of Chrift, and caft us out to perifh in a State of Infidelity or Apoftacy, because we cannot be perfwaded to be of your Opinion and Way in the External Modes and Rites of your Worship; For all the Charity you pretend to, is but to Profelyte us to your Party, and in that wherein the Effentials of Religion are not at all concern'd; and herein, if you cannot prevail, you pronounce us Damn'd,juft as the Papifts tell those whom they call Hereticks.

2. Had I a mind to Droll upon you, I might find occafion enough,when you fay, that it is by Accident that these things come to be impofed, as Conditions of Communion with you. But I will not ftudy to provoke you.

Now for a Conclufion of this Section with you: Methinks 'tis pretty Comical to fee with what a Complaifance you can hug every Author you meet with, Canonical or Apocryphal,whether Canterbury, York or Geneva, where you find the words Decency and Order applied to the advantage of a Chriftian Community, and how excellently Calvin himself fpeaks, and Baxter too, when they recommend these things to Christian Practice, as if you were fure they muft needs intend the fame thing by it as you do, and thought it impoffible to preferve Decency and Order in Church-Communion, without your Rites and Ceremonies. But pray Sir, when you quote Calvin next, deal more ingenuously with him; It had been no great matter for you, while your hand was in, to have tranflated the other three lines of his Paragraph, but that, it feems, it was not fo much for your turn; but give me leave now to do it for you. Yet this (fays he) is always to be accepted in thefe Obfervances (or Rites) that they be neither thought neceffary to Salvation, fo as religiously to bind the Confcience; or that they fo conduce to the Worship of God, as that Religion fhould be placed in them. Nor doth he

Calv.Inftit.

lib. 4. c.10. Se&t. 27.

allow

allow any other Laws about Decency and Order, but. what conduce to the Peace and Safety of the Church. Upon the whole, I conclude, and dare appeal to any that can but read and conftrue him, that Calvin hath done you very little Service in this matter.

Sect. II.

Your Second Section gives one a little pleasanter Diversion, being only a Collection of certain Articles relating to the Controverfy, wherein it feems, we are notionally agreed, if we do but rightly understand one another's Notions; and wherein, if upon Examination, we perfevere not to agree, I hope it fhall appear to be not my fault, but yours. 1. You fay that I agree that Schifm is a Sin. Ay Sir, that I do, and none of the leaft of Sins neither, tho' I do not think it to be the Sin against the Holy Ghost, as fome of you have affirm'd; no nor as bad as Idolatry, or Murder, or Atheifim. There are degrees of Sin, and fo there are of Schism, tho' the leaft degree of what is truly, Schifm is very Culpable. As for your old Diftinction of Venial and Mortal, I fhall leave to thofe that are nearer a-kin to Rome, than ever I defire to be.

2. You fay, We are agreed, That Schifm, in the Notion of it which we are upon, is a Caufeless breach of Ecclefiaftical Communion. On this Head I told you, Page 18, 19. That by this Limitation of your Definition of Schifm, you gave us to understand, that it was not the Whole, but only a Branch of Schifm, that you are difcourfing of, and indeed one of the Leaft and Remoteft Branches of it; yet which, if caufelef, we will grant it to your Definition to be Schifmatical; and fo far we agree still.

gree

3. We are agreed too, That the higher the Deof a real Schifm is, and by what Circumstances foever it be aggravated, the greater is the Sin. And under this, your Fourth Agreement alfo is comprehended.

D 3

prehended. Thus far we agreed in the Theory, tho' I did then, and do still oppofe you in your Application of it.

P. 41, 42.

4. Laftly, That the Effects of Schifm are very grievous, I eafily did, and do ftill agree. Hence you triumphantly infer, That one would think it fhould be no difficult matter to prove our Separation to be Caufelefs and Unneceffary, efpecially confidering that I further granted,

1. That the Church of England is a True Church of Christ, in which Salvation is to be obtain'd.

2. That it is Lawfull to Communicate with the Church of England. To which you should have added my next Words, viz. That it is not abfolutely, or in it felf Sinful fo to do. But I find, you ufe to quote your Authors at this Rate. Yea,

3. That we once thought our Lay-Conformity to be our Duty, nor have we repented of thofe our thoughts to this day, nor acted any thing that is inconfiftent with them.

4. Lastly, You Inviduously upbraid me with granting more than you demanded, and more than you can receive; and fay, that I contend, that it is still the Bounden Duty of our Brethren, remaining fuch, to Communicate with you, if it be to qualify them for an Office. Sir, this is in more refpects than one, far from fair. My Words were thefe, It is every Man's Bounden Duty to ferve God and his Country, as alío to provide for Himself and his own Family, with all thofe Intellectual and Corporeal Abilities, wherewith God hath bleft him, according as there are Occafions and Calls to it: Therefore nothing that is tollerable, and not plainly finful, tho' burdenfome and uneligible, ought to restrain us from the Service of God, or Man, which we are fitted for and called to. But to this I there added, If there be any that have made thefe External Cómpliances, tenente Confcientia, or but with a Doubt

ing

ing Confcience, let them look to it, and repent of their Sin. Now of this Opinion I am still, whether you like it or no. And what Service all these Conceffions of mine will do you in the Cause in hand, is what comes next to be confidered.

Sect. III.

Now, you fay, you are come to the P. 44. Things chiefly in Debate between us: For

hitherto it seems (to ufe yonr own words) you have been but fighting with your own Shadow. And this you have divided into Three Queries.

Q. I. Whether the Separation of the Diffenters from the Church of England, be not Caufelefs? Which you think is easily to be refolu'd from my own fore-mention'd Conceffions. But to fhew my pretended Inconfiftency, you fhew your own foul Difingenuity, in the wrested and partial Quotations you make of my Letter. You fay, That in defiance of my Conceffions, I argue, that our Separation is our bounden Duty, and quote my Page 17. where my words were, If we unite with you in all that the Word of God requires us to unite in, the fault will not be Ours: If we depart and feparate from you in thofe Articles that are not of the Faith, that was once deliver'd to the Saints, or in thofe Acts of Worship and Outward Communion, which we have no Warrant in Scripture for, but general Cautions against, then our Separation will not (by this Principle of your's) be damn'd by you as Schifmatical, but muft be acknowledged (as we verily believe it) to be a part of our Bounden Duty. And what can you deny of all this? Only you prefume that our Separating from you is Caufelefs, before you have prov'd it, or we granted it; which is that pittiful begging the Question, of which you are always guilty. The reft of your Quotations, which I fhall not trouble my felf, nor the Reader to recite, are

of the fame fashion, which declares how little honefty there is in them, and how little they deserve to be regarded.

Yet that you may feem to make fomething of my Conceffions, beyond what any fober Man could ever have wrested them to, you fall into a Raving Delirium of querying, which is not worth a Repetition; but the Sum of it is this; How Pa.45. to 59. the fame thing that is Sinful at on time, and under fome Circumstances, can poffibly be Lawful, much lefs a Duty at another time and under other Circumstances; & vice verfa. This is the Paradox, which you fay you cannot understand; the things you are not Artift enough to bring to an agreement. To which I anfwer,

What your Art is to bring things to an Agreement, I cannot tell, but find that you have a fpecial faculty at fetting things at Variance. That which I fo briefly offer'd on this Head in my Letter, hath, it feems, instead of fatisfying, caft you into this loud Paroxyfm, which hath held you thorughout thefe Fourteen Pages of your Vindication; but could I be so happy as to relieve you of the Phrenzy, there might be fome hope of reducing you to a better degree of Sobriety. Wherefore that I may reprefent the matter to your Understanding in as open and clear a Light as I can; I fhall endeavour,

1. To remove that falfe Medium, thro'which you always take your Obfervations, to the prejudice of the Truth; which is this, viz. That Impofing Power which you afcribe de jure, to Church-Rulers, in things in their own nature Indifferent, and not particularly forbidden in the Holy Scriptures; which I have already prov'd to be your great Errour, and have particularly answer'd to all the Inftances which you have here brought to confirm it. But if this Impofing Power be not deriv'd from Chrift, nor according to the Holy Scriptures, then

1