pendence upon inward acts to a dangerous temp tation of refting too much in outward ministries, in the external work of facraments and of facramentals: you are gone from a church whose worfhiping is fimple, chriftian and apoftolical, to a church where men's confciences are loaden with a burden of ceremonies, greater than that in the days of the Jewifh religion (for the ceremonial of the church of Rome is a great book in folio) greater I fay, than all the ceremonies contained in Leviticus, &c. you are gone from a church where you are exhorted to read the word of God, the holy fcriptures from whence you found inftruction, comfort, reproof, a treasure of all excellencies, to a church that feals up that fountain from you, and gives you drink by drops.out of fuch cifterns as they first make, and then stain, and then reach out: and if it be told you that some men abuse fcripture, it is true; for if your priests had not abufed fcripture, they could not thus have abused you. But there is no neceflity they fhould, and you need not, unless you lift; any more than you need to abuse the facrament or decrees of the church, or the meffages of your friend, or the letters you receive, or the laws of the land; all which are liable to be abused by evil perfons, but not by good people and modeft understandings. It is now become a part of your religion to be ignorant, to walk in blindness, to believe the man that hears your confeffions, to hear none but him, not to hear God fpeaking but by him, and fo you are liable to be abufed by. him, as he please, without remedy. You are gone from us, where you were only taught to worship God through Jefus Christ, and now you are taught to worship faints and angels with a worship at least dangerous, and in fome things proper to God; for your church worships the vir

gin Mary with burning incenfe and candles to her, and you give her prefents, which by the confent of all nations used to be esteemed a worship peculiar to God, and it is the fame thing which was condemned for herefy in the Collyridians, who offered a cake to the virgin Mary; a candle and a cake make no difference in the worship, and your joining God and the faints in your worship and devotions, is like the device of them that fought for king and parliament, the latter destroys the former. I will trouble you with no more particulars, because if these move you not to confider better, nothing can. But yet, I have two things more to add of another nature, one of which at least may prevail upon you, whom I fuppofe to have a tender and a religious confcience.

The first is, that all the points of difference between us and your church are fuch as do evidently ferve the ends of covetoufnefs and ambition, of power and riches; and fo ftand vehemently fuf pected of defign, and art, rather than truth of the article, and defigns upon heaven. I inftance in the pope's power over princes and all the world, his power of difpenfation, the exemption of the clergy from jurifdiction of princes, the doctrine of purgatory and indulgences which was oncemade means to raise a portion for a lady, the niece of Pope Leo the tenth; the priests power advanced beyond authority of any warrant from fcripture, a doctrine apt to bring abfolute obedience to the papacy but because this is poffbly too nice for you to fufpect or confider, that which I am fure ought to move you is this.

That you are gone to a religion, in which, (though through God's grace prevailing over the follies of men, there are, I hope and charitably fuppofe, many pious men that love God, and live good lives, yet) there are very many doctrines taught

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taught by your men, which are very ill friends to a good life. I inftance in your indulgences and pardons, in which vicious men put a great confidence, and rely greatly upon them. The doctrine of purgatory which gives countenance to a fort of chriftians, who live half to God and half to the world, and for them this doctrine hath found out a way that they may go to hell and to heaven too. The doctrine that the priests abfolution can turn a trifling repentance into a perfect and a good, and that fuddenly too, and at any time, even on our death-bed or the minute before our death, is a dangerous heap of falfhoods, and gives licence to wicked people, and teaches men to reconcile a wicked debauched life, with the hopes of heaven. And then for penances and temporal fatisfaction, which might feem to be as a plank after the fhipwreck of the duty of repentance, to keep men in awe, and to preserve thee from finking in an ocean of impiety, it comes to juft nothing by your doctrine; for there are fo many eafy ways of indulgences and getting pardons, fo many confraternities, ftations, privileged altars, little offices, agnus Dei's, amulets, hallowed devices, fwords, rofes, hats, church-yards, and the fountain of thefe annexed indulgences, the pope himself, and his power of granting what, and when, and to whom he lift; that he is a very unfortunate man that needs to smart with penances; and after all he chufe to fuffer any at all, for he may pay them in purgatcry if he please, and he may come out of purgatory upon reasonable terms, in cafe he should think it fit to go thither; fo that all the whole duty of repentance feems to be destroyed with devices of men that feek power and gain, and find error and folly; infomuch that if I had a mind to live an evil life, and yet hope for heaven at last, I would be of your religion above any in the world.

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But I forget I am writing a letter; I fhall therefore defire you to confider upon the premises which is the fafer way. For furely it is lawful for a man to ferve God without images; but that to worship images is lawful is not fo fure. It is lawful to pray to God alone, to confess him to be true, and every man a liar, to call no man mafter upon earth, but to rely upon God teaching us; but it is at leaft hugely difputable, and not at all certain, that any man, or fociety of men, can be infallible; that we may put our truft in faints, in certain extraordinary images, or burn incenfe and offer confumptive oblations to the virgin Mary, to make vows to perfons, of whofe ftate, or place, or capacities, or condition we have no certain revelation, we are fure we do well, when in the holy communion we worship God and Jefus Chrift our Saviour; but they who alfo worfhip what feems to be bread, are put to ftrange fhifts to make themfelves believe it to be lawful. It is certainly lawful to believe what we fee and feel; but it is an unnatural thing upon pretence of faith to disbelieve our eyes, when our fense and our faith can better be reconciled, as it is in the queftion of the real prefence, as it is taught by the church of England.

So that unless you mean to prefer a danger before fafety, temptation to unholinefs before a fevere and holy religion: unlefs you mean to lose the benefit of your prayers by praying what you perceive not, and the benefit of the facrament, in great degrees, by falling from Chrift's inftitution, and taking half inftead of all; unless you defire to provoke God to jealoufy by images, and man to jealoufy in profeffing a religion, in which you may, in many cafes, have leave to forfeit your faith and lawful truft; unless you will still continue to give fcandal to thofe good people, with whom you have lived in a

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common religion, and weaken the hearts of God's afflicted ones; unless you will chufe a catechifm without the fecond commandment, and a faith that grows bigger or lefs as men please, and a hope that, in many degrees, relies on men and vain confidencies, and a charity that damns all the world but yourfelves; unless you will do all this, that is, fuffer an abufe in your prayers, in the facrament, in the commandments, in faith, in hope, in charity, in the communion of faints, in your duty to your fupreme, you must return to the bofom of your mother the church of England, from whence you have fallen, rather weakly than maliciously; and I doubt not but you will find the comfort of it all your life, and in the day of your death, and in the day of judgment. If you will not, yet I have freed mine own foul, and done an act of duty and charity, which at least you are bound to take kindly, if you will not entertain it obediently.

Now let me add this, that although most of thefe objections are fuch things, which are the open and avowed doctrines or practices of your church, and need not to be proved as being either notorious or confeffed; yet if any of your guides shall seem to question any thing of it, I will bind myfelf to verify it to a tittle, and in that too which I intend them, that is, fo as to be an objection obliging you to return, under the pain of folly, or herefy, or difobedience; according to the fubject matter, and though I have propounded these things now to your confideration, yet, if it be desired, I shall represent them to your eye, fo that even yourself fhall be able to give fentence in the behalf of truth. In the mean time give me leave to tell you of how much folly you are guilty in being moved by fuch mock arguments

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