t, and mightst have mentioned all such of every Persuasion in this
Island. But, if thou meanest the gross Body of the Catholicks, whom we are
bound in Charity to believe to act from Principle and Conviction, (and,
indeed, they must be strangely infatuated if they do not;) thou hast
verily been exceedingly to blame, to mention them on this Occasion. For
remember, that from a Principle common to all Protestants, if they act
from rational Conviction, or what appears to them as such, they are as
much entitled to the gracious Mercies of a good God, as thee, or I, is;
and, consequently, the Increase of their Tenets, however erroneous they
may appear to us, cannot, with any Colour of Justice, be reckoned amongst
the List of Sins, capable of drawing down special Judgements upon this
Land.

The Divisions, that are amongst the Followers of _Christ Jesus_, is indeed
Part of the enormous Wickedness of this Age. These we ought to lament in
general; but its being greatly wanting to that Charity, which is the
distinguishing Badge of Christianity, to mark out any one of the several
Sects, that profess the same essential Doctrines, with such a dreadful
Distinction. But thou hast not only placed the Catholicks as the immediate
Objects of God's avenging Judgments, but thou hast represented some of
their Doctrines in a Light which they do not deserve. Thou wouldst
insinuate, that the Cordial, as thou callest it, of Absolution, is
believed by the Catholicks, to be of Effect, without a thorough and
sincere Repentance. We ought, thou knowest, Friend, ever to speak Truth:
which Truth never stands in need of the Aids of Falshood. Now, the
Catholicks, in all their Writings, lay it down, and teach it as a Tenet of
their Church, that Absolution, however solemn, or by whomsoever
pronounced, is so far from being of any Effect without Repentance,
Amendment, and Retribution, if in their Power, that the thus accepting it
is adding the heinous Sin of Sacrilege to all their other Sins. Now, by
what Means canst thou suppose, that this Cordial of Absolution, however
ineffectual thou and I may think it, could be greedily swallowed by
Persons averse to the wholesom food of Repentance, by which their
spiritual Condition might be gradually mended? If they swallow it, they
must already have digested the Food of Repentance; if they have not, they
know, as well as thee, that they have swallowed a Poison instead of a
Cordial. If thou must needs, at a Time when thou