Gospel not mighty through God but mighty through the Magistrates power and wholly to alter the nature of the Gospel and all its Institutions 't is to arm the Church with Weapons Christ never gave her and to make her a Military rather than a Spiritual Society Thirdly Suppose but this truth That all Churches even the purest are in the execution of Christs Laws fallible and lyable to mistake this Doctrine hath a marvellous tendency to bring the Magistrate under great transgression and each Christian under a possibility of such bondage as the Gospel no where imposes on him If a man be unjustly cast out of a Church and the Magistrate proceeds against him he executes an evil Sentence and does it blindfold being by this Doctrine an Officer no way competent nor in any capacity to make a judgment of the truth or error of it and so cannot possibly escape a greater sin A Christian unduly cast out of a Church hath this security against such a proceeding that Christ will never ratifie it upon his Conscience but by this manner of execution he is sure whether the Sentence be right or no to fall under as heavy an outward suffering as the Magistrates Sword can inflict upon him And by this means it will come to pass that men shall be more dangerously concerned in their Lives and Estates by being in the Church than by being Members of any Society whatsoever The third Extream in this matter lies amongst those who say That the Magistrate hath nothing at all to do about Religion This lies very wide from truth and cannot in such a general Position be made good if we consider First That every man in the World as he is a Creature and a Subject to the great God is bound in his station and in Gods way to promote his honour and endeavour that his Will may be done in the World it would be strange that the Magistrate who is his chief Officer should be no way concerned to see the Laws which God gives the World put in execution by the Persons and in the manner he hath appointed it 't is not to be imagined that he that hath the complicated relation of a Christian and a Magistrate to others should have no care relative to their Spiritual good 't were to say the Magistrate must not do that which every man else in the World is bound to do Secondly God never since the world began trusted any with the care of mens bodies but he entrusted them likewise with some care of their Souls If we look over all the Natural and Moral Relations in the world such as Parents Masters General of Armies we shall ever find it so Men are to be ruled over as Creatures that have immortal Souls to be chiefly cared for and they are to be ruled over as such who have a special relation to God and a homage to pay him above all the rest of the world a rule over men without some respect to this would denominate mankind into Brutes Thirdly To say the Magistrate hath nothing to do about Religion is to deny what hath been practised by the Light of Nature before the Law was practised under the Law suitable to that dispensation and both commanded and commended and is to be practised under the Gospel suitable to this dispensation and is foretold as a blessing so to be and in fact hath been so ever since there hath been a Magistrate Christian in the world Having thus considered these hurtful Extreams about the Magistrates Power the last thing to come under consideration will be the due bounds of a Magistrates Power under the Gospel that is How far a Magistrate being Christian may improvedly exercise his natural power for the advantage and benefit of the Gospel and wherein he stands bounded and obliged not to proceed The preserving a right state whereof through the torrent of these Extreams will be of singular moment to the matter in hand We have seen that the power of a Heathen and a Christian Magistrate differs nothing at all in kind A Heathen Magistrate hath the same right and is bound to do as much in Religion as a Christian only the one having more knowledge of God and his Mind is bound improvedly to exercise his power accordingly the first thing a Christian Magistrate stands bound to do for the good of Religion is to afford the Churches all negative good that is to remove all Oppression from them and all things that do any way hinder them to enjoy the Institutions of Christ he is to give them rest that they may be edified and walk in the comforts of the Holy Ghost and lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all godliness and honesty This as 't is a special blessing the Church does not often enjoy so 't is one chief part of that benefit it receives by Christian Rulers And this the Light of Nature will easily guide a Magistrate to do for any Religion of the truth of which he is perswaded In the Affirmative he is not only to see that the Gospel be preached and all under him fully instructed in the truths thereof to unite all Christians and as much as in him lies preserve peace in the Church to encourage those he finds most zealous constant and sincere in the profession of the Gospel and by his own example to lead forth his Subjects in all sound Orthodox Profession and Practice But to comprehend all in one he is to endeavour in a Gospel-way to see all the Laws of Christ put in execution and as much as in him lies see his Will done in the World he is so far from being bound to execute only what the Church will have him that he is to over-see their proceedings and to take care as Christs chief Officer in the World that all things in the Church be duly and according to Christs appointment administred The Apostles words are general and full Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers Wheresoever the highest power is it must needs be so unless you will have a highest and a highest which will breed inevitable confusion the Civil power bidding a man do one thing and the Ecclesiastical another it hath ever in fact been so but under the Roman Church where the Emperors were made believe that 't was the highest piece of Religion voluntarily to yield up their Power to the Church and submit to her direction for the use of it which at first they confessed was inherent in the Emperors and not in the Church Before the Law not only the Power but the Exercise of the Priesthood it self naturally fell into the Magistrate 'T was so in Noah in Abraham and in Melchizedeck who was a King and a Priest 'T was so in Moses the Regal and Sacerdotal power were both in him till they were by God divided between him and Aaron ever since which time the exercises of Magistracy and Ministry have been and are to be distinct 'T was so likewise amongst
the other Heb. 10.28 29. He that despised the Law of Moses died without mercy under two or three Witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under Foot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing and done despite unto the spirit of Grace Here is the highest offence imaginable against the Gospel and the punishment as 't is clear in the next Verses is not Corporal but Spiritual and Eternal and to fall into the hands of the living God himself to execute it He that broke Moses's Law fell but into the hand of man and suffered corporal death but this offence under the Gospel brings a man to fall into the Hand of God for eternal death The sorer punishment he speaks of cannot be outward or corporal for there can be no sorer punishment of that kind than what was inflicted under Moses's Law to put a man to death and therefore he speaks of another punishment in the nature of it So Piscator upon the place Graviori supplicio scilicet Eterno the Supream Punishment under the Law was inflicted by Moses upon the Body suitable to that outward state of things that sorer Punishment for Offences under the Gospel according to the nature of it is inflicted by God himself upon the Soul eternally And so the kinds of the Punishments under the Law and the Gospel suitable to the offences relating to each are here clearly distinguished Those Scriptures that are usually urged out of the New Testament to justifie compulsion in the Magistrate and corporal punishment for spiritual offences are of so little cogency and so apparently wrested from their native sense that every eye may if unprejudiced perceive it I will instance in two or three of those chiefly insisted on by Mr Prinne and those who earnestly contend that way Ananias and Saphira were struck to death by Peter therefore corporal Punishment is to be inflicted under the Gospel Who is there that does not see that whole business to be miraculous and extraordinary as the healing the Lame the Blind was First the punishment is wholly extraordinary and secondly the ground of it so For it was upon a Judgment passed on Hypocrisie and Evil latent in the heart However if we will continue that Power to any now we must I hope derive it to the Church and not to the Magistrate Another Scripture earnestly urged is that of our Saviour Luke 19.27 But those mine Enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me This speech relates to the Parable before which is of a noble man going into a far Country to receive a Kingdom and to return and then to take an account of all his Servants what they had done in his absence What can be more clear than that this Parable is spoken to set forth Christs ascension into Heaven and his return to Judgment in the end of the World And this place is a clear Prophetick expression of that Judgment Christ will then execute upon his Enemies both Jews and Gentiles The words of Calvin upon this place are very express this way and indeed 't is not possible to interpret yet any other His words are these In this second part he seemeth specially to reprove the Jews yet he toucheth all which in the abscence of the Master do bend themselves to fall away And Christ purposed not only to terrifie such with denouncing of horrible Vengeance but also to keep his in faithful obedience for it is no light temptation to see the Kingdom of God shaken by the faithlesness of many Therefore that we might remain quiet amongst so many tumultuous stirs Christ saith That he will come again and will be revenged at his coming of that ungodly falling away Another Scripture pressed to serve for the proof of this is that wish not command of Paul's in Gal. 5.12 I would they were even cut off that trouble you This makes as little for the purpose as the other Some amongst the Galatians highly pressed the observation of the Jewish worship upon them in Circumcision and other things the Apostle bespeaks them to a Gospel-punishment in the Jewish Language Casting-out under the Gospel comes in the room of Cutting-off under the Law the Apostle means a Gospel-rejection under the Jewish terms of cutting-off which was oppositely expressed to those that pressed the observance of the Law So Beza upon the place Paulus ad pelliculae sectionem alludit quam ipsi urgebant And a little after Possumus istud de Excommunicatione simpliciter intellegere qualis fuit illa incestuosi Corinthij Nothing is more usual than to express Gospel-matters in the Typical Language of the Jewish Church So the Saints are called Priests their Alms Sacrifices and we are bid to eat the Passover And so in that famous place of our Saviour where he bids us If an Offender refuse to hear the Church to count him as an Heathen man and a Publican 'T is nothing but a Gospel-Precept expressed in the Jewish dialect Of as little moment or less if it may be to the purpose in hand are the other Scriptures insisted on Let the New Testament be but fairly dealt with and suffered to enjoy its own native sense and we shall not find a word to countenance the execution of the Laws of the Gospel by Temporal force nor to inflict upon any man corporal punishment for a Spiritual offence committed in the Church Our Saviour directly tells Pilate and Paul to Timothy calls it a good confession That his Kingdom is not of this World he means no doubt the Kingdom of the Gospel and therefore his Empire would no way invade Caesar's though the Jews told Pilate If he let Christ go he was none of Caesar's Friend His meaning was That his Kingdom as Head of his Church was a Spiritual Kingdom distinct from the World and that as God governed the World by the Temporal power in the hand of the Magistrate so Christ governs his Kingdom by the Power of his Spirit and by Officers and Institutions wholly different and distinct from the World and suitable to such a Dominion Nothing since Christ's Ascension hath more disturbed the Christian World or brought more disorder into Religion than mixing those two Dominions in their distinct powers that of the World and this of the Church together 'T is absolutely necessary to keep these Powers distinct and several The Magistrate will be most useful to the Church by keeping the civil Power in its due bounds and the Church will be most safe and secure in the use of its Spiritual weapons Let the Sword of Justice govern in one and the Sword of the Spirit in the other and men will be most happy in both That the Laws made to punish Offenders corporally under the Jewish Church are not now to be executed without making our selves debtors to the whole Law sufficiently appears Take an
and Ratiocination and give every man freedom of debate and counted it a noble thing in the Bereans to examine the Scriptures Whether the things they preached were so or no. After all means used every man was left to his own Light Paul professeth he was not Lord over any mans Faith The truth is that part of the Soul where Faith and Conscience is seated cannot be reached by any compulsion and therefore force reaching but to outward practice there can be no other end of it but to make us suffer or else practice contrary to what we believe Sixthly Forcing men to a Religion which is wholly supernatural and imposing Principles upon them which are out of the compass of Moral Light as all Gospel-Principles are supposeth a perfect infallibility in the Imposers and the thing imposed or else 't is strangely unreasonable to force men against their own Light to be guided by ours unless we are sure we cannot mistake is a strange absurdity There is some excuse for being guided by a mistake of our own if it be the best light we have but there is no excuse for being guided by a mistake of another mans Three sorts of men there have been in the world eminent for Imposition in Religion and common discretion taught them that the necessary support of such Imposition must be a pretended Infallibility in themselves their Doctrines Such were the Jewish Rabbies of old who had so deluded the People that Luther tells us The Jews thought they were bound to believe what their Rabbies taught though they should say The Right hand was the Left and the Left the Right Such also was Mahomet and the Mufties who impose all upon the ground of Infallibility Mahomet at the first laying this down as a Maxim That there was to be no debate nor discourse of what he prescribed and his Mufties subdue the People by carrying on the same ever since Grotius gives a very full account of this in his Book of the Truth of Christian Religion Sect. 3. Famous for Imposition are the Popes and Priests of the Roman Church and they with the Hammer of Infallibility beat down all Opposition That 's a refuge never fails to justifie things against Scripture Reason and common Senses of man That the arrogant assumption of Infallibility since the time of Christ and his Apostles is nothing else but a political Cheat upon the World God by his Providence in fact as well as otherwise hath made it clear to us since those who pretend to it have as often contradicted each other and erred even in the Opinions each of other as any People in the World God in his just Judgment leaving those that pretend to be so much above all men to appear as weak and as depraved men as any the world has But Imposition where Infallibility is not pretended nor claimed must needs be but weakly underset He that imposeth a Religion upon me intends I should take his Light instead of my own Imposing a Religion upon me supposeth a duty in me of perfect subjection or else 't is ridiculous and signifies nothing Admitting a man to use his own Light in judging destroys the being of Imposition in Religion upon any tolerable grounds of Reason and no body is to be obeyed in whatever they command but those that are infallible Whoever it be the Church or the Magistrate that confesseth himself fallible must needs admit a possibility of mistake and so gives ground unquestionable to reason and consider what is offered to me and to what purpose will that be but farther to ensnare me if I must necessarily obey and unless I discover the weakness and mistake of what is put upon me I may refuse it Amongst the Protestant Churches where Infallibility is not claimed and this Doctrine taught That if any man command any thing sinful of which every mans Conscience is likewise acknowledged the Judge we are to suffer passively and not obey actively There can be no other success of Imposition but to make me suffer for being an honest man and following the Light of my own Conscience for if the thing enforced be according to my own judgment forcing me to it is needless if it be not I am bound by Principles acknowledged by all not to obey and so the event must needs be my suffering in performing my Duty Nay suppose further that the thing enjoyned be Infallible in its own nature and the Person enjoyning it be so in that very act yet till I am convinced in my reason of both those they are to me as if they were not so and I shall never upon that account yield implicit obedience and when I am convinced of such an Infallibility my own Reason without any other motive forceth me into subjection as that which is best for me No man can or ought to command me to alter my Judgment and Conscience guided by the best Light I have till he can shew me that as I am fallible so he is infallible and that he is so in that act of imposing a Religion upon me my own light is more safe to me than any other mans that is not so intrusted and is but equally fallible with my self though in knowledge never so far above me He that owns he may be mistaken as well as I and yet would have me obey what he commands against what I believe would at the same time make me both a sinner and a fool a sinner to God and a fool to my own Reason a sinner to depart from my own Conscience by which God expects I should be guided and by which I shall hereafter be judged and a fool to eat by another mans taste and to part with my own Reason without any assurance of being guided by a better A Magistrate imposeth Uniformity in Religion acknowledgeth himself not infallible but that he may be under mistakes acknowledgeth likewise that no man is bound to obey him actually in any thing sinful acknowledgeth that the Judgment of what is sinful lies in every mans own Conscience as to his particular actings and that every mans Conscience though erroneous is to be followed till better informed Take the coherence of these things which are all granted Truths amongst us and the result will be twofold 1st That a man that cannot in Conscience conform to such an imposed Uniformity as thinking it sinful is punished for doing what is acknowledged to be his duty 2dly there can never be any other end in forcing Uniformity where such Principles are taken for granted but to bring such men into suffering who resolve to keep their Integrity Seventhly Every man in the World is to be a Judge for himself in all matters of the Gospel Religion and so ought not to be forced to believe or practise any thing he is not convinced of To what end is preaching or discoursing to men but that they may judge of what is said A man being obliged to answer for himself he must needs
If we consult the good of such men themselves so lapsed into Error and desire their Conversion Force and Imposition is no way to it If we consult our own Security there is no danger at all can come by it for as long as such Errors lie in the understanding and are only conversant about supernatural things they have no reference at all to the being or well-being of Mankind as such What hurt does an Error in Religion do me in my Neighbour that is otherwise an honest and good man He is rather in that an object of my Pity and Instruction than of my Anger If we desire to have all men of our Opinion because we think we are in the right 't is a very commendable thing and if we do it with such a publick Charity we shall use only such Christian means as naturally conduce to bring it about But if through the Pride of mens Hearts and the Intention of their own Exaltation thereby they will have every body of their Opinion and because they cannot convince and perswade them will therefore force them and trample upon them that 's an Odious Super-intendency To say That upon a prudential Account Liberty should never be allowed in a State because 't is that which will unite Parties and bring them to a Consistency amongst themselves and so render them much more dangerous is to say a thing upon a great Mistake For common Experience shews us That nothing unites Parties more amongst themselves than a hot Persecution For does any thing bring them so much together as that 'T is like a great Storm that drives Cattel that are scattered about altogether and brings them to meet in one common shelter to save themselves Ridly and Hooper agreed in the Goal that would hardly have disputed themselves Friends There is no Bond of Union amongst Disagreeing Persons like PERSECUTION The common Concern of their Security then begets Correspondency Acquaintance and such Intercourse and mutual Assistance as endears them above any thing one to another And for the Danger there may be of any Party there is nothing sure so like to remove that as indulging them with a Liberty The best way to be secured against the discontent of any Party is to remove the Cause of such Discontent and the best way to be out of fear of them unless you can totally destroy them is to oblige them and so at once to engage and win them over and thereby disband our own Fears A late Author tells us with particular Remark That Maecenus heretofore gave advice to Augustus That upon no terms he should endure such who would bring in any strange Worship into the State I believe it and 't was such kind of Advice no doubt that caused the Ten first Persecutions Methinks the Author should have remembred That that advice would have kept Christianity out of the World For if we follow the Track of such Policy we shall find that what we now say against Tolerating Dissenters amongst our selves the Papists first said and do still say against us all and if we go one step higher the Heathens said the very same against the Christian Religion it self and thought it a Factious Fanatick Project of sick-brain'd men and a thing not to be endured that men should not content themselves with the same Godds that the rest of World worshipped and acquiesced in 'T is a sad thing and much to be lamented that the Protestants should take up the Dregs of those Politicks and make use of them one against another upon very small difference amongst themselves The same Author in another part of his Book propounds this Question If divers ways of Worship saith he be allowed in a Nation what shall a Prince do If he keep any men of any Profession or Party out of Employment for their Opinion sake he disobliges that Party If he bring all men indifferently alike into Employment if he be of any Party himself he will disoblige his own Party who will expect Pre-eminence in that kind and so in Conclusion by endeavouring to please all he will lose all This is a Knot very easily untied I will suppose a Prince strict in the Profession and Practice of what he thinks is the Truth and the more strict Personally he is the greater will the favour of Indulgence appear to those that differ from him But there is no necessity that he should make a Party of those who are of his Opinion distinct from the rest of his Subjects 'T is below his Greatness and besides his Interest so to do they will soon become like the Sons of Zerviah and in time grow to be too hard for him Those that are of his Opinion he may think them in his private judgment better Christians than others but there is no Policy so to distinguish them as if they were thereby better Subjects than others All men in a State are to give one Common Assurance of their Fidelity and such who are allowed a Liberty in their Religion when differing from the publick Profession the Political end of it is to make them good Subjects and the end of that must needs be to make them serviceable to their Prince And there is no Reason to doubt but that they will be so and eminently so because they lie under an Obligation to his Favour those of his own Opinion are not capable of A Prince should seat himself in his Throne with an equal Political Aspect to all his Subjects and employ them as their fitness for his Service qualifies them There is no Reason to narrow and limit a Prince to any Party or to let any Party grow into such a Praedominant Opinion as if the Prince were confin'd to them No mans bare Opinion in such things should qualifie him for an Employment nor no mans Opinion ought to put a Negative upon him in that kind that is for a Prince after he has obliged all his Subjects to him to lose the use of a great part of them Let a Prince but chuse men to serve him whose Ability and Fitness carries the evidence of his Choice and other Exceptions will soon vanish 'T is below the Greatness of a Prince to have any Subject to pretend to Imployment upon any score but his Judgment of his fitness for it The King of France hath often with good success employed his Protestant Subjects Nay has often trusted the Command of his whole Army in the hand of the Protestant and yet feared not the disobliging of the Popish Party or being thought a man of no Religion for so doing 'T is a most Absurd and Impolitick thing because men differ in some divine supernatural things to put them under such Characters as to make them unuseful one to another in all other humane things Let a Prince once give Liberty of Conscience and he obliges all Parties to him and makes them wholly depend upon him the Tenor of their Liberty will be a Tenor in Capite and Quam diu
own Hand would neither Answer the Letter nor so much as Discourse me but when I had given them the Letter C. T. bad me be gone All which shews the Author to the Accuser his Pretentions to an Accommodation Condiscention to be fallacious Deceitful and Hypocritical Object BY this time some may be ready to object and say It is true these Things as Stated cannot be denyed but to have used a more private way might have been as convincing and not have ministred that occasion to such as are Enemies to all Religion as this way of Proceeding perhaps may especially since the Author of the Accuser says p. 127. We can the more easily concur and accord as to Circumstances and Outward Methods and in the Wisdom of God so condiscend one to another and accommodate Matters as not to divid about them Answ That I with many other have used private meanes for about the space of four years without any Redress nay not so much as a Christian Answer and that the Pretence of the Author of the Accuser to Condiscention and Accommodation is fallacious and false and a meer piece of feigned Hypocrisy to amuse his Reader and delude the World I shall make evidently appear before I pass this Chapter especially considering what meanes I used at our Quarterly-Meeting in the Case of J. A. made mention of in the third Chapter both by Letters and Queries First then see a Letter that eleven Friends belonging to our Meeting in Milden-Hall sent to our Quarterly Meeting who were so far from Condiscention Accommodation as that they refused to have it read amongst them but said We were all deluded A Copy whereof followeth To Friends at the Quarterly Meeting in Hadenham the 4th Mo. 80. Dear Friends THese Lines are to put you in Mind that many Friends belonging to our Meeting as well as in divers other Places are offended and burthened by reason of the continued Record against John Ansloe which exclude him what in you lye out of the Unity of Friends which is nothing less than Excommunication to the utmost of your Power whereby we are constrained to visit you in this manner entreating you to race out the said Record out of your Quarterly Book Indeed had J. A. denyed Marriage the very forbidding of which is a Doctrine of Devils you might justly have thrown him out for Marriage is Gods Ordinance But the Controversy is not here but about manifesting his Intention to Marry Behold the Crime as you account it and consider of it we beseech you for Peace sake and lay not such a Stress where Christ nor his Primitive Followers laid none And that thereunto you may be encouraged ponder the saying of W. P. in his Address to Prot. p. 77. I beseech you Protestants by the Mercies of God and Love of Jesus Christ ratified to you in his most precious Blood FLY ROME AT ROME Look to the Enemies of your own House have a care of this Presumption carry it not too high lay not Stress where God hath laid none The Impositions of such Opinions is the Priviledge of Hypocrites and the Snare of many honest Minds And p. 93. If we consider the Matter well I fear saith W. P. it will be found that the occasion of Disturbance in the Church of Christ hath in most Ages been found to lye on the Side of those who have had the greatest Sway in it And Pag. 94. If the Spiritual Guides and Fathers of the Church would be a little sparing of incumbring Churches with needless Supersluities there were far less danger of Schism and Superstition And Pag. 144. Nay Christ himself to whom all Power was given in Heaven and Earth submitted himself to the Test He did not require them to believe him because he would be believed he refers them to the Witness that God bore of him saying If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true He also sends them to the Scriptures but an Imposing Church bears witness of her self and will be both Party and Judge require Assent without Evidence and Faith without Proof therefore false But Christian Religion ought to be carryed on only by that way by which it was Introduced which was Perswasion If any Man will be my Disciple let him take up his Cross and follow me Pag. 146. For if I believe what the Church believes only beause She believes and not because I am convinced in my Vnderstanding of the Truth of what She believes my Faith is false though hers be true I say 't is not true to me I have no Evidence of it And Pag. 141. The Apostle became all unto all that he might win some but this is becoming all unto none to force all he therefore recomends the utmost Condiscention that can be lawful he stooped he became all unto all that is he stooped to all Capacities and humbled himself to those Degrees of Knowledge that Men had and valued that which was good in all These Allurements were all his Injunctions nay in this Case he makes it an Injunction to use no other Let us therefore saith he as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you you shall not be Imposed upon Stigmatized or Excommunicated for want of full satisfaction or because you do not consent before Conviction Thus far William Penn. Now let us a little animadvert upon this Noble Mans Words Lay no Stress saith he where God hath not laid Stress as if he should have said Friends God never laid any such Stress about publishing the Intent of Marriage Why then do you Have a care of this Presumption carry not things too high neither Smite Record nor Excommunicate one another about such Things which are at best but Mens Traditions and Impositions which may prove a Snare to the Honest and Conscientious but a seeming Priviledge to the conformable Hypocrite for you see that such as have the greatest Sway in the Church are evermore the cause of these Disturbances who pretending themselves Fathers and Spiritual Guides are not sparing of cumbring the Churches with needless Superfluities and such Orders as Christ never commanded nor his Apostles ever practised which had they been so useful as you pretend they be surely Christ and his Apostles would not have been so forgetful of Prescribing such Outward Observations nay but on the contrary they have told us in Holy Writ The Kingdom of Heaven comes not that way neither consists in such things You also may perceive that Christ was such an Example of Meekness and Self-denyal and so far and free from Force and Imposition that he only said If any Man will be my Discipie let him take up his Cross and follow me but an Imposing Church bears witness of her self and though She sets up such Orders as Christ never commanded yet She requires assent without Evidence and Faith without Proof for She will be both Party and Judge
and Recorder out of the Unity at her pleasure which manifests her to be the false Church for the true Christian Religion was introduced by Perswasion and ought to be so carryed on for if I believe and practice only because the Church doth so ad not from a convincement in my self my Faith and Obedience would be false and Idolatrous The Apostles who had the Mind of Christ became all unto all stooped to all Capacities to all Degrees of Knowledge valued what was good in all these were his Injunctions who said As every Man is fully perswaded so let him walk for what is not of Faith is Sin He did not Record out of the Unity such as saw not so clear as himself but became all unto all that he might save some but you that would force all become all to none you will not stoop at all nor condiscend at all but exalt and magnifie your Orders and written Prescriptions how many weak Brethren soever you offend You value not the good in any but Conformity to your Humour and to your Will and though some are otherwise minded about Discipline and Church-Government you will not let them alone but you will impose upon them Stigmatise and Record them out of the Unity which is no less than Excommunication Wherefore take W. P's Advice FLY ROME AT HOME and lay not Stress where God lays not Stress Thus twice over as it were have you herein the genuine sense of Dear W. P. And Oh! that every one concerned would make a diligent search in his own Heart and like the beloved Disciple smite upon his Breast and say Is it I Is it I that am guilty of this Severity of this Presumption if carrying things too high of setting up such Orders as prove a Snare or at least a burthen to the Conscientious yea of laying a Stress and a great Stress where God never laid any One that am the Cause of this Disturbance in the Church One that bears witness of my self and that will be both Party and Judge Oh! let me a little Examine my self Am I One that cannot become all unto all One that cannot condiscend at all to my Brother One that will value not the good in any but Conformity to my Will and Humour One that would have all believe and practice as I do whether I convince their Vnderstanding of the Truth of what I believe and practice or not and if not condemn them for Hereticks without any more a do I say Oh that every one would thus reflect upon himself that so you might consider of these things for many are offended and grieved with the continuance of the aforementioned Record against J. A. And again beseech and intreat you to reverse the same that so Love and Good-will Unity and Concord may spring amongst us as in the Beginning which is heartily desired by your Friends who subscribe their names hereunto Francis Bugg Elizabeth Bugg Joseph Masson Jane Masson Joseph Ellington Rachel Ellington John Thrift Joseph Tetsall William Bellsham Phillip Wing Mary Huggins Sarah Bird. Dated the 15th of the 3d. Month 1680. Note That John Thrift who carried the recited Letter to the Quarterly-Meeting said that they would not suffer it to be read but cryed out You are deluded Which by the Second-days Meetings own Rule if they approved W. P's small Tract Entituled A Brief Examination and State of Liberty Spiritual is a mark of Imposition For in the said Tract p. 4. 't is thus written I ask thee May I not exhort thee to the Practice of that I am moved to press thee to the Practice of If not thou are the Imposer by restraining me from my Christan-Liberty and not only so but away goeth Preaching and with it the Scriptures that are both appointed of God for Exhortation Reproof and Instruction Their Proceedings herein need no Comment being worse than the Magistrates ever served me who do as really believe me to be deluded as they could pretend to any such Thing and yet they will often hear and do Justice too And after I had waited more than a Year and saw no Redress I then wrote to W. P. thinking he might be an Instrument to compose things but what he did whether any thing or nothing I never had any Answer to this Day A Coppy of which now followeth Viz. This for W. P. with Care c. Dear Friend VVHen I consider the Nature of the Controversy betwixt W. R. and G. F. and the multitude of Friends on each side in almost all Counties together with the lamentable Consequences which will unavoidably follow the same if not timely put a stop to by a Brotherly Condiscention I am even bowed down and grieved to behold the same and under a sense thereof I desire to lay before thee my Apprehension both of the Cause and Cure that so thou together with G. W. to whom I have already wrote may endeavour a Composure of this Controversy and in remembrance of what thou didst declare at the Meeting at Devonshire House the 27th of the 3d. Month last after the Debate gives me Incouragement so to do as also they Printed Addr. to Prot. for saidst thou If I knew of such a Design as is surmised to bring in an Implicit Faith and Blind Obedience by forcing a Conformity before Conviction I would oppose it with my at most Endeavour or to that effect Now that thou mayst know if yet thou dost not as that thou shouldst not by thy positive Assertions in Alexander the Copper Smith pag. 10. 12. 15. I will give thee a Copy of Orders Recorded as our Cannon or Rule to walk by in the Quarterly Book for the Isle of Ely Verbatim Parenthesis excepted Viz. It is ordered at this Quarterly-Meeting and agreed upon that no Friends may for time to come permit or suffer Marriages without the consent of Friends at two Mens and Womens-Meetings and the Man and Woman to come both to the said two Meetings to receive the Answer of Friends that so no disorderly a notable Hedge without parrellel I presume or Indirect Proceedings may be carryed on any more and yet never more disorderly than since contrary to the Vnity of Friends Written at a Quarterly Meeting in Hadenham the 1st of the 10th Month 1675. Behold the Nature Manner and Form of these Orders and compare them with the Condemnation of J. A. for not coming up to a strict Conformity who was Recorded out of the Unity the 4th of the 7th Month 1678. in the same Book as may be seen for not proceeding in his Marriage according to the Orders Now see whether we do not first make a Rule or Cannon to walk by and compel a Conformity to the same before Conviction nay not only so but pass Diffinitive Sentence too for Nonconformity to the utmost of our little Power we have and when any Body questions the Authority of these Orders and Practices G. F. is presently quoted and that being as some say moved to
by becoming Christian hath no addition of power to what he had before Magistracy is the same and as legitimated amongst Heathens as Christians A Magistrate when Christian exercises the power he had before otherwise but receives no addition of power to his Office Christ in the Gospel hath made no alteration in Magistratical Power nor hath he given any addition to it when exercised by Christian hands but a Magistrate when Christian is bound to exert his power in a way suitable to the light he then hath He that hath no other than the light of nature hath as much power about Religion as if he were Christian and is to take as much care of the Souls of his Subjects suitable to that Light as any Christian Magistrate is to do suitable to his The power a Parent hath over his Child a Master over his Servant a Prince over his Subjects is no more when they become Christian than it was before only that power must be otherwise exercised according to that improvement of light Christianity brings with it All natural and moral Power was the same from the beginning though God was not pleased to set that power distinctly in a Law written till long after the light of nature gave a plentiful information about these things The duty of all such relations in the performance mutually of them amongst men is greatly furthered by the Light of the Gospel but the duty is still the same several things do evidently evince this general Truth 1st All natural and moral Relations belong to men as men only so considered and not as Chrstians and are fully compleat and perfect amongst mankind both in the power of the one and the duty of the other without any reference to any Perswasion in Religion or other Qualification whatever 2dly It appears from hence because whatsoever the Gospel reveals to be the duty of such relations each to other we find practised by the light and law of nature from the beginning these things being of absolute necessity to uphold the frame and policy of mankind God had naturally endowed them with a sufficient discovery of his mind about them 3dly It appears to be so because Christians are obliged by the Laws of the Gospel to give the same obedience and perform the same duties in these Relations to Unbelievers that they are to Believers the Gospel speaks of these things without distinction Subjects are commanded to obey Heathen Magistrates in all things lawful and we are to obey Christian no farther Servants are commanded with the utmost duty of Servants to obey unbelieving Masters and so Wives to be subject to unbelieving Husbands all which declares these Relations perfectly inherent in mankind as such and no way relative to any other Qualification whatsoever These two preliminary considerations of the Magistrate 1st That he has his original in the light and law of Nature 2dly That his power and being is thereby perfect and compleat and that Christianity gives no addition of Power to such an Office will much further the right stating the chief and last thing proposed How far a Christian Magistrate under the Gospel is impowered negatively and positively in these things Before I proceed to which I shall come to the third thing intended which is To shew how some eminent Mistakes about the Magistrates Power in Religious things have involved us into very destructive and pernicious Extremities A Prospect of which may be had in these three things into which the various writings and discourses of that subject have chiefly issued themselves First Some do make the Magistrate the sole Judge of all Spiritual matters ascribe to him the power of setling what Government he pleases in the Church appointing Officers in it determining all differences in Religious things suppressing by his power all Errors and Heresies and superceding all matters that appertain to the Gospel A second sort with an equal warmth affirm the Magistrates Power in Religious things but say 'T is never to be exercised but in a perfect subservency to the Church and that whatsoever the Church determines he is bound to execute by the temporal Sword as the great Law of Christ A third sort as wide of the Truth as either of the other say positively The Magistrate hath nothing at all to do in Religious concerns that he is a meer civil Officer to take care of mens civil Interests and hath nothing to do with things of a spiritual nature That all these Principles have produced hurtful effects and that the truth lies distant from them all will be found in a distinct consideration of them The first does little less than revive in the Magistrate now much of that power Christ himself and the Apostles by his delegation exercised at first in setling the Gospel Church and unless it can be punctually made appear where in the Gospel Christ hath substituted the Magistrate to exercise such a dominion over his House it will soberly be found a dangerous Intrenchment upon his Kingly Office 't is one thing to take care of the execution of what Christ hath already setled and another to make Laws and Customs about those things This opinion as it is by many late Writers maintained dissolves all Ecclesiastical Regiment and annexeth the Government of the Church to the civil Power or indeed drowns the Church into the State or at least mixes them as much or more than they were mixed together under the Judaical policy What ever Government the Magistrate settles cannot be Ecclesiastical but Civil if it be Forreign to what is already divinely appointed if it be not then it s not the setling but the executing of what is already setled unless you will say that Christ entrusted him to settle the Ecclesiastical Government of his Church and that will seem not a little strange that the Magistrate who is no spiritual Officer set in the Church nor cannot himself administer in executing the least thing within it should have such a supream Power over it Either Christ and the Apostles did settle a Government in the Church or they did not if they did the Magistrate as well as others is obliged by it if they did not but that 't is left to the Magistrate he has a greater power at least in the exercise of it than ever they had For if we suppose they had power to settle a Government but did not think fit to exert that power but left it to the Magistrate his power in the execution of it is greater than theirs 'T is much that the infallible Wisdom of Christ and his Apostles could not better find out an order for the Gospel Church than to leave it to the mercy of every Magistrates discretion and 't is equally to be wondred at that an Officer of such necessary importance to the Church as to settle the Government of it should be wanting when the Gospel was first planted and every thing ordinary and extraordinary belonging to it was presented to accompany
the Heathens Homer tells us of Princes and Heroes that Sacrificed and performed the Worship to the gods In Rome 't was manifestly so the first Roman Kings did the like Since Magistracy and Ministry has been distinctly exercised still the Inspection and Regulation of Religion and the Officers Ecclesiastical have been in the Magistrate Under the Law 't was plainly so Under the Gospel so soon as there was a Christian Magistrate that could exercise such a Power we find it so The right was the same in the Heathen powers which happily was the ground of Paul's Appeal unto Caesar though they could not then exercise it There is nothing more plain than that there may be a Right where there is not an Ability to exercise it Constantine and the Christian Emperors after him till the Church of Rome had cheated them into subjection took upon them the care and over-sight of all Religious things and to see all Christs Laws executed Constantine used to call himself The general Bishop to take care that all things were duly performed in the Church Amongst our selves we reap the Advantage of our Kings and Princes care and concern in that enjoyment we have of the Protestant Religion This shews the great weakness on the one hand of such who say the Magistrate hath nothing to do with Religion and the perfect mistake of those on the other hand who would have the Magistrate wholly Subordinate to the Church and the third extream in those who would place the Magistrate in so supream a Power as upon the matter to do what he pleaseth will be sufficiently enervated if we consider That as the Magistrate is to see that executed that Christ hath appointed in Religion so he is to bring in nothing of his own he is punctually tyed up neither to add nor diminish neither in the matter nor the manner his business is to see Laws executed not to make Laws nor change Laws Christ has no where granted any such Commission either to the Magistrate or any else upon Earth and therefore we come to a right state of the Magistrates Power when we consider him as Gods chief Officer in the World directed by the Light of Nature as well as otherwise to see that which God reveals to be his Will put in execution And that which comes particularly to the present matter in hand That he doth it under the Gospel in the manner Christ hath appointed The manner Christ hath appointed being as positively obliging as the matter and therefore the Temporal Sword when 't is used by Magistrates in the concerns of the Gospel is the Dead Fly that corrupts all their otherwise very laudable endeavours Nor need it seem strange that a Magistrate should have the care and over-sight of that wherein he is not to use the Temporal power as he is to endeavour to see that done by others under the Gospel as the Administration of the Sacraments and the like which he is not to do in his own person so he is to see that done by the Spiritual means Christ hath appointed for it which he is by no means to force the doing of by the Temporal power He that thinks the Magistrate cannot be useful to the Church without the Temporal power may with as good reason say That all other powers in the Church are useless where there is not the Temporal Sword to execute them All Societies of men are under the Regulation of the highest power but yet may act and ought to do so by distinct and proper wayes and by means suitable to each A Colledge of Physitians in a State are under the Regulament of the highest Power and yet it were very absurd to force them to give Physick as a thing in it self both unnatural and unreasonable The case is much more so in the Church nor can any instance fully reach it because the Church is a distinct thing of it self and hath Powers proper and peculiar to it in which it is so compleat that it can subsist without the Magistrate as it did in the primitive times The Civil and Ecclesiastical Power are things perfectly in themselves distinct and ought in their exercise to be kept so The highest Power governs men as men by the temporal Sword but as Christians by the spiritual and by seeing all things done in Religion by those spiritual means Christ hath appointed all which means he may make use of though exercised by other hands than his own and still in a subordination to him as Christ's chief Officer in the World who hath the Charge incumbant upon him to see all that Christ hath commanded duely put in execution But the Magistrate himself with the Power proper to him which is the temporal is not immediately to act any thing in the Church what he does is in a collateral way that were to bring a new Officer into the Church and a Power new and forreign to execute the Gospel contrary to the nature and totally destructive to the being of it The Magistrate hath wayes such as Christ thought sufficient to promote the good of Religion and propagate the growth of the Gospel without drawing the civil Sword which will make no more impression in spiritual concerns than it will do upon a Ghost that hath no real body In the execution of those he ought to acquiesce but if not content therewith he will use the civil Power to force men to believe and worship according to his Light and will take Offenders in the Church and punish them by his temporal Power what is this but to lord it over Gods Heritage and to make the Gospel Church and being a Member of it a thing of greater outward carnal fear bondage and subjection to men than ever the Law was This use of the temporal Power is the sting that wounds all liberty of Conscience and totally overthrows it If the Magistrate where I live be an Arrian a Socinian or in any such Error while he enforceth this but in a Gospel way and in Christs way of enforcing Truth only by instruction and perswasion this doth not mortally wound me this does not Petere jugulum of my liberty to keep to the Truth but if he come to establish it by the civil Power and by that suppress all else as Error my liberty in a differing perswasion is totally gone The admitting the Magistrate to use the temporal Power in executing his judgment about Religion hurries every man out of the world that is not of his mind for whatsoever will make a man an Heretick will bring a man to the Stake and every Opinion that is not the Magistrate's must needs make a man so If Christ hath enjoyned the temporal Power to be used it must have its utmost effect not only upon Hereticks within but much more upon those that are Infidels without the Church If the Magistrate be appointed to use such a power he must not tolerate any thing upon any terms nor exempt it from the lash of
a rational Creature if I do I must necessarily be a Judge for my self for if I am guided by another judgment than my own as that I think best for me there is as clear an act of my judgment in so doing as if I were punctually directed by my own This we call knowledge in men God hath given to taste Principles and Notions as the Mouth tasteth Meats take away once the use of this taste and you take away the noblest accomplishment of a man You make a man created in honour if he do not understand like a Beast that perisheth as the Eye guideth the Body so the judgment of the Understanding guides the Soul force a man once from the use of this and you betray him into a dark Chaos of slavery and bruitish subjection and render him an object fit for the same scorn and contempt that Sampson found when he had lost his two Eyes By these things we may plainly discern that the necessity of every mans being a Judge for himself in divine things is grounded both upon Scripture and Reason and that 't is not only lawful but a positive duty God expects the performance of and obliges every man living to And this being so for any Power on Earth to compel men to believe or practise contrary to their Judgment and Conscience must needs be both unlawful and unreasonable Lastly The ill success Force and Imposition in Religion hath ever had and which it hath a necessary tendency to have may very well make us out of love with it there can possibly be no other effect of it but either to debauch men in their Consciences or bring violent Persecutions upon their Persons and Estates If the first those that impose bring a guilt upon themselves and partake of the sin as being the great occasion and causers of it So did Jeroboam when he made Israel to sin the guilt stuck to himself as well as to the People If the second men are sufferers from men for doing their duty to God and part with their Estates because they cannot with their Integrity and in this case the Punishment falls upon the Sufferers but the Guilt still upon the Imposer Either a Magistrate imposing in Religion is to be obey'd in whatsoever he commands or not if he be we shall then excuse those that obey'd Jeroboam and cast reproach upon all the Martyrs that have suffered for refusing the sinful commands of Superiors If they be not there must be then some judgment when they are to be obey'd and when not and that can be no other than every mans own Conscience And if every mans own Conscience and the light of it is to be his Rule by which he is to judge then whenever I refuse to obey a command in Religion because my Conscience tells me 't is sinful I am plainly punished for doing my Duty and following that Light God hath given to guide me Nay suppose my Conscience be erroneous 't is confessed by all 't is a sin not to follow it till better informed and if so I am sure 't is likewise a sin to force me out of it Conscientia quamvis errans semper ligat ita ut ille peccat qui agit contra Conscientiam quoniam agit contra voluntatem Dei quamvis non materialiter vere tamen formaliter interpretive Ames de cas Con. If we look upon this practice in the Roman Church where 't is in its Meridian what a Massacre of Souls hath it made What Darkness and miserable Ignorance is grown up in the Laity by it And amongst the Clergy what Pride Corruption and Tyranny Where it has been practised in the Reformed Churches it has introduced nothing but Divisions and Animosities and the sad effects of them those who have been freed from the Roman Imposition and enlightened in the Protestant Truths being less able to endure Imposition than any being by their departure from Rome furnished with Principles that do wholly overthrow any such Power by whomsoever exercised How little hurt would variety of Opinions about Religion do in the World if it were not for this What hurt could any mans Opinion do me if he used no other Weapons than Reasoning and Discourse 'T is the Imposing Opinions makes them pernicious and troublesom to the World and makes every Party strive to get the Magistrate on their side that they may suppress the rest and turn Religion into a worldly Interest Religion troubles no body as Christ left it but as men make it By this practice men of differing judgments in Religion can never live together in the World nor enjoy the great advantages they might afford one to another in civil concerns and in Religion too so far as they agree because their Consciences will not let them come up to the practice of an imposed Uniformity in all things How different from this were the thoughts of Paul he bids us joyn together so far as we agree and in other matters wherein we do not agree to wait till God shall reveal himself to us What an unreasonable thing is it to oblige Christians either to suffer or follow all the changes made by human Powers in Religion upon what worldly or political ends soever to have the Conscience floating about at the Magistrates pleasure as his property which is only God's peculiar Those that lived in the days of Henry the 8th Edward the 6th Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth had occasion enough to experience this who must either have withstood a conformable practice with suffering or else surely have been sometimes out of the way But that which should put us perfectly out of all charity with the use of Force in Religion is when we consider the true Worship of the Gospel can never be established by it You may establish a false Worship or a formal outside Worship but never make such Worshippers as Christ speaks of when he saith The true Worshippers under the Gospel are such who Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth You may establish a false Worship that is a Worship of mens appointing for if they be but outwardly obey'd in what they institute they look no farther Jeroboam's business was to keep the People from Jerusalem if they came but to Dan and Bethel he cared for no more he little minded the Religion he had set up for he made Priests of the meanest of the People his end was Political to bring men into subjection to himself You may also establish a formal Worship you may by force make men hypocritically conform to the out-side of true Worship you may force men to the Sacraments but without they be qualified with those Praerequisites God requires instead of performing an acceptable Service you force them to commit a great Sin That you cannot by force establish the right Gospel-Worship appears by these two things 1st 'T is a spiritual Worship and 2dly 'T is a voluntary Worship First 'T is a Spiritual Worship there is no one
se bene gesserint and for employing men and dispensing favours to them let all Parties with a due subjection lie under the Prerogative and Soveraignty of his pleasure Two things are with much earnestness usually Objected against the Grant of Liberty First That it is unbecoming the Zeal and Concern a Magistrate should have for the Truth of Religion to give Liberty to any thing but what he thinks to be so and that such a Lukewarmness as Liberty to several Opinions supposeth does no way become him Secondly That giving Liberty to men of several Opinions is the way to Propagate and Encrease them and is of great danger to a State For the First It is very fit that the Magistrate should espouse what he thinks to be the Truth and keep himself to the strict Practice of it and use all lawful means to possess others with it let him use all the means Christ and the Apostles used to convince and convert men but let him not lay Violent hands upon mens Persons because he cannot satisfie their Understandings That 's Zeal without Knowledge and Religion without a Rule either in Reason or Divinity That is to run into so wide an Extream from Laodecean Lukewarmness as to become like Paul before his Conversion who saith of himself That he was Mad Persecuting the Church To say A Magistrate is Lukewarm in Religion because he will not Force men to his Opinion is to say He is Lukewarm because he will not do a thing that Christ hath no where required of him and to do a thing that is to no purpose to do for that very end for which it is done Tolerating men has no more in it than not Forcing men 'T is only a Negative Favour there is nothing Affirmative in it A Magistrate will never be charged with Lukewarmness in Religion that makes use of all Gospel means to promote Truth and that he may do and yet never violate the due Liberty of any mans Conscience If we consult the Antient Practice of the first Christian Magistrates we shall find it plain That Liberty of Conscience was given by the Christian Emperors Constantine did it fully Eusebius in his Life time tells us That he made a Decree in these words Vt parem cum Fidelibus ij qui errant pacis quietis fruitionem gaudentes accipiant 'T is true he banished Arrius but let any man consult the Ecclesiastical History and he shall find Arrius so Factious and Base a Person that there needed no part of his Opinion to be the cause of his Exile Gratian the Emperor made likewise a Decree for Liberty in Religion The Jews had granted by all the Emperors the same Rights with other Christians Jovinian and Valentinian most Noble Princes suffered Christians of several Perswasions to enjoy their Liberty Of this Grotius in his Book De Imp. Sum. Potes Circ Sac. Cap. 8. takes particular notice adding these words and saith which is more to be Noted The Emperor did not only permit Jmpunity to Disagreeing Sects but often made Laws to order their Assemblies Liberty therefore in Religion is not either so new or so strange a thing or so great a Monster as men would make it State-Religions are not always Infallibly true Truth sometimes keeps men from embracing them it doth so in many parts of Christendom and in that case a Negative Restraint upon the Magistrates compulsion is the only shelter of Truth The Wisdom of Christ who hath forbid the use of the Temporal power under the Gospel about Religion hath left things best For if a Magistrate be in the right he may promote Truth as far as in the nature of the thing and by Christ's appointment it can be promoted If he be not in the right where the Temporal Power does not interpose men are secured in the profession of Truth and not hazarded in refusing a publick Error He that would have the Magistrate force all men to his Religion will himself be burnt by his own Principles when he comes into a Country where the State-Religion differs from him To say He is in the right and the State that does it in the wrong is a miserable begging the Question If one Magistrate be to do it all are to do it and there can be no other Rule of Truth and Error in that case but what they think so If a Magistrate be once admitted to punish with Death what is really and truly in it self an Heresie he may and must by the same Rule so punish every thing he thinks so Where shall the Definition of Heresie terminate And who shall set the Magistrate bounds in such a case Mis-information Passion or some sinister Interest can only lead men into such Principles which tend to nothing but to make Religion disturb the peace and quiet of all Mankind and as one saith well To bring Christians to a Butchery one of another and to make a meer Shambles of Christendom For the Second Objection That giving Liberty to several Parties Encreaseth them and makes them dangerous to a State First 'T is very fit that wheresoever you will suppose Errors to be sprung up all the means Christ hath appointed for that end should be used to suppress them and reclaim men from them Let their Mouthes be stopped with sound Doctrine and spiritual Censures the only Question is about the use of the temporal Power in such things And Experience tells us That since the World began to this day Principles and Opinions in the Mind were never extinguished by the punishing the Body That old Saying verifies it Sanguis Martyrum Semem Ecclesiae Nay there is nothing under the Sun to promote an Opinion in Religion like making men suffer for it The Constancy and Courage of men in suffering for an Opinion will sooner perswade men to it than all the Discourses and Sermons in the World If the Magistrate take a Violent course to root out all different Opinions in Religion such as the Emperors heretofore when Heathen took with the Christians and the Popish States where they are able do at this day with the Protestants besides the Cruelty of it with which he will besmear himself he will miss of his end and find a Succession of those Principles in others rising out of the Ashes of those Destroys as it used to be said heretofore by the Martyrs Quoties morimur toties nascimur If he take a mild and more gentle way of Persecution he only exasperates them and then leaves them arm'd with all possible Discontent to hurt him Consider the giving Liberty under these two Heads First The giving of it to several Opinions and Parties where they are already actually existing And Secondly The giving Liberty so as will occasion and produce such Parties and Opinions For the First Where there are several Parties in Religion already in being and diffused all over a Nation as the case is with us there is no way to secure them but to indulge them for they are
be a Record in Writing witnessing the Day Place and Year of such things to be kept in that Meeting the which the one or both of them are Members under which Writing the Witnesses may subscribe their Names or so many of them at may be convenient for the stopping of the Mouths of Gainsayers and for the manifesting of the Truth to all who are without This is the seventh Particular mentioned in the said recited Epistle of Advice to the Brethren in the North which in number were twenty wherein it is manifest what regard they had to the Practice of the Holy Men of God recorded in Scripture and yet by the Conclusion of the said Epistle it is manifest that they were far from limiting Friends in that Day to a prescribed Rule or Form and that under the greatest Penalty too that they were able to inflict as of late days hath been the Practice of George Fox and those of Party with him as hereafter will be manifest see the Conclusion of the said Letter of Advice which is as followeth Viz. Dearly beloved Friends these Things meaning the 20 Particulars advised to we do not lay upon you as a Rule or Form to walk by but that all with the measure of Light which is pure and holy may be guided and so in the Light walking and abiding these things may be fulfilled in the Spirit not from the Letter for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life c. Thus the Reader my see That in the Beginning our Advice by Letter did concur with our publick Testimony and both with the Scriptures and Evidence of the Spirit in the Hearts of the People to winch our Ministring Friends in that Day both by Word Epistle and Doctrine desired to be made manifest for they then did not desire to exercise Dominion Gentile-like c. CHAP. II. Manifesteth an Alteration and Change Shews the Womans Charter for their Jurisdiction Sets forth the Grant and Confirmation made at a London Yearly-Meeting 1675. I Am now come to manifest the Alteration and Change and the cause of Divisions amongst us about Matters of Faith and the Exercise of it Church-Discipline and Conformity to it whereby William Penns Saying in his Address to Protestants pag. 149. is fulfilled Viz. For all Societies are to govern themselves according to their Institutions and First Principles of Vnion where there is Violence upon this part Tyranny and not Order is introduced Now since Perswasion and Conviction began all true Christian-Societies All Christian-Societies must uphold themselves upon the same free Bottom or they turn Antichristian c. And for proof that we so find and by woful Experience know there is an Alteration and Change and Violence done to our First Principles of Union I am now about to manifest and in order thereunto I shall here insert George Fox his New Order which was wrote about the Year 71. for Womens-Meetings to be held distinct from Mens Meetings and was confirmed afterwards by a general Council or Yearly-Meeting c. VIZ. Dear Friends TO whom is my Love in that which changes not it would do well and be of Service for you to have a Womens-Meeting as they have in other Parts that the Women may come into the Practice of the pure Religion which is to visit the Fatherless and Widdows and to see that all be kept from the spots of the World and so the Lord Jesus redeeming you by his Spirit out of the Old Adam in the Fall into the Image of Gods Righteousness and Holiness that Man was in before he fell in which you are all Helps Meet to the Men in Righteousness and Truth and Holiness and Justice and the Wisdom of God and you may assist and inform the Men of Necessities in what you cannot do your selves for Man and Woman being both in the Power and Seed of Christ they are both Helps Meet and so it would do well for the Women to have a distinct Meeting by themselves as it is in other Places and to set that nothing be lacking then all is well amongst you that you all may be perfect and compleat in Christ Jesus your Heed holding Him from whence you have Understanding and Wisdom to order all things toh is Praise and Glory and when you do see that all is well and nothing is lacking to honour God that all may be kept out of that which dishonoureth Him and all may be kept in your Testimony of Jesus and to see that nothing is lacking outwardly in Gods House in his Family who have the Mind of Christ to do good unto all especially the Houshold of Faith and when you see that all is well then whose mouth the Lord opens in the Womens Meetings 〈…〉 praise confess him to his Glory they are to be obedient as it is in other Womens-Meetings so once a month to have a Womens-Meeting in the County Town or other Places convenient then the other Neigbouring Women may come and go home they Meeting together about the tenth Hour of the Day And so they may keep a little Stock among themselves to help the Poor and those that be in necessity and what they cannot do themselves they may inform the Men of all the poor Widdows and poor Mens Children that are fit to go to be Apprentices and to Services to Friends that they may be trained up in the Fear of God and in the New-Covenant He might have said in the New-Governmet that they may be the Children of the New-Covenant where all may come to know the Lord who is Blessed for ever Amen George Fox having thus laid a Foundation on for the Womens-Meetings distinct and apart from the Men to be once a month at the tenth hour of the Day and to get a little Stock by them under many specious Pretences and Fine Coverings insomuch that many began to assemble and to meet together accordingly in several Parts of the Nation yet there were also very many that waited to see the End and Purpose of their so meeting it being a New Thing and also knowing that the very Papists at their raising and first ordaining the several Orders of Fryars and Religious Nuns were not without as fair Pretences and fine flourishing Shews as this Grant or Order of George Fox for the ordaining these Womens-Meetings so that after a little season several Friends perceiving that these Women thus assembled aspired after the comly and beloved Apple of Rule and Government they shewed their Dislike and it began to be too hard for George Fox to carry them on on his own sole Authority so that at a Yearly-Meeting or General Council held at London in the Year 1675 the said Grant or Order was strengthened and confirmed in all Points and with as much Policy as ever the Learned Bishops or grave Senates used to Establish their Monarchical Governments c. And that the Reader may be assured of the Truth thereof and that it is not of my own devising to accuse
testifie unto them the RIGHT-WAY Hear what Luther says about Opinions Vol. 2. Lib. 7. Fox Acts and Monuments p. 63. Let Opinions remain Opinions so they be not Yokes to the Christians let us not make Mens Opinions equal with the Articles of Faith and to the Decrees of Christ and Paul See the Epitome of Dr. Robert Barns p. 363. Augustine saith Because that those Men by such Observations were led from the Verity by the which they were made free whereof it is spoken The Verity shall deliver you It is a Shame saith he and unconvenient and far from the Nobleness of your Liberty seeing you be the Body of Christ to be deceived with Shaddows and to be Judged as Sinners If you despise to observe these Things Wherefore let no man overcome you seeing you are the Body of Christ that will SEEM to be meek in Heart in the HOLINESS of Angels and bring in Things which he hath not seen Also in his Works p. 298. Entituled Mens Constitutions which are not grounded on Scripture bind not the Conscience Hear him Mark That all Traditions of men which are against or not according to Gods Law must be destroyed Therefore let every man take heed for it belongeth to their Charge for both the Blind Guides and also they which be led shall fall in the Ditch It shall be no excuse for him that is led to say That his Guide was blind but let them hear the Word of God by his holy Prophets Walk not in the Precepts of your Fathers nor keep their Judgment but walk in MY Precepts and keep MY Judgements The other manner of Statutes be when certain Things that be called Indifferent be commanded as Things to be done of necessity As for Example To eat Flesh or Fish this or that day is indifferent and free c. These with all other Outward Works be Things indifferent and may be used and also left Now if the Bishops or Ministers will make Laws or Statutes That these Things shall be determinately used so that it shall not be lawful for us to leave it undone But that we must precisely do them and not the contrary under the pain of Deadly Sin here they must be withstood and in no wise obeyed for in this is hurt our Faith and Liberty in Christ whereby we are Free and not bound to any exterior Work but Free in all Things and unto all Men at all times and in all manners except it be in such a Case whereas Brotherly Charity or the Common Peace should be offended therefore in all these Cases we be free and we must withstand them that will take THIS LIBERTY from us with this Text of Scripture We are Bought with the Price of Christs Blood we will not be the Servants of Men. This Text is open against them that will bind Mens Consciences unto Sin for what is not of Faith is Sin in those things that Christ hath left them free in Brentious upon the 1st of Cor. Chap. 3. No man hath Power to make or give Laws to Christians whereby to bind their Consciences for willingly freely and uncompelled with a ready Desire and chearful Mind must they that come run unto Christ Dr. Taylor in a Discourse of Liberty of Prophesying p. 9. of the Christian-Plea Spir. Mar. I earnestly contend that another Mans Opinion shall be no Rule to mine and that my Opinion shall be no Snare and Prejudice to my self that men use one another so charitably that no Errour or violence tempt Men to Hypocrisy this very thing being one of the Arguments I used to perswade Permissions lest Compulsion introduce Hypocrisy and make Sincerity troublesome See his 16th Section Viz. For it may be safe in diversities of Perswasion and it is also a part of Christian Religion that the LIBERTY of Mens CONSCIENCES should be preserved in all Things where God hath not set a Limit That the same Meekness and Charity should be preserved in the Promotion of Christianity that gave it Foundation and Increasement and Formness in its first Publication And that Persons should not more certainly be Condemned than their Opinions confuted And also see a little of the Judgment of Bishop Taylors Cases of Conscience p. 301. Ecclesiastical Laws saith he must be imposed SO as to leave our Liberty unharmed Pag. 310. Laws of Burthen are always against Charity And Pag. 314. Ceremonies obliege no longer than they minister to the End of Charity Hear also what Bishop Hooper saith Scitis quod res Sancta vera quo magis examinatur per Verbum Dei Explicatur eo fit illustrior purior quanto purior illustrior tanto magis ab omnibus desideratur obviis Ulnis excipitur Nam quod variis modis tentatur ac probatur modo pium ac sanctum fuerit jacturam ab Hostibus nullam sentit sed potius Hostes conculcat ac interficit Nec est quod vobis ipsis metuatis modo re ipsa id prestetis quod ubique jactatis Nam quotquot vestras Partes non sequuntur aliquo gravissimo ignominiae genere nimis Superbe afficitis aequa justa petimus ut palam ac publice lites inter nos componantur nullis enim Legibus Sanctis Justis unquam fuit permissum ut una pars litigans de altera parte Judex constitueretur nos tantum Legem Evangelium Dei in Causa Religionis Judicem Competentem agnoscimus illius Judicio stet vel cadat nostra Causa Which for the Sakes of some is thus Translated Know ye that by how much the more the Thing which is holy and true is examined and by the Word of God expounded by so much 't is become more clear and pure and by how much the more 't is made pure and clear by so much the more 't is by all desired and embraced For that which is tryed and proved after various manners if it hath been pious and holy suffers no loss by the Enemy but rather suppresseth and destroyeth the Enemy neither is there any Cause why you may fear so that you perform in very deed that which you every where boast of For as many as do not take your Parts you too proudly afflict with some grievous kind of Infamy What we desire is both equal and just that these Contentions may openly and publickly be composed For it was never permitted by any holy and just Laws that one Party contending should be constituted a Judge concerning the other Party We do acknowledge that the Word of God is the only competent Judge in the Cause of Religion let our Cause stand or fall to the Judgement thereof CHAP. VII Shews that my self and others in this Country have used private Means about four Years and that no Accomodation or Condiscention was attainable neither Answer to Letter Answer to Query nor when I went to London with a Letter from Friends of our particular Meeting to the Second days Meeting in London and delivered it with my