fions or wilful Partiality; and give us Ground to complain, that the Writers of the other Side have not treated us or our Opinions, with that Charity, Moderation, and impartial Enquiry which they fo much glory in.

So little Reafon have thefe Gentlemen to load our Confeffion with thefe Calumnies, or charge us with departing from the Principles of the Reformation, and raifing the Authority of our publick Standard on the fame Bottom which fupports the Roman Pontiff, that on the contrary, there feems to be Place enough in the prefent Question for applying the common Maxim, That Superftition and Atheism, or abfolute Infidelity and implicite Belief, are frequently near one another, and maintain an intimate Alliance: Nor will it perhaps appear an ill grounded Obfervation That the Noife made by the inveterate Enemies of Confeffions, tends to clamour the Churches of Chrift out of the natural and unalienable Rights of Mankind, to over turn private Fudgment, and opprefs our Confciences; and confe quently that this Extreme of imaginary Liberty, and these high Pretenfions to Freedom and Impartiality, are very apt to meet with the other Extreme of arbitrary Power and an haughty impo fing Spirit.

In order to the clearing whereof, we shall but juft mention a few Confequences that naturally follow from the Reafonings and the Schemes of that Party: Namely, That a Society hath not Power to make Rules for itsGovernment,that may not be overturned and tranf grefs'd by every Man who diflikes them. That tho' a Church be convinced in her Confcience that fuch Doctrines only are agreeable to Divine Revelation, and ought to be preached to the People; and therefore fhe inclines to make Choice of fuch only for her Paftors, who believe thefe Truths themfelves, and will inculcate them upon others: Yet the must be denied that Liberty, a Person of Principles directly oppofite must have Accefs to her Pulpits; nor muft he be abandoned or turned out of his Office becaufe of Differences in Opinion; that is, fuch a Church must be impofed upon, forced to hear Doctrines fhe thinks inconfiftent with her Edification and Improvement in Chriftianity; that is, Perfons who defire to attend publick Ordinances, that they may make Progrefs in the Truths of Religion and be animated in its Practice, muft yet fubmit to Schemes, whereby, in ftead of gaining this End, they may be entertained from the Pulpit with Notions very contrary to thefe Purposes, and which, according to their Opinion, tend ra ther to retard than advance them in the Ways of Holinefs; and be obliged to fpend the Sabbath in a Manner very difagreeable to thefe Defigns for which it was fanctified.

According to thefe noble Principles of Liberty that are fo much boafted of, fome Men, the greatest Pleasure of whofe Life, and Satisfaction to their Confciences it perhaps would be, to be joined to a Society of Chriftians who maintained the Unity of Faith; and to have Accefs to pure Ordinances, and uncorrupted Doctrine, difpenfed by thofe who were qualified for that Office, and had kept themfelves free from the Poifon of Error: Muft

yet

1

yet be denied that Privilege, obliged to pollute themfelves by mixing with the Impurities of a corrupted Miniftry, and to have their Ears grated by Doctrine which they deteft as pernicious, or defpife as ufelefs or uncertain; and fo they muft be robbed of their greatest Joy and Comfort, or, which is the fame thing, they muft be hindred from ufing what appears to them the neceflary Means of attaining thefe Benefits, and arriving at a Security con cerning the Faith and Qualifications of their Teachers.

That Lecaufe fuch Free -thinkers, entertaining little Thoughts of the Doctrines of Chriftianity, are for allowing an unbounded Latitude in Matters of Faith and looking upon a Perfon as neither a worfe Man or Minifter, for his Sentiments in, what they are plea-. fed to call, Matters of Speculation; would not think of feparating. from him on that Occafion, or requiring a fatisfying Account of his Belief as a neceffary Qualification for an Ecclefiaftical Office: Therefore we who think quite otherways, and believe that the Doctrines of Chriftianity are of the higheft Importance, and a Denial or contradicting them of the worit Confequence to the Souls of Men; and that the Knowledge and Faith of them are glorious Privileges of the Gofpel-State, and diftinguifh'd Characters of a Chriftian, muft act in Contradiction to our own Understandings in order to gratifie their Inclinations, muft be as coldly indifferent as to the Interefts of Truth, and as little concern'd about what our Paftors and Rulers teach and believe.

That because they are fully fatisfied as to the Orthodoxy of one to whofe Miniftry they would fubmit, if he own the Scriptures, and exprefs his Sentiments in the precife Words and Phrafes to be found there, tho' he decline giving any other Evidence of his Soundnefs, and refufe his Affent to Articles of Faith in any other Terms: Therefore we who are perfwaded from the fullest Experience, that cunning Hereticks wreft the Scriptures to their own Perdition, and rack them that they may come up to their Notions; that they understand thefe Phrafes in a quite contrary manner to what others think the plain Senfe of them, and conceal under that fair Varnifh the most unfcriptural Schemes and deteftable Errors, and confequently that their using these Phrafes is no Proof what kind of • Doctrine they embrace muft notwithstanding thereof be contented with the fame talfe and deceitful Teft of Orthodoxy: And if we act the fame cautious Part, that every Man will do for the final left Sum of Money he gives in Loan, by feeking fome plainer and lefs doubtful Security for a Matter of incomparably greater Confequence; we must be treated with Contempt, and expofed to pub lick Scorn, as four, morofe, narrow-fpirited Creatures; mifreprefented as Favourers of afpiring Tyrannical Councils, and Enemies to the Perfection of the Holy Scriptures, which as fome of the Writers on that fide affirm, are all Engines of Cruelty and Ferfecution as well as external Force.

In a word that we may not be allowed to value, efteem and em brace Confeffions, when we pretend only to a Liberty of acting and thinking according to our beft Light, without impofing upon our

Neigh

Neighbours, because other People difesteem and run down all fuch Compofures.

Thefe are a few of the extraordinary Benefits, which Liberty and the Right of private Fudgment owe to the Endeavours of those, that give out themselves to be the moft zealous Sticklers for them: Thefe are a few of thofe uncommon heights of Freedom to which they have elevated it by their Difcoveries; a Freedom, at the bot tom, to diffolve the facred Bonds of Chriftian Societies, the Unity of Faith, to jumble Light and Darknefs, and make an inglorious Compofition of Truth and Error; a Liberty to impofe if not Articles of Faith, at leaft a Disbelief and Contempt of them upon others,and under a painted Mask of Freedom, to dictate their own Notions and Schemes of an airy fantaftical Liberty to others, in as imperious a manner, and with as magifterial an Authority, as thefe whom they fo much exclaim againft.

Every Perfon in the leaft acquainted with Books or Men, will be foon fenfible what numberlefs Prejudices the greatest Part labour under, and what confufed Notions they have of Things; that a Set of Words are frequently used and obftinately maintained, while very little is clearly understood by them: And that Words and Phrafes of a very good Intentand Signification originally, have been wrefted, and abufed, and employed to cheat the Populace; and inflame the Paffions of fuch as are generally more influenced by Words than by Things. And we fhall readily own the Juftice of the Obfervation which the Author of the Occafional Paper makes, (a) That Religion, Truth, Church, Orthodoxy, &c. have been thus thamefully perverted, to ferve the worft Purpofes of Ambition, Luft of Power, and all kind of Oppreffion civil and religious; and perhaps others befides the Church of Rome may be chargeable herewith! But is there not ground enough to apply the fame Obfervation to a different Purpofe? Have not thefe favourite Words of a Party, Liberty, Free-thinking, Impartial-enquiry, private Judgment, &c. been prostituted to as mean and unworthy Purposes; and in the Mouths of fome been perverted to as little, or as uncertain, or as dangerous a Signification? Have they not been Tools to promote Atheism and Infidelity; and a fair Mask, under which hatred to God and Goodness, and an Apoftacy from Chriftianity have difguifed themfelves? Did they ever make a louder Noife than in the Mouths of Deifts? And have not ignorant and vain Infidels, when driven from all their strong Holds, and attacked by the most clear and convincing Arguments, skreened themfelves under the Covert of thofe ufeful Words as much as ever the most bigot Zealots do by the help of the Church or Orthodoxy? Don't we know that in the Mouths and in the Lives of many, Liberty means an unreftrained Licenfe, and a Neglect of Religion and Virtue, and that the Love of it is brought as an Excufe, for a cold Unconcernednefs about the Dotrines of our Bleffed Saviour,and a Difregard to Truth and Light? And have not the Enemies of the Gofpel who had nothing elfe to

(a) Occafional Paper, Vol. II. N. i. p.4, 6, 7.

fay

tay, eagerly laid hold of the Opportunity, and cried up private Judg ment, Free-thinking, &c. That by the Noife thereof, they might drown the calmer Voice of Reafon and Argument?

Don't we fee the Writers on that fide, as fond of their own Notions about Creeds and Confeffions, as obftinate in maintaining and ur ging them, and puffed up with as difdainful Sentiments of thofe who differ from them; as the moft zealous Devotees of Orthodoxy: That they are as impatient of Contradiction as others, and to ap ply the Words of an Author, who levelled them against another Quarter, to our present Purpose, as warm and zealdus against Confellions and Orthodoxy, and fuch as can be as rude as unmannerly and as unchriftian in their Contentions about them as their Neighbours? (a) Where in the World do Writers treat their Adver faries with fo much Contempt, and diffufe fuch an Air of Superiority, and a fond Addictedness to their Schemes thro' the whole of their Performances; as thofe who arrogate to themselves the Name of Free-thinkers? Nor will it be without ground, if we obferve that all our Adverfaries in this Debate feem to incline to this Project, that while all Confeffions and Articles of Faith are overturned and contemned, this fhould neverthelefs be established and enforced as an unalterable Article of Faith, and a conftant Creed, That there should be Confeffions or Tefts of Orthodoxy.

To conclude, the true Way to maintain the ineftimable Bleffings of Liberty of Confcience, and Private Judgment in Matters of Religion, is to avoid every Extreme, that either leads to Tyranny, or to Anarchy and Confufion; and it is not to diffolve Liberty and Freedom into Licentioufnefs; to freeze it into a cold Indifferency about the Doctrines of the Gofpel, or blow it up into an airy Phantom that will break of it felf, and is too thin and imaginary to be ufeful to any valuable Purpose: Which Medium we flatter our felves may in a great Meafure be obtained, by adhering to the Principles of real Liberty which have been laid down.

Thefe Reflections may poffibly appear too fevere, and it was indeed with Reluctancy that we made them; fince we always efteem that way of Writing and Difputing moft, which is confined to a plain Reprefentation of the Arguments and Reafons of a Caufe in their native Strength and Simplicity, without any mixture of Satyr or harfh Treatment of an Adverfary: But in the prefent Dif pute the Reflections feemed to be juft, and the Caufe to deferve them; it was only imitating a little their own Way of Writing,and it feemed in fome meafure neceffary,to give fome Notion of the Unreafonablenefs of the Accufations brought against us, and the little ground that the Perfons who exclaim loudeft have to make them

THere remain only two things upon this head to be confidered.

it may be alledged, that how confidently foever wa difclaim Perfecution for Confcience fake, and an arbitrary Impof

tion

tion upon the Understandings of Mankind; yet in Fact we ap prove it, fince we allow all Churches to depofe their Minifters, if they embrace Opinions contrary to their publick Standards, as a Confequence of which they are deprived of their Stipends, that is, their Bread and the only means of their Livelyhood, which feems to be a very great Degree of Perfecution.

It were needlefs to deny that a Minifter being thus deprived for departing from the established Confeffion, is laid open to very great Inconveniencies, and the want of his Stipend is an important Lofs to him: But we hope it will eafily appear that there can be no ground to complain of the Church that turns him off, and that they do nothing in fuch a Cafe but what they have an undisputed Right to, and what is both reasonable and neceffary; if we confider that a Man is not thereby deprived of any thing that he hath a natural Right to, or which he can claim as a Member of the Civil Society. The forming of a Society for religious Purposes, is, according to the Principles already established, a voluntary Act of thofe who compofe it: And when according to what they think the Nature of the Thing and the Commands of God oblige them to, publick Teachers are inftituted among them; the Qualifications of the Perfons to be invefted with that Office, and the Terms upon which they are to be admitted, and as a Confequence hereof are to enjoy the publick Maintenance which the Church hath pro vided for her Paftors, must be fubmitted to the joint Determination of the Body: And as no Man can intrude himself into an Ecclefiaftical Office in that Society contrary to their Inclinations, and the Rules eftablished by them; fo none can pretend to the publick Salary annexed to it, but in a Confiftency therewith.

A Perfon therefore that is not found fufficiently qualified, or does not think fit to comply with the neceffary Terms upon which this Office and Benefice are beftowed, can in no Juftice complain tho' the Society fhould either deny him them at first, or deprive him of them afterwards; because he had no Claim to them but what depended upon the voluntary Grant of the Church, and muft be regulated by its Conftitutions, which if he depart from, he evidently forfeits any Title that he had to his Stipend: He knows that the very Defign of the Society in fubmitting to him as their Minifter, and making fuuitable Provifion as to his temporal Concerns, was that they might enjoy Gofpel-Ordinances, and hear the Word preached in a way agreeable to their Confciences; and that they might have Satisfaction as to one Qualification abfolute ly neceffary, his own Soundness in that Faith, they required a Declaration of his Affent to fuch Articles as appeared to them requifite; and therefore if he depart from that Doctrine, and fo become incapable of promoting thefe Ends, he hath himself to blame for any Difadvantage he may be expofed to, and can in no Modefty or Juftice pretend fill to enjoy thefe Benefits, that were beltowed not abfolutely, but only upon Conditions which are violated, and towards Purposes which he can no ways promote: It might as well be alledged