a worse condition on these accounts then in their civil interest and that upon a threefold account 1. The Secular Lawes and Statutes made in behalf of the Subject are often upon further Deliberation and Experience of inconvenience altered and repealed whereby the Subject hath ease It is ordinarily seen in our Civil concerns that some ACTS of Parliament that partly for their severity or upon some other account passed as doubtful whether fit to remain as standing Lawes are therefore limited to a certain Time and after which to expire and cease The severe Act of 35 Eliz. which in the Process of it reached mens lives when first passed was to remain a Law but to the end of the next Session of Parliament which in regard of some doubt it seems whether in force or not is declared by this present Parliament to be so and that it ought to be put in due execution And now at this time there is a Minister of the Gospel under the Sentence of that Act and for transgressing that Law had lost his life had not His Majesty interposed by his Prerogative A wise Statesman once advised and expressed himself thus I ask why the Civil State should be purged and restored with good and wholsom Lawes made in every 30 or 40 years in Parliament providing Remedies as fast as time breedeth Mischiefs and comrariwise the Ecclesiastical State should still continue upon the dreggs of time and receive no alteration Now for these many years we have heard of no offers of Bills in Parliament is it because there is nothing amiss Sir Fr. Bacon 2. In that all Proceedings in Ecclesiastical Courts are ever to the utmost rigour and letter of their Canons and Orders There is no Chancery or Court of Equity to appeal to for redress but in some few Cases as in causes Testamentary Matrimony Divorces c. specified 24 H. 8. Matters wherein our Estates are touched but in matters of Conformity and such Cases wherein our Consciences are concerned we are left destitute 3. Men are upon this peculiar disadvantage in these spiritual Courts who are impeached for Non-Conformity to their Canons and Orders in that their Adversaries and those that are Parties for the most part are their Judges This Sir Fr. Bacon in his Considerations condemneth as a great Injustice So that it is evident considering the Nature of Ecclesiastical Constitutions and how managed with us in this Nation how necessary it is that some Power be placed somewhere by which we may be relieved when exposed more than others to such extremity of rigour For otherwise as Conscientious men are more disposed to doubts and scruples in the way of duty in this kind so to less Mercy and Indulgence from our Superiors CHAP. III. That our relief is from the Jurisdiction and Power in His Majesty to Dispense and Exempt for in his hand this balance is placed which is that we shall insist upon in the next place 1. THis Prerogative and Power to exempt from Ecclesiastical Lawes is in the Soveraign for the confirming whereof not to insist upon what was acknowledged by Eleutherius touching Lucius our first Christian King that he was Vicarius Dei in regno suo in reference to matters to be reformed or what is mentioned concerning the Lawes and Practice of King Edgar and Edw. the Confessor namely of the first meae solicitudinis quieti eorum consulere de quorum moribus spectat ad nos examen and of the other from whom it 's said much of our Lawes is derived in describing the King's office he saith Rex ad hoc est constitutus ut regnum terrenum Populum Dei Ecclesiam regat ab injuriis defendat maleficos ab ea evellat destruat penitùs disperdat and much of the like nature that might be urged from Antiquity but to come nearer home I bring the Testimony of the Clergy in Convocation or the representative Church of England who make it so great a Duty to acknowledge this as they have expressed their severity thus Whosoever shall affirm the King's Majesty hath not the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical as the pious Princes of the Jews and the Christian Emperors obtained let him be excommunicated ipso facto and not to be absolved but by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Canons of the Convocation 1603. I shall joyn with this Testimony that of another Councel namely that met in the Star-Chamber 2 Jac. made up of all the Judges and Persons learned in the Law summoned by King James for resolution in some Ecclesiastical Cases whereof this of His Majesty's Prerogative was one their resolution you have in these words The King without the Parliament may make Orders and Constitutions for the Government of the Clergy and punish those that disobey and refuse to submit and this their resolution was ordered to to be registred and Recorded in the several Courts of Justice 3. And from time to time the Kings and Queens of England have assumed and exercised this Power 1. In general the whole body and systeme of Ecelesiastical Lawes and Canons are published by the Synod of the Clergy from time to time without any particular Parliamentary Sanction And yet have not these Canons their Authority from the Synod or Clergy met in Convocation For Canons concluded by the Province of Canterbury only cannot as such oblige the Clergy of the Province of York who had no Representatives or Clerks sitting in that Synod or Convocation that met Anno 1584. 1597. and 1603. and yet its Canons obliged to subjection the Archbishop and Clergy of York as well as those of 1640. where were the Representatives of both Provinces It is therefore the ROYAL authority expressed in the Letters Patents affixed to these Canons that gives them Power and they are therefore termed Regiae leges Ecclesiasticae 2. Instances may be produced of several Injunctions Advertisements Declarations and other Edicts and Requirements from Sovereign Power by His Majesty's Predecessors You have the Injunctions of Edw. 6. 1547. and Queen Eliz. 1559. with Articles of Visitation thereunto adjoyned They license Ministers to Preach suspend also from Preaching Edw. 6. also established a Liturgy or publick form of Prayer to be used throughout the Kingdom King James likewise gives faculties confirms a new body of Lecturers throughout England Preachers that were neither Vicars Parsons nor Curates These Instances altho not express of what these Powers have dispensed with or indulged yet are pertinent upon this account What Sovereign Power is thus put forth in Constitutions Injunctions and Directions c. in Ecclesiastical Matters may in like Proportions be exemplify'd in Exemptions Dispensations c. as with Parliaments and other Councels vested with Authority the Power to repeal Lawes and Statutes is as large as that Power by which they Enact and Establish them For Example King James might by his Prerogative confirm and establish a new order of the Clergy which was our last instance he might by the same
limiting or enlarging the exercise of their Power in these Matters Ecclesiastical but rather recognizing and confirming what hath been ordered by them as in 5 Eliz. and in Car. 2. in the Act of Vniformity and many other instances might be tendered CHAP. IV. Of Objections against this Power and the exerting thereof with Answer thereunto THere are Reasonings possibly tending another way the Objections obvious I shall now mention having diverse material Considerations pertinent to a more full and clear stating this Case which might have been produced in the body of this Discourse but are reserved rather to this place partly because we find this vulgar way of DIALOGVE lets in Knowledge with less difficulty and what is required by way of a Question engageth him that proposeth with greater attention to observe what is said in the Answer Quest If such a Power be in the King may it not be thence inferred that be hath Power over the Consciences of Men Answ 1 There is nothing in this Power or the execution of it but only taking off Restraints as to the outward Duties which the Law requireth and the pressing such things upon it as are contrary to its light and dictates And the Power which Protects Conscience in its external actions and takes off all fear and Impositions from it is so far from being a Power over the Consciences of men that it is a necessary requisite for acting of its own Power in obedience unto God. Neither 2. doth it follow that if the King may suspend the Execution of Ecclesiastical Lawes that in the like cases he may make such Lawes for the Suspension of Lawes belongs to the executive but the making of them to the Legislative Power which are distinct and in the making of Lawes with Penalties annexed the Liberties Estates and Lives of the Subject are concerned but in the suspension of those Lawes no man is damaged in what is secured to him Quest If such a Prerogative be in the King what need Ecclesiastical Lawes be transacted and established by Parliament Answ 1 That if His Majesty is pleased in these Affairs at any time to take in the Advice and Assent of his Lords and Commons in Parliament it doth not alwayes evidence His Majesty's Power as insufficient of it self for such actings Such a favour may proceed from a Condescention upon the account of a more popular Acceptance that our hands may be fastened more firmly in obedience to those Lawes and Commands in the forming whereof they have been assistant Take it answered in His Majesty's own words Declar. of 26. Dec. 1662. to concur with us in making some such Act as may enable us to exercise with a more universal satisfaction that Power of DISPENSING which we conceive to be INHERENT in us or as also it is by the above-named Learned Judge Hobart expressed These Statutes and the like were made saith he to put things in ordinary form and to ease the Sovereign of labour but not to derogate from his Power Answ 2 Powers sufficient in themselves may joyn and in such conjunction remain entire as Powers Cumulative and not Privative as is evident from what is said in the Statute of 31º H. 8. cap. 10. The King 's most Excellent Majesty tho it appertained to his Prerogative Royal to give Honour as shall seem to his Wisdom he is nevertheless pleased and contented for an Order to be had c. by this High Court of Parliament that it shall be enacted by the Authority of the same self-distinct from that capacity wherein he stands in conjunction with his Subjects as their Head in that respect being in a higher Region above and in a greater distance from those Interests upon the account whereof his Subjects are many times divided and Publick Edicts become formed according to the prevalency of a greater Party to the prejudice of others which are his Loyal Subjects Also by Wisdom and Prudence there is a ballance by which the Tranquillity of a Nation is happily preserved and one Party not over-born by the other having this Power to Mitigate and Dispense as hath been discoursed with what in his Wisdom with Advice of his Council shall seem equal Quest 3 But hath not the King's Prerogative been limitted in our Lawes are there not some things which he cannot dispense with no not with a non obstante Answ I grant it and in several Cases 1. He may by special words in the Statute bind up himself from making any use of his Prerogative 2. In what is malum in se in respect of Impiety or Vnrighteousness 3. When such Dispensations are destructive to the great ends of a Common-wealth common Justice the Proprieties of men c. 1. To the first His Majesty or any of his Predecessors hath not at any time in any Statute or Law that concerns these Ecclesiastical Matters by any such special words bound up himself but rather the contrary as in those two Acts wherein more especially our affair lyeth that of Vniformity where that Dispensation with that Statute granted to Strangers by sole Prerogative-Authority is justify'd In the Act. 22º Car. 2. by the Proviso there inserted the Parliament seems to induce His Majesty's assent in the recognizing his Prerogative so expresly in that Act as if they spoke thus Tho this Act be very severe yet if it be found prejudicial or not to attain the end for which we judge such severity to be requisite It is an Ecclesiastical Affair and your Majesty may when you please disperse or exempt Persons from it for we intend not to abridge your Royal Prerogative 2. There is nothing transacted in these Affairs by the Civil Magistrate and as depending on his Authority but such Matters as in the sense of our Law are things materially indifferent and therefore not mala in se they do not bind the Conscience of the Subject in the nature of them considered in themselves Queen Eliz. Advertisements 1569. Preface The keeping or omitting of a Ceremony in it self is but a small thing yet the wilful and contemptuous transgression and breaking a Common Order c. of Ceremonies why some are c. So that these Precepts concerning Ecclesiastical Matters oblige not in their own Nature as what is either bonum or malum but as Prohibited or Commanded 3. Civil Rights and Claims and Temporal things only are the immediate and intrinsick concern and interest of all Commonwealths Dominium non fundatur in gratiâ If the just Claim of a Prince may not be interrupted upon the account he is of this or that Religion and Perswasion nor may a Subject be justly Banished Imprisoned Confiscated or ruined upon the meer account of Religion or because his Conscience is not cast into the same mould with the Prince or present Establishment It is Popery to deny Allegiance to Prince or Protection to a Subject upon the account of any such difference Quest Religion and the Worship of God being the great Concern of a Nation
the Law gives Power to the King to dispense therewith And in like Cases or upon other Considerations equal he may dispense license pardon c. yea althô these Lawes have been passed by His Majesty's royal assent formerly and what is more a Clause inserted in the Act that the King's Licence in this or that case shall be void Yet it will be no BARR to such Prerogatives as are originally and inseparably inherent in his royal Person but he may give Licence with a NON OBSTANTE thereunto A learned Sergeant in his NO MOTECHNIA hath these words The King by a Clause of NON OBSTANTE may dispence with a Statute Law if he recite the Statute though the Statute say such Dispensation shall be merely void And he may licence things forbidden as to Coin money which is made by the Statute Capital and was before unlawful for that is but malum Prohibitum but malum in se as to leave a Nuisance in the High way c. he cannot license to do but when it is done he may pardon it but where the Statute saith his Licence shall be void which the Civilians call clausula derogative there it must have a Clause of NON OBSTANTE i.e. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY STATVTE and else it is not good And saith the same Author he may in respect of his Supreme Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction exempt some from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary and dispense with others in things which the Ecclesiastical Law Prohibits upon the same ground that they are not mala in se but prohibita I hold clear saith Judge Hobart That thô the Statute saith that all Dispensations c. shall be granted in manner and form following that yet the King is not thereby restrained but his Power remaineth full and perfect as before and he may still grant them as King. The King may remitt the Penalty and Punishment thô not dispense where what is forbidden by Law is malum in se saith that Sergeant in his forementioned Discourse much more then where what is forbidden is but malum Prohibitum The Statute indeed of 1 Ed. 2. cap. 7. Enacts that no letter shall proceed from the King to discharge an excommunicated Person but where the King's Liberty is prejudiced but as this Statute it self proves the late and former practice so it takes it not away since the King's liberty of discharging such Persons used before is preserved by the same Statute CHAP. II. Of the Prerogative and Regal Power in relation to Ecclesiastical Lawes and Matters of Religion 1. REligion in the moral part thereof namely the Precepts and Commandments of God the institutions and Ordinances of Christ these are not subject to any humane Wisdom or Power The Apostles that were of higher authority in these Affairs than any on earth went no further then as 1 Cor. 11.23 What I have received of the Lord that I deliver unto you To make Lawes in Spiritual Matters that are such by the Light of Nature that men may be moved to do and act according to this Light in duty and our Civil concerns we yield unto the Magistrate who is custos utriusque tabulae 2. There are matters of Circumstance also these and the like are made by our Lawes to depend upon the power and ordering of the Prince This distinction you have laid down as Law by Judge Hobart These are his words Though it be jure divino that Christian People be provided of Christian offices and duties as of Teaching Administration of Sacraments and the like and of Pastors for that purpose and therefore to debar them wholy of it were expresly against the Law of God Yet the distinction of Parishes and the form of furnishing every Parish Church with its proper Curate Rector or Pastor by the way of Presentation Institution c. as it is used diversly in divers Churches and the state or title which he hath or is to have in his Church and Benefice is not a positive Law of God in point of Circumstance And we know well that the Primitive Church in its greatest Purity was but voluntary Congregations of Believers submitting themselves to the Apostles and after to other Pastors to whom they did minister of their Temporals as God did move them Government is a beam of Divine Power and therefore he proceeds saying if a People refuse all Government it were against the Law of God but if a popular State will receive a Monarchy it stands well with the Law of God. In the Case of Glover and Colt against the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield pag. 149. From all this the Judge seems to confirm his distinction by way of Comparison thus As in humane affairs Government in the general and essentials of it that one man be subject to another in an orderly way is necessary and jure divino and not in man's liberty and dispose Yet for the modes and forms of Government and like Circumstances it is left to the choice and wisdom of Men and the Conduct thereof So in Matters of Religion which are not jure divino our Law judgeth the Magistrate hath the ordering thereof in each Nation according to the manners and temper of the People which is various And in particular the disposing of Pastors and People for the more convenient and orderly Service and Worship of God to be only jure humano and may be otherwise and was so in the Primitive Church in her greatest Purity Pastors and People were not then as now engaged by this relation one to another in this Parochial bond or tye but enjoyed a Christian liberty voluntarily to dispose of themselves under such and such a ministry as they should make choice of to themselves The Church is said in that state to be in greatest Purity 1. The Congregational way therefore is not a way in this learned Judge's opinion of disorder and confusion as is so frequently suggested 2. And that it is in the power of Supreme Majesty to dispense with a Parishioner as well as with a Pastor or Rector to be a non-resident and take another Rectory the division of Parishes being jure humano What those things and Matters of Religion are in the judgment of our State that come under the manage of humane Wisdom and Power is well expressed in Queen Elizabeth's Advertisement These Orders and Rules have been meet and convenient to be used and followed yet not prescribing these Rules as Laws equivalent with the eternal Word of God and of necessity to bind the Consciences of our Subjects in the nature of them considered in themselves or as they should add any efficacy or more holiness to the virtue of publick Prayers and to the Sacraments but as temporal Orders meerly Ecclesiastical without any vain Superstition or as Rules in some part of discipline concerning decency distinction and order for the time And in the Articles of 1562 It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one or utterly alike for at all times
Declaration When was it known that a Bishop Dean or double beneficed Parson left his Promotion and became Nonconformist and that others that have been bred up to literature at great charge having Gifts and Parts would be so peevish as to refuse them and being thereupon forced to divert from the way of a more free Education to some mean Employment to get a Livelyhood or live upon the Charity of others It is the condition of hundreds this day in England I say can we imagine any men having such Encouragements in their eye and the more desireable from sense of their present indigency would keep off but from integrity of heart His Majesty as a Common Father hath the same Affections for all his good Subjects and never more Prudence and Tenderness manifested by any Prince than he hath done by this gracious Declaration One Party such as conform enjoy their Consciences with special advantages in Temporal things The other they also enjoy their Consciences with freedom from those severe Proceedings and those are satisfied also And now let not any mans eye be evil because His Majesty hath been so good to their Brethren Let me say again that His Majesty hath in tenderness and Prudence done a great work and that which hath lain undone to the disturbance of his good Subjects more or less ever since the Reformation That is in satisfying or laying a sufficient ground for satisfaction to the two great Parties which divided the Kingdom in Matters appertaining to Religion that is in the Forms and Ceremonies of Worship In the Profession of Faith and Articles of Religion according to the Establishment 13º Eliz. there is an Vnion in the acknowledgment of both Parties And this without the least detriment or just prejudice of either Party those that conform enjoy their Consciences imploy their Talents and reap the Encouragements of the established Government without any loss or detriment to those that conform not and this Party enjoy their Consciences freedom from Suffering and a liberty to follow their Callings without the least damage to the Conformist Quest Is there any necessity His Majesty should exert a sole Power in Affairs of Religion when the Peace and Vnity of the Nation was herein undertaken by his Parliament and many things endeavoured that way by them and purposes its likely of a further progress therein Answ For answer it will be necessary to insert here briefly a Narrative of some passages of his Majesty and his Parliament in these Proceedings His Majesty observing how Affairs stood here in this Kingdom and the Distractions that were upon mens Minds about Religion and Forms of Worship and considering there are but two ways supposed ordinarily to reduce a People again to Peace and Unity in Religion 1. Either by Severity to discourage or extirpate Or 2. By Lenity and Indulgence to bear with Dissenters His Majesty considering those forms and ways of Worship to which Conformity is now required have not only been much scrupled and contended against by Learned and Sober men from the beginning ever since the first Reformation but of late utterly disfavoured by a Representative of the Nation and a Synod of Learned Men And that different practices in the Service and Worship of God had been formerly Patroniz'd and incouraged and such that were no other but what were received and observed in the best reformed Churches abroad and by the Dutch and French Churches here at home upon these and the like Considerations His Majesty chose upon great Deliberation the way of Indulgence it being also most suitable to his Conscience and sweetness of his nature This his Resolution he professed to all the World and engaged himself by Promise to his People he would endeavour the effecting thereof which is more than evident in the many Declarations he made hereof and repeated again upon all occasions He was pleased in a Declaration from Breda to assure a Liberty to Tender Consciences and that no man shall be disquieted or called in question for differences of Opinion in Matters of Religion which do not disturb the Peace of the Kingdom And in his Speech July 17. 1660. He professeth that he owes his being here to God's Blessing upon the Intentions and Resolutions he had and expressed in that Declaration This Declaration His Majesty afterwards terms a Promise solemnly made This solemn Declaration or Promise is so much upon his Royal heart that he tells both Houses July 8. 1661. That so oft as he comes to them he mentions his Declaration from Breda that himself as well as they might mind it In His Majesty's Declaration of Decemb. 26 1662. He tells us That he remembred the very words of the Promises made at Breda concerning Liberty of Conscience and the Confirmations he hath made of them since upon several occasions and as all these things are fresh in his Memory so he is still firm in the resolution of performing them to the full Feb. 10. 1661. In a Speech to both Houses One thing more I hold my self obliged to recommend unto you at this present which is that you would seriously think on some course to beget a better Vnion and Composure in the Minds of my Protestant Subjects in Matters of Religion whereby they may be induced to submit quietly to the Government and most faithfully give their assistance to the support of it His Majesty did not only express his purposes for the Ease of tender Consciences but from time to time endeavoured it And first of all By a Declaration of the 25 Octob. 1660. To all his Loving Subjects of England and Wales concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs which mentioning that from Breda DISPENSETH with the use of divers Ceremonies formerly enjoyned that were offensive March 25. following he gave Commission to certain learned Divines to meet at the Savoy and take the Service-Book under Consideration to the same purpose May 11. 1661. he frees from their Imprisonment such as suffered for Conscience The King and His Parliament happily joyned in the same Pious End Peace and Union yet differed in their apprehensions of the means to procure it which was our great unhappiness The Parliament judged the reducing or rooting out differences by severe Penalties to be the means of Vnity in the Church as they tell His Majesty in answer to his Declaration pressing the asserting of the Lawes and Religion established according to the Act of Vniformity as the more probable means to produce a setled Peace and Obedience throughout the Kingdom The Parliament supposing and possibly some of them perswaded thereof from those who never would distinguish between Non-conformity and Sedition the dissent of Nonconformists from the present Establishment to be rather from a Spirit of Faction and Disloyalty than tenderness of Conscience proceeded accordingly The Act of Vniformity was renewed and the Service-Book enjoyned with no alteration of what was formerly offensive in it but some Expressions of greater difficulty to be digested by those that were tender and nothing
be discovered by this indiscriminating Severity that is who are Dissenters upon Principles of Conscience and who of them so pretending are notwithstanding of a Seditious Spirit These can never be distinguished one from the other when Dissenters and such as conform not be it upon what ground soever are all of them equally branded with the same mark of disloyalty and so represented to His Majesty and all the Nation There is a necessity that this Pretence of Conscience be removed and Seditious Persons discovered and left to condign Punishment and others these stumbling-blocks being removed may by their peaceable Obedience to all other His Majesty's Lawes justifie and vindicate their Integrity which can no ways be done while the Righteous are thus condemned with the Wicked and no relaxing those Lawes which shut up all both Guilty and Innocent under the same Condemnation His Majesty who hath had a clear prospect all along of these things and thence publickly declared his avowed readiness in that Proclamation of 10 July 1669. and otherwise to indulge tender Consciences hath upon these afore-mentioned and the like weighty Considerations been necessitated to Publish this his Gracious DECLARATION of March 15. 1672. where he hath fully performed his Promise made at Breda and so often repeated Thus His Majesty as a Wife and Prudent Prince whose Station is fixed in an higher Orb like the Sun exhaling and consuming or serving to refresh and to shew the dark Foggs and Mists here beneath hath by the Light and Liberty shining forth from his gracious Indulgence refreshed multitudes of his good Subjects and delivered them from the dark misapprehensions of others Nor is this their great relief in any thing prejudicial either to the Estates or Liberties of men otherwise minded nor are such men abridged in any of their concerns Spiritual or Temporal hereby His Majesty hath made sufficient Provision for the satisfying their Consciences in a careful continuing those Ceremonies and Forms of Worship they have been accustomed to Let it not be grievous or offensive to them that their Brethren have obtained from His Majesty in respect to their Consciences the like favour Quest Since these Ecclesiastical Lawes of Restraint were Enacted by Parliament the King giving his Royal Assent had it not been convenient if His Majesty had so pleased that the dispensing with these Lawes had been by Parliament Answ 1 The King and Princes of this Realm His Majesty's Predecessors did Establish many Things and Orders by Parliament relating to Ecclesiastical Matters but did yet nevertheless often exercise their own Power in dispensing with the Penalties at least of such Lawes A constant acting with others in the exerting hereof might tho no Prescription against the King yet introduce at least into the Minds of Men a kind of Suspicion especially in the Vulgar that such Proceedings of the Supream Majesty by his sole Power to be an assuming an Arbitrary Government 2. The Parliament did still continue in this their former Opinion and first Judgment namely That a way of Severity was the only means to settle Peace and Unity They had newly passed the Act for Uniformity without any abatement of what was offensive by reason whereof arose that general Discontent which before we have mentioned His Majesty being sensible hereof did by that Declaration of Decemb. 26. move a second time That an Act might be prepared c. not doubting their chearful co-operation with him being a Matter wherein he conceived himself so much engaged both in Point of Honour and in what he oweth to the Peace of his Kingdoms which we profess saith he we can never think secure whilst there shall be a colour left to the malitious and disaffectionate to inflame the minds of so many Multitudes upon the score of Conscience with despair of ever obtaining any effect of our Promise for their Ease The House returns this Answer We your Majesty's Loyal Subjects who are now returned to serve in Parliament from those several Parts and Places of your Kingdom for which we were chosen do humbly offer to your Majesty's great Wisdom That it is in no sort adviseable that there be any Indulgence to such Persons who presume to dissent from the Act of Vniformity and the Religion Established for these Reasons c. whereof this is one It will in no wise become the graver Wisdom of a Parliament to pass a Law at one Session for Vniformity and at the next Session the reason of Vniformity continuing still the same to Pass another Law to frustrate or weaken the Execution of the former So that now His Majesty had no other Remedy but either 1. To retreat from that Pious and Seasonable Resolution for Liberty of Conscience expressed in Letters to the Parliament then sitting from Breda a Resolution so acceptable to them as the whole House Nemine Contradicente by Letters returned Thanks to him and Blessed the Name of the Lord who put such reconciling thoughts into the heart of the King. And he himself likewise owned an especial Blessing from God upon his Affairs after he had expressed that intention 2. Of break that Promise he solemnly made assuring this Liberty and had professed to the world upon this occasion in his Speech May 8. 1661. That he valued himself much upon keeping his Word and whatsoever he promised to his Subjects and that no man can be his Friend and wish him well who would perswade him to consent to the breach of that solemn Promise 3. Or leave the Nation under greater Distractions and Sufferings about Religion then he found it And that upon 12 years Experience of other means which extended rather to increase the Distempers These dishonourable things I say His Majesty must have suffered and undergone or make use of that Power GOD and the NATION have intrusted him withal tho not with Concurrence of Parliament so much and so often desired by him even so oft as he came to them as he tells them in his Speech July 8. 1661. yet nothing at any time was done to his Satisfaction in Liberty of Conscience by the Houses being obliged in their Judgments to proceed in the other way CHAP. V. Of former Examples for Indulgences HIS Majesty's Gracious Declaration contains not a greater Indulgence altho it be extended to a greater number of Persons than what was granted by His Majesty's Predecessors which before we have mentioned to the French and Dutch Congregations 1. There was an uniform order of Church Government and Divine Service to which not only His majesty's Subjects but all the Inhabitants in His Majesty's Dominions were to conform and no man to absent himself And were enjoyned not to hear or be present at any other Forms of Prayers and Administration of Sacraments then what is in that Book prescribed under Penalties of Ecclesiastical Censures Fines to the King Poor of the Parish c. 2. The Dispensation and Exemption was by the SOLE Authority of the Sovereign and stands thus A Liberty to
A DISCOURSE OF Ecclesiastical LAWES And SUPREMACY of the KINGS OF ENGLAND In DISPENSING with the PENALTIES thereof By Mr. PHILIP NYE LONDON Printed for W. Cross MDCLXXXVII A Discourse of Ecclesiastical Laws and Supremacy of the Kings of ENGLAND in dispensing with the Penalties thereof CHAP. I. The CASE and STATE of the QVESTION THE Kings Power and Jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical Affairs may fall under a threefold Consideration as 1. Put forth by himself 2. By Commission granted to Ecclesiastical Persons and exercised in those Courts we term Spiritual or Ecclesiastical 3. As such Affairs are managed and ordered by him in Parliament and by the Authority thereof The form in which these Ecclesiastical Lawes are expressed to us is this Be it enacted by the King 's most excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same c. Merely to advise and consent implys no more Authority in Establishment of Ecclesiastical Lawes than what was put forth by the Convocation in their Canons but it being added by the Authority thus mentioned may be construed either relating to the advice and consent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament which is a suffrage and more than our advice or bare consent For it implyeth when Bills are formed read debated and assented to by both Houses they were then stamped with some kind of Parliamentary authority Or it is to be interpreted as relating to King Lords and Commons which is likely for Consultations of Parliament altho concluded by Vote yet become not formally a Law until His Majesty hath given his Royal assent And in this sense Ecclesiastical Lawes and Orders which are enacted and established by Statutes have as formal a Sanction being not only by the Authority of the King but by Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament as other Lawes wherein our Civil interests are concerned namely by a joint and not the single Power of either This being granted some may say 't is then needless to dispute those higher interests and thence also inferred That as these Ecclesiastical Lawes have their rise vigour and strength so their diminution and abatement from conjunction of both Powers and are more fixed and stable than those Canons and Orders in Ecclesiastical Matters that have their sanction from the King only But to this I say briefly these Powers are not so equal but the King hath the Supremacy and is enabled thereby to such Acts and Orderings about the Penalties of our Lawes as are peculiar to the Crown and Dignity of a King as in mitigating exempting dispensing licensing pardoning c. and all this more especially in Matters Ecclesiastical as by the following will appear This Power and Superiority exercised by the Kings of England with respect to the Penalties of our Lawes both Ecclesiastical and Civil shall be spoken to in these two particulars First That such an Authority and Supremacy is necessary and ought to be placed in some hand Secondly That it is a Dignity which hath been always in the Kings and Queens of this Realm 1. For the former In all Polities and Forms of Government as there is a rule the which is to be the measure to and by which all mens actions that live under that Polity are ordinarily to be Conformed and Judged so is there always some provision made for mitigating the rigour of the rule in Cases which may fall out and cannot be foreseen by the wisest Legislators And in such cases to exercise summum jus would be summa injuria Therefore there is here not only a Power to Judge as the Case stands in the strict Letter of the Law but as there are Courts of Law so are there Chanceries Courts of Equity and Conscience wherein the Law and Rule it self is dispensed with and varied from The Proceedings there are not according to the strict terms of the Law but secundum aequum bonum according as the merits of the Case require 1. For Lawes constituted for a whole Nation universally to be submitted unto by Persons of what quality soever and how much soever different in their Conditions must needs in their strict execution bear harder upon some men than upon others Parliaments in their Lawes going by the rule of ad ea quae frequentius accidunt c. better a mischief than always an inconvenience It is taken for granted that a general Law which hath its good and necessity in respect to the bulk and body of a People may prove unequal to particular Persons from the Circumstances of their Condition In the Common-wealth the ease and benefit of each particular person of what degree or condition soever is to be consulted but where Lawes are executed in their full rigour and no particular Mercy or Indulgence in special and unusual Cases it will not be So God himself who knows every man's heart yet some of his Lawes which are given in the general to all would not prove so equal to each at all times without exemptions in particular Cases Hence we say affirmative Precepts bind not AD SEMPER To such Lawes is that of Mark C. 2 to be referred in the Case of the Shew-bread And the Pope who assumes to himself a possibility not to Erre yet how doth his Republic abound in Courts for Faculties Dispensation Indulgences 2. It is also to be Considered there are no Societies of men but may erre in their counsels Lawes made in one Parliament come to a review and often to an alteration yea to a repeal in the next The intervals of those great Councels are some time long and if no way of relief were in the mean time the Subject would without remedy undergo the Penalty of an unequal Law. These and the like Considerations make it necessary that besides the Legislative Power placed in the Parliament there be some hand or other also by which upon all emergent occasions the rigour of a Law as to its Penalty may be abated by the means whereof not only mens Liberties and Estates but lives also are sometimes preserved 2. For the other This balance hath always been trusted in the hand of and annexed to the Sovereign Majesty of every State. For this interest doth little vary but remaineth in a manner the same in all States in what form soever they be established In the State of England being an Empire and its Crown in many Acts of Parliament especially relating to these Matters styled Imperial this Power is inseparably annexed thereunto which needs little proof it being confirmed by the OATH of SUPREMACY Our great Lawyers also give in their suffrage hereunto frequently affirming that the Statutes relating to the King 's Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction are not introductive of new but declarative of the old Lawes When an Act say these two learned Judges Coke and Rolls forbiddeth under a Penalty in case it may be inconvenient unto diverse particular persons in respect to Circumstances
is not then to dispense with the Penalties in Ecclesiastical Lawes too great a trust to be reposed in any one hand In Answer I shall endeavour something to unfold 1. In what sense Religion is the Concern of a Nation 2. The Nature of this Trust 1. How much Religion c. The moment and weight of a Matter in our Deliberation hath its proportion either as under an absolute or respective Consideration Wisdom is better than Riches in it self absolutely but not in respect to the support of present life The knowledge of God and Divine things is better than to know the virtue of Drugs and Plants but not so in respect to the study of Physick So Religion and the Worship of God is the chiefest and better part in it self considered but in its respective Considerations as to the faculty of a particular Person to Community of men for the advance of Civil Affairs there are other qualifications and inducements of greater Consequence and more directly and immediately tending to the being or well-being thereof That there be no mistake in this great Concernment I further distinguish There cometh under the Notion of Religion the Holiness and Righteousness that is of the Moral Law Principles whereof are in all mens natures and attended in their actings by a natural Conscience 2. Gospel Duties directed and ordered by a supernatural light no footsteps or Principles whereof are found in us For the former Religion in that first sense as the Knowledge of God Conscience of an Oath Justice and Righteousness in our dealings c. are such things wherein the well-being of Kingdoms and Commonwealth is much concerned But Religion as it stands in exerting supernatural Principles and in Duties termed the Commands of Christ as the other the Commands of God Jo. 15. such as Faith Repentance Sacraments Discipline and the like Gospel-Ordinances In the Duties under these Heads considered and as distinct from Moral Duties there is little or nothing directly and immediately contributed by them to mens Civil interests further then where these supernatural Vertues are planted in mens Minds the Moral Duties of Piety and Honesty do more plentifully abound and are in exercise As those Morals do more immediately concern the Commonwealth so the Lawes thereof are principally drawn forth out of them especially Second-table Duties forming and moulding them into municipal Lawes under Penalties and incouragements greater or less as in the Wisdom of a State is judged most conducing to the welfare thereof For these Gospel-Mysteries 't is otherwise for as they contribute not to us in our Civil Government otherwise than as before-mentioned so is there little contributed by the Wisdom or Authority of any State advantagious to the Gospel but Protection or being a defence upon the Glory Bishop Bilson states it well Princes saith he command that which Chaist the Sovereign Lord and Head of the Church commands which is all the Power we give to Princes Supremacy pag. 227. And in the Page before By Governors in Ecclesiastical Matters we do not mean Moderators Prescribers c. but Magistrates bearing the Sword to permit and defend that which Christ himself first ordained and appointed but to return If Adam had stood all Common-wealths had been prosperous and flourishing and yet no Christ no Faith Repentance nor any Gospel-Worship known or practised and since the fall you have had well-governed Kingdoms and States among Turks Heathens that never received Christ or Gospel-Worship It is with States as it is with particular persons in Commerce another man's Estate or Trade or Credit or any other Civil concern with whom I have to do is not prejudiced or bettered by omission or practice of what is a meer Gospel-Duty If a man I deal with be unjust ly steal c. my worldly interest is prejudiced hereby but whether he repent for this or exercise Faith on Christ for forgiveness and humble himself I am neither gainer nor loser in my Civil concern Now it is Gospel-Worship and Gospel-Religion we profess in this Nation If then the Duties themselves performed are of no greater onsequence in respect to Persons with whom we converse or the Civil State where we live the Modes Forms and Ceremonies of such Worship cannot be of such moment or trust in the manage of them And let me add much less can there be any such special advantage or detriment to our State-Concernments in this or that particular external form of Worship or Government that one should be retained by us with so much Zeal and Contention and from an alteration whereof we should be so much deterred which evidently appears in this how prosperous and flourishing hath this Nation been in their Civil concerns under Episcopacy Set Liturgies Ceremonies c. and as great Prosperity in other Christian States where these have altogether been disallowed Nor is this any dishonour to the Gospel more than to the Kingdom of Christ when it was said not to be of this World or to his Person or Officers that they contribute no more to the settling of Civil Rights and Interests Luke 12.13 or to Gospel-Weapons which being Spiritual and not Carnal have no edge to cut off mens Liberties Estates or Lives 2. The Nature of this Trust The Lawes and Institutes by which these Ecclesiastical Matters are to be managed are appointed and established for substance by the Wisdom and Authority of that one Law-giver Christ Jesus The Application of these Lawes in respect of Circumstances for the well and comfortable enjoying Gospel Ordinances is all that any Humane Wisdom hath to do in them the trust whereof may be placed in the hand of a Wife and Prudent Prince Again there is Liberty of an after-Judgement to be made by him that is to practise in whatever is in the concerns of Religion commanded by men Thence such Lawes require not such simple and peremptory obedience if conformable to those rules required in the Word Obedience thereunto is with respect unto God as well as Man if otherwise that then ought to be left to the Subject which the Apostles claimed Acts 5.29 Now altho Matters of Religion and the Concernment of it be great things considered in it self and accordingly is the trust yet what of it falleth under the hand of a Civil Power is neither in it self nor in its trust so great Because the greatness of this trust sticks generally in mens minds especially when in the disposal thereof it depends upon the will of one man to remove this or the like stumbling block we will suppose failings in the management of the trust as great as rationally can be imagined 1. Suppose his Majesty should refufe either by himself or Parliament to enjoyn any thing of Ceremony or Circumstance about these Externals in the Worship and Service of God. Or 2. Suppose he should dispense with all Injunctions and leave the People of God to a full Liberty in the observance of them and call these high defects and failings in
Conduct and Government yet the Premises last mentioned being considered there can be no great prejudice to the Commonwealth or Civil Affairs thereby Distinctly we shall weigh both of them 1. For the Former If the keeping or omitting of a Ceremony in it self considered is but a small thing as was mentioned before and of such a nature as altho at first of godly intent and purpose devised yet at length turned to Vanity and Superstition and burdening mens Consciences without cause c. as we our selves acknowledge See Preface to the Common-Prayer Book and of the same condition are most of those Impositions which have proved burthensom to the Nation a long time I say if so the not imposing of these things cannot be prejudicial to Church or State. Not to the Church If these directions for Gospel-worship in the external Circumstances of it were not reduced into Canons and Injunctions but left where they are to be taken up in practice according to the light of the Age as are Gospel-Duties of greater consequence Those Scriptures by which States profess themselves to be guided in forming these Ecclesiastical Lawes are intrusted also in the hands of the Gospel-Ministers for their conduct and direction in ordering Gospel Affairs who have gifts and assistances from it in such a measure and degree as cannot be expected in the ablest Statesman as such And the Ecclesiastical Lawes are never so well ordered by Civil Powers as when they consult with and take advice and directions from the Ministers of the Gospel about them To advise new Rites and Ceremonies saith Bishop Bilson is not the Princes Vocation but to receive and allow such as the Scriptures commend and as the Bishops and Pastors of the place shall advise of Suprem p. 226 2. If there were no such severe Injunctions about the Forms and Modes of Gospel-Worship I speak not of such Duties of Religion in which mens natures are principled 1. The Nation would not hereby suffer in respect of its Civil concerns but the Wealth and Trade would be much more prosperous the things being small in themselves and do become great only upon the account of their being injoyned and the greatness of Penalties annexed being of great Concernment to the State that is to the great prejudice thereof as hath been apparent in many years sad Experience What is it of moment to the Common-wealth for the quickening of Trade keeping up of Rents c. or any particular man's concern as Civil that men kneel or not at the Sacrament Crossing or not Crossing in Baptism 2. For the other as dispensing with all Penalties annexed to Ecclesiastical Lawes where these Penalties are removed yet these Lawes remain as Councels and Advertisements and being consulted by the learned Clergy in their Synods and commended are useful in the Administration of Worship This is as much as ever was done by the Apostles when Churches were in their greatest Purity who endeavoured not so much to establish an external Uniformity as to preserve Christian Liberty If it be said they had then no Christian Magistrates We say the Kingdom of Christ must come into a Nation before it be Christian and if it be so defective in its first address for want of such Magistrate and of the means we put so great an esteem upon for the reducing a People how will the People ever become Christian And on the other side if the Gospel hath a sufficiency in it self without borrowing to subdue a Pagan Nation to Christianity much easier it is being such to preserve them orderly and regular Christians Paul having instructed and councelled left his People free and to act by the Perswasion of their own hearts Rom. 14.5 One man esteemeth one day above another another man esteemeth every day alike let every man be perswaded in his own mind That was but a Councel or Advertisement in the Act for Conformity in 18 Eliz. given to the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Ordinaries that they would endeavour to perform their Duties in execution of the Act it was indeed very solemn coming from the Queens Majesty The Lords Temporal and all the Commons in the Present Parliament and in God's Name and as they will answer before God for such Evils and Plagues as may be Punishments for the neglect hereof There hath been no want of obedience hereunto by the Bishops being fully perswaded in their hearts thereof as their Duty of which if they had not been so perswaded the severest Penalties would or ought to have been in vain King James orders throughout the Kingdom that the Afternoons Exercise each Lord's-Day be spent in examining Children in their Catechism instead of Preaching this is only commended as the most convenient and laudable way in teaching of the Church of England and that such Preachers be most encouraged and approved of and how readily was this immediately practised throughout the Nation and is continued in many places unto this day In the Establishment of Vniformity 2º Edw. 6. a Liberty was left in respect to Ceremonies to practise or omit them according as men were perswaded in their hearts By the Synod held 1640. some Rites and Ceremonies there mentioned were heartily commended by them to the serious Consideration of all good People as an ancient and laudable Custome of the Primitive Church in the purest times and notwithstanding all this extolling those Rites which indeed was as much as can be said for any of our Ceremonies the Cannon concludes thus in the practice or omission of this Rite we desire that the Rule of Charity prescribed by the Apostle may be observed which is that they who use the Liberty despise not them which use it not and they who use it not condemn not those that use it Canon 7. 1640. And this their Councel and Commending hath not been in vain but received and submitted unto throughout by those who were so perswaded of these Rites as they have commended them And so would it have been in respect of other the Rites of our Church And the free submission in practise of a Rite tho but from a fewer number of Grave and Pious Persons would have advanced the esteem of such Ceremonies in the Opinions of others much more than the forced submission of greater multitudes 2. As a further Answer let us consider the Nature of the Crime with respect to the Penalties the Crime as expressed in our Lawes is a wilful and obstinate or contemptuous omission as in 19 Eliz. c. 2o. in the Act for Vniformity where these words wilful and obstinate I would think are not descriptive and to be understood reduplicative as an aggravation and as if all omissions must of necessity proceed from wilfulness and obstinacy but distinctive and to be understood Specificative some omissions being from wilfulness and contempt but there may be omissions that are not so and being not so full under the Penalties as killing a man and wilful Murther c. That the words of that Act 1º
Eliz. and other Ecclesiastical Edicts would so be understood there are these Reasons 1. We would not suppose this Law to be grounded on so hurtful a Principle as this that where a difference of Perswasion in relation to a difficult case of Conscience doth arise that one Party is alwayes wilful and obstinate There is not a greater uncharitableness and more opposite to that Christian love and Peace we ought to endeavour after 2. It was not so judged by our Governors in that Age when this Act of Vniformity o Eliz. was established but a more charitable interpretation of mens scrupling obedience as is evident from the relief given to such by Queen Elizabeth who by the Advice of her Councel put forth a Book of Articles to be enquired of at the Visitation and Presentations to be made accordingly and of 56 in Number there was not among them one about such Rites and Ceremonies then established that were offensive of purpose as some judge to abate the rigour of that Act and other Injunctions which shewed they were not all wilful and obstinate that could not conform Some merciful Bishops after this Example framed their Articles of Enquiry with more Moderation and diverse Ministers not fully conforming enjoyed their ministry under them The more severe Clergy observing the Liberty injoyed more in some Diocesses than others made this Provision in the Synod 1640. Can. 9. that for the better setling Vniformity there should be but one Book of Visatory Articles that the more moderate and indulgent Bishops might not have the forming their own Articles The moderate Bishops themselves did not judge that all Non-conformity was to be punished as from wilfulness nor would those many Dispensations and Exemptions before-mentioned be granted by our Governours if they had judged those who came not up to the Establishment disobeyed out of obstinacy and contempt nor suffer some of them as Queen Elizabeth did to Preach before her in her Chappel 3. That all Ecclesiastical Transgressions even in Matters that are little in themselves are from wilfulness and obstinacy which this Act supposeth it so interpreted is a Maxime in Discipline neither Christ nor Christian Churches were ever acquainted with Christ in his Ecclesiastical Proceedings against Sinners distinguisheth between the Sin in it self considered and as a Sin wilfully and obstinately committed and hath appointed means for the discovery hereof and if the Sin be of infirmity a different proceed and a more tender dealing is appointed Gal. 6 7. and not to apply Censures and cuttings off but upon obstinacy only We are willing to believe such is I am sure ought to be the Method of our Process in these Matters and what appertains to the Worship and Service of God professing so frequently as we have done that we take the word for our guide in establishing these Ecclesiastical Lawes 4. Our Law-givers judge the purest Churches those of the Primitive times were voluntary Congregations of Believers as we said before out of Judge Hobart submitting themselves to Pastors as God should move them no Patrons then imposing upon them now there is no voluntary Act to which we are moved but such motion is upon the account of something that is real or appearing good There is no rational man can voluntarily joyn and become a Member of a Society or Congregation in such condition within his participation which is probable to be more productive of Evil than of Good It will be so with us if this Act be interpreted Reduplicativè that is whosoever omits a Ceremony doth it obstinately and shall suffer as such an one I joyn voluntarily in hopes to be edifyed in knowledge and real tenderness of Conscience and where such attainments are there is a greater aptness to scruple obedience to some one thing or another enjoyned which if we are ruined and undone first or last so severe are the Penalties in the Process of them whether Ministers or private Christians it will not be with a man as the Apostle saith If he will depart let him depart to lose the Privilege upon the account whereof we joyned but must abide upon the place and look on while all be destroyed what rational man upon Election and voluntarily will become one in such a Congregation and this is the real and justifyable ground of the Separation upon the account whereof many thousands of sober and peaceable Persons have departed not only from our Communion but their native Country for the advantage of that purer and Primitive Order of voluntary and free Congregations 5. In the Statute of 1 Eliz it is not simply refusing or not using the forms there enjoyned but the doing it wilfully or obstinately as was said for that the keeping or omitting a Ceremony in it self considered is but a small thing as mentioned before but when Commanded c. I grant Matters very small being made the Subject of a Penal Law or being injoyned for State-ends may thereby become great the smaller the matter is in it self in such a Case the greater is the wilfulness in transgressing and so may justly demerit a great Punishment But yet a Matter being small in it self and as it stands the Subject of a Political or Civil Law the same when it becomes the Matter of an Ecclesiastical Law ought not to be formed with respect to State ends or in ordine ad temporalia tho it be a small Matter in it self and as a thing merely Natural or Moral may notwithstanding be very great upon that account and greater to the Person who scruples the lawfulness of it than the greatest Penalty that can be incurred by refusal For there is no Circumstance or Ceremony that hath a constant Station and Place in the Worship of God for any spiritual and designed end as ours are but in their relation thereunto are great whatever they are in themselves These Lawes therefore being Ecclesiastical wherein God and Mens Consciences are so immediately interested the not conforming to them cannot be supposed a true measure to judge of mens wilfulness or obstinacy it would be a great reflection upon the Prudence or the Charity at least of our Lawes and Injunctions so to interpret them If the greatness of the Penalty be laid not upon the Crime materially considered but in respect of that evil frame wherein we transgress God only is the Searcher of Hearts and altho by Overtures and Circumstances something may be discovered this way by men yet it is with great difficulty and uncertainty especially when we transgress by omission The reason is in Positive acts done by a man all the faculties of the Soul are concerned and exert themselves together at the same time and in the Circumstances of such acting there remain such overtures of such a frame of mind as a more permanent and exact counterpart thereof Omissions there are oftentimes when the Soul stands as it were but half bent the understanding is not clear the will undetermined In an omission there is nothing of
the man left on Record distinctly to be read and considered of by us so that we can scarcely so much as guess from what Principles within an omission doth proceed and the uncertainty is far the greater when it is notoriously known such omissions may be from a good intention as well as bad To be able so far to dive into mens hearts as distinctly to discover intentions is a work more suitable to the Word of God Heb. 4.12 then the Lawes of Men we would not therefore interpret these Lawes in such a sense as to render all omissions to be upon Principles of wilfulness and obstinacy It would be more charitable where so little evidence can be produced rather to judge the contrary of our Brethren and fellow Subjects 6. This Act of Vniformity not we hope in the intention of it but in such an Interpretation hath been the Argument of all our Sufferings If therefore that be not the true meaning of the Act intimated in His Majesty's gracious Declaration namely That upon what Principles soever men submit not unto it tho from tenderness of Conscience in the greatest Evidence yet thereupon to be punished with the loss of their Spiritual Promotions but if it appears from Obstinacy and Sedition that such only should suffer so deeply the addition of further Pains and Penalties as in that Act inserted is just and equal If this yet be not the meaning of the Act as it seems by constant Proceedings against Transgressors of it for what man was ever relieved in any Court Ecclesiastical or Civil upon such a Plea He omitted not such Ceremonies wilfully but of Conscience I say therefore if that be not the sense of the Act yet upon those Considerations but now mentioned there is evidence sufficient that this gracious Dispensation of His Majesty of such redundant Penalties and of such a nature are all the Penalties we are exempted from in that Declaration is to be judged of as most necessary just prudent and charitable His Majesty was perswaded that many multitudes it 's his Expression in Declaration of Decem. 26. 1662. suffered being ensnared in their Consciences and not from wilfulness and his charitable Opinion seems to be most rationally grounded upon an Observation of his own It is evident saith His Majesty by the sad Experience of 12 years there is very little fruit of all those forceable courses The will is a more unsteady Principle and more easily wrought to a change upon representation of Good or Evil But Conscience is more fixed and incorrigible it not being in our own Power to alter the dictates thereof As to be changed from our Natural State was not in our Power no more is the change of our Perswasions in Matters of Duty Conscience being engaged Phil. 3.15 but God alone doth it His Majesty therefore wisely judged it would be less injustice and better for the Commonwealth that all such Penalties be removed and suspended when the Executions of them have been so constantly misapplyed and so much to the prejudice and disquiet of his good Subjects It is Righteousness and not Ceremonies which establisheth a Nation Quest If the Penalties of Ecclesiastical Lawes be removed these Lawes themselves become impracticable And when Men are left to Worship in what Forms they please will not that Ancient Establishment of our Vniform Worship and Government to be the same throughout this Kingdom be utterly destroyed Answ For that we term Vniformity in the Worship and Service of God we find no other in the Apostles Churches but what arose from inward Principles freely and naturally these Principles being in the same as where there is the same Seed there will be the same Blade Stalk Leaf Flower and there is an Uniformity from external Impressions as in a Mould or Seal These are constrained and forced the former is from the Lord a work of his Power and there is beauty in it Psal 10. The latter is from Princes and States wrought by the Power of their Lawes and Penalties and may have much hypocrisie but little amiableness The basest metal as well as pure Gold will conform to the mould into which it is cast Such a Conformity is no safe Character to distinguish who is fit and who is not for Ministry or Membership but the other is of great use in the Churches of Christ. As the wicked who are a seed of evil doers are uniform in their Practice being acted from the same inward Principles Eph. 4.17 so the People of God being baptised into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12. they live in this Spirit and walk in this Spirit Gal. 5.25 and as in other Duties of Piety and Justice so in Church Administrations where People are in the same mind and Principle they will all speak the same thing altho not the same words in Preaching and Praying and Officiating in the Service and Worship of God tho there be no external Prescripts or force of Humane Lawes to bring men to an exact conscientious Uniformity in the Externals of Worship and Ceremonies Where there are various apprehensions this is not to be effected by external force molesting men in their Liberties and Estates judging or censuring or indeed by any Humane Power God himself that can do it and establish men in such an Vniformity yet for ends suitable to his Wisdom leaves them various in their actings in this kind one man observing a day or the like Ceremonies another observes it not but mostly standing upon Sincerity in those that doing or leaving it undone to the Lord that is out of Conscience and this is the Apostolical Doctrine in Rom. 14.5 That which we term Vniformity an exact Identity in words gestures and vestments Nature seems to teach us an example of a Sinless neglect of Tho there be a Conformity in every Vine and every Figg-tree and the like works of Nature one to another in their kind yet for the modes and outward form and shape you have not two of these that are conformable and growable 2. Nor can we say but tho all the Penalties properly such annexed to Ecclesiastical Lawes are removed yet there will remain Provision sufficient left to keep and preserve men in conformity and to reduce such whose Consciences will permit as are not so For as His Majesty on the one hand hath been pleased to assure the Orthodox conformable Clergy that they shall receive and enjoy the Revenues belonging to the Church of England the richest most plentiful and ample of any Protestant Church in the World and that no Person however dispensed with in other things shall be exempt from paying his Tithes and other Duties whatsoever so on the other hand that no Person shall be capable of holding any Benefice Living or Ecclesiastical Dignity or Preferment of any kind in the Kingdom of England who is not exactly Conformable Such Encouragements are also Privative Penalties and have brought and kept more to Conformity than all the Penalties removed by His Majesty's gracious