience to that government, in their printed
apologies for liberty of conscience ; but actually treated, by
some of their greatest men, with the ministers of those
times, for indulgence, upon the assurances they offered to
give of their good behaviour to the government, as then es
tablished. On the other hand, we see the presbyterians, that in Scot
land began the war, and in England promoted and upheld it
to forty -seven, when ready to be supplanted by the indepen
dents, wheel to the king. In Scotland they crown him, and
come into England with an army to restore him, where their
brethren join them ; but being defeated, they help, by pri
vate collections, to support him abroad ; and after the over
throw of Sir George Booth's attempt, to almost a miracle,
restore him. And, which is more, a great part of that army
too, whose victories came from the ruin of the prince they
restored. But to give the last proofs our age has of the power of
interest, against the notion opposed by this discourse. First,
the independents themselves, held the greatest republicans
of all parties, were the most lavish and superstitious adorers
of monarchy in Oliver Cromwell, because of the regard he
had to them; allowing him, and his son after him, to be
custos utriusque tabulos ; over all causes, as well ecclesias
tical as civil, supreme governor. And next, the conformists
in parliament, reputed the most loyal and monarchical men,
did, more than any body, question and oppose the late king's
declaration of indulgence ; even they themselves yvould not

528 A PERStfASIVE TO MODERATION.
allow so much prerogative to the crown, but pleaded and
opposed his political capacity.
This proves the power of ihferest, and that all persuasions
center with it : and when they see the government engaging
them with a fixed liberty of conscience, they must, for their
own sakes, seek the support of it by which it is maintained.
This union, directed under the prince's conduct, would awe
the greatness of our neighbours, and soon restore Europe to
its ancient balance, and that into his hand too : so that he
may be the great arbiter ofthe Christian world, But if the
policy ofthe government places the security of its interest
in the destruction of the civil interest ofthe dissenters, it is
not to be wondered at, if they are less found in the praises
of its conduct, than others, to whom they are offered up a
sacrifice by it.
I know it will be insinuated, ' That there is danger in
building upon the union of divers interests ;' and this will
be aggravated to the prince, by such as would engross his
bounty, and intercept his grace from a great part of his peo
ple. But I will only oppose to that mere suggestion three
examples to the contrary, with this challenge, that if after
rummaging the records of all time, they find one instance
to contradict me, I shall submit the question to their au
thority. The first is given by those Christian emperors who ad
mitted all sorts of dissenters into their armies, courts, and
senates. This the ecclesiastical story of those times assures
US, and particularly Socrates, Evagrius, and Onuphrius.
The next instance is that of prince William of Orange,
who, by a timely indulgence, united the scattered strength of
Holland ; and, all animated by the clemency, as well as va
lour of their captain, crowned his attempts Avith an extraor
dinary glory ; and what makes, continues, great.
The iast is given us by Livy, in his account of Hannibal's
army ; ' That they consisted of divers nations, languages,
customs, and religions : that under all their successes of war
and peace, for thirteen years together they never mutinied
against their general, nor fell out amongst themselves.'
What Livy relates for a wonder, the marquis Virgilio MaL
vefzy gives the reason of, to wit, theirvariety and difference,
Well managed by their general ; ' For,' said he, ' it Was im
possible for so many nations, customs, and religions, to com
bine, especially Avhen the general's equal hand gave him
more reverence with them, than they had of affection for one
another. This,' says he, * some would wholly impute
to Hannibal ; but however great he was, I attribute it

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 529
to the variety- of people in the army : for,' adds he, ' Rome's
army was ever less given to mutiny, Avhen balanced with
auxiliary legions, than when entirely Roman.' Thus much
in his discourse upon Cornelius Tacitus.
And they are neither few, nor ofthe weakest sort of men,
that have thought the concord of discords a firm basis for
government to be built upon. The business is to tune them
well, and that must be the skill of the musician.
In nature we see all heat consumes, all cold kills : that
three degrees of cold to two of heat, allay the heat, but intro
duce the contrary quality, and oyercool by a degree : but
two degrees of cold to two of heat, make a poize in elements,
and a balance in nature. And in those families where the
evenest hand is carried, the work is best done, and the mas
ter is most reverenced.
This brings me to another benefit Avhich accrues to the
monarchy by a toleration, and that is a balance at home :
for though it be improbable, it may so happen, that either
the conforming or non-conforming party may be undutiful;
the one is then a balance of the other. This might have
prevented much mischief to our second and third Henry,
king John, the second Edward, and Richard, and unhappy
Henry the Sixth, as it undeniably saved the royal family of
France, and secured Holland, and kept it from truckling
under the Spanish monarchy. While all hold ofthe govern
ment, it is that which gives the scale to the most dutiful ;
but still no farther than to show its power, and aAve the dis
orderly into obedience ; not to destroy the balance, lest it
should afterwards want the means of overpoizing faction.
That this is more than fancy, plain it is that the dissenter
roust firmly adhere to the government for his being, while
the church-man is provided for. The one subsists by its
mercy, the other by its bounty. This is tied by plenty, but
that by necessity; which being the last of ties, and strongest
obligation, the security is greatest from him, that it is fan
cied most unsafe to tolerate.
But besides this, the tranquillity which it gives at home
will both oblige those that are upon the wing for foreign
parts, to pitch here again ; and, at a time when our neigh
bouring monarch is wasting his people, excite those suffer
ers into the king's dominions, whose number will increase
that of his subjects, and their labour and consumption, the
trade and wealth of his territories.
For what are all conquests, but of people ? And if the
government may by indulgence add the inhabitants of ten
cities to those of its own, it obtains a victory without charge.
The ancient persecution of France and the Low Countries
Vol. ii. 2 l

530 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
has furnished us with an invincible instance ; for of those
that came hither on that account, we were instructed in most
useful manufactures ; as, by courses of the like nature, we
lost a great part of our woollen trade. And as men, in times
of danger, draw in their stock, and either transmit it to other
banks, or bury their talent at home for security (that, being
out of sight, it may be out of reach too, and either is fata) to
a kingdom) ; so this mildness obtained, setting every man's
heart at rest, every man will be at work, and the stock of
the kingdom employed ; which, like the blood, that hath its
due passage, will give life and vigour to every member in
the public body.
And here give me leave to mention the experiment made
at home by the late king, in his declaration of indulgence.
No matter how well or ill built that act of state was, it is
no part of the business in hand ; but what effect the liberty
of it had upon the peace and wealth ofthe kingdom, may
have instruction in it to our present condition. It was evi
dent that all men laboured cheerfully, and traded boldly,
when they had the royal word to keep what they got, and
the king himself became the universal insurer of dissenters'
estates. Whitehall, then, and St. James's, were as much
visited and courted by their respective agents, as if they had
been of the family : for that which eclipsed the royal good
ness, being by his OAvn hand thus removed, his benign influ
ences drew the returns of sweetness and duty from that part
of his subjects, that the want of those influences had made
barren before. Then it was that We looked like the mem
bers of one family, and children of one parent. Nor did we
envy our eldest brother, episcopacy, his inheritance, so that
we had but a child's portion : for not only discontents va
nished, but no matter was left for ill spirits, foreign or do
mestic, to brood upon, or hatch to mischief. Which was a
: ' plain proof, that it is the union of interests, and not of opi-
' nions, that gives peace to kingdoms.
And, Avith all deference to authority I would speak it, the
liberty of the declaration seems to be our English amomum
at last ; the sovereign remedy to our English constitution.
And to say true, we shifted luck (as they call it) as soon as
we had lost it ; like those that lose their royal gold, their
evil returns. For all dissenters seemed then united in their
affection to the government, and followed their affairs with
out fear or distraction. Projects, then, were stale and un
merchantable, and nobody cared for them, because nobody
wanted any : that gentle opiate, at the prince's hand, laid the
most busy and turbulent to sleep : but when the loss of that
indulgence made them uncertain, and that uneasy, their per-

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. "531
sons and estates being again exposed to pay the reckoning
of their dissent, no doubt but every party shifted then as
they could : most grew selfish, at least jealous, fearing one
should make bargains apart, or exclusive ofthe other. This
was the fatal part dissenters acted to their common ruin :
and I take this partiality to have had too great a share in our
late animosities ; which, by fresh accidents falling in, have1
swelled to a mighty deluge, suchan one as hath overwhelmed
our former civil concord and serenity. And pardon me, if
I say, I cannot see that those waters are like to assuage, till
this olive-branch of indulgence be some way or other re
stored : the waves will still cover our earth, and a spot of
ground will hardly be found in this glorious isle, for a great
number of useful people to set a quiet foot upon. And, to
pursue the allegory, Avhat was the ark itself, but the most
apt and lively emblem of toleration ? A kind of natural
temple of indulgence. In which we find two Of every living
creature dwelling together, of both sexes too, that they
might propagate ; and that as well of the unclean as clean
kind : so that the baser and less useful sort were saved ;
creatures never like to change their nature; and so far from
being Whipped and punished to the altar, that they Were
expressly forbid. These were saved, these were fed and re
stored to their ancient pastures. Shall we be so mannerly
as to compliment the conformists Avith the style of clean, and
so humble as to take the Unclean kind to ourselves, who are
the less noble, and more clownish sort of people ? I think
verily we may do it, if we may but be saved too by the com
mander of our English ark. And this the peaceable and vir-'
tuoiis dissenter has the less reason to fear, since sacred text
tells us, it was vice, and not opinion, that brought the de
luge upon the rest. And here (to drop our allegory) I must
take leave to hope, that though the declaration be gone, if
the reason of it remain, I mean the interestof the monarchy,'
the king and his great council will graciously please tox
think a toleration no dangerous nor obsolete thing.
But as it has many arguments for it, that are drawn from
the advantages that have and Avould come to the public by
it, so there are divers mischiefs that must unavoidably fol
low the persecution of dissenters, that may reasonably dis
suade from such severity. For they must either be ruined,'
fly, or conform; and perhaps the last is not the safest. If
they are ruined in their estates, and their persons imprison
ed, modestly computing, a fourth of the trade and manufac
tory' of the kingdom sinks ; and those that have helped to
maintain the poor, must come upon the poor's book for
maintenance. This seems to be an impoverishing of the
2 l 2

532 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
public; But if, to avoid this, they transport themselves^
with their estates, into other governments ; nay, though it
were to any of the king's plantations, the number were far
too great to be spared from home. So much principal stock
wanting to turn the yearly traffic, and so many people too,
to consume our yearly growth, must issue tatally to the trade
one way, and to the lands and rents of the kingdom the
other way.
And lastly, If they should resolve neither to suffer nor fly,
but conform, to prevent both; it is to be inquired, if this
cure of division be safe to the state ; or not rather a raking
up coals under ashes, for a future mischief? He whom
fear or policy hath made treacherous to his own conscience,
ought not to be held true to any thing, but his own safety,
and revenge. His conformity gives him the first, and his,
resentment of the force that compels it, will on no occasion
let him want the last. So that conformity cozens nobody
but the government : for the state fanatic (which is the un
safe thing to the state) being christened by conformity, he is
eligible every where, with persons the most devoted to the
prince : and all men will hold themselves protected in their
Votes by it.— A receipt to make faction keep, and preserve
disloyalty against all weathers. For whereas the nature of
tests is to discover, this is the way to conceal, the inclina
tions of men from the government. Plain dissent, is the
prince with a candle in his hand : he sees the where and
what of persons and things : he discriminates, and makes
that a rule of conduct : but forced conformity is the prince
in the dark ; it blows out his candle, and leaves him with-,
out distinction. Such subjects are like figures in sand ;
when Water is flapt upon them they run together, and are
indiscernible : or, written tradition made illegible, by writ
ing the oaths and canons upon its the safest way of blotting
out danger.
I know not how to forbear saying, that this necessary
conformity makes the church dangerous to the state : for,
even the hypocrisy that follows, makes the church both con
ceal and protect the hypocrites ; which, together with their
liberality to the parson, charity to the poor, and hospitality
to their neighbours, recommends them to the first favour
they have to bestow. That fort is unsafe, where a party
of the garrison consists of disguised enemies ; for when they
take their turns at the watch, the danger is hardly evitable.
It would then certainly be for the safety of the fort, that
such friends in masquerade were industriously kept out,,
instead of being whipped in.
And it Avas something of this> I remember, that was" made

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 533
an argument for the declaration of indulgence, in the pre
amble; to wit, 'The greater safety of the government, from
open and public, than private, dissenting meetings of wor
ship ;' as indeed the rest bear the same resemblance. For
these were the topics, ' Quieting the people : encouraging
strangers to come and live among us, and trade by it ; and
lastly, preventing the danger that might arise to the go
vernment by private meetings :' of greater reason then from
private men, not less discontented, but more concealed and
secure by the great brake of church conformity. It is this
will make a comprehension ofthe next dissenters, to the
church dangerous, though it were practicable, of which side
soever it be. For, in an age, the present form of govern
ment shall feel the art and industry of the comprehended.
So that a toleration is in reason of state to be preferred.
And if the reasons of the declaration were ever good, they
are so still ; because the emergencies ofthe state, that made
them so, remain ; and our neighbours are not less powerful
to improve them to our detriment.
But it will be now said, ' Though the government should
find its account in what has been last alleged, this were the
way to overthrow the church, and encourage dissenters to
continue in their errors.' Which is that second main ob
jection I proposed at first to answer in its proper place, and
that I think is this :
I humbly say, if it prove the interest of the three consi
derable church-interests. in this kingdom, a relaxation, at
least, can hardly fail us. The: three church interests are,
That of the Church of England ; that ofthe Roman Catho
lic Dissenter; and that of the Protestant Dissenter. That
the church of England ought, in conscience and prudence,
to consent to the ease desired.
I pray, first, that it be considered, how great a reflection
it will be upon her honour, that from a persecuted, she
should be accounted a persecuting church : an overthrow
none of her enemies have been able to give to her many
excellent apologies. Nor will it be excused by her saying,
' She is in the right, which her persecutors were not ;' since
this is a confidence not wanting in any of them, or her dis
senters : and the truth is, it is but the begging of a question,
that will by no means be granted.
No body ought to know more than churchmen, that
conscience cannot be forced ; that offerings against con
science, are as odious to God, as uneasy to them that make
them : that God loves a free sacrifice. That Christ forbad
fire, though from heaven itself, to punish dissenters , and
.commanded that the tares should grow with the wheat till

531 A PERSUASIVE TO. MODERATION.
harvest. In fine, that we should love enemies themselves :
and, to exclude worldly strife for religion, that his kingdom
is not of this world. This was the doctrine of the blessed
Saviour of the world.
Saint Paul pursues the same course : is glad Christ is
preached, be it of envy : the worst ground for dissent that
can be. It was he that asked that hard, but just question,
f Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To
his own Lord he standeth or falleth." He allows the church
a warfare, and weapons to perform it ; but they are not
carnal, but spiritual. Therefore it was so advised, that
every man^ in matters of religion, should be " fully persuaded
in his own mind ;" and if any were short, or mistaken, God
would, in his time, inform them better.
. He tells us of schismatics, and heretics too, and their
punishment, which is to the point in hand : he directs to a
first -and second admonition; and if that prevail not, reject
them : that is, refuse them church fellowship, disown their
relation, and deny them communion. But in all this there
is not a word of fines, or imprisonments : nor is it an excuse
to any church, that the civil magistrate executes the severity,
while they are members of her communion that make or
execute the laws.
But if the church could gain her point, I mean conformity,
unless she could gain consent too, it were but constraint at
last: a rape upon the mind, which may increase her number,
not her devotion. On the contrary, the rest of her sons are
in danger by their hypocrisy : the most close, but watchful
and revengeful thing in the world. Besides the scandal can
hardly be removed : to overvalue coin, and rate brass to
silver, beggars any country.; and to own them for sons she,
never begat debases and destroys any church. It Avere
better to indulge foreign coin of intrinsic value, and let it
pass for its weight. It is not number, but quality ; two or
three sincere Christians,- that form an evangelical church :
and though the church were less, more charity on the one
hand, and piety on the other, with exact church-censure,
and less civil coercion, would giA'e her credit with con
science in all sects ; without which, their accession itself
would-be no benefit, but disgrace and hazard, to her con
stitution. And to speak prudently in this affair, it is the interest of
the church of England not to suffer the extinction of dis
senters, that she may have a counterbalance fo the Roman
Catholics ; who, though few in number, are great in qua
lity, and greater in their foreign friendships and assistance.
On the other hand, it is her interest to indulge the Roman

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 535
Catholic ; that, < by his accession, she may at all times have
the balance in her own hand against the Protestant Dis
senter leaning to either, as she" finds her doctrine under
mined by the one, or her discipline by the other; or, lastly,
her civil interest endangered from either of them.
And it is certainly the interest of both those extremes of
dissent, that she, rather than either of them, should hold
the scale. For as the Protestant Dissenter cannot hope for
any tenderness, exclusive of Roman Catholics, but almost
the same reasons -may be advanced against him ; so, on the
other hand, it would look imprudent, as well as unjust, in
the Roman Catholics, to solicit any indulgence exclusive of
Protestant Dissenters. For besides that it keeps up the ani
mosity, which it is their interest to bury, the consequence
will be, to take the advantage of time to snatch it from one
another ; when an united request for liberty, once granted,
will oblige both parties, in all times, for example-sake, to
have it equally preserved. Thus are all church interests of
conformists and dissenters rendered consistent and safe in.
their civil interest one with the other.
But it will last of all, doubtless, he objected, ' That
though a toleration were ever so desirable in itself, and in
its consequence beneficial to the public, yet the government
cannot allow it, without ruin to the church of England^
which it is obliged to maintain.'
But I think this will not affect the question at all ; unless,
by maintaining the church of England, it is understood that
she should force whole parties to be of her communion, or
knock them on the head: let us call to mind, that the
religion that is true, allows no man to do wrong, that right
may come of it: and that nothing has lessened the credit of
any religion more than declining to support itself by its
own charity and piety, and taking sanctuary in the arms,
rather than the understandings, of men. Violences are ill
pillars for truth to rest upon. The church of England must
be maintained : right ; but cannot that be done without
the dissenter be destroyed? In vain then did Christ com
mand Peter to put up his sword, Avith this rebuke, " They
that take the sword, shall perish with the sword,'' if his
followers are to draw it again. He makes killing for
religion, murder, and deserving death : was he then in the
right, not to call legions to his assistance ? And are not
his folloAvers of these times in the wrong, to seek to uphold
their religion by any methods of force. The church of
England must be maintained ; therefore the dissenters, that
hold almost the same doctrine, must be ruined. A conse
quence most unnatural, as it is almost impossible. For

536 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION..
besides that the drudgery would unbecome the civil ma
gistrate, who is the image of divine j ustice and clemency,
and that it would fasten the character of a false church, upon
pne that deserves to be esteemed a true one ; she puts the
government upon a task that is hard to be performed.
Kings can no more make brick without straw, than slaves :
the condition of our affairs is much changed, and the cir
cumstances our government are under differ mightily from
those of our ancestors. They had not the same dissents to
deal with, nor those dissents the like bodies of people to
render them formidable, and their prosecution mischievous
to'the state. Nor did this come of the prince's neglect or
indulgence ; there are other reasons to be assigned ; of
Avhich, the opportunities domestic troubles gave to their
increase and power, and the severities used to suppress
them, may go for none of the least. So that it was as in~
voluntary in the prince, as to the church anxious. And
under this necessity to tie the magistrate to old measures,
is to be regardless of time, whose fresh circumstances give
aim to the conduct of wise men in their present actions.
Governments, as well as courts, change their fashions : the
same clothes will not always serve : and politics, made ob
solete by new accidents, are as unsafe to follow, as anti
quated dresses are ridiculous to wear.
Thus seamen know, and teach us in their daily practice :
they humour the winds ; though they will lie as near as
they can, and trim their sails by their compass; and by
patience under these constrained and uneven courses, they
gain their port at last. This justifies the government's
change of measures from the change of things; for res nolunt
male adminislrari.
And to be free, it looks more than partial, to elect and
reprobate too. That the church of England is preferred,
and has the fat of the earth, the authority ofthe magistrate,
and the power of the sword in her sons' hands, which com
prehend-all the honours, places, profits, and powers of the
kingdom, must not be repined at : let her have it, and keep
it all, and let none dare seek or accept an office that is not
of her. But to ruin dissenters to complete her happiness,
(pardon the allusion) is CalA'inism in the worst sense ; for
this is that horrendum decretum reduced to practice : and to
pursue that ill-natured principle, ' Men are civilly damned
for that they cannot help ;' since faith is not in man's power,
though it sometimes exposes one to it,
It is a severe dilemma, that a man must either renounce
that of which he makes conscience in the sight of God, or
be civilly and ecclesiastically reprobated . there was a time,

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 537
when the church of England herself stood in need of in
dulgence, and made up a great part ofthe non-conformists
of this kingdom ; and what she then wanted, she pleaded
for, I mean a toleration, and that in a general style, as
divers of the writings of her doctors tell us : of which let
it be enough but to mention that excellent discourse of
Dr. Taylor, bishop of Down, intitled, ' Liberty of Pro
phecy.' And that which makes' severity look the worse in the
members of the church of England, is the modesty she pro
fesses about the truth of the things she believes : for though,
perhaps, it were indefensible in arty church to compel a
man to that which she were infallibly assured to be true,
unless she superseded his ignorance by conviction, rather
than authority, it must, doubtless, look rude to punish men
into conformity to that, of the truth of which the church
herself pretends no certainty.
Not that I would less believe a church so cautious, than
one more confident ; but I know not how to help thinking
persecution harsh, when they ruin people for not believing
that, which they have not in themselves the power pf be
lieving, and which she cannot give them, and of which her
self is not infallibly assured. The drift of this is mode
ration, which well becomes us poor mortals, that " for
every idle word we speak, must give an account at the day
of judgment," if our Saviour's doctrine have any credit
with us.
It would much mitigate the severity, if the dissent were
sullen, or in contempt: but if men cannot help or hinder
their belief, they are rather unhappy than guilty, and more
to be pitied than blamed. However they are of the rea
sonable stock of the country ; and though they were un
worthy of favour, they may not be unfit to live. It is
capital, at Jaw, to destroy bastards; and bye-blows are
laid to the parish to keep : they roust maintain them at last :
and shall not these natural sons, at least, be laid at the
door of the kingdom ? Unhappy fate of dissenters ! to be
less heeded, and more destitute than any body. If this
should ever happen to be the effect of their own folly, with
submission, it can never be the consequence of the govern
ment's engagements.
Election does not necessarily imply a reprobation of the
rest. If God hath elected some to salvation, it will not
follow of course that he hath absolutely rejected all the
rest. For though he was God of the Jews, he was God of
the Gentiles too, and they were his people ; though the

538 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. ,
Jews were his peculiar people. "God respects not per
sons," says St. Peter ; the good of all nations are accepted.
The difference at last, will not be of opinion, but works :
sheep or goats, all, of all judgments, will be found: and
"Come, well done;" or, " Go,' ye workers of iniquity,"
will conclude their eternal state : let us be careful therefore
of an opinion-reprobation of one another.
We see the God of nature hath taught us softer doctrine
in his great book of the world : his sun shines, and his
rain falls, upon all. All the productions of nature are
by love; and shall it be proper to religion only to propa
gate by force ? The poor hen instructs us in humanity ;
who, to defend her feeble young, refuses no danger. All
the seeds and plants that grow for the use of man, are pro
duced by the kind and warm influences of the sun. It is
kindness that upholds the human race. People do not mul
tiply in spite : and if it be by gentle and friendly ways,
that nature produces and matures the creatures of the
world, certainly religion should teach us to be mild and
bearing. " Let your moderation be known to all men," was the
saying of a great doctor of the Christian faith ; and his
reason for that command cogent, " For the Lord, is at
hand." As if he had said, 'Have a care what you do ; be
not bitter nor violent; for the judge is at the door: do as
you would be done to ; lest what you deny to others, God
should refuse to you.'
And after all this, shall the church of England be less
tender of men's consciences, than our common law is of
their lives ; which had rather a thousand criminals should
escape, than that one innocent should perish ? Give me
leave to say, that there are many innocents (conscience ex
cepted) now exposed ; men honest, peaceable and useful ;
free of ill designs ; that pray for Caesar, and pay their tri
bute to Caesar.
If any tell us, ' They have, or may, ill use their tolera
tion ;' I say this must be looked to, and not liberty there
fore refused : for the. English church cannot so much forget
her own maxim to dissenters, that Propter abusum non est
tollendus usus. It suffices to our argument it is no neces
sary consequence, and that fact and time are for us. And
if any misuse such freedom, and intitle conscience to mis
behaviour, we have other laws enough to catch and punish
the offenders, without treating one party with the spoils of
six. And when religion becomes no man's interest, it will
hardly ever be any man's hypocrisy. Men will choose by

A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION. 539
conscience, which at least, preserves integrity, though it
were mistaken : and if not in the wrong, truth recompences
inquiry, and light makes amends for dissent.
And since a'plain method offers .itself, from the circum
stances of our case, I take the freedom to present it for the
model pf the intreated toleration.
. Much has been desired, said and pressed, in reference to
the late king's being head of a protestant league, which takes
in .but a part of the phristian world ; the Roman and Grecian
Christians being excluded. But I most humbly offer, that
our wise men would please to think of another title for our
king, and that is, head of a Christian league, and give the
experiment here at home in his own dominions.
The Christian religion is admired of all in the text, and
by all acknowledged in the Apostle's Creed. Here every
party of Christians meet, and centre as in a general. The
several species of Christians, that this genus divideth itself
into, are those divers persuasions we have within this
kingdom ; the church of England, Roman Catholics, Gre
cians, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists,
Quakers, Socinians : these I call so many orders of Christ
ians, that unite in the text, and differ only in the comment ;
all owning one Deity, Saviour, and Judge, good works,
rewards and punishments : which bodies once regulated^
and holding of the prince as head of the government, main
taining charity, and pressing piety, will be an honour to
Christianity, a strength to the prince, and a benefit to the
public : for in lieu of an unattainable, (at best an unsin-
cere) uniformity, we shall have in civils unity, and amity in
faith. The Jews before, and in the time of Herod, were divided
into divers sects. There were Pharisees, Sadducees, Hero-
dians, and Essenes : they maintained their dissent without
ruin to the government ; and the magistrates fell under no
censure from Christ for that toleration.
The Gentiles, as already has been observed, had their
divers orders of philosophers, as disagreeing as ever Chris
tians were, and that without danger to , the peace of the
state. The Turks themselves show us, that both other/religions,
and divers sects of their own, are very tolerable with security
to their government.
The Roman church is a considerable instance to our point ;
for she is made up of -divers orders pf both sexes, . of very
differing principles, fomented sometimes to great feuds and
controversies; as between Franciscans, Dominicans^ Jesuits,
and Sorboinists ; yet without danger to the political. state

540 A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
ofthe church. On the contrary she therefore cast herself
into that method, that she might safely give vent to opinion
and zeal, and suffer both without danger of schism. And
these regulars are, by the pope's grants, privileged with an
exemption from episcopal visitation and jurisdiction.
God Almighty inspire the king's heart, and the hearts of
his' great council, to be the glorious instruments of this bless
ing to the kingdom.
I shall conclude this persuasive, with the judgment of some
pious fathers^ and renowned prinees.
Quadratus and Aristides wrote two Apologies to Adrian,
for the Christian faith, and against the persecution of it.
Justin Martyr, an excellent philosopher and Christian,
wrote two.learneddissuasives against persecution, which he
dedicated (as I take it) to Antoninus Pius, and Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus.
Melito, bishop of Sardis, a good and learned man, wrote
a smart defence for the Christian religion and a toleration,
dedicated to Verus.
Tertullian, in his most sharp and excellent Apology for
the Christians, fastens persecution upon the Gentiles, as an
inseparable mark of superstition ana error : as he makes
the Christian patience a sign of truth. In his discourse to
Scapula, he say, ' It is not the property of religion to per
secute for religion : she should be received for herself, not
force.* Hilary, an early and learned father, against Auxentius,
saith, ' The Christian church does not persecute, but is per
secuted.' Atticus, bishop of Constantinople, would by no means
have the minister of Nice to respect any opinion or sect
whatsoever, iuthe distribution ofthe money sent by him for
the relief of Christians ; and by no means to prejudice those
that practise a contrary doctrine and faith to theirs : that he
should be sure fo relieve those that hunger and thirst, and
have not wherewith to help themselves, and make that the
rule of his consideration. In short, be made the heretics to
have his wisdom in admiration, in that he would by no
means trouble or molest them.
Proclus, another bishop of Constantinople, was of this
opinion, ' That it was far easier by fair means to allure unto
the church, than by force to compel.' He determined to vex
no sect whatever, but restored to the church the renowned
virtue of meekness required in Christian ministers.
If we will next hear the historian's own judgment upon
the toleration, 'I am of opinion,' say he, * that he is a perse-

A PERSUASIVE T.0 MODERATION- 541
cutor, that in any kind of way molesteth such men as lead a
quiet and peaceable life.' Thus Socrates in his third book ;
in his seventh he tells us, 'That the bishop of Sinada, in
deed, did banish the heretics ; but neither did he this,' says
he, ' according, to the rule of the Catholic church, which is
not accustomed to persecute.' Lib. 7.
Lactantius tells the angry men of his time thus, 'If ypu
will with blood, evil and torments, defend your worship, it
shall not thereby be defended, but polluted.'
Chrysostom saith expressly, ' That it is not the manner of
the children of God, to persecute about their religion, but
an evident token of antichrist.'
Thus the fathers and doctors of the first ages. That em
perors and princes have thus believed, let us hear some of
greatest note, and most pressing to us.
Jerom, a good and learned father, saith, ' That heresy
must be cut off with the sword ofthe spirit.'
Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, laid this
down for a principle, ' That those that were disloyal to God,
would never be trusty to their prince.' And, which is more,
he lived thus, and so died, as his great speech to his great
son, on his death-bed, amply evidences.
Constantine the Great, in his speech to the Roman senate,
tells them, 'There is this difference between human and
divine homage and service, that the one is compelled, and
the other ought to be free.'
Eusebius Pamphilus, in the life of Constantine, tells us,
that in his prayer to God, he said, ' Let thy people, I be
seech thee, desire and maintain peace, living free from sedi
tion, to the common good and benefit of all the world ; and
those that are led away with error, let them desire to live
in peace and tranquillity with the faithful: for friendly hu
mane society and commerce with them, will very much avail
to bring them to the right way. Let no man molest another,
but let every one follow the persuasion of their own con
science : but let those that have a true opinion concerning
God, be persuaded, that such as regulate their lives by
God's holy laws, do lead an holy and upright life : but those
that will not conform thereunto, may have liberty to erect
and set up altars. But we will maintain the church and true
religion, which thou hast committed to our defence. More
over, we desire that they may joyfully receive and welcome
this general offer of peace and concord.'
This was the judgment of the most celebrated emperor
that ever professed the Christian faith. I have cited other
emperors in the body of this discourse; but because the
worst are to be commended when they do well, Valei's him
self, charmed with the siveetness and the strength, of the

543- A PERSUASIVE TO MODERATION.
philosopher Themistins, in his elegant orationj grew mode
rate towards the orthodox, whom a little before he had se
verely treated : of which these were the heads ; 'That he
persecuted without reason people of good lives : that it was
no crime to think or believe otherwise than the prince be
lieved : that he ought not to be troubled at the diversity of
opinions : that the Gentiles were much more divided in
their judgment than the Christians : that it sufficeth that
every sect aimed at the truth, and lived virtuously.' We
have had modern royal examples too.
Stephen, king of Poland, declared his mind in the point
controverted, thus, ' I am king of men, and not of conscience;
a commander of bodies, and not of souls.'
The king of Bohemia was of opinion, ' That men's con
sciences ought in no sort to be violated, urged, or con
strained.' And lastly, let me add (as what is, or should be, of more
force) the sense of king James and king Charles the first,
men, as of supreme dignity, so famed for their great natural
abilities and acquired learning ; ' It is a sure rule in divi
nity,' said king James, ' that God never loves to plant his
church by violence and bloodshed.' And in his exposition
on the twentieth of the Revelations, he saith, ' That perse
cution is the note of a false church.'
And in the advice of king Charles the first to the late
king, he says, ' Take heed of abetting any factions ; your
partial adhering to any one side, gains you not so great ad
vantages in some men's hearts, (who are prone to be of their
king's religion) as it loseth you in others, who think them
selves, and their profession, first despised, then persecuted
by you.'
Again^ ' Beware of exasperating any factions, by the cross
ness and asperity of some men's passions, humours, or pri
vate opinions, employed by you, grounded only upon their
difference in lesser matters, which are but the skirts and
suburbs of religion; wherein a charitable connivance, and
Christian toleration, often dissipates their strength, whom
rougher opposition fortifies, and puts the despised and op
pressed party into such combinations, as may most enable
them to get a full revenge on those they count their perse
cutors, Who are commonly assisted by that vulgar commise
ration that attends all that are said to suffer under the no
tion of religion.'
' Always keep up solid piety, and those fundamental
truths which mend both hearts and lives of men, with impar
tial favour and justice. Your prerogative is best shown and
exercised in remitting, rather than exacting the rigour of
laws; there being nothing worse than legal tyranny.'

GOOD ADVICE
TO THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND,
ROMAN CATHOLIC, AND
PROTESTANT DISSENTER:
IN WHICH
It is endeavoured to be made appear t that it is their Duty^
Principle, and Interest to abolish the Penal Lazes and
Tests. ;¦;
Beati Pacifici.

Published in the Year 1687.

TO THE READER.
Reader,
No matter who, but what : and yet if thou wouldst know
the author, he is an Englishman, and therefore obliged to
this country, and the laws that made him free.
That single consideration were enough to command this
undertaking ; for it is to persuade his countrymen to be de
livered of the greatest yoke a nation can well suffer under;
penal laws for religion, I mean.
And now thou hast both the who, and what. If thou art
wise and good, thou art above my epithets, and more my
flatteries ; if not, I am in the right to let them alone. Read,
think, and judge. Liberty, English and Christian, is all that
is sought in the ensuing discourse. Adieu.

GOOD ADVICE
TO THE
CHURCH OP ENGLAND, &c.

PART. I.

I must own it is my aversion at this time, to meddle with
public matters ; and yet my duty to the public will not let
me be silent. They that move by principles, must not re
gard times nor factions, but what is just, and what is ho
nourable; and that no man ought to scruple, nor no time
or interest to contest.
The single question I go upon, and which does immedi
ately concern and exercise the minds of the thinking, as well
as talking men of this kingdom, is, Whether it be fit to re-
Feal the penal laws and tests in matters of religion, or not ?
take the affirmative of the question, and humbly submit
my reasons to every reasonable conscience. I say reason
able, because that which knows not its own duty, principle
and interest, is not so ; and that which is not willing to do
to others as it would be done by, less deserves to be thought
so. Now there are three sorts of people that will find them
selves concerned in this question, theChurch of England, the
Roman Catholic, and the Protestant Dissenter, and these
make up the whole body of the kingdom : if it appear to be
their duty, principle and interest, the question is gained, and
nobody is left to complain ; and if I am mistaken, it is with
so great an inclination to serve them all, that their good
nature cannot but plead my excuse, especially when they
consider I am neither moved by hopes nor fears : private
loss or gain being farther from my thought, than I hope they
are from a good understanding.
i I say, first, then, it is the duty of all of them, because they
! all profess that religion which makes it their common duty
to do it; Christianity I mean : for no Christian ought to
deprive any man ofhis native right, for matters of faith and
worship towards God, in the way that he thinks most agree
able to the will of God ; because it is necessary to a Chris
tian to believe ' That faith is the gift of God alone, and that
he only is Lord of conscience, and is able truly to enlighten,

' CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C. 545
persuade, and establish it;' and consequently that prejudic
ing men in their persons or estates, or depriving them of
any station in the government, they might otherwise, in
their turn, be capable to serve the public in, is contrary to
the tenderness and equity of that religion ; which will yet
: farther appear, if we consider that ' Christianity is the sole
| religion of the world that is built on the principles of love ;
J which brought with it the greatest evidences of truth;
| equally convincing our understandings with its light, and
! bearing down our senses with its miracles ; which silenced
" the oracles ofthe Heathens by the Divine poAver present
with it, and vanquished their hearts, that had left nothing
else to conquer, leading kings and emperors with their courts
and armies in triumph, after the despised cross of him who
was the holy and blessed author of it.'
• It was he that laid not his religion in worldly empire, nor
; used the methods of worldly princes to propagate it ; as it
/ came from heaven, so that only should have the honour of
| protecting and promoting it. His whole business to mankind
from first to last, was love. It was first love in his Father
to send him (as Saint John teaches) " God so loved the
world, that he sent his Son," &c. It Avas love in Jesus
Christ to come on that errand ; that he, ' who thought it no
robbery to be equal with God, should take the form of a ser
vant to adopt us children, and make himself of no reputation
with the Avorld, that he might make us of reputation with
God his Father.'
And he did not only come in much love, but preached it
and pressed it to both friends and foes ; " Love one another ;
love enemies ; do good to them that hate you ; forgive them
that trespass against you; what ye would that other men
should do unto you, do that unto them : by these things shall
all men know you are my disciples ; for I came not to destroy
men's lives," no, not for religion itself; " for my kingdom,
fower, force, weapons, and victory, are not of this world."
n all this, love prevails : it was his great, his new, his last
commandment ; of all his disciples, the most pursued~by his
beloved one, that in his bosom had learned his heart, as his
divine doctrine of love, in his epistles, tells us.
As he lived in love, so he died in love, yvith us, and for
us, and that while we were rebellious too ; ay, he prayed and
died for them who put him to death, " shewing us," says
St. Peter, " an example, that we should follow his steps."
And what are they ? Doubtless the steps of love, the path
he trod ; " To do good to mankind, enemies as well as
friends, that we may be like our heavenly Father, that
causes his sun to shine, and his rain to fall upon the just and
A^ol. n. 2 m

546 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
unjust." This must be the apostle's meaning, for the rest
ofhis passion was inimitable.
Now if thisbe the doctrine of Christ, the nature of Chris
tianity, the practice ofthe primitive church, that, like Adam,
Was created in full strength, beauty, and wisdom, and so an
example to succeeding ages of religion, and to which Ave so
often refer as our original; Avith what pretence to a Chris
tian conscience can anyone stickle to keep imprisoning, ba
nishing, impoverishing, hanging, and quartering laAvs on
foot for religion's sake, but especially against such as are,
by creed, professors of Christianity as well as themselves.
I know the case is put hard by those that have the laws on
their side; 'We do this to save ourselves ;' but an harder
case than Christ's can never be put, Avhose answer in his,
Ought to resolve theirs fully.
Christ is sent by his Father for the salvation ofthe world :
he introduces and proves his mission by miracles, and the
great authority of his word and doctrine : his followers,
fully satisfied who he was, Avhence he came, what he taught,
and how eminently confirmed, grew impatient at contradic
tion ; they could not bear the least dissent ; for when some
of the Samaritans refused to entertain their Lord, because
they thought he Avas going for Jerusalem, (the place of their
greatest aversion) these disciples were for having but the
word from his mouth, and they would, in imitation of Elijah,
have called for fire from heaven to have destroyed them.
f But he turned and rebuked them, and said, " Ye know not
'< what manner of spirit ye are of, for the Son of man is not
come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." This answer is
to purpose, and for all times, to be sure Christian ones ; and
the higher the pretensions of any party are to Christianity,
the more inexcusable if they practise the contrary. Would
not Christ then hurt them that refused him, and can we hurt
our neighbours for not receiving us ? He condemned that
spirit in his disciples, and shall we uphold the same spirit,
and that by law too, which he condemned by his gospel ?
This is killing for God's sake, expressly charged by Christ
¦ With impiety. " They shall think," says he to his disciples,
"they do God good service to kill you :" Who should think
so ? Why the Christian-persecutors. Is it their property to
do so? Yes: what should one think then of those Christians
that profess it.
The Jews Avere grievously punished of God, for that abo
mination of sacrificing their children to Moloch ; but these
laws, though they change the object, they have not lessened
the sin ; for they offer up man, woman, and child, and though
they say, It is to God, no matter for that, since it makes their

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C. 547
case worse ; for it is to Imagine that so good, so just, so sen
sible, so-merciful a being, can take pleasure in so much cru
elty. ' Well, but if we'must not knock folks on the head, what
roust we do with them ?' Take an answer at the mouth of
truth and Avisdom : " Let the tares and Avheat grow together
till the harvest :" What is that ? He tells you, " It is the
end ofthe world:" so that whatever the church of England
is, it is certain Christ is for a toleration, and his doctrine is
always in fashion : what he was, he is, and will be : he went
not by reasons of state, or customs of countries: his judg
ment Avas better built, who came to give law, and not to re
ceive it, and it is a light and rule to all times. " And he
that loves father, or mother, or wife, or children, or house,
or land, better than Him," that is, his doctrine (of which
this is so great a part) " is not worthy of him ;" and I fear
»o other reason induced the church of England to decline it.
To confirm what has been said, though I design brevity,
let me not lose another passage very pregnant to our pur
pose : Avhen his disciples had accomplished their first mis
sion, at their return they gave him the history of their tra
vels : among the rest, they tell him of one they met with,
'.' That in his name cast out devils ;" but because he would
not follow with them, they forbad him : here is at least a
dissenting Christian, though a believer; yet, it seems, not
one of that closer congregation : we also see their zeal and
sentence. But what says the master, yet alive and with
them, the infallible Doctor, in whose mouth Avas no guile,
who had not the spirit by measure, and was the great wis
dom of God to his people ; was he of the same mind, or did
he leave them without rule in the point ? His answer is
this : " And Jesus said to them, Forbid him not, for he that
is not against us is for us." The prohibition is taken off,
and thpir judgment reversed ; and from his, to be sure, there
lies no appeal. For though a power of decision were al
lowed to some one or more on earth, in matters obscure and
undetermined, yet in cases already adjudged by the Son of
God himself, who had the chair, and could not err, there can
be no rqom for another judge.
Now to apply it, I must first say, I find no such disciples
among thpse that are on the side of keeping up the penal
laws ; God knows, the disparity is but too unequal. But
nexj, if they lvere all twelve in Westminster-Abbey, and
shpuld he on the side of upholding the penal laws (which is
the wrong side they were of before) I should beg their par
don, if I were of their master's mind, and objected his wis-
dpip to their zeal, and his gentle rule to their harsh and
narrow judgment. And I beseech the church pf England to
2m 2

548 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
consider, that no pretence can excuse her dissent, and less*
her cross practice, to the j udgraent of her Saviour : ' A judg
ment that seems given and settled for the conduct of the
church on the like occasions, in succeeding times :' and it is
pity any worldly thing should have place with her to divert
her obedience. Did Christ then come to save men's lives,
and not to destroy them ? And should she (she, I say, that
pretends to be a reformed church) uphold those laws that do
destroy them ? He, alas ! went to another village, instead
of burning them, or theirs, for refusing him: and she for
bids any, that belongs to any other, to lodge in her's, upon
pain of losing life or estate : this may make her a Samaritan
indeed, but not the good one, whose example would have
taught her, instead of these sharp and ruder remedies, to
have poured the oil of peace and gladness into those chops
and wounds, that time, and heats on all hands, had made in
every religious party of men. Nor does she lose any thing
by repealing those laws, but the power of persecuting ; and
a good church would never have the temptation. Come ;
somebody must begin to forgive ; let her not leave that ho
nour to another, nor draAV upon herself the guilt and mis
chief of refusing it. She pretends to fear the strokes ofthe
Romanists ; but I would fain know of her, if following their
example will convert them, or secure her ? Does she hope
to keep them out by the weapons that have failed in their
hands, or can she honourably censure persecution in them,
and yet use it herself?
'But she is extremely scandaled and scared at the seve
rity upon protestants in France.' It is certainly very ill ;
but do not the laws she is so fond of, point at the same work,
conformity, or ruin ? And do not we know, that in some
places, and upon some parties, her magistrates have ploAved
as deep furrows, especially within these six and twenty
years ? Husbands separated from their wives, parents from
their children ; (he widow's bed and the orphan's milk made
a prize for religion ; houses stript, barns and fields swept
clean, prisons crowded, without regard to sex or age, and,
some of both sorts dungeoned to death, and all for religion.
If she says, ' They were peevish men, bigots, or moved by
private interest,' she still made the laws ; and says no more
for herself than the French say for their king, which yet she
refuses to take for an answer. Perhaps I could parallel
some ofthe severest passages in that kingdom out of the
actions of some members of the church of England in cool
blood, that are even yet for continuing the penal laws upon
their plundered neighbours ; so that this reflection of hers
upon France, is more popular than just from her. But I

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C. 549
beseech her to look upon a country four times bigger than
France, Germany I mean, and she will there see both reli
gions practised with great ease and amity; yet of this we
must not hear one word : I hope it is not for fear of imitat
ing it. However, it is disingenuous to object the mischiefs
of popery to a general ease, when we see it is the way to
prevent them. This is but, in the name of popery, to keep
all to herself, as well from protestant dissenters, as Roman
Catholics. How Christian, how equal, how safe, that nar
row method is, becomes her well to consider, and methinks
•she ought not to be long about it.
I know she flatters herself, and others too believe, she is
a bulwark against popery ; and with that, without any far
ther security to other protestants, wipes her mouth of all old
scores, and makes her present court for assistance. But
, when that word bulwark is examined, I fear it appears to
mean no more than this, ' That she would keep out popery
for that reason, for which she apprehends popery Avould turn
her out,' viz. temporal interest. But may I without offence
ask her, when she kept persecution out ? Or if she keeps out
popery for any body's sake but her own ? Nay, if it be not
to hold the power she has in her hands, that she would
frighten other parties (now she has done her Avorst) Avith
what mischief popery would do them when it has power ?
But to speak freely, can she be a bulwark in the case, that
has been bringing the worst part of popery in, these six and
twenty years, if persecution be so, as she says it is ? This
would be called canting to the world in others. But I hear
she begins to see her fault, is heartily sorry for it, and pro
mises to do so no more : and why may not popery be as
wise, that has also burnt her fingers with the same work ?
Their praying* for ease by law, looks as if they chose that,
rather than power, for security; and if so, why may not the
papists live, as well as she reign ? I am none of their ad
vocate, I am no papist; but I would be just and merciful
too. However, I must tell her, that keeping the laws on
foot by which she did the mischief, is none of the plainest
evidences of her repentance : they that can believe it, have
little reason to quarrel at the unaccountableness of transub
stantiation. It is unjust in popery to invade her privileges ;
and can it be just in her to provoke it by denyinga Christian
liberty? Or can she expect what she Avill not give ? Or not
do as she would be done by, because she fears others will
not observe the same rule to her ? Is not this " doing evil
that good may come of it," and that uncertain too, against
an express command, as well as common charity? -But to
speak freely, whether we regard the circumstances of tho

550 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
king, the religion ofhis children, the inequality of the num
ber and strength of those of each of their communions, we
must conclude, that the aversion of the church of England
to this intreated liberty cannot reasonably be thought to come
from the fear she has of the prevalency of popery, but the
loss of that power the law gives her to domineer over all
dissenters. And is not this a rare motive for a Christian
church to continue penal laws for religion ? If her piety be
not able to maintain her upon equal terms, methinks her
having so much the whip-hand and start of all others, should
satisfy her ambition, and quiet her fears ; for it is possible
for her to keep the churches, if the laws were abolished ; all
the difference is, she could not force ; she might persuade
and convince what she could ; and pray, is not that enough
for a true church, without gaols, whips, halters, and gib
bets ? O what corruption is this that has prevailed over
men of such pretensions to light and conscience, that they
do not, or will not, see nor feel their own principles one re
move from themselves ; but sacrifice the noblest part ofthe
reformation to .ajnbition, and compel men to truckle their
tender consciences to the grandeur and dominion of their
doctors !
But because the sons of the church of England keep, at
this time, such a stir in her favour, and fix her excellency
i in her opposition to popery, it is worth while to consider a
\ little farther, if really the most feared and disagreeable part
1 of popery, in her own opinion, does not belong to her; and
if it does, should we not be in a fine condition, to be in love
with our fetters, and to court our misery ?
t That part of popery which the church of England with
i most success objects against, is her violence. This is that
only she can pretend to fear : her doctrines she partly pro
fesses, or thinks she can easily refute. Nobody counts her
doctors conjurers for their transubstantiation ; or dangerous
to the state for their beads, or their purgatory : but forcing
others to their faith, or ruining them for refusing it, is the
terrible thing we are taught by her to apprehend. Now
granting this to be the case, in reference to the Roman re
ligion, where it is in the chair, I ask, if the church of Eng
land, with her better doctrines, has not been guilty of this
impiety ; and for that cause more blameablethan the church
she opposes so much. If we look into her acts of state, we
find them many and bitter, against all sorts of dissenters.
There is nigh twenty laAVS made, and yet in force, to con
strain conformity; and they have been executed too, as far
and as often as she thought it fit for her interest to let them.
Some have been hanged, many banished^ more imprisoned,

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C 551
and some to death ; and abundance impoverished; and all
this merely for religion : though, by a base and barbarous
use of wprds, it has been called treason, sedition, routs, and
riots; the worst of aggravations; since they are not con
tented fo make people unhappy for their dissent, but rob
them of all they had left, their innocency. This has been
her state-act, to coin guilt, and make men dangerous, to
have her ends upon them. But that way of palliating per
secution, by rendering a thing that it is not, and punishing
men for crimes they never committed, shews but little con
science in the projectors. The church of England cries out
against transubstantiation, because of the invisibility ofthe
change. She does not see Christ there, and therefore he is
not there ; and yet her sons do the same thing. For though
all the tokens of a riot are as invisible in a dissenters' meet
ing, as that in the transubstantiation, yet it must be a riot
without any more to do : the English of which is, 'It is a
riot to pray to God in the humblest and peaceablest man
ner in a conventicle J
I know it is said, ' The blood shed in the foregoing reia;n,
and the plots of the papists against queen Elizabeth,, drew
those laws from the church of England.' But this Avas no
reason why she should do ill because they had done so : be
sides, it may be answered, that that religion having so long
intermixed itself with worldly power, it gave way to take
the revenges of it. And certainly the great men of the
church of England endeavouring to intercept queen Mary,
by proclaiming the lady Jane Gray, and the apprehension
the papists had ofthe better title of Mary, queen of Scots,
together with a long possession, Avere scurvy temptations
to kindle ill designs against that extraordinary queen. But
though, nothing can excuse and less justify those cruel pro
ceedings, yet if there were any reason for the laws, it is
plainly removed, for the interests are joined, and have been
since king James the first came to the crown. However, it
is certain there Avere laws enough, or they might have had
them, to punish all civil enormities, without the necessity of
making any against them as papists. And so the civil go
vernment had stood upon its own legs, and vices only against
it had been punishable by it. In short, it Avas the falsest
step that Avas made in all that great queen's reign, and the
most dishonourable to the principles of the first reformers;
and therefore I know no better reason why it should be con
tinued, than that which made the cardinal, in the history of
the council of Trent, oppose the reformation at Rome ; 'That
though it Avas true that they were in the wrong, yet the ad
mitting of it approved the judgment of their enemies, and so

552 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
good-night to infallibility.' Let not this be the practice of
the church of England, and the rather, because she does not
pretend to it : but let her reflect, that she has lost her king
from her religion, and they that have got him, naturally
hope for ease for theirs by him; that it is the end they la
boured, and the great use they have for him ; and I would
fain wonder that she never saw it before; but Avhether she
did or no, why should she begrudge it, at least refuse it
now ? since it is plain, that there is nothing we esteem dan
gerous in popery, that other laws are not sufficient to secure
us from : have we not enough of them ? Let her think of
more, and do the best she can to discover plotters, punish
traitors, suppress the seditious, and keep tlie peace better,
than those we have can enable us to do. But, for God's
sake, let us never direct laws against men for the cause of
religion, or punish them before they have otherwise done
amiss. Let men's works, not their opinions, turn the edge
of the magistrate's sword against them ; else it is beheading
them before they are born.
By the common law of this kingdom there must be some
real and proper overt act, that proves treason ; some malice,
that proves sedition ; and some violent action, that proves a
rout or riot. If so, to call any sort of religious orders the
one, or praying to God in any way out of fashion the other,
is preposterous ; and punishing people for it, doAvnright mur
der, or breach of the peace, according to the true use of
words, and the old law of England.
If the church of England fears the growth of popery, let
her be truer to the religion she owns, and betake herself to
faith, rather than force, by a pious, humble, and a good ex
ample; to convince and persuade ; which is the highest ho
nour to any church, and the greatest victory over men. I
am for a national church, as well as she, so it be by consent,
and not by constraint. But coercive churches have the same
principle, though not the same interest. A church by law
established, is a state church ; and that is no argument of
verity, unless the state that makes her so be infallible ; and
because that will not be asserted, the other can never oblige
the conscience, and consequently the compulsion she uses
is unreasonable. This very principle justifies the king of
France, and the inquisition. For laws being equally of
force in all countries where they are made, it must be as
much a fault, in the church of England's judgment, to be a
protestant at Rome, or a calvinist at Paris, as to be a papist
at London : then where is truth or conscience, but in the
laws of countries ! which renders her an Hobbist, notwith
standing her long and loud clamours against the Leviathan.

553
I beg her, for the love of Christ, that she would think of
these things, and not esteem me her enemy for performing
the part of so good a friend. Plain dealing becomes that
character ; no matter whether the way be agreeable, so it
be right : we are all to do our duty, and leave the rest to
God : he can best answer for our obedience, that commands
it ; and our dependance upon his word will be our security
in our conduct. What weight is it to a church, that she is
the church by law established, when no human law can make
a true church ? A true church is of Christ's making, and is by
gospel established. It is a reflection to a church that would
be thought true, tp stoop to human laws for her establish
ment. I have been often scandaled at that expression from
the sons of the church of England, especially those of the
robe, ' What do you talk for ? Our religion is by laAv esta
blished ,' as if that determined the question of its truth
against all other- persuasions.
T,he Jews had this to say against our Saviour, "We have
a law, and by our laAv he ought to die." The primitive
Christians, and some of oiir first reformers, died as by law
established, if that would mend the matter: but does that
make it lawful to a Christian conscience ? We must ever
demur to this plea. No greater argument of a church's de
fection from Christianity than turning - persecutor. It is
true, the scripture says, " The earth' shall help the woman ;"
but that was , to save herself, not to destroy others : for it is
the token that is given by the Holy Ghost of a false church ;
"That none must buy or sell in her dominions, that will
not receive her mark in her forehead, or right hand :" that
is, ' By going to'chureh against conscience, or bribing lustily
to stay at home.'
Things do not change, though men do. Persecution is
still the same, let the hand alter ever so often : but the sin
may not ; for doubtless it is greatest in those that make the
highest claim to reformation. For while they plead their"
own light for doing so, they hereby endeavour to extinguish
another's light that cannot concur. What a man cannot do,
it is not his fault he does not do ; nor should he be com
pelled to do it, and least of all punished for not doing it.
No church can give faith, and therefore cannot force it : for
what is constrained, is not believed ; since faith is, in that
sense, free, and constraint gives no time to assent : I say,
what I do not will, is not I ; and what I do not choose, is
none of mine; and another's faith cannot save me, though it
should save him. So that this method never obtains the end
designedj since it saves nobody, because it converts nobody ;
it may breed hypocrisy, but that is quite another thing than
salvation.

554 Good ada/ice to the
What, then, is the use of penal laws? Only to show the
sincerity of them that suffer, and cruelty of those that make
and execute them. Arid all time tells us they have ever
failed those that have leaned upon them ; they have always
been losers at last : besides, it is a most unaccountable ob
stinacy in the church of England to stickle to uphold them :
for, after having made it a matter of religion and conscience
to address the late king in behelf of this, to think he should
leave conscience behind him in Flanders, or when they
waited on him to the crown, that he should send it thither
upon a pilgrimage, is want of wit at best; pardon the cen
sure. Could they conscientiously oppose his exclusion for
his religion, and Uoav his' religion, because he will not leave
it ? Or can they reasonably maintain those tests that ex
cluded him wheri duke of York, while they endured none to
hinder him from the crown ? I heartily beg the church
of England's excuse, if I say I cannot apprehend her :
perhaps the fault is mine ; but sure I am she is extremely
' dark. How could she hope for this king without his
conscience ? Or conceive that his honour or conscience
would let him leave the members of his communion
under the lash of so many destroying laws? Would she
be so served by a prince of her own religion, and she in
the like circumstances ?. She would not, let her talk till
doomsday. To object the king's promise, when he came to the crown,
against the repeal of the penal laws, shows not his insin
cerity, but her uncharitableness, or that really she has a
very weak place : for it is plain, the king first declared his
own religion, and then promised to maintain her's ; but was
that to be without, or together with, his own ? His words
show he intended that his own should live, though the other
might reign. I say again, it is not credible that a prince
Oof any sincerity can refuse a being to his own religion, when
he continues another in its well-being. This were to act
upon state, not conscience, and to make more conscience to
uphold a religion he cannot be of, than of giving ease to one
his conscience obliges him to be of. I cannot imagine how
this thought could enter into any head that had brains, or
heart that had honesty. And, to say true, they must be a
sort of sta'te-consciences, ' consciences as by law established,'
that can follow the law against their convictions.
But this is not all I have to observe from that objection :
it implies too evidently, first, that she thinks herself shaken,
if the penal laws be repealed ; then " by law established,"
she must mean, "established by those penal laws." Se
condly, That the king having promised to maintain her, as,

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C. 555
by law established, he ought not to endeavour their repeal,
by which she is established. I cohfess this is very close
arguing ; but then she must not take it ill, if all men think
her ill-founded; for any thing must be so, that is esta
blished by destroying laws ! Laws, that time and practice
havedeclared enemies to property and conscience. 0 let
her not hold by that charter, nPr point thither for her esta
blishment and defence, if she would be thought a Christian
church. ' Plutarch had rather one should think there never was
such a man in the world, than that Plutarch was an ill
man.' Shall the church of England, that glories in a
greater light, be more concerned for her power than her
credit ? To be, than to be that which she should be ? I
would say, far be it from her, for her own sake ; and, which
is of much more moment, for the sake of the general cause
of religion.
Let us see, therefore, if there be not another way of un
derstanding those words, more decent to the king, and
more honourable for her, viz. ' That she is in the national
chair, has the churches and revenues', and is mother of those
that do not adhere to any separate communion ; arid that;
the king has promised to maintain her in this post, from the
invasions of any other persuasion that would wrest these '
priA'ileges out of her hand :' this he promised formerly ;
this he has very particularly repeated in his gracious de
claration : but to ruin men that would not conform, while
himself was so great a dissenter, and came such, to her know
ledge, to the crown, can be no part of his promises, iri the
Opinion of common sense and charity. Is there no differ
ence to be - observed, between not turning her out, arid
destroying all others not of her communion ? He will not
turn her' out ; there is his promise : and he has not done it;
there is his performance : nor will he do it, I am confident,
if she pleases. But there is rio mariner of necessity from
this engagement, that all parties else are to be confounded.
Though, if it were so, it is ill divinity to press such pro
mises upon a prince's conscience, that cannot be performed
with a good one by any body.
Let us remember how often she has upbraided her dis
senters with this, " Render to Caesar the thirigs that are
Cjesar's," Avhilst they have returned upon her the other
half of the text, " and render unto God the things that are
God's." It happens now that God and Caesar are both of
a mind, which perhaps does not always fall out, at least
about the point in hand. Will she dissent from both noAv?
Her case, belifeve me, Will' be 'doubtful' then. I beg her to

556 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
be considerate. It is the greatest time of trial she has met
with since she was a church. To acquit herself like a
member of Christ's universal one, let her keep nothing
that voids her pretensions. The Babylonish garment will
undo her. Practices inconsistent with her reformation will
ruin her. The martyrs' blood won the day, and her severity
has almost lost it. They suffered by law, she makes laws
for suffering. Is this an imitation of their practice, to
uphold the weapons of their destruction? I must tell her,
it is being a martyr for persecution, and not by it : another
path than that the holy ancients, and our humble ancestors
trod, and which will lead her to be deserted and con
temned of every body that counts it safer to follow the
blessed rule and practice of Christ and his inspired mes
sengers, than her narrow and worldly policies. But that
which heightens the reproach, is the offer ofthe Romanists
themselves to make a perpetual civil peace with her, and
that she refuses. Would the martyrs have done this ?
surely no. Let her remember the first argument honest
old Fox advances against that church, is the church of
England's present darling, viz. penal iaws for religion;
as she may see at the beginning ofhis first volume : doubt-
' less he Avas much in the right, which makes her extremely
in the wrong. " Nothing," says the prophet, " must harm
in God's holy mountain," and that is the church, says Fox,
and therefore he says, Christ's church never persecutes.
Leave then God with his own Avork, and Christ with his
own kingdom. As it is not of the world, let not the world
touch it ; no, not to uphold it, though they that bear it
should trip by the Avay. Remember Uzzah, he would
needs support the ark when the oxen stumbled ; but was
struck dead for his pains. The presumption is more than
parallel. Christ promised to be " present with his church
to the end of the world." He bids them " fear not," and
told them, that " sufficient Avas the day for the evil thereof."
How? Avith penal laws? no such matter; but his divine
presence. Therefore it was, he called not for legions to
fight for him, because his work needed it not. They that
want them have another sort of work to do : and it is too
plain, that empire, and not religion, has been too much
the business. But, O let it not be so any more ! to be a
true church is better than to be a national one ; especially
as so upheld. Press virtue, punish vice, dispense with
opinion ; persuade, but do not impose. Are there tares in
opinion ? let them alone ; you heard " they are to grow
with the wheat until harvest," that is, the end of the world.
Should they not be plucked up before? No; and it is

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C 557
angels' work at last too. Christ, that knew all men, saw
no hand on earth fit for that business. Let us not then
usurp their office. Beside, we are " to love enemies ;"
this is the great law of our religion ; by what law then are
we to persecute them ? And if not enemies, not friends and
neighbours certainly.
The apostle rejoiced " that Christ was preached out of
envy." If so, I am sure we ought not to envy Christians
the enjoyment of the liberty of their consciences. Christi
anity should be propagated by the spirit of Christianity, and
not by A'iolence or persecution, for that is the spirit of anti-
christianity. Nor, for fear of it, should we, of Christians,
f become antichristians. Where is faith in God ? Where is
trust in Providence ? Let us do our duty, and leave the
rest with him ; and not "do evil that good may come of it;"
for that shows a distrust in God, and a confidence in our
own inventions for security. No reason of state can excuse
our disobedience to his rule ; and we desert the principles
of our heavenly Master when Ave decline it. The question
is about conscience ; about this we can none of us be too
tender, nor exemplary. It is in right doing that Christians
can' hope for success; and for true victory only through
faith and patience. But if to avoid what we fear, we con
tradict our principles, we may justly apprehend that God
will desert us in an unlawful way of maintaining them.
Perhaps this may be God's time of trying all parties, what
we will do; whether we will rely upon him, or our own
feeble provisions ; whether we will allow Avhat we ourselves,
in our turn, have all of us desired; if not, may we not
expect to suffer the thing we would inflict ? For our penal
laws cannot secure us from the turns of Providence, and
less support us under them. Let us consider the true
ground ofthe difficulty that is made, if it be not partial and
light in God's scale ; for to that trial all things must come,
and his judgment is inevitable as well as infallible. Besides,
if we have not tried all other methods, Ave are inexcusable
in being so tenacious for this. I do therefore, in all humi
lity, beseech all sorts of professors of Christianity in these
kingdoms, to abstract themselves from those jealousies
which worldly motives are apt to kindle in their minds, and
with an even and undisturbed soul pursue their Christian
duty in this great conjuncture; considering, " the race is
not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong," and that, for
all our watchmen, it is " God alone (at last) that keeps the
city." Not that I would decline a fitting, but an un
christian provision : for though the foundation were never
so true, yet if our superstructure be hay and stubble, (our

558 • GOOD ADVICE Tp THE
own narrow devices), the fire will consume it, and our labour
will be worse than: in vain. Let us not therefore sow what
we would not reap, because we must reap what we sow :
and remember who told us, " what we measure to others
sjhall be measured to us again." Let us, therefore, do unto
all parties of men, as we would be done unto by them in
their turn of power ; lest our fear of their undutifulness
should tempt us out pf our duty, and so draw upon our
selves the mischiefs we are afraid of. Sacred writ is full of
this, in the doctrine of both testaments ; and, as we profess
to believe it, we are inexcusable if we do not practise it.
Let the spirit then of Christian religion prevail : let our
policies give way to our duty, and our fears will be over
come of our hopes, which will not make us ashamed at the
last and great judgment; where, O God! let us all appear
with comfort
I could yet enlarge upon this subject; for nothing can be
more fruitful. I could say,' that a church that denies in
fallibility, cannot force, because she cannot be certain ; and
so penal laws (though it were possible that they could be
lawful in others) in her, Avould be unjust : that scripture
leaves men to conviction and persuasion : that the true
church-weapons are light and grace ; and her punishments,
censure and excommunication : that gaols and gibbets are
inadequate methods for conversion, and that they never
succeeded : that this forbids all farther light to come into
the wbrld, and so limits the Holy One, which in scripture
is made a great sin. And, lastly, That such insnare their
own posterity that may be of another mind, and forfeit by
it the estates they have so carefully transmitted to them.
Thus far against imposition. And against compliance, I
could say, that it is to betray God's sovereignty over con
science ; to defy men; gratify presumption ; soil and ex
tinguish truth in the mind ; obey blindfold ; make over the
soul without security; turn hypocrite, and abundance
more; each of which heads might well merit a whole chap
ter. But this having been well and seasonably considered
elsewhere, I shall now proceed to the second part of this
discourse, in which I will be as brief, and yet as full, as
I can.
PART II.
That it is the Principle of Men of Note of all Parties.
But what need is there of this, may some say, when all
parties profess to be of the same judgment, ' That con
science ought not to be forced, nor religion imposed upon

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C. 559

men at their civil peril ?' I own they are all of that mind,
at one time or other; and therefore, that 1 may purge
myself of any animosity to the doctrine of the church of
England, I will ingenuously confess the severe conduct I
have argued against is not to be imputed to her principles ;
but then her evil will be the greater, that in fact has so
notoriously contradicted them. I know some of her de
fenders will hardly allow that too ; though the more candid
give us their silence or confession : for they tell us, ' It is
hot the church that has done it ;' which, unless they meanj
the laws were not made at church, must needs be falsej
since those that made and executed them Avere of her own
communion, and are that great body of members that con
stitute her a church ; but, by her shifting them off, it is but
reasonable to conclude that she tacitly condemns what she
publicly disowns. One Avould think, then, it should not be
so hard to persuade her to quit them, in the way she made
them, or to enjoin her sons to do it, if that language be too
harsh for her. This she must hear of some Avay ; and I
pray God she may endeavour to do her duty in it. She is
not alone ; for every party in power has too evidently lapsed
into this evil ; though, under the prevalency and persecu
tion of another interest, they have ever writ against club-
law for religion. And to the end that I may do the refor
mation right, and the principles of the church of England
justice, I musf say, that hardly one person of any note died
in the time of queen Mary, that did not pass sentence upon
persecution as antichristian, particularly Latimer, Philpot,
Bradford, Rogers, very eminent reformers. The apologies
that were written in those times, are of the same strain, as
may be seen in Jewel, Haddon, Reynolds, &c. and the
papists were with reason thought much in the wrong by
those primitive protestants, for the persecution that they
raised against them, for matters of pure religion. But what
need we go so far back ? Is it not recent in memory, that
bishop Usher was employed to O. Croimvellj by some of
the clergy of the church of England, for liberty of con
science ? Dr. Parr, in the life of Dr. Usher,' primate of
Armagh, fol. 75, has that passage thus :
'Cromwell forbidding the clergy, under great penalties,
to teach schools, or to perform any part of their ministerial
function ; some of the most considerable episcopal clergy in
and about London, desired my lord primate that he would
use his interest with Cromwell, (since they heard he pre
tended a great respect for him) that as he granted liberty
of conscience to almost all sorts of religions, so the episco
pal divines might have the same freedom of serving God in

560 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
their private congregations (since they were not permitted
the public churches) according to the liturgy of the church
of England ; and that neither the ministers, nor those that
frequented that service, might be any more hindered or
disturbed by his soldiers : so according to their desire, he
went and used his utmost endeavours with Cromwell, for
the taking off this restraint, Avhich was at last promised
(though with some difficulty) and that they should not be
molested, provided they meddled not with any matters
relating to his government.'
Certainly those gentlemen Were of my mind. And to
give Dr. Hammond his due, who I understand Avas one of
them, he left it to the witnesses of his end, as his dying
counsel to the church of England, ' That they displaced no
man out of the university, or present church ; but that by
love, and an holy life, they should prevail upon those in
{lossession to come into their church.' But this looked so
ittle like the policy and ambition of the living, that they
resolved it should be buried with him. This I had from
an eminent hand in Oxford, a year or two after his death.
An older man out-lived him, and one of the most learned
and pious of that communion, bishop Sanderson I mean:
they Avere the two great men of their sort that were of the
party. Let us see what this reverend man says to our
point :
' The word of God doth expressly forbid us to subject
our consciences to the judgment of any other, or to usurp a
dominion over the consciences of any one.' Several cases
of conscience discussed in ten lectures in the Divinity
School at Oxford, 3 lect. SO sect, page 103. printed 1660.
' He is not Avorthy to be Christ s disciple, who is not the
disciple of Christ alone. The simplicity and sincerity of
the Christian faith hath suffered a great prejudice since Ave
have been divided into parties ; neither is there any hope
that religion should be restored to her former original and
purjty, until the wounds that were made wider by our
daily quarrels and dissentions, being anointed with the oil
of brotherly love, as with a balsam, shall begin to close
again, and to grow entire into the same unity of faith and
charity.' Ibid. sect. 29.
' The obligation of conscience doth not signify any com
pulsion ; for, to speak properly, the conscience can no more
be compelled than the free-will. Ibid. 4 lect. sect. 5. page
109. ' The express commandment of God doth oblige the con
science properly by itself, and by its own force; and this
obligation is absolute, because it doth directly and always

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C 561
oblige, and because it obligeth all persons, and the obliga
tion of it is never to be cancelled. None but God alone
hath power to impose a law upon the conscience of any
man, to which it ought to be subjected, as obliging by
itself.— ,This conclusion is proved by the words ofthe apos
tle, " There is but one law-giver, Avho can both save and
destroy." In which words two arguments do offer them
selves to our observation : in the first place, they assert
there is but one legislator ; not one picked out amongst
many; not one above many; but one exclusively, that is
to say, one, and but one only. The apostle otherwise had
made use of a very ineffectual argument to prove Avhat he
had propounded ; for he rebuketh those Avho unadvisedly
did pass their judgment either on the persons, or the
deeds of other men, as the invaders of their rights. " Who
art thcu," saith he, " Avho dost judge another?" ' As if he
should have said, Dost thou knoAv thyself, Avhat thou art,
and what thou dost? It doth not belong to thee to thrust
thy saucy sickle into the harvest of another man, much less
boldly to fling thyself into the throne of Almighty God.
If already thou art ignorant of it, then know, that it be-
longeth to him alone to judge of the consciences of men,
to whom alone it doth belong to impose laws upon the
consciences of men, which none can do but God alone.'
Ibid, pages 111, 112, 113.
'The condition and natural estate of the conscience
itself is so placed, as it were in the middle betwixt God
and the will of man, as that which is usually and truly
spoken of kings and emperors, may as truly be verified of
the conscience of every man, Solo Decf minores esse, nee
aliquem in terris superiorem agnoscere ; ' They are less
than God only, and on earth do acknowledge no superior.'
That speech of the emperor Maximilian the First is very
memorable, Conscientiis dominari velle, est arcem cozli in-
vadere ; ' To exercise a domination over consciences, is to
invade the tower of heaven.' He is a plunderer ofthe
glory of God, and" a nefarious invader of the poAver that is
due unto him, whosoever he is that shall claim a right to
the consciences of men, or practise an usurpation over
them.' Ibid. sect. 11. page 115. /
And yet this is the sad' consequence of imposing religion
upon conscience, and punishing non-eonformity with worldly
penalties. -
Let us noAv hear what the late bishop of Down says, in
his Liberty of Prophecy, to our point, ' I am very much
displeased that so many opinions and new doctrines are
commenced amongst us ; but more troubled, that every
Vol. ii. 2 n

562 good Advice to the
man that hath an opinion thinks his own and other men's
salvation is concerned in its maintenance ; but most of all,
that risen should be persecuted and afflicted for disagreeing
in such opinions, which they cannot with sufficient grounds
obtrude upon others necessarily, because they cannot pro
pound them infallibly, arid because they have no warrant
from scripture so to do ; for if I shall tie other men to
believe my opinion, because I think I have a place of scrip
ture which seems to warrant it to riiy understandiug ; Avhy
may he riot serve up another dish to me in the same dress,
and exact the same task of me to believe the contradictory ?'
Liberty of Prophecy, epist. dedicat. pages' 8, 9.
' The experience which Christendom hath had in this
last age, is argument enough, that toleration Of differing
opinions is so far from disturbing the public peace, or de
stroying the interest of princes and commonAveaiths, that it
does advantage to the public, it secures peace, because
there is not so much as the pretence of religion left to such
persons to contend for, it being already indulged to them/
Ibid, page 21.
' It is a proverbial saying, Quod nimia familiaritas servo-
rum est conspiratio adversus dominum ; and they faho for
their security run into grots and cellars a'nd retirements,
think that they being upon the defensive, those prince's and
those laivs that drive them to it are their enemies ; and
therefore they cannot be secUre, unless the power of 'the
one, and the obligation of the Other, be lessened and re
scinded ; and then the being restrained, and made 'misera
ble, endears the discontented persons mutually, and makes
more hearty and dangerobs confederations.' Ibid, page'23.
' No man speaks more unreasonably, than he that denies
to men the use df their reason in the choice of their religion/
Ibid, page 169.
' No Christian is to be put to death, dismembered, or
otherwise directly persecuted, for his opinion, which drieis
not teach impiety or blasphemy/ Ibid, page i90.
' There is a popular pity that follows all persons in mi
sery; and that compassion breeds likeness of affections, and
that very often produces likeness of persuasion; and so
much the rather, because there arises a jealousy and preg
nant suspicion that they, who persecute an opinion, are
destitute of sufficient arguments to confute it, and tliat'the
hangman is the best disputant.' Ibid, pages 197, 198.
' If a man cannot change his opinion when he lists, nor
ever does, heartily or resolutely, but Avhen he cannot do
Otherwise, then to use force, may make him an hypocrite,
but never to be a right believer ; and so, instead of erecting

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C 563
a trophy to God and true religion, we build a monumentfor
the devil.' Ibid, -page 200. ~
' The trick of giving persons differing in opinion over to
the secular power, at the best is no better than hypocrisy,
removing envy from themselves, and laying it upon others ;
a "refusing to do that in external act, Avhich they do in coun
sel and approbation.' Ibid, page 209.
Thus far bishop Taylor, one of the most learned men of
the church of England in his time. i
Let me add another bishop, held learned by all, and in
great reputation with the men of his communion ; and,
among them, the lords spiritual and temporal in parliament
assembled, who have sufficiently declared against this per
secuting spirit on the account of religion, by their full
approbation of, and thanks returned to the bishop of St.
Asaph, for his sermon preached before them November the
5th, 1680, and their desire that he would print and publish
that sermon. The bishop says, that ' They who are most
given to hate and to destroy others, especially those others
who differ from them in religion, are not the church of
God, or at least they are so far corrupt in that particular.'
Page 8.
Again he says, ' That, of societies of men, Christians, of
all others, are most averse from ways of violence and blood;
especially from using any such Avays upon the account of
religion: and among Christian churches, where they differ
among themselves, if either of them use those ways upon the
account of religion, they give a strong presumption against
themselves that they are not truly Christians.' Ibid,
page 9.
' There is reason Tot this, because Ave knoAv that Christ
.gave love for the character by which his disciples were to be
'known. John xiii. 35. "By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, if you have love to one another." And
lest men should unchristen others first, that they may hate
them, and destroy them afterwards, Christ enlarged his pre
cept of'love, and extended it even to enemies, and not only
to ours, but to the enemies df our religion.' Matt. v. 43, 44.
Ibid, page 9.
' As our holy religion excels all others in this admirable
temper, so by this we may usually judge who they are that
excel among Christian churches, Avhen there happens any
difference between them, whether touching the faith, or the
terms of communion. They that were the more fierce, they
(generally had the worst cause.' Ibid, pages 12, '13.
'The council of Nice suppressed the Arians'by no other
force; but putting Arinns out of their bishoprics; they could
2 n 2

564 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
not think heretics fit to be trusted with cure of souls : but
otherwise, as to temporal things, I do not find that they in
flicted any kind of punishments ; but when the Arians came
to have the power in their hands, when theirs Avas come to
be the imperial religion, then depriving was nothing, ba
nishment was the least that they inflicted/ Ibid, page 14.
' Neither our religion, nor our church, is of a persecuting
spirit. I know not how it may be in particular persons;
but I say again, it is not in the. genius of our church:
she hath no doctrine that teacheth persecution/ Ibid.
page 20.
' I would have no man punished for his religion, no not
them that destroy men for religion.' Ibid, page 37.
Dr. Stillingfleet comes short of none of them on this
subject.* ' Our Saviour,' says he, ' never pressed followers,
as men do soldiers, but said, " If any man will come after
me, let him take up his cross (not his sword) and follow me."
His Avas i'/MfM- ,xai (piXavOfoir©- vo/noflio-iir, his very commands
showed his meekness; his laws were sweet and gentle laws,
not like Draco's, that Avere writ in blood, unless it were his
owh, that gave them. His design Avas to ease men of their
former burdens, and not lay on more ; the duties he required
were no other but such as were necessary, and withal very
just and reasonable. He that came to take away the un-
supportable yoke of Jewish ceremonies, certainly did never
intend to gall the necks ofhis disciples Wjth another instead
of it. And it Avould be strange the church should require
more than Christ himself did ; and make other conditions
of her communion, than our Saviour did of discipleship.
What possible reason can be assigned or given why such
things should not be sufficient for communion with a
church, which are sufficient for eternal salvation ? And
certainly those things are sufficient for that, which are laid
down as necessary duties of Christianity by our Lord and
Saviour in his word. What ground can there be Avhy
Christians should not stand upon the same terms now, which
they did in the time of Christ and his apostles ? Was not
religion sufficiently guarded and fenced in then ? Was there
ever more true and cordial reverence in the Avorship of
God ? What charter hath Christ given the church to bind
men up to more than himself hath done ? or to exclude those
from her society, who may be admitted into heaven ? Will
Christ ever thank men at the great day for keeping such out
from communion with his church, when he will vouchsafe
not only crowns of glory to them, but it may be aureola too,
* Irenicum, a weapon-salve for the church's wounds, by E. Stillingfleet, rec
tor of Sutton, in Bedfordshire, in preface to the reader.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C. 565
if there be any such things there? The grand commission
the apostles were sent out with, was only to teach what
Christ had commanded them. Not the least intimation of
any power given them to impose or require any thing
beyond Avhat himself had spoken to them, or they were
directed to by the immediate guidance ofthe spirit of God.
' Without all controversy, the main inlet of all the
distractions, confusions and divisions ofthe Christian world,
hath been by adding other conditions of church communion
than Christ hath done.
'There is nothing the primitive church deserved greater
imitation by us in, than in that admirable temper, modera
tion and condescension which was used in it toAvards all the
members of it.
' This admirable temper in the primitive church might be
largely cleared, from that liberty they allowed freely to dis
senters from them in matters of practice and opinion ; as
might be cleared from Cyprian, Austin, Jerome, and others.
Leaving the men to be won by observing the true decency
and order of churches, whereby those who act upon a true
principle of Christian ingenuity may be sooner drawn to a
compliance in all lawful things, than by force and rigorous
impositions, which make men suspect the weight of the
thing itself, when such force is used to make it enter.' — i-In
the preface.
The same is in effect declared by the house of commons,
when they returned their thanks to Dr. Tillotson, dean of
Canterbury, for his sermon preached. before them, November
the 5th, 1678, desiring him to print that sermon, where he
says, upon our Saviour's words, " Ye know not what manner
of spirit ye are of," ' ye own yourselves to be my disciples,
but do you consider what spirit now acts and governs you ?
Not that, surely, Avhich my doctrine designs to mould and
fashion you into, which is not a furious and persecuting and
destructive spirit, but mild, and gentle and saving; tender
ofthe lives and interests of men, even of those who are our
greatest enemies.' Pages 6, 7.
' No difference of religion, no pretence of zeal for God
and Christ, can warrant and justify this passionate and
fierce, this vindictive and exterminating spirit.' Ibid.
page 7.
f He (i, e. Christ) came to introduce a religion, Avhich
consults not only the eternal salvation of men's souls, but
their temporal peace and security, their comfort and happi
ness in this world/ Ibid, page 8.
' It seemed good to the author of this institution, to com
pel no man to it by temporal punishment/ Ibid, page 1,3..

566 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
' To separate goodness and mercy from God, compassion
and charity from religion, is to make the two best things in
the Avorld, God and religion, good for nothing.' Ibid.
page 9.
' True Christianity is not only the best, but the best*
natured, institution in the world ; and so far as any church
is departed from good nature, and become cruel and barba
rous, so far it is degenerated from Christianity/ Ibid.
page 30.
Thus far Dr. Tillotson, who, to be sure, deserves not to
be thought the least eminent in the present church of Eng
land. Let us hear Avhat Dr. Burnet says to it :
' Men are not masters of their own persuasions, and can
not change their thoughts as they please: he that believes
any thing concerning religion, cannot turn as the prince com
mands him, or accommodate himself to the law, or his pre
sent interests, unless he arrive at that pitch of atheism, as
to look on religion only as a matter of policy, and an engine
for civil government.' Dr. Burnet's History of the Rights
of Princes, &c. in his preface, page 49.
It is to this doctor's pains, she owes the very history of
her reformation; and as by it he has perpetuated his name
with her's, certainly he must have credit with her, or she
can deserve none with any body else ; for no man could
Avell go farther to oblige her.
Let me here bring in a lay-member ofthe church of Eng
land, Sir Robert Pointz, in his Vindication of Monarchy,
who yields us an excellent testimony to the matter in
hand : ' The sword availeth little with the souls of men,
unless to destroy thera together vcith their bodies, and to
make men desperate, or dissemblers in religion, and, when
they find opportunity, to fall into rebellion, as there are
many examples.' Page 27.
' In the ancient times of Christianity, such means were
not used as might make heretics and schismatics more obsti
nate than docible, through the preposterous proceedings of
the magistrates and ministers of justice, in the execution of
penal laws, used rather as snares for gaining of money, and
pecuniary mulcts imposed, rather as prices set upon offences,
than as punishments for the reformation of manners/ Ibid.
page 28.
' The ancient Christians were forbidden by the imperial
law, as also by the laws of other Christian nations, under a
great penalty, to meddle with the goods of JeAvs, or Pagans,
living peaceably.' Ibid, page 29.
' For the goods of the Jews, although enemies to the
Christian religion, cannot, for the cause of religion, come by

CHURCH OF, ENGLAND^ &C. 5.67
escheat unto Christian princes, under whom they li\e.*
Jbid. page 29.
' It is truly said, that peace, a messenger whereof an
angel hath been chosen to be, is scarce established by the
sword; and the gospel, the blessed peace, cannot be pub
lished by the sound of cannon ; neither the sacred word be
conyeyed unto us by the impious hands of soldiers ; neither
tranquillity be brought to the persons and consciences of
men, by that which bringeth ruin unto nations.' Ibid,
page 70.
He has said much in a little ; the talent and honour of'
men truly great. I give this still to the church of England's
principles, which yet makes it harder for her to justify he?
practice in her use of power. But let us hear a king speakj
and one the church of England is bound to hear by many
obligations :
King Charles the First, out of his tender and princely
sense ofthe sad and bleeding condition ofthe kingdom, and
his unwearied desires to apply such remedies, as,- by the
blessing of Almighty God, might settle it in peace, by the
adyice ofhis lords and commons of parliament, assembled at
Oxford, propounded and desired, ' That all the members of
both houses might securely meet in a full and free conven
tion of parliament, there to treat, consult, and agree upon
such things, as may conduce to the maintenance and defence
pf the reformed protestant reljgiqn, with due consideration^
to all just and reasonable ease to tender consciences.' — -The
king's message of a treaty, March 3, 161.3, from Oxford,
superscribed to the lords and commons of parliament as
sembled at Westminster.
in the king's twentieth message for peace, January 29,
1645, he has these wprds, ' That by the liberty offered in
his message of the 15th present, for the ease of their con
sciences who Avill not communicate in the service already
established by act of parliament in this kingdom, he intends
that all other protestants, behaving themselves peaceably in
and towards the civil government,' shall have the free exer
cise of their religion, according to their OAvn way.'
In the thirty-third message for peace, November 14, 1647,
there are these words, ' His majesty considering the great
present distempers concerning chureh-discipline, and that
the presbyterian government is now in practice, his majesty,
to eschew confusion as much as may be, and for the satis
faction of his two houses, is content that the said govern
ment be legally permitted to stand in the same condition it
now is, for three years; provided that his majesty, and

568 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
those of his judgment (or any other who cannot in con
science submit thereunto) be not obliged to comply with
the presbyterian government, but have free practice of their
own profession, without receiving any prejudice thereby,'
From the Isle of Wight.
In his declaration to all his people, January 18, 1645,
from Carisbrook castle, after the votes of no address, he
says, ' I have sacrificed to my two houses of parliament,
for the peace ofthe kingdom, all but, what is much more
dear to me than my life, my conscience and my honour.'
In his letter to the lords, gentlemen, and committee of
the Scotch parliament, together Avith the officers of the
army, July 3, 1648, from Carisbrook castle : ' As the best
foundation of loyally is Christianity, so true Christianity is
perfect loyalty.'
eikhn basiaikh. Ch. 6. Upon his majesty's retirement
from Westminster : ' Sure it ceases to be counsel, when
not reason is used, as to men, to persuade, but force and
terror, as to beasts, to drive and compel men to whatever
tumultuary patrons shall project. He deserves to be a
slave, without pity or redemption, that is content to have
his rational sovereignty of his soui, and liberty of his will
and words, so captivated.' Again, ibid. ' Sure that man
cannot be blameable to God or man, who seriously endea
vours to see the best reason of things, and faithfully follows
what he takes for reason ; the uprightness of his intentions
will excuse the possible failing of his understanding.' —
Again, ibid. ' I know no resolutions more worthy a Christ
ian king, than to prefer his conscience before his kingdoms.'
Chap. 12. Upon the rebellion and troubles in Ireland 
< Some kind of zeal counts all merciful moderation luke-
warmness, and had rather be cruel, than accounted cold,
and is not seldom more greedy to kill the bear for his skin,
than for any harm he hath done.' — Ibid. ' 0 ! my God !
thou seest how cruelty among Christians is acted, under the
colour of religion ; as if we could not be Christians, unless
we crucify one another.'
Chap! 13. Upon the calling the Scots, and their coming. —
' Sure, in matters of religion, those truths gain most on
men's judgments and conciences, Avhich are least urged
with secular violence ; Avhich weakens truth with prejudices,
and is unreasonable to be used, till such means of rational
conviction have been applied, as, leaving no excuse for
ignorance, condemns men's obstinacy to deserved penalties.
Violent- motions are neither manly, christian, nor loyal.
The proper engine of faction is force ; the arbitrator of

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C 569
beasts, not of reasonable men, much less of humble Christ
ians and loyal subjects, in matters of religion.'
Chap. 14. Upon the covenant. — ' Religion requires cha
rity and candour to others of different opinions. Nothing
violent and injurious can be religious.'
Chap. ,15. Upon the many jealousies raised, and scandals
cast upon the king, to stir up the people against him 
' In point of true conscientious tenderness (attended with
humility and meekness, not with proud or arrogant activity,
Avhich seeks to hatch every egg of indifferent opinion to fac
tion or schism) I oft declared how little I'desire my laws
and sceptre should intrench over God's sovereignty, who is
the only King of men's consciences.'
Chap. 27.— To the prince of Wales.—' Take heed of
abetting any factions ; your partial adhering to any one side,
gains you not so great advantages in some men's hearts,
(who are prone to be ofthe king's religion) as it loseth you
in others, who think themselves, and their profession, first
despised, then persecuted by you. My counsel and charge
to you is, That you seriously consider the former real or
objected miscarriages, which might occasion my troubles,
that you may avoid them. A charitable connivance and
Christian toleration, often dissipates their strength, whom
rougher opposition fortifies. Always keep up sound piety,
and those fundamental truths (which mend both hearts and
lives of men) Avith impartial favour and justice. Your pre
rogative is best showed and exercised in remitting, rather
than exacting the rigour of the law, there being nothing
, worse than legal tyranny/
And as this was the sense and judgment of a king, that
time and the greatest troubles had informed with a superior
judgment, (and which, to be sure, highly justifies the mea
sures that are now taken) so Dr. Hudson, his plain-dealing
chaplain, must not be forgotten by us on this occasion, who
took the freedom to tell his royal master, ' That he looked
v upon the calamities he laboured under, to be the hand of
God upon him, for not having given God his due over con
science.' One can easily imagine this to be reformation language ;
and then it is not hard to think how low that church must
be fallen, that from so free and excellent a principle, is come
to make, execute, and uphold, penal laws for religion,
against her conscientious neighbours : but it is to be hoped,
that, like Nebuchadnezzar's image, whose feet were a mix
ture of iron and clay, and therefore could not stand forever,
persecution will npt be able to mix so with the seed of men,

570 GOpD ADVICE TO THE
buf that humanity will overcome it, and mankind one day
be delivered from that iron, hard, and fierce nature.
( have done Avith my church of England's evidences
against persecution : and for the judgments of all sorts of
dissenters in that point, let their practice have been what
it will, nothing is clearer, than that they disallow of perse
cution, of which their daily addresses of thanks to the king,
for his general ease, by his excellent declaration, are an
undoubted proof.
Thus, (hen, we see it is evident, that it is not only the
duty of all parties, as they would be thought Christians, to
repeal penal laws for religion, but, upon a fair inquiry, we
see it is the avowed principle of every party, at one time or
other, that conscience ought not to be compelled, nor reli
gion imposed upon worldly penalties. And so I come to
the third and last part of this discourse.
PART III.
It is the Interest of all Parties, and especially the Church of
England.
As I take all men to be unwillingly separated from their
interests, and consequently ought only to he sought and dis
coursed ip them, so it musf be granted me on all hands,
that interests change as well as times ; and it is the Avisdom
of a man to observe the courses, and humour the motions,
ofhis interest, as the best way to preserve it. And lest any
ill-natured, or mistaken person, should call it temporizing,
I make this early provision, that I mean, no immoral or
corrupt compliance : a temporizing deservedly base with
men of virtue, and which, in all times, my practice, as Avell
as judgment, hath shown the last aversion to. For upon the
principle 1 now go, and which I lay down, as common and
granted in reason and fact, with all parties concerned in
this discourse, that man does not change, that morally fol
lows his interest under all its revolutions; because to be
true to his interest, is his first ciyil principle. I premise
this, to introduce what I have to offer with respect to the
interests to be now treated upon.
And first, I say, I take it to be the interest of the church
of England to abplish the penal laws, because it never Avas
her interest to make them. My reasons for that opinion
are these: First, They hare been an argument to invalidate
the sufferings of the reformers, because if it be unlawful to
disobey government about matters of religion, they were in
the wrong. And if they say, ' O but they were in error
that punished their non-confqrmity :' I an swer,H oilcan

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C 571
she prove that she is infallibly in the right? And if this;
cannot be done, she compels to an uncertainty upon the same,
terms. Secondly, She has overthrown the principles upon
which she separated from Rome : for if it be unlawful to
plead scripture and conscience, to vindicate dissent from her
communion, it was unlawful for her, upon the same plea,
to> dissent from the church pf Rome ; unless she will say
again, ' That she was in the right, but the other in the
wrong ;' and she knows this is no answer, but a begging of
the question ; for they that separate from her, think them
selves as serious, devout, and as much in the right as she
could do. If then conscience and scripture, interpreted with
the best light she had, Avere the ground of her reformation,
she must alloAV the liberty she takes, or she eats her yvords,
and subverts her foundation ; than which nothing can be
more destructive to the interest of any being, civil or eccle
siastical. Thirdly, The penal laws have been the great
make-bate in the kingdom from the beginning: for if I
should grant that she nad been once truly the church of
England, (which she was not, for there were divers parties
dissenting from the first of her establishment) yet, since it
afterwards appeared she was but one party, though the
biggest, she ought not to have made her power more national
than her faith, nor her faith so by the force of temporal
authority. It is true, she got the magistrate on her side,
but she engaged him too far : for she knew, Christ did not
leave Caesar executor to his last will and testament ; and
that that should be the reason why she did so, was none of
the best ornaments to her reformation. That she ivas but
a party, though the biggest, by the advantages that temporal
power brought her, I shall easily prove; but I will intro
duce it with a short account of our state-reformation here
in England.
Henry the Eighth was a kind of hermaphrodite in religion,
or, in the language ofthe times, a trimmer; being a medley
of papist and protestant, and that part he acted to the life,
or to the death rather ; sacrificing on the same day men of
both religions, because one was not protestant enough, and
the other not papist enough for him. In this time were
some anabaptists ; for the distinction of church of England,
and Calvinist, ivas not then known.
Edward the Sixth succeeded ; a prince that promised vir-?
tues, that might more than balance the excesses of his father;
and yet, by archbishop Cranmer, was compelled to sign a
warrant to burn poor Joan of Kent, a famous Avoman, but
counted an enthusiast : but to prove what I said of him, it
was not without frequent denials and tears, and the bishop's,

572 GOOD ADVICE TO- THE
taking upon him to answer for it at God's judgment ; of
which I hope his soul was discharged, though his body, by
the same law, suffered the same punishment in the succeed
ing reign. Thus even the protestants began with blood for
mere religion, and taught the Romanists, in succeeding
times, how to deal with them.
At this time the controversy grew warm between the
church of England and the Calvinists, that were the abler
preachers, and the better livers: the bishops being mostly
men of state, and some of them looking rather backward
than forward ; witness the difficulty the king had to get
Hooper consecrated bishop, without conformity to the re
served ceremonies.
Queen Mary came in, and ended the quarrel at the stake.
Noav Ridley and Hooper hug, and are the dearest brethren,
and best friends in the Avorld. Hooper keeps his ground,
and Ridley stoops ivith his ceremonies to the other's farther
reformation. But this light and union flowed from their
persecution : for those abroad at Frankfort, and other
places, were not upon so good terms : their feuds grew so
great, that the one refused communion with the other;
many endeavours Avere used to quench the fire, but they
were ineffectual ; at best it lay under the ashes of their afflic
tion for another time ; for no sooner was Queen Elizabeth
upon her throne, than they returned, and their difference
with them. They managed it civilly for a while ; but am
bition in some, and covetousness in others on the one hand,
and discretion giving way to resentment on the other, they
first ply the queen and her ministers, and when that ended
in favour ofthe men of ceremony, the others arraigned them
before the first reformers abroad, at Geneva, Basle, Zurich,
&c. The leading prelates by their letters, as Dr. Burnet
lately tells us, in his printed relation of his travels, clear
themselves to those first doctors of any such imputation,
and lay all upon the queen, who, for reasons of state, would
not be brought to so inceremonious a way of worship, as
that of the Calvinists.
At this time there were papists, protestants, evangelists,
praecisians, ubiquitists, familists or enthusiasts, and anabap
tists, in England ; Avhen, the very first year of her reign,
'A law for uniformity - in worship and discipline,' was
enacted, and more followed of the severest nature, and
sometimes executed. Thus, then, we see that there never
was such thing as a church of England since the days of po
pery, that is, a church, or communion, containing all the
people ofthe kingdom, and so cannot be said to be so much
as a twin of the reformation ; nevertheless, she got the

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &.C 573
blessing of the civil magistrate ; she made him great to be
great by him : if she might be the church, he should be
the head. Much good may the bargain do her. Now is the
time for her to stand to her principle. I never knew any
body exceed their bounds, that were not met with at last.
If we could escape men, God we cannot; his providence
will overtake us, and find us out.
By all this then it appearing, that the church of England
was not the nation, the case is plain, that the penal laws
were a make-bate, for they sacrificed every sort of people
whose consciences differed from the church of England ;
which first put the Romanists upon flattering prerogative,
and courting its shelter from the wrath of those laws. The
address could not be unpleasant to princes ; and Ave see it
was not; for king James, that came in with invectives
against popery, entering the lists with the learned of that
church, and charging her with all the marks the revelation
gives to that of antichrist, grew at last so tame and easy to
wards the Romanists, that our own story tells us of the
fears of the increase of popery in the latter parliament of
his reign.
In king Charles the First's time, no body can doubt ot
the complaint, because that was in great measure the drift
of every parliament, and at last one reason ofthe war. On
the other hand, the severity of the bishops against men of
their own principles, and, in the main, of their own com
munion, either because they were more zealous in preaching,
more followed of the people, or could not wear some odd
garment, and less lead the dance on a Lord's day at a may
pole, (the relic of Flora, the Roman strumpet) or perhaps
for rubbing upon the ambition, covetousness, and laziness
ofthe dignified, and ignorance and looseness ofthe ordinary
clergy of the church, (of which I could produce five hun
dred gross instances) I say these things bred bad blood,
and, in part, gave beginning to those animosities, that at
last broke forth, with some other pretences, into all those
national troubles that agitated this poor kingdom for ten
years together; in which the church of England became
the greatest loser, her clergy turned out, her nobility and
gentry sequestered, decimated, imprisoned, &c. And what
ever she is pleased to think, nothing is truer, than that her
penal laws, and conduct in the star-chamber, aud high
commission court, in matters of religion, was her over
throw. It is as evident, the same humour, since the restoration
of the late king, has had almost the same effect. For no
thing was grown so little and contemptible, as the church

!574 GOOD ADVTCE TO THE
of England in this kingdoni, which she now in titles herself
' The church of:' witness the elections Of the last three
parliaments before this. I know it may be said, ' The per
sons chosen were church-goers;' I Confess it, for the law
Would have them so. But nobody was more averse to the
politics of the clergy; insomuch that the parson and the
parish almost everywhere divided upon the question of their
election. In truth, it has 'been the favour and countenance
ofthe crown, and nother intrinsic interest or value, that
has kept her up to this day ; else her penal laws, the bul
wark of the church of England, by the same figure that she
is one against popery, had sunk her long since.
I hope I may, by this time, conclude without offence, that
the penal laws have been a make-bate in the great family
of the kingdom, setting the father against his children, and
brethren against brethren ; not only giving the empire to
one, but endeavouring to extinguish the rest, and that for
this the church of England has once paid a severe reckoning.
I apply it thus : is it not her interest to be careful she does
it Pot a second time ? She has a fair Opportunity to prevent
it, and keep herself where she is ; that is, ' The public reli
gion of the country, with the real maintenance of it;' which
is a plain preference to all the rest.
y Violence and tyranny are no natural consequences of
i popery ; for then they would follow every-where, and in all
-places and times alike. But we see in twenty governments
in Germany, there is none for religion, nor was for an age
in France : and in Poland, the popish cantons ofSvcitzer-
land, Venice, Lucca, Colonia, &c. where that religion is
dominant, the people enjoy their ancient and civil rights, a
little more steadily than they have of late times done in
some protestant countries nearer home, almost ever since
"the reformation. Is this against protestancy ? No ; but
-very much against protestants. For had they been true to
their principles, we had been upon better terms. So that
the reformation was not the fault, but not keeping to it bet
ter than some have done : for whereas they Avere papists
that both obtained the great charter, and charter of forests,
and, iii the successive reigns of the kings of their religion,
industriously laboured the confirmation of them, as the
¦great text of their liberties and properties, by above thirty
other laws; we find almost an equal number to destroy
them, and but one made in their favour, since the reforma
tion, and that shrewdly against the will of the high church
men too ; I mean, the petition of right, in the third year of
Chdrles the First. In short, they desire a legal security
with us, and we are afraid of it, lest it should insecure us ;

CHTJ'RCH OF ENGLAND, &C 575
When nbthing can do it so certainly as their insecurity; for
safety makes no man desperate. And he that seeks ease by
law, therefore does it, because he Would not attempt it by
'foi'ce. Are we afraid of their power, and yet provoke it ?
If this jealousy and aversion prevail, it may drive her to a
bargain with the kingdom for such general 'redemption or"
"property, as may dissolve Our great corporation of con
science, and then she will think, that half a loaf bad been
better than no bread; and that it had been more adviseable
to have parted with penal laws, that only served to dress
her in satire, than have lost all for keeping them ; especially
when it Was but parting with spurs, claws and bills, that
made her look more like a vulture thah a dove, and a lion,
than a lamb.
But I proceed to my next reason, why it is her interest to
repeal those penal laWs, (though a greater cannot be ad
vanced to men than self- preservation) and that is, ' That
•site else breaks with a king heartily inclined to preserve
her by anyway that is not persecuting, and Whose Interest
she Once pursued at all adventures, when more than "she
^ees was suggested to her by the men of the interest she
Apposed, in favour of his claim.' What then has befallen her,
that She changes the course she took with such resolutions
of perseverance ? 'For bringing him to the cro'Wn with this
'religion, could not be iriPre her duty to his title, or her in
terest to support her own, than it is still to be fair with him.
If she owed the one to him, and to Christianity, she is not
iless indebted to herself the other. Does he seek to impose
j his own religion upon her ? By no means. There is no-
j" body would abhor the attempt, Or, at all adventures, con
demn it, more than myself. What then is the matter ? Why,
lie desires ease for his religidh : she does not 'think fit 'to
Consider him In this, (no, not the king she brought with this
objection to the CrOWn). Certainly she is much in the
Wrong, and shows herself an ill cdiirtier, (though it was
become her calling) first, to give him r6ast-meat,'theh beat
him With the spit. Is not this to quit those high principles
of loyalty and Christianity she valued herself once upon,
and, what she can, provoke. the tnfschiefs she fears? Cer
tainly this ,is dividing in judgment from him, that she has
acknowledged to be her ecclesiastical head.
My fifth reason is, That as the making and executing the
'penal laws for religion affects all the several parties of
¦protestant dfssettters as well as the papists (the judges in.
Vaughah's time, and he at the head of them, giving it as
their opinion, they were equally exposed to those laws)
arid that they are : thereby naturally driven into an interest

570 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
with them ; so it is at this time greatly the prudence ofthe
church of England to repeal them ; for by so doing she di
vides that interest that self-preservation allows all men to
pursue, that are united by danger: and since she is assured
the papists shall not have the less ease in this king's time,
than if the laws were repealed, and that her fears are not of
the succeeding reigns, hoAV is their repeal a greater insecu
rity, especially when by that she draws into her interest all the
protestant dissenters, that are abundantly more considerable
than the papists, and that are as unwilling that popery
should be national as herself. For if this be not granted,
see what reputation follows the church of England. She
tells the king she does not desire his friends should be per
secuted ; yet the forbearance must not be by declaration, to
save the government, nor by law, to save her ; and without
one of these Avarrants, every civil magistrate and officer iu
England is perjured, that suffers them in that liberty against
law. How can she be sincerely willing that should be done,
that she is not willing should be done legally ?
, But, sixthly, The church of England does not knoAv but
I they, or some other party, may at one time or other prevail.
It seems to me her interest, to set a good example, and so
, to bespeak easy terms for herself. I kuoAV of none intended,
and believe no body but herself can place her so low ; yet if
it were her unhappinefs, I think to have civil property secured
out ofthe question of religion, and constraint upon conscience
prevented by a glorious magna ch'arta for the liberty of it,
were not a thing of ill consequence to her interest. Let us
but consider what other princes did for their own religion,
within the last seven reigns, when they came to the crown,
and we cannot think so soft and equal a thing as an. impar
tial liberty of conscience, after all that has been said of a
popish successor, an ordinary character of a prince, or a mean
assurance to us : this ought not slip her reflection. Besides,
there is some care due to posterity : though the present
members of her communion may escape the temptation, their
children may not : they may change the religion of their
education, and conscientiously choose some other commu
nion. Would they submit the fortunes they leave them to
the rape of hungry courtiers, bigots and indigent informers,
or have their posterity impoverished, banished, or executed,
for sober and religious dissent ? God knows into whose.
hands these laAvs at last may fall, Avhat mischief they may do,
and to whom. Believe me, a king ofthe humour of sir J. K.
of the Avest, or sir W. A. of Reading, or sir R. B. or sir S. S.
' of London, Ayduld, with such vouchers, quickly make a
Golgotha ofthe kingdom. If she thinks herself considerable

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C. 577
in number or estate, she will have the more to lose. Let
her not therefore establish that in the prej udiee of others, that
may in the hands of others turn to her prejudice.
Lastly, I would not have her miss the advantage that is
designed her by those that perhaps she thinks worst of. I
dare say nobody Ayould willingly see the presbyterian in her,
chair ; and yet that may happen to be the consequence of
her tenaciousness in a little time. For if the aversion her
sons promote by wholesale against popery should prevail,
the remains of it in herself are not like to escape that refor
mation. I mean, her episcopal government, and the cere
monies of her worship, for which she has vexed the most
conscientious people of this kingdom above an age past. And
the presbyterian being a rich, industrious, and numerous
party, as well among the nobility and gentry, as trading and
country people, I cannot see but the next motion, naturally
speaking, is like to tend that way ; for other parties, however
well esteemed, may seem too great a step of reformation at
once ; and methinks she has tasted enough of that regiment,
to be once wise, and keep the balance in her own hands.
And certain it is, that nothing will so effectually do this, as
the intreated liberty of conscience; for then there will be
four parties of dissenters, besides herself, to balance against
any designs that may warp or bias things to their advance
ment. And that which ought to induce the church of Eng
land not a little to hasten as Avell as do the thing, is this ;
she is now a sort of national church by power, she will then
be the public church by concurrence of all parties. Instead
of enemies to invade or undermine her, they that should do
it are made the friends of her safety, by the happiness they
enjoy through her complacency : and if any should be so
unnatural or ungrateful to her, the interest ofthe rest will
oblige them to be her spies and security against the ambition
of any such party. I do heartily pray to God that he would
enlighten the eyes of her leaders, and give them good hearts
too, that faction may not prevail against charity, in the name
of religion : and, above all, that she would not be proud of
her numbers, or stand off upon that reflection ; for that alone
will quickly lessen them, in a nation loving freedom as much
as this we live in : and What appears in the town, is an ill
glass to take a prospect -of the country by: there are
parishes that have fifteen thousand souls in them, and if two
come to church, it is a matter of brag ; though half the rest
be sown among the several dissenting congregations of their
judgment. I would not have her mistaken ; though popery
i be an unpopular thing, it is as certain she, of a long time,
i has not been popular, and on that principle never can be :
Vol. ii 2o

578 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
and if she should plow with that heifer now, and gain a
little by the aversion to popery ; Avhen it is discerned that
popery does return to the civil interest ofthe kingdom, they
will quickly be friends. For besides that we are the easiest
and best-natured people in the world to be appeased, there
are those charms in liberty and property to English nature,
that no endeavours can resist or disappoint. And can we
reasonably think the Romanists will be wanting in that,
when they see it is their own (and perhaps their only) inter
est to do so ? These are the arguments which, I confess,
have prevailed with me to importune the church of England
to yield to the ' Repeal of all the penal statutes,' and I
should be glad to see them either well refuted, or submitted
to. I shall now address myself to those ofthe Roman church,
and hope to make it appear it is their interest to sit down
thankfully with the liberty of conscience herein desired, and
that a toleration, and no more, is that which all Ro
manists ought to be satisfied Avith. My reasons are these :
first, the opposition that popery everyAvhere finds : for in
nothing is the kingdom so much of a mind as in this aver
sion : it is no news, and so may be the better said and taken.
1 say then, this unity, this universality, and this visibility,
against popery, make the attempt for more than liberty of
conscience too great and dangerous. I believe there may be
some poor silly bigots that hope bigger, and talk farther ;
but Avhocan help that ? There are weak people of all sides,
and they will be making a pudder: but what is the language
of their true interest, the infallible guide ofthe wiser men ?
Safety, certainly; and that in succeeding reigns, to choose :
and if so, their steps must be modest, for they are watched
and numbered. And though their prudence should submit
to their zeal, both must yield to necessity, whether they like
it or no. What they convert upon the square, (persuasion,
I mean) is their own, and much good may it do them. But
the fear is not of this ; and for compelling the averse genius
of the kingdom, they have not the means, whatever they
would do if they had them : which is my second reason. I
say they have not the power, and that is what we apprehend
most. There are three things that proAe this in my opinion.
First, their want of hands ; next, want of time ; and lastly,
their intestine division ; which, whatever we think, is not
inconsiderable. They are few, we must all agree, to the
kingdom, upon the best computation that could be made :
out of eight millions of people, they are not thirty thousand,
and those but thinly sown up and down the nation ; by which
it appears that the disproportion of the natural strength is

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, ,&C. 579

not less than two hundred and seventy persons to one. So
that popery in England is like a spirit without a body, or, a
general without an army. If can hurt no more, than bullet!
without poAvder, or a sword, and no hand to use it. I dare
say, there is not of that communion, enough atonce,'to make
all the coal-fires in London ; and yet we are apprehensive
they are able to consume the whole kingdom. I am still
more afraid of her fears than of them ; for though they seem
high, she thinks their religion in no reign has appeared much
lower. ' O, but they have the king of their side, and he has the
executive power in his hands !' True, and this I call the ar
tificial strength of the kingdom. But, I say, first we have
his word to bind him. And though some may think our
kings cannot be tied by their people, certainly they may be
tied by themselves. What if I do not look upon the act of
both houses to oblige the king, his own concession must ; and
that may be given in an act of state. I take the king to be
as well obliged in honour and conscience to what he promises
his people in another method, as if it had been by his royal
assent in parliament ; for an honest man's word is good
everywhere, and why a king's should not, I cannot tell. It
is true, the place differs, and the voice comes with greater
solemnity ; but why it should with greater truth, I know not.
And if the church of England will but be advised to give him
the opportunity of keeping his repeated Avord with her, and
not deprive herself of that advantage by jealousies and dis
tances that make her suspected, and may force him into ano
ther conduct, I cannot help believing that the king will to a
tittle let her feel the assurance and benefit of his promises.
But next, we have his age for our security; which is the
second proof, of the second reason, why the papists should
look no farther than a toleration. This is the want of time
I mentioned. They have but one life in the lease, and it is
out of their power to renew ; and this life has lived fast too,
and is got Avithin seven of threescore ; a greater age than
most ofhis ancestors ever attained. 'Well, but he has an
army, and many officers of his own religion.' And if it be
so, What can it do ? It may suppress an insurrection ; but
upon the attempts we foolishly fear, they were hardly a
breakfast to the quarters they live in. For if they were to
gether, all the confines or remote parts of the nation would
rise like grass upon them ^-and if dispersed, to be sure they
have not strength for such an attempt.
' But if they are not sufficient, there is a potent prince not
far off can help the design, who is not angry with protest
ancy at home only.' Suppose this, is there not as potent
2 o 2

580 good Advice to the
naval powers to assist the constitution of the kingdom from
such invasions? Yes, and land ones too. And as the pro
testant governments have more ships than the other, so an
equal land force, when by such attempts to make popery
universal, they are awakened to the use of them : but cer
tainly we must be very silly to think the king should suffer
so great a shock to his own interest, as admitting an army
of foreigners to enter his kingdom on any pretence, must
necessarily occasion. These ball-beggars, and raw-heads
and bloody-bones, are the malice of some, and the weakness
of others. But time, that informs children, will tell the
world the meaning of the fright.
The third proof of my second reason, is, ' The intestine
division among themselves.' That division weakens a great
body, and renders a small one harmless, all will agree. Now,
that there is such a thing as division among them, is town-talk.
The seculars and regulars have ever been two interests all
the Roman church over ; and they are not only so here, but
the regulars differ among themselves. There is not a coffee
house in town that does not freely tell us that the Jesuits
and Benedictines are at variance, that Count Da, the pope's
nuncio, and bishop Lyborn, dissent mightily from the poli
tics of the first ; nay, the other day the story was, that they
had prevailed entirely over them. The lords and gentlemen
of her communion have as warmly contested about the
lengths they onght to go ; moderation seems to be the con
clusion. Together they are little, and can do little ; and,
divided, they are contemptible, instead of terrible.
Lastly, The Roman church ought to be discreet, and think
of nothing farther than the intreated general ease, because
it would be an extreme that must beget another in the suc
ceeding reign. For as I can never think her so weak as well
as base, that after all her arguments for the jus divinum of
succession she should, in the face of the world, attempt to
violate it in the wrong of one of another persuasion, (for
that were an eternal loss of her \vith mankind ;) so, if she
does not, and yet is extravagant, she only rises higher to
fall lower than all others in another reign. This were pro
voking their OAvn ruin. And, to say true, either way would,
as the second letter has it, ' Discredit her for ever, and make
true prophets of those they had taken such pains to prove
false witnesses.' And supposing her to reckon upon the just
succession, nothing can recommend her, or continue her hap
piness, in a reign of another judgment, but this 'Liberty
equally maintained,' that other persuasions more numerous,
for that reason, as well as for their own sakes, are obliged
to insure her. Here the foundation is broad and strong,

Sec. 581
arid what is built upon it has the looks of long life.
The indenture will at least be quinque-partite, and parties
are not so mortal as men. And as this joins, so it preserves
interest intire, which amounts to a religious amity and a
civil unity, at the worst.
Upon the whole matter, I advise the members ofthe Ro
man communion in this kingdom, to be moderate ; it is their
duty, and it belongs to all men to see it and feel it from
them, and it behoves them mightily they should ; for the
first part of this discourse belongs to their hopes, as well as
to the church of England's fears, viz. the duty and spirit of
Christianity. Next, let them do good offices between the
king and his excellent children ; for as that will be well taken
by so affectionate a father, so it gives the lie to their ene
mies' suggestions, and recommends them to the grace and
favour of the successors. And having said this, 1 have said
all that belongs to them in particular. There is left only
my address to the protestant dissenters, and a general con
clusion, to finish this discourse.
Your case, that are called protestant dissenters, differs
iii) mightily from that of the church of Englaird, and Rome.
For the first hath the laAvs for her, the last the prince. Those
laws are against you, and she is not willing they should be
repealed : the prince offers to be kind to you, if you please :
your interest, in this conjuncture, is the question. I think
none ought to be made, that it is the liberty of conscience
desired, because you have much more need of it, having
neither laws nor prince of your side, nor a successor of
any of your persuasions. The fears of popery I know
reach you; but it is to be remembered also, that if the
laws are not repealed, there ivants no new ones to destroy
you, of the papists' making ; so that every fear you are
taught to have of their repeal, is against yourselves. Supr
pose your apprehensions well grounded, you can but be
destroyed : which is most comfortable for you to suffer, by
law, or without it ? The church of England, by her penal
laws, and the doctrine of headship, has armed that religion
(as it falls out) to destroy you. Nay, has made it a duty in
the king to doat, from which (he says) nothing but an act
of parliament can absolve him, and that she is not willing to
allow. And is Jt not as reasonable that you should seek
their repeal, that if you suffer from the papists, it may be
without human law, as well as against Christ's law, as for
the church of England to keep them in force ; because if she
suffers, it shall be against the laws made to uphold her ? For
not repealing them, brings you an inevitable mischief, and
her, at most, but an uncertain safety ; though it is certain,

582 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
she at the same time will sacrifice you to it. And yet if I
were in her case, it would please me better to remove laws
that might reproach me, and stop my mouth when turned
against me ; and be content, that if I suffer for my religion,
it is against the law of God, Christianity, and the funda
mentals ofthe old and true civil government of my country,
before such laws helped to spoil it. In short, you must eu
ther go to church, or meet, or let fall your worshipping of
God in the way you believe. If the first, you are hypocrites,
and give away the cause, and reproach your dead brethren's
sincerity, and gratify the old accusation of schism, ambition,
&c. and finally lose the hope and reward of all your suffer
ings. If the second, viz. that you meet against law, you run
into the mPuth of the government, whose teeth are to meet
in you, and destroy you, as by laAv established. If the last,
you deny your faith, overthrow your own arguments, fall
away from the apostolical doctrine of assembling together,
and somust fall into thehands of God, and underline troubles
of your own consciences and woundings of his spirit, of
which it is said, ' who can bear them ?' So that nothing is
plainer than that protestant dissenters are not obliged to
govern themselves after such church of England measures,
supposing her fears and jealousies better bottomed than they
are : for they are neither in this king's time in the same con
dition, with her, if the penal laws remain in force, nor like
to be so, if she can help it, in the next reign, if they are not
repealed in this ; so that they are to be certainly persecuted
now, in hopes of an uncertain liberty then. Uncertain both
whether it will be in her poAver, and whether she will do it
if it be. The language of fear and assurance is two things ;
affliction promises what prosperity rarely performs. Of this
the promises made to induce the late king's restoration,
and the cancelling of the former declaration, and what
followeth upon both, are a plain truth. And though the
last Westminster parliament inclined to it ; nobody so
much opposed it as the clergy, and the most zealous sons of
that church : and if they could or would not then see it to
be reasonable, I cannot see why one should trust to people
so selfish and short-sighted. But if she will stoop to all those
dissenting interests that are protestant, it must either be by
a comprehension, and then she must part with her bishops,
her common-prayer, her ceremonies, and this itself is but
presbyterian ; (and she must go lower yet, if she will com
prehend the rest) or, if not, slje must persecute, or give this
liberty of conscience at last ; which, that she will ever yield
to uncompelled, and at a time too when there is none to do
it, while she refuses it under her present pressing circum-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C 583
stances, I confess I cannot apprehend. But there is yetone ar
gument that can never fail to oblige your compliance with the
general ease intreated, viz. ' That the penal laws are against
our great law of property, and so void in themselves/ This
has been the language of every apology ; and that which, to
say true, is not to be answered : how then can you decline
to help their repeal, that in conscience, reason and law, you
think void in their own nature ?
Lastly, There is nothing that can put you in a condition to
help yourselves, or the church of England, against the domi,
nation of popery, but that which she weakly thinks the way
to hurt you both, viz. ' The repeal ofthe penal laws.' For,
as you are, you are tied hand and foot ; you are not your oivn
men ; you can neither serve her nor yourselves ; you are fast
in the stocks of her laws, and the course she would have
you take, is to turn martyrs under them to support them :
if you like the bargain, you are the best-natured people in
the world, and something more. And since begging is in
fashion, I should desire no other boon ; for upon so plain a
loss of your wits, your estates will of course fall a stray to
the government, so that without the help of a penal law,
you make an admirable prize.
I have no mind to end so pleasantly with you ; I have a
sincere and Christian regard to you and yours. Be not co
zened, nor captious, at this juncture. I know some of you
are told, ' If you lose this liberty, you introduce idola
try, and for conscience sake you cannot do it.' But that is a
pure mistake, and improved, I fear, by those that know it
so, which makes us the worse; for it is not introducing ido
latry, (taking for granted that popery is so) but saving the
people from being destroyed that profess that religion. If
Christ and his apostles had taken this course with the world,
they must have killed them, instead of converting them. It
is your mistake, to think the Jewish rigorous constitution
is adequate to the Christian dispensation ; by no means :
that one conceit of judaising Christianity in our politics,
has filled the world with misery, of which this poor king
dom has had its share. Idolaters are to be enlightened and
persuaded, as St. Paul did the Athenians and Romans, and
not knocked on the head, which mends nobody. And to say
a Christian magistrate is to do that, that a Christian cannot
do, is ridiculous ; unless, like the bishop ofMunster, Avho
goes like a bishop one part of the day, and a soldier the
other, he is to be a Christian in the morning, and a magis
trate in the afternoon. Besides, it is one thing to enact a
religion national, and compel obedience to it, (which would
make this case abominable indeed) and another thing to take

584 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
off Christian penalties for the sake of such mistakes; since
that is to give them power to hurt others, and this only to
save you from being hurt for mere religion.
To conclude my address to you : of all people, it would
look the most disingenuous in you, and give you an air the
least sensible, charitable and Christian, not to endeavour
such an ease, that have so much wanted it, and so often and
so earnestly pressed it, even to clamour. But that you
should do it for their sakes who have used you so, and that
the instruments of their cruelty, the penal laws, should from
a common grievance become a darling to any among you,
will be such a reproach to your understandings and con
sciences, that no time or argument can wipe off, and which
I beseech God and you to prevent.
THE CONCLUSION.
I shale conclude with one argument, that equally con
cerns you all, and that is this; you claim the character of
Englishmen. Now to be an Englishman, in the sense of the
government, is to be a freeman, whether lord or commoner,
to hold his liberty and possessions by laws of his own con
senting unto, and not to forfeit them upon facts made faults,
by humour, faction, or partial interest prevailing in the go
verning part against the constitution of the kingdom ; but
for faults only, that are such in the nature of civil govern
ment ; to wit, 'breaches of those laws that are made by the
whole, in pursuance of common right, for the good of the
whole.' This regard must at no time be neglected, or violated
towards any one interest ; for the moment we concede to
such a breach upon our general liberty, be it from an aver
sion we carry to the principles of those we expose, or some
little sinister and temporary benefit of our own, we sacrifice
ourselves in the prejudices we draw upon others, or suffer
them to fall under; for our interest in this respect is com
mon. If then, as Englishmen, we are as mutually interested
in the inviolable conservation of each other's civil rights, as
men embarked in the same vessel are to save the ship they
are in for their own sakes, we ought to watch, serve and se
cure the interest of one another, because it is our own to do
so ; and not by any means endure that to be done to please
some narrow regard of any one party, which may be drawn
in example at some other turn of power to our own utter
ruin. Had this honest, just, wise and English consideration pre
vailed with our ancestors of all opinions from the days of

CHURCH OF ENGLANB, &C. 585

Richard the second, there had been less blood, imprisonment,
plunder, and-beggary for the government of this kingdom to
answer for. Shall I speak within our own knowledge, and
that without offence ? There have been ruined, since the
late king's restoration, above fifteen thousand families, and
more than five thousand persons dead under bonds for mat
ters of mere conscience to God : but who hath laid it to
heart ? It is high time now we should, especially when
our king, with so much grace and goodness, leads us the
way. 1 beseech you all if you have any reverence towards God,
and value for the excellent constitution of this kingdom,
any tenderness for your posterity, any love for yourselves,
you would embrace this happy conjuncture, and pursue a
common expedient ; that since we cannot agree to meet in
one profession of religion, we may entirely do it in this com
mon civil interest where we are all equally engaged ; and
therefore we ought for our own sakes to seek one another's
security, that if we cannot be the better, we may not be the
worse for our persuasions, in things that bear no relation to
them, and in which it is impossible we should suffer, and
the government escape, that is so much concerned in the
civii support and prosperity of every party and person that
belongs to it.
Let us not therefore uphold penal laws against any of our
religious persuasions, nor make tests out of each other's
faiths, to exclude one another our civil rights ;. for by the
same reason that denying transubstantiation is made one to
exclude a papist; to own it, may be made one to exclude a
church of England man, a presbyterian, an independent, a
quaker, an anabaptist : for the question is not Avho is in
the right in opinion, but whether he is not in practice in the
wrong, that for such an opinion deprives his neighbour of
his common right ? Noav it is certain there is not one of any
party, that would willingly have a test made out of his be
lief, to abridge him of his native privilege ; and therefore
neither the opinion of transubstantiation in the papist,
episcopacy in the church of England man, free-will in
the Armiiiian, predestination in the presbyterian, particu
lar churches in the independent, dipping of adult people in
the anabaptist^ nor not swearing in the quaker, ought to
be made a test of, to deprive him ofthe comforts of his life,
or render him incapable of the service of his country, to
which by a natural obligation he is indebted, and from which,
no opinion can discharge him ; and for that reason much less
- should any other party think it fit, or in their power to ex
clude him.

586 GOOD ADVICE TO THE
And indeed it were ridiculous to talk of giving liberty of
conscience (which yet few have now the forehead to oppose)
and at the same time imagine those tests that do exclude
men that service and reward, ought to be continued : for
though it does not immediately concern me, being neither
officer, nor papist, yet the consequence is general, and every
party, even the church of England, will find herself con
cerned upon reflection ; for she cannot assure herself it may
not come to be her turn.
But is it not an odd thing, that by leaving them on foot,
every body shall have liberty of conscience but the govern
ment ? For Avhile a man is out of office, he is test free ; but
the hour he is chosen to any station, be it in the legislation
or administration, he must wiredraw his conscience to hold
it, or be excluded with the brand of dissent: and can this
be equal or wise ? Is this the way to employ men for the
good of the public, where opinion prevails above virtue, and
abilities are submitted to the humour of a party ? Surely
none can think this a cure for division, or that animosities
are like to be prevented by the only ways in the world that
beget and heighten them. Nor is it possible that the ease
that should be granted can continue long, when the party in
whose favour they are not repealed, may thereby be enabled
to turn the point ofthe sword again upon dissenters.
I know Holland is given in objection to this extent of
freedom, where only one persuasion has the government,
though the rest their liberty: but they do not consider,
first, how much more Holland is under the power of neces
sity than we are. Next, that our constitutions differ
greatly. For the first, it is plain, in the little compass they
live in ; the uncertainty and precariousness ofthe means of
their subsistence : that as they are in more danger of drown
ing, so nearer ruin by any commotion in the state, than other
countries are. Trading is their support ; this keeps them
busy, that makes them rich ; and wealth naturally gives
them caution of the disorders that may spoil them of it.
This makes the governing party wary liow they use their
powerj and the other interests tender how they resist it;
for upon it, they have reason to fear a public desolation;
since Holland has not a natural and domestic fund to rely
upon, or return to, from such national disorders.
The next consideration is as clear and cogent; our con
stitutions differ mightily : for though they have the name
of a republic, yet iu their choice, in order to the legislature,
they are much less free than we are : and since the freehold
ers of all the parties in England may elect, which in Hol
land they can no more do than they can be chosen, there is

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, &C. 587
good reason why all may be elected to serve their king and
country here, that in Holland cannot be chosen or serve.
And if our power to choose be larger than theirs in Holland,
we are certainly then a freer people, and so ought not to be
confined, as they are, about Avhat person it is that must be
chosen : methinks it bears no proportion, and therefore the
instance and objection are improper to our purpose.
But it is said by some, ' That there cannot be two predo
minant religions ; and if the church of England be not that,
popery, by the king's favour, is like to be so.' It is certain
that two predominant religions would be two uppermosts at
once, which is nonsense everywhere : but as I cannot see
what need there is for the church of England to lose her
churches or revenues ; so while she has them, believe me,
she is predominant in the thing ofthe world that lies nearest
her guides. But if I were to speak my inclination, I cannot
apprehend the. necessity of any predominant religion, under
standing the word with penal laws in the tail of it : the mis
chief of it, in a country of so many poAverful interests as this,
I can easily understand, having had the opportunity of seeing
and feeling it too : and because nothing can keep up the ball
of vengeance like such a predominant religion, and that
penal laws and tests are the means ofthe domination, I, for
that reason, think them fit to be repealed, and let English
mankind say, Amen.
I do not love quibbling ; but it is true, to a lamentation,
that there is little ofthe power of religion seen where there is
such a predominant one, unless among those it domineers over.
I conclude, they that are so predominant, and they that
seektobeso(be they who they will) move by thesame spirit
and principle; and however differing their pretensions and
ends may be, the odds are very little to me, by which it is
I must certainly be oppressed.
Dare we then do (for once) as we would be done by, and
show the world, we are not religious Avithout justice, nor
Christians without charity ; that false self shall not govern
us.against true self; nor opportunity make us thieves to our
neighbours, for God's sake ? The end of testing and perse
cuting under every revolution of government ! if this we can
find in our hearts to do, and yet as men, and as Christians,
as Englishmen, we do but do our duty, let the penal laws
and tests be repealed : and in order to it, let us now take
those measures of men and things, that may give our wishes
and endeavours the best success for the public good, that
our posterity may have more reason to bless our memories
for their freedom and security, than for their nature and in
heritance.

JUST MEASURES, IN
AN EPISTLE OP PEACE AND LOVE,
TO
Such Professors/ of Truth as are under any Dissatisfaction
about the present Order practised in the Church of Christ.

Published in the Year 1692.

Friends,
I have, with a deep sense and sorrow, often beheld the
distance and dissatisfaction you are under in reference to
your ancient and faithful brethren, and that fellowship,
which, I am sure, was once very dear and valuable with
you, and I would have the charity to hope, is what many of
you desire still: and for your sakes thatAvould notAvillingly
think amiss, nor differ, nor divide from those that otherwise
you have an esteem for and are in judgment one with, as to
the worship and doctrines of truth, 1 desire to open my
mind, both with tenderness and plainness ; and if what I
say has the voice and matter of peace and love in it, and
may be helpful to you, in closing with your brethren again,
I shall greatly rejoice : in which, know this, I seek you not
in the words of man's wisdom, nor to raise controA'ersy, nor
for victory, nor any by-ends, but for the sake of that pre
cious fellowship and seamless garment, in which the truth
clothed us all in the beginning, and with which it will
clothe and comfort all its faithful servants and true friends
to the end.
First, 1 shall begin with the difference, and what you
have, both in conference and writing, alleged for the ground
of your dissatisfaction and dissent : next, I shall consider
the nature and merit of it ; and last of all, give my sense
upon the whole matter, in order to a better understanding
for the future.
That there is a difference, is but too plain ; for it has in
some parts proceeded to a separation, as well to places of
worship, as in matters of discipline. The ground of this
dissatisfaction, upon which so great a distance has been
raised, you say is, ' requiring your compliance with some
practices relating to discipline, particularly women's meet-

JUST MEASURES. 589
ings about marriages, before they are admitted to be solem
nized among us ; some of you thinking, that there is ' no
service for women's meetings at all;' others, ' no service in
their being distinct from men's meetings,' at least; ' no ne
cessity for either, and therefore no necessary compliance to
be required and insisted upon, but every one left to their
liberty in Christ, lest imposition and formality should prevail
amongst us, as they have done in other religious societies/
In this, I think, I have truly and fairly stated the case on
your part, and given your objection to our practice, and the
reason why you dissent from it.
Now, friends, I shall consider the nature and merit of
this dissatisfaction and dissent, wherein I beseech your at
tention, patience, and candour, and I hope you will find,
that we are clear of the imposition and formality you object
or fear.
In the first place, I do not find that you have any just
cause to fear, in general, an infringement on your Christian
liberty ; since it has been, and is, most sincerely declared by
the brethren chiefly concerned in the good order and service
of the church, that they have no thought or design of im
posing any thing upon the consciences of friends ; or, that
friends ought to have now, any more than at the beginning,
any other reason or measure of compliance or conformity in
matters relating to God, than the conviction of the light
i and spirit of Christ in every conscience. But there is this
distinction to be considered well of, that the matters in dif
ference are not such as require such an exercise and convic
tion of conscience as is pleaded, because they relate not to
faith or worship. Did they require faith, or did they ap
pertain to worship, as if you were obliged to Avorship God
only in such a place, time, gesture, raiment, Avith such
words and forms of speech, &c. (which has been the case of
the dissenters from *ne national church) your objection and
plea were good : but this about which your dissatisfaction
arises, is purely discipline in government, and not in Avor
ship; formality in order, and not in religion : it is about
methods of regulating ourselves, as to the civil or outAvard
part ofthe church, as we are a society; how we may avoid
disorder, and preserve the credit of our society from censure
and scandal.
For instance, * To keep the necessitous ; as poor, aged,
sick, and orphans : to reconcile differences : to take care of
births, marriages, and burials : in fine, to prevent, rebuko,
and restore disorderly walkers.' To all which, I conceive,
there is no need of an act of faith, or other exercise of con
science, than as the apostle exhorts, " To be ready to every

590 JUST MEASURES.
good word and work :" I mean, here is nothing required to
be believed as an article of faith ; here is no novelty or
formality in worship introduced, or any thing proposed as
an end or service for our men's and women's meetings, that
can reasonably admit ofthe raising of such a scruple of con
science; since the things proposed are duties, that all civil
societies, as well as church-fellowships, agree in, as requi
site to the support of the reputation of fellowships and
societies. Now this being the great and true end, use and service
of our men's and women's meetings, and that it is the end
that always denotes and constitutes the nature ofthe means,
it cannot justly be thought to be ofthe nature of imposition
and formality, as the words are commonly taken in an ill
sense, to expect the compliance of members of a society to
such methods of order as the elders thereof have exhorted
to, and the generality of the people have embraced, and
which the most considerable part of those that dissent, de
clare they dissent from, rather for fear of suffering an in
fringement of their Christian liberty, than any dislike to the
practice itself; I say, thjs cannot be called, or accounted,
such an imposition upon conscience, because they are expe
dients of order, and methods of rule about things univer
sally agreed upon: the thing will not bear tlie Avord:
for instance ; because I may say it is against my conscience
to confess such an article of doctrine or faith, or to worship
God after such a prescribed form, that therefore it would
sound reasonable for me to say, ' It is against my conscience
to submit to the counsel of the church for ending of differ
ences; and it is against my conscience, after having once
told the brethren I intend to marry such a woman, to come
again a fortnight, or a month after, to ask if they have in
formed themselves of mine and the woman's clearness, both
towards parents and other persons, before we solemnize it?'
Surely this would look, to reasonable people, an over-
tender, or an over-righteous, or rather, indeed, an over-free
and large conscience, that would scruple at twice or thrice
publishing the banns, to prevent undutifulness to parents,
and injury to pre-engagements, when those we profess to
exceed, require in their communion that it be thrice done.
In like manner it would look very strange in me, to call a
church-care of circumspect walking up to the religious
principles of the society that I have voluntarily embraced,
' An imposing, or over-driving me.'
But you object, ' Why must we go before women ? and
Why women apart from men ?' This still, friends, can be no
imposition, as is before expressed, because it is no matter of

JUST MEASURES. 591
faith, HOr practice of worship, but a referring still to our
external order of life : and we say, ' Women as well as
men,' because they are concerned, for they are part of the
church of Christ ; and the common banns that are published
in churches (so called) or markets, exclude not women to
make their exception any more than men. ' But why women
apart ?' say you. We think for a very good reason ; the
church increaseth, which increases the business of the
church; and women, whose bashfulness will not permit
them to say or do much as to church-affairs before the men,
when by themselves may exercise their gifts of wisdom and
understanding, in a discreet care for their own sex, at least;
which makes up not the least part of the business of the
church; and this while the men are upon their proper
business also. So that as men and women make up the
church, men and women make up the business of the church ;
and therefore it is very reasonable they should be helpers
together, in doing the church's business. This way women
are made useful and serviceable in and to the church, as
were the " holy Avomen of old," that were so much com
mended by the apostle, for deaconesses indeed. And, as I
said before, their businesses being hereby distinct, two busi
nesses are doing at one and the same time, and consequent
ly, there must needs be a greater dispatch ; "which in coun
try places, and winter seasons, where friends come ten or
fifteen miles to meetings, must needs be very convenient
and comfortable. I may add, that there are divers things
that seem peculiar to women, that were not fit for men,
and in which men did, and would, find themselves often
at a loss ; which renders their distinct meetings farther con
venient.
' These are the reasons and motives to the present practice
, of the church of Christ, without infringing Christian liberty,
! by compelling conscience to any matter of faith and prac-
[ tice, relating to women ; we meaning, by our whole order
and government, no other thing than a careful eye and
check upon practice ; an expediency against irregularity in
conversation, whether towards them that are without, or
those that are within the same communion, to which the
strong will submit for the sake of the weak.
My own sense of this whole matter is, ' That a misappre
hending the intention of the brethren, and an undistinguish-
ing zeal against impositions on the one hand; and a fear,
on the other side, that those who so mistook and misren-
dered the design of the brethren, were either high-minded
and unruly, or prone to undue liberty, or that they, not be
ing the first promoters of this discipline in government, de-

592 JUST MEASURES.
tracted from them that were, and so would lessen the credit
and authority of their endeavours, with such as were pecu
liar favourers ; and that, in fine, their dissent tended to the
breach of brotherly love and unity in the church ; I say my
sense is, that this on each side, with the heats that followed,
perhaps much worse than the thing itself, gave life to the
division, that those that fear the Lord have truly mourned
for.' And since I have hinted the heats that may have at
tended the management of this difference, be not offended
that I say, the difference, through those heats, is now more
in spirit than fact, in mind than matter : it is come in fact
to this, ' Whether the care of conversation should belong
to women as well as men, especially relating to their own
sex, the Avomen being so great a part of the church ?' And
over this, I think, you are got for the most part. 2. ' Whether
the women may meet separately from the men ?' And for
answer to this, be pleased to take notice of your own un
avoidable concessions : you allow meetings of care in gene
ral, and do not deny women absolutely their share among
the men, and that particular members must be accountable
to the society they are of, iu point of conversation, according
to the rules embraced by the said society. I say, you own
the end, you allow the means, you refer the choice of your
means to the society ; and you, as well as we, expect a com
pliance with those rules. Then the question is, ' Whether,
in fact, women's meetings be a part of that discipline the
church admits of?' And it is evident, that the church of God
does, generally speaking, receive and practise it, with satis
faction and advantage. I would therefore beseech you,
friends, to ponder in your minds, upon what a narrow point
your distance stands, and that the main and tender point is
allowed you, viz. ' Conscience is free, and unconcerned in
the question ;' and the visible ground of distance being so
small, weigh with yourselves, by Avhat has been, ivhat may
be, the consequence of this lamentable breach.
1 I am as much for liberty as any man ; I ever was so, and
hope I ever shall be for it; but we must refer it to a proper
object, or we shall abuse what we do so much prize, and
pervert one ofthe greatest privileges we can pretend to. I
do not mean, by the liberty that we are to resign to the
benefit of society, that which is private or personal : no ;
this does not enter into private or personal liberty, concern
ing which, the apostles taught us to bear, and not offend one
another; as about meats and drinks; I may add clothes,
houses, trades, &c. so as there be no excess, (for that is
everywhere wrong) : these things regard not society, but a
' man's self, and his private liberty alone. What is it to the

JUST MEASURES.

593

society, what or when I eat, what sort of clothing I Avear, or
house I live in, or trade I will be of, so as excess or un-
comeliness be avoided ? This is still in my own power, and
many like things, hard to be numbered, about which society
is not in the least concerned, nor in which any member of
it is interrupted, or called in question. In the next place,
we do also all agree, that faith must not be forced, nor
worship constrained, for that grates upon conscience, which
God only can effectually enlighten or rightly persuade.
But that bears not upon our question, as I said before ; for
the compliance desired in it, is about order, not faith; and
that not about worship, but conversation ; in Avhich if you
submit your liberty, it is for the good of society, and you
have the returns of it in the benefit and comfort thereof.
Do you serve, or take care of others, that before were free
of that engagement? Others also are tied by the same
rules, to serve and be concerned for you, that formerly owed
you no obligation : and if you are under the notice and re
proof of others, as to your personal conduct, they are equally
under yours upon occasion ; so that you lose nothing , but
what you get, nor give nothing but what you receive again ;
and to a right spirit and a good mind, this mutual service
will appear reasonable, christian, and requisite. And as in
no age, the resistors and gainsayers of care and order, in any
of the Lord's eminent servants, have passed without the
mark of God's rebuke ; so those that have contested and
opposed the wisdom of God in his faithful servants, have
ever failed of their purpose, and been finally manifested to
have been led by a wrong spirit. And as observable it is,
that those by whom the Lord has eminently appeared, and
who Avere the "first instruments of his several dispensations
to the sons of men, have always exercised that authority
among the people they have gathered, and have been con
stantly preserved from falling away, though some or other
have risen against them with that clamour, as if they had
set up themselves, and were gone from what they taught or
were, and took too much upon them. But what have they
all come to ? Read and judge.
Nor was it ever heard of, in the dealings of God with the
sons of men, that he varied, or changed his dispensations in
the life-time ofthe instruments of any of them, as some have
been ready to imagine ; nor yet in that age in Avhich he has
brought them forth : Avhich engages me to beseech you, in
the bowels of the love of Christ, our only root of life and
light, and love and peace, " that you be like-minded with
your friends and brethren," and see that the life and the
fellowship of the truth be preserved in the enjoyment and
Vol. ii. 2 p

594 JUST MEASURES.
practice of fellowship ; which Will be, if the love of God,
which first made us love one another, be kept in ; for that
is a sovereign antidote against all the poison of discontent,
evil, jealousy, and the divisions that are wont to follow*
And instead of reproaching our elders and brethren, whom
God has honoured, and whom we have honoured, and could
have laid down our lives for, and who know nothing by
themselves, but that they are as true to the Lord, and in as
good a condition in the truth as ever they were, and have
done, and intended in what they have done, as much the be
nefit of the Lord's people; I say, instead of reproaching'
them with usurpirig authority, and taking too much upon
them, let us consider, that those whom we have received
with so much reverent love, and as worthy of double honour
in the greater things, are not unworthy to be heard and fol
lowed by us in'lesser matters : let us regard and value their
care, and love them for it. So true is that saying among
men, ' That is well spoken which is well taken,' that the
bent and purpose of a man's spirit, is that which gives the
just reason of acceptance or rejection.
You have, dear friends, judged too much after an outAvard-
appearance ; and, you may see, not truly there neither.-
Open, therefore, your hearts, your souls and spirits, and
taste, with the divine sense of the tender and meek truth, the
aim and end of your brethren : herein be a little more truly free
and universal in your minds, and you will perceive this care
has a large and long prospect for good. The due exercise'
of your spiritual senses will answer all your objections, and
satisfy every upright soul among you : but if you look out,
mistake liberty, mistake imposition, mistake formality, mis
take the nature and end of things, and the intention of your
ancient friends and brethren in them, you will judge carnally,
and be ready to think, as if outward rule and lordliness were
aimed at, and a departing from the truth ; even Avhilst our
care, in the sight of the Lord, is for the honour of it, in
reference to the young, the weak, and such as may be care
less, and ready to fall asleep ; for such some yet are, and
such are yet like to be ; and for their sakes, a discipline, as;
to conversation, must be ; as Avell as that there are natural
infirmities, as sickness, age, &c. that unavoidably call for
it : nor did, or can ever, any community subsist without it;
and the heats, prejudice, and rents, that have arisen about
the how or manner of it, show the opposition not to be
right, nor of a good tendency; the end of that order, in the
minds and hands of those from whom we joyfully received
the testimony of the truth, being the glory of God, and
good ofhis people, as a primitive Christian society.

JUST MEASURES. 595'
To conclude: as this is not a plea for imposition, nor
forms of worship, but forms of discipline, as to the govern
ment and behaviour of ourselves in our converse, both with
those that are without, and those that are within ; and that
there is no visible communion, or society, in this world of
bodies, but what is subject to them, and must in some sPrt
subsist by them ; 1 beseech you, that we, as becomes a rea
sonable and modest people, and as dear children, may be of
" one heart, and one mind, and walk together as those that
have been partakers of one life, and that have drank into
one spirit ;" for " it is a comely thing to see brethren walk ¦
together in love."
O friends, let us labour against secret animosities, watch-
ings for evil, detractation^ the sin that flung the angels out
of their heavenly station : let us see to our own spirits, how
they are, if meek, lowly, humble, tender, by which the true
and preserving judgment is only known and felt ; or, if not
high, fierce, hard, and prejudiced ; for a man may come to
lose a good frame of spirit upon very trifles. It is not always
what the matter is the dispute arises upon, but how far the
thing is espoused, and what place a man suffers it to haA'e in
his mind : if jealousy, reputation, revenge, or contradiction
prevail, division must follovv : some are apt to resent things
too soon, and carry it too far, even to obstinacy, through the
workings of the evil one in a mystery ; so that though the
pretence of the quarrel may be some fact or other, yet that
has the least share oftentimes in the difference, it being in
flamed and increased by the mysterious workings of the
spirit of strife and variance in the mind, according to an old
saying, ' The greatest feuds oftentimes arise from the slight
est causes/ Let me beseech and prevail with you to read
and weigh the bent and force ofthe apostle's spirit in Rom.
xii. also xiv. 19. and xv. 4, 5, 6. and especially xvi. 16, 17,
18, 19, 20. verses. Likewise 1 Cor. xiv. 32, 33. Aveighty
places indeed. 2 Cor. xiii. Ephes. iv. 1, 2, 3, 4. Phil. iii.
16, 17, 18. Chap. iv. 8, 9. Col. iii. 12, 14, 15, 16. 1 Thes.
v. 12, 13, 14. 2 Thes. iii. 4, 5, 6. He often commands
order and obedience to the apostolic tradition in this epistle,
Tit. i. 15. chap. ii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Heb. xiii. 1. And,
1 Pet. iv. 8. All which exhort to " peace, brotherly-kind
ness, to be of one mind, to study one thing." O follow the
things that make for peace, and do not contend, dispute,
and strive one with another. A blessed doctrine, and it has
a blessed reward. The Lord God Almighty dispose your
minds, my friends, to a tender returning state ; and frighten
not yourselves with designs (ofthe brethren) that have no
being, but in jealousy and misapprehension : I beseech you,

596 JUST MEASURES.
in the Lord, lay down every mark or ensign of difference or
separation, and behold our arms as open as ever to receive
you, and let your heart be as our heart, and then our meet
ings your meetings : let the fear and awe of the Lord, the
becoming love of his precious truth, which is " Christ in us,
the hope of our glory," who gave himself for us, to redeem
us from the enmity, death, and curse, which disobedience
had laid us under, melt and cement us as one lump ; .flesh of
flesh, and bone of bone ; so shall our joy exceed our sor
row, and tears be wiped from our eyes on this occasion ;
and God, our exceeding great and glorious rewarder, be our
crown, portion, and diadem for ever.
Yours, in and for the truth,
William Penn.

end OF VOL. II.

WILLIAM PHILLIPS, PHLNTEU,
GEORGE YARD, LOMBARD STREET.

= UNIVERSITY LIBRARY