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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56807	The conformists plea for the nonconformists, or, A just and compassionate representation of the present state and condition of the non-conformists as to I. The greatness of their sufferings, II. Hardness of their case, III. Reasonableness and equity of their desires and proposals, IV. Qualifications, and worth of their persons, V. Peaceableness of their behaviour, VI. The churches prejudice by their exclusion, &c. humbly submitted to authority / by a beneficed minister, and a regular son of the Church of England.	Pearse, Edward, 1631-1694.	1681 (1681)	Wing P976; ESTC R1092	66,864	80

they had not conformed It is hard to lay the Stress of many Parts of a Declaration as fully and distinctly express'd as the Wit of severe Men could word them upon one general word Vse It is a hard Construction of affirmative Propositions or Parts of a positive Declaration to be explained in a privative or negative Sence yet so we find them smoothed and rolled up in Liquorish that they may pass the narrowest Throats I shall take the Pains to transcribe two Constructions of two excellent Men which may be taken next to a publick Sence and Construction especially the one of them who was the most learned and rarely tempered Bishop Reynolds in his Sermon of Moderation before the House of Peers Novemb. 7. 1666. a Day of Solemn Humiliation for the Pestilence pag. 24. And truly it is an Honour which Learned Men owe to one another to allow Liberty of Dissent in Matters of meer Opinion salvâ compage Fidei salvo vinculo Charitatis salvâ Pace Ecclesiae for these three Faith Love and Peace are still to be preserved so it is a Charity which good Men owe to one another upon the same Salvo's to bear with the Infirmities of each other not to judg or despise or set at naught our Brethren as useless and inconsiderable Persons But whom God is pleased to receive into his Favour not to cast them out of ours This Latitude and Moderation of Judgment some learned Men have taken the freedom to extend even to the Case of Subscriptions by Law required The learned Author of the Book called An Answer to Charity maintained and the late learned Primate of Armagh Arch-Bishop Bramhall and quotes their Words in the Margent which are these For the Church of England I am persuaded that the constant Doctrine of it is so pure and Orthodox that whosoever believes it and lives according to it undoubtedly shall be saved and that there is no Error in it which may necessitate or warrant any Man to disturb the Peace or renounce the Communion This in mine Opinion is all intended by Subscription The Words of the Arch-Bishop are these We do not suffer any Man to reject the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England at his Pleasure yet neither do we look upon them as Essentials of saving Faith or Legacies of Christ and his Apostles but in a mean as pious Opinions fitted for the Preservation of Vnity Neither do we believe any Man to believe them but only not to contradict them This Sermon being printed upon request of the Lords I thought this moderate Exposition of Subscription as it was aimed at by that rare Preacher I believe might pass for approved by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and be next to a legal authentick Sence of all things required by Law For if Subscription of Articles be in so laxe a Sence much more to some of the other things But Mr. Baxter who hath as good reason to know as any one Man hath dashed this Conceit for he writes that when the Lords would have put in this Proviso To the Vse of the Book the House of Commons refused it and the Lords acquiesced in their Reasons given in at a Conference about it Vbi supra p. 160. The other Expositor of our Declaration which I shall produce is the Reverend Dr. Stillingfleet Dean of St. Paul's who shines as a Star in our Firmament and in regard of his own great Reason and Acquaintance with other great Mens thoughts may direct the Course of fluctuating Coasters that look for a safe Landing-Place and sure footing before they proceed in the Service of the Church In his late controverted Sermon Mischief of Separation among other sharp Reflections upon his Friend Mr. Baxter he hath these words pag. 49. It is a hard Case with a Church when Men shall set their Wits to strain every thing to the worst Sence to stretch Laws beyond the Intention and Design of them to gather together all the doubtful and obscure Passages in Calendars Translations c. And will not distinguish betwixt the Approbation of the Vse and of the Choice of things for upon such Terms as these Men think to justify the present Divisions I much question whether if they proceed in such a manner they can hold Communion with any Church in the Christian World So far he From which Words I make bold to infer and if I am too bold I do seriously ask his pardon 1. It seems to me that he limits the sence of the Declaration of Assent and Consent to the scope and intention of the Law which is to the use of the Book and all things in it 2. That a Man may assent and consent to the use of those things which a Man would not or doth not choose if left to his choice and liberty 3. Here is a Blot cast by his Elegant Pen at least upon some of the things contained in and prescribed by the Book as things not to be chosen but only to be used by constraint 4. An Impeachment against the Contrivers and Exacters of Conformity for requiring Assent and Consent to all and every thing not making a difference contained in c. which such Excellent Men as the Dean is would not use if left to his choice nor any other wise man choose and so their meaning comes to this I will use this Book and all things to be used in it such as they are instead of better and tho not declaring our Assent is punishable with Deprivation or Non-Admittance into the Publick Ministry of the Church and the loss of a Man's Livelihood and Temporal Rewards of the Ministry 5. If our Governours shall from their great Wisdom and Compassion to a most divided Church alter the terms of Communion and Conformity and unlace the Garment which is made too strait for the Body which faints being straitly laced then no Man must be offended with the Reverend Dean or any other that conformed in this large sence if they disuse the things now in use and fall in with such things as may like them as well or better 6. I infer and retort which is to my purpose that it is a hard Case with a Church when Men shall strain their Wits to frame Declarations under such severe penalties to passages that are doubtful and obscure and capable of an ill sence that we must turn to Kalendars to find out Lessons in the Apocrypha that have Canonical Lessons enow to use other Translations than the last and best c. But Mr. Baxter doth instance in other things as well as Kalendars and Translations and holds occasional Communion with the Church as it is and would much rather if those passages which the learned Dean calls doubtful and obscure were not imposed and is Catholick enough to hold Communion with any Christian Church that hath not corrupted the Essentials of Christian Worship The second Declaration and Subscription contains Matter Political and mixed which is Not to take

THE Conformists Plea FOR THE Nonconformists OR A Just and Compassionate Representation OF THE Present State and Condition OF THE NON-CONFORMISTS AS TO I. The Greatness of their Sufferings II. Hardness of their Case III. Reasonableness and Equity of their Desires and Proposals IV. Qualifications and Worth of their Persons V. Peaceableness of their Behaviour VI. The Churches Prejudice by their Exclusion c. Humbly submitted to Authority By a Beneficed Minister and a Regular Son of the Church of England London Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1681. His Majesty's Speech to both Houses of Parliament Monday Feb. 10. 1667. pag. 4. One thing more I hold my Self obliged to recommend unto you at this present which is That you would seriously think of 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 not only to submit quietly to the Government but also chearfully give their Assistance to the support of it To the Bookseller COnceiving it to be a Duty to communicate my Judgment given privately by Parts as occasion hath been offered of the Non-conformists and their Case and also resolved to conceal my Name which can add no Reputation to them nor to these Papers I have sent them to you before any other Stranger and who but a Stranger may be trusted with a Concealment of one he knows not for two Reasons 1. Because one of your Acquaintance who not knowing my Design gave me a very good Character of you as Ingenuous Honest Candid a lover of Goodness and good Men whether Conformists or Non-conformists as well without as within the way of your Trade 2. Because it is not hard to guess at the Bookseller by his Author and the Author by his Bookseller therefore if you may fall within the compass of this Observation you fit me because you printed the Conforming Non-conformist c. And another the Christian Temper which Title was taking with me a Temper rare among Christians which I labour after and if I have not expressed it in these Sheets I shall take as little pleasure in them as the nicest Reader shall in any thing that differs from him I refer it to you to judg whether it is like to be profitable or not for before the publication of Books your Faculty either are Judges or find out Judges of them and the Readers eat or refuse only what you have tasted of before-hand Read and judg deliberately and let me know e're long of your Approbation by seeing it abroad or your dislike by its suppression And then I have but one Request that you would give them a private and a decent Burial for the Author's sake who tho he be but a simple Man yet means well and for his Master's sake It shall no more offend me that you stifle than that if another take the name of them provided he be Philagathos To the READER THe whole Book is to the Reader yet a short Epistle to him may be necessary 1. To intreat him to spare his pains in writing against me who do not begin or maintain a Controversy against him or against any other Pacem te quaerimus omnes You may perhaps seek to keep it within the unaltered Constitution and be so much for Peace that you would have not one Dissenter in the Land I am against Dissenters also we agree so far but I am against Dissenters within doors that keep Dissenters out let us make up the Breach as fast and as strong as we can 2. To inform him that I do not look upon the Nonconformists as the only Men of God that I am not hired by them nor speak for them in hopes of Preferment under the Presbyterian Government to be set up as some fear I assure him I never fear it nor hope for it 3. To make my self known to him that I am not a Man in Power to shew the Non-conformists favour nor a Man of fame to serve them by any Testimonial but that I laboured to nourish some good Dispositions and Qualities 1. To adore one and the same Spirit in different Gifts Administrations and Degrees 2. To think more highly of others than of my self not only as they are in Power but as in real Worth tho but at the Footstool 3. Thankfulness to God and were it in my power to shew it to every one that ever spake a word in season to me which many of the Non-conformists have done when I was ignorant and out of the way whose Names are in honour with me and the like I acknowledg and ever shall to several that now conform Time was when they all spake the same Things and carried on the same Work which was the Instruction Conversion Consolation and Edification of Souls not biting one another nor grudging at one another I never heard in many hundreds of Sermons diversities of Opinions either set up by some or pulled down by others We heard indeed that some were Independents others Presbyterians and others Episcopal but we heard no such things from Pulpits I perceive some Men think that the preaching of those Days was meer Fanaticism blessing the Vsurpation railing against Bishops or deifying Calvin with an Infallibility Non ego Lutherum praedico sed Christum said Luther Calvin was an admirable Man a great Stranger to them that speak most against him but he was preached no further than Christ spake in him Non Calvinum sed Christum praedicabant 4. If I were partial I wrong my self by partiality but I ought to be just and by being just I injure no Man I have heard the Non-conformists vilified and represented according to the Fancies and Passions or Interests of Men. I durst not but be just to them as to eminent Professors of the Christian Faith and think that common Christianity hath suffered much by their silencing and disparagement A great part of the World is made to believe that the Non-conformists are not fit to be imployed in the Church nor trusted by the State But what they are God knoweth and the World may know if they please to consult their Writings and to examine their Declaration of their Tenents They are not to them that know them what they are reported by and to them that know them not I seldom see any of them very seldom converse with them yet I know them sufficiently to make me bewail their condition and the vast dammage to thousands of Souls not in the out-skirts alone but very Heart of England by their Exclusion and Suppression who are both able and willing to promote the everlasting Interest of precious Souls which are committed in the mean while in many parts of the Land to them that neither can nor will If a Husband-man have more Land than he can Till much of his Land must lie Fallow and yeeld no profit if a Husbandman have a great Harvest and discharge his Labourers he will

Ministers yet by the Divisions that have broken in upon us by these Impositions and their denying submission to them It nearly concerns Governors of the Church to weigh the Necessity of their Impositions as it doth others to weigh whether they may act or refuse to act according to them For if they rigorously extend their Power beyond the Lines to the hinderance of the Gospel they sin against Christ Caution and Tenderness must therefore be used If all these things and every one of them be necessary to be enjoined and practised for the Peace and Union and Edification of the Church of God then they condemn their Predecessors of Omission of what was necessary and contradict what they declare concerning some of these things that they are alterable and indifferent in themselves and may be altered And if ever any Time since their Imposition might require the Change of them or laying the Ceremonies aside that Time when they were anew enjoined and now when they are required might excuse it for many Reasons that are ready at hand Again some say It is their Fault that they suffer But who must be Judges of that Their own Consciences or they who censure them They are as confident it was not their Fault but their Duty and roundly write Of this afterwards either they that impose or they that refuse sin grievously and plead their Forbearance as no Sin but a Duty O most unhappy Contest and Strait when either Party must grievously sin against God Certainly our blessed Law-giver Christ never made such a Law as tends in the execution of it to the Hurt of any of his Subjects and Ministers or to stop the Encrease and Progress of the Gospel And who can justify any particular Law or Condition of Communion that is but a Stumbling-block in the way of any that are past being Babes and otherwise instructed to his Kingdom I conclude with this Observation That the general Rules of Christ and his Apostles were given to accommodate the Differences between Jews and Gentiles to end the Strife to give ease to the Conscience silence their uncharitable Censures and heal their Breaches about things indifferent and not to determine for one against another with Penalties St. Austin was grieved to see the Transgression of a Ceremony to be more severely reprehended than the Transgression of God's Law c. saith Reverend Mr. John Lloyd in his Treatise of Episcopacy pag. 53. But this is not a place to dispute Can any of the Imposers take the Comfort of their own Impositions and say they have Peace and Comfort in the things for which learned and holy Men do suffer Or if it were to do again I would do no less Then all I 'le say more is this Then blessed Act of Uniformity which brings Comfort to them that made or procured it and to them that suffer by it also Comfort from the Cause of other Mens great Sufferings and the great Loss to Souls must be rare indeed Consider these Sufferings of the Ejected They suffer really in their outward Estates in their Freedoms in their Dangers being obnoxious to the Canons as far as to Excommunication to the Temporal Laws in their Names and Honours as counted disobedient factious fanatical are the Objects of Virulence and Dirt and are represented as intolerable These are great Sufferings and a safe way to be redressed is worthy the Wisdom and Tenderness of Authority I am sure saith the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet it is contrary to the Primitive Practice and the Moderation then used to suspend or deprive Men of their Ministerial Functions for not consenting to Habits Gestures and the like Iren. p. 64. Rule 4. Then next let me consider what the Case is and if it will appear to be a hard Case it calls for the more speedy and effectual Relief And this is the next thing I humbly offer to prove II. The Case of the ejected Ministers is really a hard Case And I will endeavour the Proof of it in two things 1. Shewing what is required of them 2. The Penalties for not doing what is required 1. The things required of them are either 1. Ecclesiastical 2. Political and mixed with a Case of Conscience in the two Declarations they are bound by Law to make First The Ecclesiastical Part of their Subscriptions and Declarations For brevity sake I will pass the old Conformity They are bound to declare their unfeigned Assent and Consent c. That this is a heavy Injunction in it self tho abundance of us have made little of it for some good Teeth can eat the hardest Crust but it is Crust for all that It is hard for any Man 1. To assent and consent to any thing of another Man's Opinion and Judgment except first he that gives the Assent have as throughly studied and doth as clearly perceive the things as he doth that requires the Assent To assent to some things will not pass in this case it must be all and every thing What Parliament-Man will assent to any Bill except he first be satisfied in the reason of it c. Or 2. Except he that requires the Assent and Consent have a degree of Infallibility or be endowed with an absolute uncontroulable Power against whom no Scruple no Objection or Debate can or ought to be made 3. Would not every Practitioner in Physick think it hard that he must subscribe Assent and Consent to all and every thing contained in and bed by the London Dispensatory and use no other Would not the Judges in the Courts at Westminster think it hard to declare their Assent and Consent to all and every thing in the Statutes and Laws of England and not endeavour any Alteration And why is it not hard for us to subscribe to all and every thing contained in a Book of Divine Worship not composed by a Divine infallible Spirit Can more be required to the Scriptures or clearest Point of Doctrine or Faith 4. It is hard as appears by the Qualifications and Mitigations of the Sence of the Declaration If the Words were clear and easy for the Understanding and Will to digest there needed no soft Constructions to help them down It cost all that are careful what pass their hands some thoughts to make them easy And had it not been for that one word Vse and the help of that it would have stuck with many that are as great Pillars of the Church as any in it in their stations and degrees That which is easy and plain will easily pass with an ordinary Understanding The various Constructions of the Forms are impartially given by the Reverend Mr. Baxter Nonconformists Plea for Peace p. 158 c. I shall not run out to defend either the rigorous or milder Constructions but shew that the Case of Dissenters is hard and indeed of all Conformists that must take the Words without Salvo's or else must fall under the Censure of Hypocrisy and doing more Hurt by conforming than if