Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	case_n	conscience_n	sin_n	1,023	5	4.8063	4	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85048	Some necessary & seasonable cases of conscience about things indifferent in matters of religion, briefly, yet faithfully stated [a]nd resolved wherein the the [sic] just bounds of imposing on one hand, and of obeying on the other, are truly fixed, / by an indifferent hand.	Fullwood, Francis, d. 1693.	1661 (1661)	Wing F2517; Thomason E2270_1; ESTC R209648	43,257	226

by the Apostle was chiefly if not as an eminent person asserts onely unto sin And the great reason the Apostle gives why we must not use our liberty to the offence of our weak brother is lest we lay a stumbling-block Rom. 14. 13 15 20 21. 1 Cor. 8. 9 10 11 12 13. before him whereat he may fall that is least he presume after our example to do something against his Conscience and so sin against Christ and be likely to perish or to be destroyed the danger therefore the Apostle tells us lies not so much in offending our brother in the English sense as in one making him by our evil example to offend Wherefore the Apostle concludes If meat make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh c. 1 Cor. 8. 13. But now the offence that is most likely to ensue upon our conformity is quite of another nature there is litle fear of drawing our offended brethren to like the waies of Conformity by the practice of Conformists but rather they will like Conformity and the persons conforming so much the worse and grow the more bitter against them The reason of this difference I conceive lies thus In the time of the Apostle those were generaâ—ly looked upon as the strongest disciples that knew their liberty best and the others that were weak were aptest to be offended but now those that pretend offence are the strongest in their own opinion and they judge it a weakness in those that do conform and no doubt if any be likely to follow our examples in conformity out of an opinion of our ability to judg better then themselves they will as easily follow our Judgment too if we first use due means of satisfaction to them and then all the scruple is vanished and gone 2. Secondly let us weigh them one against another and compare the offence received by our weak brethren upon our obedience with that received by Authority upon our disobedience If we onely do that which we may lawfully do and which we are commanded to do we do not give our weak brother any offence though he take it there is not that perâ—se or naturally flowing out of the use of my liberty or the doing of my duty that would hurt my brother or tempt him to sin he takes occasion of himself not at all given by me But now by disobedience if the thing be lawfull that is injoined we give offence to Authority directly and properly so and as we have shewed we can hardly escape sin herein against the fifth Commandement which in every iota as well as all the rest our very liberty it self establisheth The sum is this by refusing to conform in such a lawfull case lest we should offend our weak brother seems directly to sin our selves to avoid an occasion of sin to him to offend God the King the Law the Church and conscience too by not doing our duty lest we should offend our brother by doing it Therefore we must distinguish betwixt things Indifferent that are not under the actual command of Authority and such as are before they are commanded things Indifferent are in our liberty and then the Apostles Rule holds we must not use our liberty to the offence of our brethren but what is required by Authority if it be no longer in our liberty we must minde our duty This Rule therefore greatly concerns Magistrates in thâ—ir Impositions who ought still to follow the weighty advice of Mr Calvin Let Charity submit to Faith and Liberty to Charity but Subjects must not sin that they may please their Prince much less their brother Besides we may distinguish of offence with respect to our brother offended if we offend him by doing our duty we oneâ—y tempt him to do his duty though against his conscience on the other side if we omit our duty lest we offend our brother do not we offend him more in the Apostles sence by tempting him to continue in sin and to embolden himself in sin with a worse conscience CASE The Apostle hath laid down a Rule how we are to use our liberty in things Indifferent towards our weak brother can Man by his commands alter this Rule or take off the force of it Resol THe Apostles Rule is absolutely unalterable where the reason of it holds and the object is the same that is where the matter is still indifferent 2. Man cannot make things Indifferent to become necessary in their nature yet lawful Authority may and ought to judge when the exigencies of the Church make any thing necessary as to its present use or forbearance These necessary things saith that Councel Act. 15. though v. 28. they were not all necessary in their nature yet the Councel judged them necessary as to the present good of the Church 3. In such Cases for the publick good of the Church Governours may and ought to determine the use of Indifferent things by their prudent impositions It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us 28. to lay upon you no other burthen then these necessary things And no less remarkably we finde St Pauls power put forth in 1 Cor. 11. and oâ—her places in determining many Indifferent things for order and decency in the Church of God 4. But what doth all this signifie if these Apostolical Injunctions have no force when a discontented person shall say he is offended Put case that after the decree of the Synod in Act. 15. a particular member should have been offended that his brother refused to eat meat offered to Idols pleading that it was superstition in him or a losing or betraying the Christian Liberty Or that others had been offended at those particulars of Decency and Order injoined by the Apostle to the Church of Corinth urging that they were not commanded of the Lord that therefore they were Humane Inventions New Ordinances Additions to Gods Word and Will-Worship Can any imagine that the rest of the people had been discharged of their duty either to that famous Synod or that excellent Governour the Apostle Paul or that they were bound to suspend their Obedience lest they should offend such scrapulous persons I cannot think it We must not oppose Liberty to Necessity Charity to Duty or the Offence of the Weak to the Higher Powers CASE I. But it is vehemently urged by my brethren in the Ministry that even their credit and reputation will not suffer them to conform they shall thus become vile to the people as men that will do any thing to save their Liveings and then their Ministry will be fruitless and do no good among them What is to be done in such a Case Resol 1. THis Case seems to arise from prudence and not conscience Herein we not pretend to fly from sin to suffering but from one sort of suffering to another that is judged rather to be chosen from suffering in our Reputation by Conformity to the Penalties of the Law for disobedience which when all

necessary a thing as Peace for so small a matter as his private content in a bare expediency Can this expediency that we desire warrant us against all the Precepts perswasions beseechings of the God of Peace to pray for study seek pursue and follow after peace Can this defend us from the threatnings denounced against the troublers of Israel or make up the loss of all the comforts of the sons of Peace and the blessedness promised to peace-makers Yea let it be considered whether in things Indifferent if there be any hazard of the peace of the Church one way or other the question must not be so much What is expedient and what not but What makes for peace and what not And if this be the case indeed with us let that weighty advice of the blessed Apostle sink deep into our conscience and decide the Controversie which if sincerely heeded it being so throughly fitted to this very case I dare be bold to say must needs do it Let us follow after the things that make Rom. 14. 13 for peace q. d. in these indifferent things of which he was treating trouble not your selvs over-much some may think this expedient some that but in these things let me perswade you to make peace your Rule and while others with too much heaâ— enflame their contentions about what is fittest to the breach of the peace and the trouble of the Church be you sure to mark those things that make for peace and follow them Flie contention and too much scrupilosity in such things and follow after things which make for peace Upon the like grounds no doubt St Augustine received that grave advice of St Ambrose as if it had been an Oracle To conform to the Usages of every Church where he came as he would neither take nor give offence St Augustine Epist 118. also gives the like advice upon somewhat the like reason for the sake of the Society of those with whom we live That which Beza reports of Calvin is very remarkable In Calvins Bez. in viâ— Calv. absence it seems the Wafer-cake was brought into the Sacrament at Geneva now though Calvin judged it very inconvenient yet he judged the peace more needfull and did earnestly admonish them not to be contentious about a thing indifferent And in so good a temper his words took them that they both Ministers and People so lowed his Counsel This was nothing but the Application of that General Rule which Calvin commended to Christians in his own writings with which we shall seal up this particular Though Calv. Epist 379. a thing saith he be imposed should bring offence and draw ill consequences with it that is be inexpedient yet if in it self it be not repugnant to Gods Word it may be yielded unto especially where the greater part prevaileth in which he is but a member of that body and can proceed no farther and by consequence non-conformity would hazard peace Sect. 2. Of Duty THe second thing that lies in scale against the Inexpediency of things imposed is that weighty thing called DVTY Here there seems to be so much odds that the Question is no longer what we may do or what is fit for us to do but what we must So that may is over-weighed by must fit by just liberty and expediency by duty and necessity with respect to God and to the Magistrate 1. There is a must from God a necessity laid upon us from heaven and wo be to Ministers if they preach not the Gospel and wo be to the people if they attend not the Ordinances besides the necessity of obedience to Magistrates on both But now there is no must not perform such Indifferent things as we scruple at for their inexpediency yet we fear that so it may happen that refusing to obey Authority in such indifferent things may incapacitate us for the discharge of those necessary duties necessÃ ry with respect to Gods command and the great salvation of immortal souls This very consideration turned the scale in that old but most Eminent Non-Conformist T. C. his judgment Third Book long agon about the Surplice The truth is faith he though in another Book of his before he had called the Surplice a Mark and Sacrament of Popish Abomination I dare not be Author to any to forsake his Pastoral Charge for the inconvenience and giveth this very Reason Because Preaching is the absolute command of God and therefore ought not to be laid aside for a simple inconvenience or uncomliness of a thing which in its nature is indifferent 2. There is a must also from man Our Rulers under God do also give us our Care of Souls which we accept from them they command us to Preach and feed the Flock they lastly injoyn us to dispense our duty with such and such circumstances which they judge most convenient God also adds his command that we should for conscience sake yea for his own sake Magistrates being his Vice-gerents submit our selves to every Ordinance of man that is not contrary to the Ordinance of God Now this is the very Case and surely it must be a very great inconvenience attending a circumstance of our duty that can out-weigh our duty our duty to God to our Prince to our Places to our Consciences and to the souls of the people Let me humbly enter this caveat take heed of resisting the Ordinance of God while you contemn a humane Institution The Ordinance of Man may be inconvenient but resisting the Ordinance of God is plainly sinful and sadly attended I shall therefore commend the fatherly Counsel of Augustine unto you and therewith also seal up this Particular In those Aug. Ep. 86. things saith he in which the holy Scripture hath made no certain appointment let the custom of the people of God or instituta majorum the injunctions of Governors be held for a Law Sect. 3. Of Safety THe last great conveniency that I shall leave in the ballance against the expediency desired and stuck upon is that of Safety and Preservation Besides our own which haply we little regard the safety of our party which we may too much value the safety of the people their great salvation yea the very concern of Religion and the power of Godliness these no doubt are things of weight with all prudent and good men But I humbly request my discontented Brethren May not such things as these these very things yea all these things be hazarded by checking at obedience in things inexpedient barely inexpedient Do not you fear do not you say that you certainly fore see that you already begin to feel the loss of your interest in a gracious KING in the Laws of the Land the laying down of the Ministry and the committing of the precious souls of your poor people to the care or rather neglect of a blind and sottish careless and scandalous Ministry Is there nothing in these in all of these can recompence the loss

ipsi sicut par est suÃ¢ libertate But lastly Admit that our Rulers ought to abolish the thing that hath been so used to superstition but do not think fit to do it injoyn us by their commands to leave the superstitious use and to use it as we lawfully may it need not enter into a Question Whether we ought not to forsake the superstition and also to obey Authority in the lawful use of that thing without fear of superstition CASE III. Whether the imputing of significancy to things imposed render them Superstitious Resol TRuly some Reverend and Learned men seem so affrighted at the very mention of sacred mystical Ceremonies significant symbolical Rites of humane Institution that I cannot but fear rhat they have apprehended some very great danger in them Should we once grant that Ceremonies of humane Institution might be appointed to signifie the favour of God or the grace of the Sacraments or to be a means of receiving any blessing from God no doubt there is so much danger in it that if corrupt and superstitious men should at any time rule the Church we may quickly have not onely Seven but Seventy times seven if not intire yet Semi-Sacraments the Church and service of God being thereby obnoxious to all the antick and conceited crotchers that the vain imaginations of over-curious men can cumber them with untill they become stench in the nostrils of all sober and staid men and of God himself with the Church of Rome But if by Rites and Ceremonies we mean onely the Circumstances of Divine Worship by Scripture left to the liberty and prudence of the Church and by the significancy of them we intend nothing but that they are fitted to commend the exercise with order and decency to express the gravity and devotion of the Worshippers tending also as such things are capable to unity and edification if this be all truly I cannot discover so much danger Yea give me leave to add that to quarrel with them because they are such seems to be angry with these Ceremonies which are better and because they are better then others and to quarrel with their very fitness and their conformity to the general Rules of Scripture by which alone they ought to be measured Again if nothing that is so purely Indifferent as to be of no use or service and not to be more expedient then inexpedient ought to be imposed as all moderate men allow and according to the opinion in hand Nothing that hath its use or significancy may be required who sees not but the Church is crucified between two Opinions that openly rob her of all power about things indifferent Some very wise and unsuspected persons have freely declared themselves not to discover any such danger in the bare significancy of the Rites of the Church as others are affrighted with It is not lawfull saith Peter Martyr to Hooper to deprive the Church of that liberty that she should not by her actions and Rites of the Church aliquid significare signify something Yea further saith he the very Apostle himself used that liberty when he taught ut illis signis that with those signes they should be admonished of their duty Again Rerum significationes c. the significations of things call to our minds quid nos deceat what is expedient Ministri magis memores sint sui officii Vid. Aret. in 1 Cor. 10. 10. 16. 16. Pet. Mart. in 1 Cor. 16. 26. Geneva Annotations in 1 Cor. 16. 20. Perkins Case Consci cap. 3. Sect. 3. Calvin also is nothing Calv. Instit lib. 4. c. 10. 28 29. fearful to de iver his minde in the point There are saith he Rites which draw Veneration to holy things c. with such little helps we are provoked to piety They are adapted to the reverence of holy Mysteries thereby the exercise is suited to holinâ—ss They are not without fruit Thereby the faithfull are admonished with what modesty and religion they are to worship God Kneeling saith Beza when we receive the Signes hath a shew of Godly and Christian Veneration CASE IV. Whether it be a sinfull betraying our Christian liberty to obey the Law in things Indifferent in the Worship of God Resol THis Question seems to engage God and Cesar and to cause a quarrel betwixt Duty and Liberty which neither God or Cesar Duty or Liberâ—y will own or defend The doubt apparently results out of a too gross mistake of the nature of true Gospel-Liberty the Internal part whereof though it indeed free us from Inward Bondage yet binds us the faster in Service to God so the external part thereof doth also deliver us from outward slavery to the lusts of men yet it the more obligeth us in duty to Superiors Polanus placeth External Christian Liberty which indeed is properly Christian as it may be distinguished from Gospel-Liberty in two things A Liberty from the Law of Moses 2. A Liberty in the use of Indifferent things Now though the first branch may not be touched yet he doubts not in the least but that the latter may be determined upon just occasion of the Churches order by lawfull Authority Libertas Christiana est duplex Ã Legibus Mosis in Adiaphoris quales sunt Ceremoniae humanÃ¢ autoritate institutae boni ordinis causÃ¢ Christian liberty saith Polanus is twofold from the Laws of Moses and in things indifferent of which sort meaning things Indifferent are Ceremonies appointed by humane Authority for orders sake Now neither of these branches of Christian Liberty can be soberly thought to make void the Law as Moral or Natural in any one jot or tittle of it which our Saviour came to fulfill Matth. 5. and establish Rom. 3. ult but to assert that Rulers have no power in things Indifferent because of Christian liberty seems to weaken he arm of Authority Ecclesiastical Civil Political Oeconomical and even to raze out the fifth Commandement of the Moral Law yea what unnatural consequences of all disorder are like to ensue in Church in State in Families and all Societies in the world the beauty and comliness of all which lies not a litle in the due order of things Indifferent Yea how often is the Apostle himself the great Assert of Christian Libertie thus made an Invader of it how Injuriously did that famous Synod Act. 15. binde the Church to those indifferent things What Council Father Scholman Church nay what wise man was ever of this opinion or who is that solid Writer in any age almost that hath not declared the contrary Give me leave therefore to repeat it the nature of Christian Liberty is much mistaken It is not only consistent with but it even consisteth in the determination of things indifferent by lawful Authority It is one part of this liberty as Calvin asserts Libertas aufertur ablato Jure Legibus that the Church hath power to regulate the Circumstantes of Worship for peace and unity order and decency

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