offend any I shall be sorry for it but must withal take leave to tell the offended that it is an Evidence of exceeding great Weakness not to say worse to be Angry with those who endeavour in the Spirit of Meekness to convince us of our Dangerous Mistakes But such is the Fate of Conscientious opposing Popular and Prevailing Errors that it seldom meeteth with better success than kindling the Passions and sharpening the Tongues and Pens too of those who are most obliged to be thankful for it But Wisdom is justified of her Children But however it be taken it was never more seasonable nor ever scarcely so Necessary to do our utmost towards the rectifying of Peoples Apprehensions about matters of this nature when our Contentions and Animosities about little things mostly things very little in themselves and so great a Defection from our Church merely upon the account of such things as are no where condemned by the Law of God nor are opposed by any express or plain Text but by exceedingly laboured and far fetch'd Consequences have given our Adversaries such Advantage against us and do them far greater service than all their open Attempts or secret wicked Plots and Conspiracies through the infinite Goodness of God to us have hitherto done God Almighty grant that that saying be not to be applied to us ere long which was used of our Predecessors the Britains when their intestine Quarrels had occasioned their being Vanquish'd by the Romans viz. Dum singuli pugnant Vniversi vincuntur While they severally contend and quarrel with one another they are all overcome by a Common Enemy I must confess when I consider what Excellent Treatises have of late been published fraught with Unanswerable and the most convincing and affecting Arguments to perswade our Brethren of the Separation to ease us in a great measure of our Fears of Popery or Confusion by Returning to the Communion of that Church wherein most of them were Baptized and when withal I observe what little Success those Treatises have had I have as faint hopes as can be that so small an endeavour as this should do any Service But however it is some satisfaction to my Mind to express my Good Will But we are told by some that we may thank the Church of England if ever the Pope be again our Master and particularly that Principle of Hers we have been now defending viz. that Imposing of Indifferent things in the Worship of God is no Violation of Christian Liberty And that this Principle will open a door to Popish Conformity if we should be once more so unhappy as to be brought into Subjection to the Roman Yoke To these I Reply in the First place That 't is unconceiveable how any thing but Malice or the thickest Ignorance can charge the Church of England with serving the Interest of the Popish Religion For is any thing more Notorious than that almost all the opposition that hath either heretofore or of late been made against Popery hath been by the Bishops and the other Clergy of this Church To say nothing of what the Separating Party have done though not upon that Design to promote Popery which would be as large as unpleasant a Theme to insist on what have they done in defence of the Reformed Religion against Popery Have they all of them put together done the half quarter part of that Service in this kind that One Excellent Dean of our Church hath done Truly I much doubt it And I think I may adventure to say that all the Reformed Churches together can hardly shew of their own so many Learned and Judicious Treatises against the Body and the several Parts of Popery as our single Church can shew of Hers. Again Is any thing better known than that the Priests and Jesuits and Popish Faction do at this time spit all their Venome and bend all their Force against the Church of England and indeed always have done This sheweth that they are well aware though so many among our selves will not acknowledge it but would have the World think the directly contrary that our Church is the most Formidable of all their Adversaries In short Who needs Arguments to convince him that the Church of England is at present our onely Bulwark against Popery As ever since the Reformation she hath been acknowledged by our Brethren beyond Sea to be the strongest and most impregnable upon several accounts But Secondly as to this Principle of our Church that Imposing of Indifferent things in the Worship of God is no Violation of Christian Liberty it is a most weak and ignorant furmise that it should in the least befriend Popery Those little understand what Popery means that think thus For First There is nothing more plainly demonstrable than that many of those things which are imposed by the Roman Church are far from being Indifferent in their own nature but the grossest Corruptions as contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of the first Ages of the Church and which is far more as contrary to the Laws of God and our Saviour Christ as is Darkness to Light I have given a Catalogue in the Design of Christianity of the chief of these with Remarks upon them and thither I refer the Reader that needs satisfaction Secondly Other of Her Impositions which are Indifferent in themselves are made to change their Nature by the Notion under which they are enjoyned by her That Church enjoyns no Indifferent things as such as ours doth all she imposeth as appears by her 34 th Article but as made necessary by Divine Authority She pretending to the Infallible Guidance of the Holy Ghost in all Her Decrees and Constitutions And therefore expects your Receiving them as you do the Holy Scriptures with a Divine Faith and the self-same awful Regard and Reverence I might add too that several of her Rites and Ceremonies are imposed under a most Superstitious notion either as Sacraments conveying Grace or as having some special Virtue in them to atone the Divine Majesty or to scare away the Devil c. Thirdly It is my opinion too that though their Ceremonies were never so innocent in themselves yet the Multitude of them doth make them in the lump to cease to be Indifferent My reason is because it is unconceiveable to me but that so great a Number must needs so employ the Mind in the Worship of God as that it is not possible to be intent thereupon and consequently must frustrate at least in a great measure the Design of Worship But this is no Reason to a Papist who cannot be thoroughly so and acknowledge the necessity of exercising the Mind in Divine Worship For his Holy Mother hath taught him this mad and impious Doctrine That the Sacraments confer Grace ex opere operato from the work Done and so are differenced from those of the Old Testament they conferring Grace ex opere operantis from the work of the Doer as also that a mere general
Evil from an Overpowering Sense of the Becomingness and Excellency of the one and the Vileness and Odiousness of the other is the very Perfection of Liberty And this is so far from being impossible to be obtained by Creatures or by our Selves that by the help of God's Grace it is in a large measure even in this life Attainable I mean such a Sense of Good and Evil as shall certainly determine us to Good and against Evil in most of the instances of each There are some immoralities and wicked Actions that they who have attained to but very mean and ordinary degrees of Goodness cannot perswade themselves so much as to endeavour to reconcile their Minds to Nay there are some that no man can easily be supposed able to consent to but an extraordinarily Depraved and Wicked Wretch let the Motives that are used to perswade him be what they will Such as Blaspheming of God Contriving the Murther of our Parents or of a most obliging Friend Torturing of innocent Babes and the like Horrid Villanies Surely then a man is capable of such a Vivid sense of the Hatefulness of Sin in general as will whilest it lasts render it impossible for him to Will deliberately to commit any known Sin whatsoever 'T is confessed that we cannot hope to get past all danger of sudden Surprizals so long as we inhabit these Bodies and remain in our present Unhappy Circumstances but I say so powerful a Sense of the Infinite Unrighteousness Disingenuity Unreasonableness Folly and Madness of opposing the Holy Will of our Great Creator and Blessed Redeemer may by the Divine Assistance be acquired even on this side Heaven as shall Determine us effectually against all Deliberate and Wilful Violations of the Divine Laws For this we have the Authority of a Great Apostle S. Iohn saith in his 1 Epist. 3. 9. Whosoever is Born of God doth not commit Sin for his Seed remaineth in him neither can he Sin because he is Born of God He here affirms not only that those who have attained to extraordinary Measures of Goodness cannot Sin that is cannot will to sin deliberately but likewise that no Regenerate or truly Good man can He cannot thus Sin because he is born of God because he is a Child of God by the inward Renewing of his Holy Spirit And because his Seed remaineth in him that is the Divine Seed Which Divine Seed I take to be the same thing with the several times mentioned Quick Powerful and Pungent Sense of the Horrid Nature and most dreadful Effects and Consequents of Wilful Sinning It is more than Morally impossible that whilest this Sense abideth in its Strength and Vigour the Good man should lapse into such Sins Have we not such a Sense of the Vileness of some Actions as to say frequently I could not for all the world find in mine heart that is in my Will to do so or so And if we had the same Sense of all Sins which it is unreasonable not to have considering them as Sins or Transgressions of the Everlasting Rules of Righteousness for considering them under that notion all sins are alike I say had we the same Sense of all Sins we should as truly say concerning each I cannot find in mine heart I cannot will to consent unto it CHAP. XII Which Treats of one Branch of the First Inference from the Argument of the Second Section That in Freedom from the Dominion of Corrupt Affections doth that Liberty Principally or rather Wholly Consist which Christ hath purchased for us Namely that several Notions of Christian Liberty which have too much prevailed are false and of dangerous Consequence The First of which is That which makes it to consist wholly or in part in Freedom from the Obligation of the Moral Law Certain Texts urged by the Antinomians in favour of it vindicated from the sence they put upon them And the extreme wildness and wickedness of it exposed in Five Particulars WE proceed now to the Inferences from the latter Argument viz. That in Freedom from the Dominion of Corrupt Affections and all the sad Consequents thereof our Christian Liberty doth Eminently consist and wholly too the Liberty which Christ hath purchased for us Gentiles And First We infer from hence that several Notions of Christian Liberty that have too much prevailed are False and of dangerous Consequence We will speak to First That which makes it to consist in Freedom from the Obligation of the Moral Law Secondly That which makes it to consist in Freedom from those Laws of Men which Enjoyn or Forbid indifferent things Thirdly That which makes Liberty of Conscience a Branch of Christian Liberty First For that Notion of Christian Liberty which makes it to consist either wholly or in part in Freedom from the Obligation of the Moral Law This is extremely Wild and Wicked as will appear from what hath been discoursed It is the Doctrine of the Antinomians and they produce in favour of it all those Texts wherein we are said to be delivered from the Law As particularly Rom. 7. 6. Now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held c. Gal. 2. 19. I through the Law am dead to the Law c. Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the Law but under Grace Gal. 4. 4 5. When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to Redeem them that were under the Law c. To this it is Answered That there are indeed many Texts which Assert our being freed from the Law but the Question is What Law they mean Or rather 't is out of Question that they mean not the Moral Law For there is no need of doing more than reading throughout the forementioned Verses to satisfie us that the Apostle understood in each of them nothing less than that Law Nay we need do no more to be assured that he Abominated this Notion of Christian Liberty For whereas he saith Rom. 7. 6. Now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held it follows that we should serve in Newness of Spirit and not in the Oldness of the Letter That is That we should no longer be merely Externally Obedient but also Inwardly and Spiritually Whereas he saith Gal. 2. 19. I through the Law am dead to the Law he immediately adds this as the reason why he was so that I might live unto God Or be in all things conformed to the Rules of Righteousness and Goodness which He hath prescribed all which are comprehended in the Moral Law Again whereas he tells the Romans Chap. 6. 14. Ye are not under the Law but under Grace This comes in as a proof of what he said immediately before in the same Verse viz. Sin shall not have dominion over you Lastly In saying Gal. 4. 5. That Christ was made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law he gives this in
we find concerning Obedience to Kings and the Higher Powers S. Peter saith 1 Epist. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him c. Again Every Soul is commanded to be Subject to the Higher Powers because there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordained of God Rom. 13. 1 2 c. And Ver. 5. 't is said We must needs be Subject and that not onely for Wrath but also for Conscience sake But there is not the least syllable either in these or any other places of such a limitation as might Reconcile these Injunctions with this Notion of Christian Liberty And we may be confident that if by virtue of that Liberty Christians were disobliged from Obedience to their Governours whensoever they required things indifferent though very unreasonably enjoyned yet in their own nature not Evil and no where forbidden by God to be done the Apostle would have put in this Exception in the last mentioned place The Emperor being a great Tyrant and rather a Monster than a Man that then Reigned Thirdly If Governours can oblige us to nothing but what Antecedently to their Laws we ought to do there is no formal Obedience at all due to them I am then no more bound in Conscience to obey them than those who have no power over me that are invested by God with no Authority For if such say to me Do not Kill Do not Steal Do not commit Adultery c. I shall greatly sin in not hearkening to them And whereas it will be replied that though such Injunctions of Persons not placed in Power ought to be observed yet not as theirs but as Divine Injunctions I must needs profess that I do not believe it neither to be at all my Duty to obey such Laws of our Governours under the nâ—tion of theirs My obligation to obey all the Laws of God being as strong and indispensable every whit by virtue of His immediate Authority as if they were backt and inforced by never so many and never so severe Laws of his Vicegerents Nor can any of their Laws make what God Almighty hath obliged me either to or from one iot a greater Duty or Sin than it was before For the Divine Authority hath made whatsoever it hath commanded or prohibited as great a Duty or Sin as it is capable of being made that is considered in it self It is so evident that we are not obliged to obey a Law of the Land as such which onely requires or forbids what is required or forbidden by an express Law of God that the less respect any one hath to Humane Laws in such things in doing Iustly in being Temperate and Chaste in attending upon the solemn Worship of God and the like supposing he makes Conscience of them upon the account of the Divine Laws the better Man is he and the more sincere Christian. And therefore such Laws of Men as are Enacted against what God's Law hath forbidden or do enjoyn what was before commanded by God are not made for a Righteous man as the Apostle speaks even of the Law of Moses but for such Wretches as live under no Sense of the Divine Sovereignty and would not have any regard to God's Laws were they not inforced with Men's having severe penalties annexed to them So that if I am disobliged by my Christian Liberty from Doing or Forbearing any thing in Obedience to Humane Laws but what I ought to Do or Forbear though there were no Laws of Men about it that which I now said is very easie to be believed viz. That no Formal Obedience is due to Magistrates and they have no Power to make any New Laws of their own but onely to take the best care that the Old ones viz. the Laws of God be observed And if it be so what becomes of all those Texts wherein Obedience to Governours is with such strictness required of Christians This Opinion that Rulers have no Power over us in regard of our Christian Liberty in matters of an Indifferent Nature doth make the Fifth Commandment and all those Injunctions perfectly insignificant And the Apostle might well have spared his charge to Titus To put those under his care in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers to obey Magistrates c. Tit. 3. 1. This Monstrously wild Notion of Christian Liberty I should not have taken thus much notice of as little as I have said but that of late days Multitudes by their behaviour would make us suspect they are infected with it who yet will not professedly own it It is come to that sad pass that preaching Obedience to Authority is become as unacceptable Doctrine as can be to even many great Pretenders to Christianity although it be done never so prudently and agreeably to the express Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles And the Notion of Obedience for Conscience-sake seems almost lost among not a few Which is one of the great Sins for which we have too good reason to fear there 's a Heavy Scourge near us Secondly As for that Doctrine which limits our disobligation by the means of Christian Liberty from the Laws of Men that impose indifferent things to those that onely relate to Religion and the Worship of God That this is Wild too though more Sober than the other will appear by these Considerations First This Notion of Christian Liberty tends to introduce sad Disorder and Confusion into the Churches of Christ and will certainly do it if practised upon I need not go about to prove that the Order of Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Societies consisteth principally in the due Regulation of things in their own Nature Indifferent S. Paul hath enjoyned that in the Church All things be done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14. 40. But how shall they be so done if it be a Violation of our Christian Liberty to have any thing imposed upon us by our Governours for Decencies and Orders sake Particular Rules being not given us in Scripture about this matter which to be sure would have been were they not left to the Determination of the Governours of each Church upon supposition that 't is possible to give such as would well suit all Churches Calvin upon those words of S. Paul 1 Cor. 11. 2. Now I praise you Brethren that you remember me in all things and keep the Ordinances as I delivered them to you doth thus express his Sense about this matter Saith he We know that every Church is left free to appoint a Form of Polity for it self because our Lord hath prescribed nothing certain And he speaks this you see not as his own sense onely but as the sense and that undoubted too of his other Brethren of the Reformation Whose judgment were it needful we might largely produce to the same purpose But there is no need of it those very
to be believed and practised by us in order to Salvation and which without any Additions are able to make us wise to Salvation as S. Paul assures us and are a complete Rule of Faith and Practice And that Preacher who shall offer to require his Auditors assent to any thing not delivered either in express terms or by plain consequence in the Writings of the Old or New Testament doth impudently impose upon their belief except he be able to work real Miracles for the convincing of them He takes more upon him than either the Apostles or our Saviour himself who did still appeal to the works the Supernatural works he did to attest the truth of the Doctrine he delivered I would such impudent imposers were onely to be found among the Romanists who are all so and the most impudent that ever appeared upon the stage of the World but alas they are too too common also among professed haters of Popery Thirdly And as to the sence of the more difficult places of Scripture no sober Preacher pretends to come to the knowledge thereof by the immediate illumination of the Spirit but such a one acknowledgeth he doth it in the general by the exercise of his Reason And particularly by considering the proper signification of Words and Phrases in the Original Languages by comparing Scripture with Scripture by searching into the Ancient Customs which give great light to a great number of Texts and without the knowledge of which they are not to be understood by enquiring after the judgment of those who lived nearest to the Times of the Apostles c. And after all they submit their Expositions of such Texts to the judgments of their Hearers I mean such of them as are capable of judging As for others Oportet discentes credere It becomes Learners to give credit to their Teachers And Credendum est peritis in suâ Arte. But Fourthly We do piously and by the Authority of Scripture believe that the Spirit is ready to assist us in our Reasonings and Enquiries and whatsoever particular good means we use for the understanding of Scripture when He is humbly and devoutly sought to by us and when without the least prejudice partiality ill design or sinister respect but for the best of Ends and from the pure love of Truth we make Enquiry Thus even Private Christians are assisted in the searches and enquiries which they are able to make For God hath promised that The Meek he will guide in judgment and the Meek he will teach his way Fifthly In composing also of profitable Discourses as we implore so we have the Divine Assistance but we see no ground to believe that we have it in any other manner than in other good works of what nature soever But as for the ready Faculty of Discoursing from a Pulpit and popular speaking to a Congregation we have no reason to believe it a Gift of the Spirit any more than the Lawyers strange readiness in pleading at the Bar. And a volubility of speech upon any subject whatsoever heat of Fancy and nimbleness of Wit and Invention are as much to be attributed to the Holy Spirit as such a Faculty And hence we may gather that a Preacher of the Gospel can plead no such Liberty as is wholly exempted from Restraints by Authority But one that is known to have never so good a Talent at Preaching may be forbidden the exercise of it till he hath submitted to a lawful Ordination such as was in use in the Churches of Christ for Fifteen hundred years together And when Ordained he may lawfully have bounds set him as to the places where he shall exercise his Ministry in publick and as to the times when And he may be forbidden to meddle with such Arguments as are above the reach of his Peoples Understandings or are not like to conduce to their Edification and much more to broach dangerous Doctrines that is such as are so in the judgment of his Governours And for his Disobedience and other Misdemeanours he is as liable to be suspended or totally deprived of his Ministerial Office as are any other Officers I do but touch upon and give light glances at these things because my present subject will not give me leave to discourse largely upon them which would be too great a digression from its proper business CHAP. XV. A Third False Notion of Christian Liberty viz. that which makes Liberty of Conscience a Branch of it Two things premised 1. That Conscience is not so sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being obliged by Humane Laws 2. That no man can properly be deprived of the true Liberty of his Conscience by any Power on Earth That what is contended for is more properly Liberty of Practice than of Conscience The Author's Opinion in reference to this Liberty delivered in Ten Propositions That whatsoever Liberty of this nature may be insisted on as our Right it is not Christian Liberty but Natural Liberty THirdly and Lastly I proceed to that Notion of Christian Liberty which makes Liberty of Conscience a Branch of it But before I deliver my Opinion about this weighty point which hath occasioned as great Feuds and sharp Contests as any whatsoever I shall premise two things First That Conscience is not so Sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being Obliged by Humane Laws Secondly That no man can properly be deprived of the true Liberty of his Conscience by any Power on Earth First That Conscience is not so Sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being Obliged by Humane Laws This is sufficiently clear from what is discoursed in the Thirteenth Chapter But it is said by many that God is the onely Lord of Conscience and therefore it is the highest presumption for Men to go about to bind it by their Laws It is the sole Prerogative of the Deity to search the Heart and try the Reins of the Children of men Conscience is too inward and secret a thing to fall under Mans cognizance and therefore what have any of our Fellow-Creatures to do to give Laws to our Consciences In Answer hereunto We have already seen what S. Paul's sense is about this matter that he saith We must needs be Subject or Obedient and that not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake So that the Apostle was far from thinking that the obligation of Humane Authority is founded in mere Prudence not at all in Conscience But no man in his Wits will say that the Laws of Men do oblige Conscience as the Laws of God do Those cannot do it immediately as these do but onely by virtue of the Divine Authority S. Paul saith Rom. 13. 1. Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers I think I shall not be over-critical in saying that is every Conscience for what follows proves the obligation of Conscience to subjection and is an Answer to the foresaid Objection against it viz. For there is no Power but
of God the Powers that be are ordained of God whosoever therefore Resisteth the Power Resisteth the Ordinance of God c. So that all we assert is this that we are bound to obey our lawful Governours for God's sake who hath invested them with the Authority they have over us and commanded us to obey those Laws of theirs which are not contradictory to any of His. Nor do we say that Humane Authority can make more Duties or Sins than God hath made or to speak properly and strictly can make any thing to be a Duty or Sin for it can only Command or Forbid and what it Commands if lawful the Divine Authority makes it a Duty and what it Forbids if not a Duty the Divine Authority makes it a Sin Or to speak in the words of the Learned Bishop Taylor Humane Authority doth not make the action of disobedience to be a Sin It makes that the not compliance of the Subject is Disobedience but it is the Authority of God which makes Disobedience to be a Sin And what immediately follows deserves also to be transcribed in this place viz. And though no Humane Power can give or take Grace away yet we may remember that we our selves throw away God's Grace or abuse it or neglect it when we will not make use of it to the purposes of Humility Charity and Obedience all which are concerned in our Subordination to the Laws There is also this difference between the Obligations of Divine and Humane Laws viz. The Divine Laws bind our Thoughts and the Sense of our Minds they bind us not onely to obey them but to think them also Wise and Good Laws But so do not Humane Laws they oblige onely to Obedience but not to the thinking them such as ought or are fit to be imposed A man may think a Humane Law imprudent or unreasonable and be guilty of no Transgression if notwithstanding he complies with it I mean provided he keeps his thoughts to himself or does not make them publick The forementioned Worthy Prelate layeth down no sewer than Ten or Eleven differences of Divine and Humane Laws in their obligation in his Ductor Dubitantium Whether they will all hold or no or may not be reduced to a smaller number I will not take upon me to say but thither I refer the Reader And thus much may serve to be spoken to the First thing premised viz. That Conscience is not so Sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being bound by Humane Laws Secondly I premise also that no man can be deprived properly of the true Liberty of his Conscience by any Power on Earth I mean without his own consent no Mortal nor any Creature is able to invade it This will appear by considering what that is which is called Conscience Conscience is The Mind of a man considered as possessed with certain practical principles and comparing his own actions with those principles doth according as he finds them agreeing or disagreeing with them judge of himself either absolve or condemn himself So that there are three Offices of Conscience The first is That of assenting to and embracing certain practical principles as Laws for the governing a man's self The second is That of comparing ones self or actions with those Rules or Principles The third That of passing judgment of ones self accordingly Now that is properly Liberty of Conscience and that onely which relates to the execution of these three Offices But the Acts of Conscience in executing these Offices being all Internal and within a mans Soul how can its Liberty in exerting those Acts be infringed by any Humane Power What Earthly Power can make me Assent to or believe what it pleaseth Can so give Laws to my Conscience as to necessitate me to receive them for such and to think them good Laws and safe to steer my Actions by Again how can any such Power deprive me of my Liberty to compare my Actions with such Rules as I think I am obliged to be governed by And having reflected upon my self and actions and made this comparison how can any such Power abridge me of Liberty to Absolve my self if I find my actions agreeing with those Rules or to Condemn my self if I find the contrary Can make me Condemn when I ought to Acquit my self or Acquit when I see reason to Condemn my self So that the Liberty which is with so much heat contended for by some and inveighed against by others under the name of Liberty of Conscience is truly and properly Liberty of Practice not of Conscience And the great thing in contest is Whether a Liberty of doing what a man's Conscience tells him he ought to do and of forbearing what it tells him he ought to forbear be an inviolable Right and not to be invaded by Humane Authority This being the true state of the Question I shall endeavour an Answer thereunto in these following Propositions Prop. 1. That there are two Extremes about this matter to be carefully avoided First That of Asserting an unlimited Liberty of practising according to a mans Conscience Secondly That of over-great severity in Restraining this Liberty First As to the Extreme of Asserting an unlimited Liberty of practising according to a man's Conscience This will appear to be an Extreme indeed and a very wild and mad one if we consider that there is scarcely any thing so extravagant or wicked but the Consciences of some or other may urge them to it Nay it is certain that men have pretended Conscience for some of the most impious and most villanous actions in the World So the Papists have done among our selves we all know And another sort of People too whose principles though very bad were better than theirs And it is not possible for us to know that their pretences of Conscience were mâ—re pretences Nor is it hard for us to perswade our selves that through the just judgment of God for past provocations the Spirit of delusion may be permitted to have such power over some mens Consciences as that they shall call evil good and good evil put darkness for light and light for darkness and bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter for we find a Woe pronounced against such as do so Esay 5. 20. which there would not have been if there were no such men nor could be And it is said of some 2 Thess. 2. 10 11 12. that Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved God shall send them or permit to be sent them strong delusions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength of delusion that they should believe a lie That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness Our Saviour foretold his Disciples Iohn 16. 2. that The time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service That is the time is coming when men shall kill you out of Conscience As no doubt the Papists have done
besides her Authority She will have your Assent to their being of Divine Authority to depend wholly upon her Testimony Notwithstanding that God Almighty hath vouchsafed to the World marvellously full and plentiful Evidence thereof and such as is adapted to the capacities of all those who have the use of Reason but never once mentioned this as a part of that Evidence and therefore much less can it be thought the Whole How infinitely ill hath this Corrupt Church deserved at the hands of all Christians although this were the onely Abuse she had put upon them For to say nothing of her Horrible Pride and Uncharitableness in making the truth of the Scriptures dependent on her Testimony that her Pretence supposing her making her self the onely true Church this is the greatest injury imaginable to Christianity nor can she take a surer course than this to make all men Infidels And that upon these two Accounts First This Pretence of hers is immediately founded upon a Precarious and most Evidently false Principle viz. That of her Infallibility I dare appeal to those of her own Sons who have studied the Controversie whether there was ever a more shamefully baffled Cause in the World than this is Whether by their Infallible Church they mean with the Iesuits the Pope alone or with others the Pope with his General Council that is a pack of Bishops and Priests of his own Faction As the Psalmist saith If the Foundations be destroyed what shall the Righteous do So if this be the Foundation of our Christian Faith and that be proved to be a Rotten Foundation as nothing was ever proved if this be not then what shall we Christians do We must then acknowledge our selves a Generation of most Credulous Fools and that our Faith is vain If the Foundation be tottering the whole Superstructure must fall to the Ground But so fond is this Unsatiably Covetous and Ambitious Church of her Great Diana Infallibility by the Pretence whereof she hath raised her self to such a Height and Grandeur that she is well content if that must fall that our Saviour and his Apostles both the Old and New Testament should fall with it And she hath done all that lies in her to make it necessary that those who shall have the wisdom to reject her Ridiculous Doctrine of Infallibility should at the self-same time renounce Christianity If Popery were Chargeable with no other Crime as it is with innumerable others and many of them intolerable I say were it Chargeable with no other Crime but the making our Belief of the Authority of the Books of Scripture to be founded on the Infallibility of the Romish Faction we ought to be as zealous for the Preventing its Reestablishment in this Nation from whence it hath happily been twice Expelled as we are desirous to Preserve the Christian Religion Secondly The Romish Churche's making her Authority the sole Foundation of our Belief of the Scriptures makes the Testimony of the Spirit to the Truth of Christianity in our Saviour when on â—arth and in the Apostles and others in the Primitive Ages to be now perfectly Insignificant I think it makes them to be so as to the Church Representative for she pretends to her Infallibility and consequently to her Infallible Assurance of the Truth of Christianity as an immediâ—te Gift of the Holy Ghost therefore what need hath she of the Testimony of Miracles But as to Private Christians I can by no means understand in what stead they stand them for if the Churches Authority be necessary to their believing the truth of the Scriptures and therefore to their believing that there were those Miracles really wrought which the Writings of the Apostles tell us of then why may they not without any more ado make her Authority the immediate ground of their Assent to the truth of Christianity It is said that the truth of the Matters of Fact are not knowable at this distance such as whether there were such Persons as our Saviour and his Apostles whether they performed such Miracles and the Apostles wrote such Books c. but by the Tradition of the Church because no such Matters are to be known at any considerable distance but by Tradition To this it is Answered that it is one thing to believe the Matters of Fact upon the Churche's Tradition and another to believe them upon her Authority founded upon her Infallibility Now this latter we reject but adhere to the former as a Ground of our belief of those things But then by the Tradition of the Church we are far from meaning that of Rome onely We mean the Catholick Church or the whole Collective Body of Christians throughout the World from the Apostles times down to this present Age of which the Roman Church is but a Part and therefore does Impudently in appropriating Catholicism to her self and that a very Vitiated Part too and that Church Representative an exceedingly small Part. And we receive the Tradition of the Catholick Church as a Ground as I said of believing these Matters not as tâ—e Ground because we take in another Tradition viz. that of those who are out of the Church and Enemies to Christianity the Iews especially In short we believe those and the like matters of Fact upon the same ground that we believe all other wherein Religion is not concerned but there are Circumstances which give the Tradition of Christian matters of Fact a mighty Advantage above other Traditions as unquestionable Assurance as these give men when they are General and Uninterrupted But 't is well known to all who are not strangers to the Popish Writers what lamentable work they make in proving the Testimony of the Church to be the foundation of our Faith concerning the Authority of the Scriptures This Proof they fetch out of the Scriptures themselves and their main Text for this purpose and for the Infallibility of their Church is those words of S. Paul 1 Tim. 3. 15. where he calls the Church the Pillar and Ground of Truth But what a manifest Circle is this We ask them how it appears that the Scriptures are the Word of God They answer it appears from the Testimony of the Church We ask again how it appears that the Testimony of the Church is true They reply it appears from the Scriptures And so they prove the Authority of the Scriptures by the Testimony of the Church and then wheel about again and prove the Authority of the Church by the Testimony of the Scriptures But again We can either be certain of the truth of these words of S. Paul setting aside the Authority of the Church or we cannot be Certain If we can be Certain why then not of the truth of the whole Scripture as well as of this single Text If we cannot be certain of the truth of this Text without the consideration of the Churche's Authority what Folly or rather Knavery is it to make this Text an Argument to prove the thing
in Controversie by when the truth of this Text is questionable upon the same grounds that the truth of the Scriptures in general is Again When they say that the Testimony of the Church is the Ground of this our Faith they tell us that by the Church they mean the Church of Rome and that She onely is the True Church We reply that there are a many Societies of Christians in the World that hold no Communion with the Church of Rome and Each of these calls it self a True Church and therefore how shall we know that they are none of them so but that the Church of Rome alone is They tell us that this Church alone hath the Notes and Characters of the True Church We ask again how it doth appear that those Notes and Characters they give are true and genuine and if they are that their Church onely hath them Here they are forced to fly again to the Scriptures and produce us some which they would have us believe are very pertinent to the purpose though none but those who see by their Light are able to discern any such matter But whether they be to the purpose or no is no part now of our Enquiry but this is that which we shew from hence how still they are intangled in their own Net and Run round in a Circle Yet once again these People would perswade us that there is no knowing the Scriptures to be of Divine Authority but by the Testimony of their Church whenas 't is impossible to know that there is any such thing in being as a Church but by the Scriptures And thus you see what prime Christians these Romanists are what Worthy Catholicks If there were no better Champions than these for the Authority of the Scriptures or the Truth of Christianity Atheists and Infidels long since would have filled all Places As it is well known how they abound in the Popish Countries and most of all in Italy and of all Italy most in Rome And but for Old Mother Ignorance whom they have a marvellous Fondness for as well they may their Holy Mother the Church would by this time have had but a very small number of Children or Friends But I would this had been the worst on 't as alas it is not For Multitudes among them being well aware that they are merely imposed on and being Acquainted with no better than an Implicit Faith and thinking that no more is to be said for Christianity than they learn from them shake off both their Popish and Christian Faith together But we must not let that forementioned Text wholly pass on which is laid such mighty Stress for the proving of the Infallibility of the Roman Church which gives her such a plausible Pretence for the Enslaving of Mens Minds and Understandings The whole Verse runs thus with the Verse foregoing Thâ—â—e things write I unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church of the living God the Pillar and Ground of Truth According to Episcopius his reading of these latter words it is not the Church that is here called the Pillar and Ground of Truth but God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit c. in the next Verse For he makes that 15. Verse to conclude with living God Verses and Pointings being arbitrary and The Pillar and Ground of Truth to begin the next Verse thus The Pillar and Ground of Truth and without controversie the great Mystery of Godliness is God manifested in the flesh c. But there is no need of using any artifice to make these words unserviceable to the design of proving the Infallibility of the Church of Rome for all that can be gathered from them is no more than this That the Church is the support of that Truth which is necessary to Salvation viz. the Doctrine of the Gospel That which preserveth it in the world is the Churches constant profession of it and standing up for it That is this is the External and Visible means whereby this Truth is kept from perishing and being lost Or according to Grotius The Church doth uphold and lift up the Truth it causeth it not to slip out of mens minds and also to be beheld far and near For the Testimony of many good men who all say that they received these Doctrines and Precepts from the Apostles must needs have great force and efficacy upon those who are not obstinate and contumacious So that First This Great man seems to understand by the Church in this place onely that which was most Ancient But Secondly There is no reason at all to understand by the Church here onely the Church Representative but the whole Body of Christians must necessarily be meant It being called the House of God but the Apostles Bishops and Pastors are called the Builders of the House and Governours never the House it self And besides the Church which is here called the Pillar and Ground of Truth is that over part of which Timothy presided That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God c. that is as a Bishop and Pastor in it Thirdly If it should be understood of the Church Representative 't is however intolerable impudence to make it onely the Roman But Fourthly This Text makes nothing to the purpose of Infallibility in the Church of Rome's sence understand by the Church of the living God which Church you please especially if you do not limit it to the First Age As is plain from what hath been said and it needs no more words to make it plainer Now how can we have greater assurance that the Church of Rome is an Arrant Impostor than this one thing gives us viz. That She will not allow us the Liberty of judging for our selves The Great Apostle S. Paul allowed this Liberty to the Corinthians in those words I speak as unto wise men judge â—e what I say 1 Cor. 10. 15. And dare they say that he overshot himself in that saying or passed a mere Complement upon the Corinthians 'T will not be at all strange if they do considering how many worse things several of them have said of this Apostle But I say this Church will not permit us to see with our own Eyes but we must take the whole of our Religion upon trust that is upon her bare word pin our whole Faith upon her Sleeve and receive the most Fundamental Articles upon her Warrant and Authority Nay though she would seem to give us leave to use our Reason in the choice of our Church yet neither doth she this really but what she gives with one hand takes away again with the other in that she will not suffer us to judge of the sence of Scripture and consequently not of those Texts whereby she pretends to prove her self the onely true Church For if we be
than Foolish that they would not be prevailed with to accept of Deliverance from the Burdensom Services of Moses his Law that they should be so fond of that Servile Dispensation they were under as to refuse to be Released from it Whenas the Abolishing thereof was evidenced in as full and convincing a manner as its Divine Authority before was Nay when that of the Gospel set up in the room of it was demonstrated in a far more glorious manner to be of God by Christ himself before his death by his Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into Heaven and by the Spirit in the Apostles and others afterward And shall we refuse to be set at Liberty by our Saviour from the Bondage of Sin which is infinitely more heavy and unsufferable and the consequences of which are so sad and intolerable While we so do let us never blame the Iews and much less accuse them of being so perverse hard-hearted and stiff-neckt a People for then wherein we judge them we condemn our selves for we that judge them do not onely the same but a far more unaccountable thing And think we this that so judge them that have done such a thing and do the same and so much worse that we shall escape the judgment of God Nay are we able not to think that it shall be much more intolerable for us at the day of Judgment than for them if we persist in so doing We are apt to believe that no People ever deserved so ill of our Saviour as those Pharisees who ascribed his casting out Devils to the Assistance of Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils But how much better do we think those deserve of him who will not obey him after they have had far greater Evidence of his being the Son of God than they at that time were in a possibility of having And if our Saviour did accuse those of despising both Himself and his Father that sent him who would not be perswaded by his Mighty WORKS to believe in him while he was on Earth what a high Affront then do those put upon both who will not give up themselves to be ruled by him and quit the service of Satan for his service which is the same thing with not believing in him now he is in Heaven and in all his Glory This he must needs take far more unkindly and hainously at our hands And be we assured for nothing is more Evident that as he is a most unreasonable Creature who after such marvellous Evidence of Iesus his being the Son of God and now sate down on the Right Hand of the Majesty on High will not give credit to these Doctrines so he is much more Unreasonable who doth give credit to them and yet behave himself as if he believed no such matter O that therefore we would those of us who have hitherto neglected to do it before it be too late and without farther delay Consider these things and shew our selves Men and then we shall with great Courage and Resolution make use of those Weapons which the Captain of our Salvation hath put into our hands for the Vanquishing the Enemies of our Souls which Weapons are not Carnal but Mighty through God And if we persevere in so doing then shall those who have held such a severe hand over us fly before us then shall those Lords who so subjected us and kept us under be brought under by us be our Subjects Then shall our Prison-doors fly open we shall be no longer under Restraint and Confinement We shall be our own Men and walk at Liberty We shall run and not be weary walk and not faint until we appear before God in Sion Until we are delivered from all Molestation from as well as Dominion of Sin and Satan Being made by Iesus Christ who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Bloud Kings and Priests unto God and his Father To whom be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen THE END Books sold by Richard Royston at the Sign of the Angel in Amen-Corner THE Principles and Practices of Certain Divines of the Church of England truly Represented and Defended c. In a Free Discourse between two intimate Friends viz. Theophilus and Philalethes The Design of Christianity or A plain Demonstration and Improvement of this Proposition That the Enduing men with Inward Real Righteousness was the Ultimate End of our Saviour's Coming c. The Second Edition Both of them by the Author of this Treatise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Refranet prius libidines spernat voluptates iracundiam teneat coâ—recat avaritiam cateras animi labes repellat imperator tum incipiat aliis imperare cùm ipse improbissiâ—is dominis dedecori ac turpitudini parere desicrit dum quidem his obâ—diâ—t Imperator non modò sed liber habendus omninò non erit Si servitus sit sicut est obedientia fracti animi abjecti arbitriâ— carentis suo quis neget omnes leves omnes cupidos omnes denique improbos esse servos In his Stâ—ical Paradoxes Cùm Cupiditatum dominatus excessit alius est Dominus exortus ex Conscientiâ Peccatorum Timor quà m illa miscra quam dura scrvitus in Stoic Paradox Pudor nec in pessimos nec in optimos cadit Nam qui sibi conscius est se libero suo arbitrio constanter uti ad ca quae optima sunt novit se non debere contemni ac proinde omni contemptu superior ipsummeâ— contemnit contemptum quae magna pars est Generositatis in improbis vero summum improbitatis fastigium Enclur Eth. lib. 1. cap. 2. Dr. Patrick's O Vitae Philosophiae Dux O Virtutum indagatrix expultrixque Vitiorum Vnus dies benè ex praeceptis tuis actus peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus Mr. Iohn Smith Deut. 32. 4 Heb. 6. 18. Ezek. 18. 29. Rom. 2. 2. Iob 34. 23 Habak 1. 13. Psal. 145. 17. Iâ—m 11â— Psal. 145. 9. Ver. 8. Ezek. 33. 11. Luke 4. 18. Eph. 6. 16. Acts 15. 9. 1 Ioh. 5. 4. The Design of Christianity Ier. 7. 4. Iohn 17. 24. Chap. 14. 19. ver 3. Heb. 6. 20. Iohn 17. 24. Solus Deus est in quem Peecâ—tum non cadit Câ—etâ—ra cùm sint liberi Arbitrii possunt in utramque partem suam flectere Voluntatem Operum juga rejecta â—unt non disciplinarum Libertas in Christo non fecit Innocentie Injuriam Mannt â—extota Pictatis Sanctitatis Humanitatis Veritatis Castitatis Iustitiae Miâ—â—ricordiae Benevolentiae Pudicitiae Lib. de Pudiâ—itia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strom. Lib. 2. p. 424. Eph. 6. 5. Instit. Theol Lib. 3. cap. 8. p. 97. Non solùm autem per praevaricationem frustrati sunt Legem Dei miscentes Vinum Aquâ sed suam Legem è contrario statuerunt quae usque adhuc Pharisaica vocatur Advers Haeres Lib. 4. Cap. 25. p. 342. Chap. 17. Vid. Iust. Mart. Dial cum Trypho p. 247. Tertul ad Scap. p. 69 Rig. Orig. cont Câ—ls lib. 1. p. 34. 1 Cor. 2. 4. Contra Cels. lib. 1. p. 4. Edit Spenceri Icr. 17. 10. Rom. 13. 5. Ductor Dubitantium Book 3 chap. 1. p 21. Edit 1. Book 3. chap. 1. p. 23. Aquatenùs ad omne valet consequentia Religio cogt non potest verbis potiùs quà m verberibus res agenda est ut sit voluntas lib. 5. cap. 20. See the Learned Dean of Canterburies judicious Discourse on Josh. 24. 15. Instit. Thâ—ol Cap. 8. p. 241. See Doctor More 's Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity Bookâ— 2. Chap. 15 16. In Dâ—â—ret Greg. Lib. 1. tit 33. cap. 6. Bellarm. dâ— Amis Grat. cap. 13. Et dâ— Sacram. Euchar. l. 4. c. 19 Exam. Câ—n. Triâ— Ses. 8. cap. 1 Vid. Chem. Exam. Con. Trid. Ses. 8. cap. â— Chap. â— Sess. 14. 〈◊〉 â— Mystery of Iniquity p. 78. Polemical Discourses in fol. p. 316. Europe Speculum p. 126. Edit 1673 Europae Speculum p. 13. Europe Speculum p. 136 137 Quamvâ— sine Sacramento Poenitentiae Attritio per se ad Iustificationem perducere Peccatorem â—equeat tamen cum ad Dei gratian in Sacramento Paenitenâ—â— impetrandum disponit Sess. 14. Cap. 4. Chap. 17. Europâ—e Speculum p. 3. Pag. 〈◊〉 Phil. Iud. p. 682. Ibid. Rev. 1. 6.
may be easily mistaken when we undertake to determine of the Fitness of them Thus having with submission to my Superiors offered my Opinion about this weighty Argument in the foregoing Propositions I hope I shan't be censured as immodest if I also add that I do not see but Governours might avoid the two Extremes in reference to Liberty of Conscience as it is called by having a constant regard to such like Rules And that the Governed on the other hand by doing the like might understand without much difficulty within what bounds they ought to confine themselves in Craving of their Governours or Expecting from them this kind of Liberty But I think it seasonable to suggest this one thing more to these that they would so behave themselves that those who have Power to grant it as far as is sitting might not be tempted to think it a thing onely adapted to the serving of Interest and by that means be the more inclined to a total Refusing of any such Liberty I mean that there be no Occasion given to what is so Commonly not without ground said viz. When 't is mens Temporal Interest to plead for Liberty of Conscience then they are Zealous for it but the Tables are no sooner turned but who like them against it Were we as honest as we should be we should be more fixed and constant and not so vary in our Principles as our Circumstances vary We should not in one Circumstance build what before we destroyed and in another destroy what we before built And so declare amidst all our Stir and Noise about Liberty of Conscience that we have either none at all or but very little Conscience But in the Conclusion of all I must not forget that which hath occasioned all this Discourse about Liberty of Conscience viz. that whatever that Liberty of this kind is which we have a Right to it is not a Branch of Christian but of mere Natural Liberty There is no Text of Scripture that mentioneth this as a Liberty of our Saviour's Purchasing and therefore no Christian may claim it as a Christian. 'T is due to men of all Religions who may be supposed to make Conscience of what they do and not only to the Professors of the Christian Religion And 't was always and in all places as much mens Right as it hath been since our Saviour's Appearance in the World and is in those Parts of it where his Gospel is received CHAP. XVI The Third Inference from our Notion of Christian Liberty viz. That Popery is the greatest Enemy in the World thereunto Where it is shewed First That the Church of Rome Robs those who are subject to her of that Natural Liberty which necessarily belongs to them as they are Men viz. That which consists in the free use of their Vnderstandings in matters of Religion That She will not permit men to Examine either her Doctrines or Practices by the Holy Scriptures nor yet to receive the Holy Scriptures themselves otherwise than upon her Authority The Wickedness of this exposed in two Particulars The alledging of Scripture for it shewed to be the grossest Absurdity Their great Text 1 Tim. 3. 15. spoken to Her Tyranny over mens Minds further shewed HAving now spoken to all the False Notions of Christian Liberty that I know of and discovered the intolerable Mischievousness of them as well as Falsity I proceed to another Inference from our Notion thereof namely Thirdly That Popery is a Religion if I honour it not too much in calling it so that is the greatest Enemy in the whole World to Christian Liberty Should all the wicked Wits in the World meet together to Consult and Complot how to Banish out of it this Liberty they could not devise more effectual means for the doing of it than those which are pitch'd upon by the Church of Rome And here we will shew First That She Robs those who Subject themselves to her of that Natural Liberty which necessarily belongs to them as they are Men or Reasonable Creatures And much more Secondly That She Robs them of that Liberty which it was the Design of our Saviour's Coming into the World and of all he did and suffered here to instate us in First That She Robs those who Subject themselves to her of that Natural Liberty which necessarily belongs to them as Men or Reasonable Creatures There is no Liberty so Essential to Humane Nature or so much its Inviolable Right as that which consists in the free use of our Understandings But a Papist is miserably tied up and inslaved here and that in those matters wherein it is of Infinitely the greatest Importance and Concernment to him that his Mind should be free namely in matters of Religion which have such a necessary influence into the Welfare of our Souls and our Eternal Happiness But notwithstanding that Injunction of S. Paul 1 Thes. 5. 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good And that of S. Iohn 1 Epist. 4. 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God c. This Church denieth to her Children all judgment of Discretion in Points of Religion at least except in this one Point the choice of the Church for their Guide which having Chosen they must follow her blind-fold all their lives after They must be Implicit Believers and Implicit Chusers She will 〈◊〉 and believe for them All their â—â—dgment and Faith must be resolved into hâ—rs as being if you will believe her 〈◊〉 and Uncapable of being either deceivâ—◠〈◊〉 self or of deceiving others And therefore to take our Saviour's 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 thâ— Scriptures except for the forementioned one thing nay for that too as we shall see anon is to put an Affront upon Her Authority and the Bereans who were so highly commended for so doing were guilty of great Sauciness and high Presumption And She takes the most successful course that can be thought of that you shall not Search the Scriptures by locking them up as She does and making the Bible so scarce a Book to be light upon where she hath Power enough to do it and in those places where her Power is Clipt by using a many wicked Artifices to keep the Vulgar from looking into it who are so miserably imposed upon by their wretched Priests as to think it a lighter sin to be Drunk or to commit Fornication and transgress many an express Law of God than to cast their Eyes upon the Holy Scriptures So well aware is this Church that a great part of her Religion is neither to be found there nor agreeable with them but as expresly as it can be done by words contradicted by them And as you may not Examine any of her Doctrines or Practices by comparing them with the Rule of Faith and Practice the Scriptures so neither which is but a necessary consequence from thence may you have any other Foundation for your Belief of the Books of Scripture themselves