CONSIDERATIONS Concerning Comprehenfion, Toleration, AND THE Renouncing the COVENANT. E who endeavours to make any Alteration in a fet led Government either of Church or State, is obliged by all the Rules of Juftice and of Prudence to alledge fome very good cause, why it is that he doth do so; Alteration being in it felf fo great an Inconvenience, as that it ought not by any means to be attempted, but for fome weighty Reason. Now as to the Church, as it is by Law established (notwithstanding all the fearful Outcries which of late have been made against it) I would fain have any of our Diffenting Brethren to answer directly, Whether there be any one thing finful in her Com B Communion, or only fome things (as they conceive) inexpedient? If only inexpedient (as there is good caufe to believe, that the most confiderable Perfons, and those in no small numbers among them,do fuppofe no more) then I would fain know, whether inexpediency alone is a fufficient and juft caufe of Separation? And how well foever any particular man a mong them may think of the Grounds of his own Separation; there is very good evidence, that there are abundance among themselves who do plainly perceive, and much lament it, that by the means of this present Separation, there hath been an entrance made for fuch Doctrines and Practi ces into this Nation, which are chargeable with (to phrafe it modeftly) the very highest degrees of inexpediency. When the rule and measures of inexpediency are well confidered of, and regard is had to that great variety of Respects in which one and the fame thing may be both expedient and inexpedient; it will then be found,that inexpediency is a thing, which pri vate perfons cannot easily determine, indeed are no competent Judges of: Befides if it were a clear cafe, that in the present settlement there were fomething not altogether fo expedient as were to be wished: Is this a fufficient warrant for any not only to miflike fo much of the Law as they think capable of being mended, but withall openly and avowedly to feparate, to unite and joyn in great Combinations against the Publick Conftitutions, only because they are not arrived, in their efteem, at all poffible degrees of perfection? He who can fubmit to no Law but fuch a one as is exactly made to his own mind in all particulars, muft refolve, for any. thing I know, never to obey, as long as he lives, any Law which is not of his own making; and not only fo,but he will find that he must not obey many Laws of his own making for any long time neither: If therefore a fuppofed inexpediency be the utmost of the charge, as I fuppofe in the end it will appear to be, then all wife men fhould confider with themselves, WheB 2 ther ther any fancied Alteration can be fecure from equal, if not greater dangers ? And before that any fuch Alteration be made,it seems to be but just and equal that the New Model be agreed upon by thofe who do defign it, and that it be propofed either to our Governours, or to the publick view, that it may be examined, before admitted; and feeing that it is to be of lafting Confequence, it is to be hoped that it will not be too hastily concluded upon. A late ingenious Perfon fet forth an handsome Difcourfe upon this Argument, entituled, of the Religion of England, afferting, that Reformed ChriStianity fetled in its due Latitude is the Stability and Advancement of this Kingdom. Wherein he hath attempted fomething like a Model of a future Settlement; his Difcourfe is plaufible, and defires feem to be bent on Peace, and many of his Principles look as if they did feem to tend much that way, but there feems to be this one thing very obfervable in his whole way of Writing, that with great great Art he doth very dexterously take care not to come too clofe up to the Argument, and he brings his Reader even to the very Point where the business lies, and almost unperceivably steals by and paffeth on to fomething else; and to a narrow view it will appear plainly, that he keeps himself within the compafs of fuch wide Generalities, that he leaves the Reader in the fame uncertainties in which he found him. The Draught of his Design is to be feen, Sec. 14. pag. 28. which doth confift in these three Contrivances. First, That there is to be an established and approved Order But, because that this alone he finds not to be fufficient; therefore in the fecond place, there is to be a Provision for a fort of men who cannot come within the establishment, and they are to be tolerated under certain Restrictions; Nor is this all; for neither the establishment alone is fufficient, neither will a Toleration of Diffenters from it fuffice; and therefore in the third place, there are another fort of men, who must be only conB 3 nived |