Archbishop Tillotson relates of Mr. Gouge, an eminent nonconformist, that he allowed men to differ from him in opinions that were “_very dear_ to him;” and provided men did but “fear God and work righteousness,” he loved them heartily, how distant soever from him in judgment about things less necessary: “in all which,” observes the Archbishop, “he is very worthy to be a pattern to men of all persuasions.” “I abhor two principles in religion,” says William Penn in a letter to the same archbishop, “and pity them that own them. The first is obedience upon authority without conviction; and the other, destroying them that differ from me for God’s sake: such a religion is without judgment, though not without truth. Union is best, if right; if not, charity.” I have given the opinion of these two eminent men of different persuasions, partly to show that the evil I complain of is one of long standing; partly to justify my own opinion as to the remedy; namely, the paying _more_ attention to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity; _less_, to those minor differences which, from the very obscurity of the texts on which they are founded, come more frequently under discussion, and thus, from a mental operation somewhat analogous to that of the laws of perspective, seem large and important because they are close under our eyes, though they are in fact minute in comparison with those which we have not been examining so closely. Thus men inadvertently reverse the order of things, and zeal for the maintenance of peculiar tenets too often supersedes the far more important virtue of Christian benevolence, to the scandal of all good Christians and the mockery of unbelievers. The Quakers, in their address to James II. on his accession, told him that they understood he was no more of the established religion than themselves. “We therefore hope,” said they, “that thou wilt allow us that liberty which thou takest thyself:” and it would be well if we took a hint from this, and reflected that we differ as much from other sects as they do from us, {8} and that the greatest heresy is, as a Christian Father declared it to be long ago—“a wicked life.” It is, however, needful to distinguish between the Christian spirit of forbearance towards those who differ from us in religious opinions, which Christ and his apostles so strongly inculcate, and the indolent latitudinarianism which induces many to declare that “a man cannot help his belief,” that “sincerity is everything,” that “all religious sects are alike,” &c.: positions which, as you well observed on one occasion, ought rather to be reversed; for when men are _not_ sincere, all sects certainly _are_ alike: for then it is but a lip service which will never influence the life, and it matters not what opinion is professed; it will be equally powerless.