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as it was delivered by Christ and his apostles, decries nothing more than anger, wrath, malice, railing, evilspeaking, backbiting slanders, reproaches, names and epithets of scorns, craft and subtilty; yet all these black legions are called, used and employed in the management of that cause which each party pretends to be the cause of Christ, as if fiends and furies and legions of devils were thought fit auxiliaries on each party, wherein both pretend the interest of Christ Jesus.

By all which these two things are evident:

1. That these transports of either side come not from that spirit which Christ brought with him into the world, and which he commended and left to his disciples and followers; namely, a spirit of love, of charity, of gentleness, patience, kindness and sweetness of disposition.

2. That if men go about to justify this because first provoked by the adverse party, and so justify it by the law of taliation, these men do not remember that as, on the one hand, the duty of Christians is self-denial, moderation and peaceableness; on the other side, that a spirit of revenge, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, is as much against the doctrine of Christ as any thing in the world.

Therefore, certainly it becomes those of either party either to cashier these black auxiliaries of their wars and contentions of this kind, or otherwise, for the sake and honour of Christ and the Christian religion, plainly declare that he is not concerned in the contest, but that the contest is a contest of interest and vain-glory, of pride and ambition and reputation and desire of victory; or if they will not declare so much to the world, yet they must give leave to the spectators to judge of it so.

Now these bitternesses and virulentnesses of either side have been commonly of two kinds: first, such as reflect, if not altogether, yet most of all, upon the persons of their adversaries; 2, or such as reflect only upon the matters in difference between them; both were bad enough, and such as serve to make the differences and breaches wider.

The mischiefs that come by this manner of writing are very great and many.

1. It makes differences irreconcileable. When differences, civil or ecclesiastical, in judgment or practice happen, gentleness, softness, mildness and personal respectfulness, quiet the passions and spirits of the adverse

party, gain upon him, get within him; and when the person is thus won and over-matched with sweetness and kindness, and personal jealousies and prejudices removed, persuasions and arguments grow prevalent, come with their full weight, are entertained calmly and considerately, and insensibly gain grounds even upon the judgment; but I yet never knew any man converted by an angry, passionate, railing adversary; for such kind of behaviour presently raiseth in the adversary the like passions and prejudice, and makes the distance greater; and the passions being engaged in the quarrel, the judgments of both sides are lost or blinded or silenced with the dust and noise of passionate digladiations: and, indeed, considering how apparently and evidently such kind of dealing between Dissenters renders composures almost impossible, and yet observing how much this course of reviling and opprobrious and unmanly as well as unchristian language is in practice, I thought that it hath been a real design to render each party odious and irreconcileable to the other, and the hopes of composure desperate; for who can ever expect that any man or any sort of men should be drawn over to that party that shall publicly style him brain-sick, a fool, silly, hypocrite, fanatic, and a hundred such scornful appellations; or that men will be easily drawn to relinquish those opinions or persuasions when they must thereby in effect subscribe to such epithets and appellations before all the world; and of all things in the world, men can with the least patience bear reflection upon their intellectuals, and are most irreconcileable to them that traduce or abuse them therein.

2. It greatly disadvantageth the cause as well as the persons of those that use this method amongst sober indifferent observers, who will be ready to conclude them a parcel of people transported by passions, weak and prejudicated; and look upon such a cause as is maintained by railing, scoffing, raillery and unproved calumnies, as weak and standing in need of such rudenesses to support and maintain it.

3. It exposeth religion itself to the derision of atheists, and confirms them in their atheisms, and gains them too many proselytes; and that principally upon these reasons: 1. Because they find that clergymen do tell them in the pulpits that Christ himself and his apostles condemned railing, scandalous appellation, as raca and fool, evilspeaking, foolish jesting, mocking, reviling; this they tell

men, and they tell them truly; and yet these very men, that call themselves ministers of Christ, messengers of the Gospel of peace, take that admirable liberty of reproaching, scoffing and deriding one another in their public pamphlets and discourses, that can scarce be exampled among the most invective ranks of persons whose trade it is to be satirical and render people ridiculous: nay, so far hath this excellent manage prevailed among clergymen, that their scoffs and reproaches are not levelled at the persons or personal defects of Dissenters, but rather than want supports for their party, will have ugly flings at religion itself, at Scripture expressions; and when men see such a course of practice among the preachers and clergymen, they are ready to conclude that surely they believe not themselves what they preach to others; therefore think they have a fair pretence not to believe them.

2. But principally these great animosities and transports of Dissenting clergymen confirms and promotes Atheism upon this account-that the things about which this wonderful hate is strucken between these parties, are such as both parties agree to be none of the fundamentals of the religion professed by both, but accessaries and accessions, and such indeed as bystanders think are of very small moment; and yet when men see so much heat and passion, so much fervour and contention, such reproaches and revilings, such exasperations of authority on either party, such mutual prosecutions one of another, that more could not possibly be done between Dissenters, in those points which both agree to be fundamental, atheistical spirits are apt to conclude, that probably those points that both sides supposed to be of greater moment, are ejusdem farince with those in contest, since they are not nor cannot be prosecuted with greater fervour than these which all men take to be small and inconsiderable, and that it is interest, vain-glory and applause, or some other temporal concern, that gives this fervour and zeal in matters of religion, more than the true concerns of itself. The conclusion therefore is, that men, for their own sakes and for the sake and honour of the Christian religion, would use more temperance, prudence and moderation in contests about circumstantials.

A

SPEECH

OF

MR. JOHN MILTON

FOR THE

LIBERTY OF UNLICENSED PRINTING,

TO THE

PARLIAMENT OF ENGLAND.

This is true Liberty when free-born men,
Having to advise the public, may speak free;
Which he who can, and will, deserves high praise;
Who neither can nor will, may hold his peace;
What can be juster in a State than this?

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EFFINGHAM WILSON, 18, BISHOPSGATE STREIF} J. SMALLFIELD, 69, NEWGATE STREET.

HACKNEY:

PRINTED BY CHARLES GREEN.

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