the Doctrine of the Churches Power to take it away 3. That the most rigid Calvinists do not scruple Subscription to the Articles so far as they relate to the Quinquarticular Controversies and for a clear experiment herein for once let the Church make those Articles only the single Rail about the Communion Table and we shall soon see such Multitudes of Dissenters crowd into the Constitution that she will hardly find two Benefices a piece for them It 's my greater admiration that they who deny Particular Election Original sin the interest of Christs death in Reconciling God to us that they who assert Iustification by our own Works Freewill c. can subscribe them and indeed it seems they swallow'd them with some Reluctancy and are now reaching and straining with many a sowr face to Degorge not the Bait of the Benefice which is infinitely sweet but the Hook of the Article which is unmereifully sharp This pretended Pretence then might safely have been forborn but that the Lapwing thinks it advisable to raise a huge cry where 't is not that we may not search where really it is to make a clampering about the Non causes to divert our Fnquirers from the true and proper causes of Non-consormity Like the ingenious policy of the Thief that being arraigned for a Horse freely confessed the stealing of a Bridle but prudently concealed it was upon the Horses Head But says our Enquirer though this neither needs nor deserves an Answer yet I stall reply Two things to it That is he will give us Two needless Answers to One needless Objection 1. The summe of the former needless Answer is thus much Common Arts and Sciences which depend upon Humane Wit and Invention are capable of daily improvements but Christianity depending solely upon Divine Revelation can admit of no new discoveries The busie Wit of Man way perplex but it can never bring to light any New Thing for if we admit of any New Revelations we lose the Old and our Religion together we accuse our Saviour and his Aposiles as if they had not sufficiently revealed Gods Mind to the World and we incur St. Paul's Anathema which he denounces against him whosoever it shall be nay if an Angel from Heaven that shall Preach any other Doctrine than what had been received The Enquirer may call this a Needless Answer sor who shall hinder him from calling his own what he pleases but I assure him it contains a great deal of Needful Truth which had he like a good Husband improved the rest of his Book had been more needless than this Answer Needless we consess it to be as to the Objection which was it self needless but not so for his own Confutation for thus the Dissenters will come over him If neither Time nor the Wit of Man can make any New discoveries in Christianity then the Pope who like another Columbus or Americus has made Great and New discoveries in the Terra Incognita of Tradition and Ceremonies must either be a God or a Devil That the Liturgy was a principal part of Gods Worship he has told us in the Introduction that it was discovered from the beginning and not by later Adventurers he will be sore put to it to prove for all the Musty Fragments of St. Iames's Liturgy That it was not part of the Wisdom of Christ or his Apostles we are well enough satisfied That there was Wit and Invention in it we confess all the Question is whose Wit should have the glory of the Invention Again If to admit New Revelations be to lose the Old and our Religion together Let us make a short Quaery upon 't whether to admit of New Ordinances and Constitutions be not to lose the Old and our Religion together That is whether Gospel Institutions be not exclusive of new ones as well as Gospel Revelations and why we may not expect a new Credimus as well as a new Mandamus New Revelations as well as New Injunctions A New Prophet of the Church seems to me as necessary as a New King over the Church and a New High-Priest as needful as either And I proceed upon this Principle that the Law of Christ was as perfect as his Discoveries He has told us as fully and clearly what we should do as what we should believe He that may invade the Royal Office upon pretence there are not Laws enough for the Government of the Church may with equal appearance of Reason invade the Prophetick Office too upon pretence there are not Revelations now for its instruction And therefore the vigilant universal Pastor has found it as necessery to supply the defect of Revelations by his own Traditions as the nakedness of Worship by decent Ceremonies As Jesus Christ vindicated the Moral Law from the false Glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees so he superadded a Ceremoniâ—…l Law depending meerly upon his own fulness of Power and Authority now what right any can pretend to add new Particulars to his Ceremonial Law which they may not also pretend to add to his Meral Law I cannot Divine And therefore one of our Enquirers great Friends who had his Eyes in his Head and saw farther into these matters than his poor Neighbours was constrained to assert a power that had lain dormant somewhere of adding New Particulars to the Divine Law But further If New Revelations do accuse our Saviour and his Apostles as if they had not sufficiently revealed Gods Mind to the World Then new ways of teaching Gods Mind new invented Symbolical Ceremonies will accuse him and them of the same culpable failure in not discharging those Offices committed by God to a Mediator and by him to his Apostles And in short If we incur St. Paul's Anathema which he denounces against him that shall Preach any other Doctrine than what he has received Then they will do well to get out of the way of that Curse who Preach this Doctrine The Church has power to decree Rites and Ceremonies Unless they be sure they have received it from Christ for it s but ill venturing to stand in the way of an Angel with a drawn Sword more terrible than which is one of the Scriptures Anathema's Some will ask where and when and from whom the Church received that Doctrine which some Preach viz. A Power to impose Mystical and Symbolical Ceremonies as the Terms of Communion with a Churchâ—… but I shall only say that our compassionate Enquirer will need a most compassionate Reader upon these Two Accounts First that he makes an Objection for Dissenters which is their Answer And Secondly that he gives an Answer to that Objection which is their very Objection but yet we have not heard the Conclusion The Consequence says he of these Premises is That the elder any Doctrine of Christianity can be proved to be it must needs be truer and he that talks of a more clear Light of the latter Times and clearer discoveries in Religion talks as idly as he that
solution of it carries fire in the Tail of it for it brings with it a piece of Doctrine which is seldom pleasing to Superiours But were it not that men hate chargeable Truth more then cheap Errour and love cheap Corruptions beyond costly Reformation there could be no great difficulty who should be judge in this case For 1. Who may more justly challange a Liberty to judge what is sin then he that must be damned if he do sin He that sins at another Command will hardly perswade him to be his substitute in the Condemnation nor will God accept him for the sinners proxy 2. If the Church must judge Then though her terms be the most apparent violations of the Divine Law yet there can never be any lawful separation unless we can Imagine her so modest as to confess a sin and yet at the same time so immodest as to impose it To acknowledge her Terms sinful and yet with the same breath to enjoyn them as necessary to Communion It will be pretended that the same Inconveniencies will follow the other way for if a particular person who withdraws must judge then let the Terms be perfectly innocent yet to be sure he will plead that they are sinful unless we can suppose him so modest as to confess himself a Schismatick and yet at the same time so immodest as to persevere in his Schism But I conceive that this arguing is very wide 1. Because every Mans Soul lies at stake and it cannot be imagined that he should either not study its Interest or that understanding it he should not endeavour to secure it I speak of such as are otherwise Consciencious for if he be a person vitious and proâ—…igate one eaten up of wickedness we ought not to flatter our selves with any great hopes of the impartiality of his determinations And if he have thus debauched his Conscience the Laws are open The Magistrate who has his power from the Moral Law has by the same Law sufficient Authority to coerce by punishments whatever Enormities are committed against it 2. We have no Reason to suppose any Man to be a Hypocrite in the matter of separation which is attended with so mamy dreadful penalties unless notorious evidence will warrant such a Judgement § 3. A rational suspicion of a breach of the Divine Law is enough in the Apostles judgement to justifie the suspension of my own Act and if it prove no other then a thing indifferent in it self yet such dissatisfaction will excuse from sin for so the Apostle Rom. 14. 5. Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind 14. To him that esteemeâ—…h any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean 23. He that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of Faith for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin The Enquirer has all this while stood like the very picture of Modesty equally placed between the two exarâ—…ams of All separavation and no separation have but a little patience and you shall see how manfully he will behave himself against them both 1. For the poor Romanists he gives them a small pat with his Foot and they are silenced for ever It 's plain says he it can be no sin to separate when it 's a sin to Communicate Yes very plain it is but so say the Dissenters It can be no sin for us to separate when it 's a sin to communicate Ay but says he It was an apparent breach of the Divine Law upon which we separated from Rome Why so say the Dissenters It 's an apparent breach of the Divine Law upon which we separated from the Church of England Ay but will he say you ought to have trusted wiser men then your selves and not like the Antipodes to have run upon your heads Oh! but then comes in the Romanists and falls upon his bones You ought to have trusted wiser men then your selves your Superiours in the Church from whom you separated and not have ran upon your own heads Nay replies he but we have a judgement of Discretion and ought to be Masters of our own Reason so far as to take Cognizance of our own Acts Well! The Non-conformists catches that word by the end before it be well out of his Mouth We are for a judgement of Discretion too and ought so far to be Masters of our own Reasons as not to Act against them nothing can be returned that I can foresee but that it is not for such pitiful sneaks as the Dissenters to talk of Conscience and a judgement of discretion it s enough for the Gendarms of Reason to make use of that plea against Rome But I will leave him to squabble it out with the Romish Synagogue 2 He has quickly you see shaken them their foddering but these cumbersome Fanaticks stick as close to him as a Burr and therefore he must now give them a rattle It 's plain says he that Schism being so great a sin and of so extream bad Consequences that which must acquit me of the guilt of it in my separation can be nothing lesse then an equal danger on the other hand and that when I may persevere without sin it must of necessity be a sin to separate upon inferior dislikes This looks pretty well at first but for a few Inconveniences in the Argument 1. That he begs the whole Question at a Clap the question was wheâ—…her the Imposition of such Laws and Terms of Society as cannot be submitted to without apparent breach of the divine Law be the only just cause of separation He affirms it and for proof gives us this that Schism being so great a sin that which must acquit me of the Guilt of it in my separation must be equal danger of sinning wherein he supposeth that all separation is Schism where there is not equal danger of sinning that is of an apparent breach of the divine Law whith is but the question it self a little disgnised to make it more passable to the unwary Reader the truth is Schism is so great a sin that no danger of sinning whatsoever can acquit me of it for I do not know that any thing will compound for uncharitableness for pride for obstinacy but separation for the benefit of all Gods Ordinances that I may be edifyed and built up in the most holy faith but nothing of the nature of the abominable sin in it 2. Dissenters will answer that the danger of sinning is more clear and evident when I act against my Conscience then in separating peaceably and modestly from a particular Church for it cannot be lawful in any Case to act against my light but it may be lawful in some Cases to separate from a particular Church there is lesse danger of sin in breaking a humane constitution whitch 't is at least questionable whether man has power to enâ—…oyn then of violating the dictate of my own reason informed by all the means I can use from the word of God 3. Non-conformists
it is so pragmatical as to meddle with those Actions whereas all that Conscience Dictates as a Counsellour â—…ll that Conscience Determines as a Iudge is in the Name of the supream and soveraign Iehovah 4. Jam. 12. There 's one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy and who are thou that judgest another 14. Rom. 4. Who art thou that judgest another mans Servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth § 3. His Description seems very lame in that he makes the whole employment of Conscience to be reflection whereas 't is in it's Commission to Dictate before the fact as well as to reflect upon the fact It teaches what we ought to do as well as enquires and examines whether we have done well or no And such a faiture will expose us to great mistakes in this case as that we are not bound to examine the Lawfulness of our work before we act but to rush Headlong upon the precipices of dubious and suspected things and examine them afterwards at leasure Whereas the Apostle condemns the Gentiles especially that they knew before such and such things to be evil and worthy of Death and yet not only did those things but took pleasure in those that did them 1 Rom. 32. Of such a Conscience as this he will certainly make a proportionable emprovement For scarcely says he any man that says his Conscience is incontrollable will say his own Opinion or Reason is the ultimate Rule of his actions Truly I believe so nor any man neither that says his Conscience is Controllable except he be out of his senses for I would sainbe in formed what an ultimate Rule signifies with him that pretends to speak plain English to them that understand nothing else I have heard of a subordinate and ultimate End And I have heard also of a near and a Remote Rule but an ultimate Rule like that Monster which was like a horse and yet not a horse is like sense but in truth very Non-sense All that we affirm of Conscience as 't is a Rule is no more but this That it is the next and immediate Guide and Director of our Actions And that the mind of God however notified to us is the next and immediate Governour or Director of Conscience That as nothing can possibly intervene between the Command of Conscience and the will and executive power in Man so nothing can possibly interpose between the Authority of God and the Conscience and both these are expresly owned by the above mentioned learned Person Dr. S. 1. That God is the immediate Controller of Conscience by his word and will revealed to us Conscience says he is Gods most immediate Deputy for the ordering the life and ways of men 2. That Conscience is the immediate Rule of our Actions The will of Man says he should conform it self to the judgment of the practique understanding as to it 's proper and immediate Rule And such were once the Notions of that great Man when he is professedly pleading the cause of Conformity which had never been waved but that wise men are aware the cause not to be tenable if Conscience be not made a piece of Non-sense whose Nature and Office are therefore inconsiderable because unintelligible But some wise men or other it seems have formed a parcel of objections or else he has formed them to their hands which hâ—… will answer and then suppose himself victorious 1 Objection Allowing Conscience to be nothing but the mind of Man yet even so it 's subject to no humane Laws for as much as no Man can force me to think otherwise then I do nor Compel me to be of his opinion in the inward sence of my mind my mind therefore or Conscience is only obnoxious to God To which he Replies The answer to this is easy for since my mind is not insallible I may and must have something to guide my mind and that is it which we call Law To which I rejoin That this is an easy but not a satisfactory answer For. 1. The Remedy is not proportionable to the disease For if the Reason why my mind must have something else to guide it be because the mind is not infallible the same Reason will informe us to have recourse to a better guide then that which he calls Law because Humane Laws are not infallible It will mend the matter but sorrily to take me of from one fallible guide and send me to another 2. Since the mind of man is thus fallible and there is a necessity that it have something else to guide it in it's determinations God has provided an infallible directory in his word in all things concerning his immediate Worship and that is it which we call the Law of God 3. But if the mind of Man be fallible in it's Directions as well as Humane Laws It 's safer to be guided by that which God has made my next Director though fallible then by that which being also fallible he has not made so God has constituted Conscience the next and immediate Counsellour to my will the next and immediate Deputy under himself and therefore to erre with a Humane Canon against the voice of Conscience is to despise and contemn the Authority of God in whose Name it speaks whereas to erre with my Conscience against an Humane Decrre is but a part of that frailty to which all imperfect Creatures are obnoxious 4. Nor is it universally true what he says that the Law of Man morally obliges to follow it's Directions that is it will be my sin if I do not for it may be my sin if I do obey in some cases as well as my sin if I do not in others at least the Apostles were of this opinion 4. Act. 19. Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken to you more then God judge ye Whatever inconveniences therefore shall â—…rise from an absolute resignation either to the Laws of men or to our own minds directed by natural light we have the infallible word of God which is a light to our feet and a Lamp to our paths for the guidance of our particular Actions 2. Object But we are beund to obey the Dictates of our mind or Conscience before any Law or Command of any humane Authority if they happen to interfere He replies It 's true in things notoriously and plainly evil But where those the Law of God or Reason are silent there the Law of the Magistrate is the Immediate Rule of my Conscience and then to contradict that is to affront the Publick Tribunal with a private Consistory c. To which I Rejoin § That he has given away his whole cause by this one Concession That a higher Law of God or Reasen may make a nullity in the Law of the Magistrate for if Reason in any case may make such a nullity it must either be the publick Reason or the private Reason If the former then it amounts to no more then
received any such command to invent and impose Ceremonies she can tell us where others may read it as well as her self And to conclude at present they say That this one Principle granted That the Church may impose upon her Members whatever is not expresly forbidden does either put the Body of Christians under a more heavy Yoke then that of the Iews or else torment them with fears that they may be so And indeed supposing this exorbitant power to impose parts of Worship or Ceremonies or any of these things in Debate the condition of the Iews was much more desirable in this respect then that of Christians For § 1. Their Law-giver was Iehova who had an absolute and unlimited power over them and they that are Gods Creatures will not grudge to be his Servitors He was Lord paramount of Worship and Conscience and might he not be allowed to do what he would with his own He is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh and shall they not live in subjection to him who expect to live in a Kingdom with him Since there is a necessity of obedience it sweetens it unspeakably that it 's both Interest and Priviledge to obey and that he who requires obedience is their God a God whose Will is the Rule of Righteousness and therefore the most satisfactory Reason of his Commands and his Creatures Duty And Implicit Obedience is then Honourable when God calls for it § 2. As their Law giver had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authority to Command so he had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a power to influence the weakest Elements He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and had absolute Sovereignty and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of Almighty power which was a double encouragement to the observers of his precepts For 1. He was hereby able to secure the Obedient in his Service upon which Account Christ claims the Legislative Power over Conscience â—…am 4. 12. There is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy 2. By this Power he could render efficacious these Rudiments which in themselves were but beggerly Ordinances and produce by them Spiritual and Supernatural effects And I am 〈◊〉 the rather to think that God has not committed the â—…ral Power of instituting much less the Sovereign Power of imposing Religious Ceremonies and Observances because he has not communicated that other Power to bless their own appointments â—…or invigorate them with success God may well be allowed to Command what he pleases seeing be can and will bless whatsoever he Commands § 3. Their Law-giver was Faithful one to whom they might securely commit their Consciences one with whom they might â—…ith the greatest satisfaction of Heart commit their Souls He â—…hat has a sole right to any thing will be faithful in keeping it because 't is his own and who may better be entrusted with the Guardianship of Worship and all Religion then their Owner But though we ought not to be Censorious yet we may and ought to exercise some prudence and caution to whom we resign our selves in matters of Religion though the best of Men not knowing how they may use us but well knowing that we may more easily Captivate ourselves to the Will of an Imposer then being once enthralled vindicate our selves into our Christian Liberty Or if for no other Reason yet for this because they are but Men. § 4. The Jewish Yoke was a determinate Yoke It was Onus but Determinatum A Burden but a stinted Burden It 's no small alleviation to the Labourers toyl when he knows his work to the Traveller that he knows his Journeys end The fews had their work before them but upon the Modern Principle The burden of Christians is Indefinite which is but a better word for Infinite The Truth is in these Humane Impositions we see the beginning but no Man knows the end of them it 's a Nemo scit Our load must be bounded with no other Limits then a Churches Will and that Will perhaps bounded with no other then its Power since it 's Canoniz'd for good Divinity That the Church may impose whatever is Decent and that the Church is Iudge of what is Decent though who the Church is is not so certain § 5. Their Law-giver was one of known and approved Tenderness who either apportioned his work to their strength or their strength to his work he fitted the Yoke to their Neck and their Neck to the Yoke The main thing that renders Christs own Yoke so easie his Burden so light is that as his Authority imposes so his strength supporta Men may lay heavy burdens on our Shoulders but where there is most need cannot touch them with one of their Fingers § 6. Their Law-giver was one who in all his Impositions consulted their own good and benefit as wel as exercised his own Authority The Iews wrought hard indeed but their work had much of wages in 't The design of their Mystical Rites and Ceremonies directed them to a Saviour Legal Administrations well order'd were Gospel Priviledges Before Christ came Ceremonies were Illustrantia such as discovered the Person Nature Office and Grace of the Messiah a Candle is better then no Light but to us they are all Obscurantia such as darken the state of Christianity As before the Sun-rising the Prodromous Clouds whose edges are fringed with Gold comfort us with the hopes of an approaching greater Light which when the Sun is up do but darken the Horizon Thus did Ceremonies illustrate Christ at the Annuntiation but obscure him at his Advent It will be needless further to Vindicate the Dissenters I shall leave them to the Enquirers Patronage who by the same Reason that he justifies the Church of England from Popery will I hope clear the Non-conformists from Judaism p. 12. All says he is not to be accounted Popery which is held or practised by the Church of Rome Nor say I is all to be accounted Judaism which was either the principle or practise of the Iewish Church p. 13. Nor is it reasonable to say such a thing is received from the Church of Rome because it is there to be found unless it be found no where else And as little Reason to say the Dissenters have received this Principle from the Jews That no Worship is lawful for that is their Principle but what is prescribed by the Scripture unless it were found no where else But this was a Principle so clear in the Light of Nature that Numa the great Ritualist of Heathen Rome durst not hope that ever his Ceremonies would ever obâ—…ein amongst a people that had Fyes in their Heads unless he had or pretended to have a Conference with his Goddess Aegeria Thus the Palladium of Troy that Mystick Ceremony in which the Fate of their City was wrap'd up is supposed to have come down from Minerva the famous Image in Diana's Temple ' Acts 19. 35. is supposed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fallen from Jupiter and
of my superior and therefore so far the relation is none and by consequence the duty just as much 2. If the Church be to blame highly nay very highly to blame that clogs her Communion with these burdensom things then we may presume she sins for who shall dare to assume so much freedom as to blame her unless she transgress the Law of her God If then she have sinned and transgressed some Law of God it must be some negative precept thou shalt not impose burdensoâ—… things for it is a principle our Enquirer will not sell for Gold That what ever is not forbidden is Lawful If then God had not forbidden her to impose such burdensom things she could not sin or be to blame in so doing according to his principles now say I the same God that has prohibited the Churches Imposition of has also prohibited my subjection to burdensom conditions And let this Gentleman produce his Scriptures for the one and I will drop texts with him for the other when he pleases Thus we are commanded 1 Cor. 7. 23. not to be the servants of men not only bought with a price and set free once but commanded to assert that freedom and 5. Gal. 1. to stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and not again to be entangled with the yoke of bondage Now if ever these Scriptures do us any service or be of any use it must be in this particular that I am obliged not to take a burden and cumber upon my soul at his hands who has no authority to impose it If then a Church shall clog her Communion with burdensom things she is to blame she sins and I am not bound to obey and therefore my departure can be no Schism I mean no Schism but one of mans creating 3. If a Church sin in clogging her Communion with things which without crime or fraud are suspected of sin upon such grounds as are allowed just and ponderous in other cases then it cannot be my sin to separate for the Church sins in commanding and I should sin against the authority of God in my conscience in doing what I really upon Strong presumptions judge to be sinful though it were not commanded And noâ—… one would think it could be no such meritorious work no act so acceptable to God to persevere in the Comunion of a Church when she sins in commanding and I sin in obeying suspecteâ—… conditions § 2. We come now to his Assertion notwithstanding all this which he has granted he will fetch it back again if it be possible and we shall gain nothing by any thing he gives us and there are also two parts of his Assertion 1. The negative part 'T is not burdensomness nor every light suspicion of sin that can justific any separation concerning the burdensomness we have spoken somewhat before yet a word or two about the suspicion 't is not a light or however not every light suspicion that is but like the dust of the ballance that will do it really it was cunningly fenced He expects perhaps that we should assert every light suspicion that weighs no more then a feather should be enough to justifie a separation Ay but there are violent presumption which they say in some cases are admitted for good evidence If I meet a person coming out of the house in a great rage with a bloody sword in his hand and Immediately I enter in and find a person lying in his blood I do assure you I shall not condemn my self for lightness of belief or casmess of entertaining suspicions if I suspect the man I met to have been the murder or light suspicions may be as easily shook of as fastened on and contemned as tendered but it becomes no wise man to act against these strong presumptions of sin which the Dissenters have of the imposed terms of Communion And it will appear they are such as may make a hardy resolute person stand and pause before he rushes upon the practise 1. They are sure that Christ is the perfect and therefore the only Lawgiver of his Church had he not been the former there had been no pretence he should be the later Now seeing these terms of Communion are Laws imposed upon the Church they seem to impeach his wisedome that he saw not the fittest terms for his Churches to hold Communion upon they do reproach his care that he has not left laws enough for his Church and they seem to invade his Authority without any warrant all which things are enough to raise a suspicion at least of good strength in a wisemans breast which none but a hardy spirit would act against 2. They are sure that some of these conditions have been occasioned by and used in and with and are suited and accommodated to the grossest Idolatry that ever was in the world and is at this day used to give countenance to it And they say they are sure that God did once hate Idolatry and so hate it as that he could not endure to be served in the vessels worshipt in the places not after the manner in the most minute circumstances that Idolatry was committed in and therefore we have Reason to suspect that the things required of us are displeasing to God our using of them has emboldened Idolaters and hardened them to go on without repentance in the way of so great abomination Nor have they been a Bridge as was hoped to bring them over to us but a Boat to waft us over to them they being more hardened by our retaining them and some of our own made more wavering thinking there can be no great difference between those Religions where there is so great a Symbolizing in outward modes and Ceremonies 3. They are sure that all uncommanded worship is forbidden worship and do think their time ill bestowed with him that shall deny it All worship being part of that Homage and service we owe to God it will be impossible to Guess what he will accept as such without revelation Now we are sure that the Enquirer owns the Liturgy to have been a principal part of worship and we are as sure that the Ceremonies are part of the Liturgy and that which is a part of a part is part of the whole nor can any man discern any difference between them and other things which are confessedly parts of worship and therefore they think they may with modesty say there 's ground enough for a violent suspicion of their sinfulness 2. The affirmative part of his Assertion follows It must be plain necessity or certainty of sin in complyance that can justifie any separation I should be glad to know what cortainty of sin he will allow to justifie a separation does he Expect a mathematical certainty or only a moral assurance If you ask an Arithmetician says I Martyr in his dialogue with Trypho how many twice two will make he will answer yoâ—… as often four and if I were asked a
perpetuate our Divisions nor intail quarrels upon innocent posterity who are not yet imbroyled in our Contentions upon the account of those things which the Church may well spare without any eclipse of her Glory part with without Impeachment of her Wisdom leave free without prejudice to the Worship or just offence to any to the unspeakable joy of all Cooler spirits besides the infinite satisfaction that would arise to our Brethren of the Reformed Religion beyond the Seas There are three things which the Enquirer has propounded to himself to Treat of in this Chapter 1 That the Causes of Dissentions amongst us are not like those upon which we seperated from the Roman Communion We acknowledge it with all cheerfulness Yet a man may die of many other Diseases besides the Plague We Rejoyce that the Church of England has such clear grounds to justify her departure And we wish we had fewer grounds to justify ours But here for the credit of his Discourse wherein we are all equally concerned with himself I could have wish't he had not prefaced it with so foul and gross a slander It is said by some that there is as much cause for Secession from this Church now as there was from the Roman in the time of our Ancestors I only demand so much Justice from the Reader as to suspend his belief till this judicious Imputation be made good and in the mean time return thus much in Answer § 1. There may be a just Cause where there is not an equal Cause of separation There may be a great latitude in the terms of Communion and yet all injustifiable and there may be great variety in the Reasons of separation and yet all may be warrantable Had the Popes Terms been much lower they had been much too high for our Ancestors to come up to And though the Terms of this Church are lower then those of Rome yet they are something too high for Dissenters who humbly plead that they have just cause for a peaceable Departure since they cannot peaceably Abide in the Society § 2. Upon our Enquirers Principles it had been as lawful for our Ancestors to have continued in Communion with the Roman as for Dissenters to conform to the present demands of this Church For let me have a clear Answer why their Private Wisdoms ought not to be sacrificed to the Publick Wisdom in Queen Maries Reign as our private wisdom resign to the publick under our present Circumstances For in this Case we consider not the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the Terms as they are in their Naked selves but where the final Decision shall rest whether they be lawful or unlawful Now the Enquirer tells us page 168. It s enough to warrant our obedience that the thing is the Command of the Superiour and not beyond the Sphere of his Authority But who can measure the Sphere of the Magistrates Authority unless we could take the just Diameter of it Again page 178. The Result of all will be that instead of prescribing to the Magistrate what he shall determine or disputing what he hath concluded on we shall compose our minds and order our circumstances for the more easy and cheerful compliance therewith What Rivers of precious Blood had this Doctrine saved had it been broached in Q. Maries dayes That men must not dispute what the Magistrate has concluded on And though he thinks to heal all this by saying page 166. That God has made the Magistrate a General Commission and made no exception of this kind meaning as far as Circumstantials and those things that God himself has not defined yet this will not salve the difficulty because 1. Who shall judge what is a Circumstantial and what a Substantial what an Integral part only and what an Essential part of Religion Where shall we lodge the determination ultimately what God has defined and not defined If the Magistrate Then our Ancestors are gone by the Common Law If the private person we are all in statu quo 2. God has no where disterminated Circumstantials from Substantials in the Magistrates Commission for though our Enquirer has excepted the one yet it is by his private Authority which binds not the Magistrate His Commission is Patent and therefore it may be read 13 Rom. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers c. This Commission does no more except an Obedience then a Circumstance he that will put in the one may at pleasure insert the other and he that will except the one may and will except the other So that I conclude or at least see no reason why I may not that according to this Enquirers sentiments had providence allotted us our habitations under a Prince of the Roman Communion we might have practised all his Injunctions without warrant to plead our Consciences in Bar which Principle will bear a mans charges through all the Turks Dominions and make any man a free Citizen of Malmsbury when once Conscience is sacrificed to the Deity of Leviathan Every true Protestant will gladly read his Justification of this Churches departure from Rome And therefore though it be not much to the matter in hand I shall not grudge to go a little out of my way with him for his good company and profitable discourse 1. We could not says he continue in the Roman Church upon any better Conditions then Nahash propounded to the men of Jabesh Gilead to put out our Right eyes that we might be fit for their blind Devotion Whether the eye be put out that it cannot or hood-winckt that it may not see is no such considerable difference but we have the less need of a Private if there be a Publick eye that can see for us all and better discern the fit Terms of Communion And whether it be the right eye or the left or both that our Enquirer would pluck out of our heads I cannot tell for when we have considered with the best eyes we have whether it be our duty to withdraw from the present establishment in some things and the result of our most impartial inquiries concludes in the affirmative yet we are Schismaticks and all that is naught if then we may not see with our own eyes as good pluck them out They that fancy man to be but an Autamoton a well contrived piece of Mechanism have certainly fitted him to this Hypothesis For suppose him to be like a Clock which once put in motion will jog on the round and drudge through the Horary circle and perform you a twelve hours work in twelve hours time without attendance or other charge than a little Oyle and you may then set him to what hour you please And he shall as freely strike twelve at Sun-set as Mid-day 2. We must not here have renounced our Reason What if we had Our own private Reason is not worth so much as to contend with the publick And thanks be to God that our Governours are Counselled by their own Reasons
and Christian way then all these put together To bear with one another to leave judging censuring despising persecuting to leave men to those Sentiments which they have contracted from insuperable weakness or less happy Education whilst they are good men good subjects good Christians sound in the Faith and Worship God no worse then the Scripture commands them And he that cannot Indulge his brother sound in the Fundamentals and walking together with his brethren so far as he has attained let him prate of peace till his Tongue akes 't is evident he would not purchase Peace with Shoobuckles The Apostle has recommended this expedient to us by his own example 1 Cor. 9. 20 21. which the Enquirer could see to quote and not to understand Unto the Iews I became as a Iew that I might gain the Iews To them that were without the Law as without Law being not without Law to God but under the Law to Christ that I might gain them that are without the Law To the weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some It seems the Blessed A postle had not yet learnt to snickle the private Conscience with his publick Authority That which he quotes from Greg. Naz is indeed more considerable to his design Who affirms how St. Basil dissembled the Coesseutiality of the Holy Chost and delivered himself in Ambiguous Terms on that point least he should offend and loose the weak The Reader will conclude by these instances that though the Enquirers designly open to condemn the Dissenters yet his Mediums do strongly plead their Cause We are illustrated with an Apostle with a famous Bishop both eminent for their Condescentions to the weak such as laid not the stress of the Churches Peace upon their own Wills or A postolical power or Ecclesiastical Authority nor defined too severely Controverted points and yet when he comes to the Application the duty of yelding is pressed upon the Dissenters Whose coming up in a hundred points were perfectly insignificant unless they could nick the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Canon-Conformity I would ask the Enquirer whether the Dissenters ever pleaded to be gracified in so weighty a point as the Coessentiality of the Holy Spirit Or whether Ambiguity or a handsome equivocation there must be one of those things we must give for Peace If neither of these he might have spared Bafil if not for our sake yet for his own And out of all these excellent Materials we expected he should have composed a Speech to the Reverend Bishops My Lords I have humbly set before your discerning judgments the great example of the Great St. Basil and the greater instance of the famous Dr of the Gentiles persons whose Authority in the Church and wisdom to manage that Authority was without disparagement equal to the same Qualifications in your Lordships And yet their hearts so humble when their places were so high their Condescentions greater then their Exaltations carries somewhat in it of that Divinity which bespeaks your Imitation They would become all things to all men though sin to none They were ambitious to wiâ—… the weak by Meekness and not to wound the weak by Majesty The way of Peace lyes plain before you stâ—…p to them in things Indifferent who cannot rise to you in what they call sinful your yeelding to the weak will be your strength And whilst you gain tender Consciences to the Church you will gain Immortal honour to your selves Let it be the glory of your lives that you have made up our Breaches and not the Epitaph of your Tombs That the way of Peace you have not known He comes now to the Grand example indeed that of our Blessed Saviour which if it be but faithfully alledged and Congruously applyed must silence all dispute and conquer the must restif reluctancy Let us then hear how Christs example leads us to Conform 1. Christ complied with the Rites and Customs he found What right or wrong 'T is true he complied with those he found because he found such Rites and Customs as were warranted by the Law He was Circumcised True It became him to fulfil all Righteousness He did eat the Passeover Very true He was made under the Law He wore their Garments spoke their Language No doubt of it He was a Jew by Birth and approved himself a Minister of the Circumcision for the truth of God 2. He condescended to the very humours of that stubborn people True Not by Imitating them not assuming the person of a Iewish Zealot but mildly reproving their irregularities He came not in the blustering Whirlwind nor in the terrible Earthquake but in the still small voice of Evangelical Meekness He came not to break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax but rebuked his mistaken Disciples that they understood not the spirit of the Gospel nor what a temper it called for that they must needs fetch fire from Heaven to Consume the truly Schismatical Samaritans when they should rather have Castigated their own heats and calmed their own passions which were kindled from a worse fire I expect still how he will accommodate this Condescention of our Blessed Saviour to his purpose for either the Dissenters must be those stubborn people and then if the Clergy will imitate their Lord and Master they must condescend to their very Humours or else Dissenters must in imitation of Christ condescend to the Clergy and then it supposes them to be the stubborn and inflexible party Besides Condescention in Inferiours to Superiours will be very improper Language 3. He used their phrase in his Discourse And the Non-conformists speak as proper English as their Wit serves them that they cannot Adorn their conceptions or cloath their thoughts in thunder 〈◊〉 ping Phraseology may perhaps be their Misery but certainly not their Sin 4. He observed their Feasts We Question it not He came to do his Fathers will and amongst other particulars that also of observing what ever Ordinance was of Divine Institution But the Render must know here 's a secret Argument couch't in these words against Non-conformity which I will ingenuously own and 't is this The Jews had instituted a Feast in Memory of the Dedication of the Temple Now this Festival had not the character of Divine Institution and yet this Feast our Saviour solemnized and who then can be so refractory as not to observe the Holy-Dayes and consequently all other Humane Constitutions which bear no direct Repugnancy to the Law of God I shall neither assert at present that this Festival had Divine Warrant nâ—…r deny that it was properly of a Religious Nature but this I return That it appears not that our Saviour performed any Act or spoke any Word that may be interpreted or Construed an approbation of that practise All that appears is from 10 Iâ—… 22 23. And it was at Jerusalem the Feast of the Dedication and
determined by power from God ten thousand such may be determined and then our misery will be this that though our burden be intolerable yet we can have no cause to complain but with Issachar must patiently â—…ouch down under it 3. If Circumstances besides their Natural Adhesion to an Act have any Morality ascribed to them as if they render'd an act of Religion either better or worse none is vested with power to impose them nor any with a Liberty to use them Because we ought not to make Gods Worship worse and we are sure we cannot make it better then he has made it 4. In those cases where God has vested any with a power of determination it ought to be made clear that they who pretend to the power have a commission to show for it because liberty is a thing so precious that none ought to be deprived of it without good Reason and this is the Task which our Enquirer will in the last place undertake for us 4 If Circumstantials says he must be determined or no Society And God hath made no such determination what remains but that man must And then who fitter then our Governours who best understand the Civil Policy and what will suit therewith and with the Customs and inclinations of the people under their Charge In which notable Thesis two things call for examination his â—…ssertion and the Reason of it § 1. His assertion That none is fitter to Determine Circumâ—…antials then our Governours Where 1. We must suppose that he understands Civil Governours or else his Reason will bear no proportion to his assertion 2. Let it be observed that it 's no â—…eat or however no killing matter to the Non-conformists 〈◊〉 their Cause who it is that Determines meer Circumstanâ—…als for they are things of a higher Nature then these about which the Controversy is if some mens Interest would 〈◊〉 them see it 3. Seeing that the Determination of such â—…eer Circumstances in some cases is matter of meer trouble in some cases impossible for the Civil Magistrate to determine them I am confident they will not be displeased if Reason dischargâ—…s them of so useless a burden As time in General is a Circumstance concreated with every Humane Action so with every command and obligation to duty there is a Concreated Command and obligation to determine of some time wherein to discharge that duty And hence it must unavoidably follow That to whomsoever God has immediately and directly given a Command to worship his Great and holy Name to them he has immediately and directly at the same time ipso facto given a Concurrent Command to determine of all those circumstances which are necessary to the executing of that Command Thus if God has obliged every Individual person to Pray he has therewith commanded him to single cut and set apart some time wherein to put up his supplications to God Thus also If God has directly and immediately Commanded every particular Church to worship him jointly and publickly he has also by virtue of that Command enjoyn'd them to agree upon a time to celebrate and solemnize that worship Now this Command is so straightly bound upon the Consciences of all Churches that though none should determine for them nay though all should Determine against them yet are they under it's authority and must come to an issue about it unless they will draw the guilt of the neglect of worshipping God upon their souls with that wrath which is due to so great contempt of the Divine Law Now that every particular Church has a direct Command to worship God and by consequence to determine of those circumstances which are necessary to the worship is evident from this one Consideration that they all did so in obedience to the authority of Christ in his word whilst all Civil Governours were so far from Determining the Circumstances that they determined against the substance The Gracious God has now made some of the Kings of the earth Nursing-fathers to his Churches but yet we cannot believe that the Churches power is less under her Fathers then it was oâ—…der those Bloody Persecutors And if this power be lodged in the Civil Magistrate and he have no rule to Direct him about the when and where what a miserable case would the Churches be in if he should never determine these Circumstances without which the Churches can never worship God For thus proceeds his Argument No publick worship can be Performed without the Determination of some Circumstances as time for one and place for another But God has determined none of these Circumstances therefore unless some other Determination be made besides what God has made no publick worship can be performed Again If some other determination must be made besides what God has made then it must be made by man but some other determination must be made besides what God hath made therefore it must be made by man Again If a determination of circumstantials must be made by Man then by the Civil Magistrate But a determination must be made by man therefore by the Civil Magistrate from whence it will be easy to Argue That if a Magistrate will not determine of those circumstances which are necessary to the publick Worship of God there can be no publick worship but when the Magistrate is an enemy to the Christian Religion he will never determine of those circumstances which are necessary to the publick Worship of God Therefore when the Magistrate proves an enemy to the Christian Religion there can be no publick Worship of God Nay there ought to be none And it will hold against the Protestants worship where the Magistrate is a severe Romanist Now though it be true that the Command to Worship God publickly be directly and immediately given to the Church yet seeing every Church is in the Commonwealth as a part of it and that every soul therein ought to be subject to the higher powers and because the peace of a Nation is not a little concern'd in the prudent or disorderly management of publick assemblies and seeing that the chief Magistrate is the Vicegerent and great Minister of God to preserve the peace that this lower world may not be too like a Hell therefore has he a very great concern herein Ne quid Reâ—…ublica detrimenti capiat And therefore if any Church shall chuse such unseasonable times or places as may give just occasion of jealousy that some mischief is hatching against the Government he may prohibit them that suspected place time or other jealous Circumstance and command them to elect some more convenient and in offensive ones That so Religion may be cleared the Magistrates heart 〈◊〉 the peâ—… secured only it seems reasonable to assert 1. That the Magistrates power herein is but Indirect and in order to peace and that the Christian Church had such power to determine all such circumstances before ever Magistrates owned Christianity 2. That the Magistrates power seems not to extend
for either it makes it better As doing the same thing with Baptism viz. dedicating a person to the service of Christ seeing a double tye or obligation to any duty seems stronger then a single one or else it will render it worse because it does that supertuoâ—…sly which Christs own Ceremony had before done sufficiently and endeavours to perform that ineffectually which the institution of Christ had already effectually performed And because it being a part of instituted worship and yet wanting divine Institution nor having any track or footstep in the light of Nature it seems to Overdo what was once well done Now since it must either prejudice or Meliorate the worship it may be convenient to enquire whether it may have a propitious and benign or a Malignant influence upon it And Dissenters are enclined to think the latter All the goodness of Instituted worship depends meerly upon the Authority of the Legislatour either as he has instituted it or empowred others to institute it or promised to accept it from us and bless it to us Now say these Dissenters Christ has neither instituted this Dedicating Symbol nor empowred others to institute it nor promised to accept it at our hands nor Entailed any blessing upon it and therefore it must needs render the Worship less good because itself as used is evil And whether Christ has instituted it or warranted others to do it or annext any such promise to it they are willing to joyn issue with any of their Brethren who will soberly manage the Debate Some of them I have heard thus Argue All worship not-Commanded is forbidden But these Ceremonies are worship not-Commanded therefore they are forbidden § 1. The Major Proposition I thus prove first from the Concession of the Learned Dr. H. Hammond a great and strenuous Patron of Ceremonies who in his Treatise of Superstition and will-worship against Master D. C. â—…teely owns it That all uncommanded worship is forbidden Secondly I prove it by this Reason They who may institute New Worship may destroy the old Worship For Cujus est instituere ejus est destituere the same Authority that can make a Law can Repeal a Law But no man can destroy the old worship therefore none can institute new worship Lastly I prove it from the Authority of God who destroyed Nadab and Abihu 10. Lev. 1. and renders this Reason of it because they offer'd strange fire before the Lord which he Commanded them not I know it is answered by Master Booker and others That the strange fire was not only not-Commanded but forbidden To which I reply suppose that to be true yet God only insists upon this that it was not-Commanded It is pleaded further that God was strict and punctual in his commands to the Iewish Church but he has indulged us a greater Latitude under the Gospel But the reply is easy That our Liberty under the Gospel lies not in an exorbitant power to frame New Ceremouies or new worship but in our discharge from the serâ—…itude of the old Not that we may Create more but that he has loaded us with fewer particulars of instituted worship It 's then very evident That all worship not-Commanded is forbidden § 2. The Minor I thus prove viz. That Symbolical Coremonies are worship not-Commanded That which is a part of worship 〈◊〉 worship but the Ceremonies are a part of worship and not Commanded therefore they are worship not-Commanded 〈◊〉 will seruple to grant the Major The parts must needs partake of the Nature of the whole The Mâ—…r I thus evince from the Enquirers Concession in his Introduction where he reckons it amongst the Glories of the first times of Resormation That the Liturgy and publick Prayers were counted a principal part of Gods worship That which is made a part of a principal part of Gods worship and yet uncommanded is a part of Worship not-Commanded but such are the Ceremonies therefore they are a part of Worship not-Commanded The former proposition depends upon a known and received Maxime Quod est pars partis est pars 〈◊〉 the second proposition is our Enquirers own assertion The Liturgy is a principal part of worship the Ceremonies are a part of the Liturgy therefore the Ceremonies are a part of a principal part of Worship And if the Enquirer stick at any thing here I will make him this fair offer Let him undertake to prove the Ceremonies Commanded and I will undertake to provâ—…them Worship There are only some excellencies in this Chapter which like the Sporades lye dispersed up and down his discourse whose cohaerence not obliging them to any fixed Residency I shall for a conclusion in this place consider them 1 His first great assertion is p. 147. That Christ uever went about the Composure of Laws either of Civil or Ecclesiastical Policy We shall not need to concern our selves about Christs Civil Laws seeing he professes his Kingdom was not of this world 't Was not a Worldly Kingdom administred according to the Maximes of State and Mysteris of Policy which had obtained here below That it should be Spiritual The Laws and Constitutions the Officers and Ministers thereof of Divine Original managed for spiritual Ends by spiritual means the Rewards spiritual and eternal the punishments inflicted upon the disobedient all spiritual so the Apostle 2. Cor. 10. 4. The Weapons of our warsare are not Carnal but mighty through God v. 5. And having in readiness to Revenge all disobedience It 's true also that when once we have tinctured our brains with false Notions of Ecclesiastical Policy whereof we find no footsteps in Scripture we shall be ready to affirm as much of those Laws which he has prescribed concerning the Administration of his spiritual Kingdom but this we think clear 1. That Christ has instituted as many Laws as such a Church as he established shall need And perhaps he was not concerned to write Decretals Extravagants Glosses Canons Bulls to fit all the Governments that the wit of man should afterwards excogitate 2. He has by Himself and his Apostles described all the Officers which he judged sufficient to conduct his Disciples in wayes of Holy obedience through the temptations of this world to eternal life 3. He has also instituted as maâ—… Ordinances and Sacraments as may serve to guide and direct them as Christians and let any one Name one that is wanting to that end if they be able 4. From the Nature of those Officers which he hath appointed the species Nature Kind of his Ecclesiastical Government is abundantly manifested 5. He has given express charge that It be not so with his Officers as 't is with the Kings of the Gentiles who exercise Lordship over them â—…2 Luk. 25. 6. Nor has he Commissioned any Governours to make any Laws directly for his Church as a Church binding the Conscience of his Disciples 7. The Sacraments which he has ordained the express Rules he has given for Pastors or Bishops with all other
bene instituta sed non necessaria ubi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 malè usurpantur è conspectu tollant ne ponant offendiculum Caecis A Notable Lesson to all Kings to remove out of the way such things however at first well instituted yet not at present necessary when they are commonly abused that they become not a stumbling block to the Blind Where we see the incomparably quicksighted Huge could find a Scripture to justify Hezekiah and yet it was very farr fetcht from 27. Deut 18. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way And yet he has a clearer vindication of Hezekiah's fact from Scripture where speaking of their Burning Incense to the brazen Serpent he thus expresses himself Quod inter illa erat quae Dei solius honori Reservata extra Templum usurpari non licâ—…bat Which Incense being in the number of those things which were peculiarly appropriated to the worship of God might not be Lawfully used out of the Temple 30. Exod. 38. Whosoever shall make like unto it to smell thereto shall even be cut of from his people But what need all these circumlocutions when God commanded his people 34 Exod. 13. To destroy the Altars break the Images cut down the groves of the Nations for that he is a jealous God That wise and discerning Prince could easily see the Command reach't all the Instruments and utensils of Idolatry especially those found amongst his own people his people in Covenant for whom thus to transgress was to provoke him to his face § 3. But his great instance is from Hezekiahs celebrating the Passeover otherwise then God had Commanded in that one fact he finds several branches of his variation from the first institution As 〈◊〉 He caused the Passeover to be kept by all Iudah and Israel on the second Moneth though it was not according to the divine Institution but done by the advice of his Council upon pious and prudential Considerations 2. Chron. 30. 5. Old Objections must be content with old Answers 1 Hezekiah had sufficient warrant from the word of God to celebrate the Passeover at that time pro hâc vice the people being under those Circumstances 9. Numb 10. 11. If any man of you shall be unclean by reason of a Deod body or be in a journey afarr of yet he shall keep the Passeover unto the Lord. The fourteenth day of the second moneth at even shall they keep it That we may reach the full Intendment of this Deuteronomy or after Law we must carefully attend to the occasion of it In v. 6. There were certain men that were defiled by a Dead body that they could not keep the Passeover on that Day the day of the institution this was a case seeming inconsiderable and such whereon our Enquirer would have said very little stress made no bone of it being a Circumstantial a Nicetie about the Time but the people being more Consciencious brought the case to Moses and he sound it so weighty that it needed the Resolution of God himself v. 8. stand still and I will hear what the Lord will Command concerning you Why what needed that Had he not all Kingly power within himself had he not his Council of the seventy two might he not have first Determin'd it to be a Circumstantial and then have determin'd what he pleased about a sorry Circumstance or was he so meanly instructed in the extent of his Royal authority and how little stress God laid upon these circumstantials well nevertheless he will consult the Lord for a Determination of the case whereupon God gives him that command which we have already heard v. 10. 11. wherein I observe 1. That though that Question was propounded only concerning that particular case of a Person unclean by a dead Body Yet the gracious God who well knew that many other incident cases of the like Nature would emerge out of the various providences which they would come under in aftertimes and that they would still be at a loss for resolution about their Duty therein Answers also concerning him that was in a Iourney or farr from home which Philo understands De peregrinatione in Regionem à Judaeà longè Dissiâ—…am the very case of the ten Tribes in Hezekiahs time 2. That under these enumerated particulars of being defiled by a dead body or in a journey were comprehended all other irregularities which might render them uncnonically meet to observe the Passeover It a statuit Philo. says our Synopsis qaia eadem est Ratio omnium There 's a Parity of Reason which reaches all other cases This then was the case of the ten Tribes they were afarr of kept from the worship of God by many pressing Circumstances for which God in this provisional post-Law had taken care And for Iudah they were defiled all things out of course worship decayed the Temple polluted Sacrifices neglected and universal disorder and therefore under the case of defilement by a dead body God makes provision for them also for eadem est ratio omnium thus v. 3. They could not keep it at that time because the Priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently Impedimentum hic erat illi simile nempe justum illi enim Dies mensis primi quibus Phase erat Observandum Templo expurgando consumpti sunt And both Protestants and Papists Junius Piscator Estius Lyra Martyr vindicate Hezekiah's proceedings from that General Law Numb 9. 2 Whereas the Enquirer would insinuate that the King did all this by the advise of his privy Council he may know that there was another Council of more Authority in the concerns of Religion which being appointed by God himself might more reasonably have been consulted once more I will hear Grotius de jure Belli Pacis Lib. 1. cap. 3. §. 20. Haec cum ita sint tamen Aliqua judicia Regibus Adempta Arbitror mansisse penes Synedrium 70 virùm quod divino imperio à Mose institutum ad Herodis tempora perpetuâ cooptatione duravit Itaque Moses David Iudices Deos vocant judicia vocantur judicia Dei judices dicebantur non humanâ sed Divinâ vice judicare imò apertè distinguuntur Res Dei à Rebus Regis 2. Chron. 19. 11. ubi Res Dei monentibus doctissimis Hebraeorum Judicia exlege Dei exercenda intelligi debeant Although these things be thus yet I conceive that some judicial matters exempted from the Kings Cognizance were under the jurisdiction of the Sanedrin which being instituted by Moses at the Command of God endured in a Continual succession to the days of Herod and therefore both Moses and David call the Iudges of that Council Gods and their judgments are called the judgments of the Lord and the Iudges are said to judge not in Mans Name but in Gods And hence is it that the Matters of God and the Matters of the King are apparently distinguished 2. Chron. 19. 11. where by the Matters of
any man I do as much as in me by alter the nature of indifferent things For things sinful can never be done Duties must always be performed in due time and place and indifferent things should be indifferently used as present Circumstances invite Prudence and Charity to determine but when once they are predetermined I can no more do an indifferent thing then if it had been sinful or no more omit an indifferent act then if it had been necessary 3. By such a fixed predetermination of my liberty I ascribe more to man in his positive precepts then to God in his affirmative moral precepts for the Acts of such Commands may be suspended pro hic Nunc when they obstruct some great Good but in this case I must act uniformly without respect to circumstances let thousands be offended stumbled wounded in Conscience and prejudiced against Religion And in short by such Resignation of my liberty in is't exercise I have reduced my self to that imaginary Liberty of Opinion that dreaming freedom which the Lollards enjoyed in their Tower and the poor Protest ants in Bonners Cole-hole 7 When Christian Charity commands me to forbear the use of the thing which otherwise is within the Charter of Christian Liberty to use and at the same time the Christian Magistrate shall command me to to practise that very thing by a fixed Law I humbly conceive that Christian Charity ought to restrain my Liberty not to act rather then the Commands of the Magistrate enforce me to act 1. Because the restraint which Charity puts upon me will soon determine and â—…pire but the Command of the Magistrate is perpetual 2. The restraint which Charity puts upon me is internal and so agreable to and consistent with the greatest Freedom and Liberty but the restraint put upon me by the Magistrate is external and compulsory which comports not with my inward liberty for if he deals meerly by his will and authority that suits not with my reason and therefore has in it the nature of force But if the Magistrate should deal by Argument then when a stronger appears to act according to his precept then that drawn from the good of my Neighbour by Charity Christian Liberty may be free and yet obey provided always that that argument be taken from the nature of the thing commanded and not from the naked commands 3. The weak Christian for whose sake Charity commands me to forbear acting is one that cannot prevent his own weakness his stumbling scruples and aptness to be wounded but he that commands me to act may prevent recal or suspend his own Edict in that which in it's own nature is indifferent And God has commanded me not to offend my weak Brother by the use of indifferent things but he has no where commanded the Magistrate to impose indifferent things which become not some way or other necessary 4. It seems a most horrid thing to interpret Scriptures at this rate That I should be commanded to walk Charitably till I am commanded to walk uncharitably And forbidden to destroy him for whom Christ dyed by my indifferent things till I am enjoyned to destroy him Not to wound weak consciences till I am commanded to wound them Thus shall Moral precepts be avoyded by humane positive Laws which cannot be superseded by the Divine positive Laws And if one may be thus enervated the whole Dâ—…calogue has no firm station And thou shalt not make to thy self a graven Image may be eluded by this till we are commanded by Authority and I am somewhat confident the foundation laid by the Enquirer will bear that superstructure It is therefore a most approbrious and invidious charge with which he begins this discourse All that we have hetherto discoursed about the power of the Magistrate some think may be avoided by pleading the Magna Charta of Christian Liberty for though it may be pleaded against some power that may possibly be assumed yet against none wherewith he stands ' endowed by the Law of Nature or Scripture nor indeed against any useful power for the attaining the great ends of Government publick peace and tranquillity The Church of England in her avowed Doctrine asserts that Christ has ordained in his Church two Sacraments generally necessary to Salvation now we conceive that having a Right as Christians to all the Ordinances of Christ necessary to Salvation ChristianLiberty may plead the enjoyment of all thoseOrdinances upon those naked Terms Christ has offâ—…r'd them to Mankind This is our Maegna Charta And if any shall encumber that Communion with new clogs provisoes restrictions and limitations we plead our Petition of Right which if it be denyed us our Christian Liberty is so far violated Nor do we deny the Magistrate a Power about our Christian Liberty If any shall turn this Liberty into licenciousness he may restrain them Nay he may restrain the Liberty it self where God has not praeengaged us to restrain it And he will eminently employ his power for Christ when he exerts it to assert and vindicate to all his loyal Subjects the free use of that great Charter And if encroaching violence shall make a forcible entry upon that priviledge whereof we are in quiet and peaceable possession we shall complain of the force to him who will remove it and reinvest us in our Christian freehold whereof Christ has made the purchase with his own blood Two things there are which the Enquirer has lustily promised us and therefore we may confidently expect from him first that he will give us the true notion and secondly the due extent of Christian Liberty and he has freed his name pretty well for first he has made it a meer notion and then layd an extent upon it that is he has seized it into his own hands upon pretence for the Magistrates use 1 And first for his true notion for none cry stinking Mackerel there are two things also very considerable the liberality of his Concessions and the Policy of his Retractations He makes us fair lange Deeds but with a secret Power of Revocation frustrates all so that when we come to cast up our accounts we must say with that Bewildred Clyent in the Comadian when he had advised with his brace of Advocates Probèfecistis incertior sum multò quam duâ—…m 1 For his Concessions they are truly noble and generous and such as would heal us all § 1. Concession p. 88. When the Gospel was fully published then the aforesaid enclosure is laid open and all Nations invited into the Sociâ—…ty of the Church upon equal Terms neither party being bound to those nice Laws of Moses nor to any other but those plain and reasonable ones contained in the Gospel This is certainly the great year of Iubilee And will he not deserve to be shut out for ever that shall refuse so free an invitaâ—…ion Is he a reasonable Creature that refuses the plain and reasonable Terms of Communion contained in the Gospel what a
Iezabels Policy was to make Naboth more then he desired to be that he might be really less then he deserved to be 1. King 21. 9. Proclaim a Fast and set Naboth on high among the people and set two men Sons of Belial to bear false witness against him saying Thou didst blaspheme God and the King then carry him out and stone him that he may dye This Conscience says he is thought to have not only a priviledge but a kind of praerogative to carry with it an exemption from all humane Laws but especially Ecclesiastical it pretends to be Gods peculiar and exempt from any inferiour Cognizance Nay it looks like a Dictatorian Authority and seems to be Legibus soluta This they would make us believe can limit the Magistrate null Laws forbid execution and which is more change the very nature of things and make that good and holy which was wicked and rebellious before This can Canonize any Opinion Legitimate any Action warrant any extravagancy in the person that owns it Whatsoever he thinks can be no Heresy and whatsoever he does can be no sin In which charge he has sprinkled here and there a word of Truth for he that would be believed in a great falshood must be sure to intersperse some little verities Conscience is a most Absolute Monarch indeed if it has all these praerogatives but this is the great praerogatives of his own Conscience to bear salfe witness against his Neighbour and if we may call things by their proper Names by unworthy scandalous insinuations sinister reflexions and false accusations against Dissenters to provoke the Magistrate to proscribe them as Out-Laws But I answer § 1. The highest Immunities I ever met with ascribed to Conscience are in Bishop Saunderson a most Zealous stickler for Ceremonies Serm. on 14. Rom 23. There cannot says he be imagined a higher contempt of God then for a Man to despise the power of his own Conscience which is the highest under Heaven as being Gods most immediate Deputy for the Ordering his life and ways 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Could the Heathen say Conscience is a God to all men which is somewhat a higher Note then the Enquirer makes the Dissenters sing that it pretends to be Gods peculiar and is exempt from any inferiour Cognizance § 2. It 's a most injurious charge if applied to Non-conformists that Conscience can alter the nature of things make that good which was wicked and Rebellious before c. All they say in this particular is with Aâ—…es Thes. de Consc 18. Tanto vis est Conscientiae ut actionem suâ naturâ mediam efficiat Bonam vel malam suâ naturâ Bonam reddat malam quamvis illam quae suâ naturâ mala est non possit convertere in Bonam So great is the power of Conscience that it can make an Action in it self indifferent to become either good or evil viz. to the Person and an Action in it's own Nature good to become evil Although it cannot make that which is in it's own Nature evil to become good Which Powers are clearly ascribed to Conscience by the Apostle 1. The power to make an indifferent or good action in it self to become evil to him that judgeth it to be evil and yet will venture upon it 14. Rom. 14. To him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean 2. It 's power to make an indifferent thing good using it to Gods Glory with all other due circumstances is clear also from 1. Tit. 15. Unto the pure all things are pure But that it can alter the nature of things that it can make an action evil in it self to become good that it can null Laws are such powers as no Casuists have ever attributed to it but those whose Consciences carry an exemption from any necessity of speaking truth when 't is in order to the Advancement of their cause But it is too common for men to charge others with the wickedness of their own thoughts and hearts and what was once their own Old Crime to make other mens New Accusations § 2. As to the Power of Conscience to excuse Errour from Heresy we say that there may be a material Heresy which is not formally so what a Man judges to be a real Truth though possibly it may be a dangerous Errour yet unless there was Prava Dispositie as the cause of that Errour or something of Obstinacy in the will in Adhaering to it Errour and Heterodoxy it is but Heresy it cannot be that is it will not Denominate the Person a Heretick Thus the Learned and judicious Mr. Hales Heresy is an act of the will not of the Reason and is indeed a lye not a mistake for else how could that saying of Austin be true Errare possum haereticus esse nolo I may possibly mistake but am resolved never to be an Heretick That is by a tenacious and obstinate abetting any mistake after Conviction There are three things which we are obliged to wait upon our Enquirer in 1. Whilst he entertains us with his discourse what Conscience is 2. What a Tender Conscience is 3. What priviledges or exemptions it may claim to 1 What Conscience is Now says he if men loved plain English and to understand what they say it is plainly this and no more a man 's own mind or understanding under the distinct consideration of reflecting upon himself his own actions and duty He may call this plain English if he pleases define and describe his own Conscience how he will but we poor people are edified much what as with the Rhemists Parasceve Azymes and Paraclete who seeing there was no remedy but they must Translate were resolved that few should be the wiser for the translation There are somethings that look oddly in this Description § 1. It seems very improper to assign the mind or understanding for the Genus of Conscience For Conscience is not a faculty but an Act seated in a faculty Or the exercise of the faculty of the understanding putting the will upon operation Thus that fore-mentioned Bishop ibid. The will of Man which is the Fountain whence all our Actions immediately flow should conform it self to the judgment of the Practique understanding as to it 's immediate Rule and yeeld it self to be guided by it And indeed the Office of Conscience is not only to judge what is good or evil according to those Notices it has of God from the light of Nature and Scripture nor only to take Cognizance whether the will has obey'd those Dictates of the practique understanding but to be a monitor and Counsellor nay a Commander to the will to act according to it's Discoveries of good or evil This is good therefore I charge thee to do it and this is evil therefore I command thee to avoid it § 2. It seems very defective in that it tells us of the mind reflecting upon actions and yet mentions not with Reference to whose Authority
this goodly maxime that the Magistrates Reason may make a nullity in his Law But if it be the latter that private Reason may make such a nullity then Conscience guided and directed by that Reason cannot transgress the Law because Reason has already disannulled it as to that particular Person And if it be said that it 's only in things notoriously evil that Reason has this Soveraignty to make a nullity in the Law It 's easily answered that whatever my Reason judges evil is notoriously evil as to me for I have no way to make out the Notoriety of the evil of a thing but my Reason informing it self from Gods Word § 2. We are bound to obey the Dictates of our own Consciences in not acting against them in those things which only appear notoriously evil And God himself has tyed up Conscience from taking one step under those apprehensions 14. Rom. 14. To him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean And the Reasons are very evident 1. Because Bonum oritur ex integris malum è quolibet Defectu The want of that single Circumstance of the satisfaction of my Iudgment that it is Lawful makes the action sin 2. He that has a prepared mind to act contrary to what he takes to be the Law of God would act accordingly if it really were the Law of God As he that dares to strike a private Person whom he takes for a Magistrate would no doubt have struck him though he had been a Magistrate Every man takes the voice of Conscience to be the voice of God and he that will disobey that Dictate which he supposes the voice of God will disobey that dictate which really proves to be his voice 3. The goodness or evil of an action is much estimated by the will of the Deer He that judges an action evil and yet will do it God sees that though the thing was not evil yet he had an evil will The Action was not materially evil but it was so interpretativè I must once more quote the same Learned person If a Man says he be fully perswaded in his Conscience that a thing is unlawful which yet in Truth is not so the thing by him so judged unlawful cannot be done without sin Even an erroneous Conscience bindeth thus far that a Man cannot go against it and be guiltless because his practise should then run cross to his judgment and so the thing could not be done in faith for if his reason judge the thing to be evil and yet he will do it it argueth manifestly that he hath a will to do evil and so becometh a Transgressour of Gods General Law which bindeth all men to eschew all evil § 3. Nor is this to affront the publick Tribunal with a private Consistory nor set up my own opinion against Gods institution for it's Gods own institution 14. Rom. 5. Eet every Man be fully perswaded in his own mind 3. Objection But if after all my Consideration of the Reason of publick Laws I cannot satisfy my self of the Lawfulness of the thing commanded I must then Govern my self by my Conscience and not by the Law He Replies If the unlawfulness of the thing commanded is not as plain and visible as the Command of God for obeying Authority my opinion or Conscience will be no excuse to me Because I forsake a Certain Rule to follow an uncertain To which I Rejoin That he has made a very unaequal Comparison viz. Between the unlawfulness of the particular thing and the general Command of obeying whereas the comparison ought to have been between either Gods General Command not to act against my Conscien and his General Command to obey Authority or else between the unlawfulness of that particular action and Gods Command to obey in that particular It is plain in the General that I ought to obey Authority And it 's as plain in the General that I ought not to sin against the dictate of my Conscience It may be doubtful and not so plain that this particular action is sinful but then it 's doubtful and no more plain that in this case 't is my duty to obey Compare the General Law of obeying the Laws with the general Law of not sinning against my Conscience and it 's much more plain visible or what he pleases that I ought not to sin against my Conscience then that I ought to obey the Laws of Humane appointment for that I ought to obey the latter admits of many exceptions but that I ought not to act against the former admits of none And if Conscience may deceive me in a particular instance so also may the Law deceive me in the particular Command This will more evidently appear if we take the Ranverse of the case thus If the Lawfulness of the thing commanded by the Law be not as plain and visible as the Command of God not to act against Conscience no Command of the Magistrate will excuse me because I forsake a certain Rule to follow an uncertain God commands me to obey Authority the same God commands me not to sin against my light In some cases I am not bound to obey Authority but in no case am I allow'd to act against my light It 's very clear that the Magistrate has a power to Command but not so clear that he has a power to determine things indifferent and make those determinations the conditions of my enjoying the means of Salvation But it 's very certain that Conscientia errenea ligat licet non obligat An erroneous Conscience though it oblige me not to act against what God has made a Duty yet it binds me up from ever acting against it's Convictions And therefore it 's safest to adhaere to the clearer side and not to act against the Decission of Conscience in compliance with a Command which it 's uncertain whether it oblige or no. And in a word if this way of our Enquirers Reasoning be solid Then it will not excuse a Protestant from sin who refuses to how before an Image when the Magistrate Commands it Because it 's plain in the general that we ought to obey Authority but not so plain that it 's sinful to how before an Image if things disputable be less plain then indisputable 4. Objection But if after all endeavours of satisfying my self to Obey the Humane Law yet the thing commanded by the Magistrate however innocent in it self seems to be as plainly unlawful as obedience is plainly a duty What Now He replies This case is pityable and will make some abatement of the sin of Disobedience but it doth not totally excuse it much less make a nullity in the Law To which I Rejoin That he has now made a very noddy of his Objector That can suppose the thing commanded innocent in it self and yet to seem to him as plainly unlawful as obedience is a Duty But to the thing 1. He has put the case very unfaithfully For we
Christians but the Command of Ceremonies apparently has occasion'd Divisions between Protestants and Papists between Protestants themselves between those of the same Nations and all Humane Terms of Church-communion necessarily produce the same bitter fruit 7. The power of ordering the smallest matter in the Church must conform to the Soveraign end of edification 2. Cor. 13. 10. The power which the Lord hath given me for edification and not Destruction But no power may suspend my duty of pleasing my Brother to his edification 8. Supposing the worst That it 's only a Debt of Charity which my Brother may challenge of me not to scandalize him and a Debt of justice to Obey the Magistrate in this very case yet the Miniâ—…s of justice ought to vail to the Magnalia of Charity As the Command of a Father in lower instances ought to yeeld to the preservation of my Neighbours life 3 Some would except against the matter of his concession to deny himself in some part of his Liberty what a small some that may be none knows perhaps there 's no part of his Liberty which that duty may not Command 4 I except lastly against his propounded end to please and gain him as not adaequal to that which the Command has in it's eye To scandalize or give offence may be taken either in a primary sense and so it denotes a culpable giving occasion to a Brother to sin or in a lower and secondary sense for the angering and displeasing of a Brother This distinction well observed would unravel much confusion which pesters our discourses 1. If we compare the displeasing of a private person with that of a publick the latter is more sinful and much more dangerous for the wrath of a King is like the roaring of a Lyon 2. To occasion culpably a publick person to sin is more heinous then to occasion the sin of a private person because the sins of those in eminent places have such a fatal influence upon the peoples pollution and the procurement of Gods displeasure 3. But if we compare a scandal in the primary sense with one in the secondary then it 's no measuring cast whether it be more eligible to displease the one or destroy the other Nor can there be sin in displeasing one when I cannot otherwise please but by destroying the other for though my own folly may possibly so ensnare me yet God never puts me under such Circumstances that I shall be necessitated to sin § 2. You have heard his fair concession now take his Limitation along with you That is says he in those things that are matters of no Law but left free and undeterminate there the Rule of the Apostle takes place 15. Rom. 1. 2. We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves And let every one of us please his Neighbour for his good to edification and we will add 14. Rom 13. Let no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his Brothers way v. 15. Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ dyed v. 19. Let us follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another v. 20. for meat Destroy not the work of God This is the last retreat of these Gentlemen Hether they retrire as to their Triary and strong Reserves You ought to bear the infirmities of the weak to edify him heavenwards not to murder his soul till a Law be made to the contrary you are bound in Charity and compassion to such a one till you receive further Orders and then you must be savage and barbarous But his Reasons follow 1. Reason because we may not do evil that good may come The sinews of which Reason lye in a supposition that to omit a Ceremony is an evil thing compared with the saving of a soul. This General Rule may be applied that other way we must not do evil that Good may come and therefore may not draw a poor Brother into sin that some good may come by it and the rather if we consider what good comes by it As the saving my self a pecuniary mulct or Recognizing the Magistrates power to Command which may be done and is so in many ways wherein the scandal of another is not concern'd And if I should transgress a Ceremony or so for the saving of a soul we may Lawfully presume upon the general will of the Legislator that no positive Command of his should be so rigorously insisted on when it would destroy a greater good 2. Reason We must not break the Laws of God or man â—…ut of an humour of complaisance to a Brother Ans To discharge a weighty duty to avoid the scandalizing of a Brother to walk charitably which the Enquirer p. 137. when he had occasion to magnify Charity tells us is an essential part of Religion ought not to be put of with a frothy Droll as if it were nothing but the humour of Complaisance The Apostle whose head understood the speculation and whose heart entertained the love of this Doctrine much better then himself has taught us other things That to sin against the Brethren is to sin against Christ 1 Cor. 8. 12. 'T is to destroy with our meats indifferent things him for whom Christ dyed 14. Rom. 15. And if these be matters of humour and complaisance and we should venture a Ceremony for them it would be but to stake one Complement against another 3. Reason In those times says he the Magistrate being Pagan took no care of the Church nor had passed any Laws concerning the management of the Christian Religion And so Christians had a great deal of scope and room for mutual condescension But the case is quite otherwise when there 's a Law in being c. Really the Pagan Magistrate was very much overseen unless perhaps he knew nothing less or more of his Authority over things indifferent and then the Apostles must needs be to blame who never inform'd him of that Power over the Church wherewith Christ had eâ—…rusted him And above all St. Paul was utterly inexcusable having so inviting an opportunity to do it in Being so long at Rome having friends in â—…aesars Household and this in Quinquiâ—…nnio Neronis when the Lion was treatable and approachable Besides this must have obliged him to entertain better thoughts of Christians and Christianity and engaged him to protect and defend it when it lay so entirely at his devoir The Enquirer instructed us p. 144. that such a Society as a Church could never be conserved without some Rites or other nor any publick Worship be performed if all Ceremonies and Circumstances such as of time place persons and the like be left indefinite and undetermined He has told us since that the power of Determining and Defining these things ly's in our Governours who understand the Civil Policy p. 151. And now he tells us That in those primitive times the Magistrate had passed no Laws
concerning the manage of the Christian Religion so that it was impossible that either Church Government should be Lawfully administred or publick Worship duely performed because the Apostles were negligent in informing the Emperour of his power or he careless in performing his duty I wonder that amongst all the Apocryphal Epistles of Christ to Agâ—…arns or Paul to 〈◊〉 we meet with none of the Apostles to Nero. That whereas their Lord and Master had left them in great hast and either through the â—…urry of business had forgotten or littlenâ—…ss of the things had neglected to settle his Churches nor had passed any Laws concerning the manage of Religion for want of which politick constitutions they were in a lamentable confusion the worship of God lying at sixes and sevens the Government of the Church meeâ—… Anarchy none had power to Command none were obliged to obey every one did that which was rigâ—…t in his own eyes none had power to impose or compel the rest to submit to such Terms of Communion as were necessary besides those few and plain ones appointed by Christ himself And for as muâ—… as they were altogether by the â—…ars about indifferent things and they had no Rules in their Law-â—…ooks to determine these intricate matters They do therefore humbly beseech his Imperial Majesty that he would Review and Revise their Religion and add such other mystical Ceremonies significant of Gospel grace wherewith his well-known piety could not but be intimately acquainted and that he would take speedy and effectual care with these vexatioâ—…s Tender Consciences who scrupled eating of meats because once prohibited by the Law of Moses and straightly charge and Command that none should gratify them in â—…heir weakness and take such other and further order about their Religion as he in his Royal wisdom from time to time and at all times hereafter should judge meet and expedient And his Petitioners shall humbly Pray c. But to satisfy that Assertion I shall offer further these pariculars 1. It cannot appear that the Roman Emperours had any such Commission as is supposed to make that no duty which God had made a duty To make it no sin to give offence which otherwise had been a sin nor to add New Terms of Communion or to shut out of the Church those whom the fundamental Laws of Christ would receive 2. This principle of his Reflects most scandalously upon the greatest Temporal Mercy which God ever vouch safed his Churches I mean the Christian Magistrate for it implies that the condition of Christians was much more easy under the Pagan then under the Christian Magistrate Then says he the Christians had a great deal of scope and room for mutual condescension but now they are crowded up by restrictions Then the Worship of God was not clog'd with needless Ceremonies but now it 's incumbred with New Terms of Communion I might then have relieved a weak Conscience But the case is quite othâ—…wise says he now there 's a Law in being Then I might have used my liberty in indifferent things and only be restrained by Prudence and Charity but now I am debarred of it by the will of Authority This I say is a scandalous Reflexion For God has promised Christian Princes as Nursing Fathers to the Gospel-Church to secure and protect them and the Enquirer makes them Step-fathers tempting us to think that we have got no such great Bargain by the change 3. It 's clear that the Apostles had as much power to order the meer Circumstances of worship and Church-government as was needful to their exercise and actual performance or else all their determinations were sinful 2 The next priviledge of this tender Conscience is That it becomes the Magistrate so far to consider the satisfaction of peoples minds as well as the safety and peace of his Dominions as not to make those things the matter of his Laws which he forâ—…sees mens weakness will make them boggle at This is his Concession wherein he needed not have been so Timorous For when the Magistrate is settling the Civil peace of his Dominions he needs not concern himself whether the people will skew or no. But as if he had been affraid he had conceded too far he wisely limits the concession As unless there be weighty Reasons on the other hand to counterbalâ—…ance that consideration And they must be weighty Reasons indeed that will counterballance the edification and Salvation of weak yet sincere Christians that will counterballance the peace and safety of his Dominions Indifferent things will hardly weigh against these but what are those ponderous things that will make the scales even against these why 1. Such things which though some scruple are necessary to Government yes by all means when things necessary to Government are put in the ballance with the peace and safety of his Dominions they ought to turn the beam but this is freely granted that if mens scruples would overturn Government they must scruple on at their own peril But now we are ready to join issue with him upon this point That the things scrupled are neither necessary or any ways advantageous to the Being well-being or Glorious being of this or any Government The Roman Empire was in its greatest Glory at its highest pitch when the Apostles Baptized without the sign of the Cross and preacht without the Holy Garment The Christian Religion naked and plain as Christ left it had not the least evil or malignant influence upon the peace of that Empire Though it was the Policy of its enemies then to clap all the Commotions that arose upon other accounts upon the back of the Christian Doctrine It was the popular cry These are the men that have turned the world upside down And when the Judgments of God broke out upon them for their persecutions still to clamour Tollitâ—… Impios Christianos ad Leones Away with such Fellows 't is not sit they live a day Nay it 's evident that many Nations have prospered both in war and peace by land and sea who never knew the Ceremonies and none the better for them 2. Such things which are grateful to the greater or more considerable part of the subjects Those are such things which counterballance tender Consciences and the peace and safety of his Dominions I suspect the Enquirer to be a raw Statesmâ—…n as well as a crude Casuist what would he have a Prince destroy one half of his subjects to graetify the other half The Apostle has offered a rational expedient that the one may be gratified and yet the other not destroyed 14. Romans 3. â—…et not him that eateth despise him that eateth not And let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth They to whom Ceremonies are so grateful sawce may have their fill of them and must they needs compel squeaâ—…ish stomacks to feed on the same Dish The gratefulness of Ceremonies to some mens fancies is no solid Reason why a consâ—…rable though not the more