this Prudence does not extend so far as to allow us to play the Hypocrite all our Lives long, if Need be, or so much as to tell a direct Lye; but only not to try at an improper Time and Place, to convince such Persons as obstinately persist in their Errors, when we see it will have no Effect upon them. For he expressly declares a little after the forementioned Words concerning confessing our Religion; and sometimes it ought to be done, though it brings upon us the Hatred of all those about us, and the imminent Danger of certain Death: (a) He that loveth Father or Mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth Son or Daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And such are all they who dissemble the Doctrines and Precepts which they have received from Christ, for their Families' Sake. Nor has Christ omitted to tell us, that Death must be expected for such Constancy; and yet notwithstanding, they ought to persist in their Design; and that he who does lose his Life upon this Account, shall obtain a blessed Immortality in the World to come, (b) And he that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his Life (in this World) shall lose it (in another) and he that loseth his Life (on Earth) for my Sake, shall find it, in Heaven, and an infinitely more happy and eternal one. THIS Doctrine is so plain and evident, that there are no Sects of Christians at this Time that differ at all about it; they who own the Pope's Authority, and they of all Sorts, who disown such Authority; do every one of them, with one Consent, affirm it to be a very wicked Thing to dissemble our Sentiments concerning Religion; when Opi (a) lie that loveth Father, &c.] Matt. x. 37. nions of the greatest Moment are debated, and where the Thing may be done without Sedition and Tumult. For in those Things, in which Faith towards God and Uncorruptness of Manners may be preserved, it may be right to conceal our Notions, rather than raise perpetual Contentions amongst Christians, when there are so few learned Men who think alike in every Thing. I say conceal, not dissemble; for to conceal your Opinion is not to lye; but to affirm you believe that which you really do not believe, this is to lye. To which may be added, that if any Opinion be established by the common Law, which you think to be false: you ought modestly and without Contention or Tumult, to declare your Dissent from it; otherwise, instead of that mild and gentle Government of Christian Churches, which does not exclude any Dissent, provided it be done with Charity; we shall run into absolute Tyranny, which will allow of no Dissent at all upon any Account. There are innumerable obscure speculative Questions, especially to those who never took any great Pains in such Sort of Studies, in which Christian Liberty ought to be allowed, as is confessed by all Christians, for there are a Multitude of Places in Scripture, and a vast Number of Theological Opinions, in which learned Men always have, and will differ from each other with Impunity, even amongst those, who in other Things require Consent more strictly than they ought to do. SECT. SECT. IV. We ought not hastily to condemn those who differ from us, as if they were guilty of such a Crime or such unlawful Worship, as is inconsistent with eternal Life; so that none who admit such Persons, should be capable of the Mercy of God; nor yet, on the other Hand, is it lawful, for us to profess that we believe what we do not really believe; or to do what at the same Time we condemn. THEY who have separated from the Church of Rome, do no more agree with each other in all Points, than they who continue in it; but according to the Judgment of some of the most learned Men, they do not differ in any Thing that is consistent with that Faith which is owing to God, and that Obedience which ought to be paid to him. But they object many Things to the Church of Rome, both in Doctrine and Worship, which they think are plainly false and unlawful. Whether they judge right in this or not, I shall not now inquire: However, thus much is evident, that according to the Opinion even of that Church, it is not lawful for them to profess that they approve of what they do not approve of, nor do they admit any Persons to Communion with them, who profess to dissent from it in such Things. Howeyer, amongst those that dissent from the Church of Rome, there are (a) some famous and learned Men, who though they think it utterly unlawful to join with that Church themselves, on the Account of those Doctrines, and that Worship in which they differ from it; yet notwithstanding (e) Some famous and learned Men, &c.] Amongst others, is Mr. William Chillingworth, in his English Book intitled, The Religion of Protestants, the safe Way to Salvation, where he mentions others, who also think them as safe. they they do not think it right to exclude from eternal Happiness, all those, both learned and unlearned, who live and die in it. They indeed who think that there is any Thing in them, which is contrary to the fundamental Principles of Christianity, judge it to be by no Means lawful for themselves to give their Assent to them, and that it would be the highest Crime in them, to pretend to consent to what they really condemn, and for which Crime, if they fall into it, and continue in it to their Death, they believe they should be excluded eternal Happiness. But as to such as do sincerely embrace those Doctrines, because they believe them to be agreeable to Divine Revelation, or at least not so repugnant to it, as to subvert the Faith or Holiness of the Gospel; whether it be owing to that sort of Study which they have employed themselves in from their Youth, or whether it ariseth from a Defect of Knowledge or Judgment; such Persons as these, I say, they do not presume to exclude from Salvation, because they cannot tell how far the Mercy of God may extend with respect to such Men as these. There are innumerable Circumstances both of Time and Place, and various Dispositions of Mind, which are quite unknown to us, which may very much diminish the Crimes of wretched Men in the Sight of God; so as to procure Pardon for such, which would be condemned in Men of more Learning. Wherefore they look upon it as a Part of Christian Equity and Prudence, at the same Time that they condemn the Doctrine and the Worship, to leave the Men to the wise and merciful Judgment of God; though they themselves are determined neither to assent to their Doctrines, nor be present at their Worship, because they think it absolutely unlawful. SURELY SURELY no Man can think, that from what has been said, it will follow that any Person who is brought up in a different Opinion, and has employed himself in reading the Scriptures in the Manner that the Reformers do; if he should, contrary to his own Conscience say or do any Thing which he thinks unlawful or false, for any present Advantage; that any such Person, I say, can hope for Pardon from God; if he should die with a Habit of saying and doing what he himself disapproves of; and would have said and done so, if he had lived longer. There is not at present, and I hope there never will be, any Sect which shall go under the Name of Christians, who will allow that such a Man can arrive at Salvation. LET Hypocrites, therefore, look to themselves whilst they behave so, as shamefully to despise the Light of Reason and Revelation, to resist the Conviction of them, and to look upon the Judgment of all Christians whatsoever as nothing. Such Persons cannot be thought learned Men, or such as have thoroughly and maturely considered the Thing. There are them that so far despise all theological Learning, that they will not so much. as attempt it; but without this there can be no Judgment at all passed upon the Matter. These equally despise that noble Philosophy, which the great Men amongst the Romans of old set such a Value upon, as being deduced from the Light of Nature; in order to indulge those Passions which the Heathen Philosophy would not allow of. Having thus secured themselves from the Judgment of past Ages, despising every Thing in the present, and having little Concern for what is to come; they are more like Beasts than Men endued with Reason, which they never make use of. They who dissemble and lye in such a Manner as this, ought not to be looked upon as Men of any Value or |