CHAPTER III.

Controversy concerning Occasional Conformity:- Origin of the Practice.— De Foe addresses a Pamphlet upon the Subject to Mr. Howe.-Its temperate Character. Mr. Howe's Reply.-Remarks upon the Controversy.-De Foe returns to it in a Second Pamphlet.-His Respect for his Antagonist.— Vindicates his own Character.—And Corrects Mr. Howe's Mis-statement of his Principles.-And Motives.-Declaration of his Sincerity.- Mr. Howe's Letter to a Person of Honour.-Pamphlets against the Dissenters.-The Queen's Speech to her Parliament.—Flattering Reply of the Commons.— Introduction of the Bill to Prevent Occasional Conformity.—Passes the Commons. Spirit that pervaded the Public.-De Foe's Reflections upon the Measure.-Defeated by the Lords' Amendments.-Preaching of the Clergy.-De Foe's Account of the Origin of the Bill.-And of the Effect of Intolerance. He Publishes an Enquiry into Occasional Conformity.Represents the Hardships of the Dissenters.—Satirizes their Opponents.

1702.

THOSE who have taken the pains to investigate the history of ecclesiastical affairs in this country, are aware, that by the Act of Uniformity, passed in 1662, about two thousand clergymen of approved character, and many of them possessing considerable talents, were removed from their benefices for want of an entire conformity to all the rites and ceremonies of the episcopal church; and that many more were rendered incapable of sustaining any office or dignity upon the same account. The hardship of such a law, as it bore upon so many individuals who had been educated expressly for the cure of souls, and were thereby rendered in a great measure incapable of following any other occupation, was peculiarly great; and as it originated in a misguided zeal, in unison

CONCERNING OCCASIONAL CONFORMITY.

35

with a depraved policy, the sanction it received from the men of those times was unworthy of their high-sounding pretensions to the name and character of Christians.

In the course of the same reign, other laws were enacted to meet the case of the laity, to prohibit their assembling for worship in any other places than those recognized by law, and to incapacitate them from holding civil offices, unless they communicated with the established church. As the rigid enforcement of these laws, in the sense designed by those who projected them, would have gone far towards the destruction of trade, and the annihilation of the civil rights of Englishmen, means were devised to evade their force by the practice of occasional conformity; that is, by frequenting the established places of worship for official purposes, and at other times those of the Non-conformists. Some of their ministers, also, actuated by motives of charity and forbearance, occasionally practised ministerial conformity. Those who indulged in this latitude, were chiefly of the Presbyterian denomination, which then comprised the great body of Dissenters, and the practice was sanctioned by the names of Bates, Howe, Baxter, Philip Henry, and others; but there were some who maintained their non-conforming principles with greater strictness, and disallowed the practice. Of this number was De Foe.

After the Revolution, when the Dissenters began to build spacious meeting-houses in public situations, which were frequented by the members of corporations, and other persons in official employments, as well as by some of the nobility and gentry, the jealousy of the high-church party was raised to indignation, and they determined to give them no rest until they had withdrawn from their ranks, by legal enactments, all those persons who were capable of giving them any consequence in the state. The protection of King William, who was himself a Presbyterian, but had too much good sense to lend himself to one party of his subjects

36 DE FOE ADDRESSES A PAMPHLET TO MR. HOWE.

against another, prevented them from succeeding during his reign; but he was no sooner dead, than their hopes revived, and their first attack upon the toleration was the bill against occasional conformity.

The rise of the controversy has been noticed in a former chapter, together with De Foe's publication upon the subject. This tract he afterwards reprinted, under the title of "An Enquiry into the Occasional Conformity of Dissenters in Cases of Preferment. With a Preface to Mr. Howe. London: Printed Anno Dom. 1701." 4to. De Foe placed the following motto in his title: "If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him, 1 Kings, xviii. 21." The reason of his addressing the work to Mr. Howe, was this: Sir Thomas Abney, the Lord-Mayor of London for that year, who was a member of his congregation, had revived the practice of occasional conformity, which De Foe had before censured in Sir Humphrey Edwin. This suggested to him the propriety of calling upon his pastor, either to vindicate the practice, or declare against it. Sir John Shorter, he tells us, was the first instance of it. "But it is now growing a received custom, to the great scandal of the Dissenters in general, the offence of such whose consciences forbid them the same latitude, and the stumbling of those who, being before weak and irresolute, are led aside by the eminency and frequency of examples." Addressing Mr. Howe, he says, " If you knew the author, you would easily be satisfied that the reason of this preface is not that he covets to engage in controversy with a person of your capacity and learning, being altogether unfit for such a task, and no way a match to your talent that way. But he desires, in the name of himself and a great many honest good Christians, who would be glad to see this case decided, that you will by yourself, or some other hand, declare to the world, whether this practice of alternate communion be allowed, either by your congregation in particular, or the

Dissenters in general. And if not so allowed, then he conjures you by the honour you owe to your profession, and the tenderness you have for the weakness of others; by the regard you have to God's honour, and the church you serve, that such proceedings may receive their due censure, though the persons wear the gay clothes and the gold ring; that the sincerity and purity of Dissenting Protestants may be vindicated to the world, both in their discipline as well as doctrine; and that without respect of persons. If, on the other hand, it be allowed, 'tis desired it may be defended by such arguments as you think convenient; which the author promises, if desired, never to reply to; or if you give him that liberty, shall do it so as you shall easily see is in order only to be informed, and always suitable to the respect which is due to your person; for whom none has a greater esteem. If none of these requests shall be granted, the world must believe that Dissenters do allow themselves to practise what they cannot defend."

Dr. Calamy intimates that Mr. Howe did not much care to enter upon the argument with one of so warm a temper as the author of the "Enquiry," and contented himself with a short reply to him in a small pamphlet, intitled, "Some Consideration of a Preface to an Enquiry concerning the Occasional Conformity of Dissenters, &c. By John Howe, minister of the Gospel, to whom that Preface, as he conceives, is addressed. Lond. 1701." 4to. In this work, continues Dr. Calamy, he tells the Prefacer, "That he had for a long time an habitual aversion to perplexing himself or disturbing others with the controversies concerning the circumstantials of religion; that he had contented himself with the best means he could be furnished with for settling his judgment, so far as was necessary for his own practice; and that in following his judgment, he carefully abstained from censuring others who took a different way from him, being sensible that every one must give an account of himself to

38 DE FOE PUBLISHES A SECOND PAMPHLET.

God, who will not animadvert with severity upon a weak and merely misguided judgment."* Notwithstanding the liberality of these sentiments, they were beside the question, which the aspect of the times had rendered of some importance. Mr. Howe was a minister of eminent learning and abilities, and of an excellent character; but in his controversy with De Foe he gained no credit. Instead of entering regularly into the argument, he rather avoids it, and contents himself with an indirect apology for occasional conformity. He was displeased with De Foe for having publicly connected his name with the subject, and unhappily loses his temper in the expression of that disapprobation. This was the less called for, as De Foe addresses him in very civil terms, and pronounces a just eulogy upon his merits.

Finding himself treated in this unceremonious manner, De Foe thought he was called upon to rejoin; which he did in "A Letter to Mr. Howe, by way of Reply to his Considerations of the Preface to an Enquiry into the Occasional Conformity of Dissenters. Lond. 1701." 4to. In this tract he defends himself with becoming spirit; but still preserves his respect for his antagonist. "When I addressed the Preface to you," says he, "I thought I had so carefully revised both it and the book, that, as I mentioned to you, I could no where be taxed with exceeding the rules of charity and good manners. And though I would always make them both my rule, yet I thought myself obliged to it more now than ordinary, by how much the person to whom, and the persons of whom I wrote, were equally known, and very much valued by me; and I did not question but I should either not be replied to at all, or it would be done with the charity of a Christian, the civility of a gentleman, and the force and vigour of a scholar." But as Mr. Howe

* Calamy's Life of Howe, p. 210.