HOW sad , but how full a Commentary doth the age we live in , give on these words of our Lord , Luke 12.49 . I am come to send fire on the earth : suppose you that I am come to give peace on the earth ; I tell you , nay ; but rather division : for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided . Do we not see the Father divided against the Son , and the Son against the Father , and engaging into such angry heats and mortal feuds , upon colors of Religion , as if the seed of the Word of GOD , like Cadmus teeth , had spawned a generation of cruel and bloud-thirsty men : But how surprizing is the Wonder , when Religion becomes the pretence , and seems to give the rise to these animosities , since the wisdom and goodness of GOD hath devised nothing more proper and powerful for over-ruling all the secret passions of the mind , and for mortifying of all boisterous disorders ? The Doctrine delivered by our meek and lowly Master , teacheth us the great Lessons of humility , of self-diffidence , and self-contempt , guards against the undervaluing of others , and the over-rating of our selves , gives check to wrath , anger , emulation and envy ; hatred and malice , railing and censuring : And in a word , designs the moulding our natures into a conformity with its blessed Author : who when he was reviled , reviled not again ; but practised without a blemish , those great Lessons he taught his Disciples , of doing good for evil , loving his Enemies , and praying for such as despitefully used him . But how far have we fallen from that lovely Pattern ? And how is the serene and peaceable visage of Christianity transformed into a sour cankered and surly temper , as if that which obliged us to love all men , should engage us to look morose on all but a handful of a party : and that which should dilate our love to all mankind , is given for a ground of contracting it to a few as ill natured as our selves .

Is there not a generation among us who highly value themselves , and all of their own form ? but whoso differs from them , is sure of their fiercest spite , and bitterest Censures . Are the lives of such as differ from them vertuous , then they say they are good moral men : But , alas ! they know not what it is to be spiritual . Again , are they devout and grave , then they are called Monastick people , Juglers , or Papists . And if nothing can be fastened on them , the charge of hypocrisie is the last shift of malice : Or if they have been guilty of any failings and mistakes , they are so far from covering or disguising of them ; that on the contrary , the relating , the aggravating , and the commenting on these , is the main subject of all their discourses . And if they go on a Visit , the first Civilities are scarce over , when these Stories ( true or false , all is to one purpose ) come to make up their conversation . Who can have the least tincture of the Christian Spirit , and look on without sad regrates , and see this bitter , fierce , and cruel venom poisoning the several Sects and divisions of Christendom ? The root and spring whereof is no other than a carnal , proud , and unmortified temper : for few are so Atheistical , but they desire to pass , both in their own account , and in the opinion of others , for good Christians : but when they find how hard a thing it is to be a Christian indeed , and that they must mortifie all their carnal appetites , their fierce passions , and swellings of pride , despise the world , and be resigned in all things to the Will of GOD , before they can deserve that noble Character , then they pursue another method more grateful to their corrupt minds , which is to list themselves under a party , to cherish and value the Heads and Leaders of it , and to divide their kindness to all of their stamp : they stifly adhere to the forms , and maintain all the humors and opinions of that Party to which they have associated themselves , and they whet their Spirits and sharpen their Tongues against all of another mould , which some do with an undisguised fierceness : Other with a visage of more gravity , by which they give the deeper wounds . What sad effects flow from this Spirit is too visible ; and I love not to play the Diviner , or to presage all the mischief it threatens : but certain it is that the great business of Religion lies under an universal neglect , while every one looks more abroad on his Neighbor , than inwardly on himself ; and all st●dy more the advancement of a Party , than the true interest of Religion .

I deny not but zeal for GOD must appear , when we see indignities done to his holy Name , in a just indignation at these who so dishonour him ; but what relation have little small differences about matters which have no tendency for advancing the Image of GOD in our Souls , to that ; since both sides of the debate may be well maintained without the least indignity done to GOD , or his holy Gospel ? What opposition to the Will of GOD , or what harm to Souls can flow from so innocent a practice , as the fixing some Churchmen over others , for observing , directing , reproving , and coercing of the rest , that this should occasion such endless brawlings , and such hot contentions ? But supposing the grounds of our divisions , as great as any angry Disputer can imagine them , then certainly our zeal for them should be tempered , according to the Rules and Spirit of the Gospel . Is it a Christian temper that our spirits should boil with rage against all of another persuasion , so that we cannot think of them without secret commotions of anger and disdain , which breaks often out into four looks , ridiculous ●earings , bitter scoffings and invectives , and in attempts at bloud and cruelty ? How long shall our Nadabs and Ab●hus burn this wild-fire on the Altar of GOD , whose flames should be peaceful , and such as descend from Heaven ? When we see any endangering their Souls by erroneous Opinions , or bad practices , had we the divine Spirit in us , it would set us to our secret mournings for them : our hearts would melt in compassion towards them , and not burn in rage against them : and we would attempt for their recovery , and not contrive their 〈◊〉 . The ●ne bears on it a clear impress of that nature which is Love , in which none can have interest , or union , but such as dwell and abide in Love : but the other bears on it the lively signature of him that was a murderer from the beginning : and all that is mischievous or cruel , is of that evil one , and tends to the subversion of mankind ; as well as the ruin of true Religion .

Another great Rule by which the Peace and Order of all human Societies is maintained and advanced , is obedience to the Laws , and submission to the Authority of these whom GOD hath set over us , to govern and defend us ; to whose Commands if absolute Obedience be not payed , ever till they contradict the Laws of GOD , there can be neither peace nor order among men , as long as every one prefers his own humour or inclination to the Laws of the Society in which he lives . Now it cannot be denied to be one of the sins of the age we live in , that small regard is had to that authority GOD hath committed to his Vicegerents on earth : The evidence whereof is palpable , since the bending or slackening of the execution of Laws is made the measure of most mens Obedience , and not the conscience of that duty we owe the commands of our Rulers : for what is more servile and unbecoming a man , not to say a Christian , than to yield Obedience when over-awed by force ; and to leap from it when allured by gentler methods ? If Generosity were our principle , we should be sooner vanquished by the one , than cudgelled by the other : Or if Conscience acted us , the Obligation of the Law would equally bind , whether backed with a strict Execution , or slackened into more impunity . Hence it appears how few there are who judg themselves bound to pay that reverence to the Persons , and that Obedience to the Commands of these GOD hath vested with his Authority , which the Laws of Nature and Religion do exact . And the root of all this disobedience and contempt , can be no other , but unruly and ungoverned pride , which disdains to submit to others , and exalts it self above these who are called Gods . The humble are tractable and obedient ; but the self willed are stubborn and rebellious . Yet the height of many mens pride rests not in a bare disobedience , but designs the subverting of Thrones , and the shaking of Kingdoms , unless governed by their own measures .

Among all the Heresies this age hath spawned , there is not one more contrary to the whole design of Religion ▪ and more destructive of mankind , than is that bloudy Opinion of defending Religion by Arms , and of forcible resistance upon the colour of preserving Religion . The wisdom of that Policy is ●●●hly , sen●●al and devillish , favoring of a carnal unmortified and impatient mind , that cannot bear the Cross , nor trust to the Providence of GOD : and yet with how much zeal is this doctrine maintained and propagated , as if on it hung both the Law and the Prophets ? Neither is the zeal used for its defence only meant for the vindicating of what is past , but on purpose advanced for re-acting the same Tragedies : which some late villanous attempts have too clearly discovered , some of these black Arts ( tho written in white ) being by a happy providence of GOD ( by the intercepting of R. Mac his Letters which contained not a few of their rebellious practisings and designs ) brought to light .

Indeed the consideration of these evils should call on all to reflect on the sad posture wherein we are , and the evident signatures of the Divine displeasure under which we l●e : from which it appears that GOD hath no pleasure in 〈◊〉 , nor will be glorified among us : that so we may discern the signs of the times , and by all these sad indications may begin to appehend our danger , and ●o turn to GOD with our whole hearts ; every one repenting of the works of his hands , and contributing his prayers and endeavours for a more general Reformation . It is not by Political Arts , nor by the execution of penal Laws , that the power of Religion can be recovered from these decays , under which it hath so long suffered . No , no , we must consider wherein we have provoked GOD to chastise us in this fashion , by letting loose among us a Spirit of uncharitableness , giddiness , cruelty and sedition : And the progress of these and other great evils , we ought to charge on our own faultiness , who have provoked GOD to plead a Controversie with us in so severe a manner . This is the method we ought to follow , which if we did , we might sooner look for the Divine protection and assistance : and then we should experience it to be better to put our confidence in GOD , than to put our confidence in men .

Indeed surh a Reformation of our lives and hearts , would more strongly plead our cause , and advance our interest , than the most learned Disputes , or the severest Laws , tho followed with a most vigorous execution : Let us not therefore repine at the contempt we lie under , or the hazard we are exposed to ; nor complain of the non-execution of Laws ; but let us examine wherein we have walked contrary to the Laws of CHRIST in his Gospel , by which we have provoked GOD to render us base and contemptible before the people . In a word , till we condemn our selves more , and others less , and think more of reforming our selves , and less of punishing others , we look not like proper Objects of Mercy , or fit for a deliveranee .

But I shall quit this purpose to give some account of the following Conferences . Some years ago , a small Book of Dialogues betwixt the Conformist and Nonconformist was published , and received with the general applause and good liking of all , who were so far unprepossessed as to consider the plain and simple reasonings were there laid open ; but presently all the mouths of the enraged Zealots were set a yelping and snarling at it , and at its suspected Author : some laughed at it , others despised it , and all of them were angry : some threatned a speedy answer , others doubting of the performance , said , it deserved none . At length divers Pens were said to have undertaken the Task ; but in end we had an answer from beyond Sea to it , which was received with an universal shout of victory and triumph : the Answerer acting his part with so much confidence , and edging his smatterings with so much bitterness , as if he had engaged with a compound of Ignorance and Atheism . At first reading I could not but pity one who triumphed so confidently with so little reason , and regrate the bitterness of his spirit , who belched up gall and wormwood upon every occasion . Yet in some matters of fact and History , I deny not but his confidence made me imagine truth might be on his side ; but when I examined things from their Fountains , I know not wha verdict to pass on him , who fell in so many mistakes , and stumbled at every step . Most of his errors I imputed to his second-hand reading , for he seems to have risen no higher in his learning than the reading of Pamphlets : and it is like , hath that quarrel with Antiquity , that there is not a forty year old Author in his Closet ; and so much is he beholden to the labours of others , that if one unplume him of what is borrowed , nothing will remain but scoldings , and non-sense . For when he meets with anything out of the Road , it is not unpleasant to see how browillied he is ; and so unequal in his stile , that sometimes he flies high on borrowed wings , and immediately he halts and crawls when on his own legs . I was not soon resolved whether such a Scribler deserved an Answer , since all he said that was material , had both been printed and answered full often ; yet the confidence of the Author , and the value which others , much about his own size of knowledg and modesty , did set on his labors , made me think it necessary to say a little more on these things , which were perhaps too overly glanced at by the Conformist in the Dialogues : and my interest in that Person secured me from apprehending his mistakes of my interposing in this quarrel ; for indeed what he said was so far from being shaken by this pretended trifling Answer , that as a Person of great judgment and worth , said , No more pains was needful for refuting the Answer , but the reading over the Dialogues , whose strength remained entire after all his attempts against them .

I was doubtful what method to pursue in the following sheets , since I ever loathed the answering of Books by retail , as an endless and worthless labor : for when should I have done , did I call him to account for all his incoherencies and impertinencies , and examine all his simpering distinctions , and whiffling answers ? I resolved therefore at one dash to wave all that , and to examine the matters of greater and more publick concern , with that clearness of expression which befits such Subjects , and with so much brevity , as might not frighten away the more superficial Readers , nor surfeit the more laborious . Therefore I have not stayed to make good all the Conformists Opinions or arguments , hinted in these short Dialogues , but have left the examining of them , and the Answers made to them , to the consideration of the unprejudged Reader , and so have considered nothing of what he answers to the fifth and sixth Dialogues . To the fifth Dialogue , wherein set forms for Worship are pleaded for , he answers by confessing their lawfulness , arguing only against the imposing them ; but this I meet with in my second Conference , wherein I assert the binding Authority of Laws in all things lawful . And for his Answers to the sixth Dialogue , they concern me not , being made up of reflections : It is true , to shew his Common place reading , he gives a long discourse of Justification , but to very little purpose , since upon the matter the Conformist differs nothing from him : And for the justifying or condemning some phrases or modes of speech , they are not worth the while to debate about them : All my quarrel at these long winded Common places , being , that by a pretence of making matters clearer , they darken them with a multiplicity of words , and an intricacy of phrases . And as this is justly censurable on every head about which it is imployed , so it is more particularly in the matter of Justification , which being the ground of our hope and joy , should be so cleared , that no difficulty , nor nicety get into our conceptions about it . What then can be clearer than that GOD in consideration of his Sons sufferings , offers free pardon to all sinners , on the terms of their forsaking their sins , their accepting his mercy through his Son , and their obedience to the rules of his Gospel , which whosoever do , are actually in the ●avor of GOD , made partakers of his Grace , and shall in due time be admitted to his Glory ? This being the Co●f●rmists sense on that head , I leave it with all to consider what reason there was for making such ado about it , or for charging him with so heavy imputations . But he shrouds himself under his own innocency , and will patiently bear all the insultings and ungodly rage of that Adversary , without recriminating or answering him in his own style and dialect .

I pursue the method of a Conference , as being both more suitable to the purposes here canvassed , and more agreeable to the Dialogues , only I furnish the Scene with more persons ; and I am much mistaken if the Answerer himself shall have ground to accuse me of not laying out the strength of his reasonings faithfully , since upon every occasion I put in Isotimus his mouth the substance of his arguings , as far as I could reach them . But to make this unpleasant peace of contention go the more easily off , I have subjoyned to it an account of the form and rules of Church Government , as I found them to have been received in the first and purest ages of the Church : But I add no more for Preface to that work , since in the end of the last Conference enough is said for introduction to it .

I have divided my work in four parts and Conferences : The first examines the opinion of resisting lawful Magistrates upon the pretence of defending Religion . The second considers the Authority of Laws , and the obedience due to them , together with the Kings Supremacy in matters Ecclesiastical . The third examines the spirit that acted during the late times and Wars , and continues yet to divide us by Schism and faction . And the fourth examines the lawfulness and usefulness of Episcopacy .

I must now release my Reader from the delay this Introduction may have occasioned him , without the usual formality of Apologies , for the defects the following papers are guilty of , since I know these generally prevail but little for gaining what they desire : but shall only say , that this morose way of writing , by engaging into Controversies , is as contrary to my Genius as to any mans alive : For I know well how little such writings prevail for convincing of any , and that by them the most part are rather hardened into more wilfulness , and exasperated into more bitterness : Yet for this once I was prevailed on to do violence to my own inclinations , by this Patrociny of the authority and laws of that Church and Kingdom wherein I live .

I am so far from thinking my self concerned to make Apology for the slowness of this Piece its appearance in publick , that I encline rather to make excuses for its coming abroad too soon . That it was ready near a twelve-month ago , can be witnessed by many who then saw it . Yet I was willing to let it lye some time by me , and my aversion from the motions of the Press , put it often under debate with me whether I should stifle it , or give it vent : at length I yielded to the frequent importunities of my friends who assaulted me from all hands , and told me how much it was longed for , and what insultings were made upon the delay of its publication .

And by what is near the end of the third Conference , it will appear that it was written before the discovery of these who had robbed and wounded the Ministers in the West of Scotland . I let what is there said continue as it was written , before the discovery , but shall add somewhat here . In September last , after a new robbery had been committed on another conformable Minister , whose actors no search could discover ; some few days had not passed over , when by a strange Providence one of them was catched on another account by a brave Soldier , and being seized , such indications of his accession to the robbery were found about him , that he to prevent torture , confessed not only his own guilt , but discovered a great many more : most of them escaped , yet three were taken , and had Justice done on them , with him who had been their chief Leader : and who continued to cant it out highly after he got his Sentence , talking of his blood as innocently shed , and railing against the Prelats and Curats ; though before Sentence he was basely sordid , as any could be . One of his complices who died with more sense , acknowledged , when he spake his last words , that bitter zeal had prompted him to that villany , and not covetousness , or a design of robbing their goods . Yet I shall not conceal what I was a witness to , when a Minister of the Presbyterian perswasion being with them ( for two of them would willingly admit of none that were Episcopal ) after he had taken pains to convince the chief Robber of the atro●iousness of his crimes , which was no ●asie task , he charged him to discover if either Gentlemen , or Ministers , had prompted or cherished him in it , or been conscious to his committing these robberies , he cleared all , except a few particular and mean persons who went sharers with him . And by this fair and ingenuous procedure , the Reader may judge how far the Author is from a design of lodging infamy on these who differ from him , when of his own accord he offers a testimony for their vindication . But I shall leave this purpose , and the further prefacing at once .

If my poor labors be blessed with any measure of success , I humbly offer up the praise of it to him f●om whom I derive all I have , and to whom I owe the praise of all I can do . But if these attempts bring forth none of the wished-for effects , I shall have this satisfaction , that I have sincerely and seriously studied the calming the passions , and the clearing the mistakes of these among whom I live : so that more lyes not on me , but to follow my endeavours with my most earnest prayers , that the GOD of Peace may in this our day , cause us discern and consider these things which belong to our Peace .

THe first Conference examines the origine and power of Magistracy , and whether Subjects may by arms resist their Sovereigns on the account , or pretence of defending Religion against Tyranny , and unjust oppression ? And whether the King of Scotland be a Sovereign Prince , or limited , so that he may be called to account , and coerced by force ?

The second examines the nature of humane Laws , and of the obedience due to them , and the Civil Magistrates Right of enacting Laws in matters Ecclesiastical .

The third examines the grounds and progress of the late Wars , whether they were Defensive or Invasive , and what Spirit did then prevail ? And the grounds of our present Schi●m are considered .

The fourth examines the origine , lawfulness , and usefulness of Episcopal Government , which is concluded ; with an account of the Primi●ive Constitution and Government of the Churches that were first gathered and planted .