Certain considerable and most materiall Cases of CONSCIENCE wherewith divers wel-affected in this Kingdom are much perplexed the cleering whereof would worthily deserve the paines of the Assembly at London I. WHether there be any clear evidence of Scripture wherein the conscience of a Christian may safely rest for taking up of Armes against his Prince If it had not been forbidden there had been the lesse doubt but there being so many places of Scripture so evidently and so directly against it how shall ordinary capacities that are but ordinarily enlightned be sure that in joyning with the two Houses now at Westminster he doth not transgresse Gods Commandement and draw upon himselfe damnation There are three things pretended but they do not satisfie tender consciences First it is said This was is not against the King What it is in Gods fight God knowes but to any humane understanding it seemes to be against the King It was first undertaken to fetch the King to Parliament it is prosecuted still that we may obtain our desires of the King and when we send to Treat about Peace we send to Treat with the King and if the King should chance to miscarry by a Bullet in these Wars which God forbid who then that hath contributed any assistance to the Parliament could have any comfort in his soul that he were free from the guilt of killing the King A second pretence is That this is a defensive war Indeed if our Armies did alwayes retreat and go back from the King we should think so too but now when we see our Armies still pursue him as at first time also when we sent to fetch him to the Parliament it seemes to be against all sence and reason to count this War a defensive War Thirdly it is pretended A Parliament may do that which private men cannot do And that is certainly true without all doubt but yet the question doth still remain whether the two Houses which make not a full Parliament can lawfully take up Arms against their King It hath been alwayes observed in this kingdom That a Parliament cannot be till the King call it and if it cannot lawfully be without him it is not easie to be beleeved that it may lawfully Act without him much lesse against him and it seemes something strange that the King of his goodnesse having continued this Parliament should now be distressed by that unto which he himself hath given life And here it is to be considered from whence the Parliament hath that power which they have if it be said From the King without question he gave them not power to take up Armes against himself if it be said From the People which is in deed our Pachamentary doctrine our own doings do convince us for our hearts tell us That the people for the major part are Enemies to our proceedings else why have we sent for the Scots There is another thing pretended also at least amongst the vulgar whereby we would many of us quiet and still our consciences and yet it will not do It is said That the King and Parliament are one others expresse it thus to give it the better colour That the Parliament is a part of the King And that which is inferred thereupon is this That the Parliament can do nothing against the King and that whatsoever any man doth for the Parliament he doth for the King because the King and Parliament are one Now it is true indeed the King and Parliament are one one body politique whereof the King is head and so it is true too that the husband and the wife are one body whereof the husband is the head and the union between them is so neer that a neerer cannot be imagined between the King and Parliament and yet it follows not because the husband and the wife are one that it is impossible for the wife to miscarry her selfe towards her husband who knows not that there are some untractable women in the world that carry themselves most unchristianly towards their husbands both with froward words and crosse actions and if any man shall take the wifes part in such away it cannot be said of him he is for the husband and the wife for while he is for the wife in such a way surely he is against the husband So for the difference in hand though the King and Parliament be one it follows not that it is impossible for the Parliament to be disloyall and they carrying themselves in such a way whosoever shall be for them it cannot be said of him he is for the King and Parliament for while he is for them in such a way he must needs be against the King This inference therefore follows not Indeed thus we may rightly argue The husband and the wife are one therefore the wife ought not to be injurious and disloyall to her husband and so the King and Parliament are one therefore the Parliament ought not to be disloyall to the King this Argument will hold but we see the other holds not And as the only way for a man to shew himself a friend both to the husband and the wife in such a case as is mentioned and to make peace in the familie is to let the wife know her duty so the onely way for a man now to shew himselfe a friend both to King and Parliament is to let the Parliament know their duty and to endeavour to reduce them thereunto This comparison doth make the businesse plain onely in one thing the comparison holds not If the wife at any time pretends her husband doth her wrong there is a Judge on earth above them to end the strife namely the King or his Deputy But if at any time the Parliament conceives the King doth them wrong there is no higher Judge on earth to flie unto they must seek unto heaven by their Prayers and wait on the Lord for a redresse of their injuries II Whether he that offers violence to the Kings Person can be free from the sinne of Rebellion because he pretends to defend the Kings Power What violence hath been offered to his person is too evident The unworthy and dishonourable words that have been uttered of the King in Pamphlets in Declarations yea and in Pulpits also to humane reason seeme no small indignities but much more to be excluded from his Houses to have his Revenues with-held to be pursued with Armies and shot at with Bullets c. III Whether we do not oppose the Kings Power when we got about by force to diminish his Power As in Election of his Counsellors his negative voice c. IIII Whether the practice of any former Parliaments held in time of thick and dark Popery may be a sufficient warrant for Parliaments now to walk by Some former Parliaments have been too bold with Kings as our Chronicles shew neither may we think all that out Parliaments have done in that behalf to be lawfull because it is recorded in our
are all bound not only to the present Liturgie but also to the present Government both by their subscription and also by a vowed promise with a calling of God to witnesse and help thereunto As for the Act of Parliament whereby the Liturgy is confirmed in which Liturgy the Bishops by a prescribed Order more then once or twice are appointed to be prayed for it binds all the Subjects as well as Ministers It is the Law of the Kingdom established by Soveraign Authority and this Authority the Apostle saith we must be Subject unto both for fear of wrath and also for conscience sake This doth concern all the Subjects of the Kingdom but the Ministers Assembly men and all are yet somewhat further bound For at their Ordinations they have put it under their hands and that willingly and ex anima as they professed at least that the Book of Common Prayer containeth in it nothing contrary to the word of God and that they themselves will use the form in that Book prescribed and none othen And to this they have subscribed not once onely but again and again some of them when they took degrees in the Universities all of them when they were admitted into Orders both of Deaconty Priest hood and also at their severall Institutions to their Livings and admissions into Lectures as appears by the 36. Canon forementioned yet besides all this they made a vowed promise at their Ordination for a question being thus demanded of them will you reverently obey your Ordinary c This Answer was returned by them I will so do the Lord being my helper Now whether men that have so often bound themselves willingly and with all their heart and have lived accordingly some of them 20. some 30. some 40. yeers may lawfully endevour by the sword to free themselves from this bond or encourage others by the sword to procure a liberty for them or enter into a Covenant quite contrary to this bond is a case of conscience so deservedly considerable that all who have any conscience or do beleeve there is a Heaven or Hell to go to hereafter cannot but startle at the very first hearing of it that so much the rather because all Mimsters of the Kingdom have yet besides made another solemn Vow to their power to maintain quietnesse and Peace for at their Ordination this question being demanded of them Will you maintain and set forwards as much as lyeth in you quietnesse peace and love among all Christian people c The Answer they have all returned is this I will so do the Lord being my helper O God that art the helper of all them that do not forsake thee make them all that fear thee mindfull of their Vowes and carefull to perform them XV Whether the tampering so much with Oathes undertaking to dissolve some and impose others viz. new Covenants contrary to our former Oathes whereby the consciences both of Prince and people cannot but be insnared whether this doth seeme to argue any sincerity of zeal and purity of Religion or rather whether it doth not argue a wilfull purpose and resolution to compasse our own ends if possible though it be with the wrack of mens soules as well as of their Estates and Lives XVI Whether there be any reason or conscience the Clergy onely among all the Subjects of the Kingdom should be excluded from Voting about those Laws to the observance whereof it is expected they should be bound as well as the rest of the Subjects What a singular encouragement is here to be a Clergy-man in the Kingdom of England XVII Whether the Assembly of Divines at London have any lawfull calling Justly doubted for an ordinary calling all the Kingdom knows they have not they were not chosen by the voyces of the Clergy neither were they gathered together by the Kings will and Commandement without which there can be no such Ecclesiasticall Assembly as they themselves have put under their hands compare the third Article of subscription before mentioned with the 21. Article of Religion and it will easily appear and besides there is an Act of Parliament against such Assemblies as have not the Kings consent thereunto in the 25. of Henry 8. An ordinary calling then they have not an extraordinary by any supernaturall inspiration it is to be thought they will not assume to themselves and so they have no lawfull calling at all However the guides of the Kingdom they have taken upon them to be and therefore they may do well briefly and plainly to resolve these perplexing doubts with some Manifesto that we may know it is done or approved by them If we be misled woe be to us we shall perish in our iniquity Isay 9.16 but our blood shall be required at our watchmens hands Ezek. 3.18 XVIII Whether men lawfully possest of temporall Estates and having by their last will and Testament or any other lawfull means bestowed the same to the maintenance of the Clergy with fearfull curses some of them and imprecations on those that should divert it from that use whether those Estates can safely be alienated from the way which the Doners themselves devised without sacriledge True the curse causelesse will not come but that these curses are such who can say nay and if there were no curse yet who can say it is not sacriledge if Ananias and Saphira might not alienate what themselves had given who hath power to alienate that which is given by another man To rob Peter and pay Paul will not be sufficient to excuse the businesse A man had need be sure of his warrant before he take upon him to be a divider Luk. 12.14 XIX Whether we who endeavour to change the government of the Church that we may procure liberty of conscience yet exercise cruell Tyranny upon mens Consciences our selves by requiring them to joyn with us though there be so many scruples of conscience against it by plundering and imprisoning them if they will not joyn with us and by imposing new Covenants contrary to former Oathes whether we seeme not to the Malignants too justly to be guilty of deep Hypocrisie espying a mote that was in the Bishops eyes and not discerning the beam that is in our own XX Whether we that cryed out upon the Papists for endeavouring to bring in the Spaniards and upon the King for intending as we conceived to bring in the Danes be not unexcusable before God and man for doing that our selves in bringing in the Scots which we condemned in others Rom. 2.1 c Item whereas we complained of the Tyranny of the Bishops that many thereby were driven to forsake their Native Countrey and yet we by our cruelty shall do the self same are we not in this behalf also unexcusable many more such Items may be added XXI Whether it can stand with the quiet of Christian consciences to make such an effusion of Christian blood as now hath been spilt and yet is in
friends and Countrey-men slain by the sword but unexpressible also are the calamities under which they groan that are yet alive It is with them at London as once it was with Samaria the Metropolis when time was of the Kingdom of Israel They trusted in the Mountain of Samaria a strong place and being in safety and plenty themselves they took not to heart the affliction of Ioseph that is the miseries of their Brethren and Countrey-men that lived abroad in other parts of the Kingdom and for this cause there is a sharp judgement woe be to them denounced by the Prophet Amos 6.1.6 There is no place so strong that woe may not enter and therefore O God that art the God of mercy and delightest in the prosperity of thy people give unto our Parliament a desire to be like unto thy self and to put on bowels of mercy both towards themselves and towards their miserable yea now gasping Countrey that we may accept of and be contented with and thankfull for so much as we had under the Reign of Queen Elizabeth rather then out of a desperate resolution of having more to lose all and bring a totall desolation upon the whole Kingdom XXVIII Whether they that hold the head The head of the body politick and the head of the body mysticall are justly to be persecuted by us Iob saith no These are his words Ye should say why persecute we him seeing the root of the matter is found in me Job 19.28 Nay we should say why persecute we him that is the head of the body politick and holds the head of the body mysticall the root of the matter that is the profession of the true Christian Faith being found in him The true Circumcision that is the true Children of Abraham as the Apostle doth declare Phil. 3.3 are they who worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Iesus and have no confidence in the flesh And this is the Religion professed by the Church of England this is the doctrine of the Church That for salvation they depend onely on Christ Jesus and have no confidence in their own works And as for those Ceremonies used by them in the externall worship of God they have no confidence in them neither nor reckon them a part of the worship This may well be esteemed to be the root of the matter though Iob indeed applies this phrase peculiarly to the faith of the Resurrection through Christ which as being a particular is comprehended in this generall of imbracing Christ by Faith with all his benefits and to slur this profession the root of the matter with the odious imputation of Popery what is it lesse then Blasphemy and to pursue the professors of this Religion with the sword as Papists though neither Papists nor Brownists for their Religion are thus to be pursued what is it lesse then a bloody prosecution of the truth XXIX Whether in the sight of God and all indifferent men they are not to be accounted factious and seditious who by the power of the sword endevour any where the subversion of the Ancient government and known Laws contrary to the will and liking of the Supream Magistrate Indeed among us at this day they that are for Peace are esteemed factious and they that are for innovation even by the sword are accounted Peaceable the strangest paradox that ever was heard of But the counsell of the Holy Ghost is this and good it is for Christians to follow his counsell Fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Pro. 24.21 The knitting together of these duties in this place is very observable for the Holy Ghost hereby shewes That they fear not God who fear not the King that one evidence of the want of the fear of God is to study or endeavour any innovation without or against the King with such he wishes us not to joyn and a reason he addes in the next verse for their calamity shall rise suddenly c. To the like purpose is that in Eccles 10.8 9. If this Scripture be Scripture still we know not how to joyn with the Parliament for an alteration against the Kings will nay besides these two places the Scripture doth frequently require subjection and forbids resistance who knows not those eminent places Rom. 13.1 2 5. Tit. 3.1 and 1. Pet. 2.13 14. We have all protessed to defend the priviledges of Parliament but that the Parliament hath any priviledge more then private men to walke contrary to the word of God or that they have any dispensation granted from walking according to Scripture rules is not yet made evident if this priviledge were once cleerly manifested we should never make any more doubt at all XXX Whether to have such thoughts as this I will go on in the way I have chosen even to the effusion of Rivers of blood though I see so many doubts doubts that seeme unanswerable though my conscience have no warrant out of Scripture for it whether this be not the resolution of a man whose salvation is desperate For the Apostle tells us that whatsoever is not of faith is sin Rom. 14.23 and whosoever doth wilfully continue in any sin is not yet in the state of Salvation for the Lord will not be mercifull to them that offend of malicious wickednesse XXXI Whether it be not more suitable to Christian Religion safer for a Christians soul upon these grounds even to suffer under the King if he should prove Tyrant or persecuter which upon many evidences we have good cause to hope he never will and should with our Prayers endeavour to obtain he never may rather then upon no grounds but bare feares and jealousies taken up by an implicit faith pinn'd upon the sleeve of a few men not priviledged from error contrary to Gods word to Acts of Parliament to subscriptions Oathes and Vowes to Rebell against him Vpon these considerations and such like many have fallen off already from the Parliament and unlesse some cleer satisfaction be hereunto speedily given if at least any satisfactory reason may be given how we should break all these sacred bonds and not be guilty it is to be thought many more will fall off Great is the truth and will prevaile And O thou that are the God both of truth and peace direct our hearts that we may understand the truth and incline our mindes to follow those things that make for Peace yea Lord grant unto us all with setled purpose and serious resolution to walke in those wayes that are most suitable to the Gospell as knowing that those are the wayes that make most for the glory of thy name and most for the comfort of our own otherwise erring and indanger'd soules Turpe haec opprobria nobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli Satius est de media via recurrere quam semper currere male Be not deceived God is not mocked Gal. 6.7 FINIS 1645.