You make Conformity but a thing indifferent , neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision , neither Conformity nor Nonconformity availeth any thing , but the new Creature , but to live well ; but how can we be good Men , unless we be good Subjects , how can God have his due ? that is to say , an uniform obedience from us , unless Caesar or the King have his due , whom God Commands us to obey in all his just and lawful Commands ? and Sir , you are the First Divine I ever heard of , that made that paraphrase upon those words ( viz. ) Neither Circumcision , &c. I may indeed say , you comply , &c. Page 21. And for the same reason therefore , if that be all , you may chuse ; nor do you mend it in your Second Paper : for Page 4. of that you say only , That you assert the lawfulness of Conformity ; now if by ( Lawfulness ) you mean only that it is not sinful , then this Lawfulness will amount to no more than your former ( I may ) and then the Government is still out of doors ; but if you mean by ( Lawfulness ) that it is by Law required , and that no Subject can without sin refuse to Conform , I once more beg you will speak that word out .

Secondly , Page 11. At the bottom you involve our Church in the grievous guilt of Schism , and indeed all the Christian Churches in the World , there being none of 'em but impose in Rituals as well as we , and justly require and exact a Religious observation of 'em from their several Members . For after you laid down , that Baptism , and Repentance towards God , and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ , were the only necessary terms of Communion with any Christian Church ( though I heard you once say , ) that you took Seneca to be one of us , and yet I never heard he was Baptiz'd ; one should have thought therefore , that Baptism might have been left out of those necessary qualifications for Church-Communion . And Socrates , Page 13. You reckon not only a Saint , but a Martyr of God ; with all my heart . After I say you had said that , you go on and affirm , That if any Society of Christians shall impale themselves by mutual Compacts , or by setting up other new and unnecessary terms of Communion ; any thing above or beyond those three necessary Qualifications , Baptism , Faith , and Repentance , that Church ( you say ) is Schismatical ; now does not all the World know , that the Church of England does impose beyond this ? nor can any Man , for instance , legally receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper , but upon his knees , and therefore by imimmediate consequence , the Church of England is by you declared Schismatical . You are fond of your new Positions and Theorems , but you consider not the mischievous consequences they do unavoidably lead to . Nay Page 12. At the end of the First Paragraph , you in a manner conclude the whole Kingdom , in Schism ; The Church , her Governours at least , for imposing in these unnecessary things ; and the Dissenters ( there I joyn with you ) for not complying ; but you add what you might well have left out , ( provided they may do it without Sin ) and that surely they may do , since they have no Command from God to the contrary ; nor can Conscience therefore for the same reason put in any Plea for any such exemption , since the Law of God is to Guide and Govern that : So that here is once more Athanasius contra mundum , & Mundus contra Athanasium : Athanasius against the World , and the World against Athanasius ; all out of the way but his serious self . You pretend ( Sir ) all along , that Peace and Union among Christian Brethren , is the thing you so much desire , and the way you take to agree 'em about their several claims , is dispaling , neither thine nor mine , but to lay all common ; and this you call in the next Paragraph , Latitude of Conscience , and seem very much to magnify it , and to rejoyce in it ; but Sir , this Latitudinarian Principle , this forlorn Charity , is the very bane of the Church ; and it is plain , that it has lost more grond , and more Members from her Body by a few Months Toleration , than she will recover again perhaps in many years . And our Christian Liberty , of which you make mention in this same Paragraph , is a Liberty from Sin only ( now the yoke of the Mosaical Paedagogy is taken away ) and there being no Sin in Conformity , as I have in my other Paper sufficiently ( I think ) made out , our Christian Liberty cannot thereby be infringed , or in the least invaded , but by standing out Conformity , it manifestly is .

Page 22. You tell us , that to Command indisputably , is the Master vein of Popery , and is not our Church then Popish I pray ? if what you here lay down be true , does she not Commend indisputably in things in their own nature indifferent , and that most justly ? this you call Page 21. at the bottom , the Authority ( forsooth ) of the Church , Commanding , which is an Usurping upon the Prerogative of God himself , to whom alone ( you say ) it belongs to Command indisputable Obedience . Sir , had this stuff been sent us from Kidderminster , or Dr Owen , it might have past well enough : we expect no better from such ; but for you a Minister in our Church , a Man of such Authority with the Multitude , for you , I say , to publish such Doctrines as these , is perhaps one of the greatest Wonders that ever his Grace the D. of M. saw , or heard of . But , Sir , to put an end to this , if you and I did live within the Pale of the Romish Church , within the circle of her Jurisdiction , and should break Communion with her only for imposing of different things , we could not escape the guilt of Schism ; these things are left to the Church's discretion , and they are Schismaticks that refuse to obey her in them .

The Learned distinguish of Four things , which make a Separation from any Church lawful . 1. Intollerable Persecution . 2. Heresie in the body Ecclesiastical . 3. Idolatry . And 4. When the Church is the Seat of Antichrist . Now let our Separatists but prove the Church of England guilty of any of these , and then may they by the same Arguments , prove their Separation to be Lawful , and for some weighty Cause .

And here we may observe also , that Schism is twofold , Negative , or Positive . Negative , that is , when a Man leaves the Church and her Communion quietly , without stir , or opposition . 2. Positive , When a Man not only leaves the Church , but also sets up another Church , or Assembly , in opposition to it , one Altar against another ; this is Schism by way of Eminency . That Man therefore that comes to our Church duly , and there behaves himself decently and orderly , though he do dislike some thing , or things in our Worship , yet if he keep such his dislike to himself , he is to me neither Dissenter nor Presbyterian . I am cordially affectioned to all such ; but for Men to Rail at , and Condemn that which in their Practice they own , is vile Hypocrisie ; and for others peevishly to forsake our Congregations , and not only so , but also to set up other Altars against ours , to publish their dislikes , to argue against that Government they ought to submit to , a holy Violence must be offered to such ; and 't is but reason and charity to their Souls , that they should be compelled out of the Hedges , and the Conventicles , that God's House may be filled , and his Table well furnished with Guests .

And as you do interpretatively charge the Church with Schism and Popery , so the Government , with most Impious , Tyranny , in Commanding contrary to the Law of God , and punishing for not obeying such Mandates . I do not deny but that you do Page 10. reckon a Man's fearing God and the King , and not medling with them that are given to change , one warranted cause of Martyrdom : This looks well , and as an instance of your Loyalty and Obedience to Authority ; but what you give with one hand , you quickly take away with the other . For Page 12. at the bottom , you say , If you Suffer for exercising the true Worship of God , either singly as Daniel , or socially , with other devout Persons fearing God , ( as the Primitive Christians ) did daily and weekly , not forsaking the Assembling themselves together , Heb . 10.25 . and all this in considerable Numbers ( for so you explain your self in the next Paragraph ) you suffer for Righteousness sake ; For God ( you say ) is God , and will be Worshipped whether Man will allow it or no . Now I challenge any Man to shew me any where , any thing that pleads more fully for the Conventicles then this does ; here 's not only the lawfulness , but necessity of 'em asserted . But our Author does not consider , that there is a great deal of difference between a Church in its Infancy , and at full Stature , between a Church in Constituting , and a Church Constituted , between a Church in profound Peace , and under Persecution , in a Heathen state , and in Nations where the Princes are Christians , and Nursing Fathers of the Church , and Defenders of the Faith , whose Right it was all along adjudged , by the common Suffrages of the Church-Governors , or Bishops , to prescribe general Rules for administration of Church-Government , and the Circumstantials of Worship ; nor was any thing thought Authentick in this kind , or Practicable , till Ratified by the Civil Supream Magistrate . Nay , our Author to make sure work here , the poor Informers are suppos'd by him , Page 31. to be Vitious Persecutors : And thus he is not affraid to flie in the face of an Act of Parliament , thereby to keep up a Lecture , or a Conventicle . Well , but he has something yet like a Salve this , in the next Paragraph , Page 13. at the top : The Civil Governor , he says , for all this , may require Security from these that thus Meet daily , and in considerable Numbers , that they shall not Complot the disturbance of the Publick Peace . But how senseless and unpracticable is this , ( if there were now Law forbidding them ) the King must require Security from the Conventiclers , when as no Man can certainly tell who they are that do so meet , or when or where they do it . Thus , Sir , you run desperate Points , and then you would feign fetch your self off again ; you break the Heads of Church and State , and then speedily prepare your Plaisters . But the mischief is , they are too short and narrow to cover the Wounds , your Salvo's are too weak to kill the Poyson your Doctrines carry in ' em .

And now I appeal to all Persons of unprejudiced Minds , whether you had any reason to say , I dealt hardly with you in my first Paper , since I purposely forbore , and that in pure respect to you , particularly to take notice of these so very dangerous Passages in your Book ; and now if these Four particulars put together , will not make that Scouring Dose , you so impatiently wait for , I know not what will : If these things were irresistibly charg'd upon me , as they are upon you , and I were in your Circumstances , I think it would go near bringing a Dysentery upon me . And , Sir , without any more ado , if you do not seasonably prevent it , by giving the Church some tolerable satisfaction concerning these things , you may look for another Dose from another Quarter , administred by those , which yet ( God be thanked ) have a Power over you . If you were cordially for the King and the Bishops , you would be more tender of the Laws , both Civil and Ecclesiastical ; and he that by Speaking or Writing , undermines the Government of either of these , does at the same time prove to the World , that he is Anti-Monarchical , and Anti-Episcopal too .

If you have so few Dissenters in your Parish , I am glad to hear it , as also that you Conform so fully ; but all that I shall say to this now , is this , That either you are very faulty in that Point , or you are bely'd most horribly .

In the next place , I must take a little notice of what you say , Page 36 , and 37. of an Oratorical , and almost Enthusiastical way of Prayer , and how that some learned Men fall short of it , because they do not use the means of Reading , Meditation , and Exercise , and humble Dependance upon God . Now , Tertius è Caelo cecidit Cato ; No sort of Men must escape your Censure . All I shall say to 't at this time , is this , There is no need of taking so much pains , to acquire such an Oratorical way of Praying ; for as to private Prayer , the meanest Person almost knows how to make his desires known unto God , in secret by himself , much more the Learned then sure ; and if they be not so fluent and ready in it , it matters not , plain words with broken sighs there , are the best Oratory . And as to publick Devotions , there is less need of it , of such a fluency , since we have , blessed be God , so Good , so Divine a Liturgy , to the use of which , the Clergy are ti'd in all publick Offices of Religion . Besides , the Canon , as well as the Act of Uniformity , excludes the use of all such Extemporary Effusions there , that is in Publick , especially when they are ( as many times they be ) extended , like an Evening shadow , to a prodigious length , and which many times like that , are very empty too ; and 't were well if that were all the ill that attends most of such Prayers . I have heard Prayers of this kind sometimes my self over sick Persons , and when all was done , the Office in the Common Prayer Book for the Visitation of the Sick , contain'd infinitely more of Substance , than those long , confused , and many times impertinent Babble , in comparison , which yet they will be apt , from this part of your Book , to call Sacred Oratory , which looks like a volumn of Ciphers , compar'd with the pithy Prayers of the Church ; which ( like small Figures in a Number , though they be of no great bulk , yet stand for much ) are full of Sacred Matter .

Learned Men that are honest Churchmen , better understand what they are Sworn to , and how they ought rather to Conform to the Rubrick and Canon , than to study , or use this kind of Oratory in derogation of the holy Service of the Church ; those who are most sond of their own Effusions , are the greatest despisers of the Churches Prayers : Yet those Men who are for the Liturgy , and the constant use of it , they have this advantage of that other sort of Praying Men , they know before-hand what they are to say , and whilst the other are a strugling with invention what next to utter , ours have the benefit of exercising their Devotions . Whilst those are beating their Heads for words , these have nothing else to do but to pour out their Hearts to God with that excellent Matter prepared to their Hands , and approved of by the Suffrages of all the best and wisest Men in the World , that ever were acquainted with our Service . And whatever the admirers of Extemporary Prayers think or say to the contrary , those Prayers are as much Forms to the Hearers of 'em as ours are ; yet this is their usual Plea against ours , that they are set Forms , and therefore great dampers of the Spirit . And Doctor Stillingfleet tells us , That it was a Jesuit that first brought up this Extemporary way of Prayer here in England , with a design , belike , to bring our Liturgy into contempt ; and if that was the end , 't is gain'd in a great measure , many thousands in in England reckoning upon no other Prayers , as of any value , but their Extemporary ones , and judging of the abilities of the Clergy , by their strength and readiness in this way of Devotion , which yet to wise Men , looks rather like a Rhetorical Ostentation , then any part of serious Worship to Almighty God .

You desire me ( if I can ) to satisfy you in one point ( and I will endeavour to do it ) viz. which way you might bring more Glory to God , and vindicate the Honour of our blessed Sovereign the Royal Martyr , and the credit of a good Cause , then by owning it was for our Sins , ( the Sins of us Subjects , of us Cavaliers you should have said , otherwise you are gone from your first hold ) that we suffered so much , lost our good King , and were given over to the will of our enemies .

R. I will not ( as you seem to do ) presume to assign any particular reason for this or that Act of Divine Providence ; but ( that I may give God the Glory of his Justice ) that the Sins of this Nation brought so great a Curse upon us , I am very ready and willing to believe ; but then were the poor Cavaliers Sinners above all Englishmen , I cannot believe that , peradventure in all other respects , there was not a Pin to choose between them and their Enemies , as to strict Piety or Morality , only in this , the Cavalier had the better on 't , in that he was the better Subject , and the more conscientious observer of his Oaths ; and so far the better Christian of the two . Then for the credit of a good Cause , Alas , Sir , you cannot but know , that there is nothing more ordinary and obvious , then a Prosperum Scelus , a prosperous Wickedness , otherwise how came Juecism to prevail so much , and to spread it self over so many of those once most flourishing Plantations of the Christian Religion ; or Popery to extend it self further then our true Religion ? The Heathen Poet could have answered this Question , who said , Cavet successibus opto quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putat . The King's unsuccessfulness therefore in those Wars , does not prove that his Cause was any whit the less Creditable or Just . Shall I now shoot my Bolt , and give in my opinion of the Reason probably of that Calamity that then befel us ? I think it might very well be the Luciferian Pride of a heady Faction , who would not have that good Man to Rule over them , presuming themselves fitter to Govern then their Lawful King , then their Natural Lord , and therefore it might very well be , that God ( judicially ) suffered 'em to be filled with their own Ways , and that glorious King to be taken away , because they were not worthy of him , and themselves in a while to be made Slaves to their own Fellow-Subjects , to a vile Usurpation ; and the honest Cavaliers ( as in all publick Calamities , the good and bad promiscuously Suffer together ) were made Fellow-Sufferers with them . But ( if we may judge of Causes by the Events , then truly Cavaliers still had the better on 't , for to them ( blessed be God ) a Light is sprung after that black Night , gladness and joy of Heart , they have a King again to Rule over them , the Gracious Son of that Glorious Father , and with him we have restor'd unto us our Religion , our Church , yea our Estate too , our Judges as at the first , and our Counsellors as at the beginning ; and all this in so wonderful a manner , as if Heav'n had had the immediate conduct of that whole Affair : but what 's come of their Enemies ? many of their Ringleaders are fall'n Sacrifices to Justice , others of 'em have their Houses gone , and their Names are going ( in all appearance ) after them ; Why you should therefore charge that great Judgment , intirely upon the debauchery and profaneness of the Royal Party , I know not ; and as little do I know any good reason why you should receive so many Letters of Thanks for your Book from any Loyal , if they were considerate persons , I am sure we have several Letters from remote parts of the Kingdom , that call it A Seditious Pamphlet . Perhaps those that wrote to you , were profest Non-Cons , or at best , but half-pac'd in Conformity , or the off-spring of such who had their hands in the late Kings Blood ; and if they were these Men , they made you ( if that was all ) but too slender a return for so great a kindness , who had removed the guilt of that Kings Blood from them , and laid it ( Wholly ) at the doors of the Cavaliers , as the just wages of their iniquity ; and their Sins you say , are at this day rising towards the like head ; and therefore sure may be expected to pull down the like vengeance upon them . But what does all this tend to ? but to excite the Godly party to another Holy War ; and ( when they shall think fit to pronounce , that these Amorites have again filled up the measure of their impieties , ) to set themselves vigorously again to rid the World of so unprofitable , nay , of so execrable a burthen , and yet there is nothing , you say , of Sedition lurking in this Charge against the the Cavaliers , or the Royal Party . You may very well say , Pudet haec opprobria , &c. These things are too plain to be deny'd , and they are too bad to be defended . And now I think there is nothing in yours that is material , unanswered ; and I pre●●me , 〈◇〉 my First Paper stands still unshaken , by any thing you have 〈◇〉 against it .