Religio laici written in a letter to John Dryden, Esq.

TO HIS Much Honoured Friend IOHN DRYDEN Esq.

SIR,

THE Value I have ever had for your Writings, makes me impatient to peruse all Treatises that are crown'd with your Name; where∣of, the last that fell into my Hands, was your Re∣ligio

Laici; whieh expres∣ses as well your great Judg∣ment in, as Value for Reli∣gion: a thing too rarely found in this Age among Gentlemen of your Parts; and, I am confident, (with the Blessing of God upon your Endeavours) not un∣likely to prove of great Advantage to the Publick; since, as Mr. Herbert well observes,

A Verse may find him, who a Sermon flies, And turn Delight into a Sacrifice.

We read in Ancient Times, before the Institu∣tion of Moral Philosophy by Socrates, that Poets in general were to the People in stead of their Sacred Writ, from whom they re∣ceived their Divinity, and Opinion concerning the Gods; as, who, and how, to be worshipped, how pleased and pacified, by what Prayers and Ceremo∣nies, together with such Rites and Ceremonies as were the Dionysiaca, Cybe∣liaca, Isiaca, Eleusiniaca, and

the like, Instituted by Or∣pheus. All which were built upon this Ground, That there could be no true Poet but must be Di∣vinely inspired; and if Di∣vinely inspired, then cer∣tainly to be believed. This we find largely disputed and asserted even by Phi∣losophers of best Account in those Days. But the two main Arguments in∣duced them to that Belief, were; First, That extraor∣dinary Motion of Mind wherewith all good Poets

in all Ages have been pos∣sessed and agitated: And, secondly, The Testimony of Poets themselves, who pro∣fessing themselves Inspired, have made particular Rela∣tions of strange Visions, Raptures, and Apparitions to that purpose: So that as the Beginning, Growth, and Confirmation of Ido∣latry may be ascribed (as by many it is) to Poets, and their Authority; so also to supposed Enthusiasms and Inspirations, upon which that Authority was chiefly

grounded. Hence it is, that many Ancient Au∣thors, as Aristotle, Strabo, and others, affirm, That Poetry (in matter of Wri∣ting and Composition) was in use long before Prose: which might seem strange, if not incredible, did we judge by the Disposition of later Times; but of those Enthusiastick Times, not less probable, than certain, as our Learned Casaubon well observes. And this I thought fitting to premise, in Answer to

that Obection which your Modesty is so apprehen∣sive of, viz. That being a Laick, you interpose in Sacred Matters.

Rapin (in his Reflexi∣ons) speaking of the neces∣sary Qualities belonging to a Poet, tells us, He must have a Genius extaordina∣ry, great Natural Gifts, a Wit just, fruitful, piercing, solid, and universal; an Vn∣derstanding clean and di∣stinct; an Imagination neat and pleasant; an Elevation

of Soul, that depends not only on Art or Study, but is purely a Gift of Heaven, which must be sustained by a lively Sense and Vivacity; Judgment, to consider wisely of Things; and Vivacity, for the beautiful Expression of them, &c. Now this Character is so justly yours, as I cannot but think that he described what a great Poet should be, by hearing what you were; and the rather, since I have been informed by some English of his Acquaintance, That

Monsieur Rapin was studi∣ous in our Language, on∣ly for your sake: Nor would his Pains be lost.

'Tis a Question not ea∣sily to be decided, Whe∣ther you have been more serviceable to the Peace of the State in your Absolom and Achitophel, or to the Church in your Religio Laici, or to the Nobility and Gentry in the innocent Recreation of your Plays? A Country-Retirement, like that of Ovid's, to one

that has led the Spring of his Age, and Vigour of his Youth, among the Noise and Pleasures of the Town, is certainly a Trans∣formation no less disa∣greeable, than that which the Poets feign of Acteon, or Sacred Writ of the As∣syrian Monarch, who gra∣zed with the Beasts of the Field; and to abandon a Covent-Garden Society for the Insipid Dull Converse of a Country Village, (where the Nomination of New Healths is the

heighth of their Inventi∣on) would render a Rural Life to be no less than a Civil Death, were it not for Mr. Dryden's Writings, which keep us still alive, and, by a most Natural Representation of the Hu∣mours of the Town, make us flatter and fansie our selves (like the Enjoyment of a Lover's Dream) to be still there.

But I shall wave these Acknowledgments to you, as things too general to

be engrossed by me alone: And will now spend the Remainder of this Epistle in informing you of the Occasion of my troubling you with this small Piece, which I Entitle by the Name of Religio Laici, from a Treatise of the Lord Herbert of Cherburie's so called; whose Notions I have often made use of, and grounded the Chief of my Discourse upon his Five Catholick or Vniver∣sal Principles: Wherein my only Aim is, to assert

an Vniversal Doctrine, such as no ways opposeth the Religion Established a∣mong us, and which may tend both to the Pro∣pagation of Vertue, and Extirpation of Vice, as well as to the Reconcilia∣tion of those Dissenters now in England, who have of late so disturbed the Quiet of this Realm, and who, under the Pretence of Religion, would ex∣clude all Governours but themselves. For, as a late

Author well observes, Eve∣ry Opinion makes a Sect; every Sect, a Faction; and every Faction (when it is able) a War: and every such War is the Cause of God; and the Cause of God can never be prosecu∣ted with too much Violence: So that all Sobriety is Lukewarmness; and to be Obedient to Government, Carnal Compliance. Which are the Opinions of those that would rob Caesar of his Due, as well as re∣move

the Peoples ancient Land-marks.

But for my part, as in Civil Politicks, I would not, in this so Ancient and so Lineal a Monarchy, abandon the Beams of so fair a Sun, for the dread∣ful Expectation of a di∣vided Company of Stars; so neither, in Ecclesiasticks, do I covet to be without the Pale of the Church: since, though I will not Dogmatically affirm, (as

some do) That Episcopa∣cy is Jure Divino; yet (with the Lord Bacon) I say, and think ex Anim, That it is the nearest to Apostolical Truth, and the most coherent with Mo∣narchy: Wherein, I know, you will not differ from me.

And therefore, Sir, at this time, when the Name of Christ is made use of to palliate so great Vil∣lanies and Treasons, un∣der

the Pretext of God's Cause, against both King and Government, I thought I could do no less than snatch up all Weapons that might defend the Publick, and hope I have not lighted upon one with a double Edge.

I have endeavoured that my Discourse should be onely a Continuance of yours; and that, as you taught Men how to Believe, so I might in∣struct

struct them how to Live. For, as Dr. Donne well observes, Though Christi∣anity is the Fort or Citadel, yet Vertue and Moral Ho∣nesty are its Fences and Out-works, whereby alone it is teneable. Wherefore, I designed this Treatise of mine to be onely an Ad∣dition, or rather the Con∣sequence of yours; encou∣raging Men to Live up to the Vertue of that Do∣ctrine you teach. Which, with your Pardon for the

present, and Friendship for the future, is the highest Ambition of,

SIR,

Your most Faithful Friend, and Servant, C. B.