alledged, that a conditional Gift fhould take place tho' the Condition required entirely fail and have no Subfiftence.

I acknowledge that when a Man in departing from the publick Standard, upon, what appears to him, better Information, acts and fpeaks agreeably to his Confcience, and choofes rather to follow the Light of his Understanding,than enjoy temporal Advantages; he is a fit Object both of Compaffion and Efteem: And though he be in an Error, his Integrity and Self-denial fhould meet with due Regard, whatever Sentiments we entertain of his Knowledge: Nor is it to be doubted but a Perfon who does fo, and prefers Truth and Sincerity to any of the Profits or Allurements of this Life, will be looked upon by God as a Sufferer for Righteousness fake, and may expect an Hundred-fold in the World to come. But then whether this be the Cafe with him, and he be animated by thefe heroick Principles; whether in changing his Opinion as to any Article of an established Creed, he hath embraced the Truth, or if he hath in reality abandoned it, and made Apoftacy from the Faith, must be left to the Determination of God, who certainly knows it,and is the only Judge who can be appealed to: Only this much feems to be evident, that other People, and particularly thefe who received him as their Minifter, upon Condition of his adhering to and teaching agreeably to the publick Confeffion, ought to act agreeably to their own Sentiments, and not to his; and may juftly beftow their Favours upon thofe who will promote, what appears to them, the Caufe of Truth and Righteoufnefs, and not on those who are devoted to the Interefts of Error or Impu rity.

So little Reafon is there to call the abftracting of the Benefice from fuch a Man Perfecution, that on the contrary the obliging them to continue it (which the Principles of thefe pretended Afferters of Liberty lead to) were a very grievous Oppreffion, and an arbitrary Impofition. And it will foon appear how modeft and reafonable a Demand they make, if we confider that it plainly a mounts to this, that a Society which gave you a Right to a Stipend upon a certainCondition,fhould be bound to continue the Payment when the Condition is diffolved on your Part: That the Money devoted by them to the Maintenance of Perfons,whofe Bufinefs it is to adminifter to them facred Things according to their Confciences, and contribute to the Purity and Power of the Chriftian Doctrine fhould be fo far diverted from that Ufe, as to be fquandred away upon those whofe Opinions render them incapable of advancing thefe Ends, and, which is ftill more abfurd, who will naturally counteract and oppofe them, by propagating Principles directly contradictory to thefe facred Truths, and fo the Society fhall be obliged to contribute to Purpofes, which they believe not only ufelefs, but extremely hurtful and difagreeable.

;

9o that this Objection brought against us is fo far from being valid, that on the contrary did it take place, it would carry alongft with it a very grievous Perfecution, and a notorious piece of Oppreffion: It were to deprive Men of their natural Rights; and un

der

der a Mask of Liberty, to make them difpofe of that towards the fpreading of Error or Infidelity; which they inclined to devote to the Advancement of pure and undefiled Religion.

Every Society is Matter of its own Favours, it is highly reafonable that it fhould beltow them to the best Ends, and upon thofe Perfons who appear fitteft to promote them: This in religious Matters is efpecially neceffary; and it were extremely unjust and tyrannical to fancy that they must act contrary to their own Confciences, and in Oppofition to the Interefts which are deareft to their Souls, in fupporting the apoftate Priests of Baal, instead of the faithful Servants of Jehovah: I hope the Severity of the Comparifon may be pardoned, fince it is particularly levelled at no Body, and the fame Reason will hold in Proportion as to all thofe, who, tho' it be in a leffer Degree,depart from any Truths which a Church, by making them a part of her Confeffion, fhows the thinks momen

tuous,

Did I therefore alter my Notions as to Articles of Faith which I had once fubfcribed, and came to perceive the Falfhood of them, I would think my felf obliged to follow the Dictates of my Confcience: And it were mean and inglorious to difguife my real Sentiments, for fear of temporal Loffes and Church-Cenfures: I would endeavour alfo by all due Means to perfwade the Church, to which I belonged, to change their Faith alfo and embrace what I thought the better Caufe; but if I were not able to undeceive them, and after all they remained as they were, it would be ex tremely foolish to fancy that they would act directly contrary to their Principles,in continuing me their Minifter,and endowing me with that Salary, which they had allotted to a Paftor that fhould teach them Doctrines which I had found my felf obliged to abandon. And it were abfurd to imagine that though these who serve the Altar fhould live by the Altar, that yet I thould live by an Altar which I had abandoned, fet up one in Oppofition to, and indeed endeavoured to overthrow.

It might be eafily illuftrated by innumerable Inftances, that a Man may fuffer temporal Loffes upon the account of a Change in his Opinions, and yet not have the fmalleft Reafon to complain of Perfecution or Injuftice. One Example for two will be fufficient: When the corrupted Philofophy of Ariftotle prevailed in the World, aProfeffor of Reputation for Teaching, and who was therefore crowded with Students, and reaped a plentiful Income from them; would evidently be expofed to a very great Lofs, by changing his Schemes, and forming new ones, either fuch as thofe of Des Cartes or Sir Ifaac Newton, in their ftead, unless he had the Influence to perfwade others alfo to make the fame Alteration in their Sentiments; becaufe fo long as the World continued in their former Humour, the Number of his Scholars muft conftantly decay: And yet he could not with the fimalleft Plaufibility alledge, that thofe Scholars who deferted his Leffons, that they might beftow their Time and their Money upon other Mafters, had done him any Injury; fince it was abfolutely in their Power to chooft what Philofophy they would

have taught them,and what Persons should enjoy the Emoluments ariling therefrom.

A zealous Proteftant poffeffes a large Eftate, which he defigns after his Death fhould be fettled upon a Friend of the fame Princi ples with himself, and who, he has Reafon to hope, would employ his Fortune and Intereft for encouraging and advancing the Religion which was fo dear to him; that Friend in the mean time changes his Opinions and apoftatizes to Popery: Would there be the fmalleft Colour of Hardship in the other's altering, upon fuch an Event, the Destination he would otherways have made of his Eftate; and difpofing it to one that he valued more, and upon whom he thinks it will be incomparably better beftowed? Could he be charged with Perfecution in fuch a Cafe, tho' the other, in following the Dictates of his Confcience, really fuffered as great a Lofs as theMinifter who thereby fhould forfeit the publick Stipend? And the Reafon is plain, every Man and each Society are Judges of what depends upon themselves; and in difpofing of any Advantages and Emoluments to be enjoyed amongst them, they muft follow their own Light not ours who differ from them, tho' we may fancy our felves righter and wifer than they.

To conclude, fince the Emoluments and Salaries provided by any Church, are dedicated by it to what they think the Intereft of pure Religion, and are not fimply beftowed upon Perfons, but annexed to Offices under certain Limitations and Kules, and for which fome neceffary Qualifications are required, whereof Soundnefs in the Faith is one; it feems evident that the Benefice muft follow the Office, and should be reafonably applied to thefe Ends for which it was originally intended And therefore when ever any, whether by his Faith or Practice, becomes unqualified for that Office and the Purposes of it, he muft immediately lofe all Title to the Emoluments annexed to it, and they must be bestowed on those who are thought fit to execute the Charge. With fo little Reafon is our, or any other Church, loaded with the Guilt of Perfecution on this Occafion,that our Practice herein is founded upon the natural Right of every Perfon & Society, upon a Power over our own Proper ty and our ownConfciences: And therefore by defending it, we maintain not our particular Caufe,but the common Liberties of Mankind, andthe fundamental Maxims of all Government and Order; for we pretend to noAuthority but what we allow to our Neighbours in a like Cafe, and fhall always be ready to grant that they may act in a Confiftency with their own Principles as well as we with ours and we fhall afterwards have Occafion to prove, that true Religion can never fuffer any Damage by this Principle, and that the contrary was never pretended to by the Apostles, or by the primitive Profeffors of the pureft Chriftianity.

In the fecand place, there is another Argument whence, as it is infinuated,it appears that thofe who adhere to Confeffions of Faith, and think that an Affent to them may be required of others, are justly chargeable with Perfecution: Which Objection we fhall give in the Words of its Author, "This Humour (fays he) of Creed making

and

and Creed impofing, is one of the most grievous Inftances of Perfecution, and the grand Source of every other Kind of it; "if it be only their good Opinion of us that our Fellow-Chriftians fufpend, upon Non-affent to their Confeffions of Faith, they in a very inhumane and unchriftian Way perfecute us: "Tis in it felf barbarous, fays Mr. Marvel, for thefe Faith-ft etchers, whofoever they be, to put Mens Confciences upon the Torture to rack them to the Length of their Notions (a),

By what we have already difcourfed, we hope that we have vindicated our felves from the Charge of Impofition, and ufurping an arbitrary Authority over the Confciences of others, whofe Faith is no ways fubjected to our Determinations; and that we are cleared from the Imputation of any unjuft Methods of Violence and Oppreffion, in order to propagate our Opinions, and force an Allent to the eftablied Creed: And therefore it will be needlefs to illuftrate this Head any further; and, we doubt not, there will be found as little Moment in the other Kind of Perfecution, which the Enemies to Confeffions charge upon thofe who maintain them, namely, their withdrawing or fufpending their good Opiion of thofe who differ from them, which is thought a great Hardfhip and a juft Ground for loud Complaints.

He must have little of the Spirit of Chriftianity and the Temper of its bleffed Author, who does not put the highest Value upon thofe lovely Graces of our Religion, an extenfive Charity, a mutua! Forbearance, an univerfal Benevolence to our Fellow-Creatures or our Fellows Chriflians, and a fi cere Inclination to live in Peace, and cultivate Union and Friendship with them. We hall heartily fall in with all that the other Side can fay of their Excellency, and concur in every Thing that may recommend them to the Minds and Lives of Men, give teadier and brighter Views of their incomparable Beauty, and make deeper Impreffions of their indifpenfable Neceffity. Nor is it to be doubted that all thefe Virtues hould subsist, even amongst thofe who may not be fo happy, as to agree in their Sentiments about every Article of Faith and Mode of Worship: Nor should Differences in Opinion, especially about leffer Matters, extinguish Love, or diffolve the Bonds of Charity; but that noble Principle fhould have a governing Power over all our Paffions, and run thro' the whole Train of our Converfation; and, according to the Apoftolical Rule, Whereunto we have attained we ought all to walk by the fame Rule, and unite in affectionate Endeavours to promote the Interefts of Religion, and proclaim the Glory of our common Saviour.

That Man alfo may be counted of a narrow and inhumane Spirit, and blown up with Prejudices and Vanity, who is fo blind or conceited as to confine Virtue and Merit to his own Party, and his particular Way of thinking: A Man may be a very good Man, and excel us in many valuable Qualities, though even in religious Mathe may follow a different Way from us, and we should al

ters

(4) Occafional Paper, Vol. II. NI. p. 144

ways

ways be ready to efteem and applaud Learning, Wifdom, ol Goodness and Probity wherever we find them, though they fhould be the Ornaments fometimes of our Adverfaries. Meeknefs and Humility, and Generofity, a fervent Love to God and our Brethren, heavenly Affections, and a Contempt of this World, or any other noble Quality, hould not be overlook'd nor lefs beloved and admired because they may be joined with a mistaken Notion, and the Per fon beautified with them may not perceive every Thing in our Light. And then a particular Regard fhould be paid to the moral Qualities of a Man, and to practical Goodnefs, when we meature out our Efteem and Affection.

As we fhould not be wanting in any of thefe Refpects to fuch as differ from us, and may not come up in every Thing to our Sentiments: So we fhould far lefs pretend to judge of their Hearts, and the Sincerity of their Profeffions, or the Impartiality of their Enquiries; to cenfure them rafhly, or mifreprefent their Opinions, to afcribe By-ends to them, and load them with Reproaches; or attribute Herefies and Abfurdities to them, which we have no Ground for, but our own Sufpicions and Prejudices. Nor ought we precipitately to damn and anathematize People upon every Difference with us, and, afpiring to the Throne and Authority of God, pafs Sentence upon them before Hand, and pronounce their eternal Doom; this were indeed to forget our Station, and ufurp the Place of our Master: Judge not left ye be judged, fhould in fuch Cafes ftill found in our Ears; and we ought to be mindful of our Folly and Weaknefs in not hearkning to it, and that God may abfolve whom we fo ignorantly reprobate. All thefe Things we are ready to own, and endeavour to practife; and we hope there is no Reafon for charging a Contradiction to them upon our Church or its Articles: And 'tis with Pleasure we obferve, that the Westminster Confeffion which we embrace, is free from damnatory Claufes; nor is it ever required of us to pronounce Anathema's upon others.

But if this will not fatisfie, and it be demanded that Difference in Opinions, however momentuous, fhould not in the least influence our Affection or Efteem; that no Alteration hould happen in our Judgment of a Perfon, and our Regard to him, upon his abandoning the Confeien embraced by us; and that one who departs from the Doctrine of the Gofpel, and makes Shipwrack of his Faith, at least as appears to us," fhould yet claim the fame Share in our good Opinion of him, as if he had remained ftedfaft in the Belief of the Truth: 1 fay if this be the Cafe, 'tis hoped we shall be excufed to think it a very abfurd and imperious Demand, directly contrary to the Nature of Things, and a Favour abfolutely impoffible for us to grant; and that the charging us with Perfecution, becaufe we refufe it, is indeed to be guilty of that very Crime wherewith they load their Neighbours.

It is an univerfally acknowledged Maxim, That Likeness begets Elum and Love; and that Agreement of Temper and Underftanding cements Affections, and animates them: It must be therefore hard to imagine how a Conformity of Sentiments, efpecially in re

ligious