preamble whereof the Lords and Commons reciting the calamities of the War declare That all the sequestred Estates should be applyed towards the supportation of the great charges of the Common-wealth And in the first Instructions to the Committees they are charged to use their best care and diligence for the speedy execution of the Ordinance for Sequestration as being a matter of great necessity and importance for the subsistence of the Army And observing some slowness in the Committee the Earl of Manchester a Commander in chiefe was empowred to execute that Ordinance and the Sequestrators commanded to pay the money they raised to the Committee of the Army One other argument there is that inclines me to believe the Parliament intended this Ordinance only as a provision in those distracted times and not as a standing Law for ever else surely they would never have put into their Commission so slight a thing as a Bayliff of a Corporation Were it handsome that the Mayor of Rising should come down from thatching some triviall Ale-house to tender the Oath of Abjuration to the noble Earle of Arundell or indeed how should a common tradesman whom without breach of charity we may presume can neither write nor read know what he does when he commands others to forswear such hard long words as Supremacy Purgatory and Transubstantiation what shall we that accuse the Papists of blind obedience say to our selves when our very leaders are so short-sighted T is true all these fair and just exceptions are fully answered by this one word Necessity a Heteroclyte that hath no Rule no Law and therefore as it is without Law to be judged without Law But then at least it ought to be a Law unto it selfe that is confined to circumstances wherein there is a true and reall necessity and therefore during the furious violence and careir of war such summary proceedings to prove without Witness and condemn without Jurors might easily find excuse but being restored now to a perfect calm and universall peace we are certainly obliged to return again to the known English tryall by Indictment and Conviction and not continue still throwing our neighbours goods over-board so long after the storm is ended If any object though the reason of Necessity remains now no longer since the gates of Westminster Hall are open and the old crowd of Suitors march peaceably there under the Scotch Colours yet the Supream Authority of the Nation is bound to render no other account of their Acts then the French King of his Edicts which alwayes close with this Frank and resolute Period Car tel est nostre plaisir I reply first That such Objection seemes rather to accuse the Government of Tyranny then faithfully defend its Authority no sound approaching so nigh Antipathy to an English Eare as that of being under an absolute and unlimited Master whether that boundlesse and uncontrollable Power be lodged in the single person of a King or the multiplyed of a Councill When by the change of circumstances any Law becomes unfit to be continued we are not forbidden to represent even to the highest Powers our reasons for a Repeale if we carry our Addresses with such regard that they appeare to intend a Reformation of the Errour not correction of our Superiors In which respect never did any Parliament give such high hopes of a thorow redress as that which lately sate by erecting so carefully those two grand Committees for regulating the Law and propagating the Gospel by inviting so solemnly all that would offer their proposalls to come into their assistance And as the whole Nation remains infinitely bound to the solicitude of the Army for whose satisfaction both those Committees were establish'd So are we all no less oblig'd to the Zeal of the Generall by whose personall presence every day at that of Religion it received so great Countenance and Encouragement And therefore I shall not entertain the least suspition that these few thoughts of mine should beget any offence since they aim only to propose the unsuitableness of this new uncharitable Oath of Abjuration to the ancient and best Lawes of the Land Even the Pope admits his Subjects when they apprehend some errour in the proceedings to appeale from himselfe mis-informed to himself better informed and yet we call his absolute ness a Tyranny and their obedience blindness How much more then may those true lovers of their Countreys happiness promise themselves security if not acceptance from the Parliament who either by humble Petition or other modest and untumultuous way represent to their consideration any mis-practiseor inconvenience which in time might prove a dangerous precedent to the just liberties of their Country What ever the Supream Authority of a Nation may by absolute prerogative command yet the Supream Authority of this hath alwayes disclaim'd such Arbitrary Dominion as Tyrannicall and often engag'd by most solemn Declarations for the perpetuall continuance to the people of the Lawes they are acquainted with amongst which as there is none more fundamentall and singular to the Nation then the ancient tryall by Witnesses and Verdict so we shall still endeavour to make more evident so important a truth by proposing A short Paralell betweene this Oath of Abjuration and that Ex Officio IN the grand Petition signed by the 9. Lords and presented to the late King at York we find this recorded as one of the principall grievances That many innovations in Oathes and Canons had beene lately imposed upon the Clergy and other his Majesties Subjects c. In redresse of which mischievous encroachment upon our just libertyes the late long Parliament enacted That no person exercising any Ecclesiasticall Power or Authority shall ex Officio or at the instance or promotion of any person whatsoever urge enforce tender give or minister to any person whatsoever any Oath whereby he shall or may be charged to confesse or accuse himselfe of any crime offence delinquency misdemeanour matter or thing by reason whereof he shall or may be lyable to any penalty or punishment whatsoever Before which Statute viz. 1607. the unreasonableness and illegality of that Oath had been clearly convinced by a learned Treatise of Oaths purposely written against it as also by M. Fuller in his arguments at the then Kings Bench against some branches of the High Commission Court both which pursued their points so efficaciously that the grievances they opposed were unanimously condemn'd as intollerable abuses And certainly no Mathematicall Demonstration can bear a higher and clearer evidence then that the principall reasons which I have here collected out of both those Treatises against that Oath Ex Officio are more strongly appiable to this of Abjuration Thus then they begin their just charge upon that unjust Oath First That contrary to the Law of Nature and the Fundamentall Lawes and Customes of this Nation the party examined is thereby forced to sweare against himselfe in a criminall cause before he knows his
our selves in the love of God not destroying men because they will not be of our faith c. As for the people speaking of Ireland what thoughts they have in matters of Religion in their owne breast I cannot reach but thinke is my duty if they walke honestly and peaceably not to cause them in the least degree to suffer for the same but to endeavour to walke patiently and in love towards them to see if at any time it shall please God to give them another or a better minde And in a Letter to the then Governour of Rosse in Ireland his Excellency speaking of Religion sayes He meddles not with any mans private Conscience The Army further declare That they doe not impower or intrust their Representatives to continue in Force or make any Lawes Oaths or Covenants whereby to compell by penalties or otherwise any person to any thing in or about matters of Faith Religion or Gods worship or to restraine any person from the profession of his Faith or excercise of Religion according to his Conscience Or to punish any person for refusing to answer to questions in criminall causes These Declarations of the Army were seconded by a Petition from the Cityes of London and Westminster Burrough of Southwark to the Parliament in these words That they would exempt matters of Religion and Gods worship from the compulsive and restrictive power of any authority upon earth and referre them to the supream power of Almighty God And that the Parliament would not proceed in making Ordinances or Lawes or in appointing punishments concerning opinions wherein themselves may easily be mistaken c. On all oportunities thus hath the Army declared what was the light they walk'd by in the dark thorny wayes of their precedent dangers And in the endeavour that every Conscience may have a comfortable repose they continue constant still and vigorous Nor can there be the least suspition of straying from these religious Principles having for their Guide his Excellency who hath fought his enemies as much into confusion by an unexampled regularity of manners and holy encouraging to piety by frequent exhortations tears and prayers as by the sharpnesse of his sword and a courage ever invincible Our next Progresse shall be to evince the truth and holinesse of these principles of the Army against the enforcing of Oaths coertion in Religion to be clearly establish'd upon that sure foundation THE LAW OF GOD OF which three words being of greater weight then three thousand volumes of mens Discourses I shall content my selfe and hope to content my Reader with the citation of these few Texts One witnesse shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity fault c. much lesse shall a man rise up against himself but in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established which Rule is confirmed in the Gospel In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established And our Lord Christ himselfe said to the woman accused of Adultery Where be thy accusers if they condemn thee not neither do I. In the proceedings upon this Oath of Abjuration there is no accuser no witnesse the party himselfe must be both against himself and what can be more opposite to Scripture then such enforcement And that carnall men and they who build on the Authority of Academick learning may see how abhorring to truth all force and violence offered to the Conscience is let their patience go a little forward and finde what have been The Opinions of the most eminent Divines in the Reformed Churches NOne are to be compelled to professe the true Religion by imprisonment or losse of goods The Magistrate ought to force no man to subscribe Articles concerning Religion but that is to be left to the grace of God in every one as the Lord shall direct The Magistrate misuses his power if he impose Lawes upon our Consciences For Paul did not subject the Consciences of Christians to humane Lawes but to the Ordinances of God Men are to be perswaded to Religion by reason not compelled thereunto by punishment The Gospel allowes not the Law of compulsion to be put upon the Conscience but only of councell and exhortation The Scripture commands that they who are weake in faith are to be borne withall untill the Lord shall reveale unto them all such things wherein they are ignorant and in the meane while they ought to be instructed not punished All men erring from the true Religion are to be reclaim'd by fatherly exhortations hearing the Word and good instructions not by force violence The Lord hath definitively declared that the Magistrates are not fit Judges in matters of Religion and therefore hath interdicted them all use of such Jurisdiction and reserved it to himselfe who at the last day by his Angels shall separate the Tares from the Wheat God alone is Lord of the Conscience and hath left it free from the Doctrines and Commandements of men which are in any thing beside his Word in matters of Faith so that to believe such Doctrines or to obey such Commands out of Conscience is to betray our liberty of Conscience and the requiring of an absolute obedience is to destroy liberty of Conscience and Reason also Faith hath no relation unto nor dependency at all upon compulsion and commandement but onely upon certainty and probability of arguguments drawn from reason or from something which men beleeve already Therefore the Ministers of Christ in this world have no power to punish any for not beleeving since Paul himselfe professeth We have no dominion over your faith Faith both in respect of the Object and of the Assent being the free gift of God which Man can neither give nor take away by promise of rewards nor menace of tortures There is no coercive power left by our Saviour upon earth in matters of Religion but onely a power to proclaim the Kingdome of Christ and perswade men to submit themselves thereunto and by precepts good counsel to teach them that have submitted what to do that they may be received into the Kingdome of God when it comes c. Q. Eliz. in her owne private judgement often declared That she never thought it fit that the Consciences of her Subjects ought to be enforced albeit the Bishops prevailed with her against her own judgment to the contrary Nothing is more against Religion then to force Religion For as Paul saith the weapons of Christian warfare are not carnall Humane violence may make men counterfeit but cannot make them beleeve and is therefore fit for nothing but to breed Form without and Atheisme within and infinite prejudice to the Kingdome of Christ and consequently to the propagation of the Gospel doth follow thereby Such who have their portions in this life who serve no higher State then
Transubstantiation one of the Articles to be abjured which a Calvin sayes is more rationall then the Doctrine of Consubstantiation and yet this the Lutherans our brethren unanimously hold b Hospinian another Protestant writer sayes the like And c Beza acknowledges Transubstantiation to be an inevitably consequent of the Doctrine of the Reall presence which all Lutherans maintain and is not against this Oath How then comes it to passe that the Reall presence in the Lords Supper may be lawfully at least safely maintained which many Protestants herein England do and all Lutherans every where yet under most severe penalties the intrinsick belief of Transubstantiation must be abjur'd which in the judgement of those famous Reformers is an inevitable consequence of it and more rationall then the opinion of Consubstantiation yet this may be defended without being subject to the least question Nay more there is no Oath nor penalty against the publique professing of Consubstantiation no nor against the publick practise according to that opinion and yet the very inward belief of Transubstantiation is made so heinous a crime so severely punishable that they who are but lookers on and only see the burthens laid upon refusers of this Oath feel in their brests a certain instinct by which they protest themselves secretly and strangely enforc'd to grieve and sigh at the cruell and rigorous proceedings even of their own Party And that this compassion towards sufferers upon the account of Religion rises not so much from softnesse of Nature as from the tendernesse of the Spirit will certainly finde an easie belief if in stead of a flock of tame and weeping women we can pick out an Army of victorious Soldiers whose courage neither knows to fear the face of such as threaten war nor conscience endures to force the heart of those that will live in peace Of which too evident truths if any deny the first let him read their past victories if doubt of the second I desire him to peruse their following DECLARATIONS NOw to the comfort and even amazement of the Spirit let us contemplat the constant pious intentions held forth by the Army No sooner had their many victories rendred them the terror of the World our own as fearfully as neighbouring Nations expecting what great designe of blood they next would enterprize but they threw aside the cruelty and ostentation of Conquest and took into themselves the bowells of mercy They presently look'd round about them on their afflicted Christian Brethren and knowing nothing more precious nothing more comfortable to the godly then liberty of conscience by their frequent Declarations to the World and zealous addresses to the late Parliament they manifested how unalterable they were in their holy Principles No licentious avarice emboldned them to divide the spoile no wantonnesse provoked them to surfeit with the fruit of the Land they had subdued So far from growing insolent with successe that even their enemies have confest There was never in any age known so great a modesty in so continued a victory nor such excellent discipline in a conquering Army Their own interest never regarded by themselvs only to improve the quiet repose of the Consciencious was their endeavour which they pursued with so religious a noble courage that they took their lives into their hands and with the greatest hazard to self-preservation removed that Power which grew sloathfull and halted in the way of Godlinesse and have moddel'd such a Government as shall intend chiefly to give balsome to the many wounds of the afflicted This relief is the expectation and hope of many Consciences now in anguish and tribulation who cannot but with comfort remember how the Army ever had that compassion which the Clergy wanted and the Millitary piety hath beene still eminent above the Civill or Ecclesiastick What their godlinesse will be we cheerfully and confidently expect what hitherto it hath these ensuing Expressions will declare It was humbly desired by the Army That according to the Declaration of the Parliament promising a provision for tender Consciences there might be some effectuall course taken according to the intent thereof and that such as upon conscientious grounds differ from the established formes may not for that be debarred from the common rights libertie and benifits equally belonging to all as Members of the Common-wealth whilest they live soberly and inoffensively to others and peaceably and faithfully to the State Likewise That sufficient care be taken for the liberty and protection of those who cannot submit to the externall worship of this Nation though otherwise conformable to the civill power and authority therof They desired That an Act might be passed to take away all Coercive Power extending to any Civill penalties upon any for matters of Conscience and expresly That Papists be subject to punishment onely for disturbing the State and that men may not be compelled to take any Oath against their judgement and consciences but that all Orders and Ordinances to that purpose may be repealed That none may be compelled by penalties to answer to questions tending to accuse themselves And that consideration might be had of all Statutes and Ordinances imposing any Oaths and that they might be either repealed or at least so qualified that they might not extend or be construed to the molestation or punishment of Religious and peaceable people for non-conformity to fixed formes bounds and limits thereby to confine Gods holy Spirit as if Religion consisted more in such outward formes and rites according to the manner of Moses then in power and vertue according to the Gospel Againe That matters of Religion and the wayes of Gods worship are not by them intrusted to any humane power because therein they cannot remit or exceede a tittle of what their consciences dictate unto them to be the word of God without wilfull sinne neverthelesse the publique way of instructing the Nation so it be not compulsive is referred to the discretion of the Parliament His Excellency and Council of War declare That the Covenant be not enforced nor any penalties imposed on the Refusers whereby men might be constrained to take it against their judgements but that all Orders Ordinances to that purpose might be repealed That consideration be had of Statutes Laws Customes of Corporations imposing any Oaths that they may be either repealed or so qualified that they may not extend or be construed to the molestation or ensnaring of Religious peaceable People meerly for a non-conformity in Religion Again his Excellency thus learnedly and religiously If outward things may not be contended for much lesse may the doctrines of Faith which are the works of Grace and the Spirit be endeavoured by unsuitable meanes He that bids us contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints tells us we should doe it by building up our selves in the most holy Faith not pinning it upon other mens sleeves keeping
England nor this neither any farther then they serve themselves who think of no other happinesse but the preservation of their owne Fortunes in this world and of no other meanes to preserve States but human policy and beleeve no other Creed but Regi aut Civitati imperium habenti nihil injustum quod utile such it may become to maintaine by worldly power and violence their State-instrument Religion But they who are indeed servants and lovers of Christ know that to no State any thing can be profitable which is unjust and that nothing can be more evidently unjust then to force men to the profession of such points of Religion which they beleeve not They who run into extreames in opposition to the Church of Rome they who put downe the Infallibility of the Church of Rome and set up their owne they who declaime against the tyranny of that Church and themselves exercise as great or greater over others are the men that give the Church of Rome the greatest advantage whereas men of more moderate spirits such as require of Christians to beleeve onely in Christ upon such as these the Church of Rome cannot tell how to fasten Nor can it be any way advantageous to the Civill State that Men without warrant from God should usurp a Tyrannie over other mens consciences and prescribe unto them without reason and sometimes against reason what they should beleeve We therefore are willing to leave all men to their liberty provided they improve it not to a tyrannie over others This presumptuous imposing of the senses of men upon the words of God and the speciall senses of men upon the generall words of God and laying them upon mens consciences together under severe penalties the deifying of mens owne interpretations and tyrannically imposing them upon others the restraining of the understanding of men wherein Christ and his Apostles left them free is and hath been the only Fountain of the Schismes of the Church Take away this persecuting of men for not subscribing to the words of men as the words of God require of Christians only to beleeve Christ In a word take away Tyrannie which is the Devills instrument to support Errors and restore Christians to their just and full liberty and it may well be hoped by Gods blessing that universall liberty thus moderated may quickly reduce Christendome to truth unity the contrary effects whereof happen by the tyrannous imposition of opinions upon other mens Consciences whereby they are as it were grievosly exulcerated All the power of the world is neither fit to convince nor able to compell a mans conscience to consent to any thing indeed worldly terror may prevaile so far as to make men professe a Religion which they beleeve not such men who know not that there is a Heaven provided for Martyrs and a Hell for those that dissemble such Truths as are necessary to be professed But to force any man to beleeve what he knows not or any honest man to dissemble what he doth believe if God commands him to professe it or to professe what he doth not beleeve all the swords in the world are too weak with all the powers of Hell to assist them It is a damnable sin for any man to professe an error against his Conscience though the error in it selfe and to him that beleeves it be not damnable Nay the profession not only of an error but of a truth if not beleeved is a mortall sin unlesse hypocrisie and dissimulation in Religion be not so If a Papist be convinced or perswaded in conscience that the Protestant Religion is irroneous the profession of it though in it selfe most true would be to him damnable See his Reasons fol. 132. Thus in a full speed I have run over all that I could observe to satisfy my Spirit concerning the illegality of this Oath in Common Law or Common Reason in ancient or moderne Acts of Parliament in the Declarations of the Army when successe had left them no employment but their piety in the Opinions of the most Learned Reformed Divines and above all in the Law of God And the charity I owe my afflicted Brethren hath forc'd me to communicate this to the Godly and Religious that they may with compassion reflect on those who eat their Bread moistned with their Teares and weep over their Houses become desolate because they would keep up their Consciences from ruine I have collected this for information of such who have bowels and disdain a glory or benefit that may rise by treading on their necks who suffer only for Religion Who if they err err to their own temporall prejudice and can in their error have no design of flesh and bloud Whom discover'd to have any conspiracy against Government I would have most severely punished whom quiet and inoffensive in practise of their own Consciences I would have pittied and relieved And this I seriously desire all religious spirits to weigh in their most godly and most prudent thoughts That looking back on the last hundred years they shall finde every subversion of Government in this Nation either Papall Prelaticall or Presbyterian to have bin wrought by a too rigorous coertion of the Conscience Religion ever falling down to the dust when it leanes too much on the weak treacherous Prop of humane Policy or endeavours to stand only by punishment of their brethren modestly dissenting in some opinions And why may not I with an humble boldness lay down these Observations at the door of the supream Autority the Parliament c. now sitting at Westminster Why may I not solicite their mercy by contemplating what a series of providences have fettled them in the present Power and redeemed their Consciences from a design'd slavery to take into their first consideration the deplorable condition of the most oppress'd people in the world Why may not the severity of the Eternall Justice executed on former Governements instruct them to meekness towards their Brethren in such a sad forlorn affliction and thereby preserve themselves and their successors to a continued blessing by that Hand which shakes down the Pallaces of the proud and uncompassionate and out of their rubbish builds up a Tabernacle of glory for the humble and mercifull Nor can I at any distance how remote soever though we squint on carnall interests discover whence any the least prejudice can reach the Government in not offering violence by Oaths to the Conscience unless we reckon on the loss of that Rent is annually extorted by violence from the Conscience And how unhandsom and above that unchristian will it appear that we can tenderly maintain every Congregation but only that the not protecting which is for our temporall emolument and supplies of the Treasury In recompence whereof we may bring in the universall comfort of the whole Nation when liberty of Conscience shall be so generall that in that harmony no one string shall be out of tune