doth scruple the Reasonableness or Equity of a Law concerning Civil Rights or what 's required from it he may notwithstanding yield Obedience without Sin and ought so to do rather than to offend by an appearance of Disobedience as Christ himself did Matth. 17.26 27. But in Matters of Religion even as Circumstances Ceremonies or the least thing wherein the Lord hath concerned his Word if there be a Doubt or Scruple whether lawful and conformable to the Scriptures tho it be from Ignorance or Weakness yet I sin if I submit Rom. 14.1 compared with 23. The Consequence of Transgression in this kind is more than loss of Estates Liberties yea or of Life it self If the Laws of Superiors concerning Civil Rights be unjust in themselves or prove unequal from the Circumstances of this or that Man's Case who cannot be relieved by any Indulgence he may submit without Sin without transgressing any Law of God nay it is Vertue and pleasing to the Lord our patience in such suffering 1 Pet. 2.13 with verses 18 19. 1 Cor. 6.7 but not so in the Matters of Religion for we have from Christ to the contrary that is not to subject Col. 2.20 And God blames his People by his Prophets for wittingly walking after the Commandments Hos 5.12 and for keeping the Statutes of Omri Micah 6.16 the Lord is a jealous God. SECT 4. If there be not a Power to Judg and Dispense intrusted in some Hands the People of God are in a worse condition on these Accounts than in their Civil Interest and that upon a three-fold account 1. The Secular Laws and Statutes made in the behalf of the Subjects are often upon further Deliberation and Experience of Inconveniencies altered and repealed whereby the Subjects have ease But Acts of Parliament wherein Ecclesiastical Affairs and Mens Consciences are concern'd are seldom or never revised or altered much less repealed no not for the space of an hundred Years can we give an Instance hereof So far are we from repealing Acts made in Ecclesiastical Affairs as is ordinarily in our Civil Matters that some Acts passed partly for their Severity or upon some other Account doubtful whether fit to remain as standing Laws therefore are limited to a certain Time after which to expire and cease the severe Act of 35 Eliz. that 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 made whether in Force or not is declared by the present Parliament to be in Force and 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 Laws made in every three or four Years in Parliament providing Remedies as fast as time breedeth Mischiefs and contrariwise the Ecclesiastical State should still continue upon the Dregs of Time and receive no Alteration now for these many Years We have heard of no offer 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 of the Letter of their Canons and Orders there is no Chancery or Court of Equity among them to appeal unto for Redress but in some few Cases as in Causes Testimentary of Matrimony Divorses Tythes c. specified 24 H. 8.12 Matters wherein our Estates are touched But in Matters of Conformity and such Cases wherein our Consciences are most concerned we are left destitute 3. Again 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 Judge this Sir Fra. Bacon in his Considerations condemned 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 not be exposed more than others to such extremity of Rigour for otherwise as Consciencious Men are more disposed to Scruples and Doubts 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 Ballance is placed which is that we shall insist upon in the next place SECT 1. THIS Prerogative or Power to Dispense and Exempt from Ecclesiastical Laws is in the Soveraign for the Confirmation whereof not to insist on what was acknowledged by Pope Eleutherius touching Lucius our first Christian King that he was Vicarius Dei in Regno suo in reference to Matters to be reformed or is mentioned touching the Laws and Practice of King Edgar and Edward the Confessor named the First Meae solicitudinis est quieti eorum consulare de quorum moribus spectat ad nos examen And of the other from whom it is said much of our Law is derived that describing the King's Office he saith Rex ad hoc est constitutus ut Regnum terrenum Populum Dei Ecclesiam regat ab injuriis defendat maleficos ab eâ evallat destruat penitus desperdat and much of like nature that might be urg'd from Antiquity But to come nearer Home The Testimonies of the Clergy in Convocation the Representative Church of England who make it so great a Duty to acknowledg it as they have expressed their Severity thus Whosoevor shall affirm the King's Majesty hath not the same Authority in Cause Ecclesiastical as the pious Princes of the Jews and the Christian Emperors obtained c. let him be Excommunicated ipso facto and not to be absolved but by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Canons of the Convocation 1603. 2. I shall join with this Testimony that of another Synod or Council namely that met in the Star Chamber a. Jac. made up of all the Judges and Persons learned in the Law summoned by King James for Resolution in some Ecclesiastical Causes whereof this of his Majesty's Prerogative was one their Resolution you have in these words The King may without the Parliament make Orders and Constitutions for the Government of the Clergy and punish those that disobey or refuse to submit And this with other Resolutions in Ecclesiastical Matters were ordered 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 and there hath been no matter or thing so Sacred and of such Concernment in these Affairs ordered by Parliament but the like and of as great
going on still to make Laws to afflict and punish and others engaged quietly to suffer whatsoever they should be exposed to for their Consciences Matters being at this pass there was apparent necessity that some Remedy be speedily applied His Majesty considering they are all his Subjects and how much by such Severity the Interest of his Soveraignty is narrowed so great a number of his People rendred unworthy of his Countenance and Protection and upon no other Account or Crime but their being of different Perswasions in some Externals of Religion Persons otherwise for Industry Faithfulness Loyalty and every way qualified to do his Majesty and their Country as much Service as others His Majesty also calling to mind that prudent Caution which his Royal Father left him in these words Take heed saith he that outward Circumstances and Formalities in Religion devour not all or the best Incouragements of Learning and Industry but with an equal Eye and impartial Hand distribute Favours and Rewards to all Men as you find them for their real Goodness both in Ability and Fidelity worthy and capable of them this will be sure to gain you the Hearts of the best and most too It was likewise impossible for his Majesty to imagine that so many thousands in his own Observation who have suffered so greatly with such humble submission should daily thus expose themselves and Families to ruin from no other or better Principles than a Spirit of Obstinacy and Stubbornness great Sufferings and by great Multitudes yet no Tumults no Resisting whereas in the beginning of the Reformation what Armies in the North and in the West upon this Account by those of another Perswasion were raised tho as yet they suffered little His Majesty as a Common Father beareth Affection to all his Subjects but who of them deserves it and who not can never be discovered by this indiscriminating Severity that is who are Dissenters upon Principles of Conscience and who of them so pretending are notwithstanding of a Seditious Spirit These can never be distinguished one from the other when Dissenters and such as Conform not be it upon what ground soever are all of them equally branded with the same Mark of Disloyalty and so represented to his Majesty and all the Nation There is a necessity that this Pretence of Conscience be removed and Seditious Persons discovered and left to condign Punishment and others these Stumbling-blocks being removed may by their peaceable Obedience to all other his Majesty's Laws justify and vindicate their Integrity which can no ways be done while the Righteous are thus condemned with the Wicked and no relaxing those Laws that shut up all both Guilty and Innocent under the same Condemnation Of these Things his Majesty hath had a clear prospect all along and thence publickly declared his avowed readiness in his Proclamation July 16. 1669. and otherwise to indulge Tender Consciences and hath upon the aforementioned and the like weighty Considerations been necessitated to publish this his Gracious Declaration of March the 25th 1671 wherein he hath fully performed his Promise made at Breda and so often repeated Thus his Majesty as a Wise and Prudent Prince whose Station is fixed in an higher Orb like the Sun exhaling and consuming or turning to refreshing Showers the dark Fogs and Mists here beneath hath by the Light and Liberty shining forth from his Gracious Indulgence refreshed multitudes of his Good Subjects and delivered them from the dark misapprehensions of others Nor is this their great Relief in any thing prejudicial either to the Estates or Liberties of Men otherwise minded nor are such Men abridged in any of their Concerns Spiritual or Temporal hereby his Majesty hath made sufficient Provision for the satisfying their Consciences in a careful continuing those Ceremonies and Forms of Worship they have been accustomed to let it not be grievous or offensive unto them that their Brethren have obtained the like favour from his Majesty in respect to their Consciences The Apostle requires That we neither judg or despise those that differ from us in Matters of the like Nature but to leave a Man without molestation from us to his own Master to whom he standeth or falleth his being in the right or in the wrong upon this account is a Matter of his Master's concern What is it to us What have we to do to discipline another Man's Servant for what his Master is pleased to bear with him SECT 6. QUEST VI. Since these Ecclesiastical Laws of Restraint were enacted by Parliament the King giving his Royal Assent had it not been convenient if his Majesty had so pleased that the dispensing with these Laws had been by Parliament Answ 1. The Kings and Princes of this Realm his Majesty's Predecessors did Establish many Things and Orders by Parliament relating to Ecclesiastical Things but did yet nevertheless often exercise their own Power in dispensing with the Penalties of such Laws A constant acting with others in the exerting hereof might though no Prescription against the King yet introduce at least in the Minds of Men a kind of suspicion especially in the Vulgar that such Proceedings of the Supream Majesty by his sole Power to be an assuming an Arbitrary Government 2. The Parliament did still continue in this their former Opinion and Judgment namely That a way of Severity was the only Means to settle Peace and Unity They had newly passed the Act for Uniformity without any abatement of what was Offensive by reason whereof arose that general Discontent which before we have mentioned His Majesty being sensible hereof did by that Declaration of Decemb. 26. move a second time That an Act might be prepared whereby he may be enabled with a more universal acceptation to exercise the Power of Dispensing which is inherent in him not doubting their chearful cooperation with him being a Matter wherein he conceived himself so much engaged both in point of Honour and in what he oweth to the Peace of his Kingdoms which We profess saith he we can never think secure whilst there shall be a colour left to the Malicious and Disaffected to inflame the Minds of so many Multitudes upon the score of Conscience with dispair of ever obtaining any Effect of our Promises for their Ease The House returns this Answer We your Majesty's dutiful and loyal Subjects who are now returned to serve in Parliament from those several parts and places of your Kingdom for which we were chosen do humbly offer to your Majesty's great Wisdom That it is in no sort advisable that there be any Indulgence to such Persons who presume to dissent from the Act of Uniformity and the Religion established for divers Reasons whereof this is one It will in no wise become the Gravity or Wisdom of a Parliament to pass a Law at one Session for Uniformity and at the next Session the Reasons of Uniformity continuing still the same to pass another Law to frustrate or weaken the Execution of
importance by the King alone with advice of his Council Instances whereof you have many 1. In general The whole System and Body of Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons are published by the Synods of the Clergy from time to time These Laws have no Parliament Sanction or dependance upon Authority thence derived an their Constitution Nor yet have these Canons their Authority from the Synod or Clergy met in Convocation for Canons concluded by the Province of Canterbury only cannot oblige the Clergy of the Province of York having no Representatives or Clerks sitting in that Synod such was the Synod or Convocation met Anno 1584 1597 1603 and yet obliged to Subjection the Arch-Bishop and Clergy of the Province of York as well as those of 1640 where were the Representatives of both Provinces It 's therefore the Regal Authority express'd in the Letters Patents affixed to these Canons that gives them their chief Power and are therefore termed Regiae Leges Ecclesiae And whatsoever Cannons or Laws published by Convocation would have been of the same Force and Efficacy to oblige the Subject if only by the King with the Advice of his Council 2. In particular The several Injunctions Advertisements Declarations and other Edicts and Requirements from Sovereign Power by his Majesties Predecessors you have in the Injunction of Edward 6.1547 and Queen Elizabeth 1559 with Articles of Visitation thereunto adjoyned They license Ministers to preach and suspend also from preaching There were Articles in the Time of Edward 6. for establishing an Agreement in Religion and the rooting out Discords in Opinion 1552 and by Queen Elizabeth 1562. Also Edw. 6. established a Liturgy or publick Form of Prayer to be used throughout the Kingdom 1547 30 Eliz. after there had been an uniform Order of Divine Service and to be used only in the English Tongue established by Parliament as the only Form and no other or otherwise the Queen Anno 1560 by her Sole Authority published a different Form for Funerals with Liberty to say it in the Latin Tongue with a Non obstante in respect to the former Establishment There were also Sermons or Homilies a part of Divine Service required to be read by the Minister which being a matter of Ecclesiastical Cognisance were appointed by Edward 6 and Queen Elizabeth and not by Authority in Parliament 4. King James by his Sole Power without Authority of Parliament giveth out Directions for Preachers under Penalty of Suspension ab officio beneficio wherein many great and necessary Gospel-Truths are forbidden to be preached by any under the Degree of a Bishop or Dean Some Truths may not be preached by way of positive Doctrine but only by way of Use and Application no Sermons in the After-noon throughout the Kingdom to be preached from any Text but what is taken out of the Catechism Lord's Prayer Creed or ten Commandments He gives Faculties and confirms a new Body of Lecturers or Preachers throughout England that be neither Parsons Vicars nor Curats These Instances though not express'd of what these Powers have dispensed with or indulged yet are pertinent upon this Account What Sovereign Power thus put forth in Constitutions Injunctions Directions c. in Ecclesiastical Matters may in like proportion be exerted in Exemptions Dispensations c. As with Parliament and other Councils vested with Authority the Power to repeal Laws and Statutes is as large as that Power by which they enact and establish Laws For example if King James which is our last Instance might by his Prerogative confirm and establish a new Order of the Clergy he may by the same Power dispense with and license such Preachers as now seem and are reputed so to be And it follows also if his Power will extend to indulge such Preachers it will not prove short in respect to Hearers that are as it were new in the way of their Assemblies and indulge such as are not of the ancient Order of the Parochial Congregation of England SECT 2. The like Deductions might be drawn from other of those Instances I shall notwithstanding for further Confirmation add other Instances and such wherein you have this Power put forth in dispensing and exempting from what hath been burdensom to Mens Consciences from Parliamentary or Episcopal Impositions 1. That of Edw. 6. in the fourth Year of his Reign certain Protestants removing themselves and Families out of Popish Countries into England for their Consciences Sake and being not free to submit to the Form of Worship and Discipline established in this Church This good King by his Sole Authority granteth them the Liberty of such a Church-Government and Form of Worship as we shall say more to in its place as should be most suitable to their own Perswasion This being utterly against the Provision and Settlement newly made by Parliament he strengthens his Grant by a Non obstante the Statute and strictly requires all Bishops and Majors c. to suffer them quietly to enjoy their Consciences 2. Another Instance you have of the same good King John Hooper being chosen Bishop of Gloucester and there being certain Rites and Ceremonies established by Act of Parliament to be conformed unto in the Consecration of Bishops offensive to his Conscience Edw. 6. requires Arch-Bishop Cranmer to omit these Ceremonies discharging him of all manner of Dangers Penalties and Forfeitures he should run into and be in any manner of way by omitting of the same and these our Letters faith the King shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge therefore 3. The Instance you have also in what was done by Queen Elizabeth for relief of tender Consciences namely her Majesty being informed that in certain Places of this Realm sundry of Her Subjects called to the Ministry being induced by sinister Persuasions are scrupled about the Form of an Oath which by an Act of the last Parliament was prescribed to be taken according to the Form expressed in the Act under Penalty of being disenabled to bear any Office in State or Church Her Majesty was graciously pleased to assume by her Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs to give and declare such a Sense and Construction of the Words of this Oath expressed in other Words much different for their Satisfaction with a gracious Declaration That such Persons fit for the Ministry as could not take the Oath in the Parliament-Form should accept it in this Sense and doing so they shall notwithstanding be accepted by her Majesty as good and obedient Subjects and acquits them of all manner of Penalties contained in the said Act against such as should refuse to take the same By which means many an able Man had Freedom to exercise his Ministry which otherwise must be laid aside which Indulgence of hers although against an Act of Parliament yet was owned as done by Lawful Authority and recognised by the Parliament 5. Eliz. and her Exposition assented to and enacted 4. This renowned Queen together with King James and King Charles the First confirmed
the Indulgence and Dispensation granted by Edw. 6. to Strangers yea though it was a Gravamen to the Bishop making an evident Breach upon the Pale of Uniformity for not only the Parents but the Children and Childrens Children which were natural Subjects to his Realm Persons of great Estate and Purchasers of Lands and interessed in the Soil The Number also of these Congregations increasing and scituated in the eminent and chief Towns and Cities in the Kingdom there to live and profess as separated and divided Bodies in Discipline and Worship from the Church of England was not intended by the first Grant so Bishop Laud complains there being only that one in London when the first Grant was made such things were frequently suggested against them yet these Princes were graciously disposed notwithstanding the Act for Uniformity from time to time to confirm the Grant of Edw. 6. by several Orders past some of them formed as having special respect to such Objections which will not be amiss for the Reader 's confirmation here to insert some of them at least The Form in which Queen Elizabeth confirmed their Liberties Non Ignoramus variis Ecclesiis varias diversas jam ab initio Christianae Religionis semper fuisse Ritus Ceremonias non contemnimus vestras neque nos ad nostras cogimus King James Octob. 17. 10 Jac. to the Dutch at Colchester His Majesty granted their Orders Liberties c. in as large and ample manner to all Intents and Purposes as heretofore they have been used tolerated and allowed unto them any Provision or Jurisdiction to the contrary thereto in any wise notwithstanding An Order of King James under his Signet Jan. 13. 1616 on their behalf These are therefore to Will and Command all our Courts of Justice and other our loving Subjects to permit and suffer the said Strangers and their Children c. The Order of the Council for the Walloons of Norwich Octob. 10. 1621. Those of Norwich though born in the Kingdom shall continue to be of the said Congregation and subject to such Discipline as hath been by all the time of fifty five Years practised by them The Order of King Charles the First Novemb. 13. 1631. We Will and Command our Judges c. to permit and suffer the said Strangers and their Children quietly to enjoy all and singular c. without any Troubles Arrests or Proceedings by way of Information or otherwise An Order of the Council for the Dutch of Norwich Jan. 7. 1630. That all those that now or hereafter shall be Members of the Dutch Congregation although born within this Kingdom shall continue to be of the said Church so long as his Majesty shall be pleased c. These and divers the like Instances might be produced which sufficiently evince it as granted on all sides and constantly supposed to be according to the Constitution of this Realm that our Kings and Princes have Power in and from themselves as an inherent and inseparable Prerogative not only to injoin and give Laws to their Subjects in Ecclesiastical Matters such as are left to the ordering of any Civil Power as also to dispense and exempt from Laws of that kind though established by them in conjunction with the Authority of Parliament Nor do we find that Parliaments at any time have taken into Consideration what was ordered or done by those Kings and Princes in Ecclesiastical Affairs being their known Prerogative no not in those of King James who assumed the most in such managements nor by any Petitions or Addresses to any of those Princes which is usual in the Concerns of Civil Rights for limiting or enlarging the Exercise of their Power in these Ecclesiastical Matters but rather recognizing and confirming what hath been ordered by them as in 5 Eliz. and Car. 2. in the Act of Uniformity and other Instances many may be produced CHAP. IV. Of the Objections made against this Power and the executing thereof with Answer thereunto SECT 1. THere are Reasonings possibly tending another way in stating this Case The Objections obvious I shall now mention having divers 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 Dialogue le ts in Knowledg 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 I. If such a Prerogative be in the King what need Ecclesiastical Laws be transacted and established by Parliament Answ 1. That hinders not but that his Majesty's Power is sufficient of it self to do many things relating to such Laws without them take it in his Majesty's own words Declarat of 26 Decemb. 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 Vs As also it is by the afore-named learned Judg Hubbard expressed That these Statutes and the like were made to put things in ordinary Form and to ease the Soveraign of Labour but not to derogate from his Power 2. Powers sufficient in themselves may join and in such conjunction remain intire as Powers Cumulative and not Privative as it is evident from what is said in the Statute of 31 Hen. 8. cap. 10. The King 's most excellent Majesty though it appertained to his Prerogative Royal to give Honour as it 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 c. 3. The King is a kind of Corporation in himself distinct from that Capacity wherein he stands in conjunction with his Subjects as their Head And in that respect being in an higher Region above and in a greater distance from those Interests upon the account whereof his Subjects are many times much divided and publick Edicts are formed according to the Prevalency of a greater Party to the prejudice of others that are his Loyal Subjects also by his Wisdom and Prudence there is a Ballance by which the Tranquillity of a Nation is happily preserved and one Party is not overborn by the other having this Power to mitigate and dispense in the Matters under our consideration as in his Wisdom with Advice of Council shall seem equal SECT 2. QUEST II. But hath not the King's Prerogative Limits in our Laws And 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 Unrighteousness 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 lieth That for Uniformity where the dispensing with that Statute granted to Strangers by sole Prerogative-Authority is justified And the Act of 22 Car. 2. by the Proviso there inserted the Parliament seems to induce his Majesty's Assent in the recognizing of his Prerogative so expresly in that Act as if they spoke thus Though this Act be very Severe yet if it be found prejudicial or not to attain the End for which we judg such Severity to be requisite it is an Ecclesiastical Affair and your Majesty may when you please dispense and exempt Persons from it 2. There is nothing transacted in these Ecclesiastical 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 Malum in se they do not bind the Conscience of the Subject in the nature of them considered in themselves Q. 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. So that these Precepts concerning Ecclesiastical Matters oblige not in their own Nature as what is either Bonum or Malum in se but as prohibited or commanded 3. Civil Rights and Claims and in Temporal Things only are of the immediate and intrinsick Concern and Interest of all Republicks 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 or 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 SECT 3. QUEST III. Religion and the Worship and Service of God being the great Concernments of a Nation Is it not then to dispence with the Penalties in Ecclesiastical Laws too great a Trust to be reposed in any one Hand Answ 1. In what sense Religion is the Concern of a Civil Republick 2. The Nature of this Trust 1. The Moment or 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 but not in relation to the support of present Life the Knowledg 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 Consideration as to the faculty of a particular Person to a Community of Men for the advance of Civil Affairs There are other Qualifications and Inducements of greater consequence and more directly and immediatly 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 attend in their Actings by a natural Conscience 2. Gospel-Duties directed and ordered by a Supernatural Light no Foot-steps or Principles hereof are found in us For the former Religion in that sence as the Knowledg of God Conscience of an Oath Justice and Righteousness in our Dealings c. are such Things wherein the Well-being of Common-Wealths is much concerned But Religion as it stands in the exerting Supernatural Principles and in Duties termed the Commandments of Christ as the other the Commandments of God John 15. 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 than 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 immediatly concern the Republick so the Laws thereof are principally drawn forth out of them especially Second-Table Duties forming and moulding them into municipal Laws under Penalties and Incouragements greater or less as in the Wisdom of a State may conduce most to the Welfare thereof For these Gospel-Mysteries it 's otherwise for as they contribute little 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 this Glory Learned Bishop Bilson states it well Princes saith he command that which Christ the Sovereign Lord and Head of the Church commandeth which is all the Power we give to Princes Of Supremacy pag. 227. And in the Page before thus By Governors in Ecclesiastical Matters we do not mean Moderators Prescribers and 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 would have been prosperous and flourishing and yet no Christ no Faith nor Repentance nor any Gospel-Worship known or practised And since the Fall you have had well-governed Common-Wealths of Turks and Heathens that never received Christ or Gospel-Worship It is with States as it is with particular Persons in converse another Man's Estate or Trade or Credit or any Civil Concern with whom I have to do is not prejudiced or bettered by my omission or practice of what is a meer Gospel-Duty If a Man I deal with be unjust lie steal c. my worldly Interest is prejudiced hereby but whether he repent for this exercise Faith on Christ for Forgiveness and humble himself I am neither a gainer nor loser hereby in the sense we speak of Now it is Gospel-Worship we profess in this Nation Gospel-Religion If the Duties themselves performed are of no greater consequence 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 to our State-Concernments in this or that particular external Form of Worship or Government that it should be retained by us with so much Zeal and Contention 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 Republicks where these have been altogether disallowed Nor is this any dishonour to the Gospel more than to the Kingdom of Christ when it
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 Octob. 25. 1660. to all his Loving Subjects of England and Wales concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs mentioning that from Breda dispenseth with the use of divers Ceremonies formerly injoined 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. frees from their Imprisonment such as suffered for Conscience The King and his Parliament happily joined in the same pious End Peace and Union yet differenced in their apprehensions of the Means to procure it which was our great unhappiness The Parliament judged the reducing and rooting out Dissenters by severe Penalties to be the means of Unity in the Church as they tell his Majesty in Answer to his Declaration Pressing the asserting of the Laws and Religion established according to the Act of Vniformity as the more probable means to produce a set led Peace and Obedience throughout the Kingdom Supposing and possibly some of them perswaded thereunto from those that never would distinguish betwixt 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 Uniformity was renewed and the Service-Book injoined 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 done yet in what his Majesty had promised in way of relief to Tender Consciences Hereupon not only multitudes of faithful Preachers of the Gospel in the several Shires of this Kingdom were put from their Imployment but also the Minds of Men much disturbed and filled with hard Thoughts and Jealousies upon this Account Insomuch that his Majesty was inforced to publish that Declaration of Decemb. 26. in which he expresses the Surmises of the People occasioned by this Severity thus That having made use of such solemn Promises from Breda and in several Declarations since of Ease and Liberty to Tender Consciences instead of performing any part of them we have added straiter Fetters than ever and new Rocks of Scandal to the Scrupulous by the Act of Vniformity To this Surmise and Jealousy his Majesty condescends to make Reply thus As concerning the Nonconformance of our Promise We remember well the very words of those from Breda repeating the words and the Confirmations we have made of them since upon several Occasions in Parliament and as all these Things are still fresh in our Memory so are we still firm in the Resolution of performing them to the full But it must not be wondred at since that Parliament to which those Promises were made in Relation to an Act never thought fit to offer us any to that purpose The House of Commons took his Declaration into consideration and represented to his Majesty divers Objections against it and laid it aside so that nothing was effected thereby to his Majesty's Purpose the Parliament being otherwise minded and certainly it is not only their Liberty but Duty to proceed in reforming Abuses by such Means as are in their Perswasion most suitable and likely to be effectual otherwise they could not be faithful in their Trust Greater Severities against Nonconformity are provided in several Acts upon occasion as the Act against private Meetings 16 Car. 2. The expelling Ministers five Miles from Burrough Towns 17 Car. 2. Especially that Act of 22 Car. intituled An Act to prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles An Act very high and heavy in the Penalties expressed both upon Ministers and People his Majesty notwithstanding condescended to give his Royal Assent to that Bill It being judged this Severity was taken up by them from good Intentions and as the likeliest means of Peace and Union as also if it proved not to be so that they might be yet more fully convinced of the Insufficiency of such a way having had hitherto for some Years experience how little effectual it hath proved Yet this Bill containing nothing for substance but what was proper to his Ecclesiastical Power being an ordering the Externals of the Church and nothing of immediate Concern in Civil Affairs in the whole Act And his Majesty having intentions to take the other Course if this of Severity effected not what was aimed at a Proviso is contained in the Act in these words Provided also that neither this Act nor any thing herein contained shall extend to invalidate or avoid his Majesty's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs but that his Majesty and his Heirs and Successors may from time to time and at all times hereafter exercise and enjoy all Powers and Authorities in Ecclesiastical Affairs as fully and amply as himself or any of his Predecessors have or might have done the same any thing in this Act notwithstanding As this Act of 22 Car. 2. was very strict and severe in it self so the execution of it was with much Violence and Rigour in most parts of the Nation there being Provision made in it such as even loose and indigent Persons may intrude themselves in the promoting thereof with encouragement not only of their Lusts gratified in persecuting those they so much hate but their Necessities supplied from large Rewards for the same Having Power given to inform against Justices Mayors Constables and such as are intrusted in the Execution hereof who are under great Fines and Penalties for Omissions limited in this Act and the Informer to have a Moiety hereof himself Insomuch that by the rigorous execution of it thousands of his Majesty's good Subjects were utterly ruined Persons industrious and diligent in their Callings driven from their Habitations their Houses broken open their Goods imbezeled the Materials of their Trades the Tools they wrought with and the Beds they lay upon seized and sold Trade every where decayed Rents of Land fallen Poverty coming on like an Armed Man Persons haled from these Meetings for the Worship of God through the open Streets to Prisons being of the same Faith with us and so peaceable and unblameable in their Conversation as that nothing could be objected against them but in the Matters of their God nor for any thing upon that account but their endeavouring to practise as those Reformed Churches we our selves own for such and hold a Brotherly Communion with as the true Churches of Christ The Nation generally being thus distracted and distressed those in Power