the Glorious Presence of Christ upon Earth and which might any way contribute to rear up the Fabrick of the New-Testament Church 'T is much that such an Officer of so absolute concernment as this Opinion makes him should not be in the Christian World for three hundred years together If we will seek the meaning of this providential disposal of things may we not soberly think it to be that the Gospel was a thing wholly founded upon Spiritual Power was compleat therein and needed not any Temporal power to contribute to its perfection This impowering the Magistrate with a Superlative Authority in setling what relates to the Government of the Church supposeth this That the Scripture hath revealed no Truth that is binding in this matter but this That what the Magistrate pleaseth to settle in every place that is right and this I am sure the Scripture hath no where revealed and so we are like to have as many distinct Governments as there are States and distinct Kindgdoms in the World 't is strange those that are for exact Uniformity in any one Church should lay a foundation of such confused multiplicity in the Church Universal Either we must suppose Christ was not faithful to reveal all that concerned the Government of the Gospel-Church which God intrusted him with or else that it was the Will of God there should be no more revealed but that all should be transiently left to the Magistrate To say the first were but to urge Blasphemy for Reason if the second 't is to impower an Officer in such a necessary and weighty matter whose very being in the Church with an ability to do it had a futurity of three hundred years to come During all which time if Christ and the Apostles setled no Government in the Church and there being no Christian Magistrate that could settle any How could the Church then come lawfully to have any If it be said Where there is no Christian Magistrate every Church may use their own discretion then 't is plain the Government of the Church under the Gospel hath no other bottom than what every Magistrate and every particular Church pleaseth and so not only Magistrates but Churches and indeed all the World may be their own Carvers in this weighty matter 'T is very hard to be credited that the Government of the Church which does so greatly relate to the preservation of the Truth of Doctrine in it should be left to such floating uncertainties Besides this Position makes all that part of the Gospel which lies in Precept and President about the Rule of the Church and what was by the Apostles then practised and commanded to be of no use to us nor obligation upon us farther then the Magistrate pleaseth 't is to give him a dominion over that part of the Scriptures and opens a door to make him as some have fully done Lord over the whole New-Testament Two things are usually said to prop up this Power in the Magistrate First That there is nothing positively determined in the Gospel about these things because the Gospel being to take place throughout the whole world no one frame or Model of Government could be composed that would conveniently fit all Persons and Places where the Gospel might come to be received and setled and therefore the Wisdom of Christ hath left things of that nature wholly undetermined This is a thing taken for granted and wholly without any Divine Ground to warrant it and is in the reason of the thing it self insufficient for we find nothing in command or practice by the Apostles in setling the Christian Churches but what will agree with any Nation or People in the World He that will say That the Order of the Gospel as we there find it practised and required will not agree to any place may with as much reason if not more say That the receiving of the Gospel it self in the general belief of it will not agree to that place These things make it evident that the Order and Discipline we find setled in the Gospel-Churches in the Apostles time must needs fit every place and people and can do no hurt any where 1st It highly intends to heighten and compleat the duty incumbent on all Moral and Natural Relations that which Christ hath appointed to preserve order among Christians as Christians will never hinder but farther it amongst men as men 2dly The power upon which Christ's Rule setled in his Church is founded is wholly Spiritual it can never do any Violence to mankind nor clash with any humane power because that is the Boundery of it 3dly The thing designed and attained by the Order of the Gospel-Church is no more than to preserve men in a regular capacity to enjoy all Christs Institutions and therefore he that will say This Order will not sute any Nation must say in effect None of Christs Institutions will agree to that Nation 4thly There is nothing in Christs Government of his Church that is properly relative to the Political Government of a State or does any way determine the form of it but it may be equally exercised under any Government whatsoever The Religious policy of the Jews did highly relate to the State and was commixed with it and the same Government of that Church could not have been without a sutable conformity of the State to it and so could not well reach beyond that Nation and peculiar Country and People But the Gospel-Church and the Rule of it is grounded upon quite other terms and hath its first Principle in that saying of our Saviour Where ever two or three are met together in my Name there am I in the midst of them And there is no place nor people under the Sun but where with much advantage the order of the Gospel as well as the Gospel it self may be introduced A Second thing made to prop up this power in the Magistrate is Because of the wonderful difficulty we find in the New-Testament about matters of this nature This I acknowledge should put us upon much enquiry and great indulgence to each other but I cannot yield it a good reason to establish a visible Judge to settle a Civil Pope for at last upon the same grounds it will be found out that the Scripture in Doctrinals is obscure too and so the Magistrate must be likewise an Umpire in those things and finally in all Were once all these Carnal Interests and Political Concerns that are now twisted into the Government of the Church laid by it would be found a thing very feasible to deduce from Scripture Precept and Example limitted to no particular case in the reason of it a systeme of Ecclesiastical Rule sufficient for the obtaining all the holy and good ends designed by the Gospel and compleating men in a Spiritual Society as an Organical-Church and if a Church can be so constituted which is a thing in it self of no harship if men would be contented with the simplicity of
the said Record either openly by dispute or publickly by Writing to be contrary to Christs Doctrine and Example and contrary to the Apostles Doctrine and Example and contrary to the Doctrine and Example of Francis Howgil Richard Hubthorn and divers other Friends Testimonies in Print and not only so but Antichrictian and Romish and thereupon do hereby enter my Protestation against the said Record and every part thereof Witness my Hand the 4th of the 10th Month 1678. Francis Bugg All which desire of their proving their Proceedings Apostolical and debating the Matter both by me and others they denyed and utterly refused But I marvail the less since I now understand by the Preface to the Book of W. R. In Five Parts Entituled The Christian-Quaker Distinguished c. That it is the Advice of such an Eminent Man of Party with G. F. that we should not be reasoned with a notable way but methinks very Singular yea so Singular that there is no Profession of People that I know of now extant in England that will refuse to be reasoned with except only the Papists and they are so infallibly sure that upon that Foot they do not doubt nor scruple their Faith and Belief for they Believe as the Church Believes and G. W. says in his Apost Incendi c. p. 16. That the true Church is in the true Faith that is in God and we must either Believe thus as the True Church Believes or else it were but folly and Hypocrisy to profess our selves to be of the True Church Indeed the first part of George his Assertion is true for the Church of God which is made up of faithful Members amongst Episcopalians Presbyterians Independents and Baptists or under any other Denomination whatsoever in any County City Language or People that fear God and work Righteousness these all have their Faith in God but that those with respect to Degrees Growths or Measures do differ and are of different Perswasions in many Points and thereupon ought to bear and forbear Judging one another is manifest as also from the Practise of the Primitive Christians as W. R. and T.C. have fully manifested which not only thwarts G. W's Answer to the four Positions mentioned in the 15th and 16th pages of the said Book But the whole Rubrick Laws and Cannons Ecclesiastical of G. F. and other Innovators who are so infallibly sure of the way and that all that differ from them are in the wrong that as I said they have no will to reason things to debate things but too much like the Papists would have things taken upon trust Implicitely Believe as the Church Believes Practice as the Church Practices and in all Points yield obedience to her Decrees without any Examination Scruple or Doubt Or else why should that Abetter of the Cause of G. F. advise as followeth Viz. Let not this Spirit be reasoned with Enter not into Proposals and Articles with it but feed it with Judgment that is Gods Decree Mark the Nature and Tendency of this Advice for should the Apostles have thus Preached to the Boreans What Liberty had been left for their Search and their further Examination nay Christ himself reasoned in the Synagogue of the Jews and the Apostles did the like nay when any Difference arose amongst themselves a free Debate was admitted which amongst us hath been both by Advice and Practice stiffly denyed as I shall yet more manifest Six Queries propounded by F. B. the 12th Month 1678. Some Qveries propounded to such amongst us as endeavour to impose a Uniformity and Conformity to such Rights and Ceremonies as have ho Foundation in Scripture and to such a Church Discipline as neither the Prophets Christ Jesus nor his Holy Apostles Primitive Christians Saints or Martyrs in any Age or Generation either Commanded or Practised and do expect your Answer according to Scripture for the Scripture testifies of Christ and of his Example and the Apostles who wrote Scripture had the Mind of Christ and his Mind is not variable so let your Answer accord with Scripture And whereas you pretend you are for Holy Orders and good Government in the Church maintain the same by Scripture Proof otherwise we shall look upon your Pretentions altogether vain and your plea no better than that which is commonly used by the Persecuting Papists and degenerated Protestants who when we bid them prove the Use of their Ceremonies and other Observations by plain Scripture they say They need not for the Apostle said Let things be done decently and in order And the Church seeing a Decency in the Vse of these Things She hath a Power committed to Her to impose them on Her Members and by Vertue of Her Authority She commands the strict Observation of them under pain of Her Displeasure and if any will not yield obedience to Her Decretal Orders when once approved on by a General-Council or Synodical-Assembly or question her Authority She hath a Power to Excommunicate and cut off such as Heriticks or Gain-sayers or Men of Opposite Spirits c. Thus says ROME and thus say the Episcopalians thus say all Imposers who have no Authority from Christ Jesus for their un-scriptural Traditions that it begins to be so with us is plain manifest and for a particular Instance view the Case of J. A. who was both judged and Condemned and Recorded out of the Unity at a Quarterly-Meeting or General Council held at Hadenham in the Isle of Ely the 4th of the 7th Month 1678. And in as much as you seem to make G. F. the Author of your Errours it stands him upon finally to reject and to bear a publick Testimony against your New Strange and Dangerous Innovations and Babylonish Inventions and to shew that he hath no Hand in the Introducing and promoting the same WHEREFORE answer these things following that so your Minds Intents and Purposes may be fully and clearly manifest and upon what Bottom you stand and who gave you your Power and whence you derive your Authority and in whose Name you compel a Conformity to your New Invenetd Orders and Rules under Pain of Condemnation QUERY I. Whether Christ Jesus the true God and Eternal Life in whom the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt Bodily be the Head of the True Church OR Whether George Fox who is but a Man unto whom the Spirit is given but by Measure be Head thereof Answer QUERY II. If you say that Christ is the Head thereof as I hope you will not dare to say otherwise then I further Query Whether Christ be not Lawgiver to his Church Answer QUERY III. If you say That Christ is and of right ought to be both Head and Lawgiver to his Church as I presume you will not say otherwise Then I further Query Whether we who profess our selves to be Disciples Followers of Christ ought not to follow and obey the Example Practice Precepts Commands Prescriptions and Exhortations of Christ Jesus our Lord and Master
Man as the Author to the Accuser did in Expunging the Doctrines and Opinions of those Books c. I could also tell you the Story of the cruel Sufferings of Thomas Green for spreading Books in Queen Marys Reign but you may read it at large in p. 218. of the Sp. Mar. Revived c. Object But some may perhaps say That though the Papists were against the spreading of these kind of Schismatical Books yet they allowed or at least permitted wicked Books and that doth not G. Fox or his Party c. Answer This I confess was an Objection which had some place in my Mind But being in London in the Month of February last after I had seen the Excommunication against J. B. I was resolved to try the Truth of the matter and so I went to Benjamin Clark who is a great Man for G. F and his Party and sells the Answers to W. R. his Book but I suppose 't is against his Conscience to sell one of W. R. his Books although it hath more Divinity Truth and Reason in it than all the Books extant against it yet inasmuch as G. F. is therein Detected their Church-Government reprehended and R. B. his Book of Government Anatomised the said B.C. will not sell one of them However I went to his Shop as a Country-man and Stranger and asked if they sold no pritty Books for Children no pritty Play-Books or Papists Books in short I had all sorts brought to my view and as wicked Books yea such as I never saw that I remember which if they desire a Proof of their Badness I may for ought I know afterwards have occasion to produce one out of them Oh gross Deceit and manifest Hyppocrisy Were ever more vain Pretences amongst the Papists than are now entred this sort of New Church-Governours Oh! How did G. Fox Buffet Thomas Vincent who had rather that his Hearers should go to a Bawdy-House than to a Quakers Meeting in his Epistle to the Book Entituled The Divinity of Christ c. Put forth by G.W. yea the whole People saying How now Presbyterians High Priests What Is this your Doctrine that you Preach up for your Hearers to go to a Bawdy-House c. Over and over they are pelted as if that kind of Wickedness the Presbyterians had been Principled in because T. V. in his over hot Zeal might use such an unjustifiable Expression and now may they say to G. F. How now G. F. What Hadst thou rather that B. Clark and J. Bringhurst should sell Papists Books Play-Books Jesting-Books nay 〈…〉 Books rather than that Book of W.R. because it discovers the Naked Truth of your New-Model of Church-Government c. Object Perhaps some may object and say as B. A. or J. F. or one of them said to me Viz. Well but suppose all that you say or suggest be true admit that were granted yet to publish it that is abominable and wicked Or words to that purpose c. Answ Indeed if things were not true and that what we suggest had no bottom but barely our own Apprehension and Suspition then to publish things of this nature thereby to Expose and falsly Represent a People this would be very wicked and such a Practice is and ever was hated of God and good Men but admitting they be real Truths and no Fictions which I hereby expose as that I stand ready to make appear then upon that Foot and upon that Bottom I do account it both Just Reasonable and a Christian Duty in three Respects First To reprove the Erronious by shewing them their Errours if not then were the Apostles Martyrs and the whole Line of Protestants in the wrong and under Blame greatly Secondly To undeceive the World and the credulous People therein who are very apt to be led aside by the Flourishes and fair Pretences of Men and not like the Noble Bereans search the Scriptures in Order to examine things relating to Life and Salvation and the Doctrine and Discipline their Teachers lay down to be indispensibly obeyed Thirdly To manifest the right Way both to the Erring Persons and the Ignorant World of Implicit Professors and this to be done for the Good of Souls for the Increase of Knowledge and Gods Glory and that this is my main End and peculiar Intent I appeal to God the Searcher of all Hearts and knows the Intents thereof c. A Word of Advice to the Pensilvanians FRiends you have the Advantage of those that went into New-England Barbadoes and other Plantations formerly you may perceive the Rock upon which they have miscarryed what hath been an Impediment to the Increase of Love and Charity amongst them to wit Impositions on the Consciences of those that differ from them in some Religious Point of Church-Discipline or other How hath New-England that fled from hence under a Complaint of the Bishops Tyranny made their Little-Finger as heavy as their Loynes Witness the Sufferings of our Friends to Death under their Tyranny And Secondly Enquire and see how sweetly our Friends lived in Barbadoes in Love and Charity one towards another until G. F. his Law came to take place there Insomuch as that at length at a Quarterly-Meeting at Ralph Fretwells House in Barbadoes the 23d of the 10th Month 1680. Where the Sum of their Testimony amounted to a Choice to be made Viz. Whether Friends would cleave abide to theVniversal Spirit Viz. in the Mens and Womens-Meeting c Or Whether to their particular Measures c. A strange kind of Proposition And after many Testimonies given to the further Opening the Question the Judgment underneath was written and voluntarily Subscribed by both the Men and Women c. That is to say I Desire to give up my whole Concern if required both Spiritual and Temporal unto the Judgment of the Spirit of God in the Mens and Womens-Meetings as believing it to be more according to the Universal Wisdom of God than any particular Measure in my self or any particulars with which the Mens and Womens-Meetings have not Unity Subscribed by 39 Men 43 Women Total 82. Thus Implicit Faith and Blind Obedience for the magnifying of G. F. his Laws and Orders began to spread far and near but this Papistical Judgment and Erronious Opinion stands Answered by T. C. in a Small Tract Called Babells-Builders Unmasking themselves c. Also you have the Advantage of seeing the Effects of G. F. his Laws here in England Wherefore in short this is my Advice to you Keep the Holy Scriptures in Esteem amongst you and if any would lay a Foundation for Church-Government that is not warranted by the plain Text thereof and would compel you to a Conformity to the same slight it and never submit to such an Yoak neither be intangled thereby though there may be a Shew of Wisdom in them as the Apostle said Gal. 5. Heb. 9 10. Isaiah 29.13 Mat. 15.9 I say keep the Scpipture in great Esteem if your Teachers
the Gospel and Christs wisdom in these things as that Church will be most pure as having nothing of humane make in it so it will perfectly annihilate all those pretended necessities for the interposition of humane Authority about such things If the Magistrate hath likewise a farther power to suppress all Errors and Heresies and to establish by force the Orthodox Truth the Rule of which must needs be what he thinks to be so this will inevitably follow that there can be never any such thing as Liberty of Conscience in any case or upon any terms in the world under a Christian Magistrate he sins if he suffer to tolerate any thing but what he thinks punctually right If he be the proper Judge entrusted first to judge and then to execute his Judgment with the Temporal Power all Liberty to whosoever is not of his mind is perfectly gone This is no other than to make the Magistrate's Power a meer Inquisition And by this means a Christian Magistrate will prove a marvellous hurt to much of the Church where he governs for unless you will suppose all the Truth and all sound Christians to be included in what he establishes for Orthodox if there be any Truth or true Professors of Christianity amongst all the other Opinions he persecutes they are sure to be sufferers and it will ever fall out that all those that are not of the Magistrates Opinion had better live under one of Gallio's temper than under a Magistrate so practising These large positions about the Magistrates Power have no visible ground for themselves in the Gospel and when 't is said the reason of it is because there was no Christian Magistrate till long after and so little mention is made of his Authority in these things there is nothing said that can be any way satisfactory because what Power soever any shall exercise in or over the Gospel Church to the end of the world must have its rise and derivation from what was then established by Christ and his Apostles However they are sure of a popular acceptance 1. Because they bring us to a visible Judge and a humane certainty which most men had rather be at than a laborious inquiry after divine Truth in the way God hath revealed it in the Scriptures And 2. Because they are positions that land us in a very safe harbour and free us from any danger of suffering about those things he that thinks it his duty to be alwayes of the Magistrates Religion is so secured in that duty that no Religion can possibly ever hurt him and whoever thinks the Magistrate is Gods substitute to determine all matters of Religion as he pleaseth must needs think it a duty to be of his mind The second Extream about the Magistrates Power is in asserting the Magistrate to have ample concerns about Religion and a power sufficient entrusted to him but the manner in which it is to be exercised is in a punctual suberviency to the Church that is they are to determine and he is to execute they are to be his eye and he is to be their hand As the first Extream debaseth the Church and all Ecclesiastical power under the Magistrates feet and makes him the sole Lord of all so this in another extream makes the Magistrate a Slave to the Church this is an unreasonable Imposition upon him and gives him less liberty than each private Christian ought to have to oblige him to put a civil Sanction and execute by his Authority whatever the Church decrees whether he judge it to be right or no this is only to make him a Sword-bearer to the Clergy This is the great Engine by which the Church of Rome has inslaved so much of the World Antichrist could never have been setled in his Throne if Kingdoms had not thus given up their power to him How shamefully upon this pretence that the Civil power must be subject to the Ecclesiastical have the Popes of Rome brought Kings and Emperors not only to employ their power as they pleased but to suffer all the scorns and indignities from them imaginable The story of what Hildebrand did to the Emperor Henry and many others do abundantly shew this The truth is the carnal Conjunction of the Temporal Power with the Spiritual is that which has made all Ecclesiastical Regiment odious and unsavoury in the nostrils of the world in all Ages and hath had no other effect but to enable the Clergy under a pretext of the power of the Gospel to trample by the power of the World mankind under their Feet That the Civil Magistrate ought not to employ his power in such a sub-ordination let these things be considered First This is to suppose either an insufficiency in that Spiritual Power which Christ did at first leave in his Church or else that he fails in that Promise of being with them to the end of the World and continuing his Presence to make his Laws effectual for the end they are intended Christ hath appointed the means of Converting men to the Gospel to be the preaching of it to them If you will compel men by the Civil power to become Converts it plainly intimates we judge Christs way insufficient and use the other as what we judge a better As Christ hath appointed Preaching the Gospel as the great means to bring men into the Church so he hath appointed Excommunication as the great means to cast offenders out of the Church and force is as unreasonable in the one as in the other The outward advantages a man has by becoming a Christian lies in the enjoyment of all Christs Institutions and the punishment of all Gospel-crimes lies in being cast out from those priviledges and undergoing the weight that Christ shall lay upon the Conscience thereby When a person is excommunicated to deliver him over to the Temporal power to be corporally punished must either be because we think Christs punishment in that case not enough or else because our own animosity prompts us to go farther Chrysost Serm. de Anathem hath a pious and prudent saying Dogmata impia quae ab Hereticis profecta sunt arguere Anathematizare opertet hominibus autem parcendum pro salute eorum orandum that is We must confute and pronounce Anathema to the wicked opinions of Hereticks but we must spare their Persons and pray for their Salvation Secondly This way alters the manner of Christs rule under the Gospel which is in the Spirits and Consciences of men 'T is much of Christs glory to rule his Subjects under the Gospel by a Spiritual power 't is that power makes a man a Christian 't is that power in all Gospel Institutions that keeps men in their due obedience unto Christ and 't is that power carries the sting of the punishment when men are cast out of the Church 't is indeed that power does all under the Gospel and to bring in the Temporal Sword is to make the weapons of the
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
Friend in Europe than Vniformity in England As Liberty of Conscience here is that they fear above any thing so it would insensibly more weaken them than all the Victories we have obtained over them 2dly Men will never trade freely where they do not live and converse freely Where a man is afraid to be watched to a Conventicle and most of the time he serves God is fain to hide himself no man will chuse to live so if he can avoid it Every man that cannot conform to the publick Religion lying under the lash of the Law will prudently shun both Business and Company will never lay out his Estate where 't is in any mans power to do him a mischief A man conscious to himself that he cannot comply with the Law will avoid medling with any thing and chuse privacy as his best security This we have had a sufficient demonstration of in the Papists who for many years ever since they lay under the lash of the penal Laws have been of little use to the Nation have retreated from all publick Commerce amongst us kept their Money by them sent their Children abroad and disjoyned themselves from all the publick concerns of the Kingdom 3dly 'T is the King of England's true Interest to become Head of all the Protestant party in the World and he will never do that but by first making himself a common Father to all his Protestant Subjects at home That 't is his Interest to head the Protestant party abroad is plain because being the greatest and most powerful of all Protestant Princes and States he will necessarily draw them into a dependance upon him and desire of Protection from him by which not only the Protestant Interest in it self will be much secured by being so united and conjoyned but the King of England also will receive a great Accession of Power by the Influence he will have on so great a part of Christendom which he may make use of not only to secure the Protestant Religion against the common Enemy of it but to advantage himself every way by the great respect and interest he will have in all Protestant States To bring the Protestants into an Union amongst themselves will be of advantage to every Protestant-State but to none so much as England First Because England naturally becomes the Head of such a Union And secondly Because the Designs and Practices of the Popish party ever since the Reformation have lain and will lie more united against England than any Protestant-State as supposing that the chief Support of all the rest and therefore England can never be truly safe nor secured in its proper Interest but when 't is inviron'd with all Protestant-States adhearing to it and depending upon it How sadly England has miscarried when it has espoused any other collateral Interest but the Protestant has been too obvious ever since the first Reformation England has been always greatest at home when it has been the greatest Defender of the Protestant Faith abroad Now if the King will thus rightly state his Interest abroad he must begin the work at home if he persecute and keep under any of his Protestant Subjects at home those of their Opinion abroad will never put themselves under his protection As he must make no distinction in Christendom but Protestant and Papist so he must make no other amongst his Subjects at home He that imposeth any one Opinion amongst Protestants and will tolerate no other makes the distinction to be still between Protestant and Protestant and makes himself but Head of a Party amongst them and will never so head the Protestant Interest as to oppose the Popish party with it or unite the Protestants so under him as to make them acknowledge him for their Head Whoever would be Head of all the Protestant Interest must have no common Enemy but Popery and concenter all there Imposing Conformity to the Opinion of any one Protestant party upon all the rest is but to make himself so much the weaker by every Dissenter and is indeed totally destructive to the very being of such a thing First Liberty of Conscience is the best way to secure us to the Protestant Faith and to prevent a relapse to Popery the Protestant Religion will be fastest rooted by exerting fully the Principles of it and a throughout adhearing to them By our practice in dealing one with another to deny those Principles by which we justifie our Separation from Rome is the ready way to make them return thither again Teach men that there is no man nor men under any one denomination since the Apostles time that are infallible in delivering Divine Truth Teach men that the Scripture is the only Rule of Religion and let them read it Tell them they are to follow no men farther than they follow that Rule and that every man is Judge according to the best Light he hath of that Rule and how far other men comply with it and differ from it And that every man is bound to behave himself towards God according to the Judgment he shall so make within himself All which are Protestant Principles and Eternal Truths And then collect the sense which these Principles issue themselves into and how unreasonable will it then appear to force men to comply with the belief of others contrary to their own And when you have bid them use their Light and Reason to punish them because they will not oppose it and go against it How can we otherwise justitie forcing men where such Principles are avowed but by a flat denyal of them and recurring to those Popish Weapons of the absolute Power of the Church and her uncontrolable Authority And so by condemning others that upon the exercise of their own Light and Reason now differ from us condemn our selves who upon the same at first departed from Rome When we oppose the Church of Rome we justifie our selves upon the very same Arguments by which Dissenters now amongst our selves make their defence against us And when we dispute against them we take up the same Arguments the Papists use against us There is scarce any considerable Argument urged of late for Conformity and Imposition but if you trace it to the Seat you shall find it in Bellarmine or Suarez The truth is he that cannot indure to have any differ from him in Opinion about the supernatural Truth of the Gospel and will have no toleration of several perswasions of that kind and thinks it destructive to mankind and the being of every State to suffer any so to be That man is a Protestant by mistake and will find himself at home in his Principles no where but at Rome The farther we remove in our Reformation from the Practices and Principles of the Church of Rome and live upon our own the less like we are to return to it If we make use of their Arguments and Principles at one time we may come to use them at another and at last espouse
his People was our Principle the very Foundation Principle and Corner Stone in our Building there are yet many Living Witnesses and our Work and Labour in that day was to turn Peoples minds thereunto as to the more sure Word of Prophesy whereunto as many as took heed did well and that there was Sufficiency in it being obeyed to lead to Salvation And as our Minds came to be turned to this Inward Teacher And as we came to experience the Vertue and Excellency of this Holy Vnction so we held a publick Testimony thereof to others that they might thereby be provoked to make tryal thereof that so they might have the Witness in themselves and see for themselves and tast for themselves and to this Word nigh in the Heart were we committed and recommended suitable to the Doctrine and Antient Prophesies of Christ Jesus our Lord and his Blessed Apostles and Prophets and in that Day How did our Harmony sound in our Assemblies And how did our Love abound one towards another And our Zeal for the Holy Name of our God In this stood our Unity in this stood our Fellowship even in that Inward Testimony which God committed to us to bear for his Names sake here was the moving Cause of our Love to God one toward another even the Inward Testimony or Manifestation of his Spirit which God in his Infinite Love hath given us to profit withal persuant to his former Promises to our Fathers by his Prophets saying I will give Him for a Light to the Gentiles and to be my Salvation to the Ends of the Earth I will give him for a Commander and a Leader to my People Israel And as we came to believe this Report and to experience the fulfilling of these Promises and to be Witnesses of the Vertue of this his Blessed Appearance so we declare to others that they also might believe and have Fellowship with us therein and the more we came thus to be Spiritually-minded and Spiritually-exercised and the more we came to take delight therein and to meditate therein the more the Lord manifested his Love unto us and his pure Power amongst us and became a Hedge about us and a Wall unto us and gave us Favour in the Sight of the People Blessed and Praised be his Holy Name for ever And in that Day when others would boast of their Church Authority and Church Discipline Vseful Ceremonies Comely Orders and Decent Vestments c. We told them the Spirit of God was the Foundation of our Church as well as the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles That Christ Jesus the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven who is a Quickning Spirit was Head of our Church Lawgiver to our Church on whose Shoulders the Government and Authority of our Church is laid yea the Hedge and Pale of our Church and able to preserve our Church and in this Faith we lived and walked in pure undefiled Love If any said to us Lo here is Christ in this Ordinance or in that Observation We told them Nay Christ is within and there they must wait to know Him except they were Reprobates for the Kingdom of Heaven is within and there they must wait to receive the Earnest of it for it comes not by Outward Observations This we told People this we proved to the People out of the Holy Scriptures This upon all occasions we testified to all People Professor and Prophane Bond and Free Noble and Ignoble When they told us of their Articles of Faith and how many they had and of the Scripture being the Rule c. We told them That Faith was the Gift of God and to be waited for and that Faith was the Evidence of things not seen and that although in the World there were Faiths many and Lords many yet to us there was but one Faith and one Lord Jesus Christ who was the Author of that Faith And that although the Scriptures were good and a true Declaration of those Things which were most surely believed by the Apostles and by us ought to be believed yet not the only Rule But still the Spirit of God which was the First Principle the Foundation Principle the Palc and only Hedge of the Church and Sanctified People of God so likewise it was the Rule of Life Practice first and before any other Rule and always had the Preheminency in our Testimony from the Beginning And if any question the Truth of what I have here affirmed then for Proof thereof I refer them to the Testimonies of Isaac Pennington Edward Burrough George Bishop c. Published by T. Crisp together with the Writings of Francis Howgil Richard Hubberthorn and many other Antient Friends c. And in that Day if any Brethren gave forth a Letter of Advice and Counsel for the Help and Information of the weak and lately Convinced It was so worded as that Christian-Liberty was preserved and the People not Impos'd upon beyond their Freedom And that it was so I shall prove by an undeniable Instance in a Letter of Advice from the Brethren in the North about twenty Years since containing twenty particular Things wherein Advice and Counsel is given yet SO as to leave them to their Freedom and not to impose them further than Friends to whom they wrote could receive them or see a Service in them as is evident both from the Title or Direction of the said Paper and also from the Closure and Conclusion of the said Letter both which I shall here insert as also that Clause or particular Advice about Marriage which is the seventh particular thing wherein Counsel is given in the said Paper or Letter of Advice That is to say The Elders and Brethren sendeth unto the Brethren in the North these necessary Things following to which if you in the Light wait to be kept in Obedience you will do well Fare you well This is the Title or Direction of the said Letter of Advice now follows the 7th Particular which is about Marriage c. That as any are moved of the Lord and in his Light called to take a Brother or Sister in Marriage Marriage being honourable in all and the Bed Vndefiled let it be made known to the Children of Light especially to those of the Meeting of which the Parties are Members that all in the Light may it witness to be of God and being in the Light made manifest to be of God let them be joyned together in the Lord and in his Fear in the presence of many Witnesses according to the Example of the Holy Men of God in the Scriptures of Truth recorded which was written for our Example and Learning and that no Scandal may rest upon the Truth nor any thing be done in secret but all things to the Light brought that Truth may triumph over all Deceit and that they who are joyned together in the Lord may not by Man be put asunder whom the Lord hath joyned together That there may
who is both Head and Lawgiver to his Church which are frequently laid down in Scripture by the four Evangelists and other his Prophets and Apostles Rather than the Practice Precepts Commands Prescriptions and Exhortations of G. F. or any other Mortal Man QUERY IV. If you say That the Commands Precepts Prescriptions and Exhortations of Christ Jesus ought Rather and in the first place to be obeyed as I hope you will not dare to say otherwise Then I further Query Whether Christ or any of his Apostles commanded that a Womens-Meeting should be set up Monthly distinct and apart from the Men and a Power committed to them to hear examine and determine Matters relating to the Government of the Church as now practised by many of us and that if any did not subject themselves to the Skill Prudence and Approbation of such Women-Governours and Government of the Church that they should be Judged and Condemned and Recorded out of the Vnity OR hath Christ or any of his Apostles left a Precise or particular Command that when any are intended to joyn in Marriage that first and before the Accomplishment thereof they the said Couple should always twice go to a Mans-Meeting and Womens-Meeting they being distinct and apart from each other for so they must be or else not according to G. F. his Orders and then all is in vain to publish their Intention of Marriage and when so done to stay a compleat Month and then go again to the said Meeting Viz. first to the Womens-Meeting for they have the Preheminence in our New Church Procedure and then to the Mens-Meeting they being distinct as I observed before which is a MAIN PRINCIPLE in this New Frame of Church-Government to ask and receive their Approbation and Licence to Marry and this to be done under pain of the Church's Censure which peradventure may be to Record them out of the Vnity If there be such a particular or general Command pray shew it us Or Whether did not Christ leave his People to their Liberty and Freedom How and in what manner they perform and compleat the Outward Ceremony provided they come together Chast and Clean as becomes the Gospel and the Professors of it QUERY V. If you say That Christ nor his Apostles left neither Command Example nor President for Womens-Meetings a part from the Men to be set up Monthly any way to intermeddle with the Government of the Church as that you must confess how angry soever you may be at the Discovery of these hidden Mysteries then I do further query of you the said Imposers Where had you your Power And from whence had you your Authority to Institute and ordain such a Way of Government in the Church by Women or otherwise containing such Rites and Ceremonies as have no President in Scripture And in whose Name do you compel to a Vniformity and Conformity thereunto And whether is not Christs Doctrine and Commands laid down in Scripture of more Authority than the Commands Institutions and Prescriptions of G. F Which if you grant they be as I know in words you dare not deny whatever you think Then I still further Query of you Directory-Makers What is the Reason and what doth it mean That neither Mathew Mark Luke nor John nor any one Chapter of any of those Books are Recorded in our Great Book of Records first and before the Epistle of G. F. as that which is more Powerful more Binding and of much more Authority Answer these Things QUERY VI. Whether were not the Bereans commended in that they searched the Scriptures to see whether Pauls Testimony accorded therewith yea and accounted more Noble than they of Thessalonica who were not so Inquisitive And is it not more commendable to search the Scriptures to see whether the Institutions Orders Cannons Degrees Traditions and Ceremonies of G. F. and other Innovators of Party with him Together with the Compelling a Vniformity and Conformity thereunto which hath occasioned so much Division Discord Strife and Contention since their Arrival be according to Scripture yea or Nay Seeing it is written Try all Things And if upon a diligent Search they be found directly contrary to Scripture and the Practice Doctrine and Example of Christ Jesus and his Holy Apostles Saints and Martyrs in all Ages Then I further Query Whether they ought not to be opposed withstood and testified against by all those that have a certain Sight thereof Alledging constantly according to Scripture That every one should be fully perswaded in his own Mind and if any be otherwise or contrary Minded they ought to be let alone until it pleases God to reveal and make manifest his Will unto them For what is not of Faith is Sin as saith the Apostle So answer these Things touching the Point of Church-Government for your Practice brings you into Suspition and you must come to Tryal as others have done before you F. B. The Twelfth Month 1678. To these Queries there were some Testimonies of Friends added which for Brevity sake I here omit likewise the Letter wherein I inclosed them to S. Cater I also at present omit for some Reasons And to this day I never had any Answer to the said Queries whereby I perceive what Effect the Advice given by a Publick Preacher of Party with G. F. hath taken Viz. Let not this Spirit be reasoned with enter not into Proposals and Articles with it but feed it with Judgment that is Gods DECREE Which Advice when compared with this kind of Doctrine frequently published as W. R. avers in his Preface to the Christian-Quaker Distinguished c. Viz. Let us exclude the Reasoning the VVisdom and the Jealousie and let us have an Eye to the Brethren I say when I compare them and many other like Exhortations it is the less marvel that they should refuse any Answer especially considering that if they should answer there is no way to evade being discovered and Errour loves Obscurity for its Habitation is Darkness and Ignorance is the Mother of its Devotion and Conformity the Monstrous Womb that produc't it and when attended with the Secular Power supports all its deformed Parts with great Admiration crying Who is able to make War with the Beast c. I shall add one Query which J. A. put forth to which I never heard that he had any Answer and by that the Reader may understand his Sense about the Proceedings of our Quarterly-Meeting against him and then I purpose to conclude this Chapter c. A Question propounded to S. Cater and others of the Isle of Ely and elsewhere who force a Conformity to Church-Discipline and say Without Conformity no Unity The Question is What is Conformity A very short Question and easily answered it may be S. C. and others may say It is to the Spirit but not mean so but intend the Wills and Edicts of Men as in Example the late Proceedings against J. A. concerning taking his Wife who in every particular
hopes that things might yet be amended c. But you will not hear you will not have any regard to the distracting Contentions and dividing Contests we have in the Country about your New Orders so that a necessity is upon me to undeceive the World and such as have their Eye too much to you for notwithstanding things are as I have laid them down and you will not condiscend a hairs breadth yet the Author to the Accuser hath the face to tell the World in p. 127. And having these things in our Eye 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 accomodate Matters as not to divide about them and therefore we do seriously profess we see no real Cause or valid Reason our Opposer meaning W. R. shews for the great noise and rumble he makes about Outward Laws Prescriptions Edicts Innovations Impositions c. For my part I marvel that the Author of the Accuser which is said to be G. Whitehead should have the confidence thus to appear in Print when his own Conscience tells him the contrary nay it is not a year since himself was at our Quarterly-Meeting where the said Orders mentioned in the Third Chapter are Recorded as a Rule and prescribed Platform under the Notion of Orders when one Robert Smith of Coline in Huntingtonshire came to publish his Intention of Marriage with Ann Oliver in the Isle of Ely and because he would not go into the Womens Meeting and perform the Ceremony in Manner and Form he was not taken notice of as others are that do conform nor yet admitted to have his Wife and the grand Opposer was G. VV. Albeit the Man brought a Certificate with him from their own Meeting which although it be a Digression from my present Matter yet I shall recite it that so it may the more evidently appear how far G. W. was from Accomodation or Condiscention which he in the Accuser fallaciously pretends to the World in order to deceive them to cover their Deceit and Hypocrisy and Arbitrary Church-Government Dominion and Lordship c. To the Quarterly-Meeting in the Isle of Ely These are to certifie all concerned that Robert Smith of Colne in this County meaning the County of Huntington Widdower hath at several Meetings published his Intentions of taking to Wife Ann Oliver of Aldred in the Isle of of Ely but grieved some Friends perhaps Richard Jobson and Tobias Hard-meat G. Fox's two principal Studs in that Country by rejecting their Counsel and refusing to acquaint the Women Friends therewith according to the good and wholsom Practice of Friends in the Truth But however we whose Names are Subscribed know nothing but that he is clear from all other Women Jasper Robins Edward Neel Wil. Whitehead James Parris Thomas Bundy Richard Taylor Thomas Bagly Natha Cawthorn Nathanael Neele But to return to make some Observation upon the antient Doctrine of G. Fox to the Professors which the Professors may justly turn upon him and say Come G. Fox and thy Adherents hear what we can say for we remember thou didst not only tell us That our Rule was without us our Touchstone without us our Guide without us and that in the Traditions of Men which lead from God but in the Year 1669 thou told us in thy Epistle to the Presbyterians and Independants and their rough Hearers in a Book wrote by G. W. Entituled The Divinity of Christ c. That we must not Shuffle for thou wert resolved that the Scripture should buffet us about As if thou hadst been resolved to throw the Bible at our Heads adding That we should be WHIPPED about with our Rule For thou wert resolved to have plain Scripture yea nothing less than plain Scripture would serve thy turn as if thou hadst loved the Scripture very well and valued it far above thy own Prescriptions which we now perceive was but meer Mockery since no Scripture is recorded in the Isle of Ely's great Book of Records as a Rule but instead thereof a large Epistle or Church-Directory of thy own writing and now we must whip thee a little with thy Rule of Ceremonies and Needless Traditions with which many of your peaceable People the Christian-Quakers have been long vexed and burthened and do begin to throw off thy Yoke and to come out with true Testimonies against thee and thy Adherents and in order to buffet thee soundly we now ask thee for plain Scripture and resolve to have it too or else reckon thee a very Hypocrite and will prove thee so too as amply as the Christian-Quakers have proved thee an Innovator we say shew us plain Scriptuer for your Womens-Meetings to be set up Monthly about the 10th Hour of the Day apart and distinct from the Men to get a little Stock by them And when so Assembled What Scripture have you to compel all that intend Marriage amongst you to go and present the Publication of their Intention before them at two several Meetings come do not shuffle with us for we are resolved to have plain Scripture for these your Proceedings or else we shall conclude thou hast found Austins Knap-Sack and stollen out one of the Ceremonies that he used to bring the Rome since we never heard of any Proof for these your Womens Jurisdiction save only by thy Learned Friend R. Richardson who in his ill compos'd Ingredients p. 11. said In like manner there remains in their Nunneries some Imperfect Footsteps of Womens Services c. And again What Scripture have you for Recording out of the Vnity such as will not Conform to these your Innovations since thou hast told us about fourteen Years ago in thy Book Entituled Gospel-Liberty and the Royal Law of Love p. 23. saying And therefore to bring People to that which is not of Faith is to bring them into Sin and to make them make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience c. Come Is it not so still Why then do you allow in your felves the Thing you condemn in others Why do you Build again the Things you have destroyed or thinkest thou thy self execusable Oh Man Come Give us Chapter and Verse for your Womens-Meeting distinct from the Men to be constantly set up unless a little cold Weather intervene Montly about the tenth Hour to get a little Stock we suppose thou meanest a little Mony for certain Select and Holy Uses it being a more private way than the Bason and Platter which our Nonconforming Ministers it seems by thy Discourse were glad to receive their Mony in publickly but the Matter is the less in regard we never pretended to preach for nothing c. And as for us we grant we are for an Outward Rule but it is the Scripture of Christ his Apostles and Prophets which was wrote for our Example and Learning but you deny the Scriptures of Christ and his Apostles to be a Rule and yet
certain evil that way But the Author proceeds and tells us In a little time it will remove the cause of the Error That is to say Forcing men if you do it long enough will convert them and the reason he gives is this Because Paul ranks his Heresies amongst the works of the Flesh and it is not seated so solely in the mind but that it hath often no sublimer motives then other sensual transgressions and as outward considerations are sometimes the cause so they may be the cure of it That ever any man did change an Opinion first or last by being forced since the World began is without instance and impossible in the nature of the thing to be One says well You may as well cure a man of the Cholick by brushing his Cout or fill a mans Belly with a Syllogisme These things do not communicate in matter and so neither in action or passion But Heresie is a work of the Flesh so is every mistake of the Soul Heresie is a work of the Soul rather in mis-believing than mis-doing 't is a thing in Opinion rather than Fact The Apostle in Galatians 5. where Heresie is reckoned amongst the works of the flesh does not put the distinction between works of the flesh as things outwardly acted opposite to what is inwardly believed but by the flesh he means the corrupt and carnal mind opposite to the Spirit of God for he says plainly in the Verse before The Flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh By the Flesh there he means the corrupt state of man in Soul and Body so that Heresie may be a work of the flesh and yet purely seated in the mind Every corruption in the mind is a work of the flesh and yet as 't is there only is in some sence a thing spiritual and speculative But saith he Outward considerations are sometimes the cause of an Opinion and may be sometimes the cure of it If outward considerations suitable to a conviction of my understanding have wrought upon my understanding and made me really believe a thing there is then no proportion at all of reason to say That force because 't is an outward thing wholly incapable of working upon my understanding may make me as well disbelieve it And if those outward considerations he means have not really convinced me then 't is not my Opinion Either outward considerations are the ground of such Opinions or they are not if they be they will best discover themselves in their effects such causes are best so known and only so known and those effects will be obvious if they be evil to a due punishment if they be not the cause of them 't is first a superlative want of Charity to make our selves evil Judges of other mens hearts and then an eminent piece of injustice to punish men upon such a false supposition He that will take upon him to judge the grounds of any mans Principles which he knows not may make any Opinion have what Original he pleaseth 'T is a most absurd thing to believe any man for outward respects should suffer all reproach and persecution You may as well say all the Martyrs suffered only to set up a Pillar and get themselves a Name 't is obvious enough to any impartial eye those outward considerations are more probably to be mens temptations that go another way Fourthly No man under the Gospel ought to be compelâ—ed to believe or practice any thing and if not to believe then not to practice for the practice ought to correspond with and be but the counter-part of the belief 't is strangely unreasonable to require uniformity in the practice where there is variety and difference in the Judgment 't is to bid a man go directly against his Light 't is miserable to rend a man into two pieces his Conscience in one part and his outward man and practice in another part God arrests him and draws him in a way suitable to his rational Soul one way and men by means wholly contrary another Who think we has the greatest right and whether is it better to obey God or man in such a case Those that thus impose upon men do what in them lies to ruin them eternally I say 't is not reasonable to compel men to believe or practice for practice should suppose belief because God tells so very often He only accepts a willing Service in his Worship and abhors all other God detests the smell of a Sacrifice where the heart is not where the heart is far from him and 't is impossible it should be near him where a man is compelled directly against his own judgment How much does the beauty of the Gospel lie in this that Gods People are made by him a willing People and that God hath his Creature wholly in his Service Such are the Converts of the Gospel where every man is in his rational Soul so satisfied enlightned and convinced that he does all freely 'T is a severe thing to enjoyn me by penal Laws to worship God in a way I neither like nor he accepts which he does not though it be what he has appointed for the matter if I come not in the manner he has likewise appointed to it I shall neither please him nor advantage my own Soul This was the case of the Jews when God hated their solemn Assemblies and said Incense was an abomination to him 'T is usually false worship that needs force 't was Jeroboam that upon Politick grounds began to force a Religion and 't is said of him He made Israel to sin by compelling them to Dan and Bethel If men intend to make Converts to God they must not do more for him than he does for himself he never violates the liberty of the rational Soul but approves things to the understanding if they under this pretext intend to make Proselites to their own power 't is very sinful Fifthly The practice of Christ and the Apostles positively contradicts this course they could have commanded what power they had pleased if that had been the way of setling the Gospel in the world Christ would have no Fire come down from Heaven but that of the Holy Ghost nor no Sword used in the Church but that of the Spirit he bids them Teach all Nations Baptizing them c. that is his way of initiating men into the Church Not as the Spainards Convert the Indians who leave them no choice but to be Baptized or Murthered Men are first to be enlightned and then led into conformable practice Paul prays for men That the Eyes of their understandings might be enlightned And our Saviour when he preached called for an eye and an ear to hear and discern his Doctrine 'T is no matter for either where force is the Medium This deserves to be very well weighed that the Apostles never urged the Truths of the Gospel in their infallible Ministry of them upon farther or other terms than Perswasion