A plea for tolleration of opinions and perswasions in matters of religion, differing from the Church of England. Grounded upon good authority of Scripture, and the practice of the primitive times. Shewing the unreasonablenesse of prescribing to other mens faith, and the evil of persecuting differing opinions. / Humbly presented to the kings most excellent majesty, by John Sturgion, a member of the Baptized People.

A plea for tolleration of opinions and perswasions in matters of religion, differing from the Church of England. Grounded upon good authority of Scripture, and the practice of the primitive times. Shewing the unreasonablenesse of prescribing to other mens faith, and the evil of persecuting differing opinions. / Humbly presented to the kings most excellent majesty, by John Sturgion, a member of the Baptized People.

Table of contents

Title page

A Plea for Tolleration of Opinions and Perswasions in Matters of Religion, differing from the Church of England.

A Plea for Tolleration of Opinions and Perswasions in Matters of Religion, differing from the Church of England.

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May it please your Majesty,

I Have had strong impulses upon my mind for some dayes, to present this Paper to your Majesty, and I humbly hope it will not be made to suffer much under an evil Resentment, upon its presentation to your hand, because it bears a Testimony about it, of the Authors good affections to your Royal Self; for my witness is on High, that I did not write this Paper because I love you not, because I honour you not, because I own you not, in your Royal capacitie of Magistracy and Civil Power; God knoweth that you have not any Subject more Christianly real or cordial unto you; and I humbly beg that your Majesty would be pleased so far to deny your self, as to read it with patience, and to judge of it as you shall see cause.

I beseech your Majestie to Consider, That it is one of the Soveraign and high Concernments of your Soul, to understand, and to be acquainted with the Counsels and mind of God, and to find time to search throughly into those worthy Mysteries, which the blessed Angels (those great Princes of Heaven) judge it no wayes beneath them to pry into; and when they, [Page] who are Gods by institution shall narrowly and with delight contemplate the Real Excellency of his Glory,1 Pet. 1. 12. who is a God by nature, they must needs be transformed into his likeness, according to that most observable Passage of the great Apostle; But we all with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same Image, 2 Cor. 3. 18. and when the gods on Earth, shall be changed into the same Image with the God of Heaven; not doubt but blessedness is coming on a pace upon the world.

Now if your Majesty be pleased to look into the excellent proceedings of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, towards men; he doth not take away his favour, or withdraw his grace from all men, because some abuse it, & render themselves so fearfully wicked, as not onely to sin against the Law of Commandments, but against that glorious Gospel of grace sealed and confirmed, by the blood of ever blessed Jesus;Eze. 18. 20. nor will he punish the Innocent for the guilty: but the soul that sins shall die; the Father shall not answer for the Son, nor the Son for the Father, but every soul shall bear the burthen of his own sin. O that your Princely Mind might be Eluminated or enlightned by this heavenly instance, that your Majesties Actions to all your Subjects, (from the Peere to the poorest) may be guided by that Rule which God himself hath been pleased to lay before you.

I shall humbly take leave to mind your Majesty of the Liberty of tender Consciences, which your Majesty declared to indulge in your Declaration from Breda, for which many thousands did in all humility blesse the most High God, who put it into [Page] your Majesties heart to declare your Resolution to provide in that particular, That such as did uot disturb the Peace of the Kingdom, might Worship God according to their Light; and that no man should be molested or disquieted for differing Opinions in matters of Religion, who could not joyn in the Publick service of worship; Yet in regard of some Rebellious persons in the City of London, who pretended to the like Liberty of worshipping God apart from the Parochial Assembly; who made Insurrections and committed Murder, under groundless pretences, of fighting for the Kingdom of Christ; whereupon your Majesty by Proclamation hath forbid all Meetings whatsoever, in private houses, or houses built, or purchased for the use of Prayer, and other Ordinances of Gods Worship; whereby the Innocent suffer for the Guilty; and many of your Majesties Loyal and obedient Subjects are questioned, and publickly suspected to their great prejudice in their reputations, the consequence whereof is very mischievous to them and their Families.

I cannot imagine how your Majesty can be unsatisfied, as to the Innocency of the Baptized People and others,The Apologie of the Baptized People of London. The Linconshire two addresses. The Kentish Petition; and many more to that Purpose. who have not onely disclaimed the wicked Rebellion of the said persons, but they have pressed their Innocency from the very thought or Imagination of any such wickedness; If your Majesty please to consider that in case three or four of your Domestick servants should have committed, or done fome unworthy Act, whereby they had incurred your just displeasure, upon which your Majesty should have discharged all your servants from any further attendance in your Royal Court, although they never had [Page] any thing to do with the Offenders, or their wayes; It may be supposed, that the Innocent would have thought this a very severe Act? I shall Humbly leave Your Majesty to make the Application.

But if it be said, the Law is against that Indulgence formerly granted unto us, by your Majesty (as was hinted in the Answer to the Petition of the Congregations in London, given at your Majesties most Honourable Privy Council, to the said Petitioners) and therefore no longer to be continued unto us, unless the next Parliament (to whom we are referred) provide for the same.

Upon which Answer, some make this Observation; That seeing the discontinuance of Your Majesties Gracious Indulgence, proceedeth from the Aspect of some Old Law, then we should have felt the influence thereof, although Venner and his disciples had never been born: Moreover, if there be any such Law, it was in being before Your Majesty sent that Dove, with the Olive-Branch of Liberty of Conscience, (viz.) Your Declaration that granted us Toleration; for no Law was made against our Meetings by that Parliament, which Your Majesty tearmed, the Healing and Blessed Parliament.

Now if Your Majesty saw Reason to suspend the Execution of those Laws, they being hurtful and pernitious to men of Tender Consciences; then there is the same Reason for Your Majesty to suspend them still, out of Tendernesse to all such as have in no wise abused Your Clemency and Grace, to them vouchsafed in that Particular.

And whoever have, or shall move Your Majesty, to [Page] continue Your Proclamation against Meetings, to worship God, or to take occasion by those Laws, to Grieve and Afflict poor Men and Women, who have Opinions different from those of the Church of England (for such endeavours are not wanting, by them that know not what spirit they are of) and this is matter of Astonishment and Wonder, if Your Majesty consider it, how far such men are from improving Your Excellent Proclamation against Swearing, Debauchery and Drunkennesse, or being in Taverns after nine of the clock at night. Oh! how little notice is taken of these Proclamations, or of the Laws to which they direct, either by the Swearing Debauched Persons themselves, or by Your Majesties Subordinate Ministers? and how few (if any) have been prosecuted upon those two Proclamations, and what Multitudes upon the other? And this is much to be lamented, that men may with lesse danger, meet at Taverns, AleHouses, and other places of Debauchery, to Drink above measure, or Swear, Game, Rant and Tear, as if there were neither Heaven nor Hell, God nor Magistrates; but if a few poor Men and Women, meet together in the Fear of the Lord, having mutual Faith, and Oneness of Heart, to pray unto Almighty God; a part of whose Petition is, that God would Blesse & Guide Your Majesty, and all that are in Authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life, in all Godliness and Honesty, 1 Tim. 2. 2. at such Meetings many are offended.

And may it further please Your Majesty, to consider Your afflicted and innocent Subjects, how they have been haled from their Peaceable Habitations, and [Page] thrust into Prisons, almost in all Counties in England, and many are still detained, to the utter undoing of themselves and Families; and most of them are poor men, whose Lively-hood (under God) depends upon the labour of their own hands; so that they lie under more then an ordinary Calamity, there being so many thrust into little rooms together, that they are an anoyance each to other; especially in the City of London, where the Lord-Mayor crouds them very close together; that it hath been observed, the Keepers have complained, they have had too many guests; and whilest they suffer there, some of their Wives and tender Babes want bread at home.

And how long this will be the portion of some, I know not, unless Your Majesty extend the like Grace to other Prisoners, as Your Majesty did most Princely to them at Westminster, in giving Order to Discharge them, they acknowledging by Subscription, Your Majesty to be the Supream Magistrate of this Kingdom, and of all others of Your Majesties Kingdoms and Dominions, without pressing the Oath of Allegiance, which some are not free to take, by Reason Christ saith, Mat. 5. 34. Swear not at all, and in St. Iames 5.12. Above all things my Brethren, Swear not; they mistaking these two places, understand that Christians should not Swear in any Case; and therefore out of meer fear, lest they should offend against a Divine Law, have fallen under the Penalty of that Humane Law, which requireth us to Swear, our Allegeance to Your Majesty. O, that Your Majesties Clemency might enterpose, that their weaknesse on the one hand, and the Severity of the Law on the other, might not ruine many hundred Families.

[Page]But to return to that for which I am in Travel (viz.) that we may worship God, according to our light and measure of understanding, unto which we have attained, without being restrained from the exercise thereof, by the Magistrate, or by having any thing imposed upon us, as Articles of Faith, or Rules of Worship; in the behalf of which, I humbly tender these six Reasons following;

Reason 1. First, Be pleased, Royal Sir, to consider, that such imposing of the Magistrates, is contrary to the Nature of the Gospel; because it is one of the Glories of Christian Religion, that it was so Pious, Excellent, Powerful, and Perswasive, that it came in upon its own Piety and Wisdom; with no other force, but a Torrent of Arguments, and Demonstration of the Spirit, beating down all strong holds, and every high Thought and Imagination, 2 Cor. 10. v. 5. that exalted it self against the same; but towards the persons of men, it was alwayes full of Meeknesse, and Charity, Compliance, and Toleration, and bearing one with another, restoring persons overtaken with an Errour,Gal. 6. [...]. with the Spirit of Meeknesse; the Consideration is as Prudent, and the Proposition as Just, as the Precept is Charitable, and the President most Pious and Holy; that Precept which it chiefly Preaches in order to all Blessedness, is, Meekness, Mercy and Charity, whereby it should preserve it self, and promote its own Interest: for indeed nothing will do it so well, nothing doth so excellently insinuate it self into the understanding and affections of men, as when the Principles, Actions, and Perswasions of a people, are in every part suitable; and it would be a mighty disparagement to so Glorious an Institution, that in its Principle it should be so Merciful [Page] and Humane, and in the Promotion and Propagation, of it, so inhumane and dishonourable to Christ; it may serve the Turk to support his Alkoron, but it will much dishonor Christianity, to offer to support it by that which good men believe to be a distinctive cognizance of the Mahometon Religion, from the Excellency and Piety of Christianity, whose sence and Spirit, is excellently described by S. Paul, 2 Tim. 2.24. The Servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, in meeknesse Instructing those that oppose themselves; If then any man will smite those that are his Opposites in Opinion, he must quit the Title of being Gods Servant for his pains; nor can a Distinction of Persons Ecclesiastical and Secular, give advantage for an escape; for even the Secular Power, if it be Christian, must not be strikers of others for the Matters of their Faith, for God alone is judge of erring Persons, as that Learned Doctor Ieremiah Taylor, now Bishop of Down, saith in his thirteenth page of his Epistle Dedicatory, to that famous Book, entituled, The Liberty of Prophesie.

Reason 2. The second Reason against restraining or using force in Matters of Religion; is, Because Christ, who is the Only Law-giver to his Church, gives this Precept for the Regulation of the Conversation of his Disciples;Mat. 7.12 Whatsoever you would have men do unto you, do ye even so unto them; than which there is no Law more reasonable, nor more just: It cannot be supposed that Kings sitting in the Throne of Government, or place of Trust and Rule, are exempted from the observation of this Commandment; which if so, then if the Magistrates be of this Perswasion, that Christ dyed for all men, and the people believe as Calvin did, that he dyed for the Elect onely; What can the Magistrates do [Page] in this case? for if they make a Law in favour of the Peoples Judgement, then they wrong themselves, which I suppose they will not do, if a Law be made in favour of their own Opinion against the Peoples, then besides the injury which is done to the people, they break that Royal Law before mentioned, and thereby become guilty before God.

Reason 3. The third Reason against restraining, or using force in matters of Religion, is taken from the unreasonablenesse of such proceedings; for what is more unreasonable, then to deny men the use of their Reason, in choice of their Religion? for if Scripture Tradition, Councils and Fathers, be the evidence in a question; yet Reason is the judge; that is, we being the Persons that are to be perswaded, we must see that we be perswaded reasonably, and it is against Reason to assent to a lesser evidence, when a greater is propounded, but every man for himself is to take cognizance, if he be able to judge, but if he be not, then he is not bound under the tye of necessity to know it, nor will God punish him for not knowing it; and not onely the unreasonablenesse, but the impiety of using force in this case, may be further seen, if it be considered, that there is nothing under God hath power over the understanding of a man, God commanding us to believe his Revelations, perswades and satisfies the understanding, by his commanding and revealing it; for there is no greater probation in the World, that a Proposition is true, then because God hath commanded it to be believed; but then it must certainly be made appear to us, that God hath so commanded it; but no man hath any Efficacy or Authority on the understanding of another, but by Proposal & Perswasion, and then [Page] a man is bound to assent according to the operation of the Argument, and strength of the Perswasion; neither indeed can he assent sooner, or other wayes though he would never so fain; he therefore that in this case useth force or punishment, punisheth a man for keeping a good Conscience, or forceth him into a bad; he both punisheth sincerity, and perswades hypocrisie, he presecutes a truth, and drives into an errour; he teacheth a man to dissemble, to be safe, but never to be honest nor acceptable to God. Learned Doctor Taylors Argument for Tolleration is very Excellent, in his Epistle to his Liberty of Prophecie, in page 14. This very thing (saith he) being one of the Arguments I use to perswade permissions, left compulsion introduce hypocrisie, and make sinceritie troublesome and unsafe.

Reason 4. The fourth Reason which I humbly offer to consideration, That persecution for Conscience, or the Civil Magistrate using force in the matters of Religion; is, because it came in through corruptions of the times, so that it is so far from being of Divine Sanction, that it is earthly and sensual; for the proof of this I shall onely transcribe a passage out of that worthy Author, Doctor Taylor, in his aforesaid Epistle to his Liberty of Prophecie, Page the 18, 19. Which is as followeth; That against this I have laid prejudice enough from the Dictates of holy Scripture, it is observable that this with its Appendent degrees, I mean restraint of Prophesying, imposing upon other mens understandings, being masters of their Consciences, and Lording it over their Faith, came in with the retinue and train of Antichrist; that is, they came as other abuses and corruption of the Church did, by reason of the Iniquity of times, and the cooling of the first heats of Christianity, and the increase[Page]of Interest, and the abatement of Christian simplicity, when the Churches fortune grew better, and her sons grew worse, and some of her Fathers worst of all; For in the first three hundred years there was no sign of persecuting any man for his opinion, though at that time there were very horrid opinions commenced, and such which were Exemplary and parallel enough to determine this question; for they then were assaulted by new Sects which destroyed the common Principles of Nature, of Christianity, of Innocency and publick Society, and they who used all the means Christian and spiritual, for their disimprovement and conviction, thought not of using corporal force, other wayes than by blaming such proceedings; and therefore I do not urge their not doing it, as an Argument of the unlawfulness of such proceedings, but their defying it, and speaking against such Practices, as unreasonable and distructive to Christianty; for which the Learned Doctor cites all these Fathers, Tertullian, St. Cyprian, Lactantius, St. Hilary, Minuitius, Felix Sulpitius, Severus, Saint Chrysostome, St. Hierom, St. Austin, Damascon, Theophylact, Socrates, Scholasticus, and St. Bernard; and he further saith, that all wise Princes till they were overborn with Faction or solicited by Peevish Persons, gave Tolleration to differing Sects, whose Opinions did not disturb the publick Interest; and in page 20. till 400. years after Christ, no Catholick Person, or very few did provoke the secular arm, or implore its aide. So far he. From which it is evident, that the Magistrates imposing in matters of Religion, is an Evil, from which I pray God deliver your Majesty.

Reason. 5. The fifth Reason is taken from the Principles and Practices of some great Princes, who did both give and perswade Tolleration; King Iames [Page] your Majesties Royal Grand-Father, in his Letter to the States of the united Provinces dated the sixth of March, 1613. amongst other things thus wrote, Etdistrictè imperetis ut Pacem Colant seinvicem tolerando in ista opinionum ac sententiaram, discere pacitià Eoque Iustius videmur vobìs hoc ipsum suadere, debere quod Neutrum Comperimus adeo deviam, ut non possint cum Fidei Christiana veritate, & cum Animarum Salute consistore: (Englished for common Benefit) That you charge them to maintain peace by bearing one with another in such difference of Opinions and Iudgements;There were very sharp contentions about Religion amongst the Holland Ministers; at that time King Iames adviseth the Magistrate to moderate them, not to kill or punish them, for they may both be saved. Therefore it seemeth more Right, that you should be thus perswaded, seeing neither of the Judgements is found so dangerous, but that it may stand with the true Faith of a Christian, and the Salvation of Souls.

The like Counsel in the divisions of Germany at the first Reformation, was thought reasonable by the Emperour Fardinand, and his Excellent son Maximilion, they had observed that violence did Exasperate, was unblessed, unsuccessful, and unreasonable; and therefore they made Decrees of Tolleration, and appointed Tempors and Expediences to be drawn up by discreet Persons; and George Cassander was designed to this great work, and did some thing towards it; and Immanuel Phillibert Duke of Savoy, repenting of his War undertaken for Religion against the Pedimontans, promised then Tolleration, and was as good as his word; as much is done by the Nobilitie of Polonia; and Theodoricus the Sage, King of the Gothes, asswaging the vemency of the Arians against the Orthodox, No belief (saith he) is carryed on by blowes; nor is that Excellent saying of King Edward the sixth to be forgotten, he being solicited to put a Heretick to death, made this wise answer, [Page] Will you have me to send her to Hell in her sins? But to conclud [...] this, the French King (although he be the second son of the Church of Roome) gives Tolleration to different perswasions in matters of Religion; for the Hugonets have their Churches and Places of meeting for to worship God in according as they are perswaded by order from their King; and the world is witness how prosperous they have been, since they have left fighting for Religion among themselves.

Reas. 6. The sixt and last Reason, I have taken from the ill success, that alwayes attends such proceedings; for whoever used force upon the body to change the mind, or to make men believe something they are not perswaded of, or to disbelieve something they have received for truth, or to leave off worshipping God, in that way which they think is most agreeable to his will; they will have no better success than that man had, that clapt his shoulder to the ground to stop the earth-quake: and the experiences which Christendom hath had in this last Age, are sufficient instances; when France fought amongst themselves, the Catholicks against the Hugonets, the spilling of their own blood was Argument enough, of the imprudence of that way of promoting Religion, and that all the blood shed in open Arms, and private Massacres could not prevent their further growth, nor extinguish that light that sprung up amongst that People; and the name of the Hugonets is not onely still in France, but they and their Religion Tollerated.

But the great instance is in the differing temper, Government, and success, which Margaret of Parma, and the Duke of Alva had; the clemency of the first, had almost extinguished the Flame, but when she was removed [Page] and Duke Alva succeeded, and Mannaged the matter of Religion with fire and sword [...] made the flame so great, that his Religion and his Prince too, have been quite turned out of a great part of the Country.

And we are not without example nearer home, in Queen Maries dayes, what Force and Violence was there used, to make the People believe, as the Queen and her Bishops believed, some was burnt to death, some destroyed in Persons, and many that scaped with life, were undone in their estates and lively-hood; and all this was so unsuccesful, as to the suppressing their further growth, that it did the quite contrary, for the more they were opprest, the more they grew.

I shall onely add a passage out of Learned Bishop Taylor, in his Epistle to his Liberty of Prophesie, page 25. But it is (saith he) observed by Socrates, that when the first Persecution was made against them (that is) such as differed in Opinion from the Bishop at Rome, by Pope Innocent the first; at the same instant, the Gothes invaded Italy, and become Lords of all; it being just in God, to bring a persecution upon them, for true belief, who with an incompetent Authority, and insufficient Grounds, do persecute an errour lesse material, in persons agreeing with them, in the profession of the same common Faith.

The next thing I humbly offer to Your Princely consideration, is the Divine Bond upon our Hearts, to worship God according to our Light; and the crying sin, we must commit, if we shall resist our own understanding, and refuse to obey the Command of God upon our Conscience, to assemble our selves together for his Worship,Heb. 10. 25. and that we ought to esteem our [Page] duty to God, much dearer than our Estates, Liberty or Lives.

And our Souls are fully perswaded, that it is our duty to meet together, and speak often one to another, to exhort each other daily, to take heed of sin, and to follow after vertue, and to presse after the Mark of our High Calling of God, in Christ Iesus our Lord; and to provoke to love and good works, and if any be overtaken in a fault, to restore them in the Spirit of meekness; and to relieve the poor, and to support the weak, that by bearing one anothers burthens we may fulfill the Law of Christ; and to walk so inoffensively in our conversation, as to give no Iust occasion neither to your Majesty as Supream Magistrate, nor to any of your Ministers under you; nor to any of the People or Neighbours about us; but to observe that excellent Law of Christ,Mat. 7. 12. Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; and if any shall persecute us for our Profession-sake, to bear it with patience and not to return evil for evil, nor reviling for reviling; but contrary-wise to do them good for evil, and to pray for them, Mat. 5. 44. that their eyes may be opened, and that God may not lay their sin (in this case) to their charge.

Now if Your Majesty will but consider what it is which the Baptized People and divers others, have made such earnest suite to your Majesty for, it is not for Titles of Honours, nor for places of great profit, either in a Civil or Ecclesiastical Capacity, but onely this is their request, and humble desire, that we may serve the Lord without molestation in that Faith and order which we have Learned in the Holy Scripture; giving Honour to our King to whom Honour belongs, fear to whom fear, Tribute to whom Tribute belong,1 Pet. 2 [...] 17. in [Page] every thing as far as we have abilities, to render to God the things that are Gods, and to the Magistrate the things that are His. Rom. 13.7.

We likewise judge it our duty, to be alwayes willing and ready to give an Answer, to every man that shall ask us a Reason of our Hope that is in us, with meekness and fear, Now if any who judge themselves to be spiritual Guides, will but take the pains to endeavour our conviction (if they think we erre) or at least to hear what we have to say, why we dissent from the Publick worship, we doubt not but through the Grace of God, we shall be able to give such an account of our Faith and Practice, that we do not deserve those Epithets some are please do give us.

I shall onely transcribe one passage out of that Ingenious Doctor, Dr. Ieremiah Taylor which I find in Sect. 18. number 34. of his Liberty of Prophesie, he speaking of the Anabaptists, saith, That since there is no direct impietie in the Opinion, nor any that is apparently consequent to it, and they with so much probability do or may pretend to true perswasion, they are with all means Christian fair and humane to be Redargued or instructed; but if they cannot be perswaded, they must be left to God, who knoweth every degree of every mans understanding, all his weaknesses and strengths, what impresse each Argument maketh upon his spirit, and how unresistable every Reason is; and he alone judges his Innocency and sinceritie: And for the question, I think there is so much to be pretented, against that which I believe to be the truth, that there is much more truth than evidence on our side; and therefore we may be confident, as for our own particulars, but not too forward peremptorily to prescribe to others, much lesse, to damn, or to kill, or to persecute them, that onely in this Particular disagree. So far he.

[Page]I shall conclude with this Humble Petition, that seeing Your Majesty hath been most earnestly supplicated (by many Petitions, Addresses, and Papers) to continue Your former Indulgence: Oh, that Your Majesty would be Gratiously Pleased to do something in it, that may recommend Your Name to be embalmed by them for perpetuity, through the remembrance of Your Just, Righteous, and Merciful Actions, in breaking every Yoak of Oppression, and to the easing of the Conscience of every man, professing Jesus Christ, from all Unrighteous Impositions; And as this will administer Peace, Joy, and Comfort to many of Your Suffering Subjects; so it will bring most excellent Consolation unto Your Majesties Soul, when the Heavens shall be no more: And as Your Majesty desires to be found on the right hand of the great Judge, in that his day; so in this Your day, to remember and consider, that Magistracy and Power of Government, are no Institutions of God, either to fill the Purses, or to furnish the Tables, or to lift up the Minds, or in any kind, to gratifie the flesh of those in whom they are invested; but rather, to serve to accomodate and bless the Societies and Communities of men on earth (unto which they relate respectively) according to that worthy Item, which the Queen of Sheba gave unto Solomon, Because the Lord loved Israel for ever; therefore made he thee King to do Iudgement & Iustice. 1 Kin. 10.9.

The same Lord and Mighty God, so over-shadow Your Majesty with his Power and Good Spirit, that the conceptions of Your Heart, may be Holinesse to him, Wealth and Peace, and gladness of Heart to the People of these Great and Famous Kingdoms (the Government [Page] whereof God hath been pleased to intrust with You) to Your Royal Self, Honour and Safety, and length of Dayes, with the Peace and Joy of a good Conscience on earth, and a far more exceeding Eternal weight of Glory in the Heavens;

So Prayeth, Your Humble and Dutiful Subject,

JOHN STURGION.

THE END.

§

[Page]

A Plea for Tolleration OF OPINIONS and PERSWASIONS IN Matters of Religion, Differing from the CHURCH of ENGLAND.

Grounded upon good Authority of Scripture, and the Practice of the Primitive Times.

Shewing the unreasonablenesse of Prescribing to other mens Faith, and the evil of persecuting differing Opinions.

Humbly Presented to the Kings most Excellent Majesty, by Iohn Sturgion, a Member of the Baptized People.

Acts 5. 38,39. And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this Counsel (or this work) be of men, it will come to naught; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found, even to fight against God.

LONDON, Printed by S. Dover, for Francis Smith, at the Elephant and Castle near Temple-Bar, 1661.

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A plea for tolleration of opinions and perswasions in matters of religion, differing from the Church of England. Grounded upon good authority of Scripture, and the practice of the primitive times. Shewing the unreasonablenesse of prescribing to other mens faith, and the evil of persecuting differing opinions. / Humbly presented to the kings most excellent majesty, by John Sturgion, a member of the Baptized People.

Sturgion, John.

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1661

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2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

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A61911

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Wing S6093

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ESTC R208120

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99867110

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99867110

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119400

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— A plea for tolleration of opinions and perswasions in matters of religion, differing from the Church of England. Grounded upon good authority of Scripture, and the practice of the primitive times. Shewing the unreasonablenesse of prescribing to other mens faith, and the evil of persecuting differing opinions. / Humbly presented to the kings most excellent majesty, by John Sturgion, a member of the Baptized People., Sturgion, John..

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20 p.

Printed by S. Dover, for Francis Smith, at the Elephant and Castle near Temple-Bar,. London :: 1661.. (Baptized People = the Anabaptists.) (Annotation on Thomason copy: "march 29".) (Reproduction of the original in the British Library.)

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Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.