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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A36103 A Discourse of the lawfulness of compliance with all the ceremonies of the Church of England 1660 (1660) Wing D1605A; ESTC R15175 21,547 38

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Jeshurun Deut. 33.5 And after him David Solomon Asa Jehosaphat Ezekiah Josiah Kings of Israel and Judah instituted the Tabernacle and Temple Service ordered and regulated several things in which they varied from the Law of Moses 2 Chron. 29.34 Lev. 1.6 7. erected Altars and dedicated them to the Lord destroyed Idolatry reformed abuses in the Worship of God setled both the standing Worship of God with occasional Thanksgivings and Humiliations The like power have Christian Kings and Emperours had since Christ as might be made evident and apparent by History And therefore it is an Article of the Church of England which likewise all do acknowledge in the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy that the King's Majesty within his Dominions and Countries is in all causes and over all persons as well ecclesiastical as civil next under God supreme Moderatour and Governour And therefore it is by his authority that Ecclesiastical Canons are made and enacted Laws of the Nation without which men of differing judgments might excommunicate each other but to little purpose I shall now in the next place briefly compare these Obligations together which many times cross and contradict each other The obligation then to observe indifferent Ceremonies which ariseth from the command of Superiour Powers is generally greater than any which ariseth upon other accounts And here first as to Vows and Covenants we have the case stated between Father and Child Husband and Wife Numb 30. and the same is the reason between Princes and Subjects for no man ought to bind himself with a vow unless in such cases which God and his Superiours have left to his liberty Otherwise Children Servants and Subjects might by making vows shake off all obedience to Parents Masters and Princes Whensoever therefore he knows the Will of the Prince or the Laws of the Land to be contrary to the intention of the Vow the Vow is unlawfull and if his Will be unknown it ought to be made conditionally and be of no longer force than it is permitted by the Superiours For as if there should be a contrary command of God it would immediately take off the obligation to the Vow and make it null and void so also a contradictory command of Parents Masters Princes to which last we ought to be obedient and not to resist upon pain of damnation doth also though not immediately yet consequentially by virtue of the Divine Precept concerning subjection cause it to cease It being not to be supposed in lawfull Vows and Oaths that they are against the Will of God or of Superiour powers whom by our Oaths we are bound to obey Secondly As to an erring and doubtfull Conscience 't is true that if a man through an erroneous judgment which is by reason of education or otherways invincibly such be fully persuaded that to be unlawfull which is in it self lawfull although the commands of Superiours lay an obligation yet the greater sin is to act against Conscience So Rom. 14.23 Whatsoever is not of faith is sin and the Apostle adds that he that eateth and doubteth is damned though not always in the World to come yet he is condemned in his own Conscience which how great a punishment it is we may know by divers Examples But if there be onely small inconsiderable Scruples or Arguments which draw the mind equally so that the judgment is rendered uncertain but cannot peremptorily determine the thing to be absolutely unlawfull the safest way is to obey the command and the duty we owe to the Superiour Powers ought to turn the scales Disobedience being one of the greatest sins and Obedience a necessary duty and therefore ought not to be neglected for trivial Scruples and Objections but upon very considerable and weighty reasons Thirdly As for case of Scandal we must first discharge our duty to our Sovereign and prefer obedience to the King before satisfaction of Fellow-subjects And to let pass that usual argument which is brought that obedience to Higher Powers is an act of Justice it being their due right given to them from God the King of Kings But the condescention to the infirmities of a weak Brother is an act onely of Charity and acts of charity must give place to acts of justice onely charity supposeth that we rob not others of their dues But in this case of obedience there is a concurrence both of justice and charity which surely should be of more prevalent obligation than a single one and that the weaker too to let this pass I say that the case is far different from what it was when the Apostle St. Paul wrote his Epistls for then their Faith was so much endangered that they could not tell well which sooner to part with their Faith in Christ or Mosaical Ceremonies But the Dissenters Faith now-a-days is not so much endangered but they seem to be the more confirmed and obstinate in their resolutions and affirm themselves almost to be the onely Christians But forasmuch as this Point hath been vehemently insisted on by several Separatists who having first made others to be scandalized at the Ceremonies and Orders of our Church and then pretend they cannot conform for fear of destroying the Souls of their weak brethren whose ruine they accuse our Church to endeavour I shall retort the argument on themselves and affirm in the next place that disobedience to the Higher Powers is it self the greatest scandal to Christian Religion and endangereth the Salvation of most Souls It was by this Jealousie rashly and without ground taken up viz. That Christ and Christian Religion were an enemy to government that the Devil hath in all ages stirred up men to persecute the Church upon this pretence our Blessed Saviour the most innocent person who lived upon Earth who payed Tribute to Caesar with the expence of a Miracle was yet condemned and executed If thou let him go thou art not Caesar's friend said the Jews to Pilate It was on this account that the Apostles endured bonds and imprisonments as men that would turn the World upside down It was upon this pretence that the Primi●ive Christians for above 300 years together were oppressed with the rage of heathen Emperours because thought disturbers of the publick peace So we see how the very pretence of indisposing men for subjection which notwithstanding the Apostles by their doctrine and the Primitive Christians by their example clearly refuted is apt to bring Religion into disesteem and render it odious But these disobeyed onely where God's Law was contrary to the Emperour 's and when they could not obey they patiently suffered But if we will stand out against our King in those things which God requires not of us if we will disobey our Sovereign and be never the more obedient to God if every scruple be an excuse from subjection and obedience these pretences will be turned into realities and we shall be left without excuse if we will have no regard to the Laws of Men which are the bond