Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A36078
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A Discourse about conscience, relating to the present differences among us in opposition to both extreams of popery and fanaticism.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing D1568; ESTC R8393
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25,645
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43
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not Faction or Peevishness that makes the Difference there our Charity is as much due to them as it is owing from them to us upon the like occasion For in this case there is but one Rule for them and us to walk and judge by Therefore let a man be never so much in the right let his Zeal for Truth be never so great yet if his Zeal doth devour his Charity sowre and corrupt his Spirit embitter and provoke him beyond what is seemly and convenient let his Cause be never so good his Arguments never so strong if they fail in this all the rest signifies not much the lack of this one thing makes all the rest defective and for the most part unsuccessful For let me appeal to the most zealous Boarnarges of them all can any man who believes the Scripture read the 13th Chapter of St. Paul's fiâ—st Epistle to the Corinthians which treats purposely on the necessity and commendation of this most excellent Grace of Charity I say can he read that and yet think it possible to be a good Christian or discharge a good Conscience without it For doth he not prefer it to the Tongues of Men and Angels to the Gift of Prophecy and working of Miracles Nay doth he not prefer Charity before the most comprehensive Knowledge miraculous Faith liberal Alms-deeds and voluntary Martyrdom 1 Cor. 3.1 c. Tho' I speak with the Tongue of Men or Angels tho' I have the gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and tho' I have all Faith and tho' I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and tho' I give my Body to be burnt and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Now the Excellency and Advantage which Charity hath over all other Gifts of God's Holy Spirit is proved at large from the wonderful good Offices and Effects thereof Charity suffers long and is kind envies not vaunteth not it self is not pufft up nor easily provoked It rejoyceth in nothing but the Truth it bears believes hopes and endures all things and therefore in the Conclusion he gives Charity the Preference of all others Verse 13. Now abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity Our Religion and consequently our Church though she condemn Divisions and Separations in all those that leave off and depart from her Communion yet doth not wholly exclude them from her Charity and therefore neither should we from ours meerly upon the Difference of Opinion and especially if this Difference be for Conscience sake and not out of Faction and Frowardness as I said before and would always be understood And that I may not be thought to speak without book or affirm more then our Church will own I shall refer you to that excellent piece call'd The Moderation of the Church of England out of which I have collected a few Passages some whereof I have repeated more at large Queen Elizabeth in her Injunctions 1559. declares that Her Majesty being most desirous of all other Earthly things thaâ— her people should live in Charity both towards God and Man and therein abound in good works Willeth and straightly Commandeth all her Subjects to forbear all vain and contentious Disputation in matters of Religion and not to use in despite or rebuke of any Person these Convitious or Reviling words of Papist Heretick Satismatick or Sacramentary or any such like expressions of Reproach that is we ought not to use these or the like Expressions in way of Reproach or vilifying of one another as some in the heat of their wrangling and Contention are very apt to do to the exasperating rather than convincing of Gainsayers And King James that Learned and Judicious Prince forbids Pulpits to be made Pasquills And gave in charge to the Archbishop That no Preacher of any Denomination whatsoever shall presume to fall into bitter Invectives and undecent Railings against the Persons of either Papists or Puritans but modestly and gravely when they are occasioned by their Text free both the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England from the Aspersions of the Adversaries To which we may add that memorable Passage out of Arch-bishop Laud. The Church of England saith he is not such a Shrew to her Children as to deny her Blessing ordenounce an Anathema against them if some peacebly dissent in some particulars remoter from the Foundation And in the Homily against Contention Serm. 1. We are exhorted therein so to read the Scripture that by reading thereof we may be made the better Livers rather than the more Contentious Disputers And if any thing be necessary to be taught Reason'd and Disputed let us do it with all Meekness Softness and Lenity c. For it is better to give place Meekly then to win the Victory with the breach of Charity c. And again We cannot be joyn'd to Christ our Head except we be glued with Concord and Charity one to another For he that is not of this Unity is not of the Church of Christ which is a Congregation or Unity together and not a division c. But for the Readers further satisfaction therein if he desires it I shall refer him to the Book it self above mentioned where the Learned Author gives an account of the Churches great Charity and Moderation throughout all the Parts and Branches of her Constitution which bespeaks her of a truly Christian and Primitive Temper wherein I wish all her Children would follow and Imitate her And thereby set an Example to all those that are otherwise minded or dissent from our Church in this as well as in other Instances of their Duty For methinks those that would set up for serious Conscientious Persons ought not to break the bond of Christian Charity nor pass the bounds of the Churches Moderation by indulging their passions or giving way to a peevish froward and Invidious Humour against all that differ from them in matters of Faith and Doctrine or purely out of Judgment and Conscience For I could never yet be perswaded that Railing and ill Language against Papists on the one hand or Dissenters on the other is or ought to be a Distinguishing Character of a truly Loyal Son of the Church specially when I consider that most of those that are addicted thereunto are least capable of convincing them otherways Or if they are yet this seems the most unlikely way they can take for the doing of it for we are told That the wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God James 1.20 Now if you would see the Indecency and Unseemlyness of ill Language and reproachful Speeches I need but remind you of the Rude and Slovenly Expressions that are commonly used and with a great deal of Venome spit in the Face of our Church They can hardly find any other name for a Surpliss than that of a Superstitious Rag and Relick of Popery tho' there may be more Popery and Superstition in their conceipt about it
A DISCOURSE ABOUT CONSCIENCE Relating to the Present Differences AMONG US In Opposition to both Extreams OF POPERY and FANATICISM LONDON Printed for William Crooke at the Green Dragon without Temple Bar next Devereux Court 1684. A DISCOURSE ABOUT CONSCIENCE c. THE Design of this short Discourse is to treat about the Nature and Office of Conscience how or in what respect it doth oblige which as it appears by the Practice of some Men laying Claim thereunto haâ—h been either grosly mistaken or wilfully abused But be it either one way or other I am sure it has been made the common Cloak and Excuse for some of the greatest Disorders and unwarrantable Proceedings not only against the peaceable Communion of our Church but the legal and well-established Government of the State Now if these few Lines charitably offered may conduce any thing toward the rectifying of such Mistakes and consequently the preventing the like Abuses in any that are willing to be undeceived I have all the End I aim at if not I shall have however this Satisfaction that what I have here offered towards it is done with all the Kindness and Charity that possibly I could without betraying the Cause I have undertaken or doing Injury to that Church whose Communion I have here took Occasion to recommend and plead for And therefore without any tedious Preface or fruitless Apology I shall address my self to the Subject in hand and that in a very plain and impartial manner Now in my Discourse hereupon I shall shew you First What Conscience is or what is included in the Notion of it Secondly What it is to live up to Conscience Thirdly That notwithstanding Conscience by many persons pretending to it hath been and is still abused yet ought not to be neglected or laid aside Fourthly What things Conscience ought chiefly to be concerned for or exercised about Fifthly To offer a few things by way of Advice concerning the governing of our selves with relation to our Consciences From whence you may perceive that I intend to speak of Conscience not so much as it relates to Matters of Doctrine as to Matters of Practice not how it ought to form our Judgments and model our Opinions as how it ought to direct our Lives and govern our Actions which is much more necessary of the two 1. WHAT is meant by Conscience which is almost in every one's Mouth and hath created so much Noise and Bussle in the World Conscience is that Power or Faculty of the Mind which judges of our Actions according to a right Rule whether they be agreeable to it or not or 't is the reflex Act of our Reason and Understanding respecting the Goodness or Badness of our Actions so that Conscience is an Act of the Vnderstanding and but another Name for Reason 'T is Reason exercis'd about the Lawfulness or Unlawfulness of what we do or the Judgment of our Minds acquitting or condemning us in our own Thoughts In which Description of Conscience we may take Notice of these following things which enter the Definition and constitute the Nature of it First Conscience supposeth a Rule by which it ought to be directed and governed in all its Actings for Conscience is no Lordly nor Lawless Principle and therefore is not left at Liberty to think or do what it list to act rashly and at all Adventures No Conscience is under Authority and Restraint and ought to be kept within Bounds and not suffered to run out into an unaccountable Extravagancy or violent Extream to keep its Eye daily on the Rule and take Advice from thence in what it doth for God whose Will ought to be a Law in this Case and none else And that be sure is a Rule large enough for Conscience to walk by and which together with Judgment and Discretion in the Application thereof is sufficient to direct a Christian upon all occasions Secondly There must be a Knowledge of this Rule otherwise Conscience is not concern'd The very Notion of the Word according to the Letter and Derivation of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek and Conscientia in Latine imports as much There cannot be Conscientia without Scientia no Conscience without Knowledge If I am wholly ignorant of the Rule or Law 't is all one to me as if there were none at all and obligeth me no further than I have or may have any Knowledge or Information thereof in this Sence Quod non apparet non est 'T is all one not to be as not to appear so I must therefore know what my Duty is or what it is the Law requires of me before I can think my self obliged thereby and till I know it or have the Means of arriving at the Knowledge of it I lie under no Obligation from thence For a blind Man may with as much Reason be oblig'd to walk steadily in a streight Line or narrow Path tho he cannot see one Step of his way as that a man should be oblig'd in Conscience to any Law whereof he is totally ignorant or deprived of the means of knowing of it I speak here of invincible not affected Ignorance there being as much difference between them two as between natural and wilful Blindness between a man's having no Eyes at all and another that shuts them close and will not open or make use of them to see his way The former excuseth indeed but the later never did and never will For instance those miserably blind Heathen who sit in Darkness and see no Light who never heard of the Name of Christ nor once had the glad Tidings of Salvation preached unto them they are not bound to believe and embrace the Gospel under the Penalty of Damnation as we are who enjoy the means and daily sit under the joyful Sound thereof All that they are to do is to comply with the rational Dictates of their own Mind and conform to that part of the Divine Law which is written upon their Hearts and to live up to the light of natural Religion The ground or reason of which Hypothesis is taken from that of the Apostle Rom. 2.14 15. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by Nature the things contain'd in the Law these having not a Law are a Law unto themselves Which shews the work of the Law written in their Hearts their Consciences also bearing them Witness and their Thoughts in the mran time accusing or excusing one another Now according to this of the Apostle If the Gentiles do by Nature the things contain'd in the Law and their Consciences thereupon excuse and bear witness on their behalf as is here expresly affirm'd why should we be so uncharitable as to pass Sentence against those who are acquitted by their own Consciences or think that the Great and Good God who is the Maker of us all will be as partial and severe as we are wont to be in our Censures of them No for we are told in every Nation