Laws may be made and Old repealed without alteration of the Constitution but not without Alteration of Government because Government takes in both the Administration and the Constitution Let us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
whatsoever be done in other matters The Ceremouies in use amongst us says Mr. Hooker are retained in no other respect saving only for that to retain them is to our seeming good and profitable To which purpose We are content with these only say the Common Prayer Book as be apt to stir up the dull mind of Man to remembrance of his duty by some edifying sinification But the Cross being a Ceremony applied to Children who are uncapable of having their minds stirred up by and thing signified thereby it is manifestly retained without their profit We will enforce the Argument By the same reason as we retain the Cross in Baptism the other Ceremonies in Popery which are lest may be readmitted As we use the Cross to signifie that the Child must fight manfully under Christ's Banner we may use the Chrism wherein that Cross was used to be made to signifie the Christians anointing to the Combat and so forward There is nothing can be replied hereto in good earnest but that it is true if the Church pleased to enjoyn it so we might We urge consequently By the same reason as the Church hath relinquisht the Chrism in Baptism it may leave the Gross also that is only if it please so to vote in a needful Convocation And that it should do so there is cause enough if there were nothing else to be said but this only that as for all other Ceremonies enjoyned the Conformist may plead that they are but Circumstances of Worship wherein the Church hath proper Authority to appoint what is decent and orderly But for any solemn intire Right which in no Circustance of the Ordinance unto which it is appended or any ways in genere necessary thereunto if this also be enjoyned we shall have no bottom or banks set to the Appointment of Ceremonies how far the Sea shall go and no farther than so We will heap up no more Matters of this kind for they are infinite and it is some Relief to our Thoughts that the last Long Parliament it self we thank God did come to be a little sensible of it in so much as they were near content on Session to Cashire this Declaration quite There does remain now therefore the Subscription in the Act and this Question which does arise upon it whether there be not as good reason in regard to the most sober Consciences to take away this Subscription in the Act of Uniformity and the Oath in the Oxford-Act as well as the Declaration of Assent and Consent The Subscription is this I A. B. do declare That it is not Lawful upon any Pretence Whatsoever to take Arms against the King And that I do abbor that Traiterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or those Commissionated by him And that I will confrom to the Liturgy of the Church of Endland as it is now by Law establish'd And I do declare That I do hole there lyes no Obligation upon me or any other Person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant to endeavour any Change or Alteration of Government either in Church or State and that the same was in it self and Unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of the Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom The Oath this I A. B. do swear That it is not Lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King And that I abhor that Traiterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are Commissionated by him in pursuance of such Commissions And that I will not at any time endeavour any Alteration of Government either in Church or State In this Oath and Subscription we have the Matter and the Form of Words that is the Substance and the Commposure The one whereof are the other in both and lyable to the ensuing Exceptions Which we desire may be taken with Candor in respect only to our Design that is as Argumentative for the Removal of these Injunctions not as peremptorily Definitive of our own Judgments and much less of others above our Sphear in all the Cases contained in them To begin with the Oath Here are three parts of it The first part appears not for we speak it humbly only and argumentatively consistent with Judgment the second with Truth nor the third with Righteousness We will take up the last part first And I will not endeavour any Alteration of Government There is no Government on Earth so perfect that it hath need of Laws like the Medes and Persians Government may be considered in the Administration or the Constitution The word Government here is set down indefinitely without Distinction Alteration of Laws and so Government in the Administration is as necessary many times upon emergent Occasions to the Body Politick as the fresh Air is to the Natural This Oath was brought into the House to have been made Common It were not a thing righteous to have had that Engagement laid on Persons in such a Capacity It is not righteous to have it laid on any that are Free-Holders and Free-Subjects as we are The Constitution of our Nation as Parliamentary is such that no Law can be Establish'd or Repealed but it must pass the House of Commons and so the whole Body concurr in their Representatives to every Alteration of Government or in the Government that is made if it be Legal And no House of Commons are Chosen but by the People Every English-man is intended to be here present either in Person or by Procuration and the Consent of the Parliament is taken to be every Man's Consent says Sir Thomas Smith De Rep. Angl. l. 2. c. 2. Nay while the King consilio assensu Baronum leges olim imposuit universo Regno by the Counsel and Assent of his Barons did give Laws to his whole Realm consentire inferior quisque visus est in persona Domini sui Capitalis prout hodie per procuratores Comitatus every Inferior seemed to consent in the Person of his Chief Lord as now they do by their Burgesses and Knights of the Shires sayes Sir Henry Spelman This is so true that in this Sense it is that the Laws are said to be Quas vulgus elegerit Which the People shall choose Now then if every Subject hath a Fundamental Liberty to choose Knights and Burgesses and accordingly to inform them of their Grievances and petition them for Redress and in them as their Representatives do consent to the Alteration of Government and Laws if there be any pass as profitable to the Nation how can such an Oath be imposed on him That be will not endeavour any Alteration as this Is not choosing Burgesses informing them petitioning them acting and legally consenting in them to that end An endeavour and that as much as can be in their Place and Calling And no more than Endeavour in their Place and Calling was Challenged by any It is true that new
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
their own Expressions And this expedient we gather from the Lord Coke who hath providently as it were against such a season laid in this Observation The Form of the Subscription set down in the Canons ratified by King James was not expressed in the Act of the thirteenth of Elizabeth Inst purt 4. c. 74. And consequently if the Clergy enjoyed this freedom until then in reference to the Particulars therein contained what hinders why they might not have the same restored in reference also to others It is true that it may seem hard to many in this Parliament to undo any thing themselves have done in a former But though this be no rule for Christians who are sometimes to repent as well as to believe if they be loath to Repeal any thing what if they shall only Interpret or Explain Let us suppose then some clause in this Bill or some new Act for Explanations If any Nonconformist cannot come up to the full meaning and intent of these injunctions rightly explained let him remain in statu quo under the state only of Indulgence without benefit of Comprehension for so long as those who are not Comprehended may yet enjoy that case as to be Indulged in some equal measure answerable to His Majesties Decloration that was whether Comprehension be large or narrow such terms as we obtain are pure advantage and such as we obtain not are no loss But if any does and can honestly agree to that whole sense which the Parliament intends in such Impositions why should there be any obstruction for such a Man though he deliver himself in his own words to be received into the Establish'd order with others unless Men will look on these Injunctions only to be contriv'd for Engines of Battery to destroy the Non-conformists and not as Instruments of Vnity to edifie the Church of God We will not leave our Congregational Brethren neither so long as we have something more that may be said for them not ordinarily considered by any It is this That though indeed they are not and cannot seek to be of our Churches as they are Parochial under the Diocess or Super-intendency of the Bishops Yet do they not refuse but seek to be comprehended within the Church as National under His Majesty We will explain our selves The Church may be considered as Vniversal and so Christ alone is the Head of it and we receive our Laws from him Or as Particular and so the Pastors are Heads Guides or Bishops over their respective Flocks who are commanded therefore to obey them in the Lord Or as National which is an accidental and external respect to the Church of God wherein the King is to be acknowledged the Supream Head of it ansd as we judge no otherwise For thus also runs the Statute That our Sovereign Lord shall be taken and reputed the only Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England called Ecclesia Anglicana Now if it should please the King and Parliament to allow and approve those separate Meetings and stated places for Worship by a Law as His Majesty did by His Declaration we must porfess that as such Assemblies by this means must be constituted immediately Integral parts of the Church as National no less than our Parish Congregations So would the Congregate Churches at least those that understand themselves own the King for Head over them in the same sence as we own him Head over ours that is as much as to say for the Supreme Goercive Governour of all in this accidental regard both to keep every several Congregation to that Gospel-order themselves profess and to supervise their Constitutions in things indifferent that nothing be done but in subordination to the Peace of the Kingdom Well let us suppose then a liberty for these separate Assemblies under the visitation of His Majesty and His Justices and not the Bishops or under them as his substitutes that is exercising an Authority formerly secular and objectively only Ecclesiastical and no otherwise We would fain know what were the evil you can find in them If it lie in any thing it must be in that you call Schisme Separation then let us know in it self simply considered is nothing neither good nor evil There may be reason to divide or separate some Christians from others out of prudence as the Catechumeni of old from the fully instructed for their greater edification and as a Chappel or two is added to a parish Church When the people else were too big a Congregation It is not all division then or separation is Schism but sinful division Now the Supream Authority as National Head having appointed the Parochial Meetings and required all the Subjects of the Land to frequent them and them alone for the acknowledging glorifying or National serving and worshipping the one only true God and His Son whom we have generally received and this Worship or Service in the nature of it being intrinsically good and the External order such as that of Time and Place and the like-Cirumstances being properly under his Jurisdiction it hath seemed to us hitherto that unless there was something in that order and way prescribed which is sinful and that required too as a Condition of that Commonion there is no man could refuse his attendance universally on these Pariotchial Assemblies without the sin of disobedience And consequently his separation thereby becoming sinful proves Schism But if the Scene be alter'd and those separate Assembles made legal the Schism in reference to the National Church upon the same account does vanish Schism is a separation from that Church whereof we ought or are bound to be Members If the Supream Authority then loose our obligation to the Parish Meeting so that we are bound no longer the iniquty we say upon this account is not to be found and the Schism gone Lo here a way opened for the Parliament if they please to rid the trouble and scruple of Schism at once out of the Land If they please not yet is there something to be thought on for the Separatist in a way of Forbearance that the innocent Christian at least as it was in the time of Trajan may not be sought out unto punishment Especiallly when such a Tolleration only is desired as is consistent with the Articles of Faith i. e. the Creed a Good life and the Government of the Nation But what shall we say then to the Papists which is the Objection hit still in their Teeth that plead for Mederation Why we will not baulk the delivery of our opinion There are Two parts we profess of that favour or condescension we seek from the Higher Powers The one consisting of a Composition with those whose Principles are fit and capable of it And the other consisting of Forbearance towards those whose Principles will allow them no more The Papist is one whose worship to us is Idolatry and we cannot therefore allow them the liberty of publick Assembling themselves as others of the
Separation It is true we have moreover Laws very severe against the Jesuit and Seminary Priest which we may suppose to be upon the ground of State Interest The Supremacy of the Pope and the Authority of the King are inconsistent in this Land The Priest and Jesuit are taken by Law as Factors for the Pope and an undermining the Government in all States is a Capital Crime But as for the common Papist who lives innocently in his way he is to us in regard to what he does in private in the Matter of his God as others who refuse likewise to come to Common Prayer He may not expect to have power or trust being of a Religion so dangerous to the State but he may hope for the enjoyment of his Conscience as we without wrong or oppression And indeed if it be only Liberty of Conscience that he seeks this will be sufficient that he is not troubled not we If he desires more he stirs us all presently into Jealousie and no wonder if we be very sollicitous to have Popery kept out of Dominion or our selves from Fire and Faggot how gentle and equal soever we be to it and to all parties alike under a safe Subjugation For as the Roman Catholick we suppose will consider from hence-forward that to go to bring in a Religion upon a people that are no more prepared for theirs than we are in this Nation is the committing of a Rape upon the publick Conscience and Possession being got without our good wills would not likely be long retained So are we to remember the common rule of Christianity towards them that we must do as we would be done by to all Men and that With what measure we mete to others it shall be met to us again And now we turn us to the Houses My Lords and Gentlemen We suppose you honest Persons that would not depart from this Catholick Rule that would not wrong any and if you did would make them recompence There have been very hard Acts passed which when the Bills were brought in might haply look smooth and fair to some of you who were Members But you saw not the Covert Art secret Machination and purposely contrived Snares against one whole Party If such a form of words would not another should do their business By this means you in the first place your selves were overstript Multitudes dispossess'd of their Livings The Vineyard let out to others The Lord Jesus the Master of it deprived of many of his Faithful Labourers And the poor sheep what had they done berest of their accustomed spiritual food to the hazard of their Immortal Souls Among many arguments therefore for Liberty in other Papers from Policy Convenience Reason of State and Reason of Religion we have this one to offer you of a more binding Nature and Argument from Justice Righteousness and Restitution to the wronged It is true that the Places they once had are filled and disposed of But there are others enough There are many of those who possess theirs do also keep their own and keep more There are many who are Canons Deans Prebendaries that are also Parsons Rectors Vicars Who have Benefices and Honours by Heaps and by the Bushel If it shall please you therefore in some Bill on the Anvil to take cognizance of Pluralists that for the preventing an idle scandalous covetously overgrown unprofitable Ministry every man who hath more than one cure of Souls or one Dignity shall give them up into a publick stock or to a general distribution you shall do the Church-right and the Ejected right you shall give such Drones their due and God his due and strew the way by this means for making your Grace intended in such a Bill of signification In the Name of God Sirs let us move you to this if it were only hac vice for a present needful conjunction of us at this season We see the Jaws of the Jesuit and the Sectary opening upon us If the sober Protestant Interest be not united we perish We know who will be ready to stamp here and throw dust in the Air for it is these Sons of the Horsleech whose voice is give give that will never be contented with a single portion A Dignity therefore with a Living let them be allowed But one Dignity and one cure of Souls should be all though they cut themselves with Lances It is this vile hard Objection at the bottom the Priests covetousness and corruption rather than their dispute about things indifferent that really hinders the Churches Peace and Prosperity We shall therefore for the gentle enforcement of this humbly offer you some Reasons It is manifest that Pluralists were allowed in the Church at first upon the account only of necessity because they had not Ministers enough that could Preach to the people They could get some to Read but none to give them a Sermon And upon this account they admitted one to be Pastor to several Congregations But now the Land does abound with so many Ministers who have never a cure and such as are no less learned and more painful in Preaching than those that have three or four we will plead with these men before Heaven and before you who are the Heads of our Tribes assembled that it is not pious not fit not political that is not for the common good that this Custom should continue when the Reason is ceased especially when so many of those that are put out have Families and scarce Bread to subsist It is a saying since the times of Constantine That when the Church had but Wooden Chalicâ—s it had Golden Priests but when they had Golden Chalices and rich Benefices they had Wooden Ministers That Religion brought forth Riches and the Daughter hath devoured the Mother It is pity that men who are called to this Function which requires them to be Examples to others of humility lowliness of mind self-denial and mortification should be led so much as they are into the temptation of Pride Idleness and Excess by their Preferments For as it hath been reflected upon by some of the House and other Gentlemen who served the King without reparation as an error of the State in the late Restauration of Episcopacy that the profits of the Church-Lands for Twenty years together should be bestowed at once on a few single persons which would have leisurely requited a great many so are they really as little pleased to have the Priest who was perhaps a while ago their Servitor at the University or Tenants Son or something meaner than they will say should by the sudden accumulation of so many places as he hath had Simonically or Gratuitously conferred upon him he huffed up to that pompous height and vanity of his Coach and Liveries as makes him to become the very envy of his Patron and scandal to his profession It is true that the Nobility Spiritual and Temporal have the Prerogative to capacitate a Minister according to Law for
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
these Interpretations appear in our Arguments before against the Oxford Oath and this Subscription which we can by no means submit to without them There is moreover this Clause And I will conform to the Liturgy of the Church as it is now by Law Established we desire may be spared because upon our Declaration before of Assent and Consent which must be the Bounds of our Sense thereof it is needless altogether and can serve but for a Snare only to Mens Consciences And forasmuch as there is an Oath prescribed and required of all Non-conformist Preachers that Reside in any Corporate-Town by a certain Act of this Parliament made at Oxford in the 17th Year of His now Majsties Reign Entituled An Act for restraining Non-conformists from inhabiting Corporations We do further declare That it shall suffice any Man for the Enjoyment of his Free-born Liberty of Inhabiting where he think best and serve him also instead of the fore-mentioned Subscription to take that Oath in this Form of VVords following I A. B. do firear That I hold it unlawful upon any Pretence to take Arms against the King his Government or Law And that I disclaim that dangerous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or any Legally Commissionated by him in the Legal Pursuit of such Commissions And that I will not Endeavour any Alteration of Government in the Church or State in any way or manner not warranted by the Constitution of the Kingdom or any otherwise than by Act of Parliament And as soon as any Man hath taken the Oath thus he shall be discharged of all Penalty for his Omission before This Oath is of the same Contents with the Subscription before and to impose both is nothing else but the multiplying Wrath and laying Load on the already Laden VVe do declare moreover That whereas it is required also in the Act of Vniformity that every Minister who enjoys any Living or Ecclesiastical Preferment shall be Ordained by a Bishop and there are several Persons of late who in case of Necessity for want of Bishops took Presbyterian-Orders Our meaning is not in any wise to disgust the Reformed-Churches beyond the Seas and make it necessary for such to be Re-ordained to the Office but that they receive this Second Imposition of Hands to the Exercise of their Office in the new Charge unto which they are or shall be called and that the Bishop shall frame his Words accordingly There is Reordinatio ad Officium which we say is generally decryed by Divines or Re-ordinatio ad Exercitium particulare which may be irrefragably proved from Acts 13.2 3. with Acts 14.26 and consiquently allow'd to serve this Occasion And whereas there is a Subscription also in the Canons and the Canonical-Oath of Obedience imposed on most Ministers by the Bishops that have given some of the greatest Occasion to Non-conformity heretofore which yet never passed into Law by any Act of Parliament We do further declare That nothing more of that kind shall be required of Ministers hence-forward than was made and held necessary by the Act of the Thirteenth of Elizabeth If the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance be taken and the Articles of the Church subscribed and the Declaration before to the Common Prayer made we see no need of boyling over these Three Things again for us in the Canons unless it be for a Crambe Repetita on purpose to Ki◠us Neither do we think the putting any Honest Men who fear God cut of the Vineyard to be so good a Thing for her that our Wise Church of England should use so much Care and Industry as She takes that she may not miss to do it And in regard there hath been great Offence taken by Conscientious Ministers at the Bishops or their Courts commanding them to read the Sentence of Excommunication against some or other of their Parish for such Faults as they think not at all worthy of so great a Censure We declare it but a just Thing that every Minister be first satisfyed in the Cause or else be exempted from the Execution of that Charge and that the Bishop or his Court provide some other Person that is satisfyed about a it to do it As we think there is no Elder in the New Testament who is not a Pastor and that there is no Lay-Pastor so do we account that there is no Pastor or Presbyter but such as have the Power both to Rule and Teach committed to them by Christ Yet do we for al that apprehend it not only Lawful but Expedient for the ordinary Minister of our Parochial-Congregations when the Church is National to commit part of their Charge to wit that of Ruling in Actu Secundo to some few among them who are more Eminently fitted for the Work that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consequently to the Bishop So that if this Fundamental Right of Governing their own Flocks be but acknowledge a to Reside in every Presbyter by granting so much to us as this and what bath preceded comes to we shall be unwilling to fall off from Episcopacy upon the Points of Ordination and Jurisdiction And to the intent that a free Search after Truth may not be discouraged in the Pursuit of Concord and many other Scruples avoided upon that Account We declare That though an Authentick Interpretation be required as to the Substance of all Laws yet in the Articles of the Church which are Theses for Agreement and not Laws and the Homilies a Doctrinal Interpretation shall be held sufficient for an Assent or Subscription to them The Authentick Interpretation of an Article is the Meaning of the Major Part of the Convocation A Doctrinal Interpretation is the Meaning of any one of the Doctors there present and consequently of any other Learned Expositor who are supposed to have the Liberty to abound in their own Sense so long as they can agree in the Words of the Article Established And this Clause therefore we put in upon Mature Consideration in regard more especially to the Conscientious Latitudinarians who being some Arminian and some Calvinian cannot otherwise Subscribe the Doctrine of the same Theses as the Reader may see more in such another Book as this call'd The Healing Paper out of which this Bill for Union is newly Collected as out of several other Papers of the same Author the whole discourse besides excepting a little new was pick'd up and in the Year 75 laid thus together And because the very Superintendency of Bishops and that Subjection to them which is required by the Constitution of the Realm is or may be an Hinderance to many sober Ministers and other Protestants of coming into the Church who are ready to consent to the Doctrine but not to the Discipline or Government of it We do declare That so long as any Person or Party do acknowledge the King's Supremacy as Head of the Church in this Nation and obey their Ordinary or the Bishops in Licitis
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