dissenting Brethren yet I am sure Mr. Richard Baxter was one and I am sure also one of the Points debated was Concerning a Command of Lawful Superiours what was sufficient towards its being a lawful Command this following Proposition was brought by the conforming Party That Command which commands an act in it self lawful and no other act or Circumstance unlawful is not sinful Mr. Baxter denied it for two Reasons which he gave in with his own hand in writing thus One was Because that may be a sin per accidens which is not so in it self and may be unlawfully commanded though that accident be not in the command Another was That it may be commanded under an unjust penalty Again this proposition being brought by the Conformists That Command which commandeth an act in it self lawful and no other act whereby any unjust penalty is injoyned nor any circumstance whence per accidens any sin is consequent which the Commander ought to provide against is not sinful Mr. Baxter denied it for this reason then given in with his own hand in writing thus Because the first act commanded may be per accidens unlawful and be commanded by an unjust penalty though no other act or circumstance commanded be such Again this Proposition being brought by the Conformists That Command which commandeth an act in it self lawful and no other Act whereby any unjust penalty is injoyned nor any circumstance whence directly or per accidens any sin is consequent which the Commander ought to provide against hath in it all things requisite to the lawfulness of a Command and paticularly cannot be guilty of commanding an act per accidens unlawful nor of commanding an act under an unjust penalty Mr. Baxter denyed it upon the same Reasons Peter Gunning Iohn Pearson These were then two of the Disputants still live and will attest this one being now Lord Bishop of Ely and the other of Chester And the last of them told me very lately that one of the Dissenters which I could but forbear to name appear'd to Dr. Sanderson to be so bold so troublesom and so illogical in the dispute as forced patient Dr. Sanderson who was then Bishop of Lincoln and a Moderator with other Bishops to say with an unusual earnestness That he had never met with a man of more pertinacious confidence and less abilities in all his conversation But though this debate at the Savoy was ended without any great satisfaction to either party yet both parties knew the desires and understood the abilities of the other much better than before it and the late distressed Clergy that were now restor'd to their former rights and power were so Charitable as at their next meeting in Convocation to contrive to give the Dissenting Party satisfaction by alteration explanation and addition to some part both of the Rubrick and Common-Prayer as also by adding some new necessary Collects with a particular Collect of Thanksgiving How many of these new Collects were worded by Dr. Sanderson I cannot say but am sure the whole Convocation valued him so much that he never undertook to speak to any Point in question but he was heard with great willingness and attention and when any Point in question was determin'd the Convocation did usually desire him to word their intentions and as usually approve and thank him At this Convocation the Common-Prayer was made more compleat by adding three new necessary Offices which were A form of Humiliation for the murther of King Charles the Martyr a thanksgiving for the Restoration of his Son our King and for the baptizing of persons of riper age I cannot say Dr. Sanderson did form or word them all but doubtless more than any single man of the Convocation and he did also by desire of the Convocation alter and add to the forms of Prayers to be used at Sea now taken into the Service-Book And it may be noted That William the now most Reverend Archbishop of Canterbury was in these imployments diligently useful especially in helping to rectifie the Kalendar and Rubrick And lastly it may be noted that for the satisfying all the dissenting Brethren and others the Convocations Reasons for the alterations and additions to the Liturgy were by them desir'd to be drawn up by Dr. Sanderson which being done by him and approv'd by them was appointed to be Printed before the Liturgy and may be now known by this Title The Preface and begins thus It hath been the wisdom of the Church I shall now follow Dr. Sanderson to his Bishoprick and declare a part of his behaviour in that busie and weighty imployment And first That it was with such condescension and obligingness to the meanest of his Clergy as to know and be known to most of them And indeed he practis'd the like to all men of what degree soever especially to his old Neighbours or Parishioners of Boothby Pannel for there was all joy at his Table when they came to visit him then they pray'd for him and he for them with an unfeigned affection I think it will not be deny'd but that the care and toyl required of a Bishop may justly challenge the riches and revenue with which their Predecessors had lawfully endow'd them and yet he sought not that so much as doing good with it both to the present Age and Posterity and he made this appear by what follows The Bishops chief House at Buckden in the County of Huntington the usual Residence of his Predecessors for it stands about the midst of his Diocess having been at his Consecration a great part of it demolish'd and what was left standing under a visible decay was by him undertaken to be erected and repair'd and it was perform'd with great speed care and charge And to this may be added That the King having by an Injunction commended to the care of the Bishops Deans and Prebends of all Cathedral Churches the repair of them their Houses and an augmentation of the revenue of small Vicarages He when he was repairing Bugden did also augment the last as fast as Fines were paid for renewing Leases so fast that a Friend taking notice of his bounty was so bold as to advise him to remember he was under his first fruits and that he was old and had a wife and children that were yet but meanly provided for especially if his dignity were considered To whom he made a mild and thankful answer saying It would not become a Christian Bishop to suffer those houses built by his Predecessors to be ruin'd for want of repair and less justifiable to suffer any of those poor Vicars that were call'd to so high a calling as to sacrifice at God's Altar to eat the bread of sorrow constantly when he had a power by a small augmentation to turn it into the bread of chearfulness and wish'd that as this was so it were also in his Power to make all mankind happy for he desired nothing more And for his Wife and Children he hop'd
the Lord for he is our God Josh. 24. But beloved let us take heed we do not gloze with him as we do one with another we are deceived if we think God will be mocked with hollow and empty protestations We live in a wondrous complemental age wherein scarce any other word is so ready in every mouth as your servant and at your service when all is but mere form without any purpose or many times but so much as single thought of doing any serviceable office to those men to whom we profess so much service However we are one towards another yet with the Lord there is no dallying it behoveth us there to be real If we profess our selves to be or desire to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the servants of God we must have a care to demean our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all respects as becometh the servants of God To which purpose when I shall have given you those few directions I spake of I shall have done Servants owe many duties to their earthly Masters in the particulars but three generals comprehend them all Reverence Obedience Faithfulness Whereof the first respecteth the Masters person the second his pleasure the third his business And he that will be Gods servant in truth and not only in title must perform all these to his heavenly Master Reverence is the first which ever ariseth from a deliberate apprehension of some worthiness in another more than in a mans self and is ever accompanied with a fear to offend and a care to please the person reverenced and so it hath three branches whereof the first is Humility It is not possible that that servant who thinketh himself the wiser or any way the better man of the two should truly reverence his Master in his heart St. Paul therefore would have servants to count their own Masters worthy of all honour 1 Tim. 6. 1. he knew well they could not else reverence them as they ought Non decet superbum esse hominem servum could he say in the Comedy A man that thinketh goodly of himself cannot make a good servant either to God or man Then are we meetly prepared for his service and not before when truly apprehending our own vileness and unworthiness both in our nature and by reason of sin and duly acknowledging the infinite greatness and goodness of our Master we unfeignedly account our selves altogether unworthy to be called his servants Another branch of the servants reverence is fear to offend his Master This fear is a disposition well becoming a servant and therefore God as our Master and by that name of Master challengeth it Mal. 1. If I be a Father where is my honour And if I be a Master where is my fear saith the Lord of Hosts Fear and reverence are often joyned together and so joyntly required of the Lords servants Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce to him with reverence Psal. 2. and the Apostles would have us furnished with grace whereby to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12. From which fear of offending a care and desire of pleasing cannot be severed which is the third branch of the servants Reverence to his Master St. Paul biddeth Titus exhort servants to please their Masters well in all things So must Gods servant do he must study to walk worthy of him unto all pleasing not much regarding how others interpret his doings or what offence they take at him so long as his Master accepteth his services and taketh his endeavours in good part Whoso is not thus resolved to please his Master although he should thereby incur the displeasure of the whole world besides is not worthy to be called the servant of such a Master If I yet sought to please men I should not be the servant of Christ Gal. 1. And all this belongeth to Reverence Obedience is the next general duty Servants be obedient to your Masters Eph. 6. Know you not whom you yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey Rom. 6. As if there could be no better proof of service than obedience and that is two-fold Active and Passive For Obedience consisteth in the subjecting of a mans own will to the will of another which subjection if it be in something to be done maketh an Active if in something to be suffered a Passive Obedience Our Active Obedience to God is the keeping his Commandments and the doing of his will as the people said Iosh. 24. The Lord our God will we serve and his voice will we obey And this must be done in auditu auris upon the bare signification of his pleasure without disputing or debating the matter as the Centurions servant if his Master did but say Do this without any more ado did it So Abraham the servant of the Lord when he was called to go out into a place which he should receive for an inheritance obeyed and went out though he knew not whither Nor only so but in the greatest trial of Obedience that ever we read any man any mere man to have been put unto being commanded to sacrifice his only begotten Son of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy Seed be called he never stumbled as not at the promise through unbelief so neither at the command through disobedience but speedily went about it and had not failed to have done all that was commanded him had not the Lord himself when he was come even to the last act inhibited him by his countermand If mortal and wicked men look to be obeyed by their servants upon the warrant of their bare command in evil and unrighteous acts When I say unto you Smite Amnon then kill him fear not have not I commanded you saith Absalom to his servants 2 Sam. 13. Ought not the express command of God much more to be a sufficient warrant for us to do as we are bidden none of whose commands can be other than holy and just That is our Active obedience We must give proof of our Passive obedience also both in contenting our selves with his allowances and in submitting our selves to his corrections He that is but a servant in the house may not think to command whatsoever the house affordeth at his own pleasure that is the Masters prerogative alone but he must content himself with what his Master is content to allow him and take his portion of meat drink livery lodging and every other thing at the discretion and appointment of his Master Neither may the servant of God look to be his own carver in any thing neither ought he to mutter against his Master with that ungracious servant in the Parable complaining of his hardness and austerity if his allowances in some things fall short of his desire but having food and rayment be it never so little never so
for every of us to have a right judgment concerning indifferent things and their lawfulness I shall endeavour to shew you both how unrighteous a thing it is in it self and of how noysom and perilous Consequence many ways to condemn any thing as simply unlawful without very clear evidence to lead us thereunto 11. First it is a very unrighteous thing For as in Civil Judicatories the Iudge that should make no more ado but presently adjudge to death all such persons as should be brought before him upon light surmises and slender presumptions without any due enquiry into the cause or expecting clearer evidence must needs pass many an unjust Sentence and be in great jeopardy at some time or other of shedding innocent blood so he that is very forward when the lawfulness of any thing is called in question upon some colourable exceptions there-against straightways to cry it down and to pronounce it unlawful can hardly avoid the falling oftentimes into Error and sometimes into Uncharitableness Pilate though he did Iesus much wrong afterward yet he did him some right onward when the Jews cryed out â—â—ucifige Away with him crucifie him in replying for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why what evil hath he done Doth our Law judge a man before it hear him and know what he doth Was Nicodemus his Plea Ioh. 7. I wonder then by what Law those men proceed who judge so deeply and yet examine so overly speaking evil of those things they know not as St. Iude and answering a matter before they hear it as Solomon speaketh Which in his judgment is both folly and shame to them as who say there is neither Wit nor Honesty in it The Prophet Isaiah to shew the righteousness and equity of Christ in the exercise of his Kingly Office describeth it thus Isa. 11. He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes neither reprove after the hearing of his ears but with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity Implying that where there is had a just regard of righteousness and equity there will be had also a due care not to proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to our first apprehension of things as they are suddenly represented to our eyes or ears without further examination A fault which our Saviour reproveth in the Jews as an unrighteous thing when they censured him as a Sabbath-breaker without cause Iudge not according to the outward appearance but judge righteous Judgment Ioh. 7. 12. All this will easily be granted may some say where the case is plain But suppose when the Lawfulness of something is called in question that there be probable Arguments on both sides so as it is not easie to resolve whether way rather to encline Is it not at leastwise in that case better to suspect it may be unlawful than to presume it to be lawful For in doubtful cases via tutior it is best ever to take the safer way Now because there is in most men a wondrous aptness to stretch their liberty to the utmost extent many times even to a licentiousness and so there may be more danger in the enlargement than there can be in the restraint of our liberty it seemeth therefore to be the safer error in doubtful cases to judge the things unlawful say that should prove an error rather than to allow them lawful and yet that prove an error 13. True it is that in hypothesi and in point of practice and in things not enjoyned by Superiour Authority either Divine or Humane it is the saferway if we have any doubts that trouble us to forbear the doing of them for fear they should prove unlawful rather than to adventure to do them before we be well satisfied that they are lawful As for example if any man should doubt of the lawfulness of playing at Cards or of Dancing either single or mixt although I know no just cause why any man should doubt of either severed from the abuses and accidental consequents yet if any man shall think he hath just cause so todo that man ought by all means to forbear such playing or dancing till he can be satisfied in his own mind that he may lawfully use the same The Apostle hath clearly resolved the case Rom. 14. that be the thing what it can be in it self yet his very doubting maketh it unlawful to him so long as he remaineth doubtful because it cannot be of faith and whatsoever is not of faith is sin Thus far therefore the former allegation may hold good so long as we consider things but in hypothesi that is to say only so far forth as concerneth our own particular in point of practice that in these doubtful cases it is safer to be too scrupulous than too adventurous 14. But then if we will speak of things in thesi that is to say taken in their general nature and considered in themselves and as they stand devested of all circumstances and in point of judgment so as to give a positive and determinate Sentence either with them or against them there I take it the former allegation of Via tutior is so far from being of force that it holdeth rather the clean contrary way For in bivio dextra in doubtful cases it is safer erring the more charitable way As a Iudge upon the Bench had better acquit ten Malefactors if there be no full proof brought against them than condemn but one innocent person upon mere presumptions And this seemeth to be very reasonable For as in the Courts of Civil Iustice men are not ordinarily put to prove themselves honest men but the proof lyeth on the accusers part and it is sufficient for the acquitting of any man in foro externo that there is nothing of moment proved against him for in the construction of the Law every man is presumed to be an honest man till he be proved otherwise But to the condemning of a man there is more requisite than so bare suspicions are not enough no nor strong presumptions neither but there must be a clear and full evidence especially if the trial concern life So in these moral trials also in foro interno when enquiry is made into the lawfulness or unlawfulness of Humane Acts in their several kinds it is sufficient to warrant any Act in the kind to be lawful that there can be nothing produced from Scripture or sound Reason to prove it unlawful For so much the words of my Text do manifestly import All things are lawful for me But to condemn any act as simply and utterly unlawful in the kind remote consequences and weak deductions from Scripture-Text should not serve the turn neither yet reasons of inconveniency or inexpediency though carrying with them great shews of probablity But it is requisite that the unlawfulness thereof should be sufficiently demonstrated either from express and undeniable testimony of Scripture or from the clear
End and then he is to judge of the Expediency of the Means by their serviceableness thereunto 15. It is no doubt lawful for a Christian being that God hath tied him to live out his time in the World therefore to propose to himself in sundry particular actions of this Life worldly Ends Gain Preferment Reputation Delight so as he desire nothing but what is meet for him and that his desires thereof be also moderate And he may consequently apply himself to such Means as are expedient and conducing to those Ends. But those Ends and Means are but the Bye of a Christian not the Main He liveth in the World and so must and therefore also may use it But wo unto him if he have not far higher and nobler Ends than these to which all his Actions must refer and whereto all those worldly both Means and Ends must be subordinate And those are to seek the Glory of God and the Salvation of his own Soul by discharging a good Conscience and advancing the common Good In the use therefore and choice of such things as are in themselves lawful as all indifferent things are we are to judge those Means that may any way further us towards the attainment of any of those Ends to be so far forth expedient and those that any way hinder the same to be so far forth inexpedient and by how much more or less they so either further or hinder to be by so much more or less either expedient or inexpedient 16. Besides the End the reason of Expediency dependeth also very much upon such other particular Circumstances as do attend humane Actions as Times Places Persons Measure Manner and the rest By reason of the infinite variety and uncertainty whereof it is utterly impossible to give such general Rules of Expediency as shall serve to all particular Cases so that there is no remedy but the weighing of particular Circumstances in particular actions must be left to the Discretion and Charity of particular men Wherein every man that desireth to walk conscionably must endeavour at all times and in all his actions to lay things together as well as he can and taking one thing with another according to that measure of Wisdom and Charity wherewith God hath endowed him to resolve ever to do that which seemeth to him most convenient to be done as things then stand Only let him be sure still his Eye and Aim be upon the right End in the main and that then all things be ordered with reference thereunto 17. This discovery of the Nature of Expediency what it is and what dependence it hath upon and relation unto the End and Circumstances of mens actions discovereth unto us withal sundry material differences between Lawfulness and Expediency and thence also the very true reason why in the exercise of our Christian Liberty it should be needful for us to have regard as well to the Expediency as to the Lawfulness of those things we are to do Some of those Differences are First that as the Natures of things are unchangeable but their Ends and Circumstances various and variable so their Lawfulness which is rooted in their Nature is also constant and permanent and ever the same but their Expediency which hangeth upon so many turning hinges is ever and anon changing What is expedient to day may be inexpedient to morrow but once lawful and ever lawful Secondly That a thing may be at the same time expedient in one respect and inexpedient in another but no respects can make the same thing to be at once hoth lawful and unlawful Because respects cannot alter the Natures of things from which their Lawfulness or Unlawfulness ariseth Thirdly That the Lawfulness and Unlawfulness of things consisteth in puncto indivisibili as they use to speak even as the Nature and Essence of every thing doth and so are not capable either of them of the degrees of more or less all lawful things being equally lawful and all unlawful things equally unlawful But there is a latitude of expediency and inexpediency they do both suspicere magis minus so as one thing may be more or less expedient than another and more or less inexpedient than another And that therefore fourthly It is a harder thing to judge rightly of the Expediency of things to be done than of their lawfulness For to judge whether a thing be lawful or no there need no more to be done but to consider the nature of it in general and therein what conformity it hath with the principles of Reason and the written Word of God And universalia certiora a man of competent judgment and not forestalled with prejudice will not easily mistake in such generalities because they are neither many nor subject to much uncertainty But descendendo contingit errare the more we descend to Particulars in the more danger are we of being mistaken therein because we have both far more things to consider of and those also far more uncertain than before And it may fall out and not seldom doth that when we have laid things together in the Balance weighing one Circumstance with another as carefully as we could and thereupon have resolved to do this or that as in our judgment the most expedient for that time some Circumstance or other may come into our minds afterwards which we did not forethink or some casual intervening Accident may happen which we could not foresee that may turn the scales quite the other way and render the thing which seemed expedient but now now altogether inexpedient 18. From these and other like Differences we may gather the true reason why the Apostle so much and so often presseth the Point of Expediency as meet to be taken into our Consideration and Practice as well as that of Lawfulness Even because things lawful in themselves and in the kind may for want of a right End or through a neglect of due Circumstances become sinful in the doer Not as if an Act of ours could change the nature of the things from what they are for it is beyond the power of any Creature in the world to do that God only is Dominus Naturae to him it belongeth only as chief Lord to change either the Physical or Moral Nature of things at his pleasure Things in their own nature indifferent God by commanding can make necessary and by forbidding unlawful as he made Circumcision necessary and eating of Pork unlawful to the Iews under the old Law But no Scruple of Conscience no Command of the higher Powers no Opinions or Consent of Men no Scandal or Abuse whatsoever can make any indifferent thing to become either necessary or unlawful universally and perpetually and in the nature of it but it still remaineth indifferent as it was before any act of ours notwithstanding Yet may such an indifferent thing remaining still in the nature of it indifferent as before by some act of ours or otherwise become in
thereof and handled the matter with so much cunning by fomenting their discontents under-hand till they had framed them and by their means some of the same party here to become the fittest Instruments for the carrying on of their great design And this I verily believe was the very Master-piece of the whole Plot. They could not but fore-see as the event hath also proved that if the old Government a main Piller in the Building were once dissolved the whole Fabrick would be â—ore shaken if not presently shattered in pieces and ruined things would presently run into confusion distractions and divisions would certainly follow And when the waters should be sufficiently troubled and muddied then would be their opportunity to cast in their Nets for a draught Some who have undertaken to discover to the World the great Plot the Papists had of late years for the introducing of Popery in the several parts of it might have done well to have taken some little notice of this also I wonder how they could look beside it being so visible and indeed the fundamental part of the Plot. Without which neither could the sparks of Errors and Heresies have been blown to that height nor that Libertinism and some other things therewith mentioned have so soon overspread the whole face of the Land as now we find they have done Secondly They promote the Interest of Rome by opposing it with more violence than reason Which ought not to seem any strange thing to us since we see by daily experience the like to happen in other matters also Many a man when he thought most to make it sure hath quite marred a good business by over-doing it The most prudent just and in all likelihood effectual way to win upon an adversary is by yielding him as much as with safety of truth can be yielded who if he shall find himself contradicted in that which he is sure is true as well as in that which is indeed false will by a kind of Antiperistasis be hardned into more obstinacy than before to defend all true and false with equal fierceness It hath been observed by some and I know no reason to question the truth of the observation that in those Counties Lancashire for one where there are the most and the most rigid Prebyterians there are also the most and the most zealous Roman Catholicks Thirdly they promote the Interest of Rome and betray the Protestant Cause partly by mistaking the Question a very common fault among them but especially through the necessity of some false Principle or other which having once imbibed they think themselves bound to maintain Some of them especially such as betook themselves to Preaching betimes and had not the leisure and opportunity to look much into Controversies understand very little as it is impossible they should much of the true state of the Question in many controverted points and yet to shew their zeal against Popery are forward enough to be medling therewithal in the Pulpit But with so much weakness and impertinency not seldom that they leave the Question worse than they found it and the Hearer if he brought any doubts with him to go from Sermon more dissatisfied than he came The rest of them that have better knowledge are yet so bound up by some false Principle or other they have received that they cannot without deserting the same and that they must not do whatsoever betideth them treat to the satisfaction of a rational and ingenuous adversary Among those false Principles it shall suffice for the present to have named but this one That the Church of Rome is no true Church The disadvantages of which assertion to our Cause in the dispute about the visibility of the Church besides the falseness and uncharitableness of it their Zeal or Prejudice rather will not suffer them to consider With what out-cries was Bishop Hall good man who little dreamt of any peace with Rome pursued by Burton and other Hot-spurs for yielding it a Church Who had made the same concession over and over again before he was Bishop as Iunius Reynolds and our best Controversie-Writers generally do and no notice taken no noise made of it You may perceive by this one instance where the shooe wringeth § XIX In their next that they may not appear so uncharitable as to suspect their Brethren without cause they tell us Upon what grounds they so do viz. these two The endeavours of Reconciliation in the Sixth and the pressing of Ceremonies in the Seventh Objection As to the former First All endeavours of Peace without loss of Truth are certainly commendable in the undertakers prove the event as it will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. is every mans warrant for that If any particular private man have made overtures of peace in this kind upon other terms than he ought let him answer it as he can what is that to us Admit Secondly which I fear is too true that there is little hope scarce a possibility of reconcilement if we well preserve as we are in Conscience bound the truth and purity of our Religion yet ought not that fear to hinder any man fitted with abilities and opportunities for it from such Endeavours whereof whatsoever the success be otherwise these two good effects will follow It will be some comfort to him within his own bosom that he hath done what was his duty to do to his utmost power And it will appear to the world where the business stuck and through whose default most the Endeavour proved fruitless Thirdly though there be little hope and since the Trent Council less than before of bringing things to a perfect agreement yet methinks it should be thought worth the while Est quadam prodire tenus si non datur ultra to bring both sides to as near an agreement and reduce the differences to as small a number and as narrow a point as may be That if we cannot grow to be of the same belief in every thing we might at least be brought to shew more Charity either to other than to damn one another for every difference and more Ingenuity than to seek to render the one the other more odious to the World than we ought by representing each others opinions worse than they are § XX. The Seventh Objection containeth the other ground of their said former suspicion to wit the vehement pressing of the Ceremonies Wherein First they do not well in calling them Popish and Superstitious but that having already fully â—leared I shall not now insist upon Secondly by requiring to have some Command or Example of Scripture produced to warrant to their Consciences the use of the Ceremonies They offer occasion to consider of that point wherein the very Mystery of Puritanism consisteth viz. That no man may with a safe Conscience do any thing for which there may not be produced either Command or Example from the Scripture Which erroneous Principle being
the main Foundation upon which so many false conclusions are built and the fountain from which so many acts of sinful disobedience issue would well deserve a full and through examination But this Preface being already swollen far beyond the proportion I first intended and for that I have heretofore both in one of the Sermons and else where discovered in part the unsoundness thereof I am the willinger both for mine own ease and the Readers to refer him over thither and to spare mine own farther labour here Considering Thirdly that in the present case we need not flinch for fear of any harm that Principle could do us should it be admitted as sound as they would have it For we have both Commands and Examples in the Scriptures to warrant both the prescribing and the using of the Ceremonies Though not as specified in their particulars yet as either comprehended in the General or inferred by way of proportion Which kind of Warranty from Scripture themselves are by force of argument driven to allow as sufficient or else they would be at a loss for a hundred things by them daily done upon no better or other Warrant than that For Commands then we have besides that grand Canon 1 Cor. 14. 40. Let all things be done decently and according to order all those Texts that either contain the right and liberty we have to all the Creatures of God to use them for our service without scruple All things are lawful nothing unclean of it self To the pure all things are pure c. or require Subjection and Obedience to Superiors Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers Submit to every Ordinance of man c. And as for Example I think I could readily produce a full Score and not bate an Ace of some Ceremonies and circumstantial actions ordered used or done by holy men even in the Old Testament who yet were more strictly tyed to prescript forms than Christians are under the Gospel for the doing whereof it doth not appear that they either had any Command from God or were guided by any former Precedents or expected any other Warrant than the use of their Reason and of prudential Discourse what Warrant else had David for his purpose of building a Temple to God which yet Nathan the Prophet of God approved yea which God himself approved of Or what Solomon for keeping a Feast of seven days for the Dedication of the Altar Or what Ezekiah for continuing the Feast of unleavened bread seven days longer than the time appointed by the Law Or what Mordecai and Esther for making an Ordinance for the yearly observation of the Feast of Purim Or what lastly Iudas and the Maccabees for ordaining the Feast of the Dedication of the Altar to be kept from year to year at a set season for eight dayes together which Solemnity continued even in the days of Christ and seemeth to have been by him approved in the Gospel The building of Synagogues in their Towns the wearing of Sack-cloth and Ashes in token of humiliation the four Fasts mentioned Zach. 8. whereof one only was commanded with sundry other I omit for brevity's sake Instances enough and pregnant enough to manifest how very much our Brethren deceive themselves by resting upon so unsound a Principle and that upon a meer mistake as will appear presently by § XXI Their Eighth and last Objection Wherein they seem to lay an imputation upon all those that stand for the Ceremonies as if they consequently denyed the sufficiency of the Scriptures For answer hereunto First it is freely confessed that the acknowledging of the Holy Scriptures to be a perfect Rule of Faith and Manners is the main Article of the Protestant Religion as opposed to the Romish But that all that stand for the Ceremonies should deny the same is so manifestly untrue or indeed that some of the Church of England should deny that which is so clearly contained in the Articles of the Church whereunto he hath subscribed so improbable that it might well pass for a perfect Calumny were not the original occasion of their mistake herein so apparent if but even from the manner of their Discourse in the present business The true state whereof Secondly is this The things wherein the power of Christianity consisteth are of two sorts Credenda and Agenda which we usually express by Faith and Manners And the Scripture we acknowledge to be a perfect Rule of Both yet not as excluding the use of Reason but supposing it When God gave us the light of his holy Word he left us as he found us reasonable creatures still without any purpose by the gift of that greater and sublimer Light to put out the Light he had formerly given us that of Reason or to render it useless and unserviceable Of which Light the proper use and that which God intended it for when he gave it us is that by the help thereof we might be the better enabled to discern Truth from Falshood that we might embrace the one and reject the other and Good from Evil that we might do the one and shun the other Our Reason therefore is doubtless a good Rule both for things to be believed and for things to be done so far as it reacheth but no perfect Rule at all rather a very imperfect one because it reacheth not home To supply the defects whereof dim as it is even in Natural and Moral things but dark as darkness it self in things Supernatural and Divine it was that it pleased the wisdom and goodness of our God to afford us another Light Viz. that of supernatural revelation in his holy Word without which we could never by the light of Reason alone have found out the right way that leadeth to eternal Happiness So that God having first made us reasonable Creatures and then vouchsafed us his holy Word to instruct us what we are to believe and to do either as Men or as Christians We are now furnished with as perfect absolute and sufficient a Rule both of Faith and Manners as our condition in this life is capable of And it is our duty accordingly to resign our selves wholly to be guided by that Word yet making use of our Reason withal in subordination and with submission thereunto as a perfect Rule both of Faith and Life This being clearly so and the Scripture by consent of both parties acknowledged to be the perfect Rule of what we are to believe as well as of what we are to do I earnestly desire our Brethren to consider what should hinder a Christian man from doing any thing that by the meer use of his Reason alone he may rightly judge to be lawful and expedient though it be not commanded or exampled in the Scriptures so as it be not contrary thereunto more than from believing any thing that by the like use of his Reason alone he may rightly judge to be true
the use of it and by accident either necessary or unlawful pro hîc nunc to some men and at some times and with some circumstances As the Command of lawful Authority may make an indifferent thing to us necessary for the time and the just fear of Scandal may make an indifferent thing to us unlawful for the time Therefore it behooveth us in all our deliberations de rebus agendis to consider well not only of the nature of the thing we would do whether it be lawful or no in the kind but of the end also and all present circumstances especially the most material lest through some default there it become so inexpedient that it cannot be then done by us without sin For as we may sin by doing that which is unlawful so may we also by doing even that which is lawful in an undue manner 19. And it will much concern us to use all possible circumspection herein the rather for two great Reasons for that by this means I mean the supposed lawfulness of things we are both very easily drawn on unto Sin and when we are in very hardly fetched off again First we are easily drawn on The very name and opinion of Lawfulness many times carrieth us along whilst we suspect no evil and putteth our foot into the snare ere we be aware of it The Conscience of many a good man that would keep a strait watch over himself against grosser offences will sometimes set it self very loose when he findeth himself able to plead that he doth nothing but what is lawful In things simply evil Sin cannot lurk so close but that a godly wise man that hath his eyes in his head may spy it and avoid it as a wild beast or Thief may easily be descried in the open Champain But if it can once shroud it self under the covert of Lawfulness it is the more dangerous like a wild beast or Thief in the woods or behind the thickets where he may lurk unseen and assault us on a sudden if we do not look the better about us And the greater our danger is the greater should be our circumspection also 20. And as we are easily inveigled and drawn in to sins of this kind so when we are in we get off again very hardly If we chance through humane frailty or the strength of temptations to fall into some gross offence by doing something that is manifestly unlawful although such gross sins are of themselves apt to waste the conscience to beat back the offers of Grace and to harden the heart wonderfully against repentance yet have we in sundry other respects more and better helps and advantages towards Repentance for such sins than when we transgress by abusing our liberty in lawful things 1. It is no hard matter to convince our understandings of those grosser transgressions their obliquity is so palpable 2. They often lie cold and heavy at the heart where the burden of them is so pressing and afflictive that it will force us to seek abroad for ease 3. We shall scarce read a Chapter or hear a Sermon but we shall meet with something or other that seemeth to rub upon that gaul 4. The World will cry shame on us 5. And our Enemies triumph that they have gotten something to lay in our Dish 6. Our Friends will have a just occasion to give us a sharp Rebuke 7. And the guiltiness of the Fact will so stop our mouths that we shall have nothing to answer for our selves All which may be so many good preparations unto repentance 21. But when we are able to plead a lawfulness in the substance of the thing done 1. Seldom do we take notice of our failings in some Circumstances 2. Nor do our Hearts smite us with much Remorse thereat 3. The edge of God's holy Word slideth over us without cutting or piercing at all or not deep 4. We lie not so open to the upbraidings either of Friends or Foes but that if any thing be objected by either we can yet say something in our defence All which are so many impediments unto Repentance Not but that whoever truly feareth God and repenteth unfeignedly repenteth even of the smallest sins as well as of the greatest but that he doth it not so feelingly nor so particularly for these smaller as for those greater ones because he is not so apprehensive of these as he is of those For the most part his Repentance for such like sins is but in a general form wrapt up in the lump of his unknown sins like that in Psal. 19. Who can tell how oft he offendeth O cleanse thou me from my secret faults Only our hope and comfort is that our merciful Lord God will graciously accept this general Repentance for current without requiring of us a more particular sense of those sins whereof he hath not given us a more particular sight 22. By what hath been said you may perceive how unsafe a thing it is to rest upon the bare lawfulness of a thing alone without regard to expediency For this is indeed the ready way to turn our liberty into a licentiousness sith even lawful things become unlawful when they grow inexpedient Lawful in themselves but unlawful to us lawful in their nature but unlawful in their use But then the Question will be how we shall know from time to time and at all times what is expedient to be done and what not Which leadeth us to the third and last Observation from the Text viz That the expediency of lawful things is to be measured by their usefulness unto edification For if we shall ask Why are not all lawful things always expedient The Apostle's Answer is Because they do not always edifie When they do edifie they are not only lawful but expedient too and we may do them But when they edifie not but destroy though they be lawful still yet they are not expedient and we may not do them All things are lawful but all things edifie not 23. To this edification it appeareth St. Paul had a great respect in all his actions and affairs We do all things Brethren for your edifying 2 Cor. 12. And he desireth that all other men would do so too Let every man please his Neighbour for his good unto edification Rom 15. 2. and that in all the actions of their lives Let all things be done to edifying 1. Cor. 14. It is the very end for which God ordained the Ministry of the Gospel the edifying of the body of Christ Eph. 4. and for which he endowed his servants with power and with gifts to enable them for the work the power which God hath given us for edification 2 Cor. 13. Whatsoever our Callings are whatsoever our power or gifts if we direct them not to Edification when we use them we abuse them 24. But then what is Edification For that we are yet to learn The Word is Metaphorical taken from material Buildings