meane to procede in answering the book entitled Mercy and Truth, or Charity maintained by Catholicks.' In this he tried to put Chillingworth out of court by accusing him of Socinianism. This personal attack still further complicated Chillingworth's book; not only had he to defend Dr. Potter, and to refute Knott's arguments, but he had also to clear his own reputation.
It would seem that Knott's attack on Chillingworth's orthodoxy caused some apprehension in the mind of Laud, who desired that Chillingworth's book should be submitted to the revision of some sound divines before it was published. It was accordingly revised by Richard Baily, the vice-chancellor, and John Prideaux and Samuel Fell, divinity professors in the university of Oxford, and it appeared in 1637 with their imprimatur, so that Chillingworth claimed that he had 'made it pass through the fiery trial of the exact censures of many understanding judges.' The book bore the title of 'The Religion of Protestants a Safe Way of Salvation; or, an answer to a book entitled Mercy and Truth, or Charity maintained by Catholiques.' It began with a 'preface to the author of Charity maintained, with an answer to his pamphlet entitled A Direction to N. N.' It then proceeded to quote the preface and various chapters of the treatise 'Charity maintained,' and answer their arguments point by point. 'Charity maintained' consisted of two parts, but Chillingworth contented himself with answering only the first part, which dealt with the general principle involved in the controversy; and did not pursue the points of detail opened out by the second part, for reasons which he gives in the 'conclusion.'
Thus Chillingworth's book is inextricably involved in extraneous matter, and owes its unity only to the lofty conceptions of its author, which animate all his arguments. He came forward not to attack Romanism or defend Anglicanism, but to maintain the right of free inquiry and the necessity of personal conviction. He spoke with an entire detachment from all contending systems: 'My desire is to go the right way to eternal happiness; but whether this way lie on the right hand, or on the left, or straightforward; whether it be by following a living guide, or by seeking my direction in a book, or by hearkening to the secret whisper of some private spirit, to me it is indifferent.' Hence he proceeded on the principle of 'damning no man nor doctrine without express and certain warrant from God's word.' He attacked the Romanist assumption of certainty by a keen analysis of the grounds of belief, which he regarded primarily as intellectual assent; he drew clear distinctions between different kinds of evidence, between probable and necessary inferences, between moral and intellectual error. He argued on behalf of free inquiry as the great principle of protestantism, and limited himself to prove that if this principle was honestly followed, even though it led to intellectual errors on some points, it could not exclude from a participation in God's promises, and was therefore 'a safe way of salvation.'
Chillingworth's book at once attracted attention by its conspicuous ability, and a second edition was demanded within five months. But Chillingworth's position and arguments, though interesting to the learned and cultivated, were regarded with abhorrence by zealots on every side. His jesuit antagonist, Knott, attacked him in a pamphlet, 'Christianity maintained; or, a Discovery of sundry Doctrines tending to the Overthrow of the Christian Religion' (1638), and in 1639 two other works were issued from St. Omer denouncing Chillingworth as an atheist, whose principles were subversive of all religion. Even nine years after Chillingworth was dead, Knott still continued his protest in 'Infidelity unmasked, or a confutation of a book published by Mr. William Chillingworth' (Ghent, 1652), Nor was the puritan party much better pleased with Chillingworth's arguments. In their eyes also he was imperilling religion by resolving faith into reason, and his intellectual tolerance had no charm for them when they were striving for supremacy. But Chillingworth's opinions were acceptable to Charles I and Laud, and Sir Thomas Coventry, keeper of the seal, offered him a benefice which he refused because he could not subscribe the articles. He expressed himself in his book 'that the doctrine of the Church of England is pure and orthodox, and that there is no error in it which may necessitate or warrant any man to disturb the peace or renounce the communion of it. This, in my opinion, is all intended by subscription.' Laud had no fault to find with this definition of subscription, which was also held by Sheldon. Probably in consequence of their representations, and after this public announcement of his meaning, Chillingworth agreed to sign the articles, as a basis of peace and union, not as a token of entire assent. After this, in July 1638, he was made chancellor of Salisbury, with the prebend of Brixworth in Northamptonshire annexed, and soon afterwards was made master of Wigston's Hospital in Leicester. In 1640 he was elected proctor in convocation by the chapter of Salisbury, and sat in that assembly, which incurred the wrath of parliament, so that its
