Suffragium Protestantium Wherein Our GOVERNOURS ARE Justifyed In Their Impositions and Proceedings Against Dissenters Meisner also and the Verdict rescued from the Cavils and Seditious Sophistry of the Protestant Reconciler By Dr. LAURENCE WOMOCK Arch-Deacon of Suffolk Col. 2. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc dico Ne quis vobis imponat Oratione speciosa Per falsas Ratiocinationes Sive ex malitia sive ex Inscitia Id Fiat London Printed for Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. A Special Verdict Against the PROTESTANT RECONCILER S. Paul foretold that after his departure grievous Wolves should enter in with a design and malice not to spare but to devour the Flock these were Wolves in Sheeps cloathing whose business was to steal to kill and to destroy but these were not all and perhaps not the most pernicious of the Churches Enemies He foretells further that also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them And this Prophecy is fulfilled in our Reconciler For among others he is risen up with his perverse Principles to make and engage a Party Had he intended the satisfaction or information of his Superiors his Duty would have prompted him to have presented his Papers humbly into their hands and with a modest submission to have expected the result of their wise Councils But a Noverint Vniversi was fitter to carry on his popular Design and to caress his dear Vain-glory. He should have come in the Spirit of Elias to turn the hearts of the Fathers unto the Children the Holy Fathers Mind and Principles their Faith and Affections into the Children and the Disobedient to the Wisdom of the Just That what the Fathers have believed and practised â— L. Brug ad â—uc 1. 17. Paul de Palatiâ— in Mal. 4. 6. the Children may also embrace and follow He could have told them that Christ having assured his Disciples that God who hears the Addresses of His Church he streightly commands them also to hear Her upon pain of forfeiting Her which is the same with His Blessing being deservedly for their contumacy in their Disobedience turned out of Her Communion as Publicans and Heathens He might have been pleased to take notice how Christ resolves the case of Conscience about the Tythe of Mint and Cummin and the weightier matters of the Law saying unto such as were concerned to be well informed These things Matth. 23. 23. ought ye to have done and not to have left the other undone How Christ observed not only the service solemnly established but such Customs and Festivals as had no divine Institution laying down this for a Rule of Conscience Thus it behoves us to fulfill all Righteousness He might have put them in mind as Matth. 3. 15. Tit. 3. 1. St. Paul exhorts to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey their Spiritual Guides in their Conduct and to submit to their Orders in regard that Heb. 13. 7. 17. 1 Cor. 14. the spirit of the very Prophets ought to be subject to the greater authority of the Prophets He knows very well that we ought not to be contentious about the Customs and Practices of the Church when they do not supersede the Commands of God nor interfere with them That the Governors of the Church have a great Authority from our Lord and are intrusted in his stead to set things in Order for Edification and Decency in Gods public Worship and Service And when they have done this with great prudence and deliberation that the subjects are to do their duty without murmuring or disputing and to honour such their Governors very highly for their work-sake If not he could have informed his Readers That Christ hath furnisht those Governors with the power of the Keys to shut the door as well as to open it with a Rod for Discipline Authority to mark and censure to admonish and rebuke sharply to stop their mouths who speak preverse things and to reject them from the Communion of Christ's Church if they will neither obey her commands nor regard her admonitions Are they not entrusted by our Lord to make Orders for Discipline and to take the measures of Decency by their own Judgment and Prudence and when they have estabished all things to God's Glory the Peace and Edification of the Church is it our Duty to follow our Guides or to controul them to confront our Governors or to obey them When a difference arose betwixt the Jews and Gentile Converts 't was thought the most prudent and likely Way to compose it to have recourse to Acts 15. Acts 16. 4. the Apostles and Elders about it and the Holy Ghost did assist them in the Decision and S. Paul himself carried about the Decrees to be kept But our Reconciler takes another course to buoy up a sinking Cause and Faction He Censures all the Governors of Church and State decrys their Impositions and directly quarrels their Authority Yet 't was the Resolution of the Brittish Acta Synod in jol De aequitate Decreti Synodici pag. 139. Divines at the Synod of Dort In adiaphoris Supremus Magistratus vice Dei ostendit quid expedit decet The Supreme Magistrate declares in God's stead what is decent and expedient in things indifferent This the whole Synod assented to and by this Rule they justified their Proceedings against the Remonstrants And if the pretence of Christian Liberty be allowed to retrench the Kings Prerogative in Church-matters 't will soon follow the Pope's Practice in Ordine ad Spiritualia and invade his Authority in Temporals All times have afforded examples of turbulent Spirits who thought their Christian Liberty could not consist without the downfall of the Civil Power That their Religion did exempt them from all the Laws and Ordinances of men and gave them a Priviledge to oppose and banish the very Office of the Magistrate from among Argument Ep. ad Rom. 6. Ad Rom. 13. them This Calvin as well as Bullinger has observed And Gualter tells us that the Jews elated with the conceit of their Ancient Dignity took it in great disdain that the Posterity of Abraham Eâ— ad Rom. 13. and the Elect people of God should be in Subjection to the Romans wherefore they made frequent Insurrections to recover their Ancient Liberty and 〈◊〉 had not quite cast off these Principles of Sedition when they embraced the 〈◊〉 of the Gospel Many also of the 〈◊〉 did with no less impaâ—â—â—â—e bear the Yoak of such as were the Professed Enemies of Christ and 〈◊〉 Gospel And 〈◊〉 these a sort of subtil 〈◊〉 did insinuate themselves and having 〈◊〉 the Grace of God into 〈◊〉 that they might enjoy 〈◊〉 câ—rnal satisfactions with the greater license and impunity as St. Jude ob 〈…〉 they made it their business to â—bolish Government By this means the Christian Religion 〈…〉 among such as were in Authority as the Parent and Breeder of Tumults
Brother be he Jew or Gentile to offend For Kneeling and bowing whatever Mat. 4. 1. mean Conceit the Reconciler has of it The Divel was not so much an Ass as to offer all the Glory of the World for a trifle He knew it to be God's due and a part of his External Worship and so he valued it and was desirous to purchase it upon that account And I am of Opinion it cannot be totally taken away from God's Service without Sacriledge And if we can take the Confidence to abolish this let us never blame the Church of Rome for taking away the Cup from the Laity in the Lord's Supper for the Sacrament in ' its integrity is but a part of External Worship and the Cup but a part of that part And the taking away of Kneeling utterly out of God's Worship seems to be a greater Offence than taking away the Cup because that is a Part of the Law of Nature whereas the Sacrament is but of positive Institution and consequently not so strictly binding And being an undoubted part of God's External Worship and a piece of Natural Religion we certainly do well to use it at the Sacrament as an Acknowledgement of Christ's Divinity which now a-dayes is so professedly impugned by the Socinians And We shall allow our Governours very little to do about matters of Religion if they may neither Ordain a Ceremony nor so much as appoint a special time for the performance of an undoubted Part of God's External Worship That some of the Dissenters act out of Pride Malice Obstinacy the Reconciler fears is too true That all of them Pag. 108. are of that Temper Dr. womock is so far from affirming that he thinks 't is very false He does not pretend to set up a Tribunal in any Man's Heart to Judge the secret Operations of his Mind But he is very well assured That good meanings can never Sanctify wicked Actions and we need no Window in some Men's Breasts to read their inward Dispositions Fides Incredulitas cordium sunt fateor ea nemo hominum judicare potest saith Bullinger Faith Ad Titum 3. 10. and Unbelief I confess are the Secrets of the Heart which no Man can judge Ex Dictis vero Factis ijsque manifestis debent fieri hominum judicia We must Judge of Men therefore by their Words and Actions which are manifest and apparent Our Saviours Rule cannot fail Us if we take it aright and he tells Us more than once By their Mat. 7. 16. Deut. 32. 32 33. fruits ye shall know them What Harvest have we had of these Thorns What Figs have we reapt from these Thistles Have not their Grapes been Grapes of Gall and their Clusters bitter Has not their wine been the poison of Dragons and the Crud venome of Aspes 'T is Gualters Observation and I desire Ad Rom. Homil 87. cap. 15. 5 6. the Reader to take Notice that in this Discourse I make no use of Jesuits to offend the Reconciler or his weak Brethren but such Protestants as are the most likely to favour the Cause of the Dissenters if there were any Reason or Colour for it Hi ut Ecclesiam turbant it a dei cultores esse non possunt cum Unitatem scindant quâ ille imprimis delectatur He speaks of the Sowers of Dissentions and Authors of Sects and Factions who as they disturb the Peace of the Church so they cannot be the Servants of God seeing they rent that Unity which he is chiefly delighted with We are told by the Apostle That Schism it self is a Work of the Flesh and excludes the Schismatick from the Kingdom of God But when the tender Conscience Gal. 5. 20. sets up for Reformation we cannot easily forget the great Train of Mischiefs which follows it For upon this Pretence Did not that Party make an Insurrection against Moses and against Aaron and conspire to destroy both Church and State and we know they kept their Wicked Covenant in nothing else How malicious and eager were they to Root out the Royal Family and to anoint the Bramble to Reign over them Did not they affront the late KING of ever blessed Memory by Clamours and Seditious Tumults Did they not Persecute him by Votes and Propositions against all the Rules of Honour and Conscience Did they not Blaspheme his Person slander and defame his Actions Did they not usurp his Power and seize upon his Militia the only guard of it Did they not make themselves Masters of his Revenue his Ships his Forts his Castles Did they not pursue and fight him Drive him from house and home and at last Arraign and Murder him If we can pass these Crimes upon the Accompt of Humane frailty let us no longer blame the Church of Rome for her Doctrine of Venial Sins He that can impute them as the Reconciler is supposed to do to the Prejudices of Pag. 113. Education Mis-conception or Mis-interpretation of the sence of Scripture to the Want of better Information or to unreasonable Fears and Scrupulosities and excuse those execrable practices upon that score may easily be tempted to make an Invective against Moses and Aaron and a Panegyrick upon Corah and to turn the 30th of January as too many of the Party does into a Festival for the honour of our Unrelenting Regicides But the truth is All those gay Pretences viz. the Prejudices of Education the Want of better Information which cannot reasonably be alledged among us Misconception and the like we know are inconsistent with the state of Grace in Jewes and Turks and why not in Sectaries in whom after the contempt of sufficient instruction they do certainly degenerate into Pride Malice and Stubbornness and if they be not finally Corrected and subdued by Repentance they are damning But were their Clergy wanting in point of Education Were they ignorant of the sence of Scripture They would take it in great disdain to be thought so And yet were not they the most Vociferous Trumpeters of our late Rebellion Did not they study invent and publish the most desperate Principles of Sedition Who made the People the highest seat of Soveraignty and placed a Coordinate Power with that of the King in the House of Commons Who intituled them at least to an equal Authority with His Majesty in making Laws and in the command of the Militia And who animated all the Souldiers they could arm and Levy against the King and absolved them from their Oath of Allegiance to Act and Practise those Principles after their Doctrine and Example These are some of the Reconcilers Weak Brethren And for the Common sort were they not consenting to the Deeds of their Seditious Leaders Did they not abett and encourage them by their Addresses and Petitions Did they not approve and applaud them in all their Villanies And assoon as they had destroyed the Church and Government did they not swarm into Sects and Factions and hiv'd themselves
the King And if that which offends the Weak Brother is to be avoided much more that which offends the Strong for this is certainly really Criminal but for the other it is much odds but it is mistaken And when the case is so put be-between the Obedient and Disobedient which shall be offended and one will I suppose there is no Question but the Laws will take more care of Subjects than of Rebells and not weaken them in their Duty in compliance with those that hate the Laws and will not endure the Government But The weak not fit to Govern others or to be Guides they that will be always Learning and never come to the Knowledg of the Truth they that will be children of a Hundred years old and never come to years of Discretion they are very unfit to guide others and to be Curates of Souls But they are most unfit to Reprove the Laws and speak against the Wisdom of a Nation when 't is confess'd that they are so weak that they understand not the fundamental Liberty which Christ hath purchased for them but are Servants to a Scruple and affrighted at a Circumstance and in Bondage under an Indifferent thing and so much Idolaters of their Sect or Opinion as to prefer it before all their own Nobler Interests and the Charity of their Brother and the Peace of a whole Church and Nation This is out of his Epistle In the Body of his Sermon his Doctrine and Advice is this You have no other way of Peace no better way to appease and quiet the quarrels in Religion which have been too long among us but by reducing all men to Obedience and all Questions to the measures of the Laws For they on both sides pretend Scripture but one side only can pretend to the Laws And they that do admit no Authority above their own to expound Scripture cannot deny but Kings and Parliaments are the Makers and proper Expounders of our Laws And if ever you mean to have Truth and Peace kiss each other let no man dispute against your Laws For did not our Blessed Saviour say That an Oath is the end of all Questions and after the Depositions are taken all Judges go to Sentence What Oaths are to Private Questions that Laws are to Publick And if it be said that Laws may be mistaken it is true but may not an Oath also be a Perjury And yet because in Humane Affairs we have no greater Certainty and greater than God gives we may not seek for let the Laws be the last Determination and in Wise and Religious Governments no Disputation is to go beyond them 2. But this is not only true in Religious Prudence and plain Necessity but this is the way that God hath appointed and that he hath Blessed and that he hath intended to be the Means of ending all Questions This we learn from St. Paul I Exhort that first of 1 Tim 2. 3. all Prayers and Supplications and Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in Authority For All for Parliaments and for Councils for Bishops and for Magistrates It is for All and for Kings above All. Well to what purpose is all this That we may lead a quiet and Peaceable Life in all Godlyness and Honesty Mark that Kings and all that are in Authority are by God appointed to be the Means of obtaining Unity and Peace in Godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the true and Godly Worshippings of God No Unity in Religion without Kings and Bishops and those that are in Authority 3. And indeed because this is God's way of ending our Controversies the matter of Authority is highly to be regarded If you suffer the Authority of the King to be Lessened to be Scrupled to be Denyed in Ecclesiastical Affairs you have no way left to silence the Tongues and Hands of gainsaying People But so it is the Kings Authority is appointed and enabled by God to end our Questions of Religion Divinatio in Labiis Regis saith Solomon In Judicio non errabit os Ejus Prov. 16. 10. Divination and a Wise Sentence is in the Lips of the King and his mouth shall not Err in Judgment In all Scripture there is not so much for the Popes Infallibility but by this it appears there is Divinity in the Kings Sentence For God gives to Kings who are his Vicegerents a peculiar Spirit And when Justinian had out L. 8. Cod. de Veâ—eri Jure Enucleando of the Sence of Julian the Lawyer observed that there were many Cases for which Law made no Provision he adds If any such shall happen Augustum imploretur Remedium run to the King for Remedy For therefore God hath set the Imperial Fortune over humane affairs Vt possit omnia quae noviter contingunt emendare Componere Modis ac Regulis competentibus tradere that the King may amend and Rule and Compose every New-arising Question And it is not to be despised but is a great Indication of this truth That the Answers of the Roman Princes and Judges recorded in the Civil Law are such that all Nations of the World do approve of them and are a great Testimony how the Sentences of Kings ought to be valued even in Matters of Religion and Questions of greatest doubt Bona conscientia Scyphus est Josephi said the old Abbot of Petrus Cellensis Lib. de Conscientia Kells a good Conscience is like Joseph's Cup in which our Lord the King Divines And since God hath blessed us with so Good so Just so Religious and so Wise a Prince let the Sentence of his Laws be our last Resort and no Questions be permitted after his Judgment and Legal Determination For Wisdom saith By me Princes Rule by me They Decree Justice and therefore the Spirit of the King is a Divine Eminency and is as the Spirit of the most High God This is the solid Doctrine of that Learned Prelate The Reconcilers dealing by his Writings does sufficiently acquaint us what we are to expect in the Use he makes of all the rest which he alledges If they speak against the Laws or the Rites and Customs of the Church let him produce their Sayings out of such Discourses as they have professedly made to that effect otherwise their Reproof of Scandal in the general does certainly concern not only Schism and Sedition but all ill examples whatsoever and particularly Disobedience to the Impositions of Superiours than which nothing was lookt upon more Scandalous which our Blessed Saviour therefore wrought a Miracle to prevent Mat. 17. 27. Lest we should offend them This Pareus understands of a Scandal given and observes Scandala cavenda esse etiam cum cessione nostri Juris in rebus mediis That Scandal is to be avoided tho we depart from our own Right in things Indifferent to that effect and then especially when Authority calls for our Obedience which
use of it in hopes to gain this weak Brother Well I obey him and lay it by But then a Conformist comes in and observes me to officiate without it hereat he is offended and tells me it grieves him to see Authority contemned the Laws violated Christian Liberty betrayed by the superstitious forbearance of a thing indifferent to gratifie a Faction set up against the Government This he will say does weaken his faith and makes him question the sincerity of such as profess the Gospel and the Religion established among us By this Instance it is evident I cannot please them both I must unavoidably offend one of them Can I prevent them both from taking offence This affair is attended with such perplexity that the performance is impossible Cas Cons l. 5. c. 11. n. 18. and therefore it cannot be a Christian Duty And for this I have the suffrage of Amesius tho in his time a stiff Dissenter Nulla datur talis perplexitas ut necessarium sit pio homini sive hoc vel illud faciat sive non faciat scandalum alicui dare There can be no such case of perplexity that it should be necessary for a pious man to give any man scandal whether he does this or that or does it not But how to avoid such perplexity we must find out some better Rule among the Casuists than this Reconciler has yet prescribed or found out for us To shew his Ingenuity towards Dr. Womock or his artifice of concealment I shall let the Reader see how this Argument pag. 114. was managed in the Verdict where he takes notice from the Apostle that one man will observe a day another will not one man will eat Swines-flesh another does abhor it I Rom. 14. 5. cannot satisfie them both for both are scrupulous and both respectively offended at one anothers practice To eat and not to eat to esteem a day and not to esteem it these are perfect contradictions and 't is impossible for any Charity to reconcile mans practice to both their scruples S. Paul himself at last found this so perplex'd a case that the difficulty was insuperable This he learnt by experience upon the congress of the Jew and Gentile Converts at Antioch Gal. 2. of which we have given some account already wherefore instead of a prudent and charitable expedient which in this case was impossible to find out He withstood S. Peter to the face and with great Integrity and Stoutness asserted the truth of the Gospel and the extent of Christian Liberty And herein he left us his own practice for an Example to maintain our Privilege and not to govern our selves by the timorous squeamishness or pretended scruples of superstitious men which may be contradictory and endless but by the solid Rules of Truth and the prudent Resolutions of Pious and Careful Governors I shall conclude this with the words of Rollock When we are conscious to our Comment In Joan. 5. 9. selves in our actings that we aim at Gods glory above all things and do not transgress the limits of our Office and Calling we may act confidently tho all the World be offended at us and after we have done what we ought and what we were able to do if the success does not answer our expectation so happily as we could wish yet let us not be dejected at it but enjoy that good Conscience which the Apostle glories in 2 Cor. 1. 12. This will be of great force and efficacy to our comfort and rejoycing in the time of adversity and this we cannot but obtain if we keep within the bounds of our Profession and Calling and set the glory of God before our eyes in all our actions Thus saith R. Rolloc and herein he appears to be a better Casuist than our Reconciler hath expressed himself upon this occasion But let us hear what he hath to say further against Dr. Womock which is as followeth Secondly whereas he adds that the scandal here spoken of is in a matter of our own choice and power Pag. 79. and it is to be understood in a matter wherein Authority hath not interposed her determination This he grants is very true and the natural Inference from it is this c. Here the Reconciler fully acquits Dr. Womocks Doctrine in this point of scandal who pleads only for those things wherein Authority hath interposed her Determination Why then is he so peevish and froward towards the Dr. when he seems to acquit The reason is this he would set up the Liberty of the Subject in matters of Religion against the Authority of the Prince and Bishop which is establish'd in the same Charter of the Gospel by a divine Grant precedent to that Liberty and because Dr. Womock hath endeavoured to vindicate the Authority of our Superiors against his design therefore he is thus offended for he finds he shall never be able to prove what he calls the natural Inference from Dr. Womocks words but let us see what it amounts to Since therefore says this Reconciler no Authority can be supposed to interpose to determine our Superiors to the Imposition of these indifferent things or to hinder their abatement of them by the same power which imposed them in order to prevent the ruine of so many souls as are involved in a wretched Schism by the continuance of that Imposition since they declare 't is in their own choice and power to command or not to command them this case must by his own confession be good against the Imposition of them tho it does not hold good against obedience to them when Imposed In which words of his there are very many things observable 1. 'T is a great truth That the case he puts does not hold good against obedience to the things in difference among us when imposed 2. That 't is good against the Imposion of them is not the Drs. Confession but his own Inference which the Doctor is confident he can never make good being but one of his usual Paralogisms and false Reasonings 3. He confesseth that this wretched Schism of the Dissenters is damnable otherwise how could he object the ruine of so many souls as are involved in it But to save them harmless he lays their fault at the door of their Governors and to Commute for the Disobedience of the Dissenters he would be content to send our Governors to Hell in their stead 4. He can propound no way to prevent the ruine of our Schismaticks but to take down our Governors Authority by the abatement of their Impositions But if a Nation be addicted to Drunkenness is there no way to cure them but to root up their Vines and burn up all their materials that will afford strong Liquors A wise man sure will think it better and more rational to teach them temperance and the moderate use of those wholsom and comfortable Creatures In like manner when there are any Impositions which some men are led by their
to Christianity But if he would not have the weak to be of the same Principles and Apprehensions with the strong he must enjoyn the strong to be of the same Principles and Apprehensions with the weak or else he could never expect to see a good effect of his prayers and obtestations But this Reconciler has made himself not the Subject's but the Sovereign's Remembrancer He addresses himself to our Superiors and calls upon them to be dutiful to be subject to and to obey their good people This puts me in mind of the character which Isaiah gives of a false Prophet The Prophet that teacheth Isai 9. 15. Lies he is the tail But why is he the tail because the tail follows the body of the Beast is carried about by it and hangs upon it and so doth the false Prophet upon the Common People and whether the Reconciler does not so let his Neighbours judge But we see plainly he would have the Ancient and the Honourable who are the Head to do so that 's the Reverence he has for them But I humbly conceive our Governors will find many Reasons not to rescind the Laws establish'd not to restrain or abate the force of their Impositions as this Reconciler would have them 1. They should betray the Supream power and Prerogative of Authority 'T is a Rule laid down by a great Divine De facto lex humana obligat Humane Law does bind de Facto with a Non obstante to any danger whatsoever when the transgression of the Law would fall out to the ruine of the Community to the Contempt of Religion or the Christian Faith or to the lessening and despising of Authority or the Legislative Power In such Cases no fear of danger can excuse the transgression of the Law Upon this ground the General does expose the Sentinel to imminent danger of death to preserve the whole Camp or City from destruction The Prince commands a Physician to attend a place that is visited with a raging Pestilence And the Bishop injoyns a Priest in the like case of danger to administer to the Ghostly welfare of such as are under a great Contagion Where according to the judgment of wise men the advantage and benefit does preponderate and outweigh the danger or detriment that may insue there it is the Prerogative of Authority to interpose for the more publick and common safety But in such Cases the obligation does not properly arise from the Humane Law but from the Natural Divine Law which forbids that act which tends to the contempt of the Faith and the despising of Religion or to the ruine of the Community or the undervaluing of Authority and the Legislative Power For such an Act without doubt is intrinsecally evil Authority and the Legislative Power is a Counterpart of Gods Sovereignty a Depositum a sacred Trust for the Government of the World and to keep distinct Communities in Peace and Order As God allows no man to despise it so it ought much less to despise it self And nothing can make it more despicable than to stoop to a Lure of Feathers that is thrown out by a giddy Multitude To this purpose we have the judgment of the Learned and wise King James who in his Proclamation March 5. in the first year of his Reign having given Reasons why he would not be swayed to alteration in the Form of Gods Service by the frivolous suggestion of any light spirit he adds this Neither are we ignorant of the Inconveniencies that do arise in Government by admitting Innovation in things one setled by mature Deliberation and how necessary it is to use Constancy in the upholding the publick Determinations of States for that such is the unquietness and unstedfastness of some Dispositions affecting every year new Forms of things as if they should be followed in their inconstancy would make all actions of State Ridiculous and Contemptible whereas the stedfast maintaining of things by advice established is the weal of all Common-wealths And that resolution of King James was in the matter of Ceremonies which we discourse of And the truth is if the Prince be brought to those Terms that he must strike Sail to the humour of the People and vary his Compass according to every wind of Doctrine that blows from a Republican Coast he must at last leave the fifth Commandment out of the Catechism as the Church of Rome has done the second or give them leave to do by it as the Pharisees did of old to make it of none effect by their Traditions And how much the Prelates of the Church are concerned herein we may learn from Joannes Crocius for I will take in no Authority from the Jesuits or Church of Rome in this Case that the Reconciler may have no occasion to cavil upon that account Minister in omni muneris Parte Auctoritatem divinitùs concessam tueatur viriliter modestè In every part of his Office let the Minister manfully as well as modestly maintain the Divine Authority which is given him He gives us St. Pauls Authority and example for it His Authority is to Titus Bishop of Crete Tit. 2. 15. and for his example he refers us to Gal. 16. 7 c. to 2 Cor. 10 11 12 Tertul. de Baptis c. 17. 13. Chap. Dandi quidem habet jus Summus Sacerdos qui est Episcopus dehinc Presbyteri Diaconi non tamen sine Episcopi authoritate propter Ecclesiae honorem Quo salvo sata Pax est And if Princes and Governors should rescind and Chop and Change and Innovate Laws and Constitutions upon the motion and Impulse of a turbulent People this will countenance their claim of a share * For the Fly upon the Wheel thinks that all the dust is raised by the force of her agitation in the legislative power which is of too dangerous a Consequence to be suffered in a Monarchy I do solemnly therefore aver that in all his Pleas for Christian Liberty S. Paul did never set it up above Authority nor allow it to controul the power of Governors or oppose them in things Indifferent 2. In abating these Impositions our Governors must needs act against their own Judgment and Conscience which is point-blank against St. Pauls Rule Rom. 14. 5. Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind Now if our Governors be perswaded in their own mind that the things establish'd among us are Decent as well as Lawful in the performance of Gods publick Worship The Reconciler will tell them their Duty Vid. Protest Reconciler p. 157. as he calls it for he says expresly they are more concerned in those whether advices or injunctions of the Apostle than other men And if in favour of Dissenters as the Reconciler would have it they should abate their Impositions and enter their Protestations they do not esteem them sinful to be practised nor abate them upon that account This would not at all Correct the Judgment of the Dissenters but
their Duties without doubt He would have injoyn'd them to defend the Congregation of the Faithful and to restrain those incroaching Wolves For we see St. Paul himself smote the false-Prophet Barjesus with Blindness because he endeavour'd obstinately to maintain a Falshood and to reject the Truth And if an Heretick is only to be avoided and not also to be punished Why did the Apostle smite Elymas with Blindness Why did our Lord Command to take the false-Prophet from among the Living But you will say He Commanded these things under the Law True But Magistracy was not Abrogated with the Law for now as well as then 't is the Gift of God Besides the Liberty of the Law belongs Tim. 1. 9 10. only to them that walk after the Law Wherefore seeing we are obliged to receive the Law in all things which are not Repugnant to the Gospel or to sound Doctrine no Man whatsoever under any pretence of the Gospel shall ever obtain of us to suffer false-Doctrine to encrease in the Church of God without restraint These are very true and plausible Sayings to wit That Faith is the Gift of God That Faith is not wrought in any Man by the Power of the Sword but these signify nothing to the present purpose For we do not speak concerning Internal Faith as the Gift of God but concerning the Doctrine of Faith as the Profession of our Religion which we desire to promote not so much by restraining their Incredulity nor their Opinions as false but as they become infectious I confess Faith and Unbelief are of the Heart no Man can judge of them but by Men's Words and overt Actions we may judge of them St. Augustin was sometime of that August advincent Epist Ordine 48. Opinion That Hereticks were to be dealt with only by the Word of God but he afterwards confessed That many Reasons and Examples had prevailed with him to be of another Perswasion But What need so many Words The Church and Christian Truth must necessarily be asserted and defended from Errours Blasphemies are to be punished and we must take care of the Sound Members of the Church that they be not infected by the Rotten But the Manner of performing this Godly Zeal the judgment of Faith and Christian Charity must prescribe that herein we do nothing either too much or too little 'T is the Bishop's Duty to warn to restrain and to use all Opportunity and Importunity to gain him that is out of the Way But if in contempt of the Truth he shall still go on in the Errour of his Wayes and also strive to draw others with him into the same Errour then his Stubbornness and Errour is to be refuted by the Word of Truth in the Face of the Church and care to be taken lest any one should give credit to the Impostor Besides the Magistrate also is to be put in mind if he be remiss and the Wolf proceeds more and more to infest the People of God to have a greater care of God's Flock that the Wolves may not set upon them For such Mischiefs are to be removed from the People of God who as much as is possible are to be Preserved Lastly The Punishment is to be inflicted upon Offenders not for their Ruin but Salvation to wit that they may repent Nor are we presently to proceed to a Capital Punishment against those that are in Errour or infected with Heretical Pravity but when their Blasphemies are so Execrable that they cannot be born with without reproach to God Or when the obstinacy of Erring does manifestly tend to the Subversion of Religion and the Laws Established and they are openly and truly convicted hereof For there is a great Difference between him that doth not Err out of Malice and him who Errs willfully and out of a design to do Mischief Nor are all Offences to be Capitally Punished for sometimes the Punishment is Corporal sometime Pecuniary as the Quality of the Offence and the Equity of the Law shall require This Learned Protestant was of Opinion That in certain Cases the Magistrate should Assist the Bishop to suppress Sectaries And such a one he accounts him that is a Broacher of Execrable Blasphemies to the high Dishonour of Almighty God and whose stubborn and seditious Practices do manifestly tend to the Subversion of Religion and Piety good Order and the Lawes Establish't and yet even in this Case he does not approve of such a Procedure as savours of Wrath and Bitterness Pius enim Magistratus inquit c. A Pious Magistrate sayes he would rather argue thus What can't the Truth prevail with you Can't the the Authority of the Scriptures Can't the undoubted Faith and Religion of all Ages Can't the Care and Diligence of all Pious Men Can't an Holy Oath and taken in a good Matter move you Can't the Fear of God Can't the Charity you owe to your Neighbour Can't the publick Peace and Tranquility perswade you Can't you Perish alone but you must draw others with you into Perdition Morere igitur tuâ culpâ tuoque vitio si salutem quam vivus excludis invenias Moriens You must Dye therefore by your own Willfulness and Stubbornness if you think you can find that Salvation when you are Dead which you now refuse while you are alive And this Learned Protestant tells us He Disputed the more copiously in this Point against such as thought they did the Church great Service if they left it free for every Man to revive the Heresy of the Donatists Arrians Pelagians Novatians and others Disputare libere Factionesque nectere To Dispute freely about these things and to make Factions To Bullinger I shall add the Judgment Ad Tit. 3. 8 9. 10 11. in locis Communib De Processu cum Haeret n. 17. p. m. 571. of a later Protestant Professor Joannes Crocius He moves the Question Whether it be Lawful for the Christian Magistrate to restrain Hereticks and we must remember what Calvin has observed viz. That Schismaticks are comprehended under the same title Faith as a thing that pertains to Conscience is to be perswaded not compel'd As Stephen King of Poland said very fitly God hath reserved three things to himself To make something of nothing To foretell future Contingencies and to rule over Conscience For Compulsion for the most part does not make Believers but Hypocrites But for all this saith he the Magistrate may compel his Subjects both by Laws and Penalties to the Means of Faith that is to hear the Word And being obliged to secure his Subjects in the true Religion He is concerned to keep out such as would Advance and Propagate Sects and Errours to remove them if they be entred in to divest them of their Dignities and if the Peace of the Church cannot be preserved otherwise to proscribe or imprison them according to the Quality of their Offence that by such means they may if possible be brought unto Repentance And thus
and Seditions as at this very day says Gualter many render our Religion suspected and odious to Princes upon the very same account For this reason the Apostle does so frequently extol Authority and so earnestly inculcate and press that Subjection and Obedience which is justly due to it Thus St. Peter commands the Jews 1 Pet. 2. 13. to 17. Tit. 3. 1. 1 Tim. 2. 1. to obey Kings and such as Governed by their Commission And St. Paul enjoyns Titus to admonish those under his charge to obey the higher Powers And Timothy to make publick Prayers for them And this he does with the greatest care and concern when he writes to the Christians at Rome because their Animosities and Disputes about their Christian Liberty were high and nothing could be acted by the Professors of the Gospel there that looked so like Sedition without the apparent hazard of the whole Church And this Doctrine saith he is no less needful now than heretofore to repress the rage and madness of those turbulent Spirits the Anabaptists and Libertines who abuse their Christian Liberty to overthrow the Power of the Civil Magistrate For they presume They are Abraham's Seed too not Semen Carnis but Semen Foederis The Spiritual Israel of God and his peculiar People and consequently intituled to all the Prerogatives which the Scripture attributes to those under that Character And being puft up with the conceit of their Spiritual Dignity they look upon all Princes as Gods Enemies and Usurpers of a Spiritual Jurisdiction which they think does not belong unto them Hereupon they are ever ready to mutiny and raise Sedition to shake off that Yoak which they falsly conceive to be Tyrannical and to assert that Lawless Liberty which they mistake for their Christian Priviledg Does not the Reconciler too much favour such Factions and encourage the like Anabaptistical Outrages and run into the same excess of Riot upon the like unjust account of Christian Liberty I am sure he has given the Alarm to awaken the Jealousie of Princes by abetting such peevish quarrels at their commendable Impositions For what is his Practice and the business of this Book He speaks faintly of the Subjects Duty but falls foul upon his Superiors whom he condemns for their care to keep out the Wolf and the little Foxes and attempts to overthrow their Authority by such weak and fallacious Arguments as have been baffled twenty times over or else they are nothing to the purpose or may be retorted with greater force upon the Party he takes upon him to plead for For 1. He supposes men to be weak and then he pleads stifly for a Toleration for them yea he supposes them to be such weak ones and under such circumstances as those were in S. Pauls time and then alledges S. Paul's Arguments on their behalf These are gratis dicta and false suppositions which he can find no ground for among all the Fathers he heaps together to countenance his Hypothesis for which of them did ever condemn the Customs and Ceremonies of the Church in their times upon the account of any thing delivered to the contrary in St. Paul's Epistles Yet 2. He supposes a Multitude of Rites and Ceremonies among us and such as have nothing in them of real goodness or of positive Order Decency and Reverence but such as are burdensome and scandalous and these unjustly imposed which would be true enough if he could prove them to be such and then as such he disputes against them And indeed his design is to destroy all Authority in matters of indifferency and to extend this false and Seditious Doctrine to the utmost to blind and harden such as have rashly I will not say maliciously kickt at their Governors and taken a vain occasion to stumble into Schism He reckons not only the symbolical protestation of Christianity by the sign of the Cross but the external worship of God by bowing and kneeling amongst things indifferent p. 39. 76 iii. We are therefore concerned to take into consideration 1. The Persons supposed to be weak and 2. the Things they take occasion to scruple at I. Men may be weak either in their Faith or in their Morals These last come not under our consideration in this Controversie Him that is weak in the Faith saith Rom. 14. 1. the Apostle Faith is here taken for knowlege of Divine matters especially Rom. 12. 3. 6. of our Christian Liberty that a man understands the difference of days and meats establish'd by the Ceremonial Law of Moses to be taken away by Christ under the dispensation of the Gospel Calixt ad Rom. 14. 1. The Apostles observation was that all men had not this Knowledge And these were the 1 Cor. 8. 7. Apostles weak ones For 1. they had been bred under another dispensation the Discipline of a Ceremonial Law which stood by Divine Right and being of Gods own appointment it had the greater force and tye upon the Conscience and prevailed the more by bearing the Image of a venerable Antiquity for Custom which had inured them to the practice of it had a Prepossession and made it little less than Natural 2. On the other side they were called off to another Dispensation which totally evacuated the force of that Law and rescinded all those Rites and Ceremonies to which they had been so long accustomed Now that an Institution established with so much Grandeur Dread and Majesty should quite lose its Authority and that they should have a power to shake off that Yoak which had been put upon the Necks of their Reverend and Holy Fathers by God himself this was the great stumbling-block and the Objection they scrupled at They were but Novices in Christianity but newly called to the Profession of the Gospel and they did not perfectly understand the Nature of the Christian Liberty this was their weakness and their persons are recommended to us under the title of little ones of Babes in Christ and of weak Brethren Such little ones tho their judgments were weak if their hearts were sound and their Faith unfeigned Christ had a great compassion for them Take heed ye offend not one of these little ones that believe in me And so S. Paul for his Babes in Christ Him that is weak Rom. 1â— 1. in the Faith receive into your Communion but not so as to encourage him in his own prejudices to quarrel with the course of other mens Conversation But did either St. Paul or Christ cocker them up in their childish weakness and indulge them to continue Babes always as our Reconciler does Did not our Blessed Lord chide his Disciples Duncery in his School O ye of little Faith How long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you O fools and slow of heart to believe Luke 24. 25. And did not St. Paul check the dulness and non-proficiency of his Disciples And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto Spiritual but as unto Carnal