I A. B. do declare that I Assent not to that passage in the Athanasian Creed Again I A. B. do profess that a Heathen may be saved and yet I do libenter ex animo subscribe to the Article amongst the Thirty-nine that does pronounce him Accursed who dares hold such an opinion We are not ignorant indeed how some would blend the two terms Assent and Consent and then interpret them by the words to the use in the Act But this is a shist which will not satisfie all persons and many desire to use no shifts If these words to the use had been put into the Declaration it self it had been better Yet if they had Assent is proper to the Truth and Consent to the Vse And yet moreover how can a man unfainedly consent to the use of any such Particular which is false and which perhaps he even abhors that the Wise and Ingenuous of his particular perswasion should think he believed Another Instance shall be this In the Service on the Gunpowder Treason we thank God for preserving the King and the Three Estates of the Realm Assambled It is a difficult Point now in the Politicks of England Whether the Three Estates be The King the House of Lords and the House of Commons Or the Lord-Spiritual Temporal and Commons The late King made no Scruple in his Answer to the Nineteen Propositions to reckon himself one of the Three Estates Neither was there any we know that durst account the Three Estates of the Land to be dissolved when the Dishops were turned out of House by an Act. We cannot tell therefore of what Consequence it is to the fundamental liberty constitution and state of this Kingdom to yield unto the insinuation of such a thing as this in in our Prayers No man can give his unfained Assent to any thing he knows not and understands not This is a thing we do not know that the Bishops are indeed one of the Three Estates of this Realm Whether they be or no we Dispute not but till we are better satisfied with them and their station we are afraid that any snare should be laid for the people in the Exercise of their Devotions unto God We must mention one Particular more which is our general Exception In the new Book there is inserted several passages that make the Bishops a distinct Office and Order from the Presbyter We need not name the Words for they are put in more than once de industria They would not be content with a difference in Degree and Eminency but they would have us decalare to a Jure Divino distinction disproved by Learned Doctors among the Papists and among the Episcopal men as well as the Reformed Churches Now we humbly beseech the Parliament to consider Whether the Bishops have dealt candidly with us to get such a Condition imposed on the Presbyterian to the keeping of his Ministry as not only Bishop Davenant and Vsher but such as Dr. Field and Francis Mason must have been turned out for Nonconformists upon the same There are Two Orders Ecclesiastical Presbyteri Diaconi When we say Bishops Priests and Deacons we name but two Orders yet three Degrees Mr. Joseph Mede Disc V. For our Consent We will name three things likewise and but name them more indefinitely There is the Hierarchy or Bishop invested with sole power of Ordination and Jurisdiction There are the Ceremonies in general so often disputed There is the Imposition it self of things not necessary the occasion of stumbling to many good men and cause of our Divisions Two of these things are matters of most Notorious concernment which would require each of them a Book it self to peruse but we have no such liberty and must be content therefore only with the bare Notification If we give our unfained consent To all and every thing prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer and Form of Ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons then must we give our approbation we suppose to these things amongst others But if the Two first are disputable which we must desire therefore to be weighed according to the engagement of mens minds and consciences about these Subjects and not after our passing short mention of them we are past doubt in the last that to Impose things that are inductive to others to sin and yet not necessary in unlawful What Charter hath Christ given to the Church to bind men up to more than himself hath done says Stillingfleet with much more to that purpose in his Epistle to his Irenicum We will not speak so laxly altogether as he does there but when we distinguish the Imposition and Submission this we are fully perswaded of in Conscience that though a Submission to the things Imposed may perhaps be maintained the Imposition of them in not to be so neither by that Doctor nor by us For if we build again the things we have destroyed we make our selves transgressors It is not Sirs the serving God by a Liturgy or the reading Common-Prayer in the ordinary daily Service that makes us Nonconformists though it be this only lyes in the view of the inconsiderate Many and though there are some things we except against the occasional Offices which by and by may be named We are sorry if any have given cause for such a scandal which tends to the breaking of Concord and Charity which ought to be maintained equally between the brethren of our Private and of the Parochial Congregations We should be ready to do any thing we could to the healing this scandal But there are matters of another moment which if we had liberty to open to the World at large as our cause requires we doubt not but that it might come to see whether we have reason to stick at Conformity or no. There are few of us who are not sensible in some measure of the Corruption which hath crept into the Church in regard to the Discipline or Government of it by the Hierarchy and Diocesan Bishop so much degenerated since Cyprians time from the primitive simplicity And there hath passed a solemn Oath over the Nation engaging the main Body of it to the endeavour of a Reformation Now when the same Government is returned upon the Land with all its former Corruptions and more heavy Injunctions if we should generally submit again to it without obtaining any amendment composition or abatement we dread to think on it with what faces they shall be able to stand before God who have lift up their hands to him for things quite contrary in the late Revolutions But to proceed At last besides the matter of this Declaration The strict prescription as to the form of words is more especially to be noted That this Declaration be made in these words and no other And what if a Minister would read the Book of Common-Prayer without this Declaration Or what if he would declare to the Contents of the Book in other Expressions Why should these crooked SS's
in general and the Laws and State of the Land in particular which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Kingdom regulated by Laws as Sir Thomas Smith hath it Rex sub Deo Lege The King is under God and the Law says Hooker and Bracton so that it requires the skill of the greatest Judges Serjeants and Sages of the Law to determine the Cases included in it it is a very hard thing we think that every poor silly Minister is put to decide the same for himself and to have that evidence therein as to be able to take his Oath or give his Hand to the certainty of it The other part of the Subscription concerns the Covenant and here the words nor any other to name none else are such a Ford that as to the Conscience of all not throughly Episcopal so far as we see is unpassable It is nothing to some of our selves to subscribe there lyes no obligation on me from the Covenant to endeavour any alteration of Government because we never took it it was against our Consciences and we can conceive for others in a Private capacity what have they to do with Government NO Oath can bind to sedition and disobedience But as for such as are in a Publick capacity and can act lawfully towards Reformation in their place what shall we say to those One way there is indeed will strike off all quite and that is to hold the present Government establish'd to be Jure Divino altogether so that any alteration is sin He that holds thus may affirm clearly that though a Man swore he would endeavour to alter the Government it binds him nothing let him be in what capacity he will the least alteration is unlawful and he must therefore repent of his Oath and not perform it But if a Man hold that the Presbyterian Government is rather Jure Divino or that neither Episcopal nor Presbyterian is Jure Divino or that Episcopal Government is well yet that ours as it is now is not altogether so well but that someting may be alter'd for the better We would fain be infromed how such a Man can absolve him who is in a publick capacity as a Parliament Man from his endeavouring so much according to time and prudence if he hath sworn before that he will It is in vain to hide where the water sticks There are some cannot tell how to absolve One other for their lives They say not there lyes an Obligation upon any to do as they have sworn for fear it be dangerous and they dare not say there lyes none for fear of their Consciences or for fear of God As to our selves This we may say that we desire to be instructed and this we will say that it is an hard thing to be put on it to say that there lyes no Obligation upon any other but our selves whether there does or no. We will therefore close up our Reasons for Non-conformity with this one Note only If there be so many difficulties in One of the things alone which is required to Confromity what a River hath he to wade that must pass through All together that belongs to it We descend to some Proposals for concord or mutual quiet to the Nation under the Differences which is the last part of our undertaking Secundae Cogitationes prudentius moder atius consulunt prudentius quia moder atius It hath pleased His Majesty by several gratious overtures to commend an Union of his Protestant Subjects to the consideration of Parliament A Design full of all Princely Wisdom Honesty and Goodness In this Atchievement there is a double Interest we apprehend to be distinguish'd and weighed that of Religion it self and that of the Nation The Advance of Religion does consist much in the Unity of its Professors both in Opinion and Prctise to be of one Mind and one Heart and one Way in Discipline and Worship so far as may be according to the Scriptures The Advance of the Nation doth lye in the Freedom and Flourishing of Trade and uniting the whole Body in the Common Benefit and dependance on the Government The one of these bespeaks an Establish'd order and Accommodation the other bespeaks Indulgence Liberty of Conscience or Tolleration for while people are in danger about Religion we dare not launch out into Trade say they but keep our Moneys seeing we know not into what streights we shall be driven and when in reference to their party they are held under severity it is easie to those who are designing Heads to mould them into Wrath and Faction which without occasion will melt and dissolve it self into bare dissent of Opinion peaceably rejoycing under the enjoyment of Protection The King we know is concerned as Supream Governour and as a Christian Protestant Governour As he is King he is to seek the welfare of the Nation as he is a Christian the flourishing of Religion and the Protstant Religion particularly is his Interest as this Kingdom doth lye in Ballance he being the chief Party with its Neighbour Nations The Judgment now of some is for a Comprehending Act which may take in those who are for our Parochial Churches that severity then might be used for reclaiming all whosoever separate from them The Judgment of some others is for a free and equal Act of Grace to all indifferently the Papists with most excepted whether separatists or others abhorring Comprehension as more dangerous to them on that account mentioned than all the Acts that have passed Neither of these Judge up to the full Interest of the King and Kingdom as is proposed It becomes not the Presbyterian if his Principles will admit him to own our Parochial Church and enjoy a Living to be willing to have his Brethren the Independants given up to persecution And it becomes not the Separatist if he may but enjoy his Conscience to repine or envy at the Presbyterian for reaping any further Emolument seeing both of them supposing the latter may do so have as much at bottom as can be in their capacities desired of either It is an Act therefore of a mixt Complexion providing both Comprehension and Indulgence for the different Parties must serve our purpose And to this end as we may humbly hope was there once a Bill in Parliament A Bill for the ease of the Protestant Dissenters in the Business of Religion Which that it may some time or other be cast into this model we must present the same desires under a little further Explication There two sorts we all know of these Protestant Dissenter One that own the established Ministry and our Parish Congregations and are in capacity of Union upon that account desiring it heartily upon condescention to them in some smaller matters The other that own not our Churches and so are uncapable of a Conjunction who do not and cannot desire it or seek it For the one That which we propose is a further latitude in the present constituted
Laws may be made and Old repealed without alteration of the Constitution but not without Alteration of Government because Government takes in both the Administration and the Constitution Let us suppose therefore the word Government confined only to the Constitution There is the Constitution of the Government in the State which is a Legal Monarchy and this indeed we are so far bound from endeavouring to alter as we think it is not alterable by the King himself and Parliament because the Supream Power for the Administration must be supposed in all Communities to be derived from and held by the Constitution But as for Government in the Church we are to know and acknowledge that the Constitution hereof it self is but a Law of the Administration in reference to the State And consequently when all Laws for the Administration are liable to the Regulation of Parliaments the great Question will remain How those Men who are Presbyterian or In dependent in their Judgment and think Episcopacy against the Scripture can be abridged the Endeavour only afore-mentioned which consists but in choosing Representatives and doing no more than the Constitution allows in order to the Prosecution of what they think themselves obliged to in Conscience both by Oath and the word of God Is not the foundation Liberty of the whole People and our selves with them here in danger Judge ye that are Wise And what an Anointed Plot have we had here on the Nation that an Allegiance in effect should be sworn to the Bishops as well as to the King by such Impositions For the Words then or Form we wonder at this Rigour in the Compiler That a Man must swear not to endeavour any Alteration Had it not been enough to be engaged not to endeavour the Alteration of the Substance of our Government Episcopacy in the Church and Monarchy in the State but it must be not any Alteration It were well we were so absolutely Perfect And again must they not at any time endeavour any Alteration What if Times should turn and we be in a Confusion as we were or any the like Chance or Change come Must these Men be bound up that they cannot endeavour to reduce back this Government that we have No not the King and Bishops if the Iniquity of the Times should put them out for they have sworn they will not at any time endeavour any Alteration in Church or State Sirs The Matter of this Obligation being against the Fundamental Freedom of the Subject and Parliament and the Words you see so ensnaring and that against the Duty all owe to the Publick Good we offer it to you to consider in the first place whether this last part be according to Righteousness For the middle of the Oath Here is a Position of taking Arms by the Kings authority against any Commissionated by him which must be sworn to as abhor'd and traiterous There is now a Case in the mouths of all the understanding Refusers of the Oath and Subscription Suppose some Writ sued out and comes to the Sheriffs hands and suppose some to oppose the Execution by the Kings Personal Command or Commission and he thereupon raises the posse Comitatus upon them We will ask here whether the Sheriff acts not herein by the Kings Authority We think it cannot be denyed By the Kings Authority is all one as by the Law And when he can act so against any for all their Commission and the Law will bear him out how is this position in this case traiterous and to be ahor'd For our parts we do resolutely believe that it was not ever the intent of the Parliament in this Oath the Subscription as to the Major part we may be bold to advance the personal will or Commission of the King above Law which were to make his power Despotical and not Royal. Non est Rex says Bracton ubi dominatur voluntas non Lex He is no King that Governs by his will and not by the Law And how this position indefinitly without exception of this Case at least must be sworn to as altogether Traiterous ☞ we are to learn What if any should come with a Commission under the Seal to raise Money without an Act of Parliament and by vertue of such Commission shall seize our Goods rifle our Houses ' and Ravish our Wives May not the People or our inferior Magistrates or the Sheriff for the County withstand such violence May not the Constable alone by a Warrant from the Justice to keep the Peace raise the Neighbour-hood and do it If he may or the Sheriff may it must be in the Name of the King or by Authority of the Law and then is there some Case or Cases where Arms or Force may be raised by the Authority of the King against such as are Commissionated by him though never against his own Sacred Person Suppose again that Papists or Fanaticks should either by Power or Suprise at any time get the King into their hands as the Duke of Guise once dealt with the French King and prevail with him for fear of his life to grant Commissions under his Hand and Seal destructive to the Church and State must the Nation be remediless in this Case and so the King and Kingdom ruin'd by these Commissions Nay what security hath the Nation that a Lord Keeper may not prove Traytor to his King and Countrey If we may suppose such a thing possible what if such a Lord Keeper should under the Broad Seal grant Commissions to disband his Majesties Life-Guard deliver up the Navy or Sea Port Towns seize the Tower or places or strength in what a condition were the King and Kingdom brought if the Subjects hands be bound up by an Oath not to resist or take Arms against the Execution of such Commissions Suppose but so long as till they understand his design for by that time the whole Nation may be past recovery We are offended at the sense and stand amaze at the Horror of those sad Comsequences into which the Imposition of such like Tests or Injunctions as these if not timely retrenched may lead our Posterity The Courts of Law can avoid the Kings Charters or Commissions which are passed against Law For the King is subject to the Law and sworn to maintain it Judge Jenkens in his Works p. 48. As for the Form then of the Words I abhor this Traiterous Position They are harsh The word Abhor especially is a word of Interest and Passion A cooler word as I disown or disallow might have served Some of the most Grave as Calamy particularly were much offended at that word A man may say a thing is unlawful in his Conscience when he cannot say according to the Truth I Abhor it There is never a Gentleman in the Land but may swear truly That he believes it unlawful to company with any other Woman as his own Wife but if each one was put to swear he Abhors it we suppose some Sons
of the Church would be willing to be Non-conformists to such an Oath Well Sirs when these words Abhor and Traiterous are so harsh in the Composure and when such Cases as above-mentioned may be put as to the Position in the Matter of it wherein it seems justifiable and without offence We offer it in the next place to consideration whether this middle part of the Oath and Subscription be according to Truth For the first part We have a large Assertion roundly sworn The Oath and Subscription runs not only that it is not lawful to take Arms against the King or that it is not lawful on any pretence but on any pretence or cause whatsoever The Grammatical literal construction of that word seems to intimate no less than that this Proposition must be held without restraint or limitation Amongst the most eminent of Authors which have wrote of the Power of Princes and establish'd it against Resistance in their writings on this Subject we suppose there are few or none to be valued above these Three Barclay Grotius Arnisaeus And we shall find that they have all their restrictions or cases of Exceptions in the maintenance of this Tenet And how shall any be over earnest here in punishing the Refuser when if the matter be well scan'd the reason perhaps why he refuses will be found only because he hath read more than some others that yield their submission We begin with Barclay that is William Barclay a Scot and Councellor to the French King who writes against Buchanan Boucher and other Monarchomachists as he calls them This learned man endeavours to make his Prince to be above the whole People that consequently no Arms can be taken against him Nevertheless when he comes to put some pressing Cases he thus limits him Quid ergo nulli ne Casus incidere possunt quibus populo in Regem arma capere jure suo liceat nulli certe quamdiu Rex manet What then Can there no Cases happen wherein it is lawful for the people to take Arms against the King by Right None certainly so long as he remains a King There are Cases indeed he accounts in which a King doth Exuere personam Regis or Dominatu se exuere Put off the Person of a King And particularly l. 3. c. 16. he mentions two Si regnum alienet si Rempublicam evertere conatur If he go to alienate his Kingdom if he go to overthrow the Common-wealth We cannot tell how to approve this Doctrine the Papists use the same we know in another Case We may not fight against our King but if the People Excommunicate him he shall be no King with them Let us come to Grotius and first quote him in his Judgment of Barclay lest you may think else we mistake him Barclaius says he Regii imperii licet assertor fortissimus huc tamen descendit ut populo insigni ejus parti jus concedit se tuendi adversus immanem saevitiam Barelay though the most strong assertor of Kingly Government does come to this that he grants a Right to the People or the most emsnent part of them of defending themselves against intolerable oppression For himself then after he hath asserted this Tenet Summum imperium tenentibus jure resists non posse That the higher Power may not lawfully be resisted from Scripture Antiquity Authority and Example to as much purpose perhaps as any he descends to put seven Cases wherein he does Lectorem monere Warn his Reader ne putet in hanc legem delinquere eos qui revera non delinquunt lest he mistake some for delinquents that are not For Arnisaeus he hath wrote Three learned Books of Politicks De Jure Majestatis De Doctrina Politica De Authoritate principum in populum semper Inviolabili seu quod nulla ex cause subditis fas sit contra legitimum principem arma sumere That the Authority of Princes over the People ought to be inviolable or that it is lawful for no cause to take up Arms against our lawful Prince Here then we have our Tenet in the stated whereof he comes in the issus to distinguish between Rex and Tyrannus a King and a Tyrant Tyrannus in Titulo Tyrannus in Exercitio A Tyrant in Title and in Practice And Tyrannus in Exercitio A Tyrant in Practise he accounts does Excidere de Jure etsi Haereditario Fall from his Right though Hereditary Traditur Respublica Principi in eum finem says he ut illi praesitin salutem omnium a quo si prorsus desciverit etiam de potestate cadit quam non alio fine sibi commissam habebat The Common-wealth is delivered to the Prince that he should rule over it for the eommon safety from which if he depart altogether he falls even from the Power it self which was committed to him only for this end We do not give our consent to nor pass our censure upon the words we cite But by such Testimonies as these without naming others we would convince those persons who were the Compilers of these Declarations to be subscribed or swon with some resentment and shame that when the Temperate sense and meaning of them is such as we were not like to boggle at they should be yet composed so in terminis as to be obnoxious to so grand Exception For the form then yet of the Words I A. B. do swear that it is not lawful c. Here is an Oath to the matter of a Proposition questioned to the determination of a Point of Conscience and that diversly decided An Oath should be to a matter of Fact and cannot be taken but to that whereof we are certain To require of Men therefore to swear to the verity of a Doctrine is not according to Judgment being a thing impossible because no Man is infallible Now then Sirs When here is such an Erratum in the Composure as the want of the words I believe or the like I swear that I hold or believe that it is not lawful c. and so material an Exception as the Judgment of the most learned in general comes to against the Substance in Terminis of the first part of this Oath which yet goes down ordinarily without Chewing we humbly offer it in the third place to be considered how this Oath can be taken either in Truth or Judgment An Oath must be taken in Judgment in Truth and in Righteousness The first part we argue is not according to Judgment The second not according to Truth The third not according to Righteousness We speak it humbly by way only of Argumentation as we have said craving pardon if it offend for the manner of the Expression We proceed to the Subscription conjoyned which hath we count Two Parts The one is the purport wholly of the Oath whereof therefore we shall add no more but this That when the matter of the one and the other in the former part is such as enters the foundation of Politicks
divers Livings But when Jesus Christ the great Master or the Vineyard does command their labour and that they feâ—d the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers there is no such priviledge to be urged but in the nature of the thing it is void There is no Custom no Right no Law if the King Lords and Commons if the whole World should agree to make it that can be of force against the Gospel Nulla datur potestas ad malum There are few of you who are Protestants in either Houses without jealousie that the Romanists were borrowing an Helve for their Hatchet out of the Wood of the Fanaticks and that if they came to obtain their purpose it is not hard to conjecture which Trees were like to go down one after another As those men of the Church therefore are so willing you should do something for the security of your Religion and them it is meet that they should be ready to contribute to it That they who preach the Gospel to others should be perswaded to put the great duty of it which is self-abrenuntiation into practise themselves For that man is not fit to be a Minister of Christ or admitted into his Vineyard at all that does not look more to his Work than to his Penny and seeks not the welfare of Jerusalem above his advancement and had not rather convert one Soul than get two Livings and have a Prebend to spare According to what every mans mind is most upon in his Sphear the publick Interest or his own such is his value more or less However this be whether they are willing or not there is a universale eminens dominium in the Supreme Legislative Authority that puts an end to all Cavll if there arise any de jure privatorum And we will conclude with this That whatsoever things are therefore substantially profitable for the Community and are retarded only by the interest of private persons these are things most truly worthy the Consultation of Parliament God Almighty keep alive the true English publick Spirit God preserve the Protestant Religion and the Person of the King God prosper an accommodation We of the Kings Party says Judge Jenkins did and do detest all Grievances of the People as much as any men living In his Lex Terrae It is a certain truth This Kingdom without an Act of Oblivion and a meet regard had to tender consciences will unavoidably be ruined In the Armies Indempnity I say again That without a Gracious general Pardon from His Majesty and a favour able regard had to tender Consciences there will be neither Truth nor Peace in the Land nor any man secure of any thing that he hath In his Cordial for the good People of London And again in His Declaration for Tryals of Treasons and all Capital Crimes to be by a Jury They that love this Common-wealth will use all means to procure an Act of Oblivion and tender Consciences a just and reasonable satisfaction else we must all perish first or last A Bill Exemplified to the Purpose of these Sheets WHereas there are many Jealousies risen about Popery which makes it even necessary to the Peace of the Nation that the Protestant Interest be united and strengthned by all good and lawful Means And to this end there being this one proper Expedient to wit the removing the Occasioa of Divisions which several Persons do find to themselves in those late Injunctions which yet were intended to the same purpose of Concord in the Nation Be it Enacted That an Explanation of these Impositions and such Alleviations be allowed to the tenderly Considerate and peaceably Scrupulous as follows In the Act of Vniformity By the Declaration of Assent and Consent to all Things and every Thing contained in and prescribed by the Two Books Of Common-Prayer and of Ordering Priests and Deacons we understand not that these Books are in every minute particular infallible or free from that Defect which is incident to all Human Composure but that they are in the main Contents to be sincerely approved and used And we do therefore allow this Declaration to be sufficient if it be made to the use of the Book in the Ordinary Constant Lords-Day Service notwithstanding any Exceptions some may have against some Things in the By-Offices and Occasional-Service the Rubrick and otherwise And for the Ceremonies which are made and have been always and on all hands held to be only indifferent Things we think fit that they be left to the Consciences and Prudence of Ministers and People every where excepting the Cathedrals to use them or forbear them as they judge it most meet for their own and others Edification Provided that if any Person will have his Child Baptized with the Sign of the Cross or stands upon any thing else hitherto required by the Service-Book if the Minister himself scruple the Performance he shall have always some Assistant or Curate ready to do it These Materials were provided during the sitting of that Parliament which passed the Act of Uniformity and other the like Rigorous Acts and are therefore drawn up in the Form of an Explanatory Bill because it was supposed they were not like to Repeal their own Acts though they might be got to Interpret them But now we have a New Parliament and that after another also Dissolved we may expect quicker work Yet will the proposing these Things still to view have their use both for repressing such as have said The Non-conformists know not what they would have and setting some Measure to our own Desires and the Parliaments Condescensions about the same In the same Act By those Words in the Subscription that It is not lawful to take Arms against the King upon any Pretence whatsoever we intend no new or strange Thing but the rightful Maintenance only of the King's Authority against Rebellion according to the common Determination of Learned Writers in the Case of Subjection to Princes By the Words I abhor the Position of taking Arms by the Authority of the King against any Commissionated by him we never thought of Advancing the Arbitrary Commissions of the King above Law but by those Commissionated by him we understand such as are Legally Commissionated and in the Legal Pursuit of such Commission By the Clause which follows that requires a Renunciation of all Endeavour of any Alteration of Government in the Church or State we never meant to deny any Free-Born Subject his Right of Choosing Parliament-Men or Acting in his Place for the Common Good any way according to Law but that he shall Renounce all such Endeavour as is Seditious or not warranted by the Constitution of the Nation and particularly such an Endeavour as was Assumed in the late Times without and against the Consent of the King And for the rest of the Subscription which is enjoyned but to the Year 1682. Be it enacted that it cease presently and be no longer enjoyned Our Reasons for
Honestis upon the Account of his Authority committed to them for the Exercise of that External Regiment Circa Sacra which is granted by all our Divines to the Higher Powers in every Nation it is enough for the owning Episcopal Jurisdiction so far as they do own it in the Declaration of Assent and Consent or in any other Part of Conformity and shall serve them to all Intents and Purposes in Law no less than a profesled Belief and Acknowledgment of the immediate Divine Right of it That is Although there be some that cannot acknowledge our Diocesan Prelates to be Christs Officers distinct from the Elders in Scripture Yet so long as they can live Peaceable Lives in Obedience to them as Ecclesiastical Magistrates under His Majesty for the keeping the several Congregations in their Precincts to that Gospel-Order which themselves allow and for super-vising their Constitutions in things indifferent that nothing be done but in Subordination to the Peace of the Kingdom which is a Notion wherein the Judicious of every Party may acquiesce and expressed by us therefore in these very Words before p. 31. it is sufficient unto National-Church-Vxion Be it therefore Enacted by this Present Parliament That if any Person be willing to Conform to the Present Establishment of the Church of England and her Service appointed according to these Explanations Alleviations Declarations Lenitives or Cautions he shall be admitted to any Ecclesiastical Preferment and enjoy the use of his Ministry without any Molestation All Statutes Canons or Laws to the contrary notwithstanding And for the making this Act of better Signification to the Concerned and the Prevention of that Scandal which is raised on the Clergy through the Covetousness of some in heaping up to themselves all the Preferments they can get when others have scarce Subsistance for their Families and the Souls of many People are thereby neglected Be it farther Enacted That no Clergy Man for the Three next Years ensuing be suffered to Enjoy any more than one Living or Cure of Souls and one Dignity or other Ecclesiastial preferment at one time and that every Man without Exception that hath more than one of Either shall immediately give up the rest to be distributed among those who shall be brought off from their Non-consormity upon the Terms of this Act into the Established Order Which that they may also be obtained and possessed with a clean Conscience and that grievous Corruption of Simony may be Extirpate out of the Land Be it enacted moreover that every Patron that shall henceforward present his Clerk to any Living shall have the Oath called The Simonianal Oath imposed on himself no less than on the incumbent And if he refuses to take it that then the Bishop shall have immediate Power taking only the same Oath of Presentation in his Room We propose these Things we confess as if we were in Republica Platonis but we should be glad to see any Fruits of this kind as those who art in Faece Romuli may expect What is Right and Just and ought to be done is one thing and to be sought though what is like to be done or will be done is another And forasmuch as there are some Ministers of a good Life that cannot according to their Judgments allow of our Parochial Churches nor a Book of Liturgy but do choose to Worship God and Jesus Christ in the way of their Gathered or Separate Congregations and crave the Protection and Clemency of the King upon their Allegiance as other Subjects be it finally Enacted for the Happiness and quiet of the Realm and the Reduction of these Men by other means than those which have hitherto proved unsuccesful that every Christian Subject throughout the Land that profess the Reformed Religion and be not Convict of Popery be pardoned all Faults and Penalties incurred upon the Account of any Fore-passed Non-conformity and that they shall not * Vntithy a farther Act of Parliament or a Convocation those that are fit to be Tolerated and the intolerated be distinguished during these Seven Years next ensuing be prosecuted upon any Penal Law for their Consciences in the Matter of Religion They carrying themselves Innocently and Peaceably with Submission to the Civil and without Disturbance to the Ecclesiastical Government now setled in the Nation All Statutes or Canons to the contrary not withstanding There are two Parts of this Bill one for Concord or Coalition with all such as can joyn in Parochial Communion in the Clauses before The other for Forbearance of those that Cannot in this 〈◊〉 Clause For what shall we do with such We must not Knock them on the Head They must therefore have Time If the Parliament will begin with the last first that is a Suspension of the Penal Statutes and then let us treat for a Composition after we consent with all our Hearts and like the Method best Then Abner called unto Joab and said shall the Sword devour for ever Knowest thou not that it will be Bitterness in the latter End How long shall it be ere thou bid the People return from following of their Brethren In short A Repeal of all our Laws about Conformity unto the 13th of Elizabeth or A New Act of Vniformity or The King's Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs at His first Coming in turn'd into a Law were Comprehension His latter Declaration to all his Loving Subjects some few Things in Both yet a little considered made so were Indulgence A Bill for Comprehension with Indulgence both together will do our Business An Addition or Clause in it against Pluralities will do it with Supererogation Deo Gloria