Variety and Flux Succession and a Relative Uncertainty It is necessary that of this there should be perpetual Judges and Dictators and these can be no other than the Rulers of the Church who have the same power that the Apostles had in this It cannot therefore saith the Reconciler be rationally denied that the Rulers of the Church have Power to command things which belong unto the Positive Decency and Order of the Service of God But then saith he it hath been proved already P. 313. that the Ceremonies now used in the Church of England have nothing in them of this nature and consequently that this Command affords no ground for the imposing of them upon that Account So that in the Issue the ☞ Dissenter directly opposeth his private Opinion and Judgment to that of the Rulers of the Church whom yet he acknowledges to be of all right the perpetual Judges and Dictators in the case They say these things imposed are Decent and Orderly He saith they have nothing of Positive Decency and Order in them And this he saith he hath already prov'd Let us look back here a little to it I call that Positive Order Decency P. 38. or Reverence saith he which being done renders the Service more decent reverent and orderly than otherwise it would be and being undone the Service becomes irreverent indecent and disorderly performed he should NB. have said Less decently reverently and orderly performed than otherwise it would be So that my meaning is that if our Publick Service was by the Minister performed without a Surplice if Baptism were administred by him without the Cross if the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper were administred to such as did not kneel but stand he should have added or sit as at an ordinary Meal for that is the great scruple in this Controversy at the receiving of it These Actions would not be performed sinfully or with defect of any real Goodness which belongeth to them nor yet indecently disorderly or irreverently He should say not less decently disorderly or irreverently NB. than now they are Thus he conceives but the Church which is to be Dictator in the case pronounceth otherwise Let us hear his Reasons 1. Saith he if the Omission of Ibid. these Ceremonies renders those Actions to which they are annexed sinful indecent irreverent or disorderly perform'd he should have said less decently reverently or orderly then Christ and his Apostles in the performance of them did worship God in such a manner as was sinful indecent irreverent and disorderly For it is certain they used not the Surplice in Publick Prayer the Cross in Baptism or Kneeling in the act of Receiving To this I answer by denying the Consequence For 1. it is not de fide certain that neither Christ nor his Apostles used the Surplice Cross or Kneeling spoken of all or some one of them This Negative cannot certainly be proved 2. What was perhaps decent and orderly then may cease to be so or be less so in after-Ages and other Countries For the Question of Decency as he hath well granted out of Bishop Tailor had he as ☞ well considered it will for ever have Variety and Flux Succession and a relative Uncertainty And upon this account we are not confined to follow or imitate Christ or his Apostles in uncommanded Circumstances of this nature which might be in them occasional only 2. Saith he Then are not these Ceremonies Ibid. indifferent and alterable by the same Power which enjoins them as is asserted by the Church of England I answer still by denying the Consequence These Ceremonies do yet remain in their own nature indifferent that is they are not particularly and determinatly required or commanded nor any where forbidden by God And the Church of England may alter them whensoever she sees as just Grounds and Causes so to do as to enjoin them 3. Saith he Then must the Omission Ibid of these Ceremonies be a Transgression of those Precepts which do command us to serve the Lord with Reverence and to let all things be done decently and in order which cannot be affirmed by them who confess these Ceremonies to be Indifferent I answer still by denying the Consequence The Omission of these Ceremonies upon a just occasion or in themselves considered may not be a Transgression of those General Precepts and yet the observing of these Ceremonies too may be a Compliance with those General Precepts because the Particulars which they refer unto are various and indeterminate And in things indifferent that is which are not particularly commanded or forbidden by God there may be yet degrees of more remote or nearer Approaches to Good or Evil Decent or Undecent There are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There may be Reasons Aptitudes and Tendencies to some or other good and fitting Purpose sometimes to recommend one and sometimes to recommend another And in these matters too we may be said then to do well when yet it may be we might do better As the Apostle plainly asserts in the case of Marriage 1 Cor. 7. 36. Let him do what he will he sinneth not He that giveth her in Marriage doth well but he that giveth her not in Marriage doth better Nor after all do I see any Reason why the Power of Church-Governours ☞ should be confined to matters of Positive In his rebus de quibus nihil certi statuit Scriptura Divina Mos populi Dei vel Instituta Majorum pro lege tenenda sunt St. Aug. Ep. 86. Quod neque contra Fidem neque contra bonos more 's injungitur indifferenter est habendum pro eorum inter quos vivitur societate servandum Id. Ep. 118. ubi plura vide Decency as he explains it A Latitude me-thinks might here do as well as in other cases A Latitude of Power in the Church as well as a Latitude in the Conformity of her Children Considering especially how universally the Commands run Children obey your Parents in all things Servants obey your Masters in all things Which we cannot safely bound with any other Restriction than this that it be in the Lord that is so far as may consist with our Obligations to him as our Absolute Supreme so far as is not contradictory to his Commandments Whereas therefore he tells us The P. 3â—â— Dissenters not only allow that there are many cases wherein somewhat is in genere necessary to be determined but also add That in all cases truly such the Magistrate Civil or Sacred not only may but must determine And indeed no Man in his wits can doubt that what is necessary to be determined must be determined And seeing par in parem non habet potestatem it follows that they cannot be determined by any other but Superiours that is they cannot obligingly be determined by others But then saith he they universally deny that it is necessary to determine any of
Factions was to urge his Subscription at his first entrance for Turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur hospes 3. As Subscription was a good means to discern the affection of the persons whether quiet or turbulent withal it was the principal way to avoid confusion Concluding That if any after P. 94. things were well order'd would not be N. B. quiet and shew his obedience the Church were better without him Praestat ut pereat unus quam unitas Only adding at last That the weak were to be P. 97. informed the wilful to be punished If any thing farther be desired of King James his Judgement we may read it in the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical 1603. ratified and confirmed by his Authority among which we have Those that require Subscription a Defence and Explication at large of the Cross in Baptism the last Three declaring a National Synod to be the Church Representative concluding the absent as well as present with a Censure upon all the Depravers of it And touching the Rites and Ceremonies the 6th Canon runs in these words Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church Canon 6 Jacobi of England by Law establish'd are wicked Antichristian or superstitious or such as being commanded by lawful Authority men who are zealously and godlily affected may not with a good Conscience approve them use them or as occasion requireth subscribe unto them let him be excommunicated ipso facto and not restored until he repent and publickly revoke such his wicked Errors The Reconciler indeed tells us from Ch. 1. P. 7. Josias Nichols Plea of the Innocent 1602. a worthy Witness in the Case against his dear Mother That some five years together before the unhappy time that Subscription was so generally offer'd there was such unity between the Ministers and they joyned in all Places so lovingly and diligently together that many Thousands were converted from Atheism The Dissenters have been all along given to Multiplication by Thousands and Myriads many Thousands and Popery but when Subscription came abroad how many godly and worthy learned Preachers were silenced deprived and distracted How were the Christian Subjects grieved and offended and the Papists and wicked men encouraged and emboldned What a Damp brought it to all Godliness and Religion And This the Reconciler quotes as true History for what else doth it there who yet begins his Preface with the Honour of King James his Judgement ☞ Mr. Calvin would have pronounced otherwise in This Matter Let it be denounced saith he that he is no longer to Ep. ad Farell be holden for a Brother who disturbs the common Discipline with his Contumacy This hath been always of force in the Church as being decreed by ancient Councils That whoever will not be subject to the Laws of common Discipline munere abdicetur be deposed from his Office And there is not any need saith he here to seek for humane Authority since the Holy Ghost hath pronounced concerning such Ecclesiam non habere morem contendendi Let them therefore bid him Adieu who refuseth the Rights of common Society And here let me drop a Note of a Reverend Mr. Masvn's Serm. p. 23. Divine of our Church worth the considering They which are such Admirers of ☞ forreign Churches abroad let them a little in This very Point compare the Church of England with that famous Church of Geneva 1. The Church of England requireth Subscription of the Ministers and not of the common People but the Church of Geneva urgeth not Ministers only but the People also 2. The Church of England requireth This approbation that her Rites are not contrary to the Word of God but the Church of Geneva will have her Discipline received in a more high and glorious manner 3. The Church of England contenteth her self only with Subscription but the Church of Geneva is more peremptory requiring a solemn Oath Now if any one shall enquire How notwithstanding the care of King James as well as Queen Elizabeth the Sectaries yet increased so much We have the observation of a wise and learned Prelate of the Church of England as the Reconciler calls Bishop Taylor Disswas him though he was an Irish Bishop one whom he cites abundantly out of That in the days of Queen Elizabeth and of King James This Nation was so watchful to prevent the Growth of Popery that they neglected other Sects till by connivance they became too numerous and over-ran both Church and State And This I have quoted from the Reconciler But Ch. 1. p. 9. enough of King James and his golden Sentences which notwithstanding the stamp of his Learning Judgment and Authority upon them will hardly pass for currant in our days Sect. V. WE come next to King Charles the First the Royal Martyr p. 4. and best of Kings and men as the Reconciler deservedly calls Him The Royal Martyr and Best of Kings and men in His Declaration made with Advice of His Privy-Council in Answer to the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom Jan. 1641. speaks Thus saith he As for Differences Biblioth Reg. among our selves for matters Indifferent in their own nature concerning Religion We shall in tenderness to any of Our loving Subjects very willingly comply with the Advice of Our Parliament that some Law may be made for the exemption of tender Consciences from punishment or prosecution for such Ceremonies and in such Cases which by the Judgment of most men are held to be matters Indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful I confess I like not the Arguings from 41. to 82. whatever be to be said of Those from 60. * Pref. p. 9. It looks ill when men incline with any degree of affection to the Beginnings of the last War or the Capitulations of some upon His Majesties Return Ch. 1. p. 16. And the greatest check upon my mind against the Condescensions pleaded for is the dreadful prospect of what that Incomparable King at the long Run was brought unto by His Condescensions whilest they continually made the Granting of one thing the foundation only of asking another with the like importunity It concerns us most to be affected saith the Reconciler elsewhere with that which most concerns us and is still fresh in our memories even the sad desolations which were brought on Church and State and That inhumane slaughter of our Fellow-Christians in This Nation caused by our Contests about Trifles Infandum Regina jubes But whoever were the cause the Best of Kings and men I hope was Innocent He was at all times willing to comply wit the Advice of Parliament for the case of His loving Subjects in all matters of Indifferency But That would not content or satisfie till he had yielded so much that he was forced at length to yield His Sacred Head to the Block and Those whose tender Consciences bogled at a Ceremony could well enough dispense
in place thereof other foreign and unfitting usages by little and little to creep in yet forasmuch as in Our own Royal Chappels and in many other Churches most of them have been ever constantly used and observed We cannot now but be very sensible of This matter and have cause to conceive that the Authors and Fomenters of these jealousies though they colour the same ☞ with a pretence of zeal and would seem to strike only at some supposed iniquity in the said Ceremonies yet as We have cause to fear aim at Our own Royal Person and would fain have Our good Subjects imagine that We Our Self are perverted and do worship God in a superstitious way and that We intend to bring in some Alteration of the Religion here established Now how far we are from That and how utterly We detest every Thought thereof We have by many publick Declarations and otherwise upon sundry occasions giv'n such assurance to the world as that from thence We also assure Our Self that no man of wisdom and discretion could ever be so beguiled as to give any serious entertainment to such Brain sick jealousies And for the weaker Sort who are prone to be misled by crafty Seducers We rest no less confident that even of ☜ them as many as are Loyal or indeed but of charitable hearts will from hence forth utterly banish all such causless fears and surmises upon These our Sacred Professions so often made by Us a Christian Defender of the Faith their King and Soveraign And therefore if yet any person under whatsoever Mask of Zeal or counterfeit Holiness shall henceforth by speech or writing or any other way notwithstanding These our right hearty faithful and solemn Protestations made before Him whose Deputy We are against all and every intention of any Popish innovation be so ungracious and presumptuous as to vent any poysoned conceits tending to such a purpose and to cast These devilish aspersions and jealousies upon our Royal and Godly Proceedings We require all Our Loyal Subjects to make the same known to some Magistrate Ecclesiastical or Civil c. Read the Rest before and after the said Book of Canons too long to be here transcribed See we the very Image and Transcript of This Royal Martyr's Soul in the midst of all His Sorrows and Sufferings And when He had Death before His Eys in some of His Last words to the Then Prince of Wales our Now most Gracious Soveraign You may never expect less of Loyalty Justice and Humanity than from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. xxvll Those who engage into a Religious Rebellion Their Interest is always made Gods under the colours of Piety ambitious Policies march not only with greatest security but applause as to the Populace you may hear from them Jacob's voice but you shall feel they have Esau's hands Nothing seem'd less considerable ☞ than the Presbyterian Faction in England for many years so compliant were they to publick Order nor indeed was their Party great either in Church or State as to mens judgments But as soon as Discontents drave men into Sidings as Ill humors fall to the Disaffected part which causes Inflammations so did all at first who affected any Novelties adhere to That side as the most remarkable and specious note of difference then in point of Religion All the Lesser Factions at first were Officious Servants to Presbytery their Great Master till Time and Military Success c. Let nothing seem little or despicable Never had Prince more reason to inculcate This excellent Advice Oâ—â—a principlis sâ—râ— mediâ—iâ—a paâ—atur Cum mala per longas invâ—luere moras to you in matters which concern Religion and the Churches Peace so as to neglect a speedy Reforming and effectual suppressing Errors and Schisms which seem at first but as an hand-breadth by seditious spirits as by strong winds are soon made to cover and darken the whole Heaven If you never see my Face again I do require and intreat you as your Father and your King that you never suffer your heart to receive the least check against or disaffection from the True Religion established in the Church of England I tell you I have tryed it and after ☜ much search and many disputes have concluded it to be the best in the world not only in the Community as Christian but also in the special Nation as Reformed Virtus est medium vitioâ—um utriaque relactum keeping the middle way between the pomp of superstitious Tyranny and the meanness of Fantastick Anarchy Not but that the Draught being excellent as to the main both for Doctrine and Government in the Church of England some lines as in very good figures may haply need some sweetning or polishing which might here have easily been done by a safe and gentle hand if some mens precipitancy had not violently demanded such rude Alterations as would quite have destroyed all the beauty and proportion of the whole The Scandal of the Late Troubles which some may object and urge to you against the Protestant Religion established in England is easily answer'd to them or your own Thoughts in This ☞ That scarce any one who hath been a Beginner or an active Prosecutor of This Late War against the Church the Laws and Me either was or is a True Lover Embracer or Practiser of the Protestant Religion established in England which neither gives such Rules nor ever before set such Examples T is true some heretofore had the boldness to present Threatning Petitions to their Princes and Parliaments which others of the same Faction but N. B. of worse spirits have now put in Execution c. Thus the Royal Martyr the Best of Kings and men And may we not say upon it with the Widow of Tekoah As an Angel of God so is my Lord the King to discern good and bad 2 Sam. xiv Sect. VI. WE are now come to the Suffrage of His present Majesty the Living Image of the Royal Martyr whom God preserve as the Reconciler well prayeth in the Contents of his Preface His present Majesty in His Dechbration Pref. p. 5. from Breda to all His loving Subjects April 4. 1660. speaks thus We do declare a Liberty to tender Consciences and that no Man shall be disquieted or call'd in question for Differences of Opinion which do not disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and that We shall be ready to consent to such an Act of Parliament as upon mature doliberation shall be offered to Vs for the full granting that Indulgence And in His Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs Octob. 25. 1660. When We were in Holland We were saith he attended by many Grave and Learned Ministers from hence who were look'd upon as the most able and principal Assertors of the Presbyterian Opinions And to Our great satisfaction We found them and I would His Majesty had always found them so in England as well as There Persons full of
than themselves Yet we have good hope that what is here presented and hath been by the Convocations of both Provinces with great diligence examined and approved will be also well accepted and Who to acquiesce in her Determinations approved by all sober peaceable and truly conscientious Sons of the Church of England Now such an one the Reconciler professeth himself to be A well-wisher to the Churches Peace who doth from his heart conform to all that is required by her And therefore he must be presumed to have a singular value for This serious Manifesto and Protestation of our Governours That They have already of their own accord assented to such Alterations as seemed ☞ to them in any degree requisite or expedient and did esteem Those which they have rejected as either frivolous and vain or of dangerous consequence as secretly striking at some established Doctrine or landable Practice of the Church of England or indeed of the whole Catholick Church and that in This Review they have behaved themselves with all Sincerity as in the sight of God and done That which to their best Understandings they conceived might most tend to the preservation of Peace and Unity in the Church the procuring of Reverence and exciting of Piety and Devotion in the publick Worship of God and the cutting off occasion from them that seek occasion of Cavil or Quarrel against the Liturgy that is That they have already endeavoured to discharge their Duty so far as lay in them to all those excellent purposes to which the Reconciler with so great vehemence perswadeth afresh The Church of Englands Declaration of Ceremonies why some be abolished and some retained Of such Ceremonies as be used in the Church and have had their beginning by the Institution of man Difference to be made of Ceremonies some at first were of godly intent and purpose devised and yet at length turn'd to Vanity and Superstition some entred into the Church by undiscreet Devotion and such a Zeal as was without knowledge and for because they were winked at in the beginning they grew daily to more and more abuses which not only for their unprofitableness but because they have much blinded the People and obseured the Glory of God are worthy to be cut away and clean rejected Others there be which although they have been devised by man yet it is thought good to reserve them still as well for a decent order in the Church for the which they were first devised as because they pertain to Edisication whereunto all things done in the Church as the Apostle teacheth ought to be referred And although the keeping or omitting of a Ceremony in it self considered Wherein consists the Guilt of neglecting them is but a small thing yet the willful and contemptuous Transgression and breaking of a common order and Discipline is no small ofsence before God Let all things be done among you saith St. Paul in a seemly and due order Upon This the Church of England grounds her Imposition of Ceremonies The appointment To whom it belongs to Appoâ—â—â—â—â—â—m with the ground of That Authority of the which order pertaineth not to private men therefore no man ought to take in hand or presume to Appoint or Alter any publick or common Order in Christ's Church except he be lawfully called and authorized thereunto And whereas in This our time the minds of men are so divers that some men think it a great matter of Two extreams in the Sentiments of men about them Conscience to depart from a piece of the least of their Ceremonies they be so addicted to their old Customs and again on the other side some be so new-fangled that they would innovate all things and so despise the old that nothing can like them but what is new it was thought expedient not so much to have respect how The 〈◊〉 care and moderation with respect to both how to please and satisfie either of these Parties as how to please God and profit them both And yet lest any man be offended whom good Reason might satisfie here be certain Causes rendred Her Charitâ— in assigning Reasoâ— Ceremonies be put away and some retained and kept still Some are put away because the great excess and multitude of them 1. Why 〈…〉 away hath so encreased in these latter days that the burthen of them was intolerable whereof St. Augustine in his time complained that they were grown to such a number that the Estate of Christian People was in a worse case concerning that matter than were the Jews And He counselled that such yoke and burthen should be taken away as time would serve quietly to do it But what would St. Augustine have said if he had seen the Ceremonies of late days used among us whereunto the multitude used in his time was not to be compared This our excessive multitude of Ceremonies was so great and many of them so dark that they did more confound and darken than declare and set forth Christ's Benefits unto us And besides This Christ's Gospel is not a Ceremonial Law as much of Moses Law was but is a Religion to serve God not in bondage of the Figure or Shadow but in the Freedom of the Spirit being content only with Those Ceremonies which do serve to a decent Order and Godly Discipline such as be apt to stir up the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his Duty to God by some notable and special signification whereby he might be edified Furthermore the most weighty cause of the Abolishment of certain Ceremonies was that they were so far abused partly by the superstitious blindness of the Rude and Unlearned and partly by the insatiable Avarice of such as sought more their own Lucre than the Glory of God that the Abuses could not well be taken away the thing remaining still And now concerning Those Persons which peradventure will be 2. Why some be retained offended that some of the old Ceremonies are retained still If they consider that without some Ceremonies it is not possible to keep any order or quiet Discipline in the Church they shall easily perceive just cause to reform their judgments And if they think much that any of the old do remain and would rather have all devised anew then such men granting some Ceremonies convenient to be had surely where the old may be well used there they cannot reasonably reprove the old only for their Age without bewraying of their own Folly For in such a case they ought rather to have reverence unto them for their Antiquity ☞ if they will declare themselves to be more studious of Unity and Concord than of Innovations and new-fangleness which as much as may be with setting forth of Christ's Religion is always to be eschewed Furthermore such shall have no just cause with the Ceremonies reserved to be offended For as Those are taken away which were most abused and did burthen men's Consciences without
Establishments ☜ or Reflection upon the Authority of those that are to govern us We should not at the same time endeavour to extort that by plain dint of Argument and Necessity which we sue for as an Act of special Grace and Favour And I do readily enough subscribe to the Words of Bp. Taylor which he makes use of in the case If the Question be Who P. 224 225. shall yield The Governours certainly have Authority and others say they have Reason The one ought to be pittied and the other to be obeyed but both ought to yield Only the Subject must yield outward Obedience though otherwise it were not necessary yet if it be lawful it accidentally becomes so And if it be not lawful or if he thinks it is not yet he must be careful he give no offence but modestly humbly and without reproach offer his Reasons against the Law But then the Governours also must yield so far as they apprehend Reason so to do They must not consider how much is possible for them but how much is fit they must meditate nothing of Empire doing things meerly because they have Power in their Hands but much of Charity they must consider which will do most good to the Souls to which they relate they must with Meakness instruct the Gainsayers and with Sweetness endeavour to win them and bear with the Infirmities of the Weak if they can perceive the Weakness to be innocent SECT XI I Have now finished my Animadversions upon the first Proposition of the Reconciler which he prosecutes so largely and with so many reflecting Passages upon the Church of England in this his Book against the Imposition of unnecessary Ceremonies as he calls them and retaining some Disputable Passages in the Liturgy which he nowhere reckons up It only remains that I press him to a speedy Dispatch of his promised Endeavours upon the second wherein he undertakes to prove with Words of Truth and Soberness That Separation from Communion with us on the account of those few scrupled Ceremonies and Disputable Expressions is sinful and unreasonable as well as mischievous I will only remember him that this is one of the best Periods in his Apology or Preface for a favourable Construction of what he hath already done and that Disservice as well as Disrespect which the Application of some Arguments and Phrases in his Treatise may do the Church of England and her Honoured and Apostolical Governours Since I who do humbly plead for Condescension do intend God willing to plead as stiffly and I hope ☞ with more conviction for Submission to the Constitutions of the Church of England He hath given us some taste here and there of his great Abilities this way I will only touch upon a few Passages and so conclude These Arguments fall many of them with more weight on our Dissenters P. 58. provided they can shew no Law of God plainly forbidding their Submission to these things For let me ask them in the Spirit of Meekness these few Questions Do they prefer Mercy before Sacrifice who will not submit to Rites or Circumstances or to the Use of things nowhere forbidden in the Word of God to prevent Schism and all the dreadful Consequences of it but rather will give cause to their Superiours to judg them scandalous Resisters of Authority and pertinacious Disturbers of the Churche's Peace Are they compassionate towards the Sheep according â—o our Lord's Example who rather will refuse to become Labourers in his Harvest and Teachers of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God than submit to these little Things in order to their regular Performance of this blessed Work Do not they scandalize offend and contribute to the Ruin of Christ's little ones who do involve them in a wretched Schism on the account of things which they may lawfully submit to Do not they shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men who forbid them to enter when they may Do not they impose heavy Burdens also and that NB. without Authority who say to their Disciples Hear not the Common-Prayer Receive not the Sacrament Kneeling Suffer not your Children to be signed with the Sign of the Cross Communicate not with that Minister who wears a Surplice or with that Church which imposeth any Ceremonies or Constitutions but concerning the Time and Place of performing Publick Worship If the good Shepherd should lay down his Life for the Sheep ought not they to lay down their unnecessary Scruples for their sakes If nothing doth so scandalize Christ's Followers as to find their Teachers at discord and divided can they act as becometh his Disciples who are not willing to procure Unity and Concord and to avoid this Scandal by their Submission to things indifferent in their own Nature and not forbidden in the Law of God Though it could be lawful for the Dissenter to refuse Obedience to the P. 149. things imposed yet if it be not absolutely his Duty so to do he cannot be excused for neglecting what is so expedient for the Peace Unity and Welfare of the Church Once more The great Rule of P. 187. Equity if duly weighed would mightily conduce unto the Satisfaction of Dissenters in many of their Scruples and let them see that in those matters which are not apparently forbidden by the clear Word of God they ought to yield Obedience to the Commands of their Superiours for do not they expect Obedience from their Children in like cases If as the Author of the Friendly Debate doth put the case you had Ibid. commanded your Children and Servants to come at ten of the clock into your Parlor to Family Devotions requiring them to come dressed and to kneel at their Devotions would you permit them to refuse to come at the Time and to the Place appointed because all Times and Places are indifferent to God or in the Garb appointed because God regards not Habits or to refuse to kneel because they may pray standing Would you not esteem them Contemners of your lawful Authority and needlesly and sinfully scrupulous in those matters And must you not by the same Rule be guilty of contemning the Lawful Authority of your Civil and Spiritual Fathers and of the Masters of Christ's Family by your Refusal to submit unto their Constitutions in Matters of like nature upon the like accounts I have done both the Reconciler and the Church Justice in the exhibiâ—ing these excellent Passages again to view And I must conclude that I have not any-where offended him who hath solemnly declared That there is nothing Pref. p. 3. in the World in which he shall more heartily rejoice than in a clear Conviction that in that Part of his Discourse which doth concern his ever honoured Superiours he hath been somewhat at least mistaken However it prove I have endeavoured and offered at it without Gall and Bitterness or any such Transports which are unbecoming a Loving and Dutiful Son in wiping off the