Government had recommended Family and Perſonal Peace upon all Occaſions, to the whole Nation.
But it cou’d not be obtain’d, and particularly after the ceaſing of the Plague in London, when any one that had ſeen the Condition which the People had been in, and how they careſs’d one another at that time, promis’d to have more Charity for the future, and to raiſe no more Reproaches: I ſay, any one that had ſeen them then, would have thought they would have come together with another Spirit at laſt. But, I ſay, it cou’d not be obtain’d; the Quarel remain’d, the Church and the Preſbyterians were incompatible; as ſoon as the Plague was remov’d, the diſſenting outed Miniſters who had ſupplied the Pulpits, which were deſerted by the Incumbents, retir’d, they cou’d expect no other; but that they ſhould immediately fall upon them, and harraſs them, with their penal Laws, accept their preaching while they were ſick, and perſecute them as ſoon as they were recover’d again, this even we that were of the Church thought was very hard, and cou’d by no means approve of it.
But it was the Government, and we cou’d ſay nothing to hinder it; we cou’d only ſay, it was not our doing, and we could not anſwer for it.
On the other Hand, the Diſſenters reproaching thoſe Miniſters of the Church with going away, and deſerting their Charge, abandoning the People in their Danger, and when they had moſt need of Comfort and the like, this we cou’d by no means approve; for all Men have not the ſame Faith, and the ſame Courage, and the Scripture commands us to judge the moſt favourably, and according to Charity.
A Plague is a formidable Enemy, and is arm’d with Terrors, that every Man is not ſufficiently fortified to reſiſt, or prepar’d to ſtand the Shock
