Convention Look now a little into the Scotch Affairs and observe the Growth of the Non-Conformists Demands from one thing to another till in the End by virtue of what the King Granted them they possest themselves of all the Rest. In their Tumults says his Majesty they complein'd only of the Service Book In their Petition exhibited to the Counsel they complein'd of the Service-Book and Canons In their Covenant they complein of and Abjure the Five Articles of Perth although Establish't first by a General Assembly and Then by Parliament After This they complein of the High Commission And Then of Prelates Sitting in Civil Judicatories Hereupon His Majesty Commissions Marquis Hamilton with full Power and Authority to Conclude and Determine all such Things as should be found for the Good Quietness and Peace of that Kingdom Directing him also to take the mildest Course that might be for the Calming of those Commotions And what Effect had this Peaceable Inclination of His Majesty upon the Covenanters but to blow them up into more Seditious and bolder Practises against the King's Authority and the Publique Peace They pursue their Demands and Clamour for a Free General Assembly and a Parliament His Majesty gives them all their Askings Indicts a Free General Assembly and a Parliament Dischâ—…rges the Service-Book the Canons High-Commission The urâ—…ing of the Five Articles of Perth Commands the Subscribing of the Confession of Faith and the Band thereto annexed in the very Form which they pretended to Impose And offers them an Act of Indemnity for what was past In all which Condescentions the King's Patience and Mercy only served to heighten and confirm those Men in their Undertaking and to expose his Royal Dignity to Contempt In the conclusion the King had so far gratified their Importunities that they had nothing left to Quarrel upon but His Majesties refusal to Abolish Episcopacy and to admit the Authority of their Lay-Elders From hence they brake out into open Rebellion and when the King had them directly at his Mercy upon the Interview of the two Armies near Berwick such was his Tenderness that upon their Supplication for a Treaty he Trusted them again and Concluded a Pacification whereof the Covenanters observ'd not so much as One Article Upon his Return to London His Majesty as is elswhere observed passes the Triennial Bill Abolishes the Star-Chamber and High Commission Court Passes an Act for the Continuance of the Parliament Not to insist upon the several other Concessions concerning Ship-money Forests and Stannary Courts Tunnage and Poundage Knighthood c. Now in Requital of these Benefits the Faction Claps up and Prosecutes his Majesties Friends Prefers and Enlarges his Enemies Rewards the Scots Entertains their Commissioners Votes Them their Dear Brethren for Invading Us Calls in all Books and Proclamations against them They take away the Bishops Votes Impose a Protestation upon the People Take away the Earl of Strafford's Life Charge Twelve of the Bishops with Treason Declare the King's Proclamations to be False Scandalous and Illegal Keep his Majesty out of his own Towns and Seize his Arms and Ammunition They present Him with Nineteen Propositions for the Resignation of his Royal Authority They Vote a General and Raise an Army against him They Usurp the Power of the Militia and give the King Battel Levy Moneys and Declare the Queen Guilty of Treason After all These Usurpations upon the Civil Power They are put to 't to bring the Cause of Religion once again upon the Stage They enter into a Covenant and call in the Scots again They Abolish the Common-Prayer secure the Person of the King Share the Revenues of the Church and Crown They Sequester Banish and Imprison his Majesties Adherents and in the Conclusion Sell Depose and Murder their Soveraign This was the Fruit of that Pious and Unfortunate Prince his Clemency and Indulgence Now to bring the Instance home to the present Times What could be more Pious Gracious or Obliging then His Majesties Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs in Favour of the Non-Conformists All that was possible for the King to do in Consistence with Conscience Honour and the Peace of his Dominions His Majesty has therein given them a frank Assurance of with their Lives and Estates over and above in the Act of Oblivion And are they one jote the Quieter for all This No but the Worse for no sooner was the King's Tenderness in That Particular made Publique but the Generality even of those that had lately Entred into a Regular and Dutiful Compliance with the Orders of the Church started into a new Revolt which proves sufficiently the Benefit and Necessity of a strict Rule and the hazzard of a Toleration For rather then abide the Penalty of the Act they could Conform but upon the least Glimpse of a Dispensation they Relâ—…pse into a Schism Neither do I find that they were less Troublesom before the Act of Uniformity when they Preach'd at Randome then they have been since Nor to say the Truth that they have much more Cause of Compleint Now then they had Then For what are they the worse for a Penalty that is never Executed But if you will have a True Measure of their Moderation and Good Nature I pray'e take notice of their Proceedings upon His Majesties Commission for the Review of the Book of Common-Prayer We will appoint says His Majesty in his Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs an Equal Number of Learned Divines of Both Perswasions to Review the same and to make such ALTERATIONS as shall be thought most NECESSARY So that the Alterations were to be agreed upon by BOTH PARTIES and found likewise to be NECESSARY Now instead of Alterations joyntly agreed upon They Publish a Complete Liturgy of their own indeed a New Directory but under the Title of The REFORMATION of the Liturgie which in all their Books signifies ABOLITION Give me the favour next to observe upon some of their NECESSARY Alterations They have turn'd WEDDED Wife into MARRIED DOEST THOU Believe into DO YOU Believe All this I STEDFASTLY Believe into All this I UNFEIGNEDLY Believe These are some of the Important Scruples that are cast into the Balance against the Unity of the Church and the Peace of the Kingdom What is This but to make Sport with Authority and Conscience Laws must be Suspended Princes Vilified and Importun'd because forsooth the Godly Party may not be Govern'd by Laws of their own making Nay by Words of their own chusing too So that we are like to have a Schism for Syllables as well as for Ceremonies For what is the Difference betwixt WEDDED and MARRIED but that the One wears the Stamp of the Law-Makers and the Other of the Law-Menders Is it not now evident that they are the worse for good usage And that they have ever been so You see the Effects of keeping to a Rule in Queen Elizabeth and King Iames And we have since felt to our Cost
calling it Antichristian and Mr. Case shall give him a Commission to take this Agag and Hew it in pieces before the Lord. Taking up Arms against the Government is helping the Lord against the Mighty And King-killing it self is justified by the Example of Ehud to Eglon. N. C. But do you believe any Man so mad as to take these Extravagances for Impulses of Conscience C. Or rather Is not he madder that doubts it Considering the Evidences we have both from Story and Experience and the very Authority of Scripture it self in favour of believing it Does not our Saviour foretell us of False Christs and False Prophets that shall arise and deceive many yea if it were possible the very Elect Parties are engag'd in all sorts of Abomination under the Masque of Conscience Those of the League in Flanders 1503. under Maximilian bound themselves by Oath to cast off the Yoke of Government and to kill and slay all Opposers but with such regard to Religion I warrant ye that every Member of that Confederacy was to say five Ave Maryes and Pater Nosters daily For a Blessing upon the Undertaking The Holy League at Peronne under Henry the Third of France was for the Glory of God too and the Preservation of the King What Horrible Effects it produced I need not tell you Sleydan reckons upon Fifty Thousand slain in one Summer in the Boores Rebellion in Germany 1525. And charges the Tumult upon Seditious Preachers whereof Muncer was chief I shall not need to mind you of the Damned Villanies that were acted by Muncer Phifer Beold or Iohn of Leyden Rottman Knipperdolling Kippenbroke Iohn Matthias and the rest of that Gang under the Imposture of Inspiration and Conscience Their Sacking and Burning of Towns Rapes and Massacres And all this under the pretense of God's Command and the Direction of his Holy Spirit Nay so strongly was the deluded Multitude possest with the Doctrine and Ways of their False Prophets that the Muncerians upon the Charge of the Landtzgrave of Hesse stood stone still without striking a Blow calling upon the Holy Ghost to their Succour as Muncer had promised them till they were all Routed and Cut off Was it not a Holy Father and the Prior of the Convent one of the Heads of the League that confirm'd Clement in his purpose of Murthering Harry the Third of France For his Encouragement they assur'd him That if he out-liv'd the Fact he should be a Cardinal If he dy'd a Saint What was it again that originally disposed this Monster to that cursed Act Stimolato dalle Predicationi che giournallmente sentiva fare contra Henrico di Valois nominato il persecutore della Fede il Tyranno Seditious Sermons against the King as a Persecutor of the Faith and a Tyrant See in the same Author the Confession of Iohn Castle concerning his Attempt upon Harry the Great He had been brought up in the Jesuites School and Instructed That it was not only Lawful but Meritorious to destroy Harry of Bourbon That Revolted Heretique and Persecutor of the Holy Church Esaminato con le solite Forme confesso liberamente c. What was it that Animated Ravillac to his Hellish Practise upon that Brave Prince but by his own Confession A Discourse of Mariana's De Rege Regis Institutione It was a Divine Instinct too that mov'd Balthasar Gerard to Murther the Prince of Aurange Divino tantùm Instinctu id à se patratum constanter affirmabat diu Tortus To conclude now with That fresh and execrable Instance here at Home upon the Person of the Late King It was the Pulpit that started the Quarrel The Pulpit that Enflam'd it The Pulpit that Christen'd it God's Cause The Pulpit that conjur'd the People into a Covenant to defend it The Pulpit that blasted the King that pursu'd him that prest the putting of Him to Death and the Pulpit that applauded it when it was done And how was all this effected I beseech ye but by Imposing upon the weak and inconsiderate Multitude Errors for Truths by perverting of Scriptures and by These Arts moulding the Passions and the Consciences of the People to the Interest of a Tumultuary Design These are the Fruits of the Toleration you demand Reflect soberly upon what has been said and Tell me Do you think such a Toleration either fit for You to Ask or for Authority to Grant N. C. The Truth is In this Latitude there may be great Inconveniences And yet methinks 't is Pitty in Cases of some Honest Mistakes that a Good Man should be punished for not being a Wise Man C. And were it not a greater Pitty do ye think for a State to keep no Check upon Crafty Knaves for fear of disobliging some Well-meaning Fools As to the Sparing of the Man I wish it could be done even where it were Impious to give Quarter to the Opinion But how shall we separate the Errour from the Person so as to make a General Law take notice of it It were Irreligious to Tolerate Both and it seems to me Impossible to sever them If you your self now can either prove the former to be Lawful that is to do Evil that Good may come of it or the latter to be Practicable I 'le agree with you for a General Toleration If not I hope you 'l joyn with me against it N. C. I am not for a Toleration as I told you against the Light of Nature nor would I have any Pretense of Conscience admitted that leads to the Destruction of the Magistrate and the Disturbance of the Government C. That is to say You will content Your self with a Limited Toleration which I fear upon the Debate will prove as much too narrow for you as the Other was too wide SECT II. LIMITED TOLERATION too Narrow and Disobliging to the Excluded Party C. BY a Limited Toleration we may understand A Legal Grant of Freedom and Immunity in Matters of Religion to Persons of such and such Perswasions and to no Others N. C. Or if you please An Exemption from the Lash of the Act of Uniformity C. You say something if This would do the Work But to dissolve a Solemn Law for the Satisfaction of Some Particulars and at last leave the People worse then we found them were certainly a gross Oversight However what 's your Quarrel to it N. C. I think it a great Cruelty to confine a multitude of differing Judgments to the same Rule and to punish a Consciencious People for those Disagreements which they can neither avoid nor relinquish C. Why will you Practise that Cruelty your selves then which you condemn in others For Limited Toleration is an Act of Uniformity to those that are excluded They that are within the Comprehension will be well enough But what will become of them that are left out who have Consciences as well as their Fellows and as good a Title to an Indulgence as those that are
Wicked Governour But that the Universality of the People may Lawfully do it I think no Body questions Fixum Ratúmque habeatur Populi semper esse debere Supremam Majestatem P. 9. VII The People may enter into a Covenant for Reformation without the Consent of the Chief Magistrate There is much Sin in making a Covenant on Sinful Grounds and there is more Sin in Keeping it But when the Preservation of true Religion and the Vindication of Just Liberties meet in the Ground Ye may Swear and not Repent Yea if Ye Swear Ye must not Repent P. 18. Not only is That Covenant which God hath made with Us founded in the Blood of Christ but That also which We make with God P. 33. The Breach of the National Covenant is a Greater Sin then a Sin against a Commandment or against an Ordinance 158. A Sin of so high a Nature that God cannot in Honour but be avenged upon 't 159. VIII RELIGION may be Propagated by the SWORD The Question in England is Whether Christ or Anti-Christ shall be Lord or King Go on therefore Couragiously Never can ye lay out your Blood in such a Quarrel Christ shed all his Blood to save You from Hell Venture All Yours to set Him upon his Throne P. 23. Cursed be he that withholdeth his Sword from Blood that spares when God saith Strike that suffers those to escape whom God has appointed to Destruction P. 24. In the 10 of Numbers you shall read that there were Two Silver Trumpets and as there were Priests appointed for the Convocation of their Assemblies so there were Priests to sound the Silver Trumpets to Proclaim the War And likewise in the 20 of Deuteronomy you shall find there that when the Children of Israel would go out to War the Sons of Levi one of the Priests was to make a Speech to Encourage them And certainly if this were the Way of God in the Old Testament certainly much more in such a Cause as This in which Cause Religion is so entwin'd and indeed so enterlac'd that Religion and This Cause are like Hippocrates his Twins they must live and dye together You have vowed in This Covenant to Assist the Forces raised by the Parliament according to your Power and Vocation and not to Assist the Forces raised by the King neither Directly nor Indirectly P. 45. Now let me exhort you not only to chuse to serve God and to serve his Church and his Cause in this most Iust Defensive War c. 46. In vain shall you in your Fasts with Josua ly on your Faces unless you lay your Achans on their Backs In vain are the High Praises of God in your Mouthes without a Two-edged Sword in your Hands P. 31. The Execution of Iudgment is the Lords Work and they shall be Cursed that do it Negligently and Cursed shall they be that keep back their Sword from Blood in this Cause You know the Story of Gods Message unto Ahab for letting Benhadad go upon Composition P. 26. Whensoever you shall behold the hand of God in the Fall of Babylon say â—…rue Here is a Babylonish Priest crying out Alas Alas My Living I have Wife and Children to Maintein I but all this is to perform the Iudgment of the Lord. P. 30. Though as Little Ones they call for Pitty yet as Babylonish they call for Iustice even to Blood IX There lies an Appeal from the Letter of the Law to the EQUITY of it And from the Law Written to the Law of NATURE The Commander going against the EQUITY of the Law gives Liberty to the Commanded to refuse Obedience to the Letter of it There is a Court of Necessity no less then a Court of Justice and the Fundamental Laws must then speak and it is with a People in this Extremity as if they had no Ruler P. 113. The People have given the Politique Power to the King and the NATURAL Power they Reserve to Themselves 151. All Humane Laws and Constitutions are made with Knees to bend to the Law of NATURE and NECESSITY P. 85. Here is more then enough said already and to go on as far as the Matter would carry us there would be no End on 't You are now at â—…berty either to deny These to be the Positions of the Non-Conâ—… or to justifie the Positions themselves or to lay down your Plea for Toleration upon the Innocency of their Principles N. C. I am no Friend to These Positions Neither can I yet quit my Claiâ—… unless you make it out that These are the Principles of the Party which I take to be only the Errours of Individuals C. Shew me the Party and let me alone to prove These to be Their Principles But if you will not acknowledge a Party they are as you say but the Errours of Individuals though all the Non-Conformists in the Three Kingdoms should own them under their Hands You call your selves Non-Confermists and so were they that both began and carried on the Late War Great Apprehensions they had of the Designs of the Popish Party So have you Mightily offended they were at the Immoderate Power of the Bishops You again Petitioners for the taking away such Oppressions in Religion Church Government and Discipline as had been brought in and Fomented by them Your very Picture still And for Uniting all such together as joyn in the same Fundamental Truths against the Papists â—…hy removing some Oppressions and Unnecessary Ceremonies by which Divers weak Consciences have been scrupled and seem to be divided from the rest The very Platform of your Comprehension Thus far You march Hand in Hand I need not tell you what followed upon 't but Your Parts are so much alike that it looks as if We were now again upon the first Seene of the same Tragedy For a Conclusion Conformity or In-Conformity seem'd at first to be the Sum of the Question and the Discipline of the Church was made the Ground of the Quarrel The Ruâ—…ing Party in the Pretended Parliament were Non-Conformists The Army Non-Conformists The Preâ—…ended Assembly of Divines were Non Conformists The City-Ministers and Lecturers Non-Conformists And by the Solâ—…mn League and Covenant every Man that took it was to be a Non-Conformist upon pain of Damnation Now take Your Choice since Non-Conformists you are Whether you 'l Range your selves under the Parliament Your Army Your Assembly Your City-Ministers Or Your Solemn League and Covenant And let me bear the Blame if I make it not as clear as the Day That the Principles charg'd upon You are the Principles of Your Party As to your PRACTISES They haue been suitable to your POSITIONS and All those Violences have been Exercised upon the Government that were first Dictated in the Pulpit The Lawfulness of Popular Insurrections Of Deposing and Putting Kings to Death under the Cloak of Reformation has been vented as the Doctrine of Iesus Christ even
and Unity of the Church for Trifles Things Indifferent and relating to Outward Order and Worship N. C. In Prescribed Forms and Rites of Religion The Conscience will interpose and concern it self and Cannot resign it self to the Dictates of Men in the Points of Divine Worship And Those Injunctions which to the Imposers are Indifferent in the Consciences of the Dissenters are Unlawful And What Humane Authority can warrant any One to put in Practice an Unlawful Or Suspected Action Pa. 26. C. If This be really Conscience You will be found as Cautious in venturing deliberately upon a Suspected Action in all other Cases as you are in This. But what if it shall appear that This Fit of Tenderness only takes you when you are to pay an Obedience to the Law and that you are as Bold as Lions when you come to oppose it Will you not allow us to think it possible that there may be somewhat more in the Importunities and Pretences of the Non-Conformists then Matter of CONSCIENCE 'T is a Suspected Action to Kneel at the Sacrament but None to hold up your Hands at the Covenant You make a Conscience of disclaiming the Obligation of That Covenant in Order to the Security of the Government But None at all of Leaguing your selves in a Conspiracy for the Subversion of it Where was your Tenderness in Suspected Cases when to Encourage Rapine Sacriledge and Rebellion was the Common Business of your Counsels and Pulpits When it was safer to Deny the Trinity then to Refuse the Covenant When the same Persons that started at a Ceremony made no Scruple at all of Engaging the Kingdom in Blood and laying Violent Hands upon their Sovereign Is not This Streining at a Gnat and swallowing a Camel N. C. The Non-Conformists I know are charged with Principles that detract from Kingly Power and Tend to advance Popular Faction It is true They have been Eager Asserters of Legal Liberties Pag. 40. But These are Things gone and Past and Nothing to our Present Purpose The Wise Man says He that repeateth a Matter separateth very Friends A looking back to former Discords mars the most hopeful Rediâ—…egration Acts of Indemnity are Acts of Oblivion also and must be so observed Pa. 41. C. The Non-Conformists The Sole Actors in the late War were only Eager Asserters it seems of Legal Liberties You do not deal so Gingerly with the Bishops in the Point of Ceremonies as to let them come off with the Character of Eager Assertors of Legal Authorities So that herein also Your Consciences stumble at Straws and leap over Blocks Now Whereas You will have it that a Reflection upon former Discords is a Violation of the Act of Indemnity And Impertinent to Our Purpose My Answer is First That I do not revive the Memory of former Discords as a Reproach But I make use of some Instances out of former Passages to make Good my Assertion That Your Conjunct Impâ—…rtunity for a Toleration is not grounded upon Conscience And to shew you that your Practises and Professions grin One upon Another For Conscience is all of a Piâ—…ce Not Tender and Delicate on the One side and Callous and Unfeeling on the Other Secondly Suppose We should make a little Bold with the Act of Oblivion I think We have as much right to do it as You have to fall foul upon the Act of Uniformity Unless you conceive that the Mercy you have received by One Law gives You a Privilege of Invading all the rest As to Authority it is One and the Same in Both and if there were any place for Complaint against the Equity of a Legal Establishment it would lie much Fairer against the Act of Indemnity on the behalf of the Royallists that have ruined their Estates and Families in the Defence of the Law and yet after all are thereby condemned to sit down in Silence and Despair Then against the Act of Uniformity on the Behalf of the Non-Conformists Who by the One Law are secured in the Profits of their late Disobedience And by the Other are taken into the Arms of the Church according to the Ancient and Common Rule with the Rest of His Majesties Protestant Subjects The Same Rule I say saying where it is Moderated with Abatements and Allowances in Favour of Pretended Scruples N. C. Whereas you make the Non-Conformists the Sole Actors in Our late Confusions You run your self upon a great Mistake For It hath been manifested to the World by such as Undertook to Iustifie it when Authority should require That the Year before the King's Death A Select Number of Iesuiâ—…s being sent from their whole Party in England Consulted both the Faculty of Sorbonne and the Pope's Council at Rome touching the Lawfulness and Expediency of Promoting the Change of Government by making away the King Whom They Despaired to turn from his Hereste It was Debated and Concluded in Both Places That for the Advancement of the Catholick Cause It was Lawful and Expedient to Carry on that Alteration of State This Determination was effectually pursued by many Iesuits that came over and Acted their Parts in several Disguises Pag. 15. C. If This be True and Proveable as You affirm it is You cannot do the Protestant Cause a more Important Service then to make it out to the Parliament Who You know have judg'd the Matâ—…er Worthy of their Search and have appointed a Committee to receive Informations Pa. 2. Nay which is more You are a Betrayer of the Cause if you do it not The WHOLE PARTY in England do you say Prove out This and you kill the whole Popish Party at a Blow This was the Year before the King's Death it seems Whas not That within the Retrospect of the Act of Indemnity If so tell me I beseech you Why may not We take the same Freedom with the Non-Conformists that You do with the Papists N. C. We shall never have done if you lash out thus upon Digressions Pray keep to the Question C. As close as you please What if a Man should shew You a Considerable Number of the Eminent and Active Instruments in the late War to be now in the Head of the present Outcry for Toleration Take This into your Supposition too that These very Persons promoted Our Troubles This very Way and Proceeded from the Reformation of Discipline to the Dissolution of Government Are We bound in Charity to take all their Pretensions of Scruple for real Tenderness of Conscience N. C. Beyond all Question unless you can either Evidence their Errour to be Unpardonable or the Men Themselves Impenitent C. Why then let Amesius determine betwixt Us. Peccata illa quae publicè fuerunt nota debent etiam Confessione Publicâ damnari quià ad quos malum ipsum Exempli Contagione pervenerat ad eos etiam Poenitentiae ac Emendationis Documentum si fieri possit delet transmitti PUBLIQUE SINS require PUBLIQUE CONFESSION To the End that as many as
remember were These Imprisonment without Bail or Main-prize for being Present at Unlaâ—…ul Conveâ—…ricles The Offender to be discharged if within Three Months He made his Open Submission and Acknowledgment in the Form by the said Statute appointed But in Case of Recusancy to Conform within That time He was required to Abjure the Realm And in Case of Refusing to Abjure Or of not Departing within a limited Lime Or of Returning without Licence to be proceeded against as a Felon without Benefit of Clergy N. C. And yet you see for all your New-modelling of Corporations Prohibiting of Conventicles Removing Non-Conformists five Miles from the Place of their Usual Supports and Influences Nevertheless the State Ecclesiastical hath advanced little in the Esteem Acceptance or Acquiescence of the People C. This is very True and if Other Laws for the Prevention of Capital Crimes were no better Executed then That for Uniformity Your Argument would lie as fair every jot for the Toleration of Murder as it does now for Schism But however it succeeded well with Queen Elizabeth and not worse with King Iames as appears by the Story His Majesty under Twelve Years Old took the Government of Scotland into his Hand The Year following the Ministers presented a Form of Church-Policy to the Parliament then Sitting and upon the Debate matters were agreed as far as Possible without Prejudice to the King's Authority and the Liberty of the Subject And These Points were either referr'd to further Consideration or pass'd over in Silence The Assembly took snuff at this Dâ—…latory way of Proceeding and without more adoe pass'd a Vote for doing their own Business without asking the Parliament leave They began with the Arch-Bishop of Glasgow and presently fell upon the whole Order requiring Them to renounce their Temporal Titles Their Civil Iurisdiction To decline their Votes in Parliament and to submit themselves to a Retrenchment of their Episcopal Revenues Their next step was the Demolishing of the Cathedral at Glasgow But when the Quarriers were just entring upon the Work the Tradesmen of the Town in an Uproar threaten'd the Undertakeâ—…s and so they quitted it But not without a Complaint to the Council of the Insolence of the Mutineers Which came to This Issue his Majesty justifi'd the Tradesmen and forbad the Ministers any further meddling in the Destroying of Churches And This was all the Cheque they had for so lewd an Outrage In 1579 The King wrote to the Ministers not to prejudge the Decisions of the Parliament then approaching by the Conclusions of their Assembly and to Forbear the Practice of any Innovations till their Meeting Whereupon instead of Complying they proceeded to a Positive Resolution of Adhering to their Former Conclusions Question'd the Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews for giving his Voice in Parliament and soon after by an Act of Assembly They commanded the Bishops under Pain of Excommunication not to Exercise the Office of Pastors in any sort whatsoever without Licence from the General Assembly and further directing the Patrimony of the Church to be so disposed of as they should judg Reasonable at their next Convention Thus by Degrees growing Bolder and Bolder upon Forbearance The Particulars of their Usurpations would be too tedious I could otherwise tell you of their Iustification of the Treasonous Seizure of the King at Ruthuen Their Propositions and Compleints in 1583 with the King 's Gentle Return Their Covenants and Seditious Practices even to the Encouraging and Avowing of Open Rebellion And still the more Plyant and Easie his Majesty was The more Contumacious and Untractable were these People In the End What with the Tumult at Edinburgh in 1596 and the Ministers Band of Confederacy immediately upon it The King was forced upon a Resolution of Rigor and Severity and as Spotswood observes he received little or no Opposition thereafter At his Majesties Entry upon the Government of England the Ceremonies of his first Reception and Inauguration were scarce over but He was assaulted with Petitions and Importunities about the Reformation of the Government and Liturgie of the Church in the Name of Thousands of Godly Learned and Conscientious Men that could not Conform Whereupon a Proclamation was Issued for a Conference to be held at Hampton-Court in Ianuary 1604. So many Bishops and Deans appointed for the Church and for the Petitioners there appeared Dr. Reynolds Dr. Sparkes Mr. Knewstubb and Mr. Chadderton The Points in Controversie were Particularly and Solemnly Debated and in the End such Satisfaction given even to the Plaintiffs Themselves that they all promis'd Obedience and Dr. Sparkes became afterward an Advocate for the Orders of the Church and wrote a Treatise for Conformity Knewstubb indeed boggled a little and desired to know How far an Ordinance of the Church was Binding without Offence to CHRISTIAN LIBERTY Upon which General Question The King turn'd short and Answer'd him Le Royâ—…s ' avisera Let us have no more of Those Questions How far you are bound to Obey what the Church has once Ordeined But Conform at your Peril While the Business was fresh they made a faint Pretense of Appealing to another Conference but upon second Thoughts they let it totally fall and never gave the King any further Trouble upon That Subject Thus far you see the Government has been preserv'd by strictness of Order and Uniformity We come now to those Fatalities of Tenderness and Relaxation that destroy'd us N. C. You never consider that the Non-Conformists are more Numerous and Powerful now then formerly they were by many Degrees and that the Dissenters Cause has got Ground upon the Church-Interest ever since But follow your Discourse C. In the First of the late King was exhibited in Parliament A Petition among other Matters for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Restoring of Silenc'd Ministers to which his Majesty return'd a Gracious and Yielding Answer which produc'd a Remonstrance of Miscarriages in Government Insomuch that his Majesty was forced to Dissolve That Parliament In the Second Year of his Reign He call'd another Parliament which pursu'd the same Method and went a little Higher then the Former So that the King was fain to Dissolve That too In the Year following the King call'd Another and upon their Meeting went somewhat a quicker way to work with them Minding them in a short and pertinent Speech of their Past Failings advising them to steer a more Peaceable Course for the Future and not to put him upon Extremities to provide for the Safety of his People This change of Stile and Resolution in his Majesty drew Immediately from the Commons a Grant of Five Subsidies The King was too Generous and Candid to take That Present for a Bait and Relapsing into his former Temper of Charity and Softness was presently accosted with The Petition of Right which after some Difficulty and Demur His Majesty passes And after This followed a Petition Remonstrance and Protestation which put an End also to That
Candour which I expected from You. But the Main Stress of your Argument lies against the Whole Party of the Non-Conformists And in effect against any Toleration at all with little or no Regard to those Accommodable Points that might have brought the Matter in Difference to some sort of Composure C. It is very True That I am utterly against Tolerating the Whole Party as a Thing of Certain Inconvenience to Religion and Government and to the Ruine no less of your selves then of the Publique Will Presbytery ever satisfie the Independents Conscience Or will Liberty any better suit with the Presbyterians And yet you could both of you joyn with the Directory against the Common Prayer with the Authority of the Pretended Assembly against That of the Church wherein you have given Proof to the World that you were not United upon any Consideration of Conscience but with a Design upon a Common Booty Ye overturn'd the Government Divided the Spoil Enrich't your selves Embroiled every thing and Settled Nothing And yet in those Days there was no Act of Uniformity to hinder you This is enough to make Evident that the Non-Conformists are Intolerable in Conjunction But if you think fit to make a Tryal how far any sort of them may agree with our Standard of Toleration Apart Plead you the Cause of the Presbyterians and let your Brother Independent here that has been a Witness to our whole Debate take up the Cudgels for his own Party Not forgetting that In the Question of TOLERATION the Foundation of FAITH GOOD LIFE and GOVERNMENT is to be Secur'd N. C. According to what Latitude are we to understand that which you call the Foundation of FAITH C. According to the Latitude of the APOSTLES CREED wherein are conteined All the Articles of Simple Faith which are Necessary to be Explicitly Believed And whatsoever was found by Them to be Necessary and Sufficient to Salvation continues so still and ought to be so Received and Acknowledged by Us without insisting upon Deductions and Consequences as Points of Prime and Fundamental Necessity though Occasionally and Obliquely they become Necessary too This is the Word of Faith which we Preach that if thou shalt Confess with thy Mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt believe in thy Heart that God hath raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved Here 's the Foundation of FAITH And in That of GOOD LIFE respect is to be had to Morality that nothing be Tolerated to the Encouragement of Loosness Sensuality and Dissolution of Manners As there is an Absolute Necessity of Providing against Doctrines and Opinions of this Quality so I think there will be no great Difficulty either of Discovering or of Suppressing them For they are of a Condition so Notorious that they ly open to all People and then so Odious they are by reason of the Gross Impiety and Scandal that they have no Friends upon the Face of the Earth for their own sakes I mean but the profest Enemies Christianity and Nature It is another Case when they are made use of in Subserviency to a Faction So that you may save your selves the Trouble of Catechising your Brethren upon These two Points and rather spend your Time upon the remaining Caution for Securing the Government which will be much more to Our Purpose For the Matter we are now upon is a Question rather of Policy then of Religion Toleration Discuss'd BETWIXT A PRESBYTERIAN AND AN INDEPENDENT SECT XXV An Enquiry upon a Short and Impartial Survey of the Rise Progress and Issue of the War raised by the Two Houses in 1641. Whether were more Criminal The PRESBYTERIANS or the INDEPENDENTS Presb. IN all our Arguments and Pleas for Toleration we are still hit in the Teeth as in Bar to our Demands with Dangerous Practises and Opinions The Murther of the Late King The Over-turning of the Government and that we have a mind to serve the Son as we did the Father Now forasmuch as the Fact is undeniable and truly the Exception but Reasonable as to those that did it We are first to clear our selves of that Execrable Fact wherein I am content to become an Undertaker for the Presbyterians And to speak afterward to the Iustification of our Principles and Opinions Indep Give me leave then to Plead the Cause of the Independents and to observe to you in the first place that the Scotch Non-Conformists under King Iames were Totally Presbyterian and so were the English Puritans under Queen Elizabeth Presb. Were the Anabaptists Familists and Brownists that started up in Those Days Presbyterians Indep Some Dutch Anabaptists came over indeed in 1560 but one Proclamation scatter'd them Immediately And then for the Familists and Brownists you speak of Alas They gave the Executioner more Trouble then the Government and were Supprest as soon as Detected But the Formal and United Confederacy was still Presbyterian and you must overthrow all the Memorials and Records of Those Times to gainsay it Briesly If you look forward you will find the Presbyterians again under King Iames at Hampton Court The Presbyterians again in the several Parliaments under King Charles the First and so the same Hand still to the beginning of the Scottish Broils in 1637. which was but the Midwifry of the Plot they had been so long a Hammering Presb. You make nothing it seems of the Turbulent Independents that went away to New England Holland and other Parts beyond the Seas with all the Clamour and â—…ancour Imaginable against the Government Indep Not to Justifie them in their Clamour I must yet recommend their Departure as a fair Testimony that they withdrew upon Conscience For by this Secession they put themselves out of Condition to carry on a Faction Whereas The Presbyterians that had a further Design in Prospect stood their Ground watch'd their Advantages and gain'd their End Presb. All this is but Talk without Proof Indep It will be granted I suppose that the Scottish Tumults in 1637. and the Râ—…bel ion upon the neck of them in 1638 were advanc'd upon a Presbyterian accompt and consequently that Those were of the same Leven that Voted them Good Subjects and Money for their peins and Adopted them their DEAR BRETHREN for so doing Were not the Principals of the Faction in the Long Parliament every Man of them Presbyterian Were not the Army and Assâ—…mbly Presbyterian And all their Votes Actions and Conclusions Influenc'd accordingly Who were they that Invited the Scots into England the Second time Nov 7. 164â—… That Imposed the Covenant Prosecuted the War under the Countenance of it and made it the Test of Discrimination betwixt the Malignant and Well affected Parties That Settled the Directory Nay the Presbytery it self Were not These Presbyterians Who were they but Presbyterians that stripp't the King of his Regalities and Revenues Commission'd an Army against him Fought him Pursu'd him and in fine brought him to utter Ruine Presb. You will find the Late King of another
the very supposition of a Law possible which may not some way or other be said to CONCERN Ecclesiastical Matters Presb. You take no notice how this Power is clogg'd with Limitations If they be found Unprofitable Unseasonable or to be abused by the People Indep Very good And if the Kirk shall think fit to find them so or so Pray'e What Remedy Bâ—…t their own Avowed Actions and Declarations are the Best Comments upon their own Principles Under King Iames in Scotland nothing was more ordinary then over-Ruling Acts of Parliament by the Acts of the Assembly Did they not erect a Counsel of the Church in Edenborough 1596. and take upon them to Convene Examine and Censure at pleasure such as they suspected to hold any Correspondence with certein Excommunicate Lords did they not also appoint to meet in Armes at the Tryal of them Nor did they think it enough to Rescind or supersede Acts of Parliâ—…ment and General Assâ—…mblies but People must be Quâ—…stion'd too for yielding Obedience to Acts of Parliament and of General Counsels under Colour of Unjust Laws Wee 'l close this particular with the Judgment of the Commissioners of the General Assembly of Scotland of May 5. 1648. The Authority of Parliament is one thing an Act of Parliament another thing We do still acknowledg their Authority when we obey not This or That Act. And whatsoever be the TREASON of Impugning the Authority of PARLIAMENâ—… It can be no Treason to obey GOD rather then MAN Neither did the General Assembly of Glasgow 1638. and such as were active for the Covenant at That time commit any Treason when they Impugned Episcopacy and Pâ—…rch Articles although ratify'd and strengthen'd by Acts of PARLIAMENT and standing LAWS then Unrepealed Presb. When we have once gotten Power into our hands we are all too apt to abuse it But I cannot yet perswade my self that the Root of these Practises is to be found in their Principles Their Books of Discipline are Publick and no Government would ever entertein it if there were such danger in it Indep How was the Covenant entertein'd or who would have dream'd of any harm in a League for the Preservation and Defence of the King's Majestie 's Person and Authority And yet the Presbyterian Interpretation and Salvo of Subordinating his Majesties SAFETY and PRESERVATION to the Defence of the TRUE RELIGION immediately following and the Kirks assuming to Themselves the Judgment of that Religion brought both King and Church to Destruction Nor can you choose but Observe the Holy Discipline and Covenant to be both of a Stile and both of a Design Their Claim concerning Ecclesiastical Matters hooks in all Laws and In the Defence of the true Religion They usurp an Authority over all Magistrates This Discipline at the best is but a Worm at the Root of Civil Government Wheresoever it comes the Secular Power hangs the head and droops upon it and never thrives after But to Sovereign Princes a man might say of it as God said to Adam of the Apple In the day you eat thereof you shall dye the death Now as it is manifestly destructive of Law in the very Foundations of it to carry an Appeal from all Temporal Governours and Constitutions to the Scepter and Sentence of Christ sitting upon his TRIBUNAL in the PRESBYTERY the Language of Beza himself so likewise have they their Preparatory Artifices for Obstructing the Execution of Law and for the Weakening and Distracting of a Government before they enter upon the Great Work of Dissolving it And this is effected by the Trojan Horse as one calls it of their Excommunication that carries all the Instruments and Engines of Publique Ruine and Confusion in the belly of it By Virtue of this Device they do not only impose upon all Ministers and Courts of Justice but they may when they please as Hooker observes send out their Writs of Surcease and fetch in the whole Business of Westminster-Hall to the Bar of the Consistory Or at the fairest according to Beza's Distinction if they allow the Civil Iudg to try the Fact as mere Civile yet de Iure Controverso Ecclesiasticum Synâ—…drium constat Respondisse The Church was to determine in matter of Law and the Civil Magistrate after That to pronounce Sentence according to That Decision Briefly Beza gives the Presbytery the same Power under the Gospel which was Exercised by the Synagogue under the Law But now to the Point of your Excommunication and to shew you in what manner it is apply'd to hinder the Execution of Law and to obstruct Civil Iustice. By One Clause of your Discipline You may Abrogate what Laws you please concerning Ecclesiastical Matters And by Another The Minister is Authorized to handle External things for Conscience Cause So that your Authoritâ—… is without Controul in Ecclesiastical Matters and so is your Liberty of handling Civil Matters as Ecclesiastical Upon which Bottom was founded an Assertion not long since mainteined at the Savoy i. e. That the Command of a most Lawful Act is sinful if That Act commanded may prove to any One a Sin per Accidens Now if the Kirk shall think fit to Abrogate a Law as nothing more frequent whoever shall presume to Execute That Law is sure to be Excommunicate And the Supreme Magistrate himself is no less lyable to Church Censure for not Executing That Sentence then the Inferior Magistrate was for his Original Disobedience The Bishop of St. Andrews in 1586 was Excommunicate for Advising King Iames to a Declaration against Certein Fugitive Ministers that were denounced Rebels and Contriving the Statutes of 1584. touching The Kings Authority in Ecclesiastical Causes Knox is for Excommunication in all Crimes that are Capital by the Law of God and in effect for the Churches Tryal of the very Fact It was not for nothing that the Two Houses held the Assembly so long in Play upon this Point and in Despight of all Importunities to the Contrary kept the staffe still in their own Hands and reserved to Themselves the Ultimate Appeal in Cases of Excommunication Presb Was it not rather the Work of the Independents Who to say the Truth were as much against any Settlement at all as against That And against the very Convening of the Assembly it self Indep And they had done the State a good Office if they had totally hindred it But this is beside our Business We have said enough as to the Dangerous Influence of Presbytery upon the Security of his Majesty and the Law It remains now to be considered with a respect to the Rights and Liberties of the People SECT XXX The Question of Toleration betwixt Presbytery and Independency Debated with a Regard to the Rights Liberties and Advantages of the PEOPLE Indep YOU see how it is with Kings Parliaments and Laws under the Dominion of Presbytery We are now to look into the Condition of the Nobility Gentry Commonalty and of the Presbyterial Clergy it self under
and the Wife Presb. These are Objections rather of Passion and Extravagance then of Argument Indep They are no other then such Conclusions as the Premisses will very well bear Presb. I have heard indeed of several Wild and sensless Scruples charg'd upon the Independents As that they have made it a matter of Religion to Piss abed and ride Hobby-Horses because it is said Except ye become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 18. 3. Indep Pray give me leave to requite You with three or four Presbyterian Scruples out of Bancrofts Survey of the Pretended Holy Discipline page 368. Move Mr. Cartwright and some other Our Reverend Brethren to deliver their Iudgments Whether all laying out of Hair be forbidden to all Women especicially at their Repair to the Publick Meetings of the Church A Question riseth in my Mind Whether one that Professeth Christ truly may according to the same Profession delight in and use Hawking and Hunâ—…ing so no Unchristian Behaviour otherwise be joyned therewith Let me know your Iudgment particularly Whether it be in any respect tolerable for Women that profess Religion and the Reformation to Wear Dublets Little Hats with â—…eathers great Gowns after the French and Outlandish Fashion Great Ruffes and Hair either Cuâ—…led or Frisled or set out upon Wires and such like Devices I would be glad to have your Iudgment in the Fourth Commandment Whether the strict Prohibition of not kindling Fire on the Sabbath be of the Substance of the Moral Precept In the same Author you will find a Catalogue of Pleasant Names too The Lord is Near. More Tryal Reformation Discipline Ioy again Sufficient From above Free Gifts More Fruit. Dust. And in the next Page he tells you of one Snape that proceeded toward the Baptizing of a Child till they came to Name it Richard and then brake off for fear it would not have prov'd a Christian if he had so Baptized it I cannot pass from these Phantastical Absurdities in your Practises without some Reflection upon those in your Constitution To say nothing of your Disagreements among your selves about your Officers and Discipline What can be more Ridiculous than to Authorize a Cobler to Correct Majesty Mechanicks to Determine in Points of Faith Are not your Elders joyn'd in Commission with your Ministers for the Examination of the Person that offers himself to the Ministry in all the Chief Points in Controvorsie betwixt us and the Papists Anabaptists Arrians c Are not the Elders and Deacons fit Persons think ye to be made Iudges of Theological Niceties and to Admonish and Reprove a Minister that Propones not faithful Doctrine Has not your General Assembly rather the Face of a Council of State then of a Counsel of the Church And in Truth the Business too Behold the Composition I beseech ye of the Pretended Assembly at Glasgow 1638. Seven Earls Ten Lords Forty Gentlemen And One and Fifty Burgesses to Determine of Faith and Church Censures Now to take a Brief View of the whole What greater Slavery in the world can be imagined then to live in Subjection to a Government where you shall have neither Freedom of Conscience Law Person or Fortune Where you shall not Speak Look Move Eat Drink Dress your self Nay not so much as entertein a Thought but at your Peril And to be in This Bondage too unto the Meanest and most Insolent of your Fellows For none but such will ever engage themselves in the Exercise of so Inhumane a Tyranny And for a further Aggravation of the Shame and Guilt of the Faction Let me desire you but to cast an eye upon their Proceedings under King Iames in Scotland and here under Queen Elizabeth where you shall find that they were never so Impetuous and Bold as when they found the King and the State in Distress upon the Apprehension of Forreign Dangers And so for the Queen upon the business of Eighty Eight Whereas the Independents never so confined themselves to the Prosecution of their Private Interests as to Hazard the Betraying of their Countrey to Forreigners And particularly in the Late Engagements at Sea against the French and Dutch many of them have given Signal Testimony and Proof of their Fidelity and Valour I should not have Engross'd This whole Discourse to my self but in Persuance of a Point wherein you have Confest before-hand that you had nothing further to oppose That is to say Concerning the Principles of the Parties in Question Neither is any thing I have hitherto deliver'd to be taken as a Challenge and Claim of a Toleration of such a Quality as to enter into a Competition with the Peace and Security of the Publique But This I prâ—…mise my self that if it shall appear reasonable to Authority to allow of any Relaxation The Independents Plea upon all Considerations of Common Equity and Safety will stand good against That of the Presbyterians From whose Triple-Crown'd Consistory that Lords it Over Souls Bodies and Estates Over Kings Nobles and Commons Over Laws Magistrates and all Sorts and Ranks of Men and Interests That turns Gospel into Law Communities into Deserts Men into Beasts GOOD LORD DELIVER US THE END a Amesius de Consci b Indulg Toler p. 13. c Liberty of Conscience upon its true and proper Grounds p 3. d Free Disputation p. 3. Indulg Toler p. 13. Rom. 2. 14. Laud against Fisher p. 197. Rom. 7. 7. Rom. 4. 15. Rom. 5. 13. 1 Tim. 1. 13. Indulg Toler p. 13 14. Mat. 5. 5. Luke 19. 27. * In his Book of the Covenant Mat. 24. Sleydan's Comment l. 4. Davila delle Guer. Civ di Fran. l. 10. Ibid. Lib. 14. Strada de Bello Belgieo l. 5. Liberty of Consc. upon its true and proper Grounds p. 12. Disc. of Relig. Preface Institur de Libertate Christiana 1 Joh. 4. 3. â—…5 Lib. of Consc. p. 37. Lib. of Consc. p. 38. Liâ—… of Consc. p. 24. Lib. of Consc. p. 13 14. Lib. of Consc. p. 27. Lib. of Consc. p. 56. Ex. Coll. p. 2. 3. a Ex. Coll. p 84. b p. 339. c p. 609. d p. 764. e p 392. Ex. Coll. p. 533. p. 494. Spotswood Hist. Scotl. p. 487. Ibid. p 479 Mr. Baxter's Holy Common-wealth Printed 1659. Robert Douglass his Serm. Preach't at Scoone Ian. 1. 1651. Printed 1660. I. Goodwin's Anti-Cavalerism The Observator Right and Might well met Anno 1648. Parliament Physick Ahab's Fall Interest of England in the matter of Religion 1660. The Peoples Cause stated An. 1662. Lex Rex An. 1644. Ius Populi 1644. Declarat touching the 4 Bills March 13. 1647. Viâ—…dicia contra Tyrannos Printed 1648. Tenure of Kings 1649. Goodwin's Defence of the King's Sentence Mr. Baxter's Holy Common-wealth Tenure of Kings 1649. A Survey of the Grand Case Printed 1663. Mr. Baxter's Holy Common-wealth Mr. Faircloth before the Commons Mr. Sympson Scripture and Reason for Defensive Arms. 1643. English 〈◊〉