that our Author tells us indeed of another way viz. He is to see it done by the spiritual means which Christ hath appointed p. 24. But if this be all which he may do this may be too little For suppose those spiritual Weapons do meet with such persons who do slight undervalue and stand in open defiance of them doth all that concern and care which our Author but one page before asserts the Magistrate to be intrusted with in looking after the Honour of God and the Souls of men amount to no more but barely this That he is to see the Spiritual Censures of the Church made use of and if men have no more Religion than to despise and laugh at them he is to stand still and look on while they are so doing This Learned Gentleman confesseth and contends for it that the Magistrate is in his Station bound to take care of Gods Honour p. 23. and yet thoroughout his whole Book he is ever afterward very zealous that he must by no means use the Sword in order to it Now how a Magistrate can in his station act where this is interdicted him is a thing not easily apprehended When a Magistrate as such declares his pleasure common Sense tells us that the meaning is that if we do not bear a fitting regard to that his Declaration it must be at our own peril and without this I do not apprehend how his Authority doth appear to be any greater than that of any other man Again if the King be to govern the People Religion must then be a very considerable part of his Care as being a thing wherein his Government will find it self to be very frequently and very highly concerned there being nothing more evident nor experienced than this that according to the right or wrong measures which may be taken of Religion the People may be wrought upon to do either very much good or very much evil even as to the Affairs of this Life There are not a few Doctrines which this Nation is no Stranger to which is a Prince hath not power to forbid the spreading of God shall be extreamly dishonoured himself be in a fair way to be deposed and his Subjects ruined and he shall plâ—inly see all this and upon these meâ—s terms not in the least be able to help it And this naturally leads 〈◊〉 to our next Consideration the many great inconveniencies which attend Liberty of Conscience both in relation to Religion and Government the Worship of God and the Publick Peace But before I enter upon this Part of the Argument I must again return so far back as to take some notice of that common rumour about the Town of such a Project in hand as will if the Success can be supposed to answer the great hopes which are conceived of it make all that Labour needlesâ— and that is the fore-mentioned Comprehension In behalf of which the undertakers are said usually and openly to alledge this that if that be yielded to there will be then no need at all of Toleration for by that means the Church will be so strong by the accession of her new Friendâ— that she may safely contemn and by their help easily overcome all her other Enemies and withall they are Persons already so very near us that there are none but inconsiderable matters in debate between us for they allow Episcopacy approve the Liturgy abhor Sacriledge believe our Articles and already can and often do communicate in our Publick Worship Now as plausible and taking soever this Plea is yet methinks that there is no one part of it which doth not carry something of wonder in it First it is well known that there was a time when the Presbyterians did joyn with invite encourage and protect all other Sectaries that by their Assistaâ—ce they might be enabled to ruine the Church and therefore it ought to be well considered upon by what means it is brought about that their Minds come now to be so fâ—r altered as that they will now joyn with the Church in the Suppression of all the other Sects Nay and very lately the leading Persons of that way did joyn Interests with the Papâ—sts and mutually engage for assistance to Pâ—â—liament other in stopping of Bills in 〈◊〉 preparing against Both of them In the next place if the difference between us and them are so inconsiderable as they pretend then surely there was no need of the last War upon any Religious Account There was no need of that grievous complaint against some of those Thingâ— which a Preacher at this Day in Aldersgate-street made before a Mock-Parliament September 24. 1656. Praysed be that God who hath delivered 〈◊〉 from the Imposition of Prelatical Iâ—novations Altar-genâ—-flections and Criâ—gings with Crossings and all that Popists Trash and Trumpery And truly I speak no more than what I have often thought and said the removal of those insupportable burthens counter 〈◊〉 ALL THE BLOOD and treasure shed and spent in these late Distractions nor did I as yet ever hear of any godly men that desired were it possible to purchase their Friends or money again at so dear a rate as with the return of these as have those 〈◊〉 Anti-Christian Yokes reiâ—posâ—â— upon us And if any such there be I am sure that that desire is no part of their godliness and I profess my self in that to be none of the number Here we see that Mr. Ieâ—kin is very positive and express in the Case that the differences are so great between us that all the blood shed whether in the Field or on the Scaffold was all little enough to be shed in order to the removal of so great Evils and yet there wâ—â— shed in this Quarrel the Blood of the King many of the Nobles and Gentry of vast numbers of all other Ranks Orders and Degrees amongst 〈◊〉 If the Differences between us be so inconsiderable as it is now said then methinks there was but little cause for that great Zeal of Mr. Calamy's which he exprest in Guildâ—Hall October 6. 〈◊〉 in order to the perswading the Ciâ—y unto a liberal Contribution toward bringing in the Scots in order to the preservation of the Gospel 〈◊〉 he several times expresseth himself in that Speech as if the Diffeâ—ences were in his esteem and in the esteem of that Grave and Reverend Assembly of Ministers there present with him so very considerable that the chief concerns of the Gospel did depend upon them and accordingly he made use of this pretence as his chief Art whereby to wheedle the City out of their money at that time Let me tell you if euer Gentlemen you might use this Speech O happy Penny you may use it now happy Money that will purchase my Gospel happy Money that will purchase Religion and purchase a Reformation to my Posterity O happy Money and blessed be God that I have it to lend So that it seems these Gentlemen have two measures which upon different
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
which have no manner of relation to Liberty of Conscience and which would have the same effect without it as they can possibly have by it As to our selves and our present Case there are but three Things which I can learn pretended by reason of which it is possible to be supposed that the putting the Act against Conventicles in Execution can draw any prejudice upon Trade First that Merchants who are not willing to conform will not come over and settle in England Secondly that the most eminent Traders being Non-conformists they will either forbear Trading to the utter undoing of all such Workmen as Weavers c. who do depend upon them or leave the Kingdom and carry their profitable Trades along with them which will bring a great decay of Trade here and carry away that benefit which England might have received to that whatever Country they shall please to settle in Thirdly That Merchants beyond Sea as Roman Catholicks c. will not be easily perswaded to trust their Estates in the hands of those who are not of their own Religion and they who are being lyable to such Prosecutions as by our Laws they are liable unto will be fearful of having any Estates in their own hands and look upon it as more adviseable to forbear Trading rather than to be liable to so many Difficulties These are the three most considerable Objections which I have hitherto been able to meet with and to each of these I have this to offer by way of return As to the first that this severity will discourage Forraign Merchants from comming over to us It is a mistake to think that the Church of England is such a Bug bear to the rest of the Reformation as that the Religion of that is looked upon as sufficient Cause to hinder any great Numbers of valuable Persons from coming over to dwell in the Nation It is by no means clear that any store of them do at this time desire to transplant hither and if they did it is more than possible that some other of our Civil Constitutions may be greater bars in their way than the Act against Conventicles and particularly the want of a Register And that Person must have more than ordinary Intelligence who can be able to secure us that there are such Numbers of considerable Merchants at this time designing to come over and are diverted only by the News of the Bill against Conventicles going to be put into Execution as that the advantage and addition of those Persons and that Trade to the Nation should be 〈◊〉 great as to overbalance those many and unavoidable Inconveniencies which I have already shewed that Religion and Government must be exposed to by the grant of Liberty of Conscience It doth not remain in our Memories that in Cromwel's time when there was Liberty given to all except Papists and Prelatists that any were by that Liberty encouraged to come over at least not any such number as to be considerable But suppose it should so happen that some Eminent Merchants should design to come over I could never yet hear nor am I wise enough to think upon any reason why the Act against Conventicles should more fright them from England than the Inquisition doth from other Countries as Spain Italy and Portugal and yet in those Countries Merchants have their Factories and drive their greatest Trade Besides strangers Merchants have as much encouragement in this particular as can reasonably be desired the French have their Church the Dutch theirs nay even the Iews have theirs and all Aliens of 〈◊〉 Reformation have even by the very Act of Uniformity an express provision made for them as to the enjoyment of their own way of Worship at the pleasure of His Majesty and if they do meet and keep to their own Language they need fear no more in this Country than in any other As to the second Thing alledged that if the Act against Conventicles be put in Execution the most Eminent Traders being Non-Conformists they will leave off Trading and by that means undo all sorts of Workmen who do depend upon them and not only so but leave the Nation and carry their Trades away along with them Now that this is a thing of more Noise than Weight will appear if we examine it with a little Care That some eminent Merchants are Non-conformists is undoubtedly True but that the most eminent are so I am sure is not true and could easily make it appear if it were fit to mention the Names of particular Persons But so far as it is true doth any man in his wits imagine that the Act against Conventicles will make them either quit their profitable Trades or fright them out of the Kingdom It doth neither condemn them to be hanged nor burned neither doth it so much as touch their Persons or Estates for being Non-conformists but permits them to be of what Religion they please and alloweth them the free exercise of their Religion in their Families It cannot therefore be easily imagined that People will be so far out of their wits though I must confess that Fanaticism will go a great way toward putting them out of them as to leave their settled and profitable Trades their Native Country Relations and Friends only because they cannot publickly shew the exercise of their Mode of Worship whereas they may freely enjoy it in their own Families and be known to do so without the least interruption in any of the forementioned Conveniencies Especially considering that Merchants of that Eminency that their Case deserves to be taken notice of in a case of this Publick concern now under debate are very well able to keep Ministers in thier own Houses and may do it with far less charge and prejudice than either going into some other Countrey or the forbearance of their Trades will put them to But I shall for once suppose two Things whereof the first is evidently not true the second not at all likely That the most Eminent Merchants are Non-Conformists and that upon that account they will forbear Trading But even upon these Terms it is to be hoped that those they deal with will not be utterly undone whatever may be pretended For put the Case that three or four of the most Eminent Merchants should dy or which I wish did never happen break every dayes experience shews us that the Clothiers they deal with and consequently the Weavers and other Workmen depending upon them are not presently ruined or so much as out of employment but do immediately find other Merchants to deal with the Trades of those who either give over Trading or dy being alwayes continued by their Sons or Partners or shared amongst those who have been their Servants or other Merchants who deal in the same Commodity and to the same Places But suppose that the putting the Laws in Execution should so far distract any Numbers as to make them run out of the Kingdom Let it be considered
be so in the Opinion of its greatest Adversaries In the next place therefore we are to consider whether any reasonable Plea for Separation can be drawn from any just Exception which may be taken against the Liturgy and here there are two sorts of men to be considered First those who dislike all Forms of Prayer in general Secondly those who are only disgusted at some particular things in ours As to those who are against all Forms of Prayer I believe that the number of them among considering Persons is not so great as that any great regard ought to be had unto them and this must needs be so for a reason which can never fail For it cannot choose but seem strangely absurd and infinitely unbecoming the great distance which is between us and Almighty God and that great awe which we ought to bear unto him that all the Expressions of the Publick Devotion of every Congregation in the whole Nation should be left to the arbitrary and especially the extemporary conception of each single Person who is bold enough to venture upon the taking so much upon him It were very strange if this Kingdom should at this day be ignorant how very frequently Folly Heresie nay and Blasphemy hath been uttered in such kind of Prayers and it is utterly impossible that upon the indulgence of any such Liberty such Extravagancies can with any security be provided against And it is not unlikely that the greatest Pretenders to the highest Attainments in that way would be not a little out of Countenance If so be that their own Prayers were faithfully taken from their Mouths and after some reasonable space of time when they might be supposed to have forgot them presented to their view And that which renders this evil utterly intolerable is this that these Prayers which either really are extemporary else only pretended to be so are under that pretence recommended and regarded by the People as the only way of praying by the Spirit and by that very means the ever blessed Spirit is as far as these mens endeavours can be succesful entituled to all the Follies Vanity and Weaknesses all the Sin and Errour and even those very Blasphemies which are every day committed against him And I think all good Christians are concerned to endeavour that if a Liberty must be given to these Persons to go on and to abuse the People yet however that it may be done some other way and they not permitted to bely the Holy Ghost As for Forms of Prayers the great reasonableness and even necessity of them is very apparent and in Scripture it self there are Examples enough to be produced and if any man pleaseth to enter upon that Argument I no way doubt but there will be those found who will debate it with him It shall suffice at present only to say that our Saviour Christ did compose a Form of Prayer and gave it to his Disciples to use Now if as great numbers of the People are brought to believe that there is no praying by the Spirit besides praying Ex tempore then no man ever did or ever could say Christ's Prayer by the Spirit of Christ. Now as to the other sort of Persons who have some exceptions against some expressions in our Liturgy those things have been so fully examined that of late we have heard very little of them And the matter of it is all along so clearly unexceptionable and so fitted for the common use of all Christians that all controversial Expressions were designedly avoided Insomuch that I do not know of any considerable Sect amongst us which may not joyn with us in every expression in it except the Socinians Now here perhaps some Jealousies may arise in the minds of men that if there were not some real exception against the Liturgy then so many good Teachers would not lay it aside nay and not only so but as far as mens Intentions can be guessed at by their words and actions very much abhor it Now as to the behaviour of our dissenting Brethren in this particular I shall desire their admirers to remember this one thing that His Majesty not long after His Happy Restauration did put â—orth a Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affaires wherein He did very graciously indulge much to the dissatisfied Part of the Clergy in hopes thereby to win upon them and in that Declaration He did propose this unto them as a way whereby they might shew their Gratitude for so great a Condescention That they would read so much of the Liturgy as themselves had no exception against But with many of them He could not prevail for so much as one Syllable not one Collect no nor so much as one Chapter according to the Rubrick So much doth yielding work upon that good-natur'd Generation Now whether this Refractoriness as to the whole Book and every part and parcel of it could possibly proceed solely and altogether from Conscience and not very much if not altogether from Design or Humour let their best Friends speak In the next place now as to the Canons I do not know that there doth or canâ—ly any Objection against them which our present Debate is concerned about because they are no immediate Parts of the Publick Worship and therefore can be no cause of the present Separation especially as to the People As to the Canons made in the year 1640. I must needs confess that the Scotch Commissioners did complain much against them and some English Gentlemen made witty Speeches upon them but they had both of them the ill luck to confess the real cause of the Pique which they had against them viz. The acknowledgement of His Majesties Authority as being Independent and above all Coercion either Papal or Popular A Doctrine which I must needs say was very inconsistent with those Designs which those angry Patriots were at that time carrying on And I am very much mistaken if at this very day a great part of that Quarrel which is taken up against the Church be not founded upon this that it is too faithfully devoted to the Interests of the Crown and that many Persons are Presbyterians Independents Fifth-Monarchy-men c. as so many sanctified disguises under which they act the Part of Common-wealths-men In the next place come we therefore to the Ceremonies and there indeed the noise is very great An Excellent Person who for his pious labours upon a noble Argument and much more worthy of his Pen deserves much honour hath in this part of the Question exprest much more Concern than I hope himself upon a serious review will admit the Cause to bear in a Book entituled Liberty of Conscience upon its true and proper Grounds asserted and vindicated c. hath thus expressed himself p. 49. How may we lament over the present Imposition of the Ceremonies now enjoyn'd among us in England which are no part of divine Truth nor any of Christ's Institutions but things perfectly Humane in their Creation
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
same Liberty from their Impositions which they had both of them before joyned in desâ—â—ing from the National Settlement their Pretences were at least equal they had the same natural right to Freedom which any other men had they had the same Pleas of Christian Liberty and besides all this they had another very good title upon which they might expect Indulgence from the Presbyterians in Point of Merit the same Arguments the Sectaries shewed to be in common between them both and withall had this to add farther that their Arms added that assistance without which the Presbyterians could never have been able to have brought themselves into a condition to have enjoyed that Liberty as to themselves which the other Sects by their joynt concurrence did put them into a condition to grant and therefore very well deserved to have received from them But in those dayes their dear Brethren to whom they were much beholding for their joynt concurrence in Prayers and Arms their mutual Contributions of Blood and Treasure and whom at present they smile most sweetly upon did receive the harshest usage which was in their Power to give them and it was no small matter of publick complaint that they were not permitted to handle them with much greater roughness To omit many others there then came out a Book entituled Wholesome Severity reconciled with Christian Liberty Licensed by Ia. Cranford wherein we are told that Liberty of Heresie and Schism is no part of the Liberty of Conscience which Christ hath purchased for us but that under these fair Colours and handsome Pretexts Sectaries infuse their Poyson their Pernicious God-provoking Truth-defacing Church-ruinating and State-shaking Toleration To which Author I shall only add the more Publick Testimony to the Truth of Iesus Christ and to our Solemn League and Covenant as also against the Errours Heresies Blasphemies of these Times and the Toleration of them subscribed by the Ministers of Christ within the Province of London December 14. 1647. Which I have already mentioned but in this part of the Argument shall insist something more largely upon because they were such a Body of men as were looked upon as very considerable and sufficiently qualified to speak the sence of their whole Party to great advantage And besides that some of them are yet living and Preachers at this day to the separated Congregations about the Town Now I would â—ain know of these Gentlemen whether they are of the same Judgment now about Toleration as they were then if they are then methinks they should do very well to declare it and so much the rather because that by their behaviour one would guess that their minds were altered in that they do so far comply as to joyn Counsels and Interests with those whom formerly they bore testimony against Again if they are of the same mind about Toleration now as they were formerly then all the under Sects have great Cause in time to beware of them ought to look upon them as very false brethren who want nothing but opportunity to take away that Liberty which now indeed is common to them with the rest of their Brethren but they never intended it for any but themselves And on the other side if they are not of the same mind about Toleration now as they were formerly then they ought in all Honesty to declare to the World how much they were formerly mistaken in that they raised such fearful Outcries against that Toleration which is an innocent and an useful thing the giving of which is as it is now said the Duty and Interest of all Government is indeed no other than the permitting to us that Liberty with which Christ made us free or rather which is the Right of Nature the Common Birth right of all Mankind In the Preface to the aforesaid Testimony they tell us of the spreading Heresies and cursed Blasphemies of those Times which had born down the Authority of the Scriptures and our Solemn League and Covenant very fitly joynned And then they add But above all our Souls are wounded to think with whaâ— hope and industry a Toleration of all these Evils is endeavoured and with what a wellcomed boldness sundry odious Hereticks which in other places have been banished and branded with infamy do vent their poysonous Opinions amongst us as if they intended to make England a common receptacle of all the sinful Dregs of Foreign Countries as well as former Ages pag. 29. As if all the Errours Heresies Sects Schisms Divisions Looseness Prophaneness and Breach of Covenant among us were small matters what secret and publick Endeavours Projects Methods and Practices are there amongst us to bring in an universal boundless lawless abominable and intolerable Toleration to the filling up of the measure of our Iniquities and the pulling down God's fierce indignation upon this Nation and pag. 30. Instead of Vnity and Vniformity in Matters of Religion we are torn in pieces with destructive Schisms Separations Divisions and Subdivisions c. and instead of Extirpation of Heresie Schism Prophaneness we have such an impudent and general inundation of all these Evils that Multitudes are not ashamed to press and plead for a publick formal Vniversal Toleration And having thus shewed how great their Zeal was in this Case I shall likewise lay down their Reasons for it which with great earnestness they did express in these following Words pag. 32. A publick and a general Toleration will prove an hideous and complexive evil of most dangerous and mischievous Consequence if ever which God forbid it should be consented to by Authority for hereby First the Glory of the most high God will be laid in the very dust Secondly the Truth of Christ yea all the Fundamentals of Faith will be râ—â—ed to the very ground Thirdly all Christ's Ordinances Offices Worship Religion yea and the very Power of Godliness will be utterly overthroâ—â— Fourthly thousands and ten thousands of poor Souls which Christ hath ransomed with his own blood shall be hereby betrayed seduced and endangered to be undone to all eternity Fifthly Magistracy and Ministry and with them all Religious and comely Order in the Church and Commonwealth will be plucked up by the very roots Sixthly Reformation in Religion in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government shall be utterly made voyd Seventhly England shall be swallowed up with Sects Schisms Divisions Disorders and Confusions and become an odious sink and a common recâ—ptacle of all the prodigious Errours Lies Heresies and Blasphemies Libertinism and Profaneness in the World so that Rome it self shall not be a more odious puddle and cage of all abominatioâ—s and uncleannesses Eighthly the Godly shall sit down and lament among us Ninethly the wicked shall rise up and insult over us Tenthly all the Nations about us shall be amazed at us Eleventhly all the Reformed Churches shall be ashamed to own us they shall all cry out against us Is this England that Covenanted and swore to the most High God such
a Reformation and Extirpation of Popery Prelacy Superstition Heresie Schism Prophaneness and whatever shall be found contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godliness and after so long a travel hath she brought forth an hideous Monster of Toleration And again pag. 33. Hath England heretofore had such a large share of Gospel-Enjoyments and doth she now render to the Lord for all his Benefits a detestable Toleration Dost thou thus reward the Lord O foolish England and unwise Twelfthly and to conclude seeing we have just cause to fear that if this Toleration be entertained among us the Righteous God of Heaven and Earth will be provoked to plague us yet seven times more and at last to translate his very Gospel and Kingdom from us unto another Nation Therefore upon all these Considerations we the Ministers of Iesus Christ do hereby testifie to all our Flocks to all the Kingdom to all the Reformed Churches as our great dislike of Prelacy Erastianism Brownism and Independency so our utter abhorrency of Anti-Scripturism Popery Arriâ—nism Socinianism Arminianism Antinomianism Anabaptism Libertinism and Familism with all such like now too rife among us It were endless to transcribe all which hath been said by the Presbyterians against Toleration and therefore it is not a little strange how much for some years they have endeavoured after it But sure their separating Brethren cannot be so forgetful of what hath been but so very lately past as not to cast a very watchful Eye over them to suspect their kindness and be hugely jealous of their present Concurrence with them it being not very credible that their Moderation is greater than formerly and that which makes all the difference is no other thing than this That their Power is not altogether so great It hath been no unusual thing in the World for men to unite in their Endeavours in order to very differing Ends to dissemble for a while their mutual Resentments and to have less kindness for those very Persons they do cabal with than for those whom they do cabal against A Common Interest for a while keeps them close together and out of that they each hope for their particular Advantages and both sides hug and applaud inwardly their own Arts and Dexterity in that they see the way chalked out how they shall be able to supplant their Friends as well as ruine their Enemies Thus the Presbyterians may at present joyn their endeavours in attaining that Liberty which they hope in time to take away not only from those whom they at present desire to grant it but likewise from those who now enjoy it together with them The Independents Anabaptists c. must needs remember how the Presbyterians bore testimony against that Toleration of them which they could not hinder They could no more endure those who fought on their side to dissent from them than they could those who fought against them Remember Gentlemen you all fought for Liberty of Conscience and yet your Fellow-soldiers would not allow you that which you shed your Blood for and for their own obtaining of which they were much more beholding to your Arms than to their own The Pretences of all the differing sorts of Dissenters are so vastly distant as to be utterly inconsistent and whatever Correspondence is between them at present it ought not to be looked upon either by themselves or any one else as any Union or Agreement which is of late made between them but merely as a Combination against that Settlement which they are all weary of and as soon as ever that is again overthrown we shall then see that all their old Quarrels will return as formerly The tender Consciences of divers sizes will immediatly fall as foully upon one another as ever they did Presbytery will be stiled the Yoke of Antichrist and Independency the Mother of Confusion the one will be stiled Egypt and the other Babel If any Particular Sect among them doth desire Indulgence and means nothing else besides a bare Permission to serve God in its own way If there were nothing else but this in the Case its Request then would with all Submission be put up single and by it self that so an account might be taken both of the Principles and of the Persons how innocent the one and how peaceable the other and what Influence either of them are like to have upon the present Settlement either of Church or State And surely it ought not to be looked upon either as unreasonable or assuming if the Government doth look upon it self as concerned to have a great regard to it self both in point of Duty and in point of Safety And in such an Enquiry as this the Quality Numbers and Temper of the Petitioners for such Indulgence are of no small Consideration And this way of Procedure that each single Sect should speak by and for its self and state its own particular Case is methinks the fairest Course which can be taken and such a one as those Dissenters who are conscious to themselves of no ill meaning should look upon as highly advisable for their own sakes It being very obvious to the most ordinary Prudence that it may be frequently advisable upon divers particular and material Considerations to indulge some kinds of Liberty to such and such sorts of Dissenters which is by no means fit to allow to others much less to allow promiscuously to all But to take that course which they have always done since his Majesties Restauration that they should all joyn in a common Cry as if they had one common Cause is very suspicious especially considering that they are divided among themselves in this very point of Liberty of Conscience notwithstanding their Unanimity in calling for it Some Rumours have of late been spread indeed all over the Town concerning such a kind of Comprehension as should leave no room for Toleration how well grounded such Reports have been I will not undertake it is but in vain to make an uncertain guess at what kind of Proposals may possibly be offered by some Persons and to fancy at all adventures who they are or may be who are in any likelihood to be concluded by them But because it is said publickly enough and by no mean Persons That the Presbyterians at least the chief and leading Men among them are ready now to enter into the Church upon some reasonable Abatements to be made unto them And when they are once gained the other Sects will not be considerable enough to expect that any Toleration should be allowed unto them If this be the Case as it is by some of themselves pretended to be then the Case is much altered from what it lately was Reformed Christianity in its Latitude which came out in 1667. and the Defence of it in 1668. are express not 〈…〉 only for Comprehension but likewise for Toleration and besides that for a Connivence also And a later Treatise entituled Indulgence not to be refused Comprehension humbly
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