Hearts no manner of zeal for or against any Form of Religion any farther than as theiâ— other Ends and Designs were carried on by it I shall readily grant it him â—ay I shall say this farther That besides Religion the Civil Rights of the Nation were but plausible Colours by which the Leading Men of that Party did set off their other Ends such as Revenge Humour Discontent Covetousness and Ambition And this they were told publickly by one whom they knew to be able to make it good in the excellent Declaration of Aug. 12. 1642. Themselves know what Overtures have been made by them and with what Importunity for Offices and Preferments what great Services should have been done for us and what other undertakings were even to the saving the Life of the Earl of Strafford if we would confer such Offices upon them But that Religion was the thing which they did make shew of and by which they drew abundance of well meaning but deluded People to their assistanâ—â— is so plain and known so publickly that it is no little wonder that any should offer to outsâ—â—â— the Nation in so noâ—â—â—ious a Case Did not every Press and every Pulpit declare against Episcopacy Liturgy and Cereâ—onies Did not the Lords and Commons by their Votes of March 12. 1642. resolve upon the Question That an Army be forthwith raised for the Safety of the Kings Person c. and PRESERVING THE TRUE RELIGION c. Did they not in Iuly following put forth a Delaration concerning the miserable Distractions and Grievances this Kingdom now lieth in by means of JESUITICAL and wicked Cousellours now about his Majesty wherein they tell us over and over again of the Protestant Religion a great Change of Religion That they should be for ever earnest to prevent â— Civil War and those miserable Effects which it must needs produce if they may be avoided without the Alteration of RELIGION c. And in their Resolutions to live and die with the Earl of Essex they tell us That their Army was raised for the MAINTENANCE of the TRUE PROTESTANT RELIGION The Plaâ—e Wedding-rings Thimbles and Bodkins had never been brought in if it had not been that the Cause was so often called the Cause of God Let any man read the Remonstrances and Declarations of the Two Houses and then see whether Religion was not one of those things which they all along declared their Zeal for and accordingly in all the Parliaments Quarters the poor Surplice the Organs and the Common Prayer-book were the first Objects of all their Fury But because this present Design of Comprehension is particularly intended to gratifie some Clergy-men let us enquire under what name they recommended the War unto the People Was it not under the name of Gods Cause the setting Christ on his Throne fighting the Lords Battels There is a Collection of their Sermons Printed which will not suffer any Man to doubt of this out of which there is enough gathered to this purpose in Evangelium Armatum And This Mr. Baxter hath in a late Book confessed as to himself When the Wars began though the Cause it self lay iâ— Controversies between King and Parliament yet the thoughts that the Church and Godliness it self was deeply in danger by Persecution and Arminiaâ—isâ— did much more to byass me to the Parliaments side than the Civil Interest which at the heart I little regarded This Author likewise confesseth That whatever was the Cause at the first it soon became a War for Religion And Mr. Love a Person mentioned by this Author as one of great Merit in his Sermon at the Vxbridge Treaty complains of the so long letting alone the Two Plague-sores of Episcopacy and Common Prayer-Book The Seventh Proposition is this That the Parliamentarians in the beginning of our Troubles declared to abhorr and detest all Designs of deposing and murthering his Late Sacred Majesty That they did declare against any such thing I readily grant and amongst other Reasons for this laid down by our Author That it had been else impossible for them to have gained the people as they did But that there were among the chief Contrivers of the Wars Those who had a design upon the Kings Crown and Life is a thing where of there is great Evidence If it be lawful to fight with a King why is it not lawful to kill him Swords and Bullets are Things which are by no means to be used against that Person which we think we ought not to destroy And of the great danger which his Majesties Person was in at the Battel at Edge-hill himself hath informed us in a Declaration on that Subject And in the Remonstrance of May 26. 1642. the Lords and Commons did plainly assume to themselves a Right to depose the King in these words If we should make the highest Precedents of former Parliaments our Patterns there would be no cause to complain of want of Modesty and Duty in us when we have not so much as suffered those things to enter into our thoughts which all the World knows they put in act In which words there is thus much plainly contained That whatever former Parliaments have done they take themselves to have a Right to do Now former Parliaments have been over-awed into the deposing of Kings Now that they had their Eyes upon those particular Proceedings of former Parliaments appears by those Words All the World knows what they put in act His Majesty in His Answer to that Declaration of theirs tells us of two Gentlemen who said publickly unreproved in the Parliament House one That the Hâ—ppiness of this Kingdom did not depend upon Him or upon any of the Royal Branches of that Root Another That He was not worthy to be King of England And as for the Royal Power it was plainly demanded from him in the Nineteen Propositions The Eighth Consideration is this That the Non-conforming Presbyteriâ—â—â— had both their hearts and hands in the Restauration of His Majesty to His Royal Throne for which Mr. Love and Mr. Gibbons lost their Heads Of all things I should least have eâ—pected that the Advocates for the Presbyterians should have insisted upon their Merits to His Majesty or the Royal Family for which their best Apology is the Act of Oblivion and if they would have insisted yet however methinks they should of all men not have made Mr. Love the Person to have insisted on As for that Party of the Scots which he corresponded with it is no Part of their Wisdom to remind His Majesty of the Usage which he found from them As to Mr. Love the Learned Author of Saâ—aritanism hath informed us p. 152. That at the Execution of Archbishop Laâ—d he uttered these Words with great Triumph Art thou come Little Will I am glad to see thee here and hope to see the nest of the Bishops here e're long and having dipped his Handkerchief in his blood he rode with it to Vxbridge and used these Words Here is the
it useth in the other Discourses for Toleration When the Evidence of Truth hath forced from them one reasonable Concession that one Concession doth plainly give away from them nothing less than their whole Cause For pray tell me Constantine and the Christian Emperours are here commended for their care and oversight in Religious things and so our own Kings for securing to us the Protestant Religion Now was not all this done by Laws and Penalties and the Civil Sword and was there any possibility of having it done any other way This being premised as to the Exceptions themselves I briefly say this If no force is to be used in matters of Religion because it is an incompetent Method as being able to reach only to the Body and Estate but is by much too weak to reach unto the Mind this is a Difficulty not at all peculiar to the Gospel but common to that with all other Dispensations The Mind of a Man was as much a Spirit under the Law as it can be now and the Sword was made of as meer Matter in those days as it can be in these and therefore thus far the Case is one and the same As to the Second Exception That all Force is now unlawful because Christ hath not commanded it they have been told and have had it proved to them too in many parts of the Puritan Controversie that many things are lawful which there is no particular Command for that a thing becomes unlawful not by being not commanded but by being forbidden And this leads me directly to the Third Exception That all Force is plainly forbidden by St. Paul when he says 2 Cor. 10. v. 4. that The weapons of our warfare are not carnal Now this saying of the Apostle is so far from being a hibition of all Coercion in the Affairs of Religion that it doth plainly refer to a very great Coercion which himself did in these very words threaten for to use viz. the Censures of the Church in such a manner as to carry temporal Penalties along with them in manner miraculous visible and extraordinary And therefore it followeth in the next words that those Weapons which in themselves might be supposed weak yet if they were better looked into would be found to have a strength from God which they had not from themselves for they were not meerly carnal but mighty through God for the bringing down strong holds And to render it clear that these words have a penal meaning in them it follows that these Weapons are able to cast down imaginations and every high thought that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ And to put it out of all doubt that those Weapons had a coercive power in them the Apostle adds in a stile much beyond exhortation and advice nay much beyond a bare reproof that in the strength of them he would revenge all disobedience And as for the last most pressing and convincing Consideration That if Force was to be used in any affair of Religion at all it was of all others the most to be justified in order to the pulling down of Antichrist the greatest of all other Gospel-enemies But even in that Case it ought not to be used and therefore most certainly not in any other The Sword of the Spirit being the only Weapon by which Christ will destroy Antichrist the greatest Gospel-enemy which the World hath produced I shall not here take an advantage which I have already mentioned that the Sword of the Spirit doth in Scripture signifie something which carries Coercion along with it but shall be contented that that word be understood in the common meaning of it And upon that Supposition I believe that this Assertion of this learned Gentleman will scarce pass for true Doctrine in the Separated Congregations I am sure that there was a time when it would not have done so and I never yet heard that in this Point their Minds were altered How unlawful soever it may be for the Magistrate to make use of the Civil Sword in a Cause of Religion I am sure that it hath been often preached as a great Gospel Duty though in a Rebellion to make use of the Military one We have not forgot how often the Zeal of the Common People was inflamed against the King by telling them that the Cause then fought for was the Cause of God that their Persons and Estates were all too little to be sacrificed in this Concern of Religion and the question really was whether Christ or Anti-Christ should be King And so I return to our Author Amongst all the Arguments which are brought to prove the Compulsory Power of the Magistrate under the Gospel the greatest weight is laid upon the practice of the Kings of Israel and Judah and what they did under the Law in compelling men to the Worship of God then established In the due Consideration whereof we shall find the truth in hand no wayes invalidated and that what was then done by the Kings of Israel and Judah cannot reasonably be now made a Rule to Magistrates under the Gospel And that the Analogy will no way hold may be made appear both from the different station and posture those Kings were in from all Magistrates now and also from the different Condition of the Church then and now and many Circumstances peculiarly relating to both First the Worship and Policy of the Jews being in it self Typical and representative of what was to come hereafter their Government was likewise so and in their Kings very eminently Secondly God was pleased in those Times upon all eminent Occasions of Reformation in his Worship and Proceedings of that Nature to send Prophets to declare his positive Mind and to put an end to all Doubts that could be about such things Nay some of the Kings themselves were Prophets immediately inspired and did not only take care of the Worship established by Moses but did themselves by Divine Authority bring in things of a new Institution into the Worship of God Thus David did and Solomon in bringing Musick into the Temple and setling the Courses of the Priests and were divinely inspired to write part of the holy Scriptures No Magistrate now can pretend to any such power in themselves nor have they any such extraordinary direction to guide them but are punctually obliged to whatever Christ hath revealed in the Gospel And therefore in this respect the Analogy holds no way good The sum of all which is that no Argument ought to be drawn from the Examples of the Kings of Israel or Iudah whereby to prove the Power of any present Magistrates over the Affairs of Religion by reason of the great difference between those Magistrates and ours especially in these two respects First that they were Typical Secondly that in such Cases they had either Prophets sent to them or themselves were divinely inspired And in this part of the Argument if
their private Affairs and of joyning Counsels against the Publick And do they not breed up their Children and Relations in the very same Principles with themselves Now the greater Numbers there are of such People so much the greater care there ought to be taken that they be not permitted to meet together The Meeting-place is very well fitted for a Religious Rendevouz and the Spiritual Master of the Camp may not only deliver out his Orders at the same time with but may stamp upon them the Authority of the Oracles of God But in the next Place if the Government would please but to own it self the Numbers of these men would presently appear to be very inconsiderable and this hath no oftner been tryed than it hath been found to have been accompanied with good effect In Queen Elizabeths Dayes these mens Predecessours were very troublesome made grat noise with their great Numbers and the great dangers which would arise by disobliging them and they had some great Favourers in Court upon some accounts which were not very Religious but when by reason of their Insolent Provocation in the Year 1588. When the Queen was in all her Fears from the Spanish Armado and in a condition as they thought to deny them Nothing they so far provoked Her as to alienate Her Mind for ever from them Their boasted of Numbers did immediately abate and the Laws were immediately submitted to as soon as ever they did perceive that it was but in vain to think of longer triffling with them So likewise it hapned in King Iames His Dayes their loud Clamours were presently silenced as soon as ever the King declared Himself resolute at the Conference at Hampton-Court Nor would the Act of Uniformity have had any less effect if it had not been accompanied with a general Discourse at the same time of a Toleration to follow immediately upon it And I appeal to the Consciences of several of the Preachers in the Separated Congregations whether they did not leave their Livings upon this very hope which without it they would have never done Besides the Numbers of the Dissenters ought by no means to be looked upon as an Argument for Toleration by any because it is not looked upon as such by themselves This very Point being a thing about which themselves are highly divided and would by no means if they could help it grant to one another But besides their Numbers they are now to be considered in point of Merit but this is a part of the Argument in which I do delight so very little as that I must gratifie my own temper so far as to say very little in it The Faults of other men are things which I by no means delight to dwell upon even when it is necessary I take it to be very irksome As they are particular Persons I have nothing to say to any one of them and whatever Degrees any of them have attained to in Piety and Virtue in any kind of Intellectual Moral and Religious Accomplishments I pray God that they may every day increase more and more in them and that both here and hereafter they may receive the comfort and reward of whatever is truly good in them But as they are a Party I take it to be very clear that their Merit hath not been very great either to the Crown or Nation and in this it were easie to be very large for one who delights in that which to me is a very ungrateful Employment In the Histories of Queen Elizabeth King Iames King Charles the First there is too much to be found on this Argument and His Majesty which now is when He was in the Hands of these men what Usage He did receive from them though His Royal Clemency hath been graciously pleased to pardon yet His Loyal Subjects have not quite forgot it As to the next Pretence that it is adviseable to grant these men an Indulgence at this time by reason of the great assistance which they are able to afford us against Popery This is such an Objection which the Regular Sons of the Church will scarce be able to refrain themselves from looking upon without some Indignation The Writings of the Bishops and Episcopal Divines have hitherto been had in great Esteem over all the Reformation no men thought to have had a better Cause to defend no men looked upon as better able to defend it Not to mention the many Worthies in Queen Elizabeth and King Iames His Dayes whose Names are both at home and abroad had in great and deserved Honour I shall only mention some few who since the beginning of the present Controversie have wrote against the Puritans as well as Papists and accordingly have fell under the Indignation of both Parties viz. Arch-Bishop Laud Arch-Bishop Bramhal Bishop Taylor Doctor Hammond and Mr. Chillingworth How many Ages will the Nonconformists take to breed up a man equal to any one of these Bishop Sanderson a Person of known Learning and Judgment in a Preface to a Body of Sermons Printed some Years before His Majesties Return takes occasion to declare his Opinion concerning the Controversie between the Church of England and Church of Rome as it useth to be handled by the Non-Conformists his Words are these That they preach against Popery I not at all mislike only I could wish that these two Cautions were better observed served than as far as I can conjecture of the Rest by the proportion of what hath come to my Knowledge I fear they usually are by the more zealous of that Party First that they do not through Ignorance Prejudice or Precipitancy call that Popery which is not and then under that name and notion preach against it and then Secondly that they would do it with less noyse and more weight c. Now it is well known that Bishop Sanderson was a Person of great Learning and Judgment and withall a Person of very great Humility and Modesty and who did very little delight in undervaluing the meanest Person living and yet he expresseth his Thoughts concerning the Writings of the Non-Conformists against the Church of Rome to be liable to these two not inconsiderable Defects First that they did not understand the Question Secondly that they did not know how to pitch upon such Arguments as were fit to be made use of And withall some Pages afterwards he adds this That even in these times of great Distraction and Consequently thereunto of so great advantage for the Factors for Rome none have stept into the Gap more readily nor appeared in the face of the Enemy more openly nor maintained the Fight with more stoutness and gallantry than the Episcopal Divines have done as their late Learned Writings testifie yea and some of them such as beside their other sufferings have layen as deep under the suspicion of being Popishly affected aâ— any other of their Brethren whatsoever That by the Endeavours of these Episcopal Divines some that were bred Papists have
little dissatisfied with that way of Proceeding against Him and did how reasonably upon their own Grounds I know not urge the Covenant for His Preservation But of their Behaviour in this Case I shall give only the Account of an Author who lived in those times when they had opportunities enough to have taken what account of Him themselves pleased His Words are these in a Book entituled A short View of the Life and Reign of King Charles the First Monarch of Great Britain pag. 94. The Presbyterians carried on this Tragedy to the very last Act from the first bringing in of the Scots to the beginning of the War and from the beginning of the War till they had brought Him Prisoner to Holmby-House and then quarrelled with the Independents for taking of the Work out of their hands and robbing them of the long expected fruit of their Plots and Practices They cried out against them in their Pulpits and clamoured against them in their Pamphlets for that of which themselves were at least parcel-guilty Et si non re at voto saltem Regicidae c. On the other side the Independents who washed their hands in the blood of the King seemed as desirous as the Presbyterians to wash their hands of it By them it was alleadged more calmly that they had put Charles Stuart to death against whom they proceeded as the Cause of so much bloodshed but that the King had been muthered a long time before by the Presbyterians when they deprived Him of His Crown His Sword His Scepter of His Crown by forcing from Him those Prerogatives which placed Him in a Throne of Eminency above His People of His Sword by wresting the Militia out of His hands by which He was made unable to protect them and of His Scepter in divesting Him of His Power of calling Parliaments and of His Negative Voyce in making those Laws by which He was to govern all Estates of Men under His Dominion And more than so they had deprived Him of His Natural Liberty as a Man of the Society of His Wife as he was a Husband of the Conversation of His Children as He was a Father of the Attendance of His Servants as He was a Master and in a word of all those Comforts which might make Life valued for a Blessing So that there was nothing left for the Independents to do but to put an end to those Calamities into which this miserable man this Vir dolorum as He might very well be called had been so accursedly plunged by the Presbyterians To which I shall only add this farther that notwithstanding all that Loyalty which the Covenanters have so often boasted of from the Obligation of the Covenant yet it is well known that the Covenant was placed by themselves as a bar between him and his Throne that without submitting to this they could not endure to think of His Restauration to that and this to so high a degree that even in Ianuary 1648. Notwithstanding the apparent danger which the King's Life was known to be in yet even then the General Assembly of Scotland did violently oppose all courses thought upon for His Relief and pressed earnestly That His Majestie 's Concessions and Offers concerning Religion may directly and positively be declared unsatisfactory to the Parliament and that there shall be no engagement for restoreing His Majesty to one of His Houses with Honour Freedom and Safety before Security and Assurance be had from His Majesty by His Solemn Oath under Hand and Seal that He shall for Himself and His Successors consent and agree to Acts of Parliament enjoyning the League and Covenant and fully establishing Presbyterian Government Directory of Worship and Confession of Faith in all his Majesties Dominions and that his Majesty shall never make opposition to any of these or endeavour any change thereof Vid. Declar. of Jan. 10. 1648. Now therefore seeing it is so plain a Case that in the Opinion of the Compilers and Enjoyners of the Covenant all the fore-mentioned Violences both might and ought to have been used against the King by vertue and in pursuance of the Covenant It thence follows unavoidably that His Majesty is not a little concerned to be very watchful over all those Persons who are so tender of the honour of the Covenant that they demand it as the Condition of their Admission into the Church that they may by no means be questioned concerning their Opinion about its Obligation ARTICLE 4. We shall with all faithfulness endeavour the discovery of all such as have been or shall be Incendiaries Malignants or evil Instruments by hindering the Reformation of Religion dividing the King from His People or one of the Kingdoms from another or making any Faction or Parties among the People contrary to this League and Covenant that they may be brought to publick trial and receive condign punishment as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve or the Supreme Iudicatories of both Kingdoms respectively or others having power from them for that effect shall judge convenient It is very well known what the meaning of Incendiaries and Malignants is in this Article And it is shrewdly to be suspected That those who are perswaded of the Obligation of this Oath are likewise perswaded that those Incendiaries and Malignants have not as yet been brought to condign punishment and whatever benefit the Covenanters themselves may receive by an Act of Oblivion it is much to be suspected that those who are covenanted against are looked upon as not capable of receiving any advantage by it And there is reason to believe that those who scruple the Validity of that Act of Parliament which declares against the Obligation of the Covenant are by no means to be trusted lest if opportunity should serve they would not likewise scruple the Validity of that Act of Parliament which gave them Indempnity For thus according to their own Grounds they may argue The Act of Oblivion is against the Covenant and then it followeth in the next place that it is against their Consciences It is against the Oath of God lying upon themselves and upon the whole Nation and upon all Posterity and no humane Act or Power can absolve them or any one else from it and every thing done against the Covenant is null and void the whole Nation being bound up by it to all Ages For therefore it was That the Covenant was hung up in the Parliament as a Compass whereby to steer their Debates and to dictate to all who shall succeed in that place and capacity what obligation doth before God lie upon the Body of this Nation as I have before observed Now upon these mens suppositions there is no Security to be had but that they who passed an Act of Oblivion to pardon any thing done against the Covenant are involved in guilt and liable to punishment for so doing and are upon those very accounts to expect when Providence shall put an opportunity into
the hands of these Zealots the very same Return which the Prophet made to Ahab 1 King 20. v. 42. Thus saith the Lord Because thou hast let go a Man whom I have appointed to destruction therefore thy life shall go for his life and thy people for his people The next thing which I shall observe in this Article is this That those Persons who covenanted together among other things to maintain the Liberties of the Kingdom have so far forgot themselves as that in that very Covenant they have set up an Arbitrary Government The Rule of condign punishment here set down is not any known Law no not so much as a new one of their own making but as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve or the Supreme Iudicatories of both Kingdoms respectively or others having power from them for that effect shall judge convenient By which words it is plain that they did not look upon it as sufficient to take an arbitary Power into their own hands but likewise did delegate it to as many else besides as they pleased ART 5. Whereas the happiness of a blessed Peace between the Kingdoms denied in former times to our Progenitors is by the good Providence of God granted to us and hath lately been concluded and settled by both Parliaments we shall each one of us according to our Place and Interest endeavour that they may be conjoyned in a firm Peace and Vnion to All Posterity and that Iustice may be done upon all wilful opposers thereof in manner expressed in the precedent Article According to the preceding Article i. e. as shall be judged convenient The Modesty of these men is very admirable in that they would out-face the World that England and Scotland were never at peace in former times or rather their Language is something mysterious that the Two Nations were never at Peace till they had involved them in a War But as in the former Article they were as I have shewed tender of the Liberty of the Subject so in this they have been very careful of the Authority of his Majesty in that they have taken upon them to make peace with another Kingdom without him and withal when that very Peace was nothing else besides their joyning Forces against him ART 6. We shall also according to our Place and Calling in this Common Cause of Religion Liberty and Peace of the Kingdoms assist and defend all those that enter into this League and Covenant in the maintaining and pursuing thereof and shall not suffer our selves directly or indirectly by whatsoever Combination Perswasion or Terrour to be divided and withdrawn from this blessed Vnion and Conjunction whether to make defection to the contrary Part or to give our selves to detestable Indifferency or Neutrality in this Cause which so much concerns the Glory of God the Good of the Kingdom and the Honour of the King But shall all the dayes of our lives zealously and constantly continue therein against all opposition and promote the same according to our power against all Letts and Impediments whatsoever And what we are not able of our selves to suppress or overcome we shall reveal and make known that it may be timely prevented and removed All which we shall do in the sight of God From which Article it it is plainly to be seen That those who do believe themselves to lie under the Obligation of this Covenant are and ought to be looked upon as a Party already formed and combined together against the whole Nation besides having a common Band to unite and tie them fast together And this is such an Union as they look upon as sacred and indissoluble And the Ends in order to which they are thus combined are in their esteem such as that nothing can excuse the least intermission in their pursuance after them besides an absolute Impossibility and even in that case it is lawful for them only to delay so long as to expect a more favourable season For they are according to this Article Never to be wrought over to so much as a detestable Indifferency or Neutrality in this Cause of God but zealously and constantly to continue therein against all opposition all letts and impediments whatsoever And having now laid down the Six Articles of the Covenant I shall only add a few of the last words of the large and solemn Conclusion of it wherein they pray God to bless their proceedings herein with such success as may be an encouragement to other Churches groaning under or in danger of the Yoke of Antichristian Tyranny to joyn in the same or like Association or Covenant to the Glory of God the Enlargement of the Kingdom of Iesus Christ and the Peace and Tranquillity of Christian Kingdoms and Common-wealths It hath been often said in the behalf of the Presbyterians that they did not engage in the late War under a less Authority than that of the Two Houses of Parliament What Authority the Two Houses of Parliament have in raising a War against the King shall be no part of this Enquiry nor whether the Lords and Gentlemen who at that time staid at Westminster were the Two Houses of Parliament Be these two things as they will although it is not unknown what may be said as to both those Cases yet however the Covenant hath informed us of another sort of Authority under which a War may be raised at any time against all the Kings in Europe Because in these words is held forth a publick Invitation to all Subjects whatsoever who do either really groan under or are in any danger of any thing which our folk have pleased to call or themselves shall chance to fancy to be a Yoke of Antichristian Tyranny to enter either into this or the like Association or Covenant Now I suppose that it is no easie task to make out that all Kingdoms have Parliaments endued with so large a share of the Soveraignty as that they have Authority to take up Arms against their respective Princes And if there were such Parliaments every where this Invitation is only made to the Christian Churches without taking the least notice of Parliaments nay with a full assurance that there were no such Parliaments to be taken notice of So that by this Doctrine the Church alone may enter into association against the State upon the score of Religion especially if it can but cry out Antichrist may engage the Subjects of all Europe against their Soveraigns be they Princes or Commomwealths I know very well that those who urge the taking away of the Declaration enjoyned concerning the renouncing of the Covenant have one evasion whereby to avoyd entring into the merits of the Cause and that is this The seeming unreasonableness of that Clause Also I hold that there lieth no Obligation upon me or any other Person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn c. Is it not unjust that one man should be bound to swear to the Obligations of another
by their admission become divided against it self The Pulpits may quickly be brought to speak in very different Languages and the Hearers strangely distracted between the several abettors of the very distant Measures of the old and new Conformity They who have kept out of the Church thus long rather than they would not have their Wills in such and such Matters in debate between us it is scarce to be hoped that when they are brought into the Church by being yielded to in them that they will not with the same Art and Industry keep up in the Minds of Men a good opinion of that Cause which they have so long contended for At the least they will take what care they can that those of their former Hearers whom they shall be able to bring along with them if they shall be able to bring any store of their Hearers along with them which is no small question shall for ever be kept under bondage to every one of all those scruples by which they have been able to retain dominion over them And they who have all along been observably upon all occasions admirably expert at interpreting all things to the utmost possibilities of all advantage as to themselves and their Cause it is not to be expected from them that they will not interpret this Condescention as a complete Justification And unless the Modesty and Gratitude of these men be strangely increased of late beyond what it hath used to be our Governours are not like to receive any other return than this That God hath at length begun to return again and in some sort to own his People and his Cause He hath now opened the Eyes of the Parliament and let them see their Error in imposing the renouncing the Covenant and who knows what more a gracious God may do for so gracious a People And that Reputation which hath thus long engaged them to pretend their Cause of Separation to be just can do no less than continue to engage them to avow its having been necessary So that the Church will by this means be weakned by having one great Security taken from her those Men will be admitted into her of whose Affections and Designs she hath abundant cause to be highly jealous and who by obtaining their present Demands will according to their old Customs be thereby emboldned with the like restless importunity to make more demands and perhaps in a little time be inabled to take what farther they please without so much as asking it And by this means the People will become extremely divided both amongst themselves and from the Government And when that is done there will be so many left out of this Comprehension that the noise will not be much less than it is already And whatever accession can be supposed to be made to the Church by the coming in of her new Friends will be more than over-ballanced by the loss she will receive in the stability of her Principles and the Unity of her Children She will be the less able to defend her self against the Exceptions of the Romanists and be at no small loss for an answer to the Clamours of other Sectaries who can pretend as great grievances and alledge as plausible Reasons why they should be gratified so that the Work of Coalition as it is called in the newest word as often soever as it is done will be just as often to begin again As to any other Particulars of that Comprehension which is now so much endeavoured seeing they have not thought fit to let us know them I shall not venture to make a guess at them but shall go on to another Contrivance and in the Opinion of many a more promising one and that is Toleration which is frequently said to be an Expedient which will gratifie many more and more Considerable Persons than can be hoped to be brought within the Compass of any one Comprehension Now it is by no means a thing to be wondred at if so be that the proposal of Toleration be in it self at the first view very plausible and in the eyes of very many Persons exceeding acceptable It looks like a Privilege which every man hath an interest in which seing it is enjoyed by all alike no man should take himself to have any cause to envy it to any other Now this Liberty of Conscience however it hath obtained to be the general Darling yet methinks in the very name there is something which offers it self to our Consideration which is at least worth our Enquiry Whether the very demand doth not carry in it an Exception against it self How doth it appear that Conscience hath any such absolute Right to Liberty Hath it no Rule which it ought to walk by hath it no obligation to follow any besides its own Light If this be not the Case then Liberty and Conscience are two words which are very unfit in great variety of Cases to be joyned together I shall readily grant that to act against our Conscience is always a sin but then I shall add this further That it is very frequently a grievous sin to act according to it Conscience may in some cases condemn but there are very many cases wherein it cannot justifie I know nothing by my self saith St. Paul yet am I not hereby justified and farther I may self thought verily that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Iesus c. The Scripture tells us of seared Consciences Reprobate Minds Men whose minds and Consciences are defiled From all which Expressions it is very clear That Conscience is not a safe Rule for any man to act by in his private Capacity And in the next place as Conscience is very far from being a safe Rule for any man to act by in his private Capacity so it is by no means advisable that men should be so far trusted as to teach according to it in any Publick Places St. Paul assures us that by this permission dangerous Contentions shall arise by reason of the perverseness of men when in the nature of the things there was no real Cause for them â— Tim. 2. 14. They will strive about words to no purpose to the subversion of the â—earers And â— Tim. 4. 1. he tells us of seducing spirits who teach the doctrine of devils Tim. 3. for many Verses together he describes a sort of very wicked men of whom in the close he gives this Character That they have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof that they creep into houses and lâ—ad captive silly women laden with divers lusts And again we read of those who bring in damnable Herâ—sies and again which directly cometh up to the point in hand about Toleration whose mouths must be stopped Thus far therefore our way is clear 1. That according to the Doctrine of the New Testament Conscience is not its own Rule is not entirely left to it self in its own way of acting 2. That those who are
could be no Trade in the Kingdom till Execution was done upon him And whosoever raiseth any such Cry shall have always some ready to joyn with him in it because there will be always those who will want Trade And let him but tell them that the Court and the Bishops are the only Causes of this their want and it is no wonder if they cry out with the loudest Down with them down with them to the ground Indeed if the Bishops in England did pretend to the same Power with the Presbyteries in Scotland then indeed it might so happen that the Traders might have some cause to be jealous of them for those Gentlemen did at the Assembly at Glascow 1638. pass an Act concerning Salmon-fishing another about Salt-pans Roger L' Estrange p. 330. By Act of Assembly at Dundee 1592. they prohibited all Trading with any of the King of Spain's Dominions and they put down the Munday-market at Edinburgh Spotswood p. 393 394. But in this Case the Shoo-makers thought fit to assert their Christian Liberty against the Impositions of the Presbytery and tumultuously gathered together and threatned to chase the Ministers out of Town upon which the Market continued Which as that grave Historian tells us did cause much sport at Court where it was said That Rascals and Soutars could obtain at the Ministers hands what the King could not in Matters more reasonable That Trading hath ever since the Restauration of his Majesty been very high notwithstanding the many complaints about it it is very evident to any man who is never so little acquainted with the Custom-house but that it hath not answered to the height of all mens hopes is not to be wondred at if we consider some things which have hapned which the Act of Uniformity was no way concerned in First there was a War with France and Holland by which it was not to be avoided but that many Merchants must needs become very great Sufferers Secondly At the very same time there was a raging Plague not only in London but in most of the other Trading places of the Nation which did not only sweep away great numbers of our Trading People but may easily be supposed to have had an unhappy influence upon Trade it self Thirdly To accompany these Two great difficulties there came a dreadful Fire the loss by which is inestimable And Fourthly there hath been a Second Dutch War Now there are none of all these things can happen to a Nation but Trade must unavoidably suffer by and feel it and then the wonder will be very little if we consider that we have suffered by them all And these are things so publickly known that it is to be admired that men should have the confidence to take no notice of any one of them but if they hear of any Difficulties which the Trading People do wrestle with presently overlook all these notorious Causes and enter into long Harangues about Common Prayer and Ceremonies I may add that besides the fore-mentioned Calamities If we are out-done in point of Trade by our Neighbours in Holland it is not to be wondered at if we consider the Nature of our Country and the Manners of our People Our Country hath in it self a great plenty of all things necessary for the life of men which Holland hath not they must trade or they cannot live which is not our Case And if necessity makes men expert and their being expert brings them to thrive it is not to be wondred at It is this very necessity which every day makes vast Numbers among them glad to submit to all the Labours Hazards of all the Seas in the World all this purely to support their Lives with very course fare and very small wages now the goodness of our Country affording to our People a more comfortable subsistence upon much easier terms than is to be had among them is one plain cause why our People are not easily to be brought to take that pains run into those dangers and submit to those severe terms which with them is not less than absolutely necessary Not to say any thing of the return of their long Voyages what vast advantages do they make by Fishing upon our own Coasts which we alwayes complain of but will by no means betake our selves unto Again he who hath got a vast sum of money by trading hath here in England a perpetual conveniency of purchasing Land with it and by that means he himself or his Son doth become a Country Gentleman which in Holland is not to be done by which means Trade is amongst us given over when men come to be Masters of such great sums of Money as to be best able to command it and to reap the most considerable advantages by it In Holland because Trade is the thing which every one is to trust to their Wives and Children are all instructed in the Mysteries and inured to the business of it and so the Stock and Experience of a Family descends from Father to the Son and increaseth from Generation to Generation Now it is far from being a Miracle that their Merchants should be able to out-do ours who are frequently left by their Parents as large or larger sums of Money to begin with as ours take themselves to be very well satisfied with and give over They go on and improve what we look upon as more adviseable barely to enjoy and by that means prevent an increase which would have come easily and too often waste and consume what they in a few Years are by reason of their great Stocks inabled without difficulty to treble And besides that different way of disposure of the plenty of the Rich which is between them and us They make another and greater advantage of the necessities of the Poor than we either do or can do or it is fit for us to do They make their People to work harder fare harder than any of ours will do to take smaller wages and by that means they are something helped in being able to under-sell us And besides the Masters of Trade do themselves live much more frugally than we do in point of Dyet and Apparel and other heights of living and studiously avoid many unnecessary ways of Expence which we are perhaps too apt to be fond of And whatever is expended must needs take off so much from Improvement which Consideration prevails with them to be very sparing till they are very Rich and not to pretend to any of the wayes of Vanity till they have brought themselves into a condition to carry on their material Concerns with the best advantage Now is it any wonder if there were nothing more in the Case than this that in Trade they should much out-do us And there is little doubt to be made of it that he who is better acquainted with that People than I am will be able to reckon many other particular things wherein they differ from us in order to this great Design