going on still to make Laws to afflict and punish and others engaged quietly to suffer whatsoever they should be exposed to for their Consciences Matters being at this pass there was apparent necessity that some Remedy be speedily applied His Majesty considering they are all his Subjects and how much by such Severity the Interest of his Soveraignty is narrowed so great a number of his People rendred unworthy of his Countenance and Protection and upon no other Account or Crime but their being of different Perswasions in some Externals of Religion Persons otherwise for Industry Faithfulness Loyalty and every way qualified to do his Majesty and their Country as much Service as others His Majesty also calling to mind that prudent Caution which his Royal Father left him in these words Take heed saith he that outward Circumstances and Formalities in Religion devour not all or the best Incouragements of Learning and Industry but with an equal Eye and impartial Hand distribute Favours and Rewards to all Men as you find them for their real Goodness both in Ability and Fidelity worthy and capable of them this will be sure to gain you the Hearts of the best and most too It was likewise impossible for his Majesty to imagine that so many thousands in his own Observation who have suffered so greatly with such humble submission should daily thus expose themselves and Families to ruin from no other or better Principles than a Spirit of Obstinacy and Stubbornness great Sufferings and by great Multitudes yet no Tumults no Resisting whereas in the beginning of the Reformation what Armies in the North and in the West upon this Account by those of another Perswasion were raised tho as yet they suffered little His Majesty as a Common Father beareth Affection to all his Subjects but who of them deserves it and who not can never be discovered by this indiscriminating Severity that is who are Dissenters upon Principles of Conscience and who of them so pretending are notwithstanding of a Seditious Spirit These can never be distinguished one from the other when Dissenters and such as Conform not be it upon what ground soever are all of them equally branded with the same Mark of Disloyalty and so represented to his Majesty and all the Nation There is a necessity that this Pretence of Conscience be removed and Seditious Persons discovered and left to condign Punishment and others these Stumbling-blocks being removed may by their peaceable Obedience to all other his Majesty's Laws justify and vindicate their Integrity which can no ways be done while the Righteous are thus condemned with the Wicked and no relaxing those Laws that shut up all both Guilty and Innocent under the same Condemnation Of these Things his Majesty hath had a clear prospect all along and thence publickly declared his avowed readiness in his Proclamation July 16. 1669. and otherwise to indulge Tender Consciences and hath upon the aforementioned and the like weighty Considerations been necessitated to publish this his Gracious Declaration of March the 25th 1671 wherein he hath fully performed his Promise made at Breda and so often repeated Thus his Majesty as a Wise and Prudent Prince whose Station is fixed in an higher Orb like the Sun exhaling and consuming or turning to refreshing Showers the dark Fogs and Mists here beneath hath by the Light and Liberty shining forth from his Gracious Indulgence refreshed multitudes of his Good Subjects and delivered them from the dark misapprehensions of others Nor is this their great Relief in any thing prejudicial either to the Estates or Liberties of Men otherwise minded nor are such Men abridged in any of their Concerns Spiritual or Temporal hereby his Majesty hath made sufficient Provision for the satisfying their Consciences in a careful continuing those Ceremonies and Forms of Worship they have been accustomed to let it not be grievous or offensive unto them that their Brethren have obtained the like favour from his Majesty in respect to their Consciences The Apostle requires That we neither judg or despise those that differ from us in Matters of the like Nature but to leave a Man without molestation from us to his own Master to whom he standeth or falleth his being in the right or in the wrong upon this account is a Matter of his Master's concern What is it to us What have we to do to discipline another Man's Servant for what his Master is pleased to bear with him SECT 6. QUEST VI. Since these Ecclesiastical Laws of Restraint were enacted by Parliament the King giving his Royal Assent had it not been convenient if his Majesty had so pleased that the dispensing with these Laws had been by Parliament Answ 1. The Kings and Princes of this Realm his Majesty's Predecessors did Establish many Things and Orders by Parliament relating to Ecclesiastical Things but did yet nevertheless often exercise their own Power in dispensing with the Penalties of such Laws A constant acting with others in the exerting hereof might though no Prescription against the King yet introduce at least in the Minds of Men a kind of suspicion especially in the Vulgar that such Proceedings of the Supream Majesty by his sole Power to be an assuming an Arbitrary Government 2. The Parliament did still continue in this their former Opinion and Judgment namely That a way of Severity was the only Means to settle Peace and Unity They had newly passed the Act for Uniformity without any abatement of what was Offensive by reason whereof arose that general Discontent which before we have mentioned His Majesty being sensible hereof did by that Declaration of Decemb. 26. move a second time That an Act might be prepared whereby he may be enabled with a more universal acceptation to exercise the Power of Dispensing which is inherent in him not doubting their chearful cooperation with him being a Matter wherein he conceived himself so much engaged both in point of Honour and in what he oweth to the Peace of his Kingdoms which We profess saith he we can never think secure whilst there shall be a colour left to the Malicious and Disaffected to inflame the Minds of so many Multitudes upon the score of Conscience with dispair of ever obtaining any Effect of our Promises for their Ease The House returns this Answer We your Majesty's dutiful and loyal Subjects who are now returned to serve in Parliament from those several parts and places of your Kingdom for which we were chosen do humbly offer to your Majesty's great Wisdom That it is in no sort advisable that there be any Indulgence to such Persons who presume to dissent from the Act of Uniformity and the Religion established for divers Reasons whereof this is one It will in no wise become the Gravity or Wisdom of a Parliament to pass a Law at one Session for Uniformity and at the next Session the Reasons of Uniformity continuing still the same to pass another Law to frustrate or weaken the Execution of
Principles and great Matters of Religion are in great perspicuity laid down in the Scriptures which give knowledg to the Simple but these matter of Circumstance and external Order we have for the most part in Generals only and hints from Examples and Customs of the Apostolick Churches in the interpretation whereof the most Learned find Difficulties and are divided Now the want of Knowledg is the ground of Scruples and Doubts in our Practice 1 Cor. 8.7 for the working of Conscience is from the ultimate Resolution of our practical Understanding And hence it is that the same practice may be not only scrupled but a Sin to one Man which is not to another upon account of different Apprehensions there may be notwithstanding Integrity and Sincerity in both and therefore tenderly to be dealt with as the Apostle requires Rom. 14. 2. A great Difficulty there is to form Ecclesiastical Laws they being to be the same where Uniformity is much stood upon for a whole Nation as not to leave grounds of Dissatisfaction to many Mens Apprehensions being various through the Degrees of Light insomuch as that may be Sin to one Man that is a Liberty to another of a greater degree of Light. A little is next to nothing and what is indifferent is nearest in likeness to moral Good or Evil hence so easy and frequent Mistakings And as it is with particular Persons so may it be with a Society or Company of Men. One true Church in these Things differing from another and the same Church differs from it self upon further Discoveries A Synod a Parliament they may judg such and such Things to be indifferent that those that are to submit may sincerely scruple and stick at as Sin. If Churches and Men savingly enlightned are thus exposed to vary in their Apprehensions we cannot be confident of any Council or Assembly made up of the most wise and prudent Men. Parliaments are chosen by Vote of the promiscuous Multitude with respect we would hope to their Sufficiency in managing of our Civil and Temporal Concerns but their Skill and Ability to discern and judg of Matters appertaining to Order in the Service and Worship of God all Men have not this Knowledg this is little or not at all attended by those that elect them by reason whereof Matters wherein Mens Consciences are concerned are not at all times carried by those that are most Conscientious in that Assembly who are not always the Major part yet notwithstanding are engaged in their Consciences to assent and consent to such Determinations being made though possibly near one half in number dissented in the passing of them and it is unavoidable in all and the best Assemblies that are chosen by the general Suffrage of a Nation 3. Again these Matters of Ceremony and External Order are sometimes managed in part with respect to a Party different in their Apprehensions and thereupon form those Laws with respect to Prudence as well as Conscience In our first Reformation it is said such Superstitions are taken away as Time would serve quietly to do it And many things were left remaining in our Liturgy which otherwise would have been removed in compliance with that Form of Divine Service used before by the Papists that they may not be provoked but rather won thereby to our Religion Womens baptizing was continued in our Liturgy saith the Bishop of Worcester else the Book would not have passed the House Conference at Hampton Court King James was once willing that some Ceremonies giving Offence should be removed but the Parliament then sitting thought it not prudent And our Gracious King would have done a greater Matter for the Ease of Tender Consciences as appears by some of the Declarations herein after mentioned but it stood not with the Prudence of the House as they expressed in their Answer without whose Concurrence his Majesty thought not fit then to do it 4. From mistaken Principles As that there can be no Unity without Uniformity there can be no Discipline in a Church without some Ceremonies of Humane Institution Things indifferent become necessary in Worship being imposed by Authority what Things in matters of Order are once established and sometimes continued in the Church may not with safety be altered These Things I offer not to derogate from Parliaments in their manage of such Affairs but upon this serious Account only To shew that as our Civil Laws have made provision that the Church shall not in their Laws and Canons order any Thing against Prerogative of the King or the Laws and Statutes of this Realm in general and that such Canons shall not be in force 25 H. 8.19 So likewise Laws and Statutes in Ecclesiastical Affairs established by the Civil Power if they be found to derogate from the Prerogative of Christ Jesus or the Laws and Institutions of his Kingdom ought not to be in force upon Mens Consciences As Church-men being supposed not to be so well understood in Secular Laws but may transgress so may Secular Persons likewise in their ordering about Church Affairs There is therefore the like necessity of a Power to review judg and dispense with such Laws as shall be found to disturb the Consciences of peaceable Subjects as occasion may urge thereunto Hen. 8. by Commission which was continued by Edw. 6. appointed thirty two Persons eight of each Profession to peruse the Canons of the Clergy then in force to the end those might be removed that were any ways against the Crown and State. Those Kings might have done the like in respect to those Canons and Ecclesiastical Laws enacted in Parliament if they be found to derogate from Christ or his Institutions or justly offensive to the Peaceable and Godly that Dispensations might be granted for the present until farther Reformation be obtained SECT 3. The Municipal Laws of a Nation are from and conformed to the Principles of Right Reason and Common Justice only and we have submitted our selves to the Resolutions of those wise and prudent Senators we our selves have made choice of to enact and establish such Laws for us and therefore may acquiesce in their Determinations without further inquiry having given a kind of absolute pre-consent to such Laws as shall be enacted by them But it is not so in Ecclesiastical Laws entrusted with the same Persons for as they are to be formed according to God's Word which every Man is to take as his immediate Rule and not to do or submit to any thing in his practice that hath the Notion of Religion but what is conformable thereunto he is to live and act by his own Faith. To Laws Ecclesiastical therefore made in Parliament we give only a conditional Consent that is a Consent to them so far as they are agreeable to God's Word and concur with Gospel-Rules Nor is it in the liberty of any Man's Conscience or Reason to yield more nor is there any more intrusted by us with our Representative the Parliament If a Man
conscientious Uniformity in the Externals of Worship and Ceremonies where there are various Apprehensions this is not to be effected by the molesting of Men in their Liberties and Estates judging or censuring or indeed by any humane Power God himself that can do it and establish Men in such an Uniformity yet for Ends sutable to his Wisdom leaves them various in their actings in this kind one Man observing a Day or the like Ceremonies another observes it not but mostly standing upon sincerity in those that practice doing or leaving undone to the Lord that is out of Conscience and this is the Apostolical Doctrine in Rom. 14.5 That which we term Uniformity an exact Indentity in Words Gestures and Vestments Nature seems to teach us an example of a sinless neglect of though there be a conformity in every Vine and every Fig-tree and the like works of Nature one to another in their kind yet for the Modes and outward Form and Shape you have not two of these that are conformable and grow alike 2. Nor can we say but though all the Penalties properly such annexed to Ecclesiastical laws are removed yet there will remain provision sufficient left in our Establishment both to keep and preserve Men in Conformity that are so and to reduce such as are not so for his Majesty hath been graciously pleased as on the one hand to assure the Orthodox-conformable-Clergy that they shall receive and enjoy the Revenues belonging to the Church of England the richest most plentiful and ample of any Protestant Church in the World and that no Person though dispensed with in other things shall be exempt from paying his Tythes and other Duties whatsoever And on the other hand That no Person shall be Capable of holding any Benefice Living or Ecclesiastical Dignity or Preferment of any kind in the Kingdom of England who is not exactly conformable Such Encouragements are also Privitive Penalties and have brought and kept more to Conformity than all the Penalties removed by his Majesty's Declaration When was it known that a Bishop or Dean or double-beneficed Parson left his Promotion and became Nonconformist and others that have been bred up to Literature at great Charge having Gifts and Parts would be so peevish as to refuse being hereupon forced to divert from the way of a more free Education to some mean Imployment to get a lively-hood or live upon the Charity of others It is the Condition of hundreds this Day in England And can we imagine any Men having such Incouragements in their Eye and the more desirable from sense of their present Indigency keep off but from Integrity of Heart His Majesty as a Common Father hath the same Affections for all his Good Subjects and never more prudence and tenderness manifested by any Prince than be hath done in this his Gracious Declaration One Party such as Conform injoy their Consciences with special Advantages in Temporal Things the other they also enjoy their Consciences with Freedom from those Severe Proceedings and these are fatisfied also And now let not any Man's Eye be Evil because his Majesty hath been so good to their Brethren Let me say again That his Majesty hath in Tenderness and Prudence done a great Work and that which hath lain undone to the disturbance of his good Subjects more or less ever since the Reformation That is in satisfying or laying a sufficient ground of Satisfaction to the two great Parties which divided this Kingdom in the Matters appertaining to Religion That is in the Forms and Ceremonies of Worship In the Profession of Faith and Articles of Religion according to the establishment 13. Eliz. there is one Union in the acknowledgment of both Parties and this without the least detriment or just prejudice of either Party Those that Conform enjoy their Consciences imploy their Talents and reap the Encouragements of the established Government without any loss or detriment to those that conform not And this party enjoy their Consciences and Freedom from suffering and liberty to follow their Callings without the least damage to the Conformist SECT 5. QUEST V. Is there any necessity his Majesty should exert a sole Power in Affairs of Religion when the Peace and Unity of the Nation herein was undertaken by his Parliament and many Things endeavoured that way by them and Purposes its likely of a further progress therein Answ For Answer it will be necessary to insert here briefly a Narrative of some Passages of his Majesty and the Parliament in these Proceedings His Majesty observing how Affairs stood here in this Kingdom and the Distractions that were on Mens Minds about Religion and Forms of Worship and considering there are but two ways supposed ordinarily to reduce a People again to Peace and Unity in Religion 1. Either by severity to discourage and extirpate Or 2. by lenity and indulgence to bear with Dissenters His Majesty considering those Forms and Ways of Worship to which Conformity is now required have not only been much scrupled and contended against by Learned and Sober Men ever since the first Reformation but of late utterly disfavoured by a Representative of the Nation and a Synod of Learned Men. And different practices in the Service and Worship of God by the present Powers that then were encouraged and such which were not other but what was received and observed in the best Reformed Churches Abroad and by the Dutch and French Churches here at Home Upon these and the like Considerations his Majesty chose upon great Deliberation the way of Indulgence it being also most suitable to his Conscience and sweetness of his Nature This is Resolution he professed to all the World and engaged himself by promise to his People he would endeavour the effecting thereof which is more than evident in the many Declarations he made hereof and repeated again upon all Occasions He was pleased in a Declaration from Breda to answer a Liberty to tender Consciences and that no Man shall be disquieted or called in question for Differences of Opinion in Matters of Religion which do not disturb the Peace of the Kingdom And in his Speech July 17. 1660. professeth that he owes his Being here to God's Blessing upon the Intentions and Resolutions he had and expressed in that Declaration This Declaration his Majesty afterwards May 8. 1661. terms a Promise solemnly made This Declaration or Promise is so much upon his Royal Heart that he tells both Houses July 8. 1661. that so oft as he comes to them he mentions his Declaration from Breda that Himself as well as they might mind it In his Majesty's Declaration of Decemb. 26. 1662. he tells us That he remembers the very words of the Promises from Breda that concern Liberty of Consciences and the Confirmations he hath made of them since upon several occasions and as all these Things are fresh in his Memory so he is still firm in the Resolution of performing them to the full Feb. 10. 1661. in a Speech