You proceed to the same purpose, p. 15, and, to manifest my mis- take of your design, give an account of it, and tell us that " one thing you suppose, namely, that we are at difference." So did I also, and am not, therefore, yet fallen upon the discovery of my mistake.
PREFACE TO THE REPLY CONSIDERED. 187
Secondly, You " commend peace/' I acknowledge you do, and join with you therein; neither is he worthy the name of a Christian who is otherwise minded. That is one great legacy that Christ bequeathed unto his disciples: Eiprivriv, saith he, d<pi7iixi u/mTv, slpyivriv rrjv ifjuriv didu/M vfi/v — " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you;" and lie is no disciple of Christ who doth not long for it among all his disciples. This, you tell us, is the whole sum of " Fiat Lux" in few words. You will tell us otherwise immediately ; and if you should not, yet we should find it otherwise. You add, therefore, " that to introduce a disposition unto peace, you make it your work to demonstrate the uselessness, endlessness, and unprofitableness of quarrels.'" Yet my mistake appears not. I perceived you did speak to this purpose, and I acknowledge with you that quarrels about religion are useless and unprofitable, any otherwise than as we are bound to " contend ear- nestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints," and to " stand fast in our liberty, not giving place to seducers," with labouring by "sound doctrine to convince and stop the mouths of gainsayers;" all which are made necessary unto us by the commands of Christ, and are not to be called quarrelling. And I know that our quarrels "re not yet actually ended ; that they are endless I believe not, but hope the contraiy. You proceed, and grant that " you labour to persuade your countrymen of an impossibility of ever bringing our debates unto a conclusion, either by light, or spirit, or reason, or Scripture, so long as we stand separated from any superior judicative power unto which all parties will submit; and, therefore, that it is rational and Christian-like to leave these endless contentions, and resign ourselves to humility and peace." This matter will now quickly be ended, and that " ex ore tuo." Give me leave, I pray, to ask you one or two plain questions: — 1. Whom do you understand by that " superior judicative power," unto whom you persuade all parties to submit ? Have you not told us in your " Fiat" that it is the church or pope of Rome ? or will you deny that to be your intention ? 2. What do you intend by " resigning ourselves to humility and peace?" Do you not aim at our quiet submission to the determinations of the church or pope in all matters of religion ? Have you not declared yourself unto this purpose in your " Fiat?" And I desire a little fcirther to know of you whether this be not that which formally con- stitutes a man a member of your church, — that he own the judicative power of the pope or your church in all matters of religion, and sub- mit himself thereunto ? If these things be so, as you cannot deny them, I hope I shall easily obtain your pardon for affirming that you yourself believed the same to be the design of your book, which I and other men apprehended to be so; for here you directly avow it. If you complain any more about this matter, pray let it be in the words
188 A VINDICATION OF THE ANIMADVER.SIONS ON FIAT LUX.
of him in the comedian, "Egomet meo indicio miser, quasi sorex. hodie perii/' Ter. Eun. v. 7, 23 ; this inconvenience you have brought upon your own self. Neither can any man long avoid such misadventures who designs to cloud his aims ; which yet cannot take effect if not in some measure understood. Naked truth, managed in sincerity, what- ever perplexities it may meet withal, will never leave its owners in the briers ; whereas the serpentine turnings of error and falsehood, to extricate themselves, do but the more entangle their promoters. I doubt not but you hope well, that when all are become Papists again they shall live at peace ; though your hope be very groundless, as I have elsewhere demonstrated. You liave at best but the shadow or shell of peace; and, for the most part, not that neither. Yea, it may be easily showed that the peace you boast of is inconsistent with, and destructive of, that peace which is left by Christ unto his disciples.
But the way you propose to bring us to peace is the embracement of Popery: which is that that was fixed on by me as the design of your book ; which now acknowledging, you have disarmed yourself of that imaginary advantage which you flourish withal, from " a capital mistake," as you call it, in me, in misapprehending your design. You were told before, that if by "moderation and peace" you intended a mutual forbearance of one another in our several persuasions, waiting patiently until God shall reveal unto us the precise truth in the things about which we differ, you shall have all the furtherance that I can contribute unto you. But you have another aim, another work in hand, and will not allow that any peace is attainable amongst us, but by a resignation of all our apprehensions, in matters of religion, to the guidance, determination, and decision of the pope, or your church ; — a way nowhere prescribed unto us in holy writ, nor in the councils of the primitive church ; and, besides, against all reason, law, and equity, your pope and church in our contests being one party litigant: yet "in this persuasion," you say, "you should abide, were there no other persons in the world but yourself that did embrace it.'' And to let you see how unlikely that principle is to produce peace and agreement amongst those multitudes that are at variance about these things, I can assure you that if there were none left alive on the earth but you and I, we should not agree in this thing one jot better than did Cain and Abel about the sacrifices ; though I should desire you that we might manage our differences with more modera- tion than he did, who, by virtue of his primogeniture, seemed to lay a special clahn to the priesthood. And indeed, for your part, if your present persuasion be as you sometimes pretend it to be, that your " Fiat Lux " is not a persuasive unto Popery, you have given a suffi- cient testimony that you can be of an opinion that no man else in