their duty to follow any farther then they are followers of Christ Christians being obliged to walk together so far only as they have attain'd To require more of any is indeed as the Apostle at large declares in his 14 chapter to the Romans to lay a stumbling-block in the way of their Christian Brethren and infallibly to involve those that so do in that dreadfull wo pronounc't by our Blessed Saviour in the Text cited But has this Answerer the vanity to think his Illogical and undue Inferences false suggestions Impertinent and Ridiculous Reasonings and nonsensical Answers should convince any of guilt yet if he know of any who are fallen from their first works or otherwise wanting in their duty let him not spare to charge and charge them home and if they cannot acquit themselves let not reproach and shame only befall them but whatever severity Law and Justice can inflict upon them 'T is very much That notwithstanding all so Learned and Judicious a Person hath written in the Churches vindication any should yet reply the Ecclesiastical Laws and Constitutions do little or no good and therefore were better for the reasons mention'd to be repeal'd against which besides what he hath already said He adds the saying of a Roman when Rome as he says resembled England by the ill Government of Galba That it is far better to live where nothing is lawful then where all things are lawful which is such a reflection on the Government as those Queries with all their Sedition shall I hope never be found guilty of But what may be the instance of ill Government which is here so severely reflected on it will upon inquiry be found to be no other Than His Majesties late gracious Declaration of Indulgence to Dissenters in Religion the which though it secur'd to the Church all its Rights Priviledges and Emoluments was yet so intolerable to some Church-men in restraining them only from falling upon and ruining their poor peaceable and pious Neighbours that none have more and few I thinkâ— so much reflected on Authority as some of them have thereon done an evident demonstration what Loyal and Faithfull Subjects they would quickly be should Authority deal with them as it hath done with some others for who would not be Loyal to kind and bountiful Masters Wolves and Tygers are so to those who feed and favour them But they only are to be accounted Loyal Subjects who are so for Conscience-sake to severe and froward Governours as well as to the kind and courteous and not as their Benefactors but as Gods Ministers which is a Loyalty few of these Loyalists can boast of But he again tells us The Scripture compares the Church to an Army which it does for terror but not for being alike Officer'd And for an Army says he to be left to its own Liberty and every common Souldier to observe no Order nor live under any Discipline is the ready way to expose it as a prey to the first Invader It is so indeed who is it therefore that would have no common Souldier observe any Order nor live under any Discipline Not they certainly who would have both the Officers and Souldiers of this Army to observe all the Orders of the Chief Commander the Officers in commanding as well as Souldiers in obeying which will be found to be the Order and Discipline that ought to be observ'd But this Answerer tells us The little good that is done by the Laws of this Church and Kingdom proceeds either from the want of their due Execution which is still a reflection on the Government as is his elsewhere saying The vigorous Execution of one Law would do more good than a Million of Proclamations c. or from the indisposition of those Persons who expect Protection from Laws without paying any Reverence or Obedience to them c. 'T was never denyed but that in Civil and Secular Affairs and Concerns Force and Compulsion is and must be us'd or there can be no Rule or Government amongst men But in the Concerns of Religion abstracted from secular Interests and advantages it is otherwise men are therein to be gain'd and Govern'd by perswasion and conviction only Religion cannot be impos'd nor is any thing more absur'd than to endeavour to promote the Truths of the Gospel contrary to the Laws of the Gospel Virga Regum as Rupertus truly tells us Est virga Dominationis virga Discipulorum Christi virga est Dilectionis or as Hieron hath it Rex praeest nolentibus Episcopus volentibus And the Apostle tells us There is a way of bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ But the weapons whereby that Victory is atcheived are not Carnal which is indeed the cause of the little good that is therein done by Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws This Answerer may therefore very well ask What effect Ecclesiastical Laws can have upon Atheists and Infidels all the Ecclesiastical Laws in the world Seconded and Assisted by the Laws of the State not being able to Convince or Convert one Atheist or Infidel Hypocrities or dissembling Professors they may indeed make but can never make one true or sincere Christian Penal Laws therefore concerning Religion have ever respected more the Civil Peace and Interests of Kingdoms and Commonwealths That under pretence of Religion the Rights of Princes and Liberty of the People be not invaded or injur'd then the Truths of the Gospel which are not by those means or Methods to be preserved or propagated So a late great Minister of State speaking of penal Laws against Papists tells them 'T is not against their Opinions of Purgatory or Transubstantiation though errors but against their owning the personal Authority of the Pope within His Majesties Dominions as dangerous to the State that those Laws are provided disclaming therefore of that they should find themselves at great ease And it was the great business of the Chief Ministers of State in Queen Elizabeths Reign to satisfie the world that none ever suffer'd in England for Religion but for Treason or Treasonable practices under colour or pretence of Religion Nor can we believe some late Laws concerning Religion were ever intended to molest or punish any for the performance of any truly Religious duty but of such only as under pretence thereof met to contrive Insurrections and Rebellions and thereby became dangerous to the State and such certainly of all men ought to be the most severely dealt with as well for their Hypocrisie and abuse of Religion as for such their disloyal practices For none sure can imagine His Majesty would ever have indulg'd Dissenters the Exercise of their Religion had it been against that the Laws had provided and not rather against the danger that might from some meetings have accrued to the publick the preservation of the publick peace being the ground both of those Laws and likewise of His Majesties Declaration of indulgence upon the difference of times and
all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the House of the Lord was it not by convincing them it was their duty so to do for it reacht no farther then to those who were present And who denies the like Power unto Christian Magistrates Nor needs there any great search in the Annals of time and History of Ages to know that Princes and People never more prosper'd then when Religion was countenanc't Idolatry punisht and the great Causes and occasions of Schism the requiring other Terms and Conditions of Church-Fellowship and Communion then God requires were unknown or removed Nor is there ought in the Instances before mentioned That needs any such constructions or evasions as this Answerer speaks of to reconcile them to the liberty in Religion pleaded for For who did ever deny unto Magistrates Power to command and require their People to serve God as God hath exprest and declar'd he will be serv'd or to remove such outward appearances and Monuments of worship as are evidently and apparently false and Idolatrous which in both instances was but the Case of the before-mentioned Kings of Judah But that which is excepted against Is the prohibiting any to worship God in such a way as none can say to be against the mind and will of God or displeasing unto him or the compelling any to worship God in such a way as they Judge sinful or are not satisfied in the lawfulness of And though the State of Religion under the Gospel be far differing from what it was under the Law yet surely Princes are not as he says in a worse condition by the coming of Christ then they were in the Jewish Commonwealth where they had no power to command ought in Religion but what God willed or commanded and so they may do still by all the ways and means appointed by God and useful thereunto But what is it this Answerer hath found in the 49 chap of Isaiah to prove the Magistrates Coercive Power in Religion Gods affectionate answer to his peoples complaint promising never to forget them will not do it neither his promise of delivering them from their Enemies and adding to their numbers nor yet that Kings should be nursing Fathers and Queens nursing Mothers to his Church For Nurses do not use to force and coerce their Children but nourish and cherish them But this place does indeed imply or promise that there should be Soveraign Princes who should nourish and cherish the People of God and take care that no hurt or violence be offer'd unto them or to his Church which is as much as the Metaphor will bear since true Religion cannot be forc't or upheld by Secular power 'T is Antichristianism that is so supported and maintain'd by those who give their power and strength unto the Beast And they carry the Metaphor too farr who would have Princes like Nurses to feed their Children Christ having appointed other Overseers of his flock for that works whom the Magistrate ought indeed to protect and defend in the performance thereof but not to dictate nor prescribe to them therein There may not be wanting expositors who as he says may conceive this Prophesie to have been fulfilled when Emperours and Kings became Christians and enacted Laws to secure the Faith of Christ from all Enemies c. though they have no great Reason for it it being but too well known that Christian Religion hath suffer'd more then ever it gain'd by pretended Christian Magistrates For if Constantine protected the Truth his Successor Constantius with divers others after him persecuted it Yea the generality of Christian Magistrates for above a thousand years together by the instigations of the Bishop of Rome were its great opposers and oppressors and though for several years past God hath blessed this Nation beyond most of the Nations of the Earth with Kings and Queens who have protected and defended the Truths of the Gospel and the people of God from the Tyranny and opprssieon of that great Enemy to both yet in respect of Christendom there is little cause to say that this Prophesie was fulfilled when Kings and Emperours became Christians As there have been Laws enacted by Kings and States in behalf of the Truth so there have been infinitely more enacted against it error too soon and generally prevailing over the Christian world which for a Protestant to Question were to deny his Faith He cannot be thought a Friend to Truth who shall oppose any means conducive unto its promotion But whoever shall consider how few of the Mighty and Noble of the Earth to whom wordly Power and Authority is committed are called unto the knowledge thereof must acknowledge likewise that where one Law bath been enacted in behalf of the Truth hundreds have been enacted to its prejudice It is not therefore in opposition to Truth but for the Truths sake that we plead for its standing upon its own Bottom and prevailing by its own strength and efficacy For as the Truths of the Gospel were at first planted and propagated throughout the world by the Ministry of the Gospel and influence of the Divine Spirit without the aid and assistance of the secular Power so by the same means and methods they are best secured and preserved nor is secular force and power a means by God appointed or in its nature conducive to the promoting of Truth since 't is conviction and not force must induce assent And though some Hereticks may have seem'd to retract their opinions upon the severity of penal Laws against them there is little reason to believe that any of them thereby became real converts for though force may make an Hypocrite it can never make a true Believer If we believe not the Donatists and Independants so nearly related as this Answerer tells us having but his say so without other proof and if we are not Convinc't That Austins changing his mind proves second thoughts to be always best it will not we hope be thought any violation of the Law or light of Nature 't is not unknown how that Pious Father was molested by that petulant Faction no wonder therefore he should approve of what ever delivered him from them But would it not be very pleasant for Magistrates to change their Laws as oft as Doctors change their minds and that every new opinion should be the ground of a new Statute And yet I fully approve of what this Learned and Pious Father That Kings as is commanded them from Heaven serve God in that Office when in their Kingdoms they Command what is good and Prohibit what is evil and that not only in things that belong unto humane Society but also unto Divine Religion So they command but what is known and allowed to be good and in mens power to do and Prohibit no more then what is by the light of Nature or some positive Law of God apparently evil And if there be more passages to the same purpose as this
Scripture plainly declares viz. That the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and that he is sent by the Father and also by the Son but whether he proceeds from the Son or by the Son the Scripture being silent they ought to have been so too as to that Question and 〈◊〉 they had avoyded the unhappy breach which ensued thereon But is it possible this Answerer should be Ignorant of the sad Persecutions and Divisions which have been amongst Christians upon the account of Rites and Ceremonies imposed as conditions of Church-Fellowship and Communion which neither Christ nor his Apostles ever required For not to instance in those between Austin and the Monks of Bangor with others we read of in ancient story what thinks he of the unhappy Breaches and Divisions which have been thereby occasion'd even in this Church ever since the Reformation he that is Ignorant thereof must be something more then I am here willing to express But he tells us the difference between the Eastern and Western Churches about the observation of Easter can by no means be applyed to the present case of the Church of England and those that separate from its Communion Nor have I heard of any that ever so apply'd it and yet for any thing he says to the contrary it may be applicable enough For his presuming does not prove That every National Church hath a more indispencible Power over its own Members if as we have Reason to believe he takes every one for such who is born or Inhabits within that Natâ—on than either the Western Church had over the Eastern or the Eastern over the Western And Secondly There is no such wide difference as he alledgeth between the conditions of Communion required in the Church of England and those that were between the Eastern and Western Churches about the Celebration of Easter For if as he tells us the one was about a trivial inconsiderable business the other being about indifferent things only cannot certainly be thought very considerable But says he every Church hath a Power to Guide and Govern its own Members in all indifferent things pertaining to its Communion which if true yet is not every Member bound to believe all things to be indifferent which their Ecclesiastical Guides or Governours shall call so and if they require other conditions of Communion than their Members shall approve of or Judge lawfull 't will undoubtedly cause differences and divisions amongst them What Rites the Church of England tenders as conditions of Church-Fellowship to those within her Pale we meddle not with our Query being only Whether the requiring other conditions of Church-Fellowship and Communion then Christ or his Apostles did have not been the main inlet of all the Distractions Persecutions and Divisions in the Christian world which but for asking we are judg'd Criminal though the Reverend and Learned Dr. Stilling fleet sticks not to affirm That the main Inlet of all the Distractions Confusions and Divisions of the Christian world have been by adding other conditions of Church Communion then Christ hath done And hath this Answerer the confidence or impudence rather to suppose this Reverend Dr. herein chargeth the Church of England with all the Distractions and Divisions that now abound in this Nation or that he causelessly and falsely accuseth a whole Church and Kingdom as the Fountain of all the Distractions and Divisions that abound in it or will he not himself be found to be the false accuser he speaks of The Church of England being no more concern'd in this Assertion or Query then the Church of Scotland or the Church at Geneva or any other Church whatever unless this Answerer will say she requires other conditions of Church-Fellowship and Communion than Christ or his Apostles did which neither the Doctor nor the Gentleman have yet said But to conclude he tells us St. James acquaints us with another cause of Wars and Persecutions then the Imposition of a few Rites and Ceremonies in matters of Religion which are from mens Lusts which war in their Members But may not the Imposition of those Rites and Ceremonies proceed from those Lusts they first rebelling against the Law of their minds and then against the Law of their Maker And whether argues the greater Pride the imposing upon mens Judgements or the leaving unto every man that Judgement of discretion God hath given him and requires the exercise of in all the duties of Religion and will not as the Reverend and Pious Bishop Davenant hath told us hold those excused who with a blind zeal follow their Leaders The removing Old Land-marks with Innocent and usefull constitutions is but the old objection of the Papists against the Reformers and of them borrowed by this Answerer to help to fill up his Pamphlet And though he cannot as he tells us forbear mentioning one passage more it 〈◊〉 seems to be but to usher in his following Rime as a grave and gracious Author has it One verse for Sense and one for Rime Is sufficient for one time Yet are we more beholding to him for this than for most of his preceding Answers which have neither Rime nor Reason in them Query XXII Whether Jesus Christ who came to take away the Yoke and Burthen of Jewish Ceremonies appointed by God himself hath given Power and Authority unto any to Institute in their room such others as they shall think good Reply to the Answer to this Query NOthing is more evident in holy writ than that God will be worship't but in the way and by the means of his own appointment and that no Service is acceptable unto him but what is performed in obedience unto his commands it may not therefore be unreasonable or unseasonable to ask Whether Jesus Christ hath given Power or Authority unto any to Institute in the Worship and Service of God such Rites and Ceremonies as they shall think good And to this our Answerer tells us The words cited by him from Mr. Hooker would be a sufficient Answer which we deny not according to his way and method of Answering Queries otherwise they are far enough from it for though many things which God hath Ordained have been changed and that for the better they have been still changed by himself only or by Jesus Christ whom he hath sent And if seven Churches as he saith have declar'd That Ceremonies of humane Institution are Lawfull in the worship of God it does not follow that Christ hath given Power as he affirms to some Persons to Institute in the room of the Jewish Ceremonies such others as they shall think good And as little to the present Question is any thing in the words of the Ingenious Gentleman he commends to his Reader To all which I shall oppose as more pertinent to the matter in Question the words of the but now mentioned Reverend and Learned Dr. Stillingfleet who speaking of the Meekness Sweetness and Gentleness of our Blessed Saviour