Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	form_n	prayer_n	prescribe_v	2,556	5	9.9248	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67467	The life of Dr. Sanderson, late Bishop of Lincoln written by Izaak Walton ; to which is added, some short tracts or cases of conscience written by the said Bishop.	Walton, Izaak, 1593-1683.; Sanderson, Robert, 1587-1663. Judgment concerning submission to usurpers.; Sanderson, Robert, 1587-1663. Pax ecclesiae.; Hooker, Richard, 1553 or 4-1600. Sermon of Richard Hooker, author of those learned books of Ecclesiastical politie.; Sanderson, Robert, 1587-1663. Judgment in one view for the settlement of the church.; Sanderson, Robert, 1587-1663. Judicium Universitatis Oxoniensis. English.	1678 (1678)	Wing W667; ESTC R8226	137,878	542

in that also wherein we are not fully satisfied viz. the leaving of so much power in so many Persons and those many of them of mean quality for the keeping back of thousands of well-meaning Christians from the benefit and comfort of the blessed Sacrament an Austerity for which there appeareth not to us any probable warrant from the Word of God but which seemeth rather repugnant as to the general Principles of Christian Prudence and Charity so to the directions and practice of St. Paul in particular who in a Church abounding with sundry errours and corruptions both in Faith and Manners having first given order for the Excommunicating of one only person that by shameless continuance in a notorious sin had brought a foul scandal upon the Gospel sufficing himself then with a general proposal of the great danger of unworthy communicating remitteth every other particular person to a Self-examination without any order either to Ministers or Lay-Elders to exclude any from the holy Communion upon their Examination As to the Ordinance concerning the Directory in particular we cannot without regret of Conscience during our present Judgment and the continuance of the present Laws consent to the taking away of the Book of Common Prayer 1. Which by our Subscriptions most of us have approved with a solemn promise therewithal in the Publick Service to use the form prescribed therein and no other 2. Which according to our said Subscription and Promise and our bounden duty according to the Statute in that case provided we have hitherto used in our Churches Chappels and other Oratories to the great benefit and comfort of our souls 3. Which we verily believe not to contain any thing which with such favourable construction as of right ought to be allowed to all manner of Writings is not justly defensible which hath not been by learned and godly men sufficiently maintained against such Exceptions as have been heretofore taken thereat and which we are confident by the Assistance of Almighty God we shall be able to justifie as occasion shall be offered against all Papists and other Oppugners or depravers thereof whatsoever 4. Which is established by an Act of Parliament made in peaceable times by as good and full authority as any under Heaven can have over us which doth so weigh with us that as it freeth us from the necessity of giving in any particular Exceptions against the Directory or any thing therein contained so it layeth an inevitable necessity upon us of continuing the form of Prayer therein enjoyned and of not admitting any Directory or other Form to the prejudice thereof till the said Act shall by the like good and full Authority be repealed In which Statute there is not only an express Command given to all Ministers for the using of the same but there are also sanctions of severe punishments to be inflicted upon such of them as shall refuse so to do or shall preach declare or speak any thing to the derogation or depraving of the Book of Common Prayer or of any thing therein contained or of any part thereof with punishments also to be inflicted upon every other person whatsoever the Lords of the Parliament not excepted that shall in like manner declare or speak against the said Book or shall by deed or threatning compel or otherwise procure or maintain any Minister to say open Prayer or to minister any Sacrament in any other manner or form than is mentioned in the said Book or shall interrupt or hinder any Minister in the use of the said forms as by the words of the said Statute more at large may appear Which Statute also hath had such universal powerful influence into the succeeding times that in all such Statutes as have been since made against Popish Recusants the refusing to be present at Common Prayer or to receive the Sacrament according to the forms and rites mentioned in that Book is expressed as the most proper legal character whereby to distinguish a Popish Recusant from a true Protestant Insomuch that use hath been made of that very Character in sundry Acts since the beginning of this present Parliament for the taxing of double payments upon Recusants THus have we clearly and freely represented our present Judgment concerning the said Covenant Negative Oath and Ordinances which upon better information in any particular we shall be ready to rectifie Only we desire it may be considered That if any one single scruple or reason in any the Premisses remain unsatisfied though we should receive full satisfaction in all the rest the Conscience would also remain still unsatisfied And in that case it can neither be reasonable for them that cannot satisfie us to press us nor lawful for us that cannot be satisfied to submit to the said Covenant Oath and Ordinances QUINTIL Quis damnaverit eum qui duabus potentissimis rebus defenditur jure mente ROM XIV 22. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth A SERMON OF RICHARD HOOKER Author of those LEARNED BOOKS OF Ecclesiastical Politie Found in the Study of the late Learned Bishop Andrews LONDON Printed for Richard Marriott 1678. A SERMON OF Richard Hooker c. MATTH VII 7. Ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For whosoever asketh c. AS all the Creatures of God which attain their highest perfection by process of time are in their first beginning raw so man in the end of his race the perfectest is at his entrance thereunto the weakest and thereby longer enforced to continue a subject for other mens compassions to work upon voluntarily without any other perswader besides their own secret Inclination moving them to repay to the common Stock of Humanity such help as they know that themselves before must needs have borrowed the state and condition of all slesh being herein alike It cometh hereby to pass that although there be in us when we enter into this present world no conceit or apprehension of our own misery and for a long time after no ability as much as to crave help or succour at other mens hands yet through his most good and gracious Providence which feedeth the young even of feathered Fowls and Ravens whose natural significations of their necessities are therefore termed in Scripture Prayers and Invocations which God doth hear we amongst them whom he values at a far higher rate than millions of brute Creatures do find by perpetual experience daily occasions given unto every of us religiously to acknowledge with the Prophet David Thou O Lord from our birth hast been merciful unto us we have tasted thy goodness hanging even at our Mothers Breasts That God which during Infancy preserveth us without our knowledge teacheth us at years of discretion how to use our own Abilities for procurement of our own good Ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto

Because that may be a sin per accidens which is not so in it self and may be unlawfully commanded though that accident be not in the command Another was That it may be commanded under an unjust penalty Again this Proposition being brought by the Conformists That Command which commandeth an act in it self lawful and no other act whereby any unjust penalty is injoyned nor any circumstance whence per accidens any sin is consequent which the Commander ought to provide against is not sinful Mr. Baxter denied it for this reason then given in with his own hand in writing thus Because the first act commanded may be per accidens unlawful and be commanded by an unjust penalty though no other act or circumstance commanded be such Again this Proposition being brought by the Conformists That Command which commandeth an act in it self lawful and no other Act whereby any unjust penalty is injoyned nor any circumtance whence directly or per accidens any sin is consequent which the Commander ought to provide against hath in it all things requisite to the lawfulness of a Command and particularly cannot be guilty of commanding an act per accidens unlawful nor of commanding an act under an unjust penalty Mr. Baxter denied it upon the same Reasons Peter Gunning Iohn Pearson These were then two of the Disputants still live and will attest this one being now Lord Bishop of Ely and the other of Chester And the last of them told me very lately that one of the Dissenters which I could but forbear to name appear'd to Dr. Sanderson to be so bold so troublesome and so illogical in the dispute as forc'd patient Dr. Sanderson who was then Bishop of Lincoln and a Moderator with other Bishops to say with an unusual earnestness That he had never met with a man of more pertinacious confidence and less abilities in all his conversation But though this debate at the Savoy was ended without any great satisfaction to either party yet both parties knew the desires and understood the abilities of the other much better than before it and the late distressed Clergy that were now restor'd to their former rights and power did at their next meeting in Convocation contrive to give the dissenting party satisfaction by alteration explanation and addition to some part both of the Rubrick and Common Prayer as also by adding some new necessary Collects and a particular Collect of Thanksgiving How many of those new Collects were worded by Dr. Sanderson I cannot say but am sure the whole Convocation valued him so much that he never undertook to speak to any Point in question but he was heard with great willingness and attention and when any Point in question was determin'd the Convocation did usually desire him to word their intentions and as usually approve thank him At this Convocation the Common Prayer was made more compleat by adding 3 new necessary Offices which were A form of Humiliation for the murther of King Charles the Martyr a Thanksgiving for the Restoration of his Son our King and for the baptizing of persons of riper age I cannot say Dr. Sanderson did form or word them all but doubtless more than any single man of the Convocation and he did also by desire of the Convocation alter add to the forms of Prayers to be used at Sea now taken into the Service Book And it may be noted That William the now right Reverend Bishop of Canterbury was in these imployments diligently useful especially in helping to rectifie the Kalendar and Rubrick And lastly it may be noted That for the satisfying all the dissenting Brethren and others the Convocations Reasons for the alterations and additions to the Liturgy were by them desir'd to be drawn up by Dr. Sanderson which being done by him and approv'd by them was appointed to be printed before the Liturgy and may be known by this Title The Preface and begins thus It hath been the wisdom of the Church I shall now follow him to his Bishoprick and declare a part of his behaviour in that busie and weighty imployment And first That it was with such condescention and obligingness to the meanest of his Clergy as to know and be known to them And indeed he practis'd the like to all men of what degree soever especially to his old Neighbours or Parishioners of Boothby Pannel for there was all joy at his Table when they came to visit him then they pray'd for him and he for them with an unfeigned affection I think it will not be deny'd but that the care and toyl required of a Bishop may justly challenge the riches revenue with which their Predecessors had lawfully endow'd them and yet he sought not that so much as doing good both to the present Age and Posterity and he made this appear by what follows The Bishops chief House at Buckden in the County of Huntington the usual Residence of his Predecessors for it stands about the midst of his Diocese having been at his Consecration a great part of it demolish'd and what was left standing under a visible decay was by him undertaken to be erected and repair'd and it was perform'd with great speed care and charge And to this may be added That the King having by an Injunction commended to the care of the Bishops Deans and Prebends of all Cathedral Churches the repair of them their Houses and augmentation of small Vicarages He when he was repairing Bugden did also augment the last as fast as Fines were paid for renewing Leases so fast that a Friend taking notice of his bounty was so bold as to advise him to remember he was under his first fruits and that he was old and had a wife and children yet but meanly provided for especially if his dignity were considered To whom he made a mild and thankful answer saying It would not become a Christian Bishop to suffer those houses built by his Predecessors to be ruin'd for want of repair and less justifiable to suffer any of those that were call'd to so high a calling as to sacrifice at God's Altar to eat the bread of sorrow constantly when he had a power by a small augmentation to turn it into the bread of chearfulness and wish ' d that as this was so it were also in his power to make all mankind happy for he desired nothing more And for his wife and children he hop'd to leave them a competence and in the hands of a God that would provide for all that kept innocence and trusted his providence and protection which he had always found enough to make and keep him happy There was in his Diocese a Minister of almost his Age that had been of Lincoln Colledge when he left it who visited him often and always welcome because he was a man of innocence and open-heartedness This Minister asked the Bishop what Books he studied most when he laid the foundation of his great and clear Learning To which his Answer

least in the Ordinary Service only I read the Confession the Lord's Prayer all the Versicles and the Psalms for the day Then after the first Lesson in the Forenoon Benedictus or Iubilate and in the Afternoons Cantate After the second Lesson also sometimes the Creed sometimes the Ten Commandements and sometimes neither but only sang a Psalm and so to Sermon But in all that while in the Administration of the Sacraments the Solemnization of Matrimony Burial of Dead and Churching of Women I constantly used the ancient Forms and Rites to every of them respectively belonging according to the appointment in the Book only I was careful in all the rest to make choice of such times and opportunities as I might do them with most secresie and without disturbance of the Souldier But at the Celebration of the Eucharist I was the more secure to do it publickly because I was assur'd none of the Souldiers would be present After their departure I took the liberty to use either the whole Liturgy or but some part of it omitting sometimes more sometimes less upon occasion as I judg'd it most expedient in reference to the Auditory especially if any Souldiers or other unknown persons hapned to be present But all this while the substance of what I omitted I contriv'd into my Prayer before Sermon the phrase and order only varied which yet I endeavour'd to temper in such sort that any person of ordinary capacity might easily perceivve what my meaning was and yet the words left as little liable to exception or cavil as might be About two years ago I was advertis'd but in a friendly manner by a Parliament man of note in these parts that at a publick Meeting at Grantham great complaint was made by some Ministers of the Presbyterian Gang as I afterwards found of my refractoriness to obey the Parliaments Order in that behalf The Gentleman told me withal That although they knew what my judgment and practice was yet they were not forward to take notice of it before complaint made which being now done in so publick a manner if they should not take notice of it the blame would lie upon them He therefore advised me to consider well what I had to do for I must resolve either to adventure the loss of my Living or to lay aside Common Prayer which if I should continue after complaint and admonition it would not be in his power nor in the power of any Friend I had to preserve me The effect of my then Answer was That if the case were so the deliberation was not hard I having long ago considered of the case and resolved what I might do with a good Conscience and what was fittest for me in prudence to do if I should ever be put to it viz. to forbear the use of the Common Prayer Book so far as might satisfie the letter of the Ordinance rather than forsake my Station My next business then was to be-think my self of such a course to be thenceforth held in the publick work in my own Parish as might be believed neither to bring danger to my self by the use nor to give scandal to my Brethren by the disuse of the establish'd Liturgy And the course was this to which I have held me ever since I begin the Service with a Preface and an Exhortation infer'd to make Confession of Sins which Exhortation I have fram'd out of the Exhortation and Absolution in the Book contracted and put together and exprest for the most part in the same words and phrases but purposely here and there transplac'd that it might appear not to be and yet to be the very same Then follows the Confession it self in the same Order it was enlarg'd only with the addition of some words whereby it is rather explain'd than alter'd The whole frame whereof both for the fuller satisfaction in that particular and that you may conjecture what manner of addition and change I have made proportionably hereunto yet none so large in other parts of the holy Office I have here under-written O Almighty God and merciful Father we thy unworthy Servants do with shame and sorrow confess that we have all our life long gone astray out of thy ways like lost sheep and that by following too much the vain devices and desires of our own hearts we have grievously offended against thy holy laws both in thought word and deed We have many times left undone those good duties which we might and ought to have done and we have many times done those evils when we might have avoided them which we ought not to have done We confess O Lord that there is no health at all nor help in any Creature to relieve us but all our hope is in thy mercy whose justice we have by our sins so far provoked Have mercy upon us therefore O Lord have mercy upon us miserable Offenders Spare us good Lord who confess our faults that we perish not but according to thy gracious promises declared unto mankind in Christ Iesu our Lord restore us upon our true Repentance into thy grace and favour And grant O most merciful Father for his sake that we henceforth study to serve and please thee by leading a godly righteous and sobèr life to the glory of thy holy Name and the eternal comfort of our own Souls through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen After the Confession the Lord's Prayer with the Versicles and Gloria Patri and then Psalms for the Day and the first Lesson After which in the Forenoon sometimes Te Deum but then only when I think the Auditory will bear it and sometimes an Hymn of mine own gathered out of the Psalms and Church Collects as a general Form of Thanksgiving which I did the rather because I have noted the want of such a Form as the only thing wherein the Liturgy seem'd to be defective And in the Afternoon after the first Lesson the 98 th Psalm or the 67 th then the second Lesson with Benedictus or Iubilate after it in the Forenoon and Afternoon a singing Psalm Then followeth the Creed with Dominus Vobiscum and sometimes the Versicles in the end of our Letany From our Enemies defend us if I lik'd my Auditory otherwise I omit the Versicles After the Creed and instead of the Letany and the other Prayers appointed in the Book I have taken the substance of the Prayer I was wont to make before Sermon and dispos'd it into several Collects or Prayers some longer and some shorter but new modell'd into the language of the Common Prayer Book much more than it was before And in the Pulpit before Sermon I use only a short Prayer in reference to the hearing of the Word and no more So that upon the matter in these Prayers I do but the same thing I did before save only that what before I spake without Book and in a continued Form in the Pulpit I now read out of a written Book broken into parcels and

in the reading Desk or Pue Between which Prayers and the singing Psalms before the Sermon I do also daily use one other Collect of which sort I have for the purpose compos'd sundry made up also as the former for the most part out of the Church Collects with some little enlargement or variation as namely the Collects Adventual Quadragesimal Paschal or Pentecostal for their proper seasons and at other times Collects of a more general nature as for Pardon Repentance Grace c. And after one or more of them in the Forenoon I usually repeat the Ten Commandements with a short Collect after them for Grace to enable us to keep them This hath been my practice and is like still to be unless some happy Change of Affairs restore us the liberty of using the old way again or it be made appear to my Understanding by some able charitable Friend That I therein have done otherwise then I ought to have done For I may say that I have not yet met with any thing in Discourse either with my own Reason or others of sufficient strength to convince me that I have done any thing but what may stand with the Principles as well of Christian Simplicity as Prudence There are but three things that I know of that are of any consideration oppos'd viz. 1. The Obligation of the Laws 2. The Scandal of the Example 3. The unseemly symbolizing at least with Schismaticks if not partaking with them in the Schism The first and strongest Objection which I shall therefore propose to the most advantage of the Objector is that which is grounded upon the Laws and their Obligation For it may be Objected That every humane Law rightly establish'd so long as it continueth a Law obligeth the Subject and that for Conscience sake to the observation thereof in such manner and form as in the same Law is prescribed and according to the true meaning and intention of the Law-giver therein That a Law is then understood to be rightly establish'd when it containeth nothing but what is honest and lawful and is enacted by such person or persons as have full and sufficient authority to make Laws That a Law so establish'd continues a Law and is so in force till it be either Repealed by as good and lawful Authority as that by which it was made or else antiquated by a long continued uninforc'd disuse with the tacit or presumed consent of the Law-giver That the Act printed before the Common Prayer Book and entituled An Act for the Uniformity was such a Law being it was established in a full and free Parliament in peaceable times and ratified by the Royal Assent That it still continues in force and being not yet Repealed but by such persons as at least in the Opinion of those that maintain the Dispute for want of the Royal Assent have not a sufficient right or authority to do such an Act nor disused but of late times and that by enforcement and as is presum'd much against the mind of the Law-giver That therefore it still retains the power of obliging in part of Conscience that power being so essential and intrinsecal to every Law quatenus a Law that it can in no wise be sever'd from it And that therefore no Minister publickly officiating in the Church can with a good Conscience either omit any part of that which is commanded by the aforesaid Law or use any other Form than what is contained in the foresaid Book but must either use the Form prescribed in the Book or else forbear to officiate The Answer to this Objection granting all in the Premisses besides dependeth upon the right understanding of that which is affirmed concering the Obligation of the Laws according to the intention of the Law-giver which if it should be understood precisely of that particular actual and immediate intention which the Law-giver had declared by the words of the Law in which sense only the Objection proceedeth will not hold true in all cases But there is suppos'd besides that in Law-giver a more general habitual ultimate intention of a more excellent and transcendent nature that the former which is to have an influence into and over-ruling power over all particular Laws viz. an intention by the Laws to procure and promote the publick good The former intention binds when it is subservient to the latter or consistent with it and consequently bindeth in ordinary cases and in orderly times or else the Law is not a wholesome Law But when the observation of the Law by reason of the conjuncture of circumstances or the iniquity of the times contingencies which no Lawgiver could either certainly foresee or if foreseen sufficiently provide against would rather be prejudicial than advantageous to the Publick or is manifestly attended with such inconveniencies and sad consequents to the Observers as all the imaginable good that can redound to the Publick thereby cannot in any reasonable measure countervail In such case the Law obligeth not but according to the latter and more general intention only even as in the operations of nature particular Agents do ordinarily move according to their proper and particular inclinations yet upon some occasions and to serve the ends and intentions of universal nature for the avoiding of some things which nature abhors they are sometimes carried with motions quite contrary to their particular natures as the Air to descend and the Water to ascend for the avoiding of vacuity c. The common received Maxim which hath been sufficiently misapplied and that sometimes to very ill purposes since the beginning of these unhappy divisions in the true meaning of it looketh this way Salus populi suprema Lex the equity of which Maxim as it leaveth in the Law-giver a power of dispensing with the Law which is a suspending the Obligation thereof for the time in respect of the proper and particular intention so he shall see it expedient in order to the publick good so it leaveth in the Subject a liberty upon just occasions as in cases of great exigency and for the preventing of such hazards and inconveniencies as might prove of noysome consequence to the Publick to do otherwise than the Law requireth And neither is the exercise of that power in the Lawgiver to be thought an unreasonable Prerogative nor the use of this liberty in the Subject an unreasonable presumption inasmuch as the power of dispensing with particular Laws is such a Prerogative as without which no Commonwealth can be well govern'd but Justice would be turn'd into Gall and Wormwood Nor can the Supream Governour without forfeiture of that faithfulness which he oweth to the Publick Weal devest himself thereof And he that presumeth of the Law-givers consent to dispense with him for the Observation of the Law in such needful cases where he hath not the opportunity to consult his pleasure therein presumeth no more than he hath reason to do For it may well be presum'd that the Law-giver

who is bound in all his Laws to intend the safety of the Publick and of every member thereof in his due proportion hath no intention by the strict observation of any particular Law to oblige any person who is a Member of the Publick to his destruction or ruin when the common good is not answerably promoted thereby Upon which ground it is generally resolv'd by Casuists That no Constitution meerly humane can lay such Obligation upon the Conscience of the Subject but that we may according to the exigency of circumstances do otherwise than the Constitution requireth provided it be done extra casum scandali contemptûs i.e. without either bewraying in himself any contempt of the Authority of the Law-giver by his carriage or giving any just occasion of scandal to others by his example in so doing I have been somewhat the longer in explaining this point not only for the better clearing of the present doubt but also in respect of the usefulness of this consideration for the preventing and removing of many scruples that may happen to conscientious men in such times as these wherein so many things are and are like to be commanded and forbidden contrary to the establish'd Laws and those as they are perswaded yet standing in force The best rule that I know to guide men in their deliberations and actions in such emergent cases according to what hath been already delivered is advisedly and impartially to weigh the benefit inconveniencies as well on the one side as on the other as they stand in relation unto the Publick Good and if after such examination and comparison made it shall then evidently or but in the judgment of probability appear that the Observation of the Law according to the proper intention of the Law-giver therein though with hazard of Estate Liberty or even life it self hath a greater tendency to the Publick Good and the preservation of church or Commonwealth in safety peace and order than the preventing of the foresaid hazards or other evil consequents by doing otherwise than the Law requireth can have or which cometh to one if the violating of the Law shall then to be more prejudicial to the publick Good than the preservation of the Subject's Estate Liberty or Life can be beneficial hereunto In such case the Subject is bound to hazard all he hath and undergo whatsoever inconveniencies and calamities can ensue thereupon rather than violate the Law with contempt of that Authority to which he oweth subjection But if it shall after such comparison made evidently or but more probably than the contrary appear That that preservation of such a persons Life Liberty Estate would more benefit the Church or Commonwealth than the punctual observation of the Law at that time and with those circumstances would do it were an unseasonable unreasonable and pernicious scrupulosity for such a person to think himself in such a case obliged for the observing of the Law perhaps but once or twice with little or no benefit to the Publick to ruin himself whereby to render himself unuseful and unserviceable to the Publick for ever hereafter To bring this Discourse home and to apply it to the business now under dispute Suppose we ten twenty or One hundred godly Ministers well affected to the establish'd Liturgy and actually possess'd of Benefices with the Charge of Souls thereto belonging should thinking themselves in Conscience obliged to the use of the whole Form of the Book as is by the Act appointed without any addition omission or alteration whatsoever notwithstanding the present conjuncture of Affairs resolve to use the same accordingly it would be well considered what the effects and consequents thereof would be Besides other evils these three are visible which must all unavoidably follow one upon another if any body shall be found as doubtless within short time there will be found one or other to inform and prosecute against them 1. The utter undoing of so many worthy persons fit to do God and his Church good service together with all those persons that depend upon them for their livelyhood by putting the fruits of their Benefices wherewith they should buy themselves bread under Sequestration 2. The depriving of those persons of the opportunity of discharging the duties that belong unto them in their Ministerial Calling in not permitting them after such Sequestration to teach or instruct the people belonging to their Charge or to exercise any thing of their Function publickly in the Church 3. The delivering over the Sheep of Christ that lately were under the hands of the faithful Shepherds into the Custody of ravenous Wolves when such Guides shall be set over the several Congregations as will be sure to mis-teach them one way or other viz. either by instilling into them Puritanical and Superstitious Principles that they may the more securely exercise their Presbyterian Tyranny over their Judgments Consciences Persons and Estates or else by setting up new Lights before them to lead them into a maze of Anabaptistical confusion and frenzy These consequents are so heavy to the Sufferers so certain to ensue upon the use of Common Prayer and so much without the power of the Law-givers in this state of Affairs either to prevent or remedy that it is beyond the wit of man what benefit to the Publick can accrue by the strict observation of the Act that may in any proportion countervail these mischiefs In which case that man must needs suppose a strange austerity in the Law-giver that dares not presume of his consent to disoblige him for the time from observing the same It would be also well considered Whether he that by his own over-nice scrupulosity runs all these hazards be not in some measure guilty of his own undoing of deserting his station and of betraying his flock and do not thereby lose much of that comfort which a Christian Confessor may take in his sufferings when they are laid upon him by the Hand of God and not pull'd upon himself by his own hands And more I shall not need to say as to that first Objection The next thing objected is The danger of the Scandal that others might be ready to take at the Example who seeing the Law so little regarded by such men men that have Cure of Souls and perhaps also of some eminency and esteem in the Church and whose Example will be much look'd upon will be easily encourag'd by this Example to set light by all Authority and to take the liberty to obey and disobey the Laws of their Soveraign at their pleasure But this Objection after we are once satisfied concerning the former need not much trouble us For 1. It seemeth an unreasonable thing in cases of great Exigence such as we now suppose that the fear of scandalizing our weak Brethren which is but Debitum charitatis only should lay upon us a peremptory necessity of observing the Law punctually whatsoever inconveniencies and mischiefs may ensue thereupon when the duty