being reviled we bless 1 Cor. 4.13 being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we intreat But how wonderful must the retaliating Providence of God be that no small number of those who have bantred and bespattred us for our pretence of Conscience are now driven to the same Plea for their dissent from our present Constitution and Government This is the Lord 's doing and 't is marvellous in our eyes Which justifies the Truth and Reason of our Argument which a late Reverend (a) Dr. Taylor Bishop urged in the like case It is saith he such a doctrine that if there be variety in Human Affairs if the event of things be not setled in a durable consistence but is changeable every one of us all may have need of it Behold this day are these words fulfilled in our Ears Those whose Nest seemed to be built upon a Rock yea placed among the Stars too high to be reached too strong like Mount Sion ever to be removed have lived to see their honour levelled with the dust How are they fallen from heaven how are they cast down to the ground that did weaken the nations Nor is the wisdom and love of God less conspicuous in that part of our Revolution which gave so happy a reverse of Fortune to our Dissenting and not long since Afflicted Brethren turning all their sorrow into joy and mourning into a good day In which the conduct and method of Divine Providence is very admirable by breaking off the Yoke with those * Vnaeademque manus vulnus opâ—â—â— tulit hands which imposed it The Act of Liberty or Indemnity from the penalty of the Laws for Uniformity c. being passed by the same Authority viz. King and Parliament by Persons whose addictions and practices as to the same Form of worship no way differed from theirs who so strictly obliged us to one general and uniform but scrupled Scheme of Religion Yet have been so kind and considerate of those who are weak in the Faith as not to tye them to matters of doubtful Disputation but have given a yieldance and pardon'd them in those things whereof their Consciences were afraid Should they who had been so long trampled under foot have got into the Saddle wither would they have rode How would they have triumphed over those that oppressed them Root and Branch Branch and Rush ere this might have been the word and nothing to have given satisfaction but an utter extirpation or excision of those that troubled them But the Judge of all the Earth took a better course of doing right than to put the injured Parties into a capacity of revenging the wrongs they had suffered Such was the wisdom of him who is a Physician of the greatest value and knew best how to work the Cure not by shedding the Patients Blood but by alteration allaying the Acrimony of the Humours changing the disposition and temper of our Superiours into a more kind and compassionate regard of an harassed and afflicted people These wisely considering that force was no proper Topick for perswasive Arguments that their raking Medicines did but torment the Patient and inrage the Distemper contrived a more gentle method and have learnt suaviter curare I mean to care the hurt of the Daughter of our People more softly and substantially binding up the broken-hearted and proclaiming liberty to the Captive Compulsion is a Quiver which affords many a sharp Arrow but such as seldom hits the mark Arguments which prove very little of the Question whilst they too plainly demonstrate the Zeal and Passion of the Disputant These worthy Patriots standing upon the Shoulders of their Predecâ—ssors learnt better and saw further into the nature of Religion That 't is a Plant which never thrives in an hot Bed A thing which must be profest (a) Si princeps subditos opinionâ—m varietate multitudine â—ectarum distractos in suam soil Religionem pertrabere volet vim amovere opportet nam quo graviora supplicia irrogabis to minus proficies câ—m ea sit in hominibus vis ac natura ut ad aliquid assentiendum sponte duci velit coginolit freely and without force Religio sponte non vi debet suscipi saith Tertullian For indeed how can the (b) La volonte est nec pour suivre â— entendement comme son guide son flambeau Chorr de Sagess 'T is the nature of the Will to follow the Understanding as its guide and direction 'T is a Light to its Feet and Lanthorn to its Paths 'T is a thing no way pleasing to God to put a force upon the Consciences of Men. Services or Sacrifices which are offered by constraint and not of a willing mind are never acceptable to God seldom if ever serviceable to Men. Emanuel King of Portugal was condemned by the 4th Council of Tollet for taking the Children of the Jews by force from their Parents and Baptizing them will embrace any thing as good which the understanding does not represent as Truths And for a Man to assent to what he knows not is to invert the order of Nature and to act contrary to the Rules of his Constitution which is as hard to do as for Water to ascend high than the Fountain or original from whence it flows If a Person doubts of the Truth of a Proposition constraint or threatning can never clear the scruples or resolve the doubts he labours under And tho' he may be frighted into a compliance yet his assent is the effâ—ct of Force not Faith Such a Proselyte is a direct Hypocrite who like a broken bow is ready upon all occasions to start aside and will stand bent no longer than the Cord holds which strains it or the force lasts which is upon it So that it seems no way conducive to the Interest of Ecclesiastical Polities to use Engines to screw Members into their Communion who will prove no better than false Brethren that will be apt to undermine their Liberties and turn Renegades so soon as they have opportunity to desert the Tents of the Church Carnal Weapons are an improper Artillery for a Spiritual Warfare fiery Darts belong to the wicked one and like the Author of them are false yea inconclusive Arguments of the truth and no way sufficient to decide any questionable part of it Had the Jacobine and Franciscan Friers been burnt who proffered themselves to the Stake to prove pro and con The Protestants of France pleaded with their Ring for Indulgence because it was not the Will of God that the Consciences of Men should be forced Parce cause demande des hommes une Sacrifice voluntaire qu'il neveut pas qu'on force les consciences Dr. Burn. Collect. Letters P. 218. that Savanarola was an Heretick their fiery Zeal might have argued much heat but would have afforded no light to their Cause Besides the Victory we gain'd over our Dissenting Brethren in causing some of them to conform could never
have all Preferments when time was turned For could the Church and State but lay their Foundation here they concluded their Nest to be built upon a Rock But if Grace be not writ upon the Walls of it the Beam out of its own Timber the Stone out of its own Wall will cry down with it down with it even to the Ground without this we shall but daub with untempered Mortar and may cry Peace Peace when Destruction is at hand St. Austine observed that the Romans built their Temple of Concord where the Seditions of the Gracchi had been acted Tiberius and Caius Which Temple afterwards was so far from restraining Decivitate deâ— lib. 3. cap. 25. that it became a Promoter of the highest and most bloody Outrages For Formality-sake we may carry the Ark into the Camp of our Church but the Glory will depart from us so long as the Sins of the young Men be great but their Reproofs small so that hitherto we have mistaken our Enemies and like the Andabaâ—ae have fought with our Eyes shut contending de lanâ Caprinâ we scarce know what we have fallen out for or with whom Alas it hath been our Brethren of the same Faith and Religion whereas our Contests should have been with Spiritual wickednesses in high places yea such have been the Policy and Envy of those who rejoiced in our Divisions hoping to make their own Market of them as first to perswade that they were no Friends to Caesar and then to engage the Civil Magistrate to treat them as Enemies making them â—riples and then beating them with their Crutches who to get the Staff into their Hand would frequently suggest to the Prince whose Ear they could command that there was a People whose Laws were contrary to the King's Laws and therefore desired him to write that they might be destroyed which contrary to often and open Promises of an undisturbed and free Exercise of their Religion he was frequently prevailed with to do Signing divers Acts for their Prosecution Which by a ravenous sort of Informers were so managed as by Bonds and imprisonments Confiscations and Banishments the protestant Dissenters were ravaged and ruined But such have been the Wisdom of our late Senates to see and discover by whom and for what ends they were thus pusht on and acted The Tide of our Councils seems very much turned SERMON preacht at â—ublin before the Lord's Justices of Ireland by the Dean of St. Patricks Printed 1691. since we have with more chearfulness levied such considerable Sums of Money to reimburse our Neighbours the Charge of our deliverance than what was unaccountably raised and expendedâ— Vt delenda esset Carthago It certainly argued saith the Deaâ— of St. Patricks a very passive and submissive Temper in them to give Money so liberally and to fight so fiercely as they did to destroy themselves and their fellow Protestants to make sport for their common Adversaries and to serve the Interest of their most dangerous Enemies This was saith he part of the Project laid down at large in a Paper found in the Earl of Tyrâ—onnel's House then Colonel Talboâ—â— dated July 1671. supposed to be drawn up by his Brother then Titular Arch-bishop of Dublin viz. in these Words That the Toleration of the Roman Catholick Religion in England be granted and the Insolency of the Hollanders be taken down a Confederacy with France Dean of St. Patrick's Sermon c. the Ashes of Amboina must be raked for Embers to put us in a Flame against them and the Affront urged that was given us when their Fleet refused to make Obeysance and strike Sail to the King 's Yatcht sent among them The first of which some thought was not always to be remembred nor the latter a sufficient Ansa for a National Quarrel or which might have been attoned at a far less rate than it stood this unhappy Nation in both of Blood and Treasure But how then should the great design of extirpating the Northern Heresie which was then the Catholick Project have been managed which many Protestants were inconsiderately easily and with too much Zeal engaged in being great Enemies to their Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Constitutions taking all Suggestions of the fear of Popery to be nothing but the old Puritanical Cant revived and ungrounded Scandal cast upon the King as if he had other designs than to maintain the Honour and Grandeur of the Nation which made many of our own Religion very zealous and valourous in carrying on the War against them But the Parliament taking Scent of this deep-laid Project addrest the King to proceed to a Treaty of a speedy Peace as I remember the Words were esteeming a further Prosecution of the War nothing less than a pulling down those Banks and Barriers which were erected against the See of Rome though too many were too great Infidels to believe it till they felt themselves wet-shod in Holy-water and that Tiber so powerfully brake in upon us that the whole Land lookt bright with Popery When alas all the Remedy the Non-resistance Men could afford us was Who a Devil could have thought it but we hope such care will be taken that there shall be no occasion for them to make us such a second amends or be so far heeded that they should again involve us in the same Circumstances and once more give us another flap with their Tails Non licet his peccare Indeed 't is believed they 'll never boil Prerogative to its former height the all Charters must be arbitrary Officers of State but Judges especially ad placitum the only way to sell Justice and to buy the needy for a Pair of Shooes Then Non-Resistance and Passive-Obedience very true and wholesome Doctrines if rightly stated were the universal Cry and squeezed till the Blood came But the Mischief was when they had nurst the Prerogative till it had stung some of them and hill as all the rest they presently let the World see they never brewed this Doctrine for their own drinking Let a coâ—â—â—â—ed Child be but once sâ—ibbed and it flâ—es in the Face of the most indulgent Parent They ne'er expected that non-Resistance would ever have fallen to their share unless when Preferments and Dignities were offered to their acceptance But when they came to experiment with Perillus the Bull they had framed for others What Out-cries did they make Then they acknowledged we indeed suffer justly But what have our Brethren done whom we pursued with such Revenge and Rage Then they confest that they sacrificed the Interest of the Church to their Malice But if the Dissenters would forbear to comply with the common Enemy they would do great things for them whenever they came again into their Kingdom But alas there 's too too much reason as to such kind of promises to apply that of the poet viz. Ægrotat daemon monaobus tune esse volebaâ— Convaluit daemon daemon ut ante suit In stress of
answer our ends or refund for those Breaches we have made of Charity in prosecuting them for their dissent we did magno conatu nibil agere The distance was as great and Schism as inveterate as ever 'T is true the Scourges which we made of no small Cords drove some of them into the Temple or publick Assemblies but could never drive out the Spirit of Inconformity when the Curb was in their Mouths they bit the Bridle and kick'd at those who held the Whip over them but never became more flexible to the Reign The French King hath Dragoon'd several of his Protestant Subjects into an outward compliance with the Popish Religion but is so insecure of the reality of the effect that he thinks himself obliged to keep a strict band over them and watchful Eye upon them (c) Lib. de republ 4 to p. 75 7 â— Bodin observes That tho' Princes exercised great Cruelties towards their Subjects yet till the days of Antiochus there was no Tyrannizing over the Minds and Consciences of Men. Nunquam tamen bominum mentibus ante regem Antiochum imperandum sibi fas esse putaverunt Nay so favourable was he himself in the Case of Religion whatever he was afterwards that in the Siege of Jerusalem he granted Eight days Truce to the Jews to Celebrate the Feast of the Passeover Theodorick thought it impracticable to put a force upon the will of Man in the Matters of Religion and therefore wrote to the Senate to leave it at liberty and for a good reason too viz. Because none could be compelled to believe against his will pag. 758. Religionem inquit imperare non possumus quia nemo cogitur ut credat invitus (d) Cujus rei cum multa sunt argunenta tum vero nullum ad hanc rem iccommodatius quam de Theodosio majore qui ineunte imperio provincias Arrianorum plenas reperit c. Voluit imperator Arrianos quos tamen capitaliter oderat ullis suppliciis coerceri sed utrisque Arrianis in â—uam Catholicis sua templa concessit in singulis oppidis duos utriusque religionis pontifices permissit Ac tam etsi Caâ—â—â—licorum Pontisicum rogationibus edicta quad am adversus Arrianos promulgari jussisit facis tamen irrita esse passus est ut ipsius ad Ambrosium literae demonstrant Lib. 4 de repub Theodosius Major tho' an utter Enemy to the Arrians yet allowed them the free exercise of their Religion permitting them to have their publick Temples and Ministers to officiate in every City And tho' by the earnest sollicitations of some Churchmen he was prevailed upon to publish some Edicts against them yet he easily permitted them to be superseded for in his Letter to St. Ambrose he commanded him to deliver the principal Church to the Arrians for saith he All are at my dispose Trade inquit Arrianis basilicam mei namque sunt omnia juris But suppose he had been exceedingly mad upon his Subjects and had vexed them out of their Religion or at least the profession of it yet he could not vex them out of their understanding also for tho force be a powerful Argument yet it hath always been too weak to beget Faith or any true Sons of the Church Which in all her accounts hath but a small reckoning to make of any considerable perquisite gained by the strictest exercise of her Discipline and authority over the Consciences of scrupulous but good Men. Nay the very Civil Interests of States and Princes have shrunk and shrivelled yea dried up from the very Roots which have been planted in those hot and scorching Climates I mean where Persecution for Religion and Conscience sake hath prevailed How Bloody a War did the cruel and despiteful dealing with the Hugonots upon these accounts produce in France until the very Spirit of the Nation failed in the midst of it So Zealous was the Duke d'Alva to maintain the Romish Faith in the Netherlands that he cruelly opprest the people and mightily convinc'd them by the pressing Arguments of Fire and Faggot Yea where-ever Scripture and Reason proved scant the Inquisition was urged as the strongest perswasive they had for their Religion which caused those Flames that not only made the Daughter of Sion to fit in Ashes but fired their Religion and Prince too out of the Countrey I am not willing to Sacrifice to this Net for the Commotions and Troubles in Scotland The Civil Wars of England in the days of King Charles which not only overthrew the Government of the Church but rased the very Foundation of our Politick Constitution Yet after a long and Bloody War which for the space of Seven Years had turn'd our Land into an Aceldama broaching that Bloody Issue which the best Physicians of the State knew not how to Cure till it had wasted the very Vitals of our Land After a Twelve Years Inter-regnum when Men did that which was right in their own Eyes it pleased God to restore our Judges as at the first and Councellors as in the beginning The wild Asses to be sure which had so long snuft up the Wind kick'd up the Heel injoying a free and unbounded shock a liberty to feed where and what they pleased thought nothing more grievous than a confinement The untamed Heifers having been so long unaccustomed to the Yoke knew not how to submit to it or suffer it to pass over their fair Necks especially those who as they had been instrumental in restoring the King so desired an indulgence only upon terms easie to be granted and some small Abatements of Conformity Instead of which the burthen was made heavier and bound with Ropâ—s that were never before occupied I mean new Laws and stricter Ties to oblige them to obedience which could not but be entertained with a regret not only proportionable to their late and long possessed freedom but to the many specious Promises they had obtained and great hopes they had thence conceived of some kind and favourable Dispensations in some controverted and scrupled Parts or Ceremonies of Religion But notwithstanding all they were more narrowly watched more nicely observed and more strictly punished than ever before All Tears of Complaint were but like Waters spilt upon the ground the returns which were made being often rough and unkind By the life of Pharaoh ye are no true men but to spy out our Liberty are ye come and to betray the Church our Fathers made your Yoke heavy but we will add to it But may we not apply the words of the Psalmist in this case This their way was their folly but their posterity hath not approved their saying Psalm 49.13 Such have been the Wisdom and Compassion of our Superiours as to speak kindly and deal gently with our Dissenting Brethren who in two succeeding Parliaments have setled and recognized their Liberties or indemnified them from the penalties of those Laws to which they stood obnoxious raising up a Gourd which have
at least in this our day see the things that concern the Peace and Welfare of our Church and State 'T is not possible for any who is a true living Member or either Body to be so past feeling as to find no regret or simpathy when he sees either of them reel and stagger to and fro like a drunken Man What Member of the Bâ—dy can be in health when the whole Head is sick and Heart faint But thanks be to God we have made one step in order to a Cure that we can see the Rock of Offence from whence these Distempers are hewen and the Hole of the Pit from whence they are digged We can tell what those Bryars and Thorns are and who hath planted them which have not only rent our Garments but rolled them in Blood too And that for no other cause than that they were not all of a colâ—ur But is there no Balm in our Gilead Is there no Physician of that value there that can bind up our Wounds and mollifie them with Ointment 22 Rev. 2. Undoubtedly we have viz. a Prince who hath made Propositions like to the Leaves of the Tree of Life which are for the healing of the Nations Who that he might compleat our deliverance having saved us from the Hand of our Enemies that we might serve God without fear is designing to reconcile us to our selves that having abolisht the Enmity 2 Eph. 15. even the Law of Commandments contained in Ecclesiastical Ordinances we might have Peace We have Bishops now not like those Egyptian Task-masters that when the People cryed to them for ease were sent back with a Reproach viz. Te are idle ye are idle away to your Burthens But such as are kind and compassionate Fathers and Pastors of the Flock who considering its weakness will not over drive it Yea like the wisdom from above they are gentle and easie to be intreated to lose every Burthen and to let the oppressed go free Binding up the broken-hearted knocking off those Shackles which have so long gauled the Consciences Declaration from Breda Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs Another in the 1 Year 1672. c. and hold Captive the Souls of Men. For which purposes how often have Promises been made Tempers found Projects offered and proposed which by the prevailing Interest of Men highly addicted to the Form of our Worship have been stifled and supprest And who are always in so high a stickle and stifle to disappoint and cassate all the fairest Purposes and Propositions whenever they are made in order to a firm Settlement and lasting Peace Nor will consent to part with one Hair though the whole Head be sick c. and though we should admit it to be true that nothing hath been injoined in the Worship of God but what might be lawfully submitted to yet it hath been a very unruly Truth and which we have found so hard to manage that like a restiffe Jade it hath cast the Riders and dangerously struck them when they were out of the Saddle It was a Reverend Bishop's Opinion in this case That better is a quiet Error Bishop Hall's Peace-maker than an unruly Truth And Erasmus was so great a Lover of Peace that he could not fancy a troublesome and tumultuous Truth Mihi saith he adeo invisa est discordia ut veritas etiam displiceat seditiosa Which may admit a more favourable Construction when it respects only the Outworks of Religion Our Controversies saith Dr. Potter are none of them in the Substance of Faith but only in disputable opinions not clearly defined in Scripture Charity mistaken p 185. Why then should such things be made Terms of Communion and mere Circumstances of Divine Worship which may or may not be observed and yet the Ordinances of God duly administred For instance in the case of Private Baptism the Child may be I think I may say according to the Rubrick ought to be baptized without Sponsors and not to be signed with the sign of the Cross and yet the Child is declared by the Rubrick to be sufficiently baptized without either and requires none to make any doubt of it And therefore King James's Project which he sent to Cardinal Perroon might highly conduce to an accommodation were we but so happy as to apply it viz. That we should sever (a) Istam distinctionem serenissimus Rex tanti putat esse momenti adminuendas Controversiâ—is que hodie Ecclesiam dei tantopere Exercent necessary from unnecessary things That as to the first which he saith are not many we should agree and leave the rest to liberty In non necessariis libertati Christianae detur locus This he thought was the shortest (b) Nullam breviorem ad incundam concordiam viam fore c. cut to Peace as may be seen more at large in the Epistle wrote by Causabon to the Cardinal at the King's Command upon this Subject Yet so great and mistaken too hath the Zeal of Men been concerning the Rites of Religion that we have herd that whole Churches have bandied at and censured one and other for things of no great moment such were the Saturday-Fast and Celebration of Easter Erasmus in his Epistle before Irenaeus his works commends that Father for his earnest Desire and Love of Peace and for blaming the Bishop of Rome for his (c) Non de catholico dogmate sid de ritu vel ritus potius tempore Not for any Catholick Doctrine but for Ceremony c. So Petavius cutting off many Churches from his Communion because they did not agree with the Western Church in the Celebration of Easter and Observation of Fasts Ecclesiasticae Concordiae tam fuit studiosus ut cum Victor Romanus Pontifex multas Ecclesias amputasset à Communione quod in Celebratione diei Paschalis in Observatione jejuniorum morem obtinerent à Romanâ consuetudine diversum Magna libertate Victorem reprehenderit Now that things of this nature are the Scene in which our present Disputes lie there 's no Man ignorant To moderate which his Majesty hath interposed his Wisdom and Authority But though he hath charmed wisely yet our Adders have too much Sting and too little Ear to listen to those things which concern the Peace and Welfare of our Church From whence have sprung our great Zeal and Stickle in Parliamentary Elections to pick up Men of those tenacious Principles that would sooner part with an Article out of their Creed Eras Epiâ— od â—ernbard Trid. Episâ— than the least Rite or Ceremony out of the Rubrick The Answer which the Arch-bishop with the rest of the Bishops presented to the late King was That it was no want of Tenderness to Dissenters that they could not comply with the Declaration for Liberty but that they only waited till it should be considered in Parliament and Convocation The first hath very kindly and with Justice to former Promises granted them their Liberty To the
the Flames which have been so industriously blown up may now be blown out and for ever extinguished that virulent and peevish Men may never be intrusted either in Church or State But that a Spirit of Meekness and Moderation may act our Wheels yea the Wheels within the Wheels viz. The Privy-Councils and most secret Transactions that a Spirit of Peace and Love may preside in all our Civil Assemblies And as the Philosophers fancied the Angels were to the Heavens be the great Intelligence to move them As for him whom the King of Heaven and Earth hath by his miraculous Providence set over us and raised up to rescue us from all those Miseries that were come and coming upon us May all the Blessings which ever made Princes good Hic vir non invidet mihi gratiam and great light upon him and as for the ease which his Protestant Subjects injoy in the free Exercise of their Religion we are so far from envying it that we bless God the King and Parliament for it Might but an act of Comprehension be joined to that of Indulgence might the Church Doors be set so wide that all True and Orthodox Ministers and People too might go in and out and find rest to their Souls might but that Project and Platform of Accommodation which his Predecessor Charles II. in his Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs formerly published and propounded be once enacted and setled as a Law we might live to see Schism baned Truth and Peace setled It hath pleased God to deliver us out of the Hands of our Enemies to serve him without fear might there but be a Temper to appease our angry Friends and why should we fall out for we are Brethren we might sing our Conclamatum est the Work of God would be finisht But when all is said we recommend this great Work to the Providence of God and Wisdom of our Prince Pleading as the Estates of Germany did with Ferdinand in much the same case Te quidem summum à deo nobis datum Magistrum agnoscimus libentissime quidem ac nihil est omnium rerum quod non possis aut debeas à nobis expectare sed in hâc unâ re propitium te nobis esse flagitemus That is we freely acknowledge you to be our Supreme Lord and given to us by God himself nor is there any thing of what we possess which you cannot or may not justly expect from us In this thing only which was Liberty in Matters of Religion we most earnestly intreat your Majesty to be kind and propitious to us Obj. 1st But if this be admitted the Church can never appoint any thing but upon pretence of Scandal to tender Consciences it must be presently cassated and rescinded so that there can be no Establishments of the Church made or Order maintain'd Res 1st These Establishments and Orders have cost the Church dear it once sunk in the Defence of them and with it one of the best of Kings that ever ascended the Throne since the Reformation This was foretold long since by a true Prophet I mean the Learned Zanchy in a Letter to Queen Elizabeth 1571. Your Majesty saith he being perswaded by some otherwise great Men and carried with a Zeal but not according to Knowledge to retain Unity in Religion hath now more than ever resolved and decreed yea doth Will and Command that all Bishops and Ministers of Churches shall in Divine Service put on the white Linnen Garments which the Popish Priests use now in Popery yea it is to be feared that the Fire is so kindled and cast its Flames so far and wide that all the Churches of that most large and mighty Kingdom to the perpetual Disgrace of your most renowned Majesty will be set on a flaming Fire And are there not many yet alive to justifie the fulfilling of that fatal Prophesie Had it not been better then if the Church had not been so tenacious of these Rites to have dispensed with some of its pretended Beauty and Uniformity to have cast something of its Ceremonial Cargo overboard and to have somewhat lightned the Vessel than to have endangered the bottom and suffered as it did Shipwrack of the whole When the Disease grew inveterate and Humors of the Populacy into an extreme ferment our Physicians could have been content to have applied the Remedy but it was too late Sero Medicina paratur Cum mala sinceras penetrat gangrena medullas Time was when the loping off some Luxuriances might have saved the whole but no Temper could be found nor Expedient listned to to prevent a Rupture till at last nothing but Root and Branch Branch and Rush as in one day could satisfie the Victors 2dly If this Objection be admitted are not all the Designs of indulging tender Consciences superseded St. Paul the Apostle directs those which are strong to bear the Infirmities of the Weak To become all things to all Men that we might gain some not to cause our Brother to offend That there be some who prefer one day before another others esteem every day alike some believe they may eat all things another who is weak eateth Herbs What 's to be done in this case We must not despise one and other but forbear one and other in Love not giving any Scandal to our Brethren for he that offends his Brother sins against Christ Which Rules of forbearance are as obliging to the Church in general as to private Christians in particular But if this Objection carry any force with it it might be replied how can this yieldance be for then no sooner shall the Church have appointed by its Decree any thing to be observed but upon the pretence that some nice and scrupulous Conscience is offended all must be given up 3dly Notwithstanding this Objection wise and worthy Men have judged a Latitude and Liberty fit to be used and practiced in these things The Reply of King James to Cardinal Perroon returned him by Causabon was to this purpose That the Church should do well to sever necessary things which are not many from unnecessary and that the latter be left to Christian Liberty This was that which the Council of Jerusalem had regard to when they declared that it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them to lay nothing upon them but what was necessary viz. to abstain from Fornication from things strangled and from Blood Doctor Potter observes that as the ancient Worthies and Fathers of the Church were most zealous to defend even with their Blood to the least Jot or Title the Rule of Faith or Creed of Christians or as the Scripture calls it the form of sound Words the Principles of the Oracles of God so again they were most charitable to allow in other things a great Latitude and Liberty Would to God the Fathers and Worthies of our Church would do so and our Work were done 4thly Decency and Order may be had and maintained though
legibus ferendis iisque quae administrationis sunt publicae statuendis Comitia indicia sunt That is when the King hath new Laws to enact and Matters of publick concern to be treated on he may that is the King name the Persons whom he shall judge most fit to sit in Parliament But when they are convened the King hath no need of their Consent according to these State Divines to levy Taxes or raise Subsidies seeing the King hath a sufficient Right and Power in himself to dispose of the Subjects Goods as he shall judge fit so Weems affirms Omnia saith he quae in regno sunt fatemur regis esse id est qua paternus regni dominus adeoque quae postulat ipsius qua rex est aut publica regni conditio posse regem de singulorum bonis disponere p. 19. Bishop Montague also was of the same Mind as we observe Orig. p. 320. O. lg p. 320. Omni lege divinâ naturali vel Politicâ licitè semper reges Principes suis subditis tributa imposuerunt licite Coegerunt tum ad Patriae reipublicae defensionem tum ad ipsorum bonestam familiae prâ—curationem hanc doctrinam accurate tuetur Ecclesia Anglicana c. But that the King could levy Money of the Subjects without the consent of Lord's and Commons and Authority of the same is not the Judgment of the present Church of England Although though this hath been the cry of some former high Church-men who to tickle the King's Ear and fawn themselves into Preferment have preacht up the same Doctrine upon the strickest Penalties Thus Dr. Manwarring out of the Pulpit for the Edification of the Court I suppose more than the People L'Estrang's Annals p. 84. did declare That the King without common consent in Parliament could by his Command so far bind the Subject in Conscience to pay Taxes and Loans that they cannot refuse payment of them without peril of eternal Damnation And that the Authority of Parliament was not necessary to raise Aids and Subsidies But how mischievous such extravagant Insinuations and Councels proved both to Church and State the ensuing Miseries were too evident and undeniable Arguments Nor did the Authors and contrivers of them succeed any thing better than others who fell under the dint of them Malum enim Consilium consultori pessimum For whilst they thought to oblige and espouse the Sovereign Power to their Interest viz. To press and push on those Innovations in Religion which they had advised his Majesty were orderly and decent in the Church and to urge the establisht Conformity very offensive to tender Consciences with the utmost Rigor nay in two several Reigns they Councelled and procured Edicts to legitimate the Violation of the Sabbath-day by Sports and Pastimes several of them fell under the Dint and Censures of the Civil Power feeling the Effects and unhappy Influence of those Convulsions they had occasioned in the Bodies Ecclesiastick and Politick by regrating too far upon the Humors I mean the Liberties of the Subject both as Christians and Men. Have we not reason then to plead for an allay and temper of such Matters as are apt to occasion so dangerous a Ferment both in Church and State But I can't conclude here seeing by these wild and extravagant Notions concerning Royal Power I have been led aside and my Pen dipt in this Argument especially considering those vile and virulent Reflections made upon our late Revolution counting all no better than Rebels and Traytors who willingly offered themselves to rescue our Liberties and Religion from Popery and Arbitrary Government Nay the most that can be allowed our King by such as pretend upon second thoughts to be proselyted to his Service is that he must be acknowledged so rather of fact than right But if what hath been already said be not sufficient to vouch the Endeavours of the People in preserving the Fundamental Constitutions of the Commonwealth their Lives and Religion when they are in eminent and apparent hazard I shall fetch an Argument from a Royal Topick which I think may serve much to vindicate our late Transactions Had Queen Elizabeth King James King Charles judged the Defence which the Protestants made in France Flanders Germany c. of their Lives Religion and Liberties against the Kings of France Spain and Emperor an unjustifiable Rebellion they would never have assisted them with Men and Money Arms and Ammunition for their redress and rescue from those who by their Sovereign but ill managed Power had so far rent and ravisht them out of their Hands By which Assistances and Supports they though Princes themselves did not only approve their Undertakings in particular but allow and vindicate the like Practices in parallel Cases in general But if the Doctrine of Non-Resistance be true in the Sence it hath been preacht Neither Peers nor People Lords nor Commons must wag an Hand move a Foot but stand still and see the Salvation of God Let the Pillars of the Church be rifled the Foundations of Civil and Ecclesiastical Polity raced and destroy'd the original Contract of Government dissolved nothing is to be done but to depend upon Providence expecting a Miracle to be wrought for our deliverance Every act of our own in order to that end being adjudged Rebellion Were the Knife at our Throat according to the Rules of Passive-Obedience we must not put it by if an Angel from Heaven appears not to our rescue But never did Men make worse use of a Doctrine they had so stifly maintained when it came to their own turn to practice it They proved indeed Passive in their Obedience to the Commands of the late King few or none of them being very active to obey him in the time of his distress or to make use of the Doctrine of Non-Resistance but with respect to the Design of the P. of O. so that if we may be guided by what they did and not what they said we have enough to justifie not only our present Constitution but late Revolution also But I think we have much better Authority than this to alledge * Quarto ait idem Barclaius amitti regnum si rex verè hostili animo in totius populi exitium feratur quo concedo saith Grotius Lib. 2. Cass 4to do jure belli poc Hear what Barclay saith to which Grotius assents Scharphius Symph Prophet Apâ—â—â— tells us Vel is de quo agitur talis est qui Monarchiam â—â—idem Supremam habet sed certis Conditionibus limitatam in quas jurârit Est penes status ordines aut primores regni tyrannidem grassantem coercere sunt enim subditorum officia duplicia alia ordinaria pro ratione loci temporis vocationis in republ Alia extra-ordinaria secundum circumstantias varias quae nullâ certá lege possunt definiri Hâc exceptâ quod saluti reipub semper studendum sit Quaest 45. Cicero saith it