Melius Inquirendum . Or A SOBER INQUIRIE , Into the Reasonings of the Serious Inquirie : Wherein The Inquirers Cavils against the Principles , his Calumnies against the Preachings and practises Of the NON-CONFORMISTS Are Examined , and refelled , And St. Augustine , the Synod of Dort , and the Articles of the Church of England in the Quinquarticular points , vindicated .

Printed , 1678.

I Received yours , which brought along with it , both its own welcome , the assurance of your restered health , and continued Love , and also my own entertainment , The serious and Compassionate Inquirie . I have now perused it with as much seriousness as 't was written , and return'd it with mere clemency then it deserves ; and must confess my self cast down so much the lower by my disappointments upon the Reading it by how much the flattering title had rais'd me higher to expect from thence mere healing counsels . I have read of a Polish Embassador in Queen Hizabeths dayes , who at his landing whisper'd it abroad that his Embassy was Peace , but when admitted to his Audience , threatned a war : Her Majesty with invincible patience attended the winding up of his long-winded Oration , and then cries out Heu quam decepta fui , Legatum expectavi , Heraldum accepi ! I expected a Dove with an Olive branch in his mouth , and I tread upon a snake , with a menacing sting in his Tail ! Iust such another treat has your Inquirer given me . The Title raised me on tip-tocs to see at length that famous weapon-salve ; which might consolidate the Churches bleeding wounds , but the Book presents me with a weapon ready drawn to render them more wide , and more incurable . You see , Real passion , will not long conceal it self under feigned compassion , Nemo diu egit Hypocritam ! A feaverish preternatural heat in the body , usually breaks out at the Lips ! The Crocodiles tears , are but a ●…ort formal Grace , over his Prey , and yet his importunate stomack thinks his throat cut till it be done ! You are pleas'd indeed to recommend it to me , as an Irenic , and when I said , it had rather the meen of a Military Tactick , a friend of ours a little inclinable to be witty replied , it was neither the one nor the other , but an innocent Game at Ticktack .

It 's come in fashion again I perceive to Lard lean discourses with grave sentences , and therefore that you may not think I am cap't , let me remember you of Seneca. Infeliciter aegrotat , ●…ui plus periculi à medico , quam à morbo . That Patients case must needs be desperate , whose Physitian is a greater plague then his disease : And that Church must certainly languish , quae nee morbum ferre potest nee remedium , that can neither endure the Remedy , nor the Malady : It 's a sad cheise , whether we will die of our wound , or our plaister . And therefore your great Pretenders might do well to forbear their slighter Applications , which do but exasperate the Humour , for the more we tamper with improper Means , the less success must we expect from those that are proper , and proportionable .

I beseech you Sir ! answere me with mere seriousness , and compassion , then this gentleman makes inquiries , can you once imagine these Dissenters so irreconciliably fallen out with themselves , as to maintein an utter 〈◊〉 to be disputed cut of a prison , into Liberty ? to be argued cut of poverty into plenty ? out of imminent danger , into a safe Retreat ? Can you really believe them at such deadly sead with their own case , and Repose , such sworn enemies to their own peace , as to be more ambitious of Ruine , then 〈◊〉 are of self preservation ? That they should Court their Miseries , with the same passionate Caresses , that other 〈◊〉 do their Mistresses ? that they should run over one anothers Heads for the first grasp of Destruction , as if they rod post , all upon the switch , and spur for a presentation to a warm parsonage ? that what ever pr●…mises of fair and honest conveniences are offered ; yet they are so absurdly obstinate as to hold the Conclusion of self-created vexation ? Believe it Sir ! ( I know you believe it ! ) the Non conformists are Men , as well as their Neighbours , as apprehensive of Trouble , as desireus of tranquility . They have their Interests , and honest concerns too , on this side Another world ; Their backs must be cloathed , their families must cat , or die : and as , pudicitiâ , & formà , so conscientiā , & integritate , in foro nil emitur . A good conscience is not current coyne , in this worlds markets ; It will not purchase one dish of meat , though with a good stomack , it makes most Excellent sawce ; and will make the soule , a noble feast ●…lone . You ought not therefore , you cannot entertain a thought , s●… unreasonable , so uncharitable , That any thing short of sinning against God , and thereby exposing themselves to his displeasure , any thing on this side polluting their Consciences and so making their best friend their worst enemy , could be a temptation strong enough , to prevail with them to expose to apparent hazard what ever they enjoy of accommodation to render their Lives desirable .

You might perhaps please your self with a thought , That the Rhethorick of this Discourse would proselyte one of whose intellectuals you had just cause to think nothing but mean , and Contemptible . And had I found his Reasons as Cogene , as his Style is fluent , his Arguments as hard , as his words are soft . you could not despair of success upon Him , who is ever ready to offer himself to be practis'd upon at the satisfaction office : But he that would do his work throughly upon an impartial Inquirer , must use Arguments of steel , as well as words of Oile : And the Main thing I complain of in his Declamations is , that whilst we surfeit upon Rhetorick , we are chapfallen for 〈◊〉 of Reason ; and the hungry Reader sits picking his teeth like a Spanish Don , after an insipid salade , as if he had dined upon the oxe at Bartholomew fair . If ever you saw the sign of the Porter , and Dwarf , you have seen the true scale of proportion between his Mellifluous Language , and pittiful argumentation . And I am resolved that no Importunity shall prevail with me to Accept A well-measured sentence , or Laboured period , for a Syllogism , where two gingling words stand for the propositions , And a decent comely Cadence for the Conclusion : But this I will freely own , that since there is a necessity ( which yet we know no Reason for ) that the Nonconformists be Reviled , it s some Comfort to be rail'd at in good Language , and to meet with Dirty Matter wrapt up in clean linnen . And since you will needs have my judgment of the style , and dress , I shall only say thus much . Cum omnis Arrogantia est molesta , illa Ingenii , & Eloquentiae , est longè molestissima . All Arrogance is indeed nauseous , but that of wit and Rhethorick in a polemical treatise is a downright Vomit .

They that talk so Confidently that there can be No Unity hoped for among Christians , without Uniformity : nor peace maintein'd , unless all Men be of a scantling in their judgments , or at least , that ( though indulged to retain their different apprehensions ) they be obliged to conform to the same practise , in every circumstance , do seem to me to have entertain'd notions very unworthy the Christian Religion , or perhaps to understand very little of the Nature , and design of it . An Epicurean , can nuzzle in the same straw , with a swine of his own stye : and truly it was well thought on ; saevis inter se convenit ursis . But Christianity enlarges our love to a greater Latitude , it raises our affections to a Nobler pitch , cordially to embrace with the best Armes of Good will whoever are Dignified with the Image of Christ , though not Distinguisht with our own superscription , nor express the fi●…r strokes of our private conceptions , why can we not love a Christian as he is such , though differing from us in Innocent Accidents , as well as a Man , because he is a Man , though his hair be of another Colour , his face of another Symmetry ; and complexion then our own ?

It 's true , we cannot without Abhorrence , and Recoil of Spirit behold those Monstrous births , which nature ( ever designing regularly , yet through the ineptitude of her tools and Matter , miscarrying in her operations ) does sometimes affright the world with ; Nor can we bear those prodigious heresies , and uncouth blasphemies , the by-blows of depraved nature , begotten by a Corrupt Head , upon a debauched Heart , yet even towards these , we ought not to be more monstrous in our behaviour , then they are in their Nature ; One sin will never heal another . Rigorous impositions , will never Cure froward sentiments ; It was A B. of Hereford's prescription to cut of the Head , because it Aked ; As some Divisions , and errours are the works of the flesh , proceeding from pride and passion , nourished by discontent or other unruly lust , so are some magnified Remedies for those distempers , which smell as strong , and sav●…ur as ranck of the flesh , as those very corruptions which they pretend to purge away .

They do but therefore delude themselves , and abuse others , whose great Ambition it is to Reduce the world into a strict , and precise uniformity in every minute punctilio , God has no where promised it , we have 〈◊〉 Reason to expect it ; All conclude it unattainable , and many judge it not desirable . The Healing Rule must be this . In necessariis unitas : in non-necessariis Libertas , in utrisque Charitas . If our judgments and practises Center in things fundamental , let a Latitude be allowed in the Non-necessary , and a charitable temper be mainteined in both , and then shall we see the wellcome Dawnings of primative peace , and glory . That Peace which fills up both pages in the gospel , is not founded upon an assent to every inconsiderable Nicetie which an idle and fruitful invention can broach , when he has little else to do , but in cherishing a quick and vigorous spirit of mutual condescention , and forbearance of one another under our dissentings . No external application can possibly reach this inward grievance , purge out that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Spirit of Malice , envy , hatred , pride , Revenge , and the wound will heal of it self .

It will remain the eternal blot of Pope Victor's memory that he embroyl'd both East , and west , with the quarto-decimane Impertinencies , when he might have allay'd those heats , and ferments of Spirit , by Removing the Subject of a needless question , or Leaving 〈◊〉 at Liberty as he found it ; but I much mistake my self if ever he , or his Successors in that usurpation , understood the things that belonged to the Churches peace ; whose solemn method it was to set the Earth on a flame with sparks kindled from Hell , blown up by imposing Pride , yet all along visibly justified with the specious Plea of uniformity .

N●…w the Plea ( in short ) is this : Without Uniformity there can be no Unity , and without Unity we must expect no inward love , Diversity of Opinions lead to a diversity of practises , and these alienate the affections , which works it self into factions , and parties to the disquiet and rending of the Church , and hazard of the State . But these reasonings lye very naked , and open , to the judicious and impartial Considerer . For our true Unity lies in the profession of one God , one Lord Jesus Christ , one Spirit , and not in one Ceremony , and our love will therefore be the more eminent , because it has these differences to prove its truth , and exercise its ' strength : And what ever the evil may be in different apprehensions , the Remedy will never be by Halters , but Humility , and Charity ; for Humility will Schoole me into this lesson , to think well of the persons , and ●…udge modestly of the principles of those ●…at dissent when a Halter will sooner break the neck , then conwince the judgment : It 's easy to play the Hypocrite and practise what another pleases , but impossible to believe what I please my self : But now , if these diversities of judgment , and practise , shall boyle up into Animosities , which through their ill management shall endanger , or but seem to threaten the safety of the government : The Magistrate in this case has a proper and specifick Remedy of his own , entrusted in his hands by divine right ; viz. to Reduce Delinquents into the way of sobriety by due punishments ; leaving the sober , and peaceable Dissenters in the mean time to reap the fr●…its 〈◊〉 their own innocency ; with this singular Advantage ; that they can now learn by the 〈◊〉 , and exemplary punishments upon others , to watch against these corruptions of their hearts , least they should break out into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 practises unbecoming the Gospel which they do profess , and should adorne .

How beautiful 〈◊〉 is in the eyes of Men , and what deformity the difference of Modes , Rites , formes of wors●…ip carry along with it , rending Religion it self less pleasing , and amiable in the eyes of curious and critical Spectators is easily pretended ; And with aequal right , and Reason might they complain , that God has not made all Men of one size , one stature , and thence take occasion to make goodly Declamations against the ugliness of the Creation .

The variety which we behold in the Universe , is not its Deformity , but its beauty ; As the eye is more ravished with Landscape , which enriches it with the grateful interposition of Hills , and Valleys , Woods , and Champian , alternately taking up the thoughts , and feeding contemplation with the natural chequere-work of light , and opake , then if it were let out to loose it self in the uniformity of a wast Horison , or empty prospect ; so is the soul more surprized with the glory of the Christian Religion , when various apprehensions agree in the same substantial holiness , and several statures bear the Image of the same God : one star differing from another in Glory , yet all shining with a Light borrow'd from the same fountain , the smallest eye of heaven filling up a place in the Asterisms of those of the first Magnitude . If indeed all men were soundly cudgell'd into one e●…n way of profession and practise , they whose design it is to sleep out their dayes in ease , might enjoy themselves , and their Acquists over Conscience , with more soft , and delicate touches of carnal contentment , dreaming all the while that the world is their own ; yet still the minds of men would sit as uneasy under ●…h Rigours , as he that pinches his body with too straight a 〈◊〉 , onely to recommend himself to acceptation by the new and obteining fashion : And as we observe an uneasy suit . soon becomes an old suite , so they that sit pinch't under a straight laced Religious forme , do but grumble , and make sow●… face●… waiting the good hour ; when they may fairly and honestly dise●… themselves of an ungrateful cumber .

What Advantage this Inquirer may promise to himself from 〈◊〉 a way of writing , I cannot Divine . The best use I conceiv●… 〈◊〉 made of it , is to support the evil Consciences of the 〈◊〉 of their fury , a●… such tolerable rates , that they may not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 souls in pieces : for persecution for Religion , ●…s an 〈◊〉 so abhorrent to the common sight of Mankind , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thoug●… for a while perhaps it may contract a Lethargick d●…ness , yet will awake and mutter , and grumble 〈◊〉 : 〈◊〉 ●…ade a pandar to Coveteousness , or malice , a 〈◊〉 horse to base Revenge , or to held a Candle to the Devil ; And when it shall begin to lowre , and scold , it 's no little gain that will make a sop for that barking Cerberus , no small see will bribe it to hold its tong●…e . But now in comes one of these plausible Declamations , rending the principles of the Dissenters so silly , their grounds so weak , their lives so wicked , their practises so ridiculous , and yet of such treasonable , and schismatical Tendencies , which ●…uskes the clamour of Conscience , and like the jogging of the Cradle rocks the pievish thing asleep again , assoon as it begins to whimper .

Really Sir ! I cannot but exceedingly pitty , and pray for a sort of persons of your own Quality , who to their more refined Extract , having added all the ornaments of posi●…e literature , and those more graceful accomplishments fetcht 〈◊〉 by Travel , and a fr●… converse in the world , besides that Honour which they have bravely won in the Field , and creditably worn at home , have yet their judgments so far imposed upon , their spirits so imbitter'd by prejudices formed from misrepresentations , as to become the instruments of other mens passions in executing those severities , which their calmer thoughts , and more sedate Advisements must needs Regret ; And though a true generos●… English Temper , valiant , but not cruel , may confidently claime the Magnanimous Lyon ( Cui satis est prostr●…ss ▪ ) as the Embleme of Courage mixt with Clemency , for his Crest , yet some few of m●…re Rigid inclinations , will depopulate and lay wast many a mile about them , who when they behold an odd kind of Peace , as the happy fruits of their cruelties , applaud themselves for persons of deep judgment , and great success , ●…yling Desolation , Universal quiet .

If you ask me why I have not underwritten my Name ? besides that you know it well enough without my subscription , you may be pleas'd to Remember what you once told me , That Though Truth needs no Maske , she may want a helmet ; and seeing she desires no better , do not grudge her the Covert of Darkness . Innocency knows no guilt that should Dye her face with shame , yet she apprehends danger , which may make her Pale with fear . Truth seeks no Corners , as to the justice of her cause ; and yet she may seek a corner as to the injustice of her judge . I am not conscious to my self of any evil Design , but they who will call Preaching , Prating , will hardly scruple to call my Ears Hornes , and I am not to be judge in the Case .

I am Confident you commiserate ●…ur hard fate , and the unequal Termes our ●…ffing Antagonists impose upon us . They chalenge us to a paper duel in the most provoking Language such as would set an edge upon the most obtuse coward . If Modesty , an ambition for peace , or love of retiredness tempt us to decline the Combate we are then Posted up for Cowardise ; but if we awaken so much spirit as to take up the gauntlet , and return the mildest Answere , then Trusty R. gets it in the wind , and immediately summons his Hamlets , raises the whole posse Ecclesiae , and Spiritual Militia upon us , and strangles the helpless Infant in the Cradle : A wary Answere may sometimes steal of the forme before it 's started , then comes in Mr. Warden M. ( the common Hunt ) whistles out the whole pack of his infallible beagles , pursues , runs down , catches the poor fugitive , and then you know to seize a book is the most effectual way to Confute it : If one in a thousand has the happy success , to escape this Inquisition , then the New Smectymnuan Divines , or Convocation of the Coffee-house will reply upon it , that they will , if it was pend with becoming seriousness and gravity , they have one Reply . This is nothing but whining , or Raving : if the style be brisk't with a dash or so of facetiousness , they have one word ready to Confute it . This is Drollery , Burlesque buffoonry ! A blank Imprimatur lay ready every week against poor Robin , ( the doughty second of the Friendly debate , and Ecclesiastical Polity ) creeps abroad ; and to all bis blasphemies , obscaenities , scurrilities , ribaldries , the priviledge underwrites , This may be printed : If Mr. Sh. goes big with some of his illegitimate Socinian foolcries , A Chaplain waits at the door to midwife the brat into the World : But if a piece comes out with little zeale for ceremonies , though in vindication of the old Doctrine of the Ancient Church of England , it expects nothing but Lydford Law , first to be condemn'd , and afterwards perhaps to be tryed : Against all which I see no other remedy , but silent complaints , or it may be this short Rejoinder , Tolle Legem & fiat disputatio !

But I have already given you too much trouble , what remains must be mine own , to study to be Master of a calm , serene , submissive frame of heart , which may enable me to suffer like a Christian , for doing like a Christian ! And if after all I cannot escape the lash of virulent Tongues , and violent hands , yet at Least I may not fall under the severer stings of my own Conscience .

I shall not need to beg of you to give this Paper a Leasurely , and impartial perusal , 't is so Agreable to your own Nature , and that strict Law which your own Wisdome has impos'd upon you , Not to pass a final judgment upon any thing , before you have duely weighed all things ; that as I cannot suspect you will decline your constant , and fixed Method in my single Case , so I can hardly prevail with my self to ask that as a favour , which you in justice must needs grant .

I shall only beg the pardon of this interruption given to your important concernes , and if you smile sometimes at my simplicity , let that be the sharpest correction , your affection will suffer you to give to

The Poets are never more transported into pleasing extasie , then when they are gotten into the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Golden Age ; and then the Rivers shall flow with pure Nectar and Milk ; The Trees distil Life Honey ; and the prodigal Earth , without cultivation gladly exhaust her Spirits , and spin out her Bowels to pay Tribute to the satisfaction of Mankind ; with a great many more Pedantick good-morrows ; But when once that Iron Age appeared with its Harder-face ; Pandora's Box was then open'd , and whole Legions of Furies invaded the world ; But above all , Navigation and Trade , those two implacable enemies to all Religion , were invented , and I cannot sufficiently admire , that amongst all the Reasons muster'd up against th●…se Schismatical Evils , This Primitive one , That they came in with the Iron Age , escaped our Enquirer's Industry .

As all good Christians are ready to give the Primitive times their due praises , and as willing to lament the Degeneracy , and Apostacy of the present , ●…o they look upon it as a piece of Incivility no modest person would be guilty of , to spend all his Frankincense in embalmin●… the memory of the Ages Dead , and gone ; whilst the present , lie●… like a rotten ●…arease stinking above-ground without the courtesie of a 〈◊〉 shrowd to cover its nakedness . A vanity ( to say nothing more ●…vere ) noted by Wisdom it self , Eccles. 7. 10. Say not t●… , what is the cause that the former dayes were better than these : for thou dost not Enquire wisely concerning this .

Had this Genteleman concern'd himself to appear a wise and impartial , as well as a Compassionate Enquirer , he had never been guilty of that folly to pelt witty Sentences and Apothegms at his Readers head . as Boys do Snow-balls , which with equal ease , and execution , may be retorted For thus might a vulgar Ingeny form a Panegyrick of the singular Piety and exemplary Holiness of those Primitive Christians . That they imployed their Affections in keeping the old Commandments , and never strained their Inventions to find out new ones : They made no more Duties , nor Sins , than God had made and left the way to Heaven no narrower , th . Gate no straighter than they found it : They judged him a good man that squared his Conv●…rsation , a pious man that modelled his Devotions by that of ●…he Word , though he knew ▪ no other Rubrick : They contented themselves with Gospel simplicity , and durs●… not be wise above what was written , least , they should prove learned fools : They understood what a Spirit of Bearing with , and forbearing of one another signified ; And the Fathers of the Church approved themselves to deserve that venerable Character , who never dasht out their childrens brains , because their Heads were not all of one Block .

That little wit which there is in these popular Trappings , is only this . To single out the most eminent Instances of Refined Sanctity in the Primitive times , and from thence to take the general measures of their Devotion , and then again to cull out the most Infamous Examples of prodigious Villanies in the present Age , and from thence to give us the Idaea of our Modern Piety ; that is , to make a mis-shapen Parallel between the Flower of those , and the Bran of these days .

He that would make a right Judgement of the Wealth of a Nation , must not visit the Hospitals only : He that would take a just Prospect of a Nations Fiety , must not inform his Pencil from the Records of New - gate , or the Executions of Tiburn : Or if he would be satisfied in the sweetness of a City , I would not advise him to hang his Nose over the Vaults , and Common-shores : Or if he would take the exact Height of the Nations Glory , let him not take instructions from some depopulated Village : If we consider the best of the worst man , or the worst of the best man ; If we only view the Mole or Wart upon the fairest face , and some single feature in the most deformed , we may easily betray our selves in this false judgement ; that Thersites was a great Beauty , and Absalom a Gorgon : Thus if we will denominate the lapsed Ages from some eminent Rarities of Virtue : or the present , from some notorious Examples of Impiety , we shall never distinguish between the Common-wealth of Plato , and the Dregs of Romulus .

Suppose we , that some Tribunitial Orator , to exercise the gallantry of his Pen in a Theme so common ▪ and copious , wou'd set himself to decry the Piety of that other World . Let him Copy out the Treachery of Iudas , exaggerate the Apostacy of Demas ▪ the Heretical pravity of Hymen●…us , and Phil●…us ; let him enlarge upon the Ambition of Diotrephes , the Blasphemies of Cerinthus , the Debaucheries of the Nicolaitans ; and above all , be sure to plie the Villanies of the Gnostieks , with warm Cloaths , and what a frightful M●…dusa would that Age appear , if drawn to the life by those Exemplars ?

Suppose once more that our Orator had an itch to imploy his mercenary Pen to scrape acquaintance with some tempting preferment ; to reconcile his lines to the Genius of the present Age , and imploy his Talents where he shall not lose his oyl , and pains , Let him with Apelles take up on trust the particular Excellencies of the most exemplary Christians , let him borrow the single beauties of meekness , patience , humility , charity , faith , self-denyal , constancy ; that like the Sporades lie dispersed and scattered up and down the world ; let him A masse all the individual worthinesses that are not yet banisht to Heaven , and unite all these in one Table , and such a draught perhaps shall not need to be ashamed to shew its face before the most exact pieces of proportion that are reserved in the Archives of Antiquity . And to speak a plain truth , if one tenth part of what these men ascribe to their great Patrons in their Dedicatory Epistles were true , I could easily evince that there are very few who have the disposal of fat Advowsons , but are more Illustrious Saints , than any of the Primitive Fathers , and perhaps we shall not need to except the Twelve Apostles .