Which it will not be hard for him to discern who comes to it with an unprejudic'd Mind For inasmuch as that Society whereof they are Governours is instituted by God for the Conservation of Religion it will follow that the onely Authority to which they can pretend is to extend no farther than to Matters of Religion or what is necessary to the Conservation of it Which makes a strange that the Church of Rome should pretend to a Power of taking away the Civil Rights of Princes or their Subjects especially when he who is Head even of their Head hath so frankly declar'd that his kingdom is not of this world If the Governours of the Church claim any Power of that nature it must be by the Indulgence of Princes and to it they are to ascribe it Again Forasmuch as the Governours of the Church are but the Ministers of him who is the Great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls whatever Authority they have must be within the Limits of his Discipline who is the Author no less of their Power than it Lastly Forasmuch as that Power which the Governours of the Church have was given for the edification and not for the destruction of those that are to be ruled by it 2 Cor. 10.8 it will follow that that ought to be the Limit of their Commands and consequently also of our Obedience Care onely would be taken that we do not rashly nor indeed without great and manifest reason pronounce of any thing they enjoyn as either not for edification or to the destruction of the Church partly because what is for edification of the Publick is not easily to be judg'd of by Private Persons and partly because there are few things more destructive to the Being of the Church than the dissolution of that Discipline by which it is ty'd together 3. From the Commands of the Governours of the Church as which do for the most part respect things to be done pass we to their Decrees in such Controversies as do arise concerning thâ—se â—â—ings which are to be believ'd where at the same time I shall set down what Authority those our Spiritual Parents may pretend to and what kind of Honour is to be paid by us to it For the resolution whereof I shall no way doubt to affirm first That it is in the Power of those Governours to come to a decision in them and oblige the several Members of the Church not to make any Publick Opposition to them For the Peace of the Church being broken not so much by any thing as by Controversies which may arise concerning those things that are to be believ'd the Governours of the Church to whom the preservation of the Peace thereof is committed must consequently be suppos'd to be furnish'd with such a Power of Decision as shall bind up the several Members thereof from making any Publick Opposition to what they do so decide Which is so reasonable a thing that there is no formed Church in the World which doth not claim such a Power nor any reasonable Man in them which doth not think himself to be so far bound up by it provided the Decision do not entrench upon an Article of Faith nor be impos'd upon ours but recommended as such onely to which Men shall not openly oppose themselves For though it be not lawful for any Man to abjure that which he does believe to be a Truth yet it may be lawful and sometime necessary not to make profession of some Truths if the Peace of the Church be like to be broken by it But beside that the Honour of the Governours of the Church may require an Acquiescence in their Decisions where those Decisions though it may be not exact do not entrench upon an Article of Faith nor are impos'd upon our Belief I do no way doubt but it may also require the exacting a cordial Acknowledgment of them from those that are the Ministers thereof For it being of great importance to the Welfare of the Church that those which are its Teachers should be well perswaded themselves lest as is but too frequent they disperse their Errours among the People it cannot but be thought requisite for those who are the Governours to exact of those Teachers before they be approv'd a cordial Acknowledgment of such Articles of Religion as they shall deem expedient to be publickly profess'd and taught For how shall they otherwise provide for the Welfare of that Church which is committed to their Charge and for which they shall be accountable to Almighty God or those Candidates of the Ministry provide for the Honour of their Governours who shall not be content to make such an Acknowledgment if they do heartily believe the things propos'd or to be excluded from the Office of Teachers if they do not Honour implying an Acknowledgment of all such Power and Authority as is requisite in a Governour for the conservation of that Society over which he is appointed to preside 4. One onely Species of Honour remains of those which are more peculiar to their Function and that is Submission to th Censures of these our Spiritual Parents Of which beside the Admonition of the Author to the Hebrews where he requires us not onely to obey those that have the Rule over us but also to submit our selves a Proof may be fetch'd from the Authority those Governours are invested with of excluding them from the Communion of the Church who shall not shew themselves faithful Members of it For beside that every Member of the Church covenants in Baptism to shew himself a faithful Soldier of Christ Jesus and consequently cannot be thought to have any injury done him if he be debarr'd the Communion of the Church upon the breach of that his Covenant beside that the Scripture doth so far enjoyn it upon particular Persons as to oblige them to withdraw themselves from every Brother that walketh disorderly beside lastly that God hath committed to the Governours of the Church the power of binding and losing and promis'd that what they do so bind and loose on earth shall be bound and loos'd in heaven which the Church of God hath ever understood with reference to the Power of Excommunication and Absolution that Power is no more than necessary for the conservation of the Church in obedience to God and to the wholsom Commands of their Superiours For who will generally be very careful of keeping the Covenants they have made in Baptism if it be not in the Power of the Governours thereof to debar them the Priviledges of that Communion which the more sound Members of the Church enjoy Now forasmuch as it is in the Power of these our Spiritual Parents not onely to command such things as are salutary but to exclude from the Communion of the Church all such as are disorderly walkers if we will give them that Honour which is due to them we must of necessity acquiesce in that their Censure if justly inflicted so long as
it ought to be exerted to wit not in determining of them according to their own will and pleasure and much less in invading the Office of the Priesthood which we know he that attempted was strucken with a Leprosie for but in defending the Church from all both Foraign and Domestick Enemies in keeping the Members of the Church within their respective Duties and punishing with the civil Sword those that shall refuse so to do in calling Councils to determine of matters of Religion and giving force to those things that shall be rightly determin'd by them For as more than these cannot be legitimately inferr'd from those places we have made use of to establish the Authority of Princes by so that they cannot rightly claim more the nature of the Church according as I have before stated it shews For since the Church by the Institution of Christ is endow'd with a power in determining in things relating to it self since also the secular Powers as well by their Baptism as the precepts of the Scripture are bound to be defenders of it for he who gives up himself to the Christian Religion doth thereby profess that he will perform his proper part in it and therefore if he be a King the part of a King it must needs be that their Authority in sacred matters should consist rather in obliging the several members of it to their respective duties than in determining of their own head concerning them The same is no less evident from the practice of Christian Princes in calling together a Council as often as any thing hath stood in need of a definition For as Mr. Thorndike * De ratione ac jure finiendi controversias hath well observ'd he who calls a Council of Bishops to make a Decree to receive a civil sanction from himself doth thereby profess as well that it belongs to the Church to determine in it as to himself to pass that Decree into a Law Which is so true as the same Mr. Thorndike ‖ Ibid. hath observ'd that though Constantius the Emperour would fain have undone what had been decreed by the Council of Nice yet he never attempted it but by Decrees of other Councils which shews what opinion was had of the Authority of the Church even by the Enemies of the Church it self These two things only seem necessary to be subjoin'd that we may give Christian Princes the whole of what is due to them 1. That it belongs to Princes to judge what is rightly or not rightly decreed by the Church and according as they shall judge either to give or withold their assent and 2. That though in things dubious or not at all determin'd by Councils the Prince is to expect the decision of the Church yet there is no necessity of so doing where the thing is evident from the word of God or hath been generally defin'd by former Councils For as where the word of God is clear the Prince need no other warrant who by that word it self is call'd upon to serve the Lord and add the force of his Sanction to the general Injunctions of it so where the thing hath been generally defin'd little doubt can be made of Princes passing what is so into a Law partly because it hath been in some measure defined by the Church and partly because it is to be presum'd the Church gives way to a more particular determination where the thing doth require a present definition or is not of such moment to require the calling of the Bishops from their several charges with the far greater detriment of the Church over which they are appointed to preside In the mean time as it is not to be deny'd that those Princes shall best provide for the peace of their own Consciences who shall not ordinarily determine of Ecclesiastical affairs without the consent of the Church or at least of some of the principal Bishops of it so we can never sufficiently commend the Institutions of this Kingdom whereas in the Parliament the place where all Laws are framed the Bishops have the principal place so the commands of King and Parliament in Ecclesiastical Affairs do for the most part follow the Canons dereed by our Convocations For after this manner both now and heretofore the Book of Common Prayers underwent the Examination of a Convocation before the use of it passed into a Law and extraordinary Forms of Prayers are approv'd by some Bishops before they have the Kings Mandate affix'd to them I will conclude this Discourse with the Doctrine of the Articles of our Church because exactly according with what I have before delivered For as the 20th of those Articles declares the Church to have power to decree Rites or Ceremonies and Authority in controversies of Faith so the 37th not only excludes from Princes the ministring either of Gods word or of the Sacraments but makes their Supremacy to consist in ruling all Estates and Degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restraining with the civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers To which as I know not what any reasonable man can oppose because so exactly distinguishing between the Churches Power and that of Princes so I see not how any reasonable man where the Authority of Princes keeps within these bounds can think himself exempted from yeilding obedience to it He who commits the care of the Church to secular Princes necessarily allowing them a superintendency over it and consequently also where that superintendency is not manifestly made use of to the prejudice of Religion obliging all the Members of the Church to yield obedience to their Commands How we are to honour Princes by our Obedience hath been at large declar'd It remains that we also shew both that we are and how we are to honour them with submission to their Censures Which will appear first of all from that Authority wherewith they are invested of drawing the Sword of Justice against Offenders For as an Authority to Command infers a necessity of Obedience in all those that are subjected to it so a Power of Coercion a like necessity of Submission to it in all those who are subjected to it The onely thing of difficulty is Whether that Submission be necessary where the Power of Coercion is us'd against those who seem to themselves and it may be not without reason to have done nothing to deserve it For inasmuch as the Sword of Justice is committed to Princes for the avenging of such onely as are Eyil doers it may seem but reasonable to infer that they who are not Evil doers are free from submitting themselves to the Stroke of it And indeed if the Question be concerning the avoiding of it by Flight there is no doubt it is in the power of the Subject who conceives himself not to have deserv'd it so to avoid if he can the falling under the Power of it Our Saviour having expresly given leave that if we be
Suffrages of those who have been eminent for their Learning or Piety in the World I begin with the Ancient Fathers both because the first in Time and because they have been most unanimously esteem'd For the judging of whose Authority and consequently of the Honour that is to be given by us to them I will first of all consider them as Witnesses of Ecclesiastical Tradition and then as delivering their own Sense in Matters of Religion If we consider them in the former notion so little doubt can be made of their Authority especially if we understand by Fathers such of them as had eminent Places in the Hierarchy of the Church as Mr. Thorndike * Socrates Hist Eccl. li. 2. c. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. eundem lib. 2. cap. 10. Hilar in fine libr. de Synodis cum observat Thorndic lib. de ratione ac jure finiendi controversias cap. 25. pag. 489 c. hath shewn out of * Socrates Hist Eccl. li. 2. c. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. eundem lib. 2. cap. 10. Hilar in fine libr. de Synodis cum observat Thorndic lib. de ratione ac jure finiendi controversias cap. 25. pag. 489 c. Ancient Writers that we ought to understand the Name of Fathers For living so near as they did to the Times of the Apostles by which means they had opportunity to know what things had been delivered by Christ and his Apostles and being moreover thought worthy in those purer Times to be set in the highest Places of Dignity and Authority in the Church the Prerogative of that their Rank and their nearness to the Apostles Times is in reason to oblige us to look upon them as competent Witnesses of the Tradition of the Apostles and consequently to give up our Belief to what they shall so testifie especially if we find them to have so testified with one consent or with no material difference in it Whence it is that all reasonable Men must look upon the Government of the Church by Bishops Priests and Deacons as instituted by the Apostles because with one consent so declar'd by the Ancient Fathers And though the same Authority be not to be given to them where they pretend to speak rather their own Sense than the Tradition of the Church which is the second Notion under which I promis'd to look upon them yet even there they are caeteris paribus to be preferr'd in their Opinions before those of later date both because as was before said they were of eminent account in the Church and because of the opportunity they had by their neerness to the Apostles times to know the sense both of them and of our Lord and Saviour Of the Fathers of the Church what hath been said may suffice at least as to those who are most like to be my Readers proceed we now to consider how far the judgment of Learned men in general is to prevail with us in the squaring of our own in matters of Religion In order whereunto 1. The first thing I shall represent is that whatever Authority the judgment of Learned men ought to have with us yet ought it not to be of any account against the clear and express Dictates of Reason and Scripture Because whatever their judgment is it is but the judgment of men whereas the voice of Reason and Scripture is no other than the Voice of God To which therefore there is but reason the other should yield because it is but fallible whereas Reason and Scripture is the voice of him whose property it is not to be in a capacity to be deceiv'd Again forasmuch as whatever force the judgment of Learned men may be of it is upon the presumption of the concurrency of their judgments with Reason and Scripture which they have such ability to discern the voice of Reason and Scripture must consequently be of more force it self as which gives all the force it hath to the judgment of Learned men Against the clear and express dictates of Reason and Scripture therefore the judgment of Learned men can be of no avail and consequently in that case no Honour to be given to it 2. But neither secondly is any such Honour to be given to the judgment of Learned Men where there is a strong or very probable reason against it For besides that Learned Men may be biast by Interest and other such like considerations which serve rather to corrupt than inform their judgments a reason as a Learned Man * Taylor 's Ductor Dubit l. 1. c. 4. Rule 9. observes is an intrinsecal proper and apportion'd Motive to the Conscience but humane Authority or citation of consenting Authors is but an extrinsecal accidental and presumptive Inducement and a meer suppletory in the destitution of Reason Truth as the forenamed Person observes from Socrates being not to be weighed by Witnesses but by Argument not by the Authority of Authors but by the Reasons they alledge 3. But because what the voice of Scripture or Reason is is not always apparent of it self nor yet with any great probability to be collected or at least not by men of ordinary Capacities hence there ariseth a necessity of having recourse to the judgment of the Learned and a reasonableness of things of that nature of being bound up by it For as it is but reasonable to yeild to the judgments of others where our own will not serve to extricate our selves so it is but a just respect which we owe to their Learning and indeed to God himself who is the Author of it For what other is it than a contempt of their Gifts and of God who is the Donor of them not to submit to their judgments whom God hath so well furnish'd with an ability to inform us Whence it is That though in matters of Religion men are generally more headstrong yet in matters relating to their Health or Estate there are none of Common Understanding which do not square their Opinions and Actions by the advice of those who are the Sages either of the Law or Physick But so the same Reason will oblige us to proceed in things relating to the discipline and outward oeconomy of Religion For what can be more reasonable especially in things of that nature than to square our judgments by theirs whom God hath bless'd with an ability to discern The only scruple in this Affair is what is to be done where we find Learned Men to differ Where first little doubt is to be made but we are to follow the judgments of those whom we apprehend to be in the right as to the main Thus for example Though there be as much Learning among the Papists as the Protestants in all sorts of knowledge relating to Religion yet inasmuch as I believe the latter to be in the right as to the main and the other not I think it but reasonable to defer to their judgment whom I am so well perswaded of There being
and Man which would make the Institution of Magistracy vain or it shall be lawful for him to exact an Oath to determine them by And indeed as the fore-named Bishop well argues well may they exact the Oath of God Ibid. who have both his Name and his Authority who as they represent his Person so do also judge for him and which is more for so the Psalmist tells us who have him standing in their congregation and judging in their Tribunal PART III. Whether it be lawful to require an Oath of the Accused Party This evidenced in part from what God directed among the Jews in several Cases which is shewn to have been conformable thereto An Objection from the suppos'd unreasonableness of a Mans accusing himself propos'd and answered The reasonableness of exacting an Oath of the Accused Party evidenced from several Topicks and particularly from the impossibility there sometimes is of the Magistrates doing Justice without it The Cases of Life and Limb to be excepted and why Of the Obligation of Oaths and what that Obligation is both in Assertory and Promissory ones That an Oath obligeth even where drawn from Men by false and deceitful Stories where it is to the Swearers disadvantage or extorted by Threats and Violence If an Oath oblige not it is for the most part from the inhability of the Sweater or the undueness of the Matter that is to say when it is either impossible or unlawful to be perform'd HAVING shewn it to be lawful for the Magistrate to exact an Oath and moreover that in many Cases it is necessary for him to do it â—nquire we in the next place IV. Whether he may require an Oath of the Accused Party which may seem to have more of difficulty in it because by means of that a Man may be oblig'd to be his own Accuser which may seem contrary to each Man 's Natural Liberty For the resolution whereof I will proceed in this Method 1. I will shew what God himself directed among the Jews 2. Examine the Grounds upon which the Negative is founded 3. Produce the Reasons of exacting an Oath of the Accused Party And 4. And lastly Declare in what Cases it may be done 1. If Men were always as willing to be regulated by the Scriptures as they do for the most part profess themselves to be there would not long be any doubt whether it were lawful for the Magistrate to exact an Oath that may condemn the Party that gives it For there are two Instances wherein God expresly requires the giving of an Oath to the Accused Party the first whereof is where the Accused Party hath any Goods committed to his Custody the second where there is a suspicion of Falshood in a Wife For thus Exod. 22.10 11. If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep and it die or be hurt or driven away no man seeing it then saith the Text shall an Oath of the Lord be between them both that he hath not put his hands unto his neighbours goods and the owner thereof shall accept of it and he shall not make it good In like manner Numb 5.18 19. if a Man had a suspicion of his Wives dishonesty and accordingly brought her before the Priest for Judgment it is commanded that the Priest shall charge her with an Oath concerning that whereof she is suspected And though there be not the like Evidence concerning any other Crimes wherein the Oath of the Accused Party might be requisite yet as it is apparent enough from Levit. 6.2 3. that an Oath might be exacted also where there was a suspicion of dealing deceitfully in Fellowship or of violent taking away or deceit or concealing what a Man had found all these being there joyn'd with a Man's lying unto his Neighbour in that which is deliver'd him to keep and an Oath suppos'd to have pass'd concerning them so it appears highly probable from 1 Kings 8.31 That it was lawful to exact an Oath of the Accused Party in any Difference between Man and Man that place not onely supposing the laying of an Oath upon the Accused Party but supposing also because expressing it in those indefinite Terms If any man trespass against his brother in any Crime whatsoever However it be most certain it is from the fore-quoted places in Leviticus that an Oath might be laid upon a suspected Party in Matters of Estate which is as much I think as is ordinarily claimed by any Magistrate and if so so far at least it may be lawful to lay an Oath upon the Accused Party whatever Pretence there is from Mens Natural Liberty For though as was before observ'd the Judicial Law of which that was a part be not of present Obligation yet being a Law of Gods making it cannot be suppos'd to contain any thing in it that is contrary to the Law of Reason and Nature 2. From what God directed among the Jews in this Affair pass we to the Grounds whereupon it is pretended to be unlawful to exact an Oath of the Accused Party which as was before insinuated is its seeming contrariety to each Man 's Natural Liberty to be oblig'd to accuse himself In answer to which I say 1. That though as it may happen a Man may by such an Oath be obliged to accuse himself yet if he be innocent he may have an opportunity thereby to clear his own Innocency to the World and so advantage in stead of condemning himself I say 2. That whatsoever is pretended concerning Mens Natural Liberty yet is it not to be understood to reach any further than is consistent with the Rules of Government For as no Man can be born any other than a Subject because by his very Birth oblig'd to be so to those from whom he receiv'd his Being so God himself to whom we are certainly Subjects hath appointed Governours over us and commanded us to be subject to them Whatsoever Liberty therefore we have it must be suppos'd to be limited by the necessary Ends of that Government to which he hath commanded us to be subject If then the Ends of Government do sometime require the administring of such an Oath the Pretence of Natural Liberty can be no Plea against it because by the Command of God subjected to the other And this Particular will minister to me a fair entrance into 3. The reasonableness of exacting an Oath of the Accused Party which is the third thing propos'd to be inquir'd into Which I shall ground upon the impossibility of the Magistrates doing Justice sometimes where such an Oath as we are now speaking of is not administred For it often hapning through the cunning of those we deal with that proof cannot be made of their deceitful dealing with us either it shall be lawful for them to keep that which they have deceitfully gotten which is against the Rules of Justice and Equity or the Magistrate must have a Power to administer
that freedom of Commerce which they observe to be between the Parties And accordingly as all civil Nations have provided that Marriages should be solemniz'd in publick thereby both to cut off from the Married Persons all pretexts of withdrawing from each other and all scandal from those with whom they converse so I see not how they can be so legitimate as they ought where they are less publick than the Law requires For though the presence of one or two Witnesses may be of force enough to oblige the parties to a Cohabitation yet they cannot take of the scandal which may arise from the clandestineness thereof But neither is it less requisite that Marriages should be made agreeably to the constitutions both of that Church and State whereof the married Persons are Members The latter because the welfare of the State may depend much upon them as particularly in those that are Heirs or Heiresses to great Estates and as it sometimes happens to a Kingdom by the former whereof great Estates may come to be embezzled by the latter a Kingdom to be prostituted to the arbitrement of those who are no way in a capacity to manage it The same is to be said of the necessity of their being made agreeably to the constitutions of the Church For the Law which God hath given concerning Marriage being general or at least not so particular as to determine all questions that may arise concerning it there is a necessity of referring them to the determination of those who are by God and the Church entrusted with the welfare of it and consequently in particular Persons of acquiescing in it I observe Thirdly that though the solemnization of Marriage by a Priest be not absolutely necessary to make it good and valid upon which account we find all those to have been confirm'd * See the Stat. of 12 Car. 2. c. 33. which in the late miserable confusions had been made another way yet is it of so great expediency that I see not how any Christian State can introduce any other and much less how private Persons can For beside that the consunction of Marriage is the act of God ‖ Mat. 19.6 and not of the Contractors and therefore most meet to be dispens'd by those who are the Ministers of God to us in things pertaining to God the thing it self is of so great importance as to our whole life that it cannot but be thought to require the blessing of the Priest to make it happy to the Contracters and his exhortations to make it holy and unblameable For if so sacred a tie as Marriage be so lightly regarded even when it hath the Solemnities of Religion to procure it respect and veneration how may we think it would be contemn'd if it were only look'd upon as a civil one as there is no doubt it would be if it had not the Ministeries of Religion to accompany it And accordingly as in this and I think all other Christian Nations the Solemnization thereof is committed to the Ministers of Religion so that it was so in the first and purest times of Christianity is too evident from Ancient Records to admit of any the least doubt For thus Ignatius that most holy Man and a Disciple of the Apostles in his Epistle to Polycarp * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 13. edit Voss another Apostolical Person tells him It becometh those Men and Women that Marry to enter into that conjunction with the consent of the Bishop that the Marriage may be according to God and not according to lust And Tertullian another Ancient Writer and one of great Authority in the Church in more places than one declares the same usage and belief For not contented to say in his Book de Pudicitiâ * G. 4. Ideo penes nos occultae quoque conjunctiones id est non prius apud Ecclesiam professae juxta moe hiam for nicationem judicari periclitantur That among them even Clandestine Marriages that is to say those that were not professed before the Church were in danger to be censur'd next to Adultery and Fornication in another Tract of his he speaks yet more plainly both as to the usage and the reason of it How ‖ Ad Vxor lib. 2. c. ult Vnde sufficiamus ad enarrandam felicitatem ejus matrimonii quod Ecclesia conciliat confirmat oblatio obsignat benediclio angeli renunciant pater rato habet may we be able to declare the happiness of that Marriage which the Church joins and the Oblation or Sacrament consirms and the Blessing seals in sine which the Angels those he means which are present at and behold our Devotions proclaim and our Father which is in Heaven ratifies For neither upon earth do Children rightly and lawfully Marry without the consent of their Parents I observe Fourthly that as it is expedient and in a more than ordinary manner for Marriage to be celebrated by a Priest so it is also expedient and where Authority hath commanded it necessary to be solemniz'd with such significant Actions or Ceremonies as the joyning of Hands and the giving and receiving of a Ring Because though Marriage and all other Contracts may be made by Words onely yet they neither do nor can make so firm an Impression upon the Minds either of the Parties or the Witnesses as those visible Declarations do Whence it is that in all Civil Contracts almost such Actions as those have place and Men think not themselves well assur'd unless beside a Declaration by Word or Writing from those with whom they have to do they have also a Turf of that Land which they contract for put into their Hands by the Seller or at least those Deeds whereby it is convey'd But what speak I of other Contracts when even in this particular one they who profess'd themselves the Churches Adversaries shew'd themselves to be at an Accord with it For however that Convention which banish'd Marriage by a Priest did also discard the Ring yet they retain'd Joyning of Hands which is no less a significant Ceremony than the other PART II. Of such Laws of Marriage as concern the preserving it inviolable after it is contracted and first of all of such as respect both the Parties Where is shewn first That there is a Tie of Love upon both and the Grounds of that Love declared which are first and chiefly that Vnity which Marriage conciliates and secondly its being intended as a Figure of that Affection which is between Christ and his Church Of the Importance of that Love and what the due Effects thereof are which are shewn to be 1. The doing all things that may any way contribute to each others contentment as on the other side the avoiding all things that may displease 2. The seeking one anothers Profit the Means whereof are also declar'd 3. The endeavouring each others Spiritual Welfare 4. A mutual forgiving and forbearing where Differences do arise That