Oath is bound if the matter of the Oath be lawful and there be no Error in the Imposition as much as in him lies to perform it Ald. You were as good say that the Mayor and Justices are all forsworn Truly I could find in my heart to acquaint the whole Bench with it and have you punished for talking against Perjury Vic. I hope Mr. Alderman your Worship will not make a Private Discourse of Publick Concernment nor injure me to the whole House for performing my duty in discourse with you But however it shall fare with me in relation to that I think it incumbent upon me as a Minister to endeavour to convince you of the truth of what either Ignorance or Irreligion causes you to mistrust Ald. I hope you will not be so presumptuous as to suppose that men arrived at our Age and Grandeur can be so ignorant as not to know our duty or so vile and Atheistical as not to perform it Vic. I shall neither presume to be accuser or judge of any person in particular but certainly in the general Perjury and contempt of Oaths is no less hainous than damning sin or else the third Commandment will scarce be Moral nor would that be repeated with a solemn Sanction Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths Ald. Well but suppose that granted that there is such a thing as Perjury Yet it may consist only in this when we confirm a false thing by an Oath swearing contrary to what we know or are perswaded to be true And this cannot at all reach us Vic. I do not here speak of Perjury in a Witness but a Judge and since you will not allow mine own Oath of Canonical Obedience to oblige me let us see where you are not perjured when you have sworn to put those Laws in execution that belong to you as Justices of the Peace Ald. It seems then you would suppose us guilty of Perjury for the breach of such Oaths as no body that I know keeps Vic. We are told I am sure that we must not run with the Multitude to do evil and I do not think that the Numbers in Hell do mitigate and abate but rather advance and encrease torments For flames are not the less but more cruel for that they have the more fuel to consume Ald. Truly Sir if you continue and persevere in such Invectives this Town will prove too hot for you and you will sooner for such tart Speeches forfeit all your Welfare than we shall possess misery hereafter And you will sacrifice your bliss in those very flames that your zeal kindles and your breath blows up to devour both our credit and felicity Vic. Sir as to your credit I would not willingly impair that because some of you live upon it but as to your felicity most certain it is if you repent not in time you may chance to forfeit that eternally Ald. Your discourse seems now to be closs and serious and therefore pray arrive at some particulars that I may understand what you drive at that so I may be able to excuse or else at least to retract my fault Vic. You now seem not only to have the port and garbe but the mind and soul of a Pious Magistrate and therefore I shall act friendly with you which is best demonstrated by plain dealing but I hope it shall not prejudice my maintenance Ald. Truly 't is as you behave your self for it is the ancient Custome of this Town to have our Minister alwaies bound to his good behaviour Vic. Truly Sir Your Worship may deal as you please with me and entertain what hard thoughts you will but what I do is out of Conscience to my duty and out of meer charity to your immortal Soul Ald. If what you say be real I see no reason but I may give you leave to go on only have a care that no blot be thrown upon the Grandeur of the Corporation Vic. Your Worship may already perceive not only candour but such respect as is due to your Wisdoms and I well knowing there can be no order where Superiority is not well distinguished from its opposite and that all Government requires subordination you cannot in reason suspect my regard to duty so much as to fear any unhandsome reflections and if there be any thing that may create offence it must be in your own application Ald. I shall thank you Sir for your Doctrine if you will but permit us to make what use we please for we cannot dislike our own actions for that were to recant our justice and proclaime to the World that we were capable of mistake Vic. Though the Articles of our Church forbid us to account any one infallible yet we shall be forced to yield your Power absolute that deems it a derogation to admit either rebuke or controule Ald. We must still maintain the Authority of the Place and not suppose the least blemish visible in the face of Justice for that were to cast dust against the Sun and cover that glorious countenance with a cloud Vic. I readily grant to your good Worship that the Power and Grandeur of the Town is to be maintained and your Orders executed without the least violation for if any Error should be found in you it must needs be a Scarlet Crime and then your Garments themselves would blush for their misfortune Yet as the pale Moon that attempts to rule a dark night is not without some Spots so the Sun hath his maculae too I hope therefore if you should chance through the Glass of my Discourse to see some stains upon your own Garments though you might suspect the Mirrour you would not conclude without due trial that it made those Spots it pretended to discover Ald. I shall be as candid as my Dignity and Office will permit and will endeavour to hide that dirt that my Garment has contracted when it is not violently cast upon it But I think indeed that we are as strict in keeping our Decorum and observing the ancient Customs of the Town as any Corporation in England and indeed we must of necessity be obliget to it since besides that they are both decent and laudable we are sworn to the observation of them Vic. Then it seems your Worship thinks there is Obligation in an Oath Ald. I hope you do not suppose me so Atheistical and irreligious as not to believe that an Oath is a most solemn thing and binds us upon pain of Divine Vengeance to the performance of all those things that are lawful with respect still had to the support of our Authority and Livelihood and therefore we look upon the Obligation so Sacred that although we are not Popish observers of Festivals yet we think it our duty to be punctual in keeping all the stated and publick Feasts of this Town according to Custom not only that we may oblige our Friends at the Town Charges and strengthen the
Sergeants that they may the better support the great burden of the Mace and attendance but those daies we appear in Publick to the terrour and astonishment of inferiour Townsmen in our Sattin Doublets made big for the purpose and so zealous are we in the performance of this Duty that you shall scarce have one missing but the whole Corporation compleat and full Nay if we want the least Punctilio either of time or place or have any distance in our Ranks broken or any Alderman should chance through inadvertency to mend his pace or finally any Burgess should neglect or refuse to pay that homage and honour due to our Grandeur we presently in a grave and solemn manner pronounce him perjured and sometimes for the second or third offence he is disfranchized and removed both from the Honour and Society of the Corporation Vic. That truly is strict and severe and it seems affrightens and terrifies more than an Excommunication from the Bishops Courts Ald. Alas if our Laws should carry no more force with them than your Canons which are Guns only without any thing to charge them and the frown of an Alderman should not be more than the rage of a Bishop we might hang up our Gowns as Ensigns over the Graves of our Honour which would not only be dead but buried too Vic. But the Thunderbolts of Jove were alwaies feared and when an Excommunication comes forth Heaven then discharges its Artillery and shall not the Inhabitants of the World tremble and be afraid Ald. 'T is a great way betwixt Heaven and Earth and the spacious air will make the Bullet spend its force before it arrives to hit the Mark nor do we think Heavens Ordnance so ill guarded that any upon the Earth can come to fire them and if there were both Permission and Authority we would trust them at a Battery so far from us when we only hear the noise but do not feel the stroke But now the Temporal Magistrate bears not the Sword in vain when Mr. Mayor speaks the inferiour Townsmen fear an Earthquake and when he strikes 't is not fire to light his candle but he makes the streets belch forth flames Vic. Truly Sir I never took his Worship for an Incendiary and as for his Speech it is so flow and seldom that it had need be to purpose when it comes Ald. Thus have I seen when I was in the Straits the lofty Aetna cast forth both fire and smoke Vic. And thus have I heard an hollow Mountain frequently making great noise Ald. I hope you do not account us hollow Vic. No Sir that were scandalously disingenious when we are discoursing of Town-Feasts the similitude only lodged in the Mountain to which you may at this time justly be compared But that you may not force me any longer to such wandring discourse I find by your brisk and pleasant Relation of your Town Customs which I must confess so noble and great that they are disproportionable to my understanding that you are not only pleased with their due and punctual observation but think this your grand Obligation to perform them because you have solemnly sworn thereto Ald. I hope Sir I did not err in that Assertion nor have mine old age whose eyes are dim been guilty of an over-sight Vic. No Sir your Worship in my poor judgment hath in this spoken abundance of Reason and in that you also charged the violation of those Customs you are sworn to with the damning and odious Crime of Perjury but from this Concession of yours I shall deduce that Consequence which I fear we shall have some Controversie about Ald. I hope you will not be so presumptuously bold as to dare contend with me I doubt you will get but little by your shot besides a rebound of your bullet back into your own face Pray Sir let your Expressions be phrased a little more modestly Vic. I am sorry that it is my misfortune not to talk with one upon equal terms it is my perpetual misery to place my words for the most part to your Worship as to be misconstrued and mistaken by you I design no disrespect to you nor any dishonour to the Corporation and I am sure I am used to distance sufficiently that I may be acquainted with it better Ald. I am glad to hear you so humble and penitent as to recant your Error and too arrogant Expression since you seem you to be a person that know how to be civil I shall lend an ear to your Consequence and Deduction Vic. With leave then from your Worship it is this that if you are bound to observe your ancient Customs because as you say you are sworn to their observation much more are you obliged to punish Vice and unlawful Assemblies whether of riotous persons in the Vulgar notion or of Non-conformists in a new dress because you are sworn to that too Ald. Did not I first severely admonish you that your speech should be without reflections and that your care should be great that you did not blemish the glory of our Corporation and on this condition I would hear your Doctrine if you would permit me to make mine own use of it Vic. All this if it shall please your good Worship shall be readily granted nor do I think I have yet broken the Laws of our Discourse for I have cordially expressed my self in relation to the honour of the Corporation and I shall still leave you to make what use you shall think fit of my Debate but Justice I hope with which I know your sage head like a Gold Ring is sufficiently enamell'd will plead with you for a proportionable though not equal Latitude and you will give me leave to make some use of your Doctrine Ald. I see 't is in vain any longer to restrain you for you will tell truth in the face of the Sun Draw what Consequence you will from me but I le assure you I will withdraw my Purse from you Vic. I am sorry I must disoblige your Worship so far for indeed to say truth you were the best Friend I have in the Town I had two Shillings a year from you duly divided into half-yearly payments besides oftentimes free access to your Table but if I must forfeit this for performance of my duty I shall never offer my Sacred Function at such a Shrine nor sacrifice truth upon a Silver Altar I must plainly tell you then you seem to me from your own discourse to have brought upon your self the most hainous and abominable sin of Perjury Ald. O abomination as I am an Alderman and thereby a person of honour You are worse than all that were here before you I never heard such a rude and wicked word come from a Ministers mouth before Vic. That perhaps may be the reason why you do no better understand it Ald. God Almighty give me patience surely if you are not more modest in your deportment I shall be forced to call for
subjects himself to that Church from which before violently and without cause he made a Schism is no longer liable to the Civil Mulcts of those Penal Laws that concerned him before his Conversion so when these Canaanites or any part of them should relinquish their Idolls and devoutly resign themselves to the Worship of the God of Israel they were no longer concerned in the Penalties of the Laws against the Canaanites but might be capable of a Truce and League And should not the Law have been thus attended with condition there would have been no room left for Repentance and consequently the Almighty would have offered violence to his own Mercy which he has declared to be over all has works and is an Attribute in which he most delights Ald. But the very Action of God is enough at any time to justifie his Attributes and therefore I shall not much trouble my self with that yet methinks a Law so Vniversal must of necessity oblige to such a total destruction of those Nations that the League with the Gibeonites must needs be unlawful Vic. Let not Sir this Universality so much disturbe your Reason since I can easily exhibite an exception of particulars What do you think of Rahab that entertained the Spies was not she a Canaanite And yet she was preserved alive Josh 6.25 And what can you think of those which were not of the Children of Israel which remaining even in Solomons time were not destroyed but brought under Tribute 1 Kings 11. What do you think also of those Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer who inhabited amongst the Ephraimites and served under Tribute Josh 16.10 The same may also be concluded from the Gergasens Mat. 8.28 who continued to be a People even till our Saviours time for being omitted in those particular enumerations of the Adversaries of Israel that were by divine appointment to be rooted out we may rationally conjecture that they yielded at the first Ald. Well Sir that you may not think me alwaies wedded to mine own opinion but that I may by the power of Argument and Reason be sometimes divorced from my belief I must of necessity confess your instances have convinced me that this great Prohibition was Conditional and consequently not so Vniversal as I supposed it But what was the League then which was prohibited Vic. To answer this I must distinguish of a double League there is a Social League such as one Prince makes with another upon honourable and sometimes advantageous terms to both and this was simply forbidden but there is a League with a conquered Enemy as upon the yielding a Town to the Besiegers or a whole Nation becoming Tributary to a Conquerour and such a one might be struck with those that relinquishing their Idolatry were in the nature of Proselytes and submitting themselves would pay Tribute to the Israelites which I take at first to be the case of the Gibeonites Ald. But if you have rightly stated the difference betwixt the Israelites and the Nations methinks 't is somewhat strange that Joshua seemed so much concerned for his surprize and that the whole Congregation should so severely murmur against their Princes for swearing to these Gibeonites Vic. All this may very well be reconcilable with our precedent discourse for the Princes having made this League and bound it by an Oath and not according to their duty enquired of God they might fear a Judgment for than omission and this might be the cause of their discontent and murmuring Ald. But why should Joshua after the League then pronounce them accursed and condemn them to the slavery of the Temple to be Hewers of wood and Drawers of water if the unlawfulness of the League and Oath had not caused a burden to his Conscience Vic. That I hope your Worship will no longer object when you shall understand it to be an effect of Justice It was a punishment for their deceipt and falshood insinuating subtily their remote dwelling when they were indeed their near Neighbours So that by this I hope you discerne how much your canting Objector but malicious Traitor would have imposed upon you in urging this Oath of Israel to the Gibeonites as a motive for you to keep the Covenant when there was not so much as the resemblance of Parallel the Covenant being evidenced to be impious and unlawful but the League and Oath in relation to the Gibeonites has been sufficiently proved valid and good I hope for the future you will be so just to your self as well as your Office to punish such insinuating Cheats that under the pretense of Piety and Religion and winning Souls to Jesus Christ as they call it most scandalously to the ruine both of Church and State instill poysonous Principles into the minds of men that swell them up to Tumult and Rebellion and would as you see if possibly they could infuse their venome into the subordinate Magistrates that they growing big with Saintship should extend beyond their just proportion and their own esteem should render then better than their Prince and consequently he would be so vile in their eyes that his Laws should first appear ridiculous and so not being the effects of Wisdom would be unfit to be executed and then his Person must be first contemned and afterwards set aside or murdered Ald. I hope their Principles are not altogether so bad as you make them I am apt to think that they themselves are convinced by those Arguments which they enforce to others and therefore impute all their miscarriages to their weakness rather than their obstinacy and all may be though it proves unfortunate in the expression and those consequences that are deduced from their Principle the effect of good meaning But to leave such discourse because you know at present they may be bold having almost the same priviledge with your selves Since this Non-conformist has given you this trouble by his Objection I would have you endeavour to requite him by exhibiting an example that may convince the truth of your former Position that an unlawful Oath is not Obligatory and binds to nothing but Repentance by this means you shall discharge your debt to him by putting him to the expense of an answer or for defect of that to be liable to the disparagement of a baffle in his own Trade As also you will by this carry on your main design of confirming and strengthening that belief which you have been a means to raise in me Vic. Although Sir I would evince my self to be more a man than to be at all jealous of anothers affection yet methinks by your discourse I have too much reason to suspect the Non-conformists to be Rivals to the Church of England in relation to the winning your Judgment and Opinion But because I should be injurious to my self in disturbing mine own peace as well as disobedient to you in a denial of my duty should I at all protract an answer to your Commands An example now presents it self to
Vice you can either by your Authority or Connivance gag them to silence You can suffer the King and all the pious Supporters of the Church to be spotted by a perpetual reproach you can quietly and without controule permit Conventicles both of Drunkards and Fanaticks and though they load you with affronts publick and private if they or their Relations are your Customers instead of suppression they shall have the encouragement of your own Society All the Laws both of God and Man though not only undervalued and slighted in discourse but too frequently blasphemed and reproached and with impunity violated by persons of the blackest Character whom a Pencil dipped in the Infernal Lake can scarce decipher you cannot only be Stoical and unconcerned in but oftentimes violate your selves what you ought to punish in others and then they commonly fare the better for your own sakes But if a little Custom of your Town be concerned though it be but playing a Dog amiss at a Bull-baiting or having but a sheeps hinge the less at a publick Feast there is nothing less than thunder and lightning the head is presently shook to see whether he has not lost his brains and the Band is carelesly turned to the Ale-house and all is in such disorder and confusion as if a fire were raging through the midst of our bowels and a present damnation were brought upon the World and all this no doubt from a mistake concerning the Obligation of the Customs of the Town and though your Wisdoms understand Perjury too well to be much concerned at a few Acts yet here you think your selves forsworn if an Aldermans Gown should prove moth-eaten or the Rats should gnaw it for want of victuals so render are men in their own concerns Ald. I see plainly you cannot live unless you are allowed a little liberty which has been the reason of my patience though not without violence to my Place and Grandeur whilest you have too severely reflected upon the Customs of our Town and in my judgment sometimes a little too broad for one that is but a Minister We never used to be served thus but so great a distance did our Aldermen keep with men of your Coat that one of us never came by any of them that belonged to this Town but the Minister was down to the ground to them and looked upon it both as his duty and interest so to do though they perhaps having so much burden upon their shoulders by reason of the Publick Affairs of the Town and other Accidents more private might for the present take no notice of him But not to disturbe or provoke your passion lest respect to you in forbearing the Law should cause my Brethren to censure my lenity where I ought to be severe I shall freely pardon your past Expressions because they were uttered in mine own house if for the future you will discourse only of the Point you have in hand without particular instances in our Customs Vic. Sir I am sorry that my Expressions sometimes prove so unfortunate to offend your Worship I had hoped you would now have suffered me to unbend the Bow But however since your Reputation or at least Greatness is such that your Will is a Law to the whole Town all reason it should be so to me Had I told you that Mr. Mayors door had no greater Mark or Badge of Cognizance than the biggest heap of Oyster shells or that when Qeen Elizabeth came to Town and Mr. Mayor and the Corporation met her on horseback and riding through the River his Worships Horse would have been so bold as to drink in the same Cup with the Queens which he being a well-bred Gentleman repressed the reason being asked he told the Queen in very good Language that he should not be so unmannerly to drink 'till her Majestie 's had done Had I revived such Stories as these your Worship indeed might have justly blamed me for reviling the Corporation and joyning you and your horses together but since I instanced only in a few Customs not much taken notice of abroad in the World and that privately betwixt you and I for an entrance only to the serious state of a useful Problem I hope I shall obtain your forgetfulness and pardon since even that is customary to your good nature for what I have said and then I shall immediately exhibite my present thoughts and reading concerning the Obligation of your Customs in general by vertue of your Oath without reflection upon any particulars Ald. That is it which will make me retract my power and command and use you only with familiarity and entreaty I must now keep you to this promise Vic. I am much engaged to your Worship not only for your former civilities but also for that you manifest so great a present delight in this discourse that though I have not only by unmannerly interruptions but frequent diversions to another Theam that might sometimes prove ungrateful to your Worship attempted to put a period to this present task yet you have so tempted the repetition of my former discourse that by your discreet and wise management there has been a kind of method in what would otherwise have been confused and you have still prompted forward a design that has alwaies been as pleasant unto me as I hope it may be useful to you Ald. I know not yet what use I may make of the design nor do I know what you drive at which makes me willing to provoke you to the end of the discourse that I may be eased of the execution of some of my Oaths which I perceive are so many that they will otherwise at last execute me Vic. That Sir you perceive is the present design and because I find your Town Customs to be very many though perhaps you account none needless and if your Worship would confess sometimes burdensome too and I would instance in some but that I have promised to speak in general It will therefore be no ungrateful attempt if I endeavour to discover an effectual way how to save your Oath entire and yet abate the rigour of your Action in the observation of all particular Customs Ald. I shall be very glad to hear any thing proved though I like our Customs very well and they seem to me to be good and laudable Vic. Observe Sir then if you please that you are to look upon your self in a double capacity as a Subject of the Realm and so a Member of the Great Society that are governed by the Laws of our Supreme Prince and gracious King Or else you are to observe your self as a Member of a particular Society separated from the general body for the discharge of some particular duties and designs As you are a Subject of the Realm you are no doubt obliged to observe and keep as much as in you lies all the Rights which by Law or Custom appear to be just and lawful and yet you are not bound
to observe those things that even amongst the Learned in the Law are so controverted that they become so doubtful as to be rendred altogether uncertain and 't is not yet determined in which part duty and obedience is expected Yet a Subject ought alwaies to have his will so ready for Submission that as soon as these doubts shall be taken away to subject himself according as Law shall direct his Duty and a full determination regulate his Practice But as to the particular Laws and Customs of a Town because Omissions of some inconsiderable Customs do neither derogate from the honour of the Place nor at all tend to the destruction of the Community there must a Latitude be allowed First Because many of them may be not only frivolous but vicious and no man can be obliged to sin Secondly Because some may now be burdensome and insupportable in the present condition of a Town or Corporation which when established might very well be supported and no man can be bound to be injurious and unjust to that Society which he is sworn to preserve And lastly Many Customs of a Town may either after the Oath be abrogated or by a general Omission nullified and withdrawn and no man can be obliged to support that which has no being or is voided by the same Authority which gave it its first being for it is an old Rule that What institutes may abolish To render the Case therefore plain and practicable we must distinguish of those Priviledges and Customs that are Fundamental and those that are only Accidental and Circumstantial Those that are absolutely necessary to the support of the Corporation and whole Body in their Honour and Power that is essential to preserve the whole Community for the ends and designs for which it was at first instituted you are necessarily obliged to the strict observation of because these being withdrawn the Society will be ruined and fall But secondly there are some By-Laws and Customs that either may be less Fundamental or only tend to the External Pompe and Grandeur of the Community and no way necessary for the Actions of Justice or Execution of Law For the principal end of embodying Towns into Corporations was for the better Government of those Numbers that there usually swarm together not only for their own advantage that they might be capable of protecting themselves having Laws and Justice to defend themselves from malice and violence but that for their ease and convenience they might have Justice speedily executed upon Offendors Now this may be done with an Iron Rod as well as a Golden Mace as well with a Sword as a Gold Chain and in ordinary habit as well as Scarlet but yet because External Pompe and Splendour of Magistrates usually casts a dread upon the People and makes them timerous to offend these things proportionable to the Wealth and Dignity or Populousness of a Town must be had a special respect to lest the Building decay with the Pompe and Ornament and in this Observation common Custom and present Practice of the general body ought to regulate each particular Now even these also must be distinguished into what are for the present practised having already either by decree or usage received their Sanction and what shall for the future be established Those that are present are to be observed no further than by probable tokens you can conclude their first Sanction and establishment did intend so Laws are frequently interpreted according to the intention of them where the sense in the Expression becomes dubious Those that are future to your Oath which you are obliged to the observation of if confirmed by sufficient Authority must alwaies be attended with these Conditions that they are possible that they are honest that they are just for no Oath can oblige either to impossible dishonest or unjust And lastly they must not interfere with any of the Statutes of the Realm For every particular Society is subordinate to a Power that is more general and supreme Thus though your Town is immediately governed by a Mayor and Aldermen yet they themselves are bounded and limited not only by their Charter but also by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm and consequently whatever they act contrary to these is not only ipso facto void but they become responsible for their deportment before a Superiour and more general Tribunal So that any Custom or By-law that contradicts any Publick Statute cannot oblige you to the observation of it by vertue of your Oath not only because your Oath cannot oblige beyond the intention of the first Imposer but because such a Custom or By-law becomes evil and unjust it being opposite to what you were before obliged to a discharge of But yet finally to close this Case which would have taken up too much time had I fully opened it lest you should yet think this Obligation which most Aldermen that are past the servitude and slavery of a Corporation are fond of too much unbended and loose You must have a care lest in any doubtful or confident omission the circumstance of contempt or scandal attends it that is lest in your withdrawing from what others think an Obligation you do act with contempt of that general Society of which you are a particular Member or when you are convinced that your omission is such a prevalent example to others not being fully possessed of the lawfulness of your forbearance that they are thereby induced to practise the same thing with your self not having the same belief and so it becomes a snare to their Souls and a torment to their Consciences To conclude this then He that does faithfully as much as in him lies and without scandal or just offence to others endeavour to observe the Laws and Customs of that Society of which he is a Member so that he will not refractorily and with his full consent violate any thing that tends to the support either of the Being Justice or Honour of his Corporation which he is convinced is his duty to perform in that Place and Station which he possesses and endeavours also to use his utmost diligence to be acquainted with the particulars of his duty does without doubt discharge a good conscience in disburdening himself of that Obligation that lies upon him from his Oath to observe the Customs and Constitutions of his Town and Corporation to which he relates Ald. I thank you Mr. Vicar for stating this duty not only for that I plainly perceive that the failure in some little Punctilio does not make me violate my Oath but also because you seem to be tender not only of the being of the Corporation but of its Pompe and Honour too so that I do not find but that this may be fit to communicate to every Member of our Society and will as well oblige Inferiours to their distance with their Superiours and the dutiful observance of their just Commands as engage Superiours to be content with their
other Graces but also for the perpetual remembrance of his Death and Passion and that 'till he comes to sit upon his Throne and pass an equitable sentence upon the whole World Ald. Without doubt I must not approach those mysteries with sins upon my Conscience unrepented of Vic. Nor are you invited by the Priest in the words of the Church unless you both repent of your sins and are in charity with the World and intend to lead a new life Ald. Why then should you blame me Vic. Because these qualifications are within the compass of your own attempts assisted by the grace of Almighty God which is never wanting to persons of a sincere endeavour Ald. What would you then advise me to that I may prepare my self against the next Sacrament Vic. Your Worship I presume for the most part are able to give advice to me but since you give leave it will be accounted no unpardonable boldness I hope if I give you some directions and it will be no disparagement to entertain them since they shall be the Churches Rules Ald. But let them reach the particular case in hand that so your resolution may not be more tedious than the canting and length of a Fanaticks Prayer Vic. All my fear has hitherto been that my words have been too quick and short If you find then that Perjury has been your crying sin let repentance attended with faith in Christ's bloud wash away the guilt of your former falshood and omissions be in charity with their persons against whom your Oath obliges you to execute the Law and be resolved for the time to come to be more sedulous and frequent in the discharge of your duty Ald. This indeed is like your self Mr. Vicar short and sweet Vic. It has the greater probability to keep your justice waking and I am sorry the advice is no more like your Worship Ald. But all this while I have led you in a cloud Vic. Let your face Sir then that proportionable to your Estate is bright and rich dispel and scatter it with your beams and raies that so I may have a Rubrick to direct me Ald. You are marvelous witty good Mr Vicar thus to reflect upon my very face Vic. I must confess your Worships Face needs no reflections yet 't is but gratitude to return those raies that before were darted upon mine own body I touched only upon your Face because I would not make a bridge of your nose Ald. You think now you have hit that place where there may be matter enough for discourse Vic. Truly Sir you led me to it and yet I must beg your pardon if I refuse thus to defile my Language Thus 't is alwaies you see when gall and passion begins to stir Ald. Really Sir I am so much sensible of mine own infirmities as not to be altogether averse to the pardoning yours Vic. I thank you heartily for your candour and ingenuity and shall be more obliged to you for your forbearance if you please to antidote your own passion the better to prevent mine Ald. I did not intend any other than a trivial Jest when I seemed to reflect upon the stature of your body Vic. And I intend none other than earnest when I reflect upon the proportions of your mind Ald. But stay Mr. Vicar your late discourse supposes me guilty of Perjury and so I must needs confess I am as far as the case has hitherto been stated but are you sure I can plead nothing for my self in bar of your Accusation and defence of mine Innocency Vic. I shall by no means accuse you lest you brand me with Sathan's Title and call me the Accuser of the Brethren But I cannot imagine how you can excuse or acquit your self from swearing falsly when you do not put in execution the King's Laws that belong to you as a Justice of the Peace Ald. Yes I can exhibite London it self the Metropolis of the Nation for an example of omissions here Vic. London cannot possibly be looked upon as a pattern and exemplar for smaller Towns for because of the populousness and largeness of that City it is impossible the Magistrates can be able to discover those misdemeanours and breach of Laws that are there daily acted and committed Great Cities will be alwaies full of unclean birds but the Cage is so big that the Magistrate knows not how to catch them Ald. But do you think that those unlawful Assemblies as the Statute calls them do never make noise enough to come to the Justice of Peace's ears Vic. I do not at all question that no doubt the meetings are tumultuous enough not only to reach the ears of those but sometimes approach so near them as to leave the guilt at their very doors unless there they have a trick of restraining their Families better than we have in this Town But our question now is matter of right not of fact and we are to follow Precept before Example What ease can it be to any particular mans torment to have a great many more roaring with him And since we are enjoyned in Sacred Writ to perform unto the Lord God our Oaths it will not at all detract from that just misery I must be possessed of for the wilful and constant breach of mine though all the World were also involved in the same guilt Ald. What you say indeed are great truths nor were the Example at all Argumentative unless their forbearance of rigour and execution did perswade us that there was a supreme connivence Vic. I hope Supreme Authority may not only have liberty to wink but sleep when he has both Commissioned and Commanded others and bound them with the Oath of God upon them to look to the general performance of duty and to punish those that play the Truant and violate Laws in contempt of Authority Thus does the Shepherd go to sleep when as he supposes he has with safety folded his sheep Thus does also the Superiour Commander quietly take his rest and repose when he has set his guards and appointed to his Army Quarters The Pilot has given forth his Orders and the Ship may be in danger unless the inferiour Officers in their several Watches steer right and keep the Seamen from mutiny or disorder But you cannot say there is so much as a Supreme Connivence since the same Laws are still in force and the Royal Proclamations have sufficiently been sounded through the whole Nation and the Oath of a Justice is still the same attended with the same force and Obligation Ald But notwithstanding all your reply it 's thought by persons both of interest and parts that there is some countenance given Vic. You are easily made to believe these things that perhaps you may be willing should be accomplished but can you conjecture that God Almighty who has declared to the World that he will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain will be satisfied for the breach of your Oath
of our apprehensions and reason we know together with God and this Act is called Conscience Ald. Then it seems that is only Conscience when our apprehensions and opinions of things fully accord with Gods Word Vic. Your Notion of it Sir is in this fully expressed sutable to my meaning and indeed it is no more than a practical understanding and opinion of things as they really are for it can be no other than the application of our knowledge gained from God's revealed will to the things which we think speak or do Ald. But how can this Doctrine of Conscience accord with those various Titles that Divines usually bestow upon it of Witness Judge and the like Vic. That Sir proceeds only from the various application of our knowledge As first when we remember and reflect upon what we have or have not done so Conscience is stiled a Witness Secondly When in our retirements we judge something fit to be done or not to be done and hence Conscience is said to oblige or bind to instigate or provoke Lastly When we pass Sentence upon our Actions arraigning them at our own internal Bar and conclude them either good or evil here Conscience acts the part of a Judge whilst it passes a Sentence of condemnation or acquittance and from hence arise all those troublesome convulsions that proceed from the Arrainment and Sentence and those ravishing joyes that spring from the benefit of an absolution Ald. I need not enquire now for the inference designed that those who plead the outcries of Conscience against Publick Authority and the Laws of the Land by this making their very vices consciencious that they have I say no conscience at all because their disobedience to the higher Powers in assembling in Numbers larger than what the Laws allow does not proceed from God's Word at which the Candle of their knowledge ought alwaies to be lighted if they intend to plead Conscience for their Actions And therefore for the future I shall not permit so frivolous an Objection to scare me from my duty into the horrid and damning sin of Perjury Vic. Really Sir I have made it my business to cast away some of my vacant hours in Society with these men on purpose to understand their humours and I have not only found that when times were to them prosperous they were as inclinable to those Vices which are now admired as most of those which now run to the utmost extremity only ours do it in the face of the Sun and they were wont to secure themselves by the silence of their company or secresie of the place for that may be done in a private Conventicle which is not to be enterprised in the open Market and there is no iniquity in a Tribe of Israel though the same Actions are to be condemned in the Canaanites But I have observed most of their Religion to proceed from the defects of their disposition and the accomplishments of their minds to be for the most part the diseases of their bodies Unless where sometimes interest or malice summons their abilities to uphold a Party Thus will they account that man's heart humbled for his sins whose head is disturbed to lunacy and madness when Passion and Fury boiles over in scurrilous and railing Phrases and Expressions 't is nothing but the godly heat of Zeal which fire was brought from heaven to enkindle when a Preacher has an unusual dulness and is fain to groan to make a Parenthesis to fill a wide Chasm in his discourse this is called Preaching feelingly and when want of matter or barrenness of Phrase forces them to many pauses in their Prayers and Lord Lord must stop gaps and fence inclosures this must proceed from holy Admiration and divine Extasie When they begin their Prayers soft and whispering as if they would keep God Almighty to themselves with one eye open and the other shut and now and then a wise shrug with the shoulders or a white and innocent goggle with the eye this proceeds from awe and dread whilest they are beginning to be familiar with their Maker some of them wink fast in their Prayers as if that Spirit they pretend then to be so full of would steal out at their eyes or else those Spunges would not effectually yield tears unless they should be well squeezed Have you not seen one of those dull fellows make wry faces like one that has had an hard stoole and drawn his Sparrow mouth to his ears as if he expected a fresh prompter Ald. You seem to make all their Religion nothing but a cheat Vic. Truly if their Religion consists in such actions I can assure you these are no better God deliver me from such Juglers in Divinity that can disgorge nothing but inkle and fillets that have more length in them than breadth or thickness Shall flegme and melancholy be any longer accounted Communion with God and Dens of Thieves become the only Houses of Prayer I could wish them all at the Isle of Pines where gendering with the Air they might both mind Generation-work and get fleet Coursers for Itinerants that might be very acceptable to those new-spawn'd Zealots Ald. But why Mr. Vicar do you so strangely conclude that most of the Fanaticks Religion is founded in the temperament of their bodies Vic. Because every man may find by his own experience that when in a melancholy fit he takes one of their Authors and reads a little the Book presently suits with his temper and he is pleased then with those Gourds and Mushrooms that a bright Sun presently withers Ald. But 't will certainly be a false Inference to make a general Conclusion from a man 's own particular temper and inclination Vic. And yet this is what they alwaies did when they posted their dreams for certain Visions and made their own experiences as they called them when they were but the effects of their present temper and disposition of body signs of trial and marks of sacred scrutiny and examination Ald. But you that it seems have more than ordinarily enquired into their waies and methods espying their folly should not be caught in the same snare nor make your particular experience a sufficient indictment upon which you may arraign and condemn so many as if their different dispositions were the greatest cause of their different opinions Vic. I do not make an universal conclusion nor is any Rule so general but that it admits of some Exception yet it is a shrewd Character by which you may discern those of that Party which believe what they hold and are serious as well as zealous in their perswasion And to render this conjecture something probable view the Multitudes and as Towns have their greatest proportions and numbers where the Air is not so clear and wholsome so even amongst those you have besides women whom Affection and Passion sway more than Argument and Reason remarked that in such places the greater number consists of those that have sedentary Trades
I cannot but return very many thanks to you Mr. Vicar for all your large and pertinent discourses which I must confess have fully convinced me not only of the danger of discontented persons if permitted any longer to meet thus in great numbers to the disturbance of our peace both in Church and State but also of the Obligation of mine Oath as a Justice of the Peace to put in execution the Laws against them And I pray God enable me to deny mine interest rather than so great and solemn an Obligation as an Oath is Vic. Trust God Almighty Sir with your Estate he will never bless you the less for the performance of your duty For if you be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the Land but if ye refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured with the Sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Isa 1.19 20. Trust Sir in God and do good and you need not doubt of being sufficiently fed Not only the welfare of the Church which is as glorious as it is great depends upon your activity courage and diligence but even the King's honour and the Kingdoms prosperity For if Laws that have received their Sanction are not put in execution it must be for one of these three Reasons either because they are imprudent and unjust in themselves and this will subvert the Legislators wisdom Or secondly because he that is to put them in execution has not power enough to accomplish the design and then his force being contemptible fear and dread will be withdrawn from the Subject Or lastly because there is a defect in his will for the accomplishment of what his Power is ready to assist him in and the Justice of the cause enforces the Obligation of the duty and either of these Reasons being granted and believed amongst the multitude will immediately lay a Kingdom waste and reduce Empires into heaps of Ruines For a Prince being thought to want wisdom brings his Person in contempt want of power in time raises his Adversaries and defect of will to resist and withstand them encourages them to proceed to victory and conquest Ald. I have nothing with which I can withstand your conviction God pardon my past neglects and I will be more sedulous for the time to come But methinks it should something abate our rigour to consider that they would tolerate us Vic. I see did not your Oath goad you the welfare of the Church and peace of the Kingdom would scarce prevail Shake off for once all your fear and do not love the honour more than the duty and burden of of your Office And then I will tell you that never any Party yet would plead for Toleration but whilst themselves were under restraint they had another note when the Sun shined different from what they have in a shower To my knowledge Toleration was accursed in their mouths who now thank God for a gracious indulgence The late times will afford you testimonies enough of their tyranny when they wore the Sword of Power and Force and we shall assuredly find their actions contrary to their specious pretensions should Rebellion ever be rampant to a victory Do but read over the Books I lent you and tell me then what hopes you have of an indulgence from them unless you once more turn to their Principles and Opinions But that I may use a Reason that must of necessity silence this Plea shall we suffer our selves to become the conquered Party only that we may experience the civility of our Adversary Will any man in his right senses make over his Lordship and Possessions to another that he may receive a Pension from it We can expect none other than the greatest violence from persons of their Principles and malice and therefore let him that standeth take heed lest he fall Ald. But if they should chance to have their designs accomplished and should either by strength or treachery gain a victory over us and so we should lose the day they would presently fall to pieces again and thrust their Swords in one anothers bowels Vic. This Sir will be readily consented to But as by their former Methods you collect this so by their present attempts you may without the help of Stars Prognosticate their barbarous designs of ruine to our Church And it cannot but be a strange piece of Policy for a Prince to permit the invasion of his Territories and sacrifice both himself and Possessions to the Avarice and Malice of his cruel Adversaries that they wanting an Enemy to encounter may sheath their Swords in one anothers bowels To be sure they will not disagree as long as they have a Common Adversary left alive and it will be strange pleasure for a dead Enemy that his Adversaries rage against each other I hope Sir your Arguments are all now spent for the Vessel I perceive is out by the dregs and Lees that run from it Let me now with all humility beseech your double care for the execution of what has been to our sorrow too long neglected and let a true repentance for your Omissions be evidenced both to God Almighty and the World by your future vigour and Activity The Night has now blotted out the Day and calls for a period to our Discourse The Laws will prove your best Director and your Oath and Duty the greatest Motive Let the gaping wounds of a bleeding Church beg your Charity to bind up the sores and the devastation and misery of former Wars and almost total subversion of Christianity amongst us beseech your endeavour to support that Church which a warm Sun would soon revive and a sovereign Balsam quickly cure That your duty to God may be faithfully discharged and the breach of Oaths may not burden your Conscience That you may prove both an obedient and loyal Subject unto him who gives you your Honour and Authority by your Office a faithful Assertor of his Majesties Power and Supreme Prerogative a stout Champion for the Church's Priviledges a just Fence to Propriety and Enclosures and a charitable Repairer of those breaches that Schism and Sedition have too long made upon us So shall you be a true Fence to the Fold of Christ preserving the enclosed from the mouths of Wolves and be a means of reducing those wandring sheep that through giddiness or wantonness have strayed out of their appointed Pastures amongst the wild beasts of the Forest And God Almighty direct all your undertakings and crown your Pious and Christian endeavours with success that your courageous resolutions and sacred Promises may never terminate or be envalidated through the subtilty of the Adversary or allurements of the World 'till your unwearied Performance publickly testifies that your Promise was not rash nor your Oath in vain Ald. Now Sir that you have answered my scruples and invalidated my reasonings I should be beneath the worth of mankind if I should not thankefully receive my conviction And I hope whatever liberty