the Fift Commandment now this the Dissenters have done first by their distinction that the King is Singulis Major but Universis Minor According to the last Branch of this Distinction who is the Father Not the Prince for he is Minor to the Body of the People Not the People For if they were above their Prince then They must be their own Father But because this is so grosly absur'd and so perfectly contradicted by the writings of the Primitive Fathers and Holy Scriptures therefore to gain a Right and Liberty to Resist their Prince John Goodwin has delivered it for a great Mr. Joh. Goodwin's Anti-Caval See Dr. Ham. of Resisting the lawful Magistrate c. Pag. 22. c. Truth that God did hide this Liberty of Resisting from the Primitive Christians lest the use of it should cause an Abortion in the Birth of Antichrist God caused a Dead sleep saies he to fall upon these Truths the hiding of them being necessary to help Antichrist up to his Throne Yea he saith that God by special Dispensation suffered him the said Antichrist to make such Truths his foot-stool till he had advanced himself to his highest Pitch in the World But now that this Antichrist is to be destroyed and cast out and the Commonalty of Christians as he pretended being the Men that must have the Principal hand in Executing God's Judgments upon the Whore For bringing this to pass Now saies he in These our times God hath given out this Revelation to us He hath manifested the Doctrine of Resistance and Christians may act contrary to the will of their Superiours This was the Doctrine of John Goodwin who tho he was a single Person yet he was a Leading-Man amongst the Party who generally followed his steps and acted according to his Pernicious Principles Thus have they made that Commandment of God of Non-Effect thro their Tradition How like these men were unto the Pharisees we may Collect from the Character which Josephus tho himself a Pharisee gives of them He saies They were a Crafty and Subtile Generation of men and so perverse even to Princes themselves that they would not fear many times openly to affront and oppose them And so far had they insinuated themselves into the affections and estimations of the Populacy that their good or ill word was enough to make or blast any one with the People who would implicitly believe them let their Report be never so false or Malicious Dr. Cave in the Life of St. Paul Sect. 1. N. 6. Pag. 47. I shall therefore conclude in contradiction to the Reconciler That seeing Obedience to the Impositions of our Superiours is neither a thing indifferent nor unnecessary we ought to practice it tho the Dissenters take offence at it And herein the Doctrine of our Saviour upon that occasion will bear us out which signifies that their Scandal is not so much to be esteem'd that we should therefore cease to Preach a needful Truth and that how much soever they may be offended yet 't is good to consult the welfare of the People Seduced by such blind Guides as lead them into the Pit by their Traditions The next Assault the Reconciler makes at Pag. 155. is upon a Pittiful Trifling Adversary one Meisner a Lutheran whom he slights with as much scorn and insolence as if he had not been worthy to carry his Books after him It was pleasantly said by Mr. Hales of a Friends Letter He sets up Tops and I must Whip them for Him But indeed I am concerned for Meisner I brought him upon the Stage and therefore am obliged in Justice to appear as a Second in his Quarrel 'T was declared in the Verdict Page 272. that no Church of any Creditable Denomination would change their Established Orders to gratify any Emergent Faction Instances were given both of the Lutherans and Calvinists How Rotarius was treated at Geneva for the Breach of a Novel-practice there was specified at Page 280. But that Foolery to say no worse the Reconciler passes over in deep silence which is a conviction of his Partiality For Meisners Arguments if they be not good yet they Evidence the Matter of Fact That the Lutherans would no more recede from their established Rules than the Calvinists which is all that Dr. Womock alledged them for But perhaps Meisners Arguments are not so Weak as his Prejudice would make them The first of which is drawn from the Nature of things Indifferent which is such as that they may be freely used or disused practised or abrogated But when the Use or Disuse the Practice or Abrogation is obtruded as of Necessity the nature of such Indifferent things is violated If he inquires what Meisner means by obtruding he had occasion no doubt as well as we to mean an Insurrection of Dissenters to Reform by force of Arms But the Reconciler has made a Meaning for him that is when men thro the weakness of their Judgment do believe a thing Indifferent to be sinful and having made this to be Meisners meaning he harrangues upon 't with little Judgment and great Bitterness But that he may not run away and think to carry the Cause as he uses to do by his false Surmises let him stop a little and tell me how the Dissenter believes a thing Indifferent to become finful for 't is no less then Oppositum in Apposito Does he believe it either with a Divine or Humane Faith If with a Divine Faith let him shew us some Divine Revelation for the Ground of it If with a Humane Faith that 's only his Opinion and that is to be Corrected by Instruction or some other course of Discipline that it proceeds not to an obstinate Superstition But were Meisner's meaning such as the Reconciler would have it yet common Civility should have taught him better manners than to Charge him that he gave St. Paul the Lye He had the Honour of a Learned Professor when he was alive at Wittengburge and for that Reason the Reconciler should have a little Veneration for his Ashes now he 's Dead especially because being Dead he yet speaketh in his Learned Writings Some body sure has ought this Reconciler a shame for his Factious Arrogance and has paid him home in betraying him to such gross delusions and mistakes What! Meisner give St. Paul the lye 'T is impossible He that gives another man the Lye must contradict him He that contradicts another man must speak Ad Idem in reference to the same Thing the same Time the same Place the same Persons as also to the same Respect and Purpose If there be any Variation in these Circumstances the Opposition will not amount to a Contradiction or a Lye 'T is possible both Partyes may speak the perfect Truth For example If I say the King forbad all Concourse of People and Horse-Racing meaning at such a Time and in such a Place And another man say the King did not forbid the Concourse of People or
it would tell all the World that such Governors renounced their own Judgment and 't is probable many would say they went against their Conscience to humour a froward and unsteady Faction How dangerous such a practice would be we may learn from the experience and complaint of the Royal Martyr in an instance of a like nature I never met saith he with a more unhappy conjuncture of affairs than * That concerned the Destruction of an excellent man and this of an excellent Church when between my own unsatisfiedness in Conscience and a necessity as some told me of satisfying the importunity of some people I was perswaded by those that I think wish'd me well to choose rather what was safe than what seemed Just preferring the outward Peace of my Kingdoms with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meditat. on the Earl of Straffords Death men before that inward exactness of Conscience before God He tells us He had confessed it with sorrow both to God and men as an act of so sinful frailty that it discovered more a fear of man than God whose name and place on Earth saith he no man is worthy to bear who will avoid inconveniencies of State by acts of so high injustice as no publick convenience can expiate or compensate And then he goes on profoundly thus I see it a bad exchange to wound a mans own Conscience thereby to salve State sores to calm the Storms of Popular discontents by stirring up a Tempest in a mans own Bosom Wherefore our Governors being very well satisfied that in the present settlement of Church affairs they have acted within the proper sphere of their own Office and have had an eye all along to Gods Glory therein tho all the Pharisees of the World should be offended yet let them strenuously assert their own Injunctions with alacrity under the attestation and comforts of a good Conscience 3. In abating those Impositions as this Reconciler requires they should betray the truth of the Gospel in things Indifferent and depretiate the solemn Worship of God which among us is determined to be most Decently and Reverently performed by our present establishment we say according to the sense of the Apostle He that has a jealousie he shall displease God in doing such or such a thing and yet will venture to do it he sins in it because he shews a want of Reverence to the Authority and Majesty of God In like manner should we change that Form of Worship which we think better for that which we think worse a more decent way and manner of Address in our holy Duties for one that is less decent in our own esteem this would argue and declare a want of Reverence towards the Majesty of God whom we pretend to Worship 4. Taking away of those Impositions would cause a greater Mischief than it would prevent For 1. instead of a Passive it would procure an Active Scandal to prevent a Scandal taken there would be a Scandal given A Scandal per se laid in our Neighbours way to remove a Scandal per Accidens For a Scandal by Accident does happen Quando nec operantis intentio nec operis natura aut circumstantia eò tendit ut alter ruat sed prava peccantis dispositione fit ut occasionem peccandi inde hauriat ubi non est When neither the intent of the Imposer nor the nature of the Imposition nor any circumstance thereof tends to that end that any man should fall by it but it comes to pass through the corrupt disposition of the Delinquent that he draws an occasion of sinning from thence where really there is none this is a Scandal by accident and a Scandal taken and this is all the Scandal that the Dissenters have to complain of in these Impositions Whereas the Repealing or ruffling of these Impositions would unsettle a well establish'd Church and rob her of that which is her Glory her good Order which keeps her stedfast in her Faith and Allegiance both to God and man This was so Conspicuous in the Church of Coloss that all men observed it and the Apostle takes notice of it at a distance with great satisfaction Tho I be absent in the Col. 2. 5. flesh yet am I with you in the spirit joying and beholding your Order and the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ Upon which words saith the learned Davenant Seeing Pastors have so great a joy from that good Order that flourisheth among a People it follows that they do unworthily afflict and vex the Prelates of the Church who do contemn and trample down the lawful Ordinances of the Heb. 13. 17. Church contrary to that of the Apostle Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit to them For Ordo est tanquam vallus seductoribus oppositus Order is a Bulwark opposed to prevent the incursions of Seducers They are therefore seldom precipitated into Errors who observe that order of Obedience which is due to their Governors but on the contrary where the Order of Commanding and Obeying is neglected ibi tanquam per disjectam aciem facilè perrumpitur there it is easie to break in upon them as upon a routed and scattered Army Hereupon Grynaeus Professor at 1585. A Col. 2. 5. Lect. 18. Heydelberge among those Gifts wherein a well constituted Church ought to excel he reckons these two Order and the solidity of Faith By Order he understands the whole Liturgie and Discipline of the Church where all things are to be done Decently and in Order 1 Cor. 14. 40. And such as walk Disorderly 2 Thes 3. 6. as far as is possible in ordinem Disciplinae Ecclesiasticae severitate adhibita redigendi sunt They are to be reduced to Order by the severity of Church-Discipline 2. A second Mischief that would arise from the Retrenching of those Impositions would be the Offence given to the weak and tender Members of the Church For we must not deny but we have those that are weak and tender and are not the worse for it and they may very well be jealous with a Godly Jealousie if they should see such a Change such an abolition of our establish'd Ordinances they might very well be Jealous of the truth of our Doctrine about things indifferent jealous of the lawfulness of our Practice herein or else Jealous of our sincerity in our profession of them both And this might prove so great a scandal that the Church of Rome might make a greater Harvest of it than they could of all the Plundering and Persecuting times of the late Rebellion when men of worth and honour did stedfastly adhere to the King and Church out of Conscience finding them so just and steadfast to their own well setled Principles And that of the Father is a known truth Ipsa mutatio consuetudinis etiam quae adjuvat utilitate novitate perturbat The Change of an old Custom gives more trouble and disturbance by the novelty than it can give
advantage otherwise And if it be Insolentissimae Insaniae a part of most insolent madness to dispute any of those Customs which the Church observes all the World over as St Augustin says it is then certainly no man that is well in his wits or has any veneration for Gods Church can think it a piece of Prudence or sobriety to Cassate and make void all and throw them promiscuously out of doors upon the srivolous suggestions of Fanatick Spirits â—â—o â—â—â—â—â—ated with never so much blind Passion and Importunity 3. There is a third Mischief as great as the former by this means Governors should encourage and harden them in their Schism whom in Charity they are obliged to correct and not in their Schism only but in their Judaism and Superstition which is against that Charity we owe to them as well as that which we owe to our selves For that they are guilty of a wretched Schism the Reconciler does acknowledge and that they have a tincture of Judaism or Jewish Superstition if they do really believe the Principles they insist upon in this dispute cannot be denied as long as they take Sanctuary at Rome and intitle themselves to the Indulgence of the Apostle in this Epistle to the Dissenting Christians which did then and there converse For that such was their Distemper and Disease has been sufficiently proved already Now to take off these Impositions which the Party is thus upon the fret and in fermentation about them may be against that Charity we owe to them and it may be in us the sin of scandal too because we should not be sufficiently careful to remove the occasion of sin from them This was the sin of Eli 1 Sam. 3. 13. and the sin of the Angel of the Church of Thyatira Apoc. 2. 20. 'T is an authentic Rule Qui non vetat peccare cum possit jubet and that is of the same importance Facti culpam habet qui quod potest negligit emendare He that has power to correct a Fault is guilty if he neglects to correct it I may add this also that they to whom we are so indulgent lest they should be offended will certainly take occasion to be offended and be actually scandalized thereby and so by our Indulgence we shall sin doubly that is as well against that Charity which we owe to them as against that which we owe to our selves 1. Against that which we owe unto our selves for if we neglect our Duty when it is incumbent upon us to correct them that neglect is our sin and that is against the Charity which we owe unto our selves to prevent which our Saviour has given us this Charge If thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee 2. 'T is certainly against that Charity we owe to them for we should hereby incourage them in their Schism and Superstition by our Indulgence whereas in Charity we are obliged to endeavour their Correction If our Governors be obliged to root Superstition and Judaism out of the minds and practice of their subjects then they can find no better Remedy than these Impositions which as their Application has discovered the Disease so the Continuance thereof will be the best way to correct and cure it And for this our blessed Saviour hath afforded us an example for why did Luke 13. 32. 33. he work so many Cures upon the Sabbath day which he knew so highly to Scandalize and offend the Jews The day of it self was indifferent to him I cast out Devils and do Cures to day and to morrow and the day following He could have done it the day before or the day after why then did he so frequently and so designedly work his Cures upon the Sabbath day Why it was to detect the Superstition they had for the Sabbath day and to cure them of it And herein the Reconciler and I are perfectly agreed for he saith our blessed Saviour is supposed to have taken this Prot. Recotcil pag. 318. occasion viz. to heal the diseased upon the Jewish Sabbath to deliver the poor People from those superstitions and heavy burdens which the Pharisees had laid upon them in reference to that day In like manner the great Prudence of our Governors thinks fit to continue these healing Impositions to deliver our poor people from those Superstitions and burdens which our modern Pharisees the Presbyterian Divines have laid upon them in reference to these very Impositions Governors do well remember their own office and know they have something else to do than to humour a Capricious or froward people They are Ministers of Gods Kingdom They have Wis 6. a Master in Heaven who is King of Kings to whom they must be accountable for their administrations he claims a Sovereignty over them as intitled to their Thrones by the Commission which he gives them By Me Kings Reign and Rom. 8. as he allows them to Reign by him so he requires they should Reign for him To this effect he appoints them to be Nursing Fathers to his Church and such God be blessed have been all our Princes since the Reformation And the Charge is as strict upon the Bishops Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the Flock over the which Acts 20. 28. the holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood The way to feed them is not to flatter but instruct them not to humour their petulancy but to reprove it not to wink at their superstition but to correct it They can neither discharge their Duty nor a good Conscience by following the People in their stragling but by bringing them home into the Fold if they gratifie them to their ruine they cannot do it but with certain peril of their own There is a great difference betwixt a Loose and unsetled State and a State that is regularly establish'd in the first every man does that which is right in his own eyes and that perhaps he may call his conscience So we find it Jud. 17 6. In those days there was no King in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes And the meaning of that place our Synopsis has very well discovered 't was no wonder that Idolatry crept in amongst them when there was no Sovereign like that of Kings to hinder it for the Judges kept men to their Duty by advice and perswasion rather than by an effectual command and punishments But may we do so now when we are under a well setled Government It may seem so to our Reconciler and his Dissenters by the Apostles Concession Rom. 14. 5. according to the vulgar Latin unusquisque sensu suo abundet let every man abound in his own sense But is this Gospel Is this good practical Divinity No 't is a corruption of the Text saith Hemmingius 't is wicked and unchristian for God hath expresly forbidden it Deut. 12. 8. Ye
Martyr in 1 Sam. 2. 25. much more when God calls by whom Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice and to protect Offenders against his Publick and Solemn Worship may peradventure be some inconsiderate Pitty but Mercy it cannot be In His Answer to another Argument as he calls it I must observe many things First the Distinction between Natural and Christian Liberty He found in the Verdict pag. 125. and I am apt to believe he took it upon Trust from thence because I have not observed him so skilful or ingenious as to use Distinctions when there was just Cause for it and because he takes it up here Impertinently for no Reason in the World but to Cavil at it and that he does Twice for failing Secondly Whereas he saith the Dissenters pag. 160. would put no restraint upon others as to the Ceremonies in Contest but only crave a Freedom or Indulgence to themselves herein I believe as we say he Reckons without his Host No man that has read their Books or observed their Practice or seen their Publick Ordinances can believe it And I doubt whether upon Second Thoughts the Reconciler will believe it himself In their Ordinance of January 1644 the Presbyterian Lords and Commons did declare That they judged it necessary that the Book of Common-Prayer be abolished and the Directory for the publick Worship of God establish't and observed in all the Churches within this Kingdom And August the 29. 1648. They Ordain'd that all Parishes and Places whatsoever within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales as well Priviledg'd Places and exempt Jurisdictions as others be brought under the Government of Congregational Classical Provincial and National Assemblies Provided that the Chappel or places in the House of the King and his Children and the Chappels or place in the Houses of the Peers of this Realm shall continue free for the Exercises of Divine Duties according to the Directory and not otherwise Thirdly His Answer is in Effect no Answer at all For he sayes First the Argument it self pleads strongly upon the Principles acknowledged in it against the Impositions of Superiours and even against all Vowes made by us concerning any thing indifferent For both these things do put a Necessary Abstention Restraint upon us as to the use of these things If therefore sayes he by so doing they betray our Liberties Dissenters ought not to yield to them nor should good Christians by a Vow restrain themselves from the Free use of things Indifferent Secondly He sayes the Argument is Evidently Contradictor both to the Doctrine and Practice of St. Paul In Answer to which I must observe that he still abuses his Reader-by his Sophistry how else could he bring in Personal Vows c. into his Answer Among Orthodox-Divines who hath ever Questioned whether a man that is Compos Mentis might not restrain his own Liberty and that as well by a Solemn Vow as a Prudent Resolution Or who ever denied the Power of Governours The not useing of our Christian Liberty renders us not the worse and therefore we may Lawfully not use it when by Superiours we are restrained from the use thereof Prot. Recon p. 131. to restrain the Liberty of such as are under their Jurisdiction Tho he 's confident enough to give the Lye to any thing yet I hope he will not charge the Rechabites with Folly nor their Father with Superstition And if the Sons did add their own Vow to their Fathers Command I know no harm in it I 'me sure God does highly approve of their strict Obedience to the Imposition of things Indifferent But to return and shew that the Reconcilers Answer is Trifling and Impertinent not contradicting Meisners Argument This I prove by Argumentum ad Hominem in this manner That Argument which Pleads strongly against the Impositions of Superiours that Argument the Reconciler does not contradict But Meisners Argument pleads strongly against the Impositions of Superiours Ergo. The Major is evident because the Reconciler himself pleads as strongly as he can against the Impositions of Superiours therefore he does not contradict Meisners Argument which he saies pleads so strongly against them the Minor is the Recomilers own Acknowledgment as the Reader may observe in his Words above mentioned 2ly The Reconciler contradicts himself and yeilds the Cause to his Adversary this is Evident to the Indifferent Reader for if Meisners Argument is evidently contradictory both to the Doctrine and Practice of St. Paul as he saies it is Page 161. then the Argument which pleads strongly against the Impositions of Superiours is Contradictory both to the Doctrine and Practice of St. Paul and consequently both the Doctrine and Practice of St. Paul are for the Impositions of Superiours which is the thing we contend for Here he inculcates again the Necessity of abstaining from some Meats and the observing some Dayes for fear of offending the Weak Brethren Indeed the Apostle's expression runs very high of not eating Flesh which is one of Rom. 14. 21. 1 Cor. 8. 13. his two Instances But does he say the same things of the Time of God's Worship Does he say it is good noâ— to Regard a day to the Lord whereby my Brother Stumbleth or is Offended or made Weak Wherefore if a day make my Brother to Offend I will never regard a day never observe the Lords day never Perform any Solemn Worship or Service to Almighty God while the World stands least I make my Brother to offend To take up such a Resolution savourâ—â— of too much Prophaneness to be Justified and this I hope will convince the Reconciler that in the Parallel Instance of Meats the Apostle was a little Hyperbolical as was formerly observed After a great deal of shuffling and trifling for two or three Pages together to no purpose but to make a Noise and show his Confidence he owns the Pag. 163. Truth at last that the Apostle came to a Point and Positively declar'd against Circumcision when the False-Teachers would have obtruded it as Necessary to Salvation And whatsoever his Practice was out of Condescention and special Dispensation while the Church was any where in Planting yet its evident where ever the Church was Organized and setled with Governours Laws and Discipline There he gave severe Rules as well against those Jewish Dissenters as the False Apostles which seduced them This is easy to be observed in his Epistles to the Corinthians the Galatians and Colossians Nay he commands the Governours of the Church to stop their Mouths who attempted to corrupt the Hyperius Calixtus ad Tit. 1. 11. Simplicity of the Gospel by joyning their Traditions Distinction of â—â—eats and Legal Ceremonies with it And St. Augustine saies expresly that the Opinion Epist 119. that some Meats would render them Unclean that eat them was against the Faith and sound Doctrine and he proves it to be wicked and Heretical from the words of St. Paul to Timothy