jy AN HUMBLE ATTEMPT, &c. by all of them,' yet is taught by their leaders. Their religion encourages and Inspires men to murder and destroy their fellow- creatures for God's sake, as our Saviour himself foretold ; John xvi. 2. They first call us heretics, and then condemn, torment and murder us, and blindly imagine they aredoing, God service. O bless the name of the Lord for your freedom from the hand and power of those whose religion itis to do mischief in the name of God, and to destroy those that the priests and the inquisitors shall pronounce guilty of any opinions which they are pleased to call heresy ! Ilow often do they dress up a protestant as it were in a wolf's or a bear's skin, and send out all their dogs todevour him ? Bless God with all the powers of your souls that you are not bred up in these barbarous sentiments ; nor should you think yourself worthy of the name of a protestant, if you do not make the bible the rule of your faith and practice, and give others leave to find out their duty also in that holy book, according to their own best sense of it, as well as yourselvees. But if you reproach and persecute the sincere enquiries .after the truth, if you bite and devour those who differ from you in their religious sentiments, who are humble and sincere enquirers, What do you more than others ? What are you better than thebloody papists ? And indeed how much worse are you than some few of them whose souls abhor this cruel anti-christian tyranny ? This barbel rous temper of yours would run all the lengths of persecution even to blood and burning, if the sword and the fire were en- trusted in your hands. Shew therefore that you live in a land of protestantprinciples and an age of liberty, and that the spirit of the gospel, the spirit of charity and'love, dwells in you, by allowing to all men the freedom of their own opinions, while they maintain the public peace : and as you profess to follow the divine rule of scripture, and the dictates of your own consciences with honesty and sincere zeal, believe charitably that your fel- low-christians of a different party may seek after the truth with as much zeal and with equal sincerity, though they may not happen to see all things in the same light, nor embrace the same principles. Let not your accusations and censures grieve their spirits. Make it appear that you love your neighbours, your fellow- christians, and even the enemies of your person and your religion better than the papists, from whom you would distin- guish yourselves with honour. But this shall suffice for the general distinction between papists and protestant. III. We are come in-the next place to consider ourselves as protestant dissenters: hereby we are distinguished from our fel- low-christians who belong to the national church of England, in our choice of different modes of worship and ministrations of holy things. Permit me here to address you who aremy hearers under this character, and enquire what do you more than others ?
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